Page Two
THE JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
THIJKSDAY, APRIL 25, 1935
The Jewish Western Bulletin
Published Every Thursday by
THE VANCOUVER JEWISH ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL 2675 Oak Street, Vancouver, B.C. Bayview 4210
Editor: DAVID ROME
BULLETIN COMMITTEE Chairman, J. W. HERMAN Vice Chairman, W. STEINER
INTERMARRIAGE
Continued from Page 1
to expect from the increasing percentages shown in a statistical inquiry. I beheve this to be only a temporary disorder in the
"■"''X'—':, ; Editorial Committee:
Ji £ WDDLINGER, RABBI J. L, ZLOTNICK, RABBI SAMUEL CASS,
E. R. SUGARMAN
Associate Member: P. LESSER Social Editor: HELEN GOODMAN Circulation Dept., I. LIPOVSKY
Advertising Manager • HARRY MIJSIKANSKY
For advertising rates, phone Community Centre Secretary. Bayview 421u
AU RE VOIR, RABBI ZLOTNICK
Last Sunday, Vancouver Jews heard the last of the series of lectures by Rabbi J. L. Zlotnick. The close of the series
yond a doubt one of the most travelled roads to matrimony, ^^ll ^r^^Z""Zf^'f^^^ ^H'^''}^ ^I^f" ^^'^^'^ %T
T , o« +1, J «• 1 j» ^ . XL 11 • 1 more tully adapted to our new mode of existence. But,
1 use the word involved not in the narrow colloquial sense, the sooner we begin to face the facts and regard everyone who but in its broadest possible implications, A young man and intermarries as lost to Judaism the healthier it will be for Jewry young woman form a friendship, and before either of them, or " at least the man, knows what is happening they find themselves on the way to the Hcense bupreau. Sometimes association brings infatuation or love; sometimes one of the parties is, what we _
call "roped"; sometimes a moral obUgation develops; sometimes out exception, he would revert to^hirfornTer a7sodation. there is cause for a "military wedding." But, whatever the circumstances, given two youths, one male and one female, at certain ages, and let them associate with each other continually and the result, in our present society, will be marriage. But under this classification comes, principally not the person who Vv'ould, regardless of obligation, enter a mixed marriage but one who does so in spite of his own previous free intention.
In this we find an additional reason that so many of our young men who do intermarry, marry girls so much below their own cultural and social standing, I believe it is largely because the Jewish youth chooses to, or is able to mingle only ™uch that a bit of carefully directed public resentment could with Gentile girls of a lower class than himself that he does ^^^^^^ "^'"^^^ marriage has caused in our front
itself. We simply fool ourselves if we belieVe for an instance that anyone can intermarry and still remain Jewish. The non-Jew who becomes converted to Judaism for the sake of entering such a marriage is not a true addition to our ranks. Should anything cause his marriage to be broken, almost with-
The
home of a mixed marriage cannot ber a Jewish home. The children in such a home cannot be brought up as Jewish chU-dren. Nor can we undertake to impose our Jewish disabilities upon a half-Jew. In actual fact, the children of a mixed marriage seldom do remain Jewish to maturity. A careful inquiry has shown that only 10 per cent actually remainl6, and these come mainly from homes in v/hich the father is Jev/ish. But for every Jew who intermarries a Jewess must intermarry or romain unmarried.
Yet I do not believe that much has been lost to us in the intermarriages that have already taken place; at least not so
not hold the same respect for his "Gentile girl friend" as he does As for the statistics I have cited, I must draw attention to
for the Jewess. He does riot seek the Gentile girl for amuse- the fact that they are not quite accurate. Those converting to
makes it pertinent to comment on the unusually high and uni- ment. because he is unknown in her midst, but because, she Christianity before intermarrying as well as those, in some coun-
formly sound nature of the lectures. Perhaps Vancouver never being of a lower cultural standing, he feels less restraint and tries, declaring themselves "konfessionslos" are not included in
had a similar opportunity to acquaint itself with the more less responsibility in his association with her. Thus lie finds the figures, and, of course, should they have been considered
technical aspects of Jewish history before and thanks are due regular social circles in which a man of his the figures would have been at least slightly larger In Russia
class would seek a mate, but rather m circles in which men nationality alone is the basis for the calculation. Many assimi-
move for amusement. lated Jews consider themselves Russian by nationality and declare themselves so when registering their marriages.
to the Rabbi and the Congregation for making these available to the Public as a whole.
In this connection it is only fair to comment on the sustained attendance and careful attention that the Rabbi was accorded throughout the season. Such response by mass audiences proves
A final factor, which by now must have become obvious
is the fact that all these causes take time to develop. Yet even if a fairly large proportion of our people'have been
It requires a certain t^pe of audacity to break away lost to us through mixed marriage we need not dispare for
from one's people; and this audacity does not come in a day. Judaism. It is a striking fact that none of the modem Jewish
not only that Vancouver Jews are hungry for education and Might we then not say that the practice of late, marriage that historians find it necessary in their purely historical works to information, but that they are willing to make the effort and l^as become so widespread (luring the last few decades is a dis- discuss the problem of mixed marriage. The question is not B to obtain it. integrating force in Jewry? "How many Jews?" but "What Kind of Jews?"
devote persistence
Such response also shows that the complaints one hears regularly from "culture workers" on the indifference of the masses to things cultural are merely a reflection on the matter and the presentation of these "culture workers."
So much for the causes. Now let us consider the results. Are mixed marriages successful? Do they bring to those entering into them a fulfillment of the hopes that lie beyond their motives? I am of the opinion that, by and large, they are not successful. The person on neither side finds him or herself fully
_ accepted by the friends and families of the other. At best, aU
they can do is form a new group of "in-betweens." Theodor As Rabbi J, L. Zlotnick is leaving for South America, Van- Herzl was a keen observer, consequently his opinion must couver Jewry are unanimous in wishing him a successful and carry great weight with us. He saysi2: "The Hungarian Lib-enjoyable voyage and a quick return. It is unnecessary to erals, who have just given legal sanction to mixed marriages remind any Vancouver Jew of the accomplishments of the (1895) have made a remarkable mistake, which one of the earl-Rabbi during his stay here. It only remains to thank him iest cases clearly illustrates; a baptized Jew married a Jew-j.,, ,. „ .„ „ „ „ „„ „ „,. „ „, „ ,„ „„■ ,. .„ .„ „ ,^ „. ess ... The Jews must previously acquire economic power
*!* sufficiently great to overcome all social prejudice against them. Tll6 i of B. Letter by the REinbftll ^ The aristocracy may serve as an example of this, for in its ranks
DR. PAUL ROMANOFF
Head of the Museum of the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America.
1. Jewish Life in Modem Times. Methuen & Co., Ltd., London (M29)) page 268.
2. The Jews in The Modern World. MacMillan & Co., Ltd., London (1934).
3. Jewish Encyclopedia, Article "Intermarriage—Statistics," Volume VI, page 612.
4. Graetz, H.—History of the Jews. The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia (1895). Volume V, page 507.
5. Op. Cit., page 321.
6. Count Alexander Skrzynski—"Poland and Peace" quoted by Parkes, James W.—"The Jew and His Neighbor" (Richard R. Smith Inc., New York, 1931). "To class my opinion unsympathetic to the Jews, or their ambitions as 'anti-Semitic' and therefore supposedly simple prejudice, is to shut one's eyes to the facts. This has a special importance in relation to the frequently uttered Jewish appeal that all they desire is no discriminatory treatment. In abstract law, the appeal is obviously just, in practice, it is very often to allow the scales to be heavily weighted in their favor . . . The Jews as a whole have a very high level of intellectual education and furnish the intel-
^ occur the proportionately largest numbers of mixed marriages.
I The Jewish families which regild the old nobility with their , - , r • -xu i *• i * « « ^* ^„^Ai^^*^c
s . T J 11 u 1. J » T I. 1- -x • • •/! lectual profession with a relatively greater number of candidates than the
I com become gradually absorbed. I beheve it is a significant p^^i^y, other Slavish nationality . . . Poland, on the other hand, if
fact that almost invariably when an intermarried couple become it gives them such equality will ultimately cease to be Polish in the national
I destitute they turn to Jewish charities for aid regardless of .4. whether the male or female side is Jewish.
Much has been written about Maimonides, his life and his The divorce rate shows a great disparity between mixed and work. The Maimorddes Octocentennial Exhibition now being pure marriages. In the fojprner case they occur from three to shown ihHJis-Mtiseun^ Jewish Theological Seminary of four times as frequently a§'m the latter.l* Analyses will show
America has already filled the pages of magazines and newspapers. These articles, however, give an historical approach rather than a penetration into the human side of the do which have been assembled there.
cuxueiits
I shall, therefore, take you with me on a trip to look into a manuscript and to search for the story behind it. You are probably acquainted with the process of making history. A potsherd, a piece of clay or stone, a crude design of primitive man—objects that may mean nothing to the average person, that would remain unnoticed, become lires to the scholar. The potsherds or
the future romances written by historians about ancient peoples: their life, their culture and ancient history that fill the shelves
the secrets of antiquity, are based on such findings. To the . . , ,
archaeologist, the stone speaks and the clay becomes eloquent marriage more closely.
three principal reasons for this. There is no doubt that in a mixed marriage man and wife find a much greater difficulty of adjustment to each other in the daily routine of living together. Public, or rather, social opinion plays a very different role in their lives than it does in the case of those married endogamously. These are people who have already flaunted the opinions of their friends. They would not as readily endure an unpleasant marriage simply because of the humiliation attached to divorce. Besides, their friends, on both sides, would
sense.
7. Op. Cit., page 331.
8. Op. Cit., page 19.
9. Ruppin, A.—Op Cit., page 321.
10. Democracy and Assimilation (New York, 1920, page 121), quoted by Ruppin—Ibid, page 321.
11. Op. Cit., page 20.
12. A .Jewish State, New York, Federation of American Zionists. Third Edit., 1917, page 3,
13. ' Miss Vera Peters has kindly supplied me with this information. While she can cite at least four cases in which intermarried persons received aid from the Vancouver Hebrew Aid Society, the Family Welfare Bureau has only one sudi case on its records. It is interesting to note that in this instance the husband was Jewish and the children were brought up as wholly un-
The Roman Catholic Section finally came to their assistance because
claim on the children, since the mother
14. Cohen, Israel—Op. Cit;, page 281.
15. Jewish Encyclopedia, Article "Intermarriage—Statistics," Volume VI, page 612.
16. Ruppin, A.—Op. Cit., page 323.
with tales of yore. To the curator of a museum, a chip of metal or stone are inspirations for minute study which inspire a delving into the past to learn what is behind these objects. The curator is able to clothe them with flesh, to cover them with skin, and breathe life into them, though they have been "lying dead for centuries and millenia.
Joseph Jacobs has disclosed another interesting fact regarding mixed marriage.15 "Statistical inquiry has proven," he w^rites, "that the number of children resulting from intermarriage is considerably smaller than from purely Jewish marriage -probably due to the fact that persons marry without the faith
LIBRARY their patronage to the new estab-
LATEST NOVEL IN LENDING lishment.
Readers of the latest fiction 7~ and biography are enjoying the Pridtjof Nansen, famous Arctic
at more advanced ages than they marry within, and are of a
What, we have here in the Jewish Museum, is not a potsherd somewhat higher social standing among which classes children wide selection of books offered by explorer, was one of the many men
r stone, nor a piece of wood used by some unknown idol wor- are generally fewer." This was written in 1902. No doubt by Mary Waterman, who is now oper- ^^^^^ who. protested when cer-
' now this disparity has largely disappeared, arid "will continue to ating a lending library on the first
diminish if mixed marriages increase in their ratio to purely ^^^^^ Woodward's Department
Jewish ones and spread into the poorer classes. „^ - . ^ ,
^ ^ Store. Miss Waterman IS desirous
Just how serious a challenge to the life.of Jewry mixed of establishing one of the most up-
marriage is, is difficult to ascertain. While entering a mixed to-date lending libraries in the city
marriage is tantamoLmt to apostasy, I do not believe that the and it is hoped that" readers of the
or
shipper, who saw in them his supreme being, to whom he whispered incantations to winds and spirits, but the very handwriting of Maimonides, whose mind reached unto heaven, and who at the same time was aware of the needs of his people. The works of Maimonides are immortal creations. Such a fragment written by that spiritual giant is priceless and sacred. It is sur-
Continued on Page 4
tain ■ Norwegian legislators proposed a law to prohibit the Jewish method of slaughtering animals for food. As a result of the vigorous opposition,, agitation for the pass-
effect on the future of Judaism is as great as one might be led Jewish Western Bulletin will lend age of the bill was abandoned.
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