brating in our ears: "Zionism expects every Jew to do his duty." Every Jew, great and small, high and low, old and young. Not to look on with sympathy or interest, but to take his place and do his best. Then shall we also win our great battle. The wonderful little people who are now fighting for national independence show us what individual sacrifice, heroism and love of one's people can accomplish.
We have not only a difficult road to travel, but a long one. We must be patient workers. Zangwill has recently outlined Zionism in the following words: "The Zionist movement may be divided into five stages, all of which must be passed over before it can be said to be successful. The first stage is organization of the Jews and of the financial machinery. The second stage is the opening of the door of Palestine and the acquiring of a publicly, legally assured territory in our ancient land. The third stage is the successful establishment of that home, the agricultural, industrial and commercial regeneration of Palestine. The fourth stage—after the home has been successfully established and some of our many faults purged in the process—is the working up of our state into a model state, with the wisest and the justest solutions possible of all the social problems. For our state cannot be a mere state among states. Moses founded the Jewish state upon righteousness and justice, and, however you alter the building, the foundation can never be changed. The fifth stage of Zionism is the realization of the Jewish mission—the imparting to the world of the social solutions and ideals of righteousness developed by the spiritual genius of our race."
Thus far we have considered our duties toward Zionism in general. But we must also view Zionism in a special relation. We are American citizens, living under the protection of the greatest and most advanced commonwealth the world has yet seen. We are here protected in our rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as nowhere else upon the face of the globe. Here our numbers have increased so that this country bids fair to stand second only to Russia in the number of its Jewish citizens. With the increase of our numbers our power and influence have likewise increased. It is
but recent that we have had indutiable evidence of this fact. For many years the friendship existing between the United States and Russia was sincere and unquestioned. Now in the hour of her critical conflict the people of this country have, with unanimity, turned their sympathy to her enemy. The reason for this change is easily found. The Jewish citizens, distressed at the frightful massacre of Kisheneff, had but to tell the American people the tale of barbarity and misgovernment to rouse their just indignation and contempt. For the cornerstone of our government is liberty and justice, and the American people cannot tolerate their violation, whether within their own borders or in Cuba or in Russia.
Imbued with this spirit and enjoying opportunities never offered before, we owe & double obligation to our people—one as Jews and another as American citizens. It is incumbent upon us to contribute great service in the solution of the Jewish question and to help work out the still greater problem—the preservation of the‘ Jewish people, the Jewish inheritance and the Jewish ideals. And it is for us to prove that it is not in misery and under oppression only that we can live on, but that we can develop, even in the luxury of liberty and prosperity, into that high type of Jews who are loyal and devoted to this great commonwealth, its tradıtions and its progress, and at the same time cling with increasing love to their Jewish people, for whose uplifting and development they are willing, nay,eager, to make any sacrifice and offer everyservice. In unity there is strength. Only as a people that is one can we hope to work out our salvation as a people. Zionism furnishes us the common ground upon which we can all join hands and work shoulder to shoulder. Let us hope that the day is near when, as in the days of old, the most dreaded punishment for a Jew shall be to be cut off from his people.
My friends we see before us a great future in which we shall again have reason to take pride in the present as well as in the past of our people—a time when the ancient promise to Abraham shall again be fulfilled, "when all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves in his seed."