A dinner was tendered on Thursday evening to Felix M. Warburg, on the occasion of his forthcoming departure to spend the Passover holidays in Palestine. The dinner was held at the Unity Club, Brooklyn, under the auspices of the Union Temple and Temple Shaare Zedek, both affiliated with the Reform wing of Jewry. Besides the guest of honor, the speakers were Justice Mitchell May, honorary chairman of the Brooklyn Division of the United Palestine Appeal, and Dr. Louis D. Gross, rabbi of Union Temple and chairman of the Eastern Parkway Division of the United Palestine Appeal, who presided. A film of Palestine life was shown.
Mr. Warburg in his address sharply arraigned those who refuse to participate in Palestine endeaver. They are dooming themselves and their children to spiritual poverty, he stated. Palestine offers the richest inspiration to Jewry, he said. He affirmed his confidence in the men at the Zionist helm, mentioning Dr. Weizmann and Colonel Kisch. He took to task the critics of the work already accomplished in Palestine for their unwillingness to take into consideration the meagreness of the resources and the difficulties of the undertaking. He pointed to Palestine as the land which can fructify the dry spots in other countries where Jews live.
“Upstairs.” he declared, “you probably have the flower of your flock playing poker or something equally unimportant. Is there nothing more in the world than auto riding, golf clubs and bad scores? Is there nothing more important than buying a new mashie or a new hat? Life can be so rich. If I have done anything, I have not done it by sitting at home playing bridge. People to me are the most beautiful flowers in the world. Life in Palestine is three times as rich and healthful as it is in New York. Life there is rich but it is also hard.”
Addressing himself to those “who ride in automobiles and go to Atlantic City in mink coats,” he declared: “Palestine can be made self-supporting and it is self-respecting. There are no “schnorrers’ in Palestine and there are no snobs.”
As an illustration of the democracy existing there, he pointed to the intimate friendship between a chauffeur in Jerusalem and the son of Sir Herbert Samuel. Both were members of the Jewish Legion.
Taking to task those who refuse to lend support to Palestine, Mr. Warburg declared: “The Reform element thinks itself smart when it says, ‘How can we Americans take an interest in Palestine?’ It is nonsense. Palestine is a place where the Jews can live. With the Jews outnumbered by the Arabs, 700,000 to 160,000, there is no overwhelming danger of the immediacy of a Jewish state. There is no (Continued on Page 4)
danger lurking to the 120% Americans who say they cannot give because they cannot jeopardize the Americanism of their children. What you don’t put into children’s lives you cannot take oct.” he warned. “It is foolishness for the reform element to think they can give anything to their children if they do not get any ideology into themselves. They are poor things, deemed to go through life in poverty and their children will be worse.”
The men at the Zionist helm are worthy of trust, he stated. They have given themselves unsparingly for the good of their people. “Dr. W(##) he said, “is no feel. He has a marvelous bruin. He and his immediate encourage are held in the highest regard by the English government.
“There is too, a young prosperous lawyer. Louis Marshall. And he is no fool either. He resisted Zionism for a long while. But when we could meet on a common platform we joined readily. I wish you could hear Marshall talk on Palestine.
“You hear criticism of the things already done in Palestine. It is very easy to criticize. I ask the critics what they would have done if they did not know where the money for the next step was to come from. Sorrounded by doubters and enemies with small means at their disposal despite great difficulties, marked progress has been made in Palestine.
“Primarily I am interested in the reaction of the Jews in America and elsewhere to Palestine. I felt an inspiration in Palestine which cannot be duplicated elsewhere. I want to assure you that I have taken more from Palestine than I have contributed or shall ever be able to. I am convinced that there is no country with as many possibilities for fructifying the dry spots in other lands as has Palestine.”
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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.
