The Jews object fiercely to being accepted, assimilated and received on a footing of complete equality with other citizens of the countries to which they belong. They insist upon having their anti-Semitic cake and eating it, writes Ernest Boyd in the January issue of the “American Spectator.”
Mr. Boyd declares that he has arrived at this conclusion on the basis of the comments of the Jews on what is transpiring in Soviet Russia.
“Russia once shared with Poland the proud distinction of having the most bestial record of cruelty to the Jews of any country in modern Europe,” Mr. Boyd writes. “Today in Russia anti-Semitism is a crime. One might imagine that this fact would be more than gratifying to the Chosen People outside the U.S.S.R., but such is not the case.”
Mr. Boyd states: “The New York Herald Tribune made its contribution to the last Yom Kippur celebrations by printing the statement that ‘the most devastatingly effective pogrom in history is in full swing in Russia. Not the Jew but his Judaism is the victim’.” He refers also to the controversy aroused in rabbinical circles by the statement of George Bernard Shaw that “those Jews who still want to be the chosen race—chosen by the late Lord Balfour—can go to Palestine and stew in their own juice. The rest had better stop being Jews and start being human beings.” “This illogical desire to be identified with the community in which they live, while emphasizing everything in themselves which marks them off as different is one from which the Jews can expect little sympathy from their intelligent friends,” Mr. Boyd comments.
“The calm assumption that a Jew ceases to be a Jew when he abandons Judaism is about as preposterous as it would be to assume that a German is not a German when he ceases to be a Lutheran,” Mr. Boyd holds. “It is obvious that the rabbis must defend their trade, and one no more expects from them an impartial judgment in this matter than from the clergy of other religions when their livelihood is at stake. But laymen ought to face the issue rationally. Do they or do they not desire that equality of treatment from Gentiles which enlightened tolerance demands of them?
“If they wish to remain Children of Israel, then they need not be surprised if the world takes them at their word and treats them accordingly. They should welcome ostracism and keep strictly to themselves,” asserts Mr. Boyd.
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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.
