Daily Digest of World Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

The Jewish Morning Journal of Oct. 19, contains an editorial on the subject of the political alignments of the Jews who are candidates for Parliament in the present elections in England.

“It is noteworthy”, writes the editor, “that the forty Jews who are running for Parliament are not Jewish leaders and their political views are not colored by the fact that they are Jews. Their belonging to one party or the other merely indicates the proportion in which British citizens of Jewish extraction are represented in the various patries.

“Thus, of the forty Jewish candidates, nine are on the Labor ticket, which does not mean that nearly one-fourth of the Jews in England are workingmen. It shows that the Jewish politicians are well represented among the Labor leaders. Of the remaining 31 Jewish candidates 16 are on the Liberal and 15 on the Conservative ticket. This is even more significant. In former times when there was a distinct Jewish question in England the Jews were always found in the Liberal ranks. But today when all parties are more or less progressive the Jews follow a healthy natural instinct in determining their political alignments solely on the basis of personal predilection.”

REPROACHES AMERICAN JEWISH LEADERS

“If the Jewish leaders”, writes Mr. S. Rosenfeld in the Day of October 19, “had the necessary endurance and persistence to defend the Jewish rights before the League of Nations there can be no doubt that Jewish conditions in the east European countries would be much more favorable than they are today.

“The committee of Jewish Delegations which was created at the time of the Peace Conference in Paris achieved a great deal. Thanks to it the Minority Rights clause was written into the Versailles Treaty and later incorporated in the constitutions of the newly formed States of eastern Europe. It cannot be denied that the American Jews played the chief role in the Committee of Delegations and that it was their work and influence which made possible the successful results at that time.

“But today, what interest do the leaders of American Jewry show in the matter of the civil and national rights of the Jews in Europe? I mean, in the political sense. What are they doing in this respect? What relations do they maintain with the Committee of Jewish Delegations? The civil, national and political rights of the Jews are being constantly traduced in Poland, Roumania and Lithuania. Yet no one takes the trouble to intercede in their behalf.

“Our leaders jack an understanding for practical political endeavor. They do not know how to finish the work they have begun. They showed a remarkable activity in caring for immigrants, feeding starving children, etc.-but they have no sense for consistent political action which might in time spare them the necessity for all this philanthropic work.”

THE “REFORMED’ AND “NON-REFORMED” JEWS AS CONTRIBUTORS TO CHARITY

Writing about the discussion which has arisen in the Yiddish press of Philadelphia as to the relative merits of “reformed” and non-reformed” Jews as contributors to charity, Mr. Jacob Bilikopf says:

“The discussion tends to reopen a chasm which has almost been bridged. In recent years much has been done to bring together the two classes of Jews and in many instances no difference can be detected. The “reformed” Jew has ceased to consider himself a superior being and the “non-reformed” Jews, who come from eastern Europe, no longer regard the former with suspicion.

“The ‘reformed’ Jews have a keener sense for system and organization and they contribute almost exclusively to the Federation of Jewish Charities, whereas the ‘non-reformed’ or east European Jews give to all who extend a begging hand because their hearts are still permeated with the east European customs of ‘tzdoka’. But this does not prove that the one element of Jews is more generous than the other.”