Letters to the Editor

To the Editor of the Jewish Daily Bulletin:

Events in Germany have stimulated Jewish thinking in many directions, such as the boycott, settlement in Palestine, rehabilitation, and the fighting of anti-Semitism in all its ugly shapes both abroad and here among us.

As a student and admirer of the genius of our German brethren, my thought and desire has gone out into yet another direction. All the work which they have done in Jewish history, scholarship, research, in the study of Judaism and its underlying philosophy and principles—what is to become of these glorious achievements? Shall they remain forever locked up in the German in which they were written, or shall they be made accessible to American Jewry in Hebrew and English translation? Certainly, in our effort to salvage German Jewry, we should not neglect or forget the cultural and spiritual accomplishments of that most brilliant of all Jewries! Institutions of learning and private scholars should consider it their sacred duty to get to work as soon as possible and prepare translations of the great works that are now accessible only to those who understand German. Zunz, Steinschneider, Kohn, Baeck, Karpeles, Ellbogen, Perles, and a host of others must be translated into English, as an act of cultural salvaging as well as an enrichment of American Jewry. I am looking forward to the organization of a committee to carry on this work. Perhaps the American Jewish Committee, or a committee of our institutions of higher learning should be convened to get the project going. Never before was the moral compulsion for such a project stronger and more insistent. Let American Jewry rise to the height of this occasion, and respond to the call.

Dr. Julius L. Siegel, Rabbi Humboldt Blvd. Temple, Chicago