Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative. Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]

Severe criticism is levelled by the Jewish press against Rabbi Thurman, Reform rabbi of St. Louis, who, according to an Associated Press report, has announced that he will introduce personal confession in his synagogue.

“We always thought,” writes the “Jewish Daily News,” “that Judaism taught that man required no mediator between God and himself and that only the Almighty forgave sins. Perhaps the St. Louis rabbi is right. Since the Reform temple is crowded only on the Day of Atonement he wants to make every day a Yom Kippur. There’s method in his madness. Or it may be that his sheep are so erring that they have to be saved from day to day. The Reform rabbi as a Father Confessor is a delightful occupation. We shall soon have tales of wonder-working Reform rebbe-im.”

The “Day” says:

“Does the rabbi really believe that he has special favor in God’s eyes and is in a position to secure absolution and forgiveness for all who will confess to him? And what are the sins he has in mind? Sins against Jewish religion or worldly sins? If he means the first, then it must be said, that the very confession is a sin because it offers an opportunity for man to be false, to he and to wear a mask. For where is there a person who in all truth will confess absolutely all his transgressions to another sinner? And since when does Judaism require a mediator between the sinner and his God? But if Rabbi Thurman means worldly sins, then there are courts in America that were established for this purpose. And surely there are still quite a number of people who do not think a clergyman has the right to condone or cover up the worldly sins of those who confess to him. Thus, it comes to a point where the clergyman becomes a mediator between the sinner and the policeman instead of between the sinner and God. This is not such an exalted mission for God’s servants, and in the sanctuary of a rabbi at that. . . .”

WERNER SOMBART MAKES CHARGES AGAINST JEWS

A repetition of the old anti-Semitic charge that the Jews are seeking “to destroy the world” has been made in Berlin by Professor Werner Sombart, German economist whose utterances about the Jews some years ago created a stir.

Reiterating the assertion made by other anti-Semites, that the Jews are responsible both for capitalism and revolutionary Socialism, Prof. Sombart stated, according to “Der Weltkampf” anti-Semitic organ of Berlin:

“What is sacred conviction to the non-Jews is merely superficial phraseology to the Jews. Driven by an inner urge to seek the destruction of the existing order, they have created Socialism. The Jews have chose two ways for realizing their purpose: either to accumulate so much capital and the power going with it as to be able to reshape, in a Jewish sense, the existing order, or else they make revolutions, when other methods fail, and thus succeed in acquiring power and wealth.

“As regards the Jewish influence on culture, it must be pointed out, that the Jewish menace to the cultural life of the nations will immediately disappear when the non-Jewish races will understand what the specifically Jewish characteristics are.”

The “Weltkampf” finds inspiration in these observations which it attributes to Prof. Sombart and concludes its comments by calling on the anti-Semites to continue their war against the Jews.

PALESTINE HEBREW PAPER ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION

The demand formulated by the extraordinary conference of the Workers’ Organization in Palestine concerning the measures to immediately put an end to the unemployment situation in the country, is commented upon by the “Davar”, the Tel-Aviv Hebrew labor daily.

Writing editorially in its issue of February 4, the “Davar” observes:

“There was no difference of opinion among the delegates concerning the situation. All were united in the viewpoint according to which the dangers of the unemployment situation were estimated. There is certainly a limit to the patience of an individual. The strength of organized labor is after all also limited and is bound to fall under the ceaseless blows of famine. However, above all this, above the burden of the individual and above the interests of organized labor, the fate of the Zionist movement and of the reconstruction of Palestine, was placed,” the paper observes.

“A fight against the unemployment is now the main task of the Zionist movement. All its activities must be directed towards that fight. We will emerge victorious if the movement will know how to concentrate around this task all Zionist forces, all Jewish forces, inasmuch as they are directed to the Palestine work. Let there not remain a man who is indifferent to this battle. Let no one shirk from fulfilling his duty. This is the message of the Conference of the Workers’ Organization.”

URGES SPINOZA’S PHILOSOPHY AS ANTIDOTE TO GLARING SPIRIT OF MODERNITY

The view that the modern world with its perplexing problems would profit by devoting more attention to the philosophy and life of Baruch Spinoza is expressed by the New York “Evening Post,” in an editorial occasioned by the 250th anniversary of Spinoza’s death. Says the paper:

“Almost coincident with the conclave of the world’s philosophers at The Hague is the 250th anniversary of the death of Benedict Spinoza. If our present thinkers can succeed in disseminating some of Spinoza’s ideas their meeting will have served a most useful purpose. In view of the glaring headlines of modernity, doomed to fade to obscurity on the morrow, it is strengthening to regard the achievements of a gifted man whose currents of wisdom still beat with untiring persistence against the strata of human ignorance.

“Goethe, Shelley, Matthew Arnold, Heine and many other intellectual leaders found solace in the teachings of Spinoza, so often condemned in his life-time as an atheist and freethinker. In the hurly-burly of our own day we might well know better a man and philosopher who stood above petty strife and was at one with nature, man and eternity.”

What was termed a Jewish program was given Monday night at the Park Avenue Baptist Church, New York City. The singing of three Hebrew melodies preceded the introduction of the speaker, James Waterman Wise, by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller. Jr. Mr. Wise spoke on the Jews’ contribution to Western civilization.

The meeting was under the auspices of the Fellowship Council of the Women’s Bible Class of the Church of which Mrs. Rockefeller is the Chairman.