Misconception of Jews Must Be Combatted, Rabbi Wolsey Tells Jewish Chatauqua Society

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

“We Jews have maintained an altogether too supine and pacifistic attitude about non-Jewish misconceptions of us,” declared Rabbi Louis Wolsey of Philadelphia before the thirty-ninth annual convention of the Jewish Chatauqua Society here, in his address which featured the “University Evening” of the assembly.

Rabbi Wolsey stated that the Jewish Chatauqua has done more to dissipate false ideas about Judaism than any other agency with the exception of the rabbinical seminaries. “By its university work,” he said, “the Jewish Chatauqua is doing a service not alone to the Jew by deepening his Jewish consciousness, but also to the non-Jewish world which needs to know what the Jew has to teach.

“In the face of the attempt to Protestantize our schools, the work of the Jewish Chatauqua becomes increasingly important. If we can make known to America what is the spirit of religious freedom we will come closer to the realization of that freedom.” As chancellor of the society, Rabbi Wolsey made a plea for its endowment. “Such an undertaking,” he said, “would be a splendid investment in Jewish culture and brotherhood in America.”

Rabbi Felix Levy, of Chicago, in discussing the university work of the Chatauqua, contended that the erroneous ideas about the Jews which exist persistently in non-Jewish minds can be counteracted only by a true teaching of Judaism. He suggested that Jews establish a university chair whose function it would be to present the spiritual contributions of the Jew, aside from their reference to and connections with Christianity.

Doctor Harry Ettelson, of Memphis, Tenn., who presided, pleaded for a deepening of Jewish consciousness. “We were meant to give the Bible to the world, but not away to the world,” he declared.