AThe Indianapolis Star Indianapolis, Indiana Sunday, August 19, 1917 - Page 23 (★)
Zionism Changes Aspect Of Jew
Opponents to Plan for Free State in Palestine Deposed From Leadership.
By A.H. Fromenson.
NEW YORK, Aug. 18.— The election of Lord Walter Lionel Rothschild as vice president of time board of Jewish deputies of Great Britain, the smashing of the English conjoint committee and the resignation of Dr. Cyrus Adler from the presidency of the United Synagogues of America are the three leading events in the full-fledged revolution throughout the Jewish world which is the result of the persistent and successful agitation of the Zionists to win the Jewish people to the movement to establish an independent, or at least an autonomous, state In Palestine.
For the last twenty years Zionists have insistently called upon the Jewish people to administer their affairs on democratic lines; to cut loose from those leaders who, they say, endeavor to keep Jewish interests and Jewish life down to the level of petty parochialism. The Zionists claim that because of their wealth, of their broad philanthropy, these leaders assume the role of “elder statesmen,” taking to themselves the right to act and speak for the Jewish people, denying the great mass the opportunity to express their sentiments regarding the solution of the many problems that seriously concern the Jews.
Against the Elder Statesmen.
Ever since the organization of the Zionist movement a generation ago the lines of division in the Jewries of the world have become more and more sharply drawn between those favoring the re-establishment of the Jewish state and those Jews who wish to separate themselves from the national aspirations of their people. This latter element, willing to concede that Palestine might be made a refuge for their oppressed co-religionists, has, indeed, looked with kindly eyes upon some of the practical manifestations of the movement, and even aided, philanthropically, in the establishment of schools, experiment stations and the like in the Holy Land.
But it sharply opposes the national implications of Zionism, leans strongly toward the “melting pot” theory and insists that the Jews are a religious community, solely, without any special claims for recognition as a distinct people with territorial aspirations. The Zionists argue that the Jews were once possessors of the land, that the prayers of the majority are vibrant with the longing for return to Palestine and that they have always maintained a distinctive character and culture. The whole world regards the Jews as a distinct nationality, and this they point to as the strongest evidence that the “melting pot” idea does not apply to the Jewish people. They insist, therefore, that the solution of the Jewish problem, which has its basis in the abnormality of Jewish existence, can be solved only by the creating of a Jewish national center. Since the world has given national recognition to hybrid peoples like the Bulgarians, the Serbs and the Montenegrins, the Zionists believe it will ultimately recognize the national claims of the racially-pure Jews.
Extent of Anti-Zionism.
The anti-Zionist elements in this country are within the ranks of the reform wing of the religion, and their chief organizations are the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the American Jewish Committee, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and to an extent in the United Synagogues of America, although in all of these organizations there are considerable Zionist minorities, whose power is continually growing. In England, the opposition centered in the board of deputies, the Anglo-Jewish association and the conjoint committee, the last being composed of delegates from the two first, and organized for the purpose of dealing with the political and diplomatic interests of the Jewish people.
When the war broke out, it soon became evident that the Jews would be its chief victims. Not only were they fighting in the ranks of all the armies of both the entente and central allies, but they were pitted against one another in the battles waging back and forth over all the fronts, and thousands of Jews were firing the bullets that were slaying thousands of other Jews. And as the fortunes of war led to invasion and counter invasion, now in Russia, Austria, or Poland, or Roumania, the hundreds of Jewish communities lying in the paths of the advancing of retreating legions, were put to the torch, the elders hanged, the women outraged, and the survivors left to perish of starvation and cold. It was felt by the Zionists and the other national elements among the Jewish that there must be some compensation for this thousand-fold Belgium.
Basing their claims on the avowal by the entente allies that their purpose in entering the war is to secure the liberation of the subject nations, the Zionists began pressing their plan for a free Jewish state in Palestine upon the attention of the powers, with the result that an “Independent Holy Land” is now an integral part of the allies' program. At the same time the movement for congresses which should express the democratic will of the Jewish people was launched, the slogan being that the time had come when the Jewish people can no longer content itself with boons won for them by those favored members of the race who happen to have time ear of one governing power or the other, but must demand full rights as a distinct nationality.
Allies Promise Freedom.
Thus began time revolution in Jewish life. The first shot was fired here, in America. Four hundred thousand votes, representing three-quarters of the adult Jewish population of this country, men and women, were cast for delegates to a congress which will be held in Washington, D.C., beginning Nov. 18. This congress will meet “for time purpose of defining methods, whereby, in co-operation with the Jews of the world, full rights may be obtained for the Jews of all lands: and all laws discriminating against them may be abrogated.” The phrase “full rights” is interpreted in the call for the congress to include:
1. Civil, religious and political rights, and in addition thereto:
2. Wherever the various peoples of any land are or may he recognized as having rights as such, the conferring upon the Jewish people of the land affected like rights.
3. The securing and protection of Jewish rights in Palestine.
It provides also that while the autonomy of existing organizations shall not be affected, the executive committee which is to be selected over any other organization in regard to such matters as shall be dealt with by the congress.
Congress Idea Wins.
The “elder statesmen” fought the congress idea tooth and nail, but the Zionists and the other organizations that joined hands with them stood fast, making only minor compromises in order to bring the congress into being. The principal concession made by the Zionists was that the theoretical phrases of the movement should not be presented, but they are confident that under the provision which permits the introduction of resolutions to secure and protect Jewish rights in Palestine, they will be able to make great headway at the congress for their movement to “establish in Palestine a publicly recognized, legally secured homeland for the Jewish people.” And this confidence is made doubly sure by the fact that they have elected a majority of the delegates to the congress.
Inspired by the success of their American colleagues in bringing to pass a Jewish congress organized on a democratic basis, similar agitations were begun by the Zionists of England, Canada, Austria and Greece, where congresses have already been agreed upon and voting forcibly presenting the sympathy of England with the nationalist element in Jewry and denouncing the signatories to the manifesto as obsessed by an imaginary nervousness and false to their people.
“We believe that Zionism embodies the feelings of the great bulk of Jewry every-where,” wrote Lord Northcliffe. “It is to the interests of the world outside Jewry that these aspirations should he squarely faced. It has tended to make Jews proud of their race and to claim as Jews recognition of the eminent services rendered by Jewry to the religious development and the civilization of mankind.”
Rothschild Leads Revolt.
Civil war broke out in English Jewry. Lord Rothschild, declaring himself a Zionist, quickly assumed leadership of the revolutionary forces. He was joined by the two chief rabbis of England, and with them carried the fight right into the very stronghold of the “elder statesmen” with the result that at the very next meeting of the board of deputies, a vote was passed repudiating the manifesto and rebuking its signatories. This led to the resignation of David K. Alexander, who had been president of the board of deputies for over forty years, but who failed, nevertheless, to secure as vote of confidence for himself and the other officers, who had signed the ill-fated document. A new board of officers was elected, with Lord Rothschild as first vice president. The newly chosen president is Sir Stuart Samuel, whose brother, Sir Herbert Samuel, is the former home secretary of Great Britain and an ardent Zionist, and although he is inclined to be neutral, he has great respect for his distinguished brother's opinions. The very first act of the new administration for delegates will take place shortly. In Greece the elections were made the occasion of a great holiday, all the non-Jewish merchants closing their places of business on election day out of courtesy to the Jewish population.
An Anti-Zionist Manifesto.
While the battle for a Jewish congress was at its height—it lasted two years— America entered the war “to make the world safe for democracy—to secure for each nationality the right to live its own life and develop its own culture on its own soil.” The significance of President Wilson's immortal statement of America's war aims brought great joy to the hearts of the Zionists, coupled as it has been recently with the strong intimation that at the opportune moment the United States would join in this declaration. But their joy was marred by the issuance of a manifesto of the English conjoint committee published in the London Times and cabled to this country, declaring that the Jews had no special claims on Palestine, had no desire to live an independent national life but wished to be regarded merely as a religious sect.
The manifesto proved a boomerang. “The very first effect was the winning to the Zionist idea of the London Times itself. Its redoubtable editor, Lord Northcliffe, who is now in this country in British commissioner, penned an editorial was to smash the conjoint committee by withdrawing its delegates.
The downfall of Dr. Cyrus Adler was an unexpected aftermath of the upheaval in England. Dr. Adler, who was formerly associated with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and is one of the leading members of the American Jewish committee, the Jewish Publication Society, the Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Theological Seminary and of practically every important Jewish philanthropic and educational institution in this country, was the organizer of the United Synagogues of America and of the Dropsie College and its president from the very inception. He has been foremost in opposition to the Jewish congress idea, though he has always been sympathetic to the practical operation or the Zionist in Palestine. When others of his school, like Jacob H. Schiff and Louis Marshall, president of the American Jewish committee, capitulated, he stood fast and though the Zionists have been eager to unhorse him, they did not imagine that he could be reached through the very organization of which he is the father. There were reasons, inherent to that organization, which made that seemingly impossible.
But when the convention of the United Synagogues was held his undoing occurred just at that moment when it seemed that he had carried that organization with him by compelling the modification of a resolution endorsing the Zionist movement. Hardly had he been re-elected president when a resolution was introduced favoring participation in the Jewish congress. Dr. Adler spoke against that resolution, but it was carried by a wide margin, the affirmative voters including several members of the Theological Seminary and Dropsie College, of which he is head. Immediately he tendered his resignation, leaving the hall angrily, but the convention proceeded serenely to elect a delegate to the congress. A week later, at a mass meeting in Philadelphia, Prof. Max Margolies, principal of Dropsie College, delivered an address believed by many to be directed against Dr. Adler, in which he said: “Obstruction to Zionism is treason,” and Prof. Neumann, another member of the faculty, spoke with equal force along the same lines.
The next move in this revolution will be by the Federation of American Zionists, which is planning at plebiscite among the Jews of America, who will be asked to vote squarely on this question: “Are you in favor of Palestine as a home-land for the Jewish people?” This plebiscite, it is expected, will take place in September, shortly after the Jewish New Year.
