finally translated itself into Jewish religious self-consciousness. If, in the words of the Rabbis, "God glorifies Himself through the glory of Israel," is it not more than pardonable in Israel to regard himself exalted through this divine distinction? What matters the keenest torture, even martyrdom itself, when endured for the sake of the national faith and for the final goal foretold by the prophets, of bringing back erring humanity, through righteousness and purity, to the knowledge and worship of the God of Israel who is the God of all Spirits?
By Way of Contrast
The antonym sometimes makes the meaning of a word much plainer than does the synonym; the difference sets off individuality more markedly than the resemblance. By opposites we learn to appreciate the things with which we have grown too familiar; in this lies the secret of the force of ironical and sarcastic methods of statement.
It is a sad and not uninstructive coincidence that a royal commission should be considering the Jewish problem under the caption of "Alien" Immigration, even while the Roumanian Government is expelling Jewish journalists as "foreigners." In the Middle Ages the Jew was ranked with the infidel; that was, then, the handiest and sharpest stone to heave at him; in our enlightened day, when nationalism is the fashionable faith, he becomes the foreigner, the alien. Nor must he discern the least tone of hospitable friendliness in the sound; for these "Christian" nations have not imbibed that part of the Biblical spirit which lends to the word "stranger" an appealing note, calling for charity and kindly consideration.
In puzzling out the problem why Jewish immigration should be considered undesirable unä voce by the public sentiment of such countries as England and America, not to mention autocratic governments, it has occurred to us to ask
what might be considered desirable immigration and to learn, perhaps, by way of contrast, just what prerequisites of desirableness as an immigrant the Jew might be lacking. It so happens that there is a class of people whose immigration is assumed to be desirable with very much the same strange unanimity. Wherever and whenever statistical figures on this subject are considered, it is always stated with gratification that the Scandinavian immigration (from Sweden, Norway and Denmark) is on the increase or else with regret that there is a decline. The Scandinavian is the pet of all the host of immigration philosophers. There may be some of these who deprecate the coming Irishman, others who warn against the flood of Italians, many who scent a yellow danger, even those who dislike the Germans, but numerous as may be the charges laid at the immigrant Jews' door, not one is leveled at the blonde northerner. Why should this be so? And is there anything in the fact from which we may learn?
The Scandinavian is a man of no striking successes, and no wretched failures. He does not figure among the multi-millionaires nor does he invade the sweat shops. He is content to join the lower middle classes, to rise at the most to moderate comfort. He is a neutral man,