World Press Digest

Rabbi S. Felix Mendelsohn, in an editorial in The Chicago Sentmel, writes on the popularity of Jewish knowledge as follows:

Anyone who has tried to obtain information on Jewish subjects will readily testify to the great difficulties which are connected with this seemingly simple task. The reason is obvious. We lack good reference books on Jews and Judaism in English. The Jewish Encyclopedia is the first of its kind ever published and it is therefore incomplete in many respects and unsuited for popular purposes — outside of the fact that it was concluded in 1905 and is therefore largely out of date. German Jewry has in this respect been more progressive than we are. A five volume Jewish encyclopedia (under the title Juedisches Lexicon) was published in 1930 and a larger work (under the title Encyclopedia Judaica) is still in the process of publication.

Those who are interested in obtaining Jewish information in English will therefore be pleased to hear of the recent publication of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Knowledge in one volume under the editorship of Jacob De Haas (Behrman’s Jewish Book House, New York). This single volume is a treasure-trove of Jewish lore. It contains multum in parvo. It treats every subject pertaining to Jewish life and tradition briefly, but the information given in most cases is satisfactory, and those who desire to go deeper into any subject will be able to quench their thirst through the bibliography given at the end of the volume.

GOLDENSON PRAISED ON ‘MODEST RECORD’

Under the title, “High Standards of Religious Leadership, the Boston Jewish Advocate writes editorially:

Dr. Samuel H. Goldenson, rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El in New York, is celebrating his first year’s activities in the largest Jewish community of the world. Congratulations are richly deserved because Rabbi Goldenson is setting a high standard of religious leadership in this country.

There is something very refreshing in a rabbi concentrating his gifts and devoting his energies to religious matters. A large number of our rabbis regard themselves as modern reincarnations of Leonardo da Vinci. They insist on dazzling their respective congregations with their versatility.

Thus we find rabbis combining the offices of dramatic critic, book reviewer, communal lay leader, editorial writer, columnist and art connoisseur, as well as political expert, all in one. The sermons of this rabbinical specimen are usually dependent on the front page of the newspaper.

Sermons on religious or purely spiritual subjects which require scholarly research instead of the coining of meaningless phrases on more or less topical subjects are extremely rare. Many of these rabbis could teach our publicity men a trick or two on how to break into the news columns.

Rabbi Goldenson’s dignified, scholarly and modest record at Temple Emanu-El stamps him as the foremost rabbi in this country. He may not have any definite views on the latest O’Neill play, but he is the religious leader of his community in the best sense of the word.

PAINTS MAIMONIDES AS ERA’S FIRST DOCTOR

The Orthodox Union, published by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, speaking about the Maimonides celebrations in America, says:

Maimonides is a most colorful subject for research, since he was a philosopher, teacher, writer, judge, scientist, scholar, statesman, and rabbi. In addition to all these activities, he found time to be the greatest doctor of his day, serving as court physician to Saladin, and invited by Richard the Lion-Hearted to come to England and become his private physician. Saladin, the leader of the Saracens in the Crusades, and Richard, the leader of the Christians, are generally regarded as the two outstanding personalities of the time, but Maimonides equalled them, if he did not surpass them, in greatness.

Among many volumes dealing with the Rambam’s life and work which have been announced for publication in connection with the octocentennial celebration, the Winchell-Thomas Company of Boston is issuing: “Maimonides—His Life and Genius,” translated by Dr. Henry Schnittkind from the German of Dr. U. Munz.

HITLER’S PERSONALITY OF DUAL DESCRIPTION

The Leeds Mercury, writing on Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy, says

Can we assure ourselves that this anti-Semitism is just a kink in Hitler’s brain, and that on all other subjects of politics he is lucid and fair-minded? Can we say to ourselves, “Here is a man who has declared in several great speeches that he desires peace. How can we doubt him.”

The difficulty is that this man speaks with two voices. Sometimes he is persuasive and peace-loving. Sometimes he is brusque and arrogant, like the traditional diplomacy of his country. I do not say he is a humbug, a man trying to whip up his people for war, and to assure other peoples that nothing of the sort is happening.

He is not a hypocrite, but a man who speaks with two voices because he is in two minds. He is deeply sincere in his belief that Germany deserves to be treated as an honorable and well-disposed nation. He believes that the claims he has put forward at Geneva have had justice and reason behind them. And there are times when he believes that such claims cannot but be granted. He then speaks to us gently.

But when he looks round the world, when he sees how much hostility remains, and how much his own people are suffering from shortage of food and raw materials, and of markets for their produce, it seems to me that he thinks Germany will never have the freedom she deserves unless she fights for it, and so he sanctions all the armament preparations which are going on throughout his country. He is a double personality.