To the Editor, Jewish Daily Bulletin:
I was very much interested in reading the letter by J. Brodsky in your issue of August 20 regarding Bernard S. Deutsch’s praise of the Mexican government. I want to thoroughly endorse Mr. Brodsky’s rebuke to Mr. Deutsch. From what I have observed Mr. Deutsch, along with other officials of the American Jewish Congress, have not shown very much tact or diplomacy as Jewish leaders. It is all very well for Mr. Deutsch, Dr. Stephen S. Wise and others to issue passionate appeals for Christian assistance in fighting discrimination against the Jews, but they seem to forget that there is a quid pro quo in such matters and that it is sometimes incumbent upon Jews to protest against the persecution of Christians wherever such persecution may occur.
Mr. Deutsch’s behavior is all the more amazing when it is remembered that a few weeks previous to his sailing for Mexico the Board of Alderman of the City of New York adopted a resolution protesting against the persecution of Catholics in Mexico and requesting the Mexican government to call a halt to such persecution, a resolution which, it is rumored, was inspired by Mr. Deutsch himself!
Mr. Deutsch has seemingly placed himself in the position where he has committed the American Jewish Congress to a tacit approval of the anti-religious policy of the Mexican government. This is no light matter to be poohpooed by some of our very self-centered leaders in the American Jewish Congress, for some day, and it may not be very far off, American Catholics will remember this incident when the Congress arranges another monster mass-meeting in protest against anti-Semitism.
We Jews—some of us, in any case, must rid ourselves of the dangerous notion that we are the only people in the world, at least the only people that are being persecuted, and that nothing counts so long as we can get Protestants and Catholics to give a ready ear to our woes. Let us also not forget that Catholics are far from happy in Mexico, Spain and Russia and that Jews ought to lend a ready ear to these Catholic woes in the same measure that they expect Catholics to listen to their own tribulations.
Max Epstein.
Brooklyn, N. Y.
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.
