Letter to the Editor

To the Editor of the Jewish Daily Bulletin:

I desire to withdraw a passage printed on pages 388 and 389 of my book “The Spirit of World Politics,” as based on insufficient evidence, and as disputed by strong counter evidence now brought to my attention. This passage referred to Professor Albert Einstein’s address in New York on March 4, 1931, from which I quoted, on the strength of my memory, two sentences as follows:

“To bring about an understanding between Jews and Arabs is not the responsibility of Great Britain; it is the responsibility of the Jews. And to reach such an understanding is not less important than the building of new institutions in Palestine.”

I then remarked that “In the English translation as read to the audience, the second of these two statements was omitted.”

Mr. A. H. Fromenson, who was the executive secretary of the American Palestine Campaign under whose auspices Professor Einstein made the address, points out that Professor Einstein’s written address from which the translation was made, does not contain the second sentence; and that neither does that sentence appear in the translation of the stenographic notes made from Einstein’s spoken words. This evidence shakes my confidence in my memory of the event, and in the absence of conclusive support, I shall withdraw from my text all reference to that second sentence.

With it will go the remark regarding the omission of that sentence from the translation. I desire especially to apologize to Mr. Fromenson and to those in charge of the meeting for the suggestion of the word “omitted” that there may have been an error in translating, or an elision of Einstein’s word or some other failure in the effort to give a precise rendering of his statement. I am satisfied that there was no such defect or failure, and that every precaution was taken to secure a complete and exact record of his words.

William Ernest Hocking.

Cambridge, Mass.