Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative. Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval–Editor.]

That the Jews, who have made such a splendid record in regard to charity and have done well in the field of religious work, building new temples, religious institutions of all kinds, etc., are backward in that line of endeavor which aims at uniting religion with the social activities of the youth, is the assertion of the “Jewish Morning Journal” (Jan. 14) which comments on the financial report of the Young Men’s Christian Association which has just been published. The paper declares:

“The national association of Christian youth shows property valued at over $225,000,000, of which forty million constitutes the total of its property in numerous foreign countries, while its property, in the form of buildings, endowments, etc., in the United States constitutes $185,000,000!

“Compare this wealth with the property of our Young Men’s Hebrew Associations, the Young Israel Synagogues, the Young Judaca, and you will see the spiritual-religious poverty of the Jews in America. Precisely in the field where encouragement is so necessary, where the strengthening of the Jewish religious spirit can have such good results, we are altogether backward. The Christian young men who are not fraid to place themselves under the influence of their religion in their social activities, are supported so liberally that their organization has even begun to exert an attraction for Jewish youth. The organizations of Jewish youth which seek to imitate those Christian organizations are less Jewish than those are Christian, and wherever Judaism is taken in real earnest the support is small and hard to secure. In charity we give much more than one cent for their dollar. Why should our religious youth not have a couple of million where they have hundreds of millions?”

CHARGES ANTI-SEMITIC CONSPIRACY AGAINST JEWISH CHESS CHAMPION

The charge that there is an anti-Semitic movement among the chess players, aimed especially at ousting Dr. Emanuel Lasker, the famous Jewish chess champion of the world for twenty-seven years, is made in the “Day” (Jan. 14) by Charles Jaffe, noted chess expert of New York. Referring to the international chess tournaments of recent years, Mr. Jaffe writes:

“This year again an international chess tournament has been arranged to take place in New York in February. And wonder of wonders! Neither Dr. Lasker nor Bogoliubov, the Russian champion, are mentioned among the six picked champions who are to participate in the tournament. What is the reason? Who is responsible for the failure to invite such world famous chess players?

“Anti-Semitism is a great, if not the chief factor in the situation. There is a persecution against Jewish chess players which is due first to the fact that they are Jews and secondly because they are such dangerous competitors.”

Mr. Jaffe describes what he terms a conspiracy, dating back 15 years and originating in this country, on the part of the supporters of Capablanca to oust Lasker. Bogoliubov, who is not a Jew, declined to accept the invitation to the New York tournament, we are told, when he learned of the move against Lasker, who is his friend.