Part 1
THE MENORAH JOURNAL
[Illustration]
VOLUME I NO. 1
JANUARY 1915
Greetings: From Dr. CYRUS ADLER, LOUIS D. BRANDEIS, Professor RICHARD GOTTHEIL, Dr. JOSEPH JACOBS, Dr. KAUFMAN KOHLER, Justice IRVING LEHMAN, Judge JULIAN W. MACK, Dr. J. L. MAGNES, Dr. MARTIN A. MEYER, Dr. DAVID PHILIPSON, Dr. SOLOMON SCHECHTER, JACOB H. SCHIFF, and Dr. STEPHEN S. WISE
A Call to the Educated Jew LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
Menorah: A Poem WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD
The Jews in the War JOSEPH JACOBS
Jewish Students in European Universities HARRY WOLFSON
The Twilight of Hebraic Culture MAX L. MARGOLIS
Days of Disillusionment SAMUEL STRAUSS
Three University Addresses--President ARTHUR T. HADLEY of Yale University, Chancellor ELMER E. BROWN of New York University, President CHARLES W. DABNEY of the University of Cincinnati
The Menorah Movement HENRY HURWITZ
From College and University: Reports from Menorah Societies
PUBLISHED BY THE INTERCOLLEGIATE MENORAH ASSOCIATION 600 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK -:- -:- -:- 25 CTS. A COPY
INTERCOLLEGIATE MENORAH ASSOCIATION
For the Study and Advancement of Jewish Culture and Ideals
OFFICERS
Chancellor HENRY HURWITZ 600 Madison Avenue, New York
President I. LEO SHARFMAN University of Michigan First Vice-President
MOSES BARRON University of Minnesota
Second Vice-President LEON J. ROSENTHAL Cornell University
Secretary ISADOR BECKER University of Michigan
Treasurer J. K. MILLER Penn State College
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL
Composed of Representatives, one each, from every constituent Menorah Society (The Representatives for 1915 will be announced in the next issue of The Menorah Journal)
There are Menorah Societies now at the following Colleges and Universities:
Boston University Brown University Clark University College of City of New York Columbia University Cornell University Harvard University Hunter College Johns Hopkins University New York University Ohio State University Penn State College Radcliffe College Rutgers College Tufts College University of California University of Chicago University of Cincinnati University of Colorado University of Denver University of Illinois University of Maine University of Michigan University of Minnesota University of Missouri University of North Carolina University of Omaha University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Texas University of Washington University of Wisconsin Valparaiso University Western Reserve University Yale University
Office of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association 600 Madison Avenue, New York
THE MENORAH JOURNAL
VOLUME I JANUARY, 1915 NUMBER 1
An Editorial Statement
THE MENORAH JOURNAL, in its efforts to carry forward the aims and aspirations of the Menorah movement, will necessarily be far more than merely an "official organ" for the Menorah Societies. That function, indeed, becomes increasingly important as the Menorah Societies multiply in number and influence throughout the country. In this special appeal to Menorah members, however, the Journal will be more than a news medium; it will supply important material for study and discussion, and stimulate thinking and active effort in behalf of Menorah ideals. And inasmuch as the furtherance of Menorah ideals means the advancement of American Jewry and the spread of Hebraic culture, the Journal should appeal to every one in America who sympathises with these purposes. The Journal will be conducted with this general appeal always in mind--with the desire, indeed, to make it a model publication dealing with Jewish life and thought. To publish a periodical that shall measure up to this high standard, with its accompanying influence and power, is one of the aspirations of the Menorah movement; and the Menorah auspices and conditions are so peculiarly favorable to the achievement of this ambition as to lend every encouragement to the effort that will be put forth to make the Journal a genuinely significant publication for the whole of American Jewry.
For conceived as it is and nurtured as it must continue to be in the spirit that gave birth to the Menorah idea, the Menorah Journal is under compulsion to be absolutely non-partisan, an expression of all that is best in Judaism and not merely of some particular sect or school or locality or group of special interests; fearless in telling the truth; promoting constructive thought rather than aimless controversy; animated with the vitality and enthusiasm of youth; harking back to the past that we may deal more wisely with the present and the future; recording and appreciating Jewish achievement, not to brag, but to bestir ourselves to emulation and to deepen the consciousness of _noblesse oblige_; striving always to be sane and level-headed; offering no opinions of its own, but providing an orderly platform for the discussion of mooted questions that really matter; dedicated first and foremost to the fostering of the Jewish "humanities" and the furthering of their influence as a spur to human service.
It will undoubtedly prove necessary on more than one occasion in the future to emphasize again the fact that the Journal is an unqualifiedly non-partisan forum for the discussion of Jewish problems; and that accordingly neither the Menorah Journal nor the Menorah Societies are to be regarded as standing sponsor for the views expressed in these columns by contributors. Nor will the Journal have any editorials expressing the views of its editors or of the Menorah organization,--particularly since the Menorah organization takes no official stand on mooted subjects. The editorial policy will be one of fairness in giving equal hospitality to opposing views; and space will gladly be given to reasonable letters or articles that take exception to statements or opinions published in these pages.
The Journal is singularly fortunate in having enlisted the co-operation of the distinguished leaders of Jewish life and thought who comprise its Board of Consulting Editors. The assurances already in hand of important articles to come from our Consulting Editors and from other notable men and women, both Jewish and non-Jewish, lend strength to the editorial confidence that succeeding issues will more and more repay the public interest. As an incidental but none the less vital aim, the Journal hopes to be instrumental in encouraging our young men and women, particularly in the Menorah membership, to devote themselves to Jewish subjects as worthy of their best literary effort,--with publication in the Menorah Journal as a prize to be eagerly sought for. The Menorah hopes through the incentive of the Journal to develop a "new school" of writers on Jewish topics that shall be distinguished by the thoroughness and clarity of the university-trained mind and inspired by the youthful, searching, unfearing spirit of the Menorah movement.
With these aims and these aspirations, the Menorah Journal bids for the favor of the public. Scholarly when scholarship will be in order, but always endeavoring to be timely, vivacious, readable; keen in the pursuit of truth wherever its source and whatever the consequences; a Jewish forum open to all sides; devoted first and last to bringing out the values of Jewish culture and ideals, of Hebraism and of Judaism, and striving for their advancement--the Menorah Journal hopes not merely to entertain, but to enlighten, in a time when knowledge, thought, and vision are more than ever imperative in Jewish life.
Greetings
_From Dr. Cyrus Adler_
_President of the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Philadelphia_
[Illustration]
I AM very glad to be able through this first number of your Journal to send a word of greeting to the Menorah men throughout the United States. An Association which has as its object the promotion in American colleges and universities of the study of Jewish history, culture and problems, and the advancement of Jewish ideals, cannot but fail to command my personal and official interest and support.
The Jewish people have a long and honorable record of literary activity. Our Holy Scriptures, our Rabbinical Literature, our contributions to philosophy, to ethics, to law, our poetry, sacred and secular, our share in the world's history, all become part of the program which you have laid out for yourselves as a means of cultivation. In their due proportion they should (although they do not) form a part of the outfit of every educated man. That they should be especially cultivated by Jewish young people is self-evident, and, for several thousand years, they have been.
You Menorah men have taken the modern form of association for the purpose of carrying on these studies, of cherishing your Jewish ideals along with your general culture or with your chosen profession, and it was high time that you should do so. You already count thousands of young people, and as time goes on you will gradually increase in number. From among your group will come the future leaders of the Jewish people in America, and your main body will form our intellectual backbone. It is my hope and belief that your movement will gradually tend toward the maintenance and promotion of Judaism in this land.
We are now a population of nearly three million souls. That such a vast body should be lost to Judaism or should maintain a Judaism ignorant of its language, its literature or its traditions, is almost unthinkable. Conditions abroad may shift the center of gravity of Judaism and of Jewish learning to the American continent. Your movement is one which will aid in training the group that may be expected to measure up to our new responsibilities.
It has been a source of great personal pleasure to me to meet with your Association in your annual convention and to have the privilege of coming in personal contact with some of your Societies,--at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Boston Universities. I hope to have the pleasure of meeting more of you and to derive more of the stimulus which your enthusiasm gives me in my work. Speaking not only in my own name but in behalf of my colleagues on the Board of Governors and the Faculty of The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, I wish your Association and your Journal success in all of your endeavors.
[Illustration: Signature: Cyrus Adler]
_From Louis D. Brandeis_
_Chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs_
[Illustration]
THE formation at Harvard University on October 25, 1906, of the first Menorah Society is a landmark in the Jewish Renaissance. That Renaissance, in which the Society is certain to be a significant factor, is of no less importance to America than to its Jews.
America offers to man his greatest opportunity--liberty amidst peace and large natural resources. But the noble purpose to which America is dedicated cannot be attained unless this high opportunity is fully utilized; and to this end each of the many peoples which she has welcomed to her hospitable shores must contribute the best of which it is capable. To America the contribution of the Jews can be peculiarly large. America's fundamental law seeks to make real the brotherhood of man. That brotherhood became the Jews' fundamental law more than twenty-five hundred years ago. America's twentieth century demand is for social justice. That has been the Jews' striving ages-long. Their religion and their afflictions have prepared them for effective democracy. Persecution made the Jews' law of brotherhood self-enforcing. It taught them the seriousness of life; it broadened their sympathies; it deepened the passion for righteousness; it trained them in patient endurance, in persistence, in self-control, and in self-sacrifice. Furthermore, the widespread study of Jewish law developed the intellect, and made them less subject to preconceptions and more open to reason.
America requires in her sons and daughters these qualities and attainments, which are our natural heritage. Patriotism to America, as well as loyalty to our past, imposes upon us the obligation of claiming this heritage of the Jewish spirit and of carrying forward noble ideals and traditions through lives and deeds worthy of our ancestors. To this end each new generation should be trained in the knowledge and appreciation of their own great past; and the opportunity should be afforded for the further development of Jewish character and culture.
The Menorah Societies and their Journal deserve most generous support in their efforts to perform this noble task.
[Illustration: Signature: Louis D. Brandeis]
_From Dr. Richard Gottheil_
_Professor of Rabbinical Literature and the Semitic Languages, Columbia University_
[Illustration]
I HAVE been asked to say a word of greeting to the readers of the Menorah Journal. I do so with pleasure; indeed with much satisfaction. The Menorah students at our colleges and universities will now be bound together by a new bond, one that will give them a more unified direction and converge their efforts toward the goal which the Menorah has set for itself.
I should like to think that it is not entirely fortuitous that this added impulse is given to our work just at this time. We all feel that the present is a moment when the very foundations of our ethical life--both as individuals and as groups--have received a rude shock. At such a time--more than ever--we need to understand and to bear in mind the great teachings which Jewish sages have given to the world, as their and our contribution to the moral foundations of society. Such teachings were, in most cases, not decked out in the tawdry trappings of a recondite and far-fetched philosophy, nor garnished with the decorations of superlogical terminology, nor even put forth with lusty rhetoric. They were simple and to the point, because they were founded upon deep religious convictions.
One of these teachings occurs to me as I write these lines: "The moral condition of the world depends upon three things--truth, justice and peace." Have we outgrown such teaching? Have the astounding advances made during the last one hundred years in the science of physical living brought us any nearer to the true inwardness of moral living than the ethical principles put forth by these early teachers? As our hearts are rent by the sufferings of those who are caught in the meshes of the terrible war now raging, and as our intellects are befogged by the various excuses advanced in justification of carnage and wholesale destruction, do not the simple words of the old Hebrew sage appear to us as a beacon-light in the surrounding darkness? "Truth, Justice, Peace!"
Many similar lessons are awaiting those who will show some little willingness to learn and to know. They are a part of the patrimony that is ours, and which for the most part we refuse to claim. A voice is crying to us out of our own midst. We do not hear; for our ears are sealed as with wax. The Menorah Societies, which now are to be found in most of our institutions of higher learning, have set themselves the task of bringing our Jewish students to a consciousness of their own past, to a knowledge of their history as members of a great historic people, and to a just appreciation of the teachings of their religion. It is only the knowledge of what we have tried to be that will make us realize fully what we are and will enable us to see what our future may be. The Menorah Journal is intended to bring this knowledge to our young men, to harden their Jewish resolve and to point the way along which lies the consummation of our Jewish hopes. It sends its greeting to every Jewish student, whether or not he be a member of a Menorah Society. We of an older generation look to our university and college men as the Jewish leaders of the future. Let them gather around the Menorah Journal in order to make it a true expression of Jewish ideals, a powerful incentive to join the ranks of those who are active in our cause. The word of the Prophet comes to me again: "Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work shall be rewarded."
[Illustration: Signature: Richard Gottheil]
_From Joseph Jacobs_
_Editor of The American Hebrew, New York_
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I GREET the appearance of the official organ of the Menorah Societies something in the spirit of Ibsen's Master-Builder, who hears the coming generation knocking at the door. I have long been of the opinion that the future of American Israel lies with the academic Jews of the American universities. The organ that represents them should be, from this point of view, the voice of Israel's future in America. If you can live up to that ideal, you have indeed a great future before you.
[Illustration: Signature: Joseph Jacobs]
_From Dr. Kaufman Kohler_
_President of Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati_
[Illustration]
AS you wander through the ruins of the _Forum Romanum_ and are within sight of the _Via Appia_ at the other end, your attention is riveted by an exquisite white marble arch wonderfully preserved. It is the Arch of Titus erected in memory of Rome's triumph over _Judæa Capta_. As you look closer at the trophies chiseled on this famous monument, you find there standing out most conspicuously the seven-armed candlestick carried by the Jewish captives, the _Menorah_, regarded, no doubt, by the proud victor as the most characteristic feature of the destroyed Jewish temple. Yet how strange! It seems to be almost a foreboding of the future dominion of the vanquished over the vanquisher. Israel's state, with its temple, Israel's nationality was trampled under foot by the Roman legions--Israel's religion remained unconquered, the light of its truth remained undimmed; nay, it grew brighter and stronger until the world was filled with its splendor. Little did the Emperor Vespasian dream, when he granted Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, the Jewish maker of learning, the privilege of building a schoolhouse at Jamnia as a substitute for the hall of the judiciary in the temple at Jerusalem, that this sanctuary of the Jewish law and what it represents would by far eclipse all the power and greatness of the Roman civilization. Yet this was symbolized by the Menorah. Whether originally intended or not, it was the emblem of Israel's mission of light. It indicated the task of the Jew, when scattered over the wide globe, to be a light to the nations, the religious luminary to the world. And if we be permitted to give a special meaning to the seven arms of light of the Golden Candlestick, we might find therein a suggestion of the lights of truth, justice and purity, or holiness, on the one side, and the lights of law, literature, and art, or wisdom, on the other, while the light in the center stands for religion, from which all the other lights emanated and for which the Jew throughout the centuries lived, suffered, and died, to preserve intact as mankind's highest treasure to the very end of history.
These ideas I would offer as greeting to the editors and readers of the Menorah Journal. The name "Menorah" was aptly chosen by the founders of the pioneer Menorah Society with a view to the two-fold task of the light-bearer, to enlighten a surrounding world, and to foster self-respect in the hearts of the Jewish students by spreading the light of Jewish knowledge among them. Now, if I understand correctly the purpose of starting a Journal as the organ of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, it is to give to these endeavors a more permanent and classical literary form, and thus successfully defend the cause of Judaism. Wishing this enterprise all success and Godspeed, I venture to express the hope that true to its name Menorah, the Journal will become a real banner-bearer of light not only dispelling clouds of doubt and of prejudice within and outside of our camp, but also aiming to spread the truth of Judaism in all its spiritual force and grandeur. Not nationalism, which in these days of a cruel world-war with its barbarism puts our much-vaunted modern civilization to everlasting shame and which has split the Jewish people also into warring camps, but Judaism as a religion, which notwithstanding the differences of its various wings as to form is in its essentials and fundamentals one, should be the watchword, for it is the light of the Torah that is both law and learning, religion and culture, which is to unify and consolidate all the forces of American Israel.
[Illustration: Signature: Dr. K. Kohler]
_From Irving Lehman_
_Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York_
[Illustration]
I CONGRATULATE the members of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association upon the fact that in their Journal they are obtaining a new instrument to carry forward their work of bringing to the Jewish youth knowledge of the old ideals and lessons of the Jewish past. During these dreadful days, the Jewish students of almost every country except America have been called from study, and preparation for a life of usefulness, into pitiless war and useless destruction. The oppressed in Russia, the student in Germany, and the free Englishman, all have answered the call to arms of the country in which they live, and each is fighting, firm in the belief that he is defending his Fatherland against foreign aggression. The loyalty shown by our brethren even in those countries where their treatment might well have furnished at least an explanation for disloyalty, is a new demonstration of the ancient spirit of devotion to their ideals which, I believe, has always been the true spirit of the Jews. But the ideal of national physical strength is not the ideal which we Jews had when we were a nation and which we must strive to make the ideal of the modern nations in which we live. Dark though these present days are, yet humanity must progress into the light of a permanent peace, and though the Jews are doing their full share of the fighting in this war brought on by their rulers, we must do more than our share in bringing to its fruition the ancient prophecy: "For the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge many people and rebuke strong nations, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
The voice of this Journal may be only a weak, small voice, but if that voice speaks in the spirit of the prophet and brings home to us the worth of the prophetic ideals, it may well prove an important factor in enabling Israel to fulfill its mission as a messenger of peace to all the nations.
[Illustration: Signature: Irving Lehman]
_From Julian W. Mack_
_Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals_
[Illustration]
MY hopes are high that the Menorah Journal may prove a valuable means not only of linking together the Menorah Societies of the country but also of bringing to the individual members a clearer conception of the culture, ideals and traditions of the Jews, thereby increasing their interest in all things Jewish.
This would inevitably tend to strengthen the religious faith of the Jewish members and to awaken in all of the members a keener and a more intelligent appreciation of the contribution which Jews and Judaism have made to human progress.
[Illustration: Signature: Julian W. Mack]
_From Dr. J. L. Magnes_
_Chairman of Executive Committee, Jewish Community (Kehillah) of New York_
[Illustration]
I SEND hearty greetings to the members of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association upon the publication of the Journal. If the Journal can be put upon a sound business basis assuring its permanence, its publication will mark an important event in the development of Judaism in America. What we need above all things is sound thinking on Jewish affairs. I have no doubt that proper action will result from sound thinking. The Menorah Journal ought to become the medium for publishing the best thought modern Jewry is capable of. The present catastrophe overwhelming Europe has conferred upon the Jews in America the leadership of Jewry. We can assume this historic obligation only if our theories be clear cut and well thought out.
[Illustration: Signature: J. L. Magnes]
_From Dr. Martin A. Meyer_
_Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco_
[Illustration]