[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]
The charge that in connection with the Wise controversy the honest orthodox rabbis are being used unwittingly as tools in a political plot to enhance the prestige of the Mizrachi organization, is made by the “Day” of Dec. 31, which advises the Agudath Harabonim to withdraw their demand for Wise’s resignation and to content themselves instead with the demand that the Zionist Organization issue a statement expressing regret at Dr. Wise’s sermon.
The paper thinks that “perhaps some of the most important leaders of the Agudath Harabonim now regret their hasty action no less than Dr. Wise regrets his sermon,” and takes to task Rabbi Meyer Berlin, president of the Mizrachi, whom it regards as “the leader of the present campaign to drive Dr. Wise out of the Palestine Appeal.”
Rabbi Berlin stated at the meeting of the rabbis and Mizrachi leaders Wednesday that complete harmony has existed between him and the Zionist Organization in regard to the United Palestine Appeal and yet, the paper points out, Rabbi Berlin was fully aware at the time of Dr. Wise’s appointment as chairman of the Palestine Appeal what Dr. Wise’s opinions on Jesus and Christianity were. “How is it, then,” the “Day” asks “that Rabbi Berlin could agree in the first place to the appointment of Dr. Wise to the chairmanship of the Palestine Appeal? What if Dr. Wise as chairman would facilitate the drive? Can an orthodox leader compromise his religion for money? Did not Rabbi Berlin’s endorsement of Dr. Wise’s chairmanship sanction the idea that a man who thinks highly of Christianity can be the leader of the Palestine campaign?
“It is necessary,” the “Day” continues “that those orthodox rabbis who really have the success of the Palestine Appeal at heart and aim at the strengthening of orthodoxy in America, should be told what is going on now, in order that they may understand the situation and take account of it.
“In the midst of the orthodox rabbis there is being perpetrated a base political plot, and it must be disclosed before it is too late. The honest orthodox rabbis are being used for political purposes. They are being used as tools to strengthen the prestige of the Mizrachi organization which is looking for an issue.
“Who started the campaign? Who started the whole row? Was it the rabbis? No. We have the evidence of very reliable persons who declared openly at a meeting of prominent Jews that a ‘certain Mizrachi leader,’ not a rabbi, started the whole trouble, phoning the editorial offices and calling on the rabbis, demanding that Wise’s sermon be turned into an issue. Eventually such a flame was aroused that it now threatens to cause a split in orthodox Jewry, to break up the Zionist forces and to bring about a catastrophe which the rabbis should pause to consider.”
The “Day” also takes occasion to call the attention of the rabbis to the fact that if they persist in their present stand they will be guilty of aiding the Vatican in its anti-Zionist campaign in Palestine by offering it an argument regarding Jewish intolerance.
“To mix religion with politics, even though it is Zionist politics, is one of the most dangerous things for Jews,” the paper observes in conclusion. “Such things are done by the Ku Klux Klan. But it is not a fit thing for our orthodox rabbis to do. We believe the Agudath Harabonim would be justified in demanding of the Zionist Organization to issue a statement expressing regret at Dr. Wise’s sermon, in order to show thereby that the Zionist Organization, which consists of Jews of all shades and opinions, positively cannot endorse Dr. Wise’s opinions on Jesus. But the rabbis should be content with that and not demand his resignation.”
SECOND RESOLUTION OF ORTHODOX RABBIS SEEN AS PAVING WAY TO WISE’S RESIGNATION
The action of the orthodox rabbis and Mizrachi leaders at their meeting Wednesday at the Broadway Central Hotel in adopting a milder resolution against Dr. Wise is regarded by Jacob Fishman, of the “Jewish Morning Journal,” as a paving of the way for the acceptance of Dr. Wise’s resignation which, Mr. Fishman asserts, was prevented by the first resolution of the Agudath Harabonim.
While Mr. Fishman agrees with the orthodox rabbis and Mizrachi leaders that Dr. Wise’s resignation should be accepted, he disapproves definitely with the procedure followed by them since the sermon on Jesus became a matter of public discussion.
“It is a fact,” he writes “that the first resolution of the Agudath Harabonim bears a hysterical character. In their just indignation the rabbis went too far. Without giving him a hearing, the rabbis condemned Dr. Wise as a heretic and religious beguiler and spoke of issuing a resolution against the United Palestine Appeal in the event Dr. Wise would not resign. That they went too far was admitted almost openly at the last session of the rabbis and Mizrachi leaders by Rabbi Levinthal, the venerable president of the Agudath Harabonim.”
Not only the organized Zionists, but Jews in general, says the writer, were amazed at the extreme behavior of the rabbis. “Many Jews wondered: why were the rabbis so hasty with their verdict? Why did they not call Dr. Wise to a hearing and give him an opportunity to defend himself?”
The Zionists, Mr. Fishman further stresses, were placed in a terrible predicament. “Shall Dr. Wise be removed from his position as a heretic and religious beguiler? No. The Zionists could never agree to that. Dr. Wise, realizing his great mistake, tendered his resignation and the resignation could be accepted by the Zionists only on the ground that following his sermon, Dr. Wise was not the right person to act in the name of all the elements in American Jewry, but that he was a heretic and religious beguiler-that was unthinkable. Rabbi Levinthal himself admitted at the meeting Wednesday the greatness of Dr. Wise’s work for Palestine.”
The charge that Dr. Wise urged Jews to conversion is termed as “hysterical and irresponsible” by Mr. Fishman, who concludes: “If certain Christian priests and ministers are making capital out of Dr. Wise’s words, which he now denies, it is regrettable, but it should be borne in mind that there are base Jewish missionaries who distort facts and figures taken from orthodox national Jewish newspapers, yet no one would dream of holding those papers responsible for this.”
A campaign to raise $100,000 to build a school for Jewish children in Worcester, Mass., will be launched, according to Louis I. Wolpert, president of the Chevra Cemmorah, a society of members of the various congregations of the city, who are sponsoring the movement to erect the school.
Both English and Jewish will be taught in the proposed school.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
