Part 9
Rabbi Henry Cohen, speaking eloquently on "Judaism as a Factor in Modern Life," took up each one of the Ten Commandments and summarized their influence on society to-day. A poem written especially for the occasion was read by Mr. Israel Chasmin, and piano selections were rendered by Miss Beatrice Burg and Miss Minna Rypinski. The program closed with the installation of officers for the year 1914-15.
We lost ten members by graduation last June, but our membership has none the less increased on account of the greater number of Jewish students at the University this year.
The opening meeting of the year was attended by fifty out of the fifty-eight Jewish students. In enthusiasm it resembled a football rally, and the new students caught the spirit of the occasion. Since then a number of other meetings have been held, with an average attendance of forty. At the first meeting, Professor L. M. Keasby of the Department of Institutional History gave an eminently just interpretation of Jewish history from the point of view of the economic development of mankind. At the next meeting, Israel Chasmin reviewed Dubnow's Essay on Jewish History. At the last meeting, Rabbi J. Bornstein of Houston, Texas, spoke on Jewish Music. We are looking forward to an illustrated lecture by Professor Gideon of the Department of Architecture on "The Architecture of the Synagogue, Past and Present."
Through the fund for local speakers which we are raising and through the aid of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, we hope to have a speaker at least every month for the rest of the year.
The Menorah Library which we have received through the Intercollegiate Menorah Association is greatly appreciated by the University and will be of much help in the work of the Society.
H. J. ETTLINGER
=University of Washington=
IN the summer of 1913 several Jewish students met and discussed the feasibility of organizing a Jewish society on the campus. As a result, a meeting was called at the Y. M. H. A. rooms in the first week of the 1913-14 semester. Cards for the meeting had been sent to all men students known to be Jews. There was an enthusiastic discussion of the purposes of the meeting, and it was decided to effect a permanent organization, which should include the Jewish women students as well, and to begin active work. Our purposes were then somewhat different from what they are at present. We felt that if our union could bring about a better understanding between the various Jewish elements in the city of Seattle and throughout the State of Washington, we should be accomplishing something worth while. The fact that the student body itself was composed of these various elements would aid us, it was believed, to bring that result about speedily and effectively.
And so members of the Menorah Society joined the Jewish lodges in Seattle, Jewish synagogues, and the "Modern Hebrew School," so that they might effect their objects both from within as individual members and from without as the Menorah Society. Our members volunteered to teach at the Modern Hebrew School, an orthodox institution, one day in the week. The offer was accepted gladly and greatly appreciated. At the same school, a class was conducted by one of our members for the instruction of Jewish men in the fundamentals of citizenship, and over twelve of this class passed the examinations and secured their citizenship papers. Another member organized an athletic club among Jewish boys, and still another member did much valuable work at the Settlement House.
At the meetings of the Society, which were held in the quarters of Jewish organizations downtown and at members' homes, papers bearing on Jewish questions were read.
During the past summer it was felt that by affiliating with the Intercollegiate Menorah Association greater impetus would be given to our Society, and steps have already been taken for admittance into that body. President Henry Landes of the University has expressed, I believe, the favorable attitude of the whole University toward the Society, as shown in the letter quoted below.
This year we shall devote more time to the study of Jewish culture and ideals. A course of lectures is being arranged which will bring noted Jewish men of the Pacific Coast to our University. It is hoped also that we may have the benefit of speakers from the Intercollegiate Menorah Association. Of course, the work we began last year down town will be kept up, but it will now be done unofficially.
EIMON L. WIENIR
_From a Letter of Acting President Henry Landes of the University of Washington to the Chancellor of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association:_
"In behalf of the University it gives me great pleasure to endorse this movement and to assure you of the satisfactory university standing of the students who are members of the local society. The scholarship of the students is good, several of the number having obtained highest grades in most of their studies. I feel sure that the organization in every way is worthy of recognition by the Intercollegiate Menorah Association and that such recognition will be of great assistance to these and other students in the formation and conservation of the culture and ideals of the Jewish people. The University recognizes the large debt modern culture owes to these ideals and feels assured that the Menorah organization among us will be of the greatest assistance in keeping alive a keener consciousness of this fundamental part of our civilization.
"The University will be glad to assist the Association by permitting it to use University rooms for its meetings, under the usual regulations governing the use of rooms by student associations.
"Personally I shall be glad to co-operate in any way I can to make the work of the local Society successful.
"HENRY LANDES, "_Acting President_"
=University of Wisconsin=
TO have the student members of the Society furnish the largest part of the program has been the policy of the Wisconsin Menorah for the past two years. Because of its advantages, the same policy has been adopted for the current year.
In the past, the programs have been of a diverse nature, many phases of Hebrew life and letters having been touched upon. The program committee has put forth special efforts to assign to members those subjects in which they have special interest.
The work of the past year came to a close with a large banquet, at which Professor I. Leo Sharfman, Judge Max Pam of Chicago, and Professor Joseph Jastrow and Dr. H. M. Kallen of the Faculty of the University of Wisconsin gave short talks.
Although the Wisconsin Menorah may be said to be still in its infancy, there is no doubt that, with its membership, which includes both men and women, steadily increasing, it will soon be ranked high among the Menorah Societies of the Middle West.
FLORENCE J. ELLMAN
=Yale University=
AT a meeting held soon after the college opening, the Yale Menorah Society inaugurated what bids fair to be a most successful year. President Arthur T. Hadley addressed the meeting (for the address of President Hadley see above, page 45), as did also Professor Charles F. Kent of the Yale School of Religion.
Professor Kent said:--"It is a great pleasure for me to face the work of the new year with you, and it is a source of congratulation that the Menorah is no longer an innovation but an established institution at Yale. It seems a pity that Jews do not inherit Hebrew as a birthright, but fortunately the study of Hebrew history and ideals can proceed without this knowledge.
"Men must appropriate old ideas and interpret them into the terms of modern life and thought, for in the old we find the germ of the new. It is in Jewish history that we must look for the first true commonwealth or democracy, where the king was chosen by the people and where his authority was derived solely from and rested in the people. This has no ancient parallel, not even in Greece. International peace was also one of the great fundamental teachings of the prophets of Israel.
"Religious education is to be traced directly to the Jews,--and this is one of the great needs of America to-day. Not to the Greeks but to the prophets do we turn for religious education. Hebrew sages were the forerunners of the modern religious education movement, for they devoted their time to developing the moral and spiritual ideals and character of the individual. And then the great teacher of Nazareth was a Rabbi, a Jew. The social motif is exceedingly strong throughout Jewish history and literature. Social justice, social service, and the universal brotherhood of man are the dominant ideas in the Old Testament, and they constitute a heritage of priceless value to the world and to our country to-day.
"All success and joy to you in your work, for the Menorah fills a large gap in the life of the University."
We hold lecture meetings fortnightly. Among the speakers thus far have been Professor Richard Gottheil of Columbia University and Mr. Samuel Strauss of New York. In addition to these regular meetings study groups have been planned under the direction of Rabbi Louis L. Mann of the Temple Mishkan Israel of New Haven.
Mr. Norman Winestine who was last spring elected President for this year has been awarded a fellowship at the Dropsie College of Philadelphia and has therefore left the University. Mr. Charles Cohen has been chosen President to take Mr. Winestine's place. R. HORCHOW
Notes
Of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association
_Third Annual Convention_
The Third Annual Convention of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association took place at the University of Cincinnati on Wednesday and Thursday, December 23 and 24, 1914. A report will be published in the next number of the Journal.
_Menorah Prize Awards_
The Harvard Menorah Society Prize of $100, established by Mr. Jacob H. Schiff of New York, was awarded last May to Henry Epstein, '16, for an essay on "The Jews of Russia." The judges were Professor David Gordon Lyon of Harvard, chairman; Professor William R. Arnold of Harvard, and President Solomon Schechter of the Jewish Theological Seminary. This is the seventh award of the Harvard Menorah Society prize since its foundation in 1907-8. (For the list of previous awards, see _The Menorah Movement_, 1914, page 102.)
The Wisconsin Menorah Society Prize of $100, established in 1911-12 by Mr. Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, was awarded for the first time, in 1912, to Marvin M. Lowenthal (adult special student in Letters and Science) for an essay on "The Jew in the American Revolution." There was no competition in 1912-13, but last year the prize was divided into two equal parts and awarded to Hemendra Kisor Rakshir (senior in Letters and Science) for an essay on "The Jews and the Interest Rate in Angevin England," and Percy B. Shostac (senior in Letters and Science) for an essay on "A Short Survey of the Modern Yiddish Stage." The prize for 1913-14 was awarded again to Marvin M. Lowenthal for an essay on "Zionism." The Committee of Award consists of Professor R. E. N. Dodge, chairman, Professor E. B. McGilvary, and Professor M. S. Slaughter, of the University of Wisconsin. The chairman has stated that the Menorah prize is the best prize offered by the University of Wisconsin.
The Michigan Menorah Society Prize of $100 was established in 1912 by Mr. Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, but was not awarded the first year. Last year three prizes of $50 each were awarded, one to Paul Blanshard, '14, for an essay on "The Approach of Reformed Judaism to the Unitarian Movement in the United States," one to Miss Judith Ginsburg, '15, for an essay on "Disintegrating Forces in Contemporary Jewish Life," and one to Miss Sadie Robinson, '15, for a general discussion of Jewish problems upon the text of Proverbs 30, 13. The judges were Professor Robert E. Wenly, chairman, and Professor I. Leo Sharfman of the University of Michigan, and Rabbi Leo M. Franklin of Detroit, Mich.
_Cornell Menorah Prizes_
The Cornell Menorah Society offers this year the following prizes to the undergraduates of the University: a prize of $25 for the best essay on any subject relating to the status and the problems of the Jews in any country; a prize of $25 for the best essay on any subject relating to Jewish literature in English; and a prize of $25 for the best essay or poem in Hebrew. The judges will be Professor Nathaniel Schmidt of Cornell University, chairman; Professor M. M. Kaplan of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Professor I. Leo Sharfman of the University of Michigan.
_Gift from the Harvard Menorah Society_
The Harvard Menorah Society has made a gift of $50 to the Intercollegiate Menorah Association. The sum is taken from the Associate Membership Fund of the Society. This Fund consists of the dues of associate members (graduates), "which shall be used exclusively for the substantive work of the Society" (Harvard Menorah Constitution, Article IV, section 4). The control of this Fund is in the hands of an advisory committee, consisting of the President of the Society and two associate members designated by the Executive Council of the Society.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Page 14, "Ayran" changed to "Aryan" (of the Aryan peoples)
Page 35, "Judea" changed to "Judæa" (muse of Judæa)
Page 44, "ony" changed to "only" (Not only have the)
This text uses both to-day and today.
THE
MENORAH JOURNAL
VOLUME I APRIL, 1915 NUMBER 2
[Illustration]
For Small Mercies
BY ISRAEL ZANGWILL
Thinking of Poland and her tortured Jews, 'Twixt Goth and Cossack hounded, crucified On either frontier, e'en the Pale denied, Wand'ring with bloodied staff and broken shoes, Scarred like their greatest son with stripe and bruise, Though thrice a hundred thousand fight beside Their Russian brethren and are glorified By death for those who flout them and abuse,--
I suddenly was touched to thankful tears. Not that one wave had ebbed of all this woe, Not that one heart had softened in "the spheres"[A] One touch of bureau-malice to forego, But that amid blind eyes, dumb mouths, deaf ears, One voice in England[B] said these things were so.
[Illustration: Signature: Israel Zangwill]
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Only permissible form of Russian reference to the Tsar and his Counsellors.
[B] The London _Nation_.
From Across the Seas
_From Dr. Max Nordau_
_Madrid, Spain_
[Illustration]
I hail most cordially the appearing of THE MENORAH JOURNAL with the noble and impressive program which you develop. It shows your consciousness of the new duties of the rich, free and powerful American Jewry, your readiness to assume fully the moral responsibilities which your privileged position imposes upon you, and your comprehension of the needs of the present hour. Your journal seems the promising beginning of that organization in which we are so sorely wanting and without which we will achieve nothing in the forthcoming deep transformations of the old world.
[Illustration: Signature: Dr. M. Nordau]
_From Dr. Moses Gaster_
_Chief Rabbi (Haham) Spanish and Portuguese Congregations of the British Empire_
[Illustration]
I am glad to see that you have brought out again the Menorah from the corner into which it had been thrust, that you have polished up the old candlestick, nay, even more, that you have trimmed the wick and poured the oil into the cup, that you are kindling a light which is to dissipate the darkness spiritual, more dangerous, more terrible than darkness physical. What our people really want is to be able to see that light of truth, that light of hope, of humanity, of knowledge, of idealism, which has been ours through the ages. We have never allowed our lamp to be extinguished, whether it burned in a remote corner in the ghetto, smoky, ill trimmed, even evil smelling; still there was the light sufficiently strong to illumine the pages of the Torah and the Talmud, even the pages of the writers of philosophy and science. It was quite sufficient if one lamp was kept alight. This is the greatness and the beauty of it,--that from one, one can kindle a thousand.
There is no limit to which the light cannot reach and there will be no limit, I hope, to the light which you will now spread. It will reach the remotest corner of the universities and schools of learning, nay, even more, it will bring everywhere a measure of knowledge and of truth, and above all it will illumine and warm. It will reach the eyes of those who have hitherto refused to see the beauty of their own past and the greatness of their own future. They may then learn to live in the present by the teaching of the past and by the hope of the future. Make both known.
In conclusion, I can only express the wish that you keep steadily and exclusively to Jewish questions, Jewish problems, Jewish learning. Make your readers know what they can find in Jewish literature and make the students of the various universities realize that in the libraries of Europe and America there are vast treasures accumulated which await the hand and the heart of the Jewish scholars. There are great and grave problems which await solution and the field is unlimited. Let them begin to till the ground of our own field, and turn the furrows and sow the seed, and the golden harvest is sure to repay them for their labor in the service of love and truth, and above all of devotion to Judaism.
[Illustration: Signature: M. Gaster]
_From Norman Bentwich_
_Professor of International Law, School of Law, Cairo, Egypt_
[Illustration]
You are indeed happy in the moment of your appearance. I am not of those who regard this world war as a terrible catastrophe. I can see in it with God's grace the preparation of a great uplift of humanity and especially the coming of redemption for Israel. But the more glorious the vision of the future the greater the need of light, and more light, to illuminate the present and to enable the young generation to advance steadily towards the vision and make it reality. That is what I believe the function of THE MENORAH JOURNAL to be, and your first number is an earnest of the sincerity of your aim and the goodness of your means.
The Jewish people stand on the brink of a new era in which they are to resume their true function of the spiritual teacher of mankind. And American Jewry, it is a truism to say, has a vital and a leading part to play in moulding the destiny of the Jewish people. So we may adapt the old Rabbinic saying: "He who saves the soul of a single Jewish student is as though he saved the world." THE MENORAH JOURNAL in holding up the light of the Jewish spirit to the young men and women of America is doing the work of humanity.
May I express the hope that the Menorah Societies will direct the gaze of their members to the land of promise and the land of the prophets, where the inspiration of Judaism has always come and whither the hopes of Jewry have always turned. Living as I do, in the reflection of Palestine as well as in the shadow of the Pyramids, I am very conscious of the need for a continued Passover from the ideas of the various Egypts that beset the Jewish people to the message that calls us, in spirit if not in body, to the land of our fathers. To-day in Palestine the light has begun to shine brightly again. Judaism has relit there its prophetic lamp, which in centuries of stress and darkness has never been permitted to fade away altogether. In our own time the Menorah has been re-established in the Temple of the land by a new band of Maccabees. But a single branch, so to say, of the seven branches as yet shows its clear light. But if the Jewish youth wills it, the whole Menorah may be lighted and shine full and clear to the world with fresh lustre. In our day there may be a new Hanukka, a rededication of the Hebraic light--if only we will it.
[Illustration: Signature: Norman Bentwich]
The Jewish Problem Today
BY JACOB H. SCHIFF
[Illustration: _JACOB HENRY SCHIFF (born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, in 1847, came to America in 1865), one of the world's leading bankers (senior member of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., New York), and a prince of philanthropists, noted for his personal devotion and munificent gifts to many causes for human betterment. He was among the first to encourage and befriend the Menorah movement, founding in 1907 the annual Menorah Society Prize at Harvard. The present article forms the approved substance of an interview granted by Mr. Schiff to the Editors of The Menorah Journal on March 4, 1915. Mr. Schiff's statement regarding the need for a separate Jewish Relief Fund is given special significance by the fact that he is Treasurer of the American Red Cross._]
It is hardly possible to exaggerate the horrors of the Jewish conditions in the war-stricken countries, especially in the three Polands. According to the reports we get, conditions in Russian Poland are such that Belgium's plight is a mere _bagatelle_ in comparison. The Jewish people there have been outraged in the most terrible manner, both by the Poles who denounced them to the Russians as enemies and spies and then by the Russians themselves, who treated them as such. It is only after the Russian armies are forced to leave that the Jews are given protection by the Germans. In saying this I do not want to be misjudged, for it is well known that I am a German sympathizer. But the fact is that the Russians and the Poles alike have been inhumane to the Jewish population.
According to the latest reports, the conditions are not being improved in any way. And the relief so far has been entirely inadequate. It has never been adequate. We need millions for the immediate relief of our brethren, and so far only about half a million has been forthcoming from American Jews. This in spite of the fact that all parties and factions in Jewry are acting together in the work of relief, except only one organization, the B'nai B'rith, and for this there is some reason, because the B'nai B'rith have their own lodges abroad and they want evidently to apply their relief to their own members first.
"_We Must Have a Jewish Relief Fund of Our Own_"
We must have a Jewish Relief Fund of our own in addition to the Relief Funds for other people in the war-stricken countries, because the Jewish problem forms everywhere a problem of its own. It would be rather hard to say whether, were it not for the specific Jewish Relief Fund, the Jews would get as much relief as the other suffering people, but there is very little doubt that the Jews in the war-stricken districts, especially in Poland, have suffered a great deal more than the rest of the population. The Jews, therefore, need more relief, particularly as the civilian population has been against them.