Tributes to Memory of Louis Marshall at Week-end Services

The Sabbath services in many synagogues in New York and throughout the country this week-end were devoted to tributes to the late Louis Marshall.

Dr. Nathan Krass, rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Manhattan, speaking at the Bensonhurst Jewish Community House, Rabbi Israel Herbert Levinthal at the Brooklyn Jewish Centre, and Lewis M. Neikrug, speaking at the Jewish Centre of Jackson Heights, paid tribute to the late leader at the Friday evening services.

“The versatility of Louis Marshall was remarkable,” Dr. Krass said. “He was a great lawyer. One of his hobbies was the Constitution of the United States, which to him appeared as a sacred document. He believed that its fundamental principles would change when human nature would undergo radical transformation. He espoused the cause of the humblest, of the Negro or Indian, of the socialist or atheist, if he felt convinced that these were deprived in the mildest manner of their constitutional rights.

“Mr. Marshall was a fine philanthropist. No human cause demanding money or service was alien to him. He made no distinction on the basis of creed, color or race. In the herculean labors which brought about the collection of almost $100,000,000 for the relief of the war-stricken Jews abroad, Louis Marshall was among the mighty leaders.

“He was a great Jew. President of the board of trustees of the Jewish Theological Seminary and of Temple Emanu-El, he illustrated in his life the value and significance of religion. Judaism was his source of spiritual inspiration. He loved God and labored for the welfare of his fellow-man.

“Mr. Marshall was a man of culture. He knew the literature of many lands and read the classic tomes in the original. He was stern and serious, yet abounding in the comic spirit. He appreciated the good in all men and laughed without bitterness at their foibles.”

“No man can be truly great, great in the sense that he has won for himself the love and esteem of his people,” said Rabbi Levinthal. “unless he be endowed with real character. Marshall was possessed of all those noble traits that go to make such character. The second element of his greatness is to be found in his intense Jewishness, his passionate adherence to his faith and loyalty to his people.

“With the American restriction of immigration and with the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, Marshall came to see the need of the Jewish Homeland in Palestine as the great hope of world Israel. With an intensity and devotion such as he alone was capable to give, he threw himself into this

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work and became the prime mover, with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, in the formation of the Jewish Agency.”

Mr. Neikrug said in part: “Louis Marshall’s first real national interest in Jewish affairs began at the time of the Jewish massacres by the Russians in 1904. He was one of the leaders in the organization of the American Jewish Committee, which has since functioned as the official spokesman of American Jewry.”

The memorial services under the auspices of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the American Jewish Committee and Temple Emanu-El were held Sunday at the Temple. A full report will appear in the next issue.