PALESTINE IS RECEIVING TOO MUCH ATTENTION AS A MEANS OF SOLVING “THE SO-CALLED JEWISH PROBLEM,” DR. SAMUEL SCHULMAN, RABBI EMERITUS OF TEMPLE EMANU-EL, DECLARED IN A LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK TIME YESTERDAY.
COMMENTING ON THE REPORT OF THE BRITISH ROYAL COMMISSION RECOMMENDING PARTITION OF THE HOLY LAND, DR. SCHULMAN, LONG AN OPPONENT OF POLITICAL ZIONISM, ATTACKED THE ENTIRE ZIONIST IDEA OF THE JEWS AS AN INDEPENDENT NATIOn.
“EVERY JEW SHOULD REALIZE THAT ALTOGETHER TOO MUCH THOUGHT HAS BEEN CENTERED UPON PALESTINE AS A SO-CALLED SOLUTION OF THE JEWISH PROBLEM,” DR. SCHULMAN WROTE. “THE PROBLEM OF THE 2,000,000 JEWS IN POLAND AND OF OTHERS PERSECUTED IN OTHER LANDS; THE PROBLEM OF THE JEWS IN GERMANY, CANNOT BE SOLVED BY WHATEVER WILL BE DONE IN PALESTINE.
“WE MUST FACE REALITIES AND WE MUST INSIST UPON THE FACT THAT THE SIN OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION WHICH IT CARRIES ON ITS CONSCIENCE IS THE INJUSTICE TO THE JEW. THE JEWISH PROBLEM MUST BE SOLVED IN THE LANDS IN WHICH THE MASSES OF JEWS LIVE, AND IT CAN ONLY BE SOLVED BY THE RECOGNITION OF CHRISTENDOM’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE EQUALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO WHICH THE JEW IS ENTITLED.”
TO THE CONCEPTION OF A JEWISH NATION, DR. SCHULMAN OPPOSED HIS VIEW OF ISRAEL AS A PURELY RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY, WITH JEWS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD OWING POLITICAL ALLEGIANCE EACH TO THE COUNTRY WHERE HE LIVES. THIS IS THE TRUE PICTURE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, AND AT THE SAME TIME THE WISEST FROM THE STANDPOINT OF STATESMANSHIP, DR. SCHULMAN HELD.
“NATIONALISM,” HE WROTE, “IS ABOUT THE WORST CONCEPTION WITH WHICH ISRAEL CAN BE CALLED UPON TO OPERATE…. NATIONALISM BRISTLES WITH RACIAL ANIMOSITIES.”
CITING NAZI GERMANY AS AN EXAMPLE OF EXTREME NATIONALISM, HE DECLARED “IF SUCH NATIONALISM IS BAD IN GERMANY IT IS BAD IN PALESTINE.” HE TOOK ISSUE WITH THE VIEW EXPRESSED IN THE TIMES EDITORIAL ON THE ROYAL COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS, THAT THE QUESTION OF THE WISDOM OF ZIONISM LOSES SIGNIFICANCE IN THE FACE OF THE FACT THAT 400,000 JEWS ARE NOW LIVING IN PALESTINE.
“AFTER ALL,” SAID DR. SCHULMAN, “FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF ISRAEL, 400,000 INDIVIDUALS ARE A COMPARATIVELY SMALL NUMBER WHEN ISRAEL — FAR FLUNG ALL OVER THE WORLD — IS MADE UP OF SIXTEEN AND ONE-HALF MILLION.”
DR. SCHULMAN TOOK ISSUE WITH DR. JUDAH L. MAGNES, PRESIDENT OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY IN JERUSALEM, ON HIS STATEMENT IN A LETTER TO THE TIMES THAT “ALL FAILED — JEW, ARAB AND THE ENGLISH.” JEWS AND ARABS MAY HAVE FAILED, HE SAID, BUT NOT THE ENGLISH, VOICING A BELIef that “taking it all in all, the Jew can still trust British statesmanship.”
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