In Times of Disorder.
When the Bastille was taken by the Parisian mob on July 14, 1789, the peasants in some of the country districts attacked the Jews, just as the fanatical loyalists in Russia are now doing. The National Assembly was asked to give the Jews full citizen's rights, but the Assembly hesitated. A deputy from Alsace named Rewbell declared the vote to grant citizen's rights to the Jews would be the signal for their destruction in Alsace. But it was finally done. When Rewbell tried to protest, the president announced that "Whoever speaks
against this motion will be called to order, for in so doing he opposes the constitution itself." Those who were opposed to the revolution did not cease from their agitation against the Jews. And some of the revolutionists themselves, when the decree was issued abolishing the Catholic religion in France, chose to regard the Jewish religion as also abolished and proceeded to destroy synagogues, rob houses, imprison rabbis, and spread consternation among the Jewish population. And thus the Jews were buffeted from both sides, but the outcome in the end was peace and security.
TISHA B'AB.
S. Solis Cohen in "Jewish Exponent."
SHALL I sorrow, oh desolate city, For thy beauty and glory o'erthrown? Shall I sing the dread day of destruction When thy sins thou didst dearly atone? When the Lord from the place He had chosen In anger withdrew His great name, And its treasures were spoiled by the stranger, Its holiness given to shame When the shrieks of the daughtrs of Zion Sad echo'd the shouts of the foe, And thy streets, ravished City, ran crimson With the blood of thy sons, lying low When the sceptre departed from Judah, From Levi his birthright was riven, And the people of God were led captive Forsaken on earth and of heaven? Or shall I rejoice in the beauty And glory again to be thine; When thy youth's loving Bridegroom shall ransome
His promise of comfore divine When the rites of thy temple new-builded With God shall find grace, as of old, And monarchs shall hasten with offerings Of incense and jewels and gold? In musical chorus thy daughters Shall echo the Levit's glad song, And thy gates night and day shall stand open For the pilgrims that thitherward throng? For the scepter returneth to David, The miter to Aaron's prould line; And neighbor shall welcome his neighbor To the shadow of fig-tree and vine. LIKE Akiba who laughed when the foxes Ran out from the Holiest place, Saying: "True were the warnings of evil And true is the promise of grace," My thoughts on this day of sad memories Turn not back to the past in despair, But forward, in hope, to the future Where visions of glory shine fair. When I read in the book of the prophet Who voiced fallen Zion's distress, I seek not alone words of grieving, But those rarer, that comfort and bless.