“I say to my friends, the non-Zionists: I bid you forget all past differences and stand shoulder to shoulder with all Jewry in support of the great work of rebuilding Palestine.”
This was the plea for harmony voiced by Louis Marshall in his first address on the rebuilding of Palestine since the consummation of the recent accord on the Jewish Agency.
Mr. Marshall was the guest of honor at a dinner of the Far Rockaway Division of the United Palestine Appeal, held Sunday night at the Congregation Shaaray Tefila Center, Far Rockaway.
A total of $35,000 was raised at the dinner.
“Those who have during many years borne the brunt of the battle for a restored Palestine, had noble ideals, noble motives; there was nothing of selfishness in their entire theory and practice,” Mr. Marshall declared. “They believed that it was really one of the missions of the Jews once more to take up a home in Palestine, to help rebuilding the waste places, to give those who desired to live there that opportunity, so that they might live the lives that they desired to pursue.
“Why,” asked Mr. Marshall, “should I object to an enterprise which has led to the working out of such a theory? Why should I be opposed to it? Why should I comment against it? Why should I not sympathize with that ideal? I have never been able to understand that. You know all that I am not and never have been a Zionist. You all know that I belong to a Reform congregation, that I am President of Temple Emanu-El, and yet I find of interest, everything that has taken possession of the Jewish mind, not only in our days, but in the days gone by. I do not feel it inconsistent to be connected with a great reform congregation and at the same time President of an orthodox seminary. Both preach and practice the principles of our sacred faith. Both are intended to glorify God–both serve Judaism.
LAUDS ZIONIST ACHIEVEMENTS
“Zionism has accomplished marvels in the past twenty-five years,” Mr. Marshall continued.
“They have brought about a renaissance of Jewish learning and scholarship which has once more made Hebrew a living language. It has given a people who were at one time indifferent to our history something to live up to and to look for. It has been responsible for the creation of a great University, the foundation of what will be one of the great scats of learning in the world, in Jerusalem, and the Jews have become more idealistic in consequence of it.”
“The fact,” said Mr. Marshall, “that one differs with certain theoretical and academic aspects of the movement should be no reason for failing to unite with those who are desirous of building up the Holy Land and restoring its usefulness and beauty, and grandeur that is but natural.
“I should be ashamed of myself as a man, if I felt that because a majority of the Jews of certain parts of the world, did not desire to carry out that ideal, that I should be opposed to them or their ideals. There are those, who say: ‘We have no use for political Zionism. We do not desire a Jewish state.’ Well that is a perfectly proper point of view. But that is entirely unimportant, when we are considering the question as to whether Palestine should be rebuilt. There is no danger of a Jewish state being organized there within our time. Nobody who is saying it has an idea that it would be practicable. We are satisfied, all of us who have sympathy for Palestine in giving those an opportunity to live there, who can be enabled to earn a livelihood there, and become economically independent. Nobody is obliged to become a member of a state, which does not exist and which will not exist until the time shall arrive when the Jews may be in the majority of Palestine. They have no majority now, and there is no likelihood that there will be a majority for many, many years to come. Their situation will be then, if that will arrive, just what the situation of any people is in the United States today. Majority govern generally, and if there were a majority of Jews in Far Rockaway, or in any of the surrounding towns, and they should decide to elect Jews to offices, that would be within the legitimate bounds of the political system which prevails in every civilized country. So don’t be afraid, my good friends, who have heretofore objected to Zionism on the ground that you do not believe in a Jewish state.”
CRITICIZES PRITCHETT REPORT
Referring to the report of Dr. Pritchett on Palestine, Mr. Marshall declared that “this report made after one week’s stay in Palestine contained a note of sarcasm that should not be found in any report, even that of a professor.” The report, he added, plainly showed an attempt to create ill feeling between Arabs and Jews, and its findings on agricultural colonization are negatived by the reports of agricultural experts who have made thorough and protracted studies of the colonies.
“Dr. Pritchett has also intimated that if Palestine were rehabilitated, it would inflate the racial ego of the Jews,” Mr. Marshall said.
“Well, let us rehabilitate it. I am willing to take my chances with the racial ego.
“After I read that report,” Mr. Marshall said, “I was strengthened in my conviction and I said to myself, that anything that can be done to advance the Palestine cause should be done at once.”
“Before many days,” he declared, “the commission of agricultural, financial and industrial experts will be named for Palestine to make a survey of conditions there, and it is hoped through their findings to work out some practicable plan, by which the work of Palestine development could be accelerated.”
The story of the heroism of the Chaluzim of Palestine, he added, constitutes a chapter in Jewish history, which should bring a thrill to every Jew. Sometimes they have not bread to eat, but they sing the songs of Zion.
“I am not ordinarily in the habit of asking this question, but what will the world say, if American Jewry should now withdraw its support, and say we’ll have none of it, and the whole effort would fail, no such opportunity will again be offered to the Jewish people. The Palestine ideal,” he further declared, “not only represents the fulfillment of the Jewish yearning of the ages, but it has the support of many of the great men, regardless of creed, who recognize the poetry of this movement we call Zionism.
“We have enemies enough from without,” Mr. Marshall concluded, “virulent, enemies, relentless enemies and in every country of the world and it is therefore meet and proper that we should have a realizing sense of the importance of presenting a united front to those enemies, and more especially to cooperate as our fathers and mothers did in the olden days when they recognized that there was nothing, no greater blessing nor duty than that of preserving unity within our ranks.”
Others who spoke were John S. Liebowitz, chairman of the United Palestine Appeal for the Rockaways; Leon Lautenstein, vice-chairman, and Dr. Norman Salit, Rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Tefila. About 300 persons were present.
Contributions of $42,000 to the United Palestine Appeal were announced at a dinner at the Imperial Mansion, Brooklyn Sunday night. Judge Otto A. Rosalsky was the guest of honor. At another dinner at the Savoy Mansion it was announced that $13,500 of the $15,000 quota for the Mapleton Park district had been raised. Supreme Court Justice Mitchell May was guest of honor at the latter function.
The Congregation Sons of Israel led all synagogues in Bensonhurst, contributing $13,000. The Yeshiva of Bensonhurst turned in $6,000. The Bensonhurst Women’s Division remitted $7,000. Leading individual contributors include Lee Levy and Morris L. Baird, $4,000; Isaac Meister, $3,500; Irwin S. Chanin, $2,500; Estate of L, Landesberg and A. Kaplan & Sons, $1,000 each; Samuel Kramer and Abe Cohen, Herman Neaderland, Jacob Dunn, A. Mazer, Max Kaplan, Frank Shavitz, Louis N. Jaffe and I. Greenwald, $500 each. Mrs. L, Goldstein, chairman of the Keren Hayesod Women’s League, turned in $2,000 for her group at the Mapleton Park dinner.
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.
