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CANADIAN
CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW
AN IMPARTIAL MEDIUM FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH
NEWS AND VIEWS
PublUhcd W�*kly by th� �*na\dUn JWish
OFFICE, SUITE 109 319 BAY STREET. TORONTO Telephone Adelaide 7628-9
Entered as Second-Class Mail at the Pott Office in Toronto, Ont., in December, 1921 Subscription Price, $3.00 per Year. United States, $3,50
fo iaiure publication, all correspondence and newt matter must reach this Office
by Tuesday evening of each week. .
G. W, Cohen, Managing Editor. Rabbi B. R. Brickner, Contributing Editor
Canadian Jewish Review invites correspondence on subjects of interest to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for indorsement of the views expressed by the writers. All correspondence must be signed with the full name of the writer " '- - ..�'.-.'�..' .�'.'�
AUGUST .17, 1923
VOLUME IV. NUMBER 16
parents. But times.Have changed and with it our ideas. To this sort of Sabbath observance would be the very antithesis of rest and recreation. Many a young person finds his first break with religion to be his inability to observe the Sabbath in the prescribed orthodox fashion. Once he gets accustomed to breaking some of the old laws of the Sabbath, it becomes gradually easier and easier to drift away from Judaism altogether.
One thing is certajrju, and that is that the old Talmudic legal conception of what constitutes work, and therefore forbidden on the Sabbath, will have to be completely revised. These laws were passed at a .time when the mechanical development of civilization was premature. Thus lighting a match, answering the telephone, carrying a kerchief, or riding in a vehicle, walking more than the prescribed distance, carrying an umbrella, or even one's prayer shawl and prayer book from the Synagogue on the Sabbath are all classed as forms of work, and forbidden. All this has changed. What was work a thousand years ago ^is child's play to-day. It is therefore evident that we can no longer expect people to live up to laws in the tw( century, which were framed in the first century. Besides, it is difficult to see how the minutiae of Sabbath observance laws are at all conducive or related to religiosity and spirituality.)
The Jews of the Diaspora who wisn to retain the observance of/ the Sabbath as a day of spiritual and/physical recreation and rej are anxiously looking forward to the way in which this, law o?Tel Aviv \vilT work itself out. The Jews of Palestine,,living as they do a 100% Jewish life, are in a better position to reform Jewish law and set the standard for Jewish^religious observance than are we in the Diaspora. In this respect, Palestine is in a stragetic position. The 'way in which the Jews there go about reforming a"nd modifying Jewish law, will have a direct influence 'iq shaping the Jewish religious life of the Jews of the rest of the world. We feel cohiidenTThat in Palestine, the true spirit of Jewish law, which is one of adjustment to changing conditions, will re-assert itself.
"Thou Shalt Keep the Sabbath"
A Strange Complaint
Tel Aviv, Palestine, the only 100% Jewish city of the world, -has just passed an 'ordinance that makes "a public violation of the : Sabbath" (chillul Shabbath.b'far hethia) a misdemeanor and a punishable offence. ;
Some time ago Sir Herbert Samuel refused to yield to a request of the extreme orthodox Jews of Palestine to pass a strict Sabbath observance blue law, which would have been applicable to all Jewish residents of the country. In this Sir Herbert Samuel displayed rare tact and good judgment. He told his orthodox petitioners to use moral suasion rather than seek compulsory methods of enforcing the ; � strict observance of the Sabbath, '
It must always be borne in mind when dealing with legislation, that it is one thing to write a law pn the statute book and quite another thing to enforce it. People have never been made either more moral or more religious by the mere passing ofrlaws. Unless legislation is supported by. public opinion, it remains a deadHetter.
We doubt very much whether the new Sabbath law of Tel Aviv can be made effective. Of course it is to be expected that the seventh day of the week should be observed in the most Jewish city of the world, as the day of rest, and from that point of view, the law just passed is good. The trouble will come in defining and interpreting what constitutes "a public violation of the Sabbath." If the people in power happen to be pious obscurantists and extremists, then they may invoke all the old laws of the Talmud and Schulchan Aruch, regarding .Sabbath observance. In this case life will hot be worth living for the young and liberal Jews -who are apt to regard the "Sabbath as made for man and not man for the Sabbath."
The Sabbath is one of the greatest boons mankind has inherited. The Jews consecrated the Sabbath by adding to it the concept of holiness and making of it a divinely ordained institution. During the ages/ however, the Sabbath observance became so rigid and puritanical as to destroy the very purpose for which it was created, namely that of rest and recreation which are the real and etymological meanings of the word. Rest means abstention from work for financial gain. It implies recreation^ which means to restore and refill the batten- of human energy which has a tendency to ru� down during six days of labor. It is conceivable that some people can accomplish this by a minute living up to the letter of the many laws prescribed for so doing which are contained in the Talmud and Schulchan Aruch and. whose origin is in agesj>ast. Many of us are familiar with this sort of Sabbath observance by our pious grandparents and even
A property owner the other day appeared before the Building Assessment Committee for Toronto, and pleaded for a reduction.in the valuation placed upon his house, orf the ground "that the increased number of Jews in his neighbourhood has depreciated the value of his property." ; *
This is indeed the first time that we have heard of such a plea. Any realty man will tell you that the increased number of Jews in a neighbourhood usually advances the value of property. The enterprise of the Jew is responsible for transforming purely residential neighbourhoods into, high-rental commercial districts. This is true of every city where Jews live in large numbers.
Jews are also accustomed to spending; their money: They seldom hoard it .When fortune smiles on them they quickly move from the poorer neighbourhood, and seek a home in the better outlying sections of the city where property is expensive. The demand they thus create stimulates rather than depreciates realty values.
What is true of a city with Jews is also true of a nation. A country that has a large Jewish population prospers in proportion to the number of its Jewish inhabitants^ The United States is an excellent illustration. Spain of the Middle Ages was the greatest and most prosperous nation of the then known world. It had the largest Jewish population of any country at that time. After it expelled its .Jews, Spain started to deteriorate. Spain has no Jews to speak of to-day. It is also one of the least important countries of the world to-day. Spain recently invited Jews to come back, but the Jew has too good a memory.
In this connection the line in "Welcome Stranger" is apropos. Says the Jew in the play to his Gentile neighbours, 'The reason this place is a village and hot a city is that there are no Jews here."
Thus it seems to be the fate of nations, that those which persecute and expel their Jews always suffer. Spain and Russia are the best examples. "The guardian of Israel sleepeth not, nor slumbereth."
