The suggestion that Jews all over the world should wear a yellow Mogen David on their garments “and thus turn the badge of shame to a sign of brotherhood and honor,” was advanced here today by Dr. J.L. Magnes, President of the Hebrew University, addressing the opening ceremony of the University’s sixteenth academic year.
Dr. Magnes devoted most of his address to the present war situation and spoke of the necessity of conscription in Palestine. “Lacking such conscription,” he said, “my direct reply to the question of whether unmarried men between twenty and thirty years of age should enlist is: Yes. Furthermore, everyone of the Hebrew University should register for service, and the university should investigate the qualifications of each and should endeavor to determine the kind of war service each might do best.
“The rules and regulations applied in England should be our guide with such modifications as time and place require,” Dr. Magnes continued. “I would like especially to emphasize one thing – mobilization of scientists in and out of the Hebrew University for war purposes, because there is no doubt that they can be of real service to the government, army, industry and agriculture as well as to the war effort in general both in Palestine and all over the Middle East.” Dr. Megnes opened his address with a eulogy of the late M.M. Ussishkin who is buried in Nikanor’s Cave on the Hebrew University grounds.
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.
