Vol. VII.
TORONTO, ONT., JULY 16, 1926
No. 38
Editorials
BIALIK'S OPINION OF AMERICAN JEWS
Bialik is generally recognized as the greatest Hebrew poet of modem times. He is pre-eminently the poet of Jewish nationalism. He expresses the feelings and thoughts that still stir in the depths of the Jewish collective being. In the exercise of his genius he comes into contact with the fundamental forces that play under the surface of Jewish life. He places his sensitive finger, as it were, on the very nerve of Jewish existence. He is, therefore, particularly qualified to judge values in the Jewish world.
On the eve of his departure from America, after a sojourn of five months, he gave an interview to the press setting forth some of hi? opinions of the conditions of Jewish life in America.
American life, he declared, in substance, proceeds at a very fast tempo. The Americans are a youthful, vigorous people, possessed of tremendous strength, and conscious of their power. The Jews are assuming a carefree and self-satisfied mien. They are afTecting the American manner of self-confidence and aggressiveness. But Bialik detects that this attitude is only a pose. The Jews have their past, and they cannot quite escape its shadows And their future is by no means free from clouds. The American jauntiness ill-becomes the Jews with their inescapable complex of Jewrishness.
The American Zionists are in Bialik's opinion still unappreciative of the true significance of their ideal. Zionism is to them a matter of charity. When proper campaigning methods are employed certain sums of money can be pressed out of them. The American Zionists do not recognize that Zionism is a Salvationist movement with the power to reclaim the creative forces that are dormant in them. .American Jews give as much to one domestic institution as they do to Palestine.
Leadership of American Jewry is of a low order. The leaders are fair-minded, but they are superficial. "Their ideology is extremely dangerous for the Jewish people."
The rabbinate of both types falls far short of its functions. The Orthodox rabbis are too diffident, and content themselves with a place in the background of communal activities. The other type of American rabbis has in many cases "transformed their rabbinical chair into a business."
The foregoing are a fair representation of Bialik's statements. In his interview Bialik did not elaborate on his opinions. But one basic note is descernible. American Jewish life is not yet wholesome, It has not yet rounded out. It has not acquired a definite character. And the leadership has not risen above the surroundings. It is confined and confounding.
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A DIALOGUE OF DIATRIBE
The Buffalo Zionist convention animadverted upon the anti->' character of some of Joint Distribution Committee's Crimean t-ment propaganda.
The Joint Distribution Committee thereupon issued a state-* resenting the attitude of the leaders of American Zionism. The sto charged American Zionists with being indifferent to the - of Jewry in Europe, concerning themselves only with the
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problem of Palestine. Indeed the statement went as far as to claim that the Zionists were sabotaging the J.D.C.'s relief campaign-trying to hinder and injure the relief efforts because they were not Zionist ic.
Naturally there came a rejoinder from the Zionist Organization per Mr Lipsky, denying the accusations, and pointing out the sins of the J.D.C. The Zionists, Mr. Lipsky declared, not only did not oppose Jewish relief, but actually contributed large sums to the campaign. On the other hand, the non-Zionists availed themselves of the excuse of the relief campaign to escape giving to the Palestine Appeal. The chairman of the United Jewish Relief Campaign, according to Mr. Lipsky, went out of his way, gratuitously, to conduct anti-Zionist propaganda. "He excluded all references, in the press reports issued, to the Zionists who had participated in Philadelphia. He declared that he would welcome the opposition of the Zionists, for he did not expect support from them. He wrote abusive letters to all who ventured to criticize his actions. He went into communities and deliberately stirred up non-Zionists against theZionists." Moreover, the J.D.C. had allowed itself to be taken in by the Soviet Government in using the Crimean settlement scheme as a means to combat Zionism and Hebrew.
Next came a statement by Dr. Rosen, representative of the J.D.C. in Russia, denying the alleged interview' attributed to him in the Russian Press, wherein he was represented as having said that the Crimean settlement scheme removed the need of Zionism, and that .American Jews showed their preference for the relief work over Zionism by giving incomparably larger sums to the former than to the latter.
We do not know how long this dialogue will last. Mr. Lipsky is now in Europe, but the Zionists may find some other spokesman to try to put in the last word. As each side tries to develop its argument it finds increasingly more to condemn in its opponent. A feeling of self-righteousness is a dangerous thing to be afflicted with.
And the audience�the general public�will listen to this dialogue and marvel at the glibness of the respective leaders in misrepresenting the true sentiment of the bulk of their supporters. The leaders may think that the Jewish people are really divided into two distinct and demarked camps, each excluding the other. Lipsky may regard the Zionists as a separate band, easily recognizable from the rest of the people. They are Palestinians first, and when they step past the frontier of Zionism they carry with them the banner of Zionism. They eat as Zionists and give charity as Zionists. On the other hand, the J.D.C. leaders seem to imply that their following consists of a tribe known as non-Zionists. Even if their supporters give money to Zionism they still remain non-Zionists. The allegiance of the two tribes to their respective cults is inalienable and indefensible.
In maintaining this point of view the leaders, of course, fall into a grave error. Zionists, in so far as they assist other Jewish causes, are Jews like all the other supporters of these causes. When a Jew gives to a Jewish hospital or to a Y.M.H.A. or to a synagogue,
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