Jews must take part in life outside the confines of Judaism insofar as possible, an editorial in the Bulletin of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Prussia suggests.
“If every person is duty-bound to concern himself with the cultural development of his time,” the editorial says, “then the Jew must embrace all the manifestations of the time with his gaze and with living participation.”
Maintaining that Goethe, Hegel and Beethoven belong to Jews and non-Jews alike, the statement declares it would be “pathetic” if the Jews “should withdraw into the narrow circle of our own Jewish values because our right to this cultural association is disputed.”
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.
