“Two points must be clearly understood with regard to the Russian aspect of the Allied Jewish Campaign. First, that it is not for purposes of Jewish agricultural work in Russia which is being provided for through the generosity of certain American Jews under the leadership of Julius Rosenwald, and secondly, that the tremendous need of the work in Russia is in regard to the ‘lishentze’.
“I would like to burn the word ‘lishentze’ into the hearts of every Jew in America. If that were possible I feel certain the campaign would be completed in a week. The word ‘lishentze’ meaning ‘outcast’ is applied to Jews and Christians alike. The ‘lishentze’ are those who do not produce, the tradesman, the banker, the middleman, the owner of a store. Anyone in these categories before the Revolution is classed as ‘lishentze’, outcast.
“The ‘lishentze’ are of particular concern to Jews because the law against them falls most heavily upon the Russian Jews since the vast majority of the non-Jews were and remain peasants and workers while there are 300,000 Jewish ‘lishentze’, 300,000 outcasts without a vote, without bread and with no legal or civil rights, not even to enter a hospital when sick.
“The stigma of ‘lishentze’ falls hard on the children of the outcasts for they are denied admission to the schools.
“Despite the tremendous difficulties about $50 can transform a ‘lishentze’ family into producers by supplying it with a hand machine that makes stockings and other artcles desperately needed in Russia. The obtaining of funds with which to buy these machines which will remove the stigma and overwhelming handicap of ‘lishentze’ from 300,000 Jews is one of the aims of the Allied Jewish Campaign.”
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.
