We are hated for our wealth, and for our poverty”, writes Ludwig Lewisohn, the author of “Up Stream”; “for our plutocrats and for our Reds, for arrogance and servility, for speech and silence”.
His article “The Jew Meditates” to appear in The Nation for February 20, rejects assimilation as a solution. The Jews will remain an intellectual minority, a minority that protests because of its high sensitiveness and high power of expressiveness through the arts”.
“Our expressions of material power are always second rate”, he says. “The greatest bankers, the biggest merchants, the most powerful obligarchs are not Jews. The greatest fiddlers are Jews; some of the greatest living poets and scientists are Jews”.
“The Jew’s salvation”, Mr. Lewisohn concludes, “must come from the acceptance of his essential fate or mission – the mission of international peace and freedom.”
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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.
