The Defence of the Jewish Nationality
Writing recently in the Jewish Chronicle, London, on the subject of "assimilation," Nathan Sokolow, the noted Hebrew journalist, who is now again publishing his revived Hebrew daily, Hazefirah, in Warsaw, said:
"Before we become Nationalists or Zionists, first of all we have to be against Assimilation. Zionism is nothing if it is not the self-defense of Jewish nationality. This self-defense is a very long and deep work in culture, education, literature, to which we are obliged to devote our undivided efforts. We are not Nationalists in that sense in which this word is understood as a political term; we are only faithful to ourselves.
"It is the necessity to adjust themselves to the Gentiles, and to 'conform' their whole personality to the Gentiles' way of thinking that has robbed Jews" of their power, strength and influence they could have exerted as a united moral power in the world. "Why should the Jewish nation have a standard of right and wrong adjustable to 'the "'senses' 'of 'other nations among whom they live? They will do good" to promote the 'best relations, to remove 'prevailing misunderstandings, to emphasize the fact that they have no desire to be on any but the best of terms with other nationalities and' religions, and to combine for the general welfare of the states where they reside. This point is beside the discussion. But that' sort 'of Assimilation 'which means, negation of their own nationality induces merely'confusion. How can any logical sequence in mind or action be expected of Jews under such conditions? If the nations are taught 'to regard Jews'only from the poim of' view of their interests and tastes, how can the Jews rise to their higher flights?
"This is the real point. If we are not the people of genius, we may be satisfied with Assimilation. We are striving, fighting—not only because we have poor masses, but principally because we are in possession of a certain culture, of a national language, of a complex of ideas, of a great literature. Therefore, we can not be assimilated; we are too substantial, too vital, too individualistic to be easily swallowed. This is the real secret of the Jewish national idea. The center of gravi-
ty is not in the sufference of the masses, but in the sufferance of the few higher minds which feel their nationality, experience national needs, and aspirations, and in the destinies of a nation the higher minds are the deciding factors."
Brandeis on Judaism
In an interview granted to a representative of the American Hebrew, Mr. Louis Dembitz Brandeis, the noted Boston attorney who has figured so prominently in a number of legal matters affecting the interests of the people, stated his attitude toward Judaism and at the same time expressed his sympathy with Zionism. The following conversation took place in Mr. Brandeis' office:
"There is some doubt as to where you stand on matters religious, Mr. Brandeis. Do you care to tell me?" he was asked.
He answered at once, without hesitation:
"There should be no doubt as to where I stand. Of course I am a Jew. Both of my parents were Jews. My grandparents were Jews. Though my grandparents were extremely devout, my father and mother were not so pious. My uncle, the late Lewis M. Dembitz, after whom I was named, was learned in Jewish lore, and was considered an authority on certain phases of Jewish scholarship. I am married to a Jewess, the sister of Dr. Felix Adler's wife. My early training was not Jewish in a religious sense, nor was it Christian. While naturally interested in their race, my people were not so narrow as to allow their religious belief to overshadow their interest in the broader aspects of humanity."
"Would you say," he was asked, "that your Jewish descent in any way ever embarrassed you in your academic professional, or public career?"
"Not in the slightest," was the reply. "My Jewishness has always been an absolutely uninfluential quantity. While I cannot say that it has ever helped me, it is equally true that it has never injured me. It has had really not the slightest effect upon the value of the work that I have been enabled to do."
"Have you any interest, Mr. Brandeis," was the next question, "in those Jews who are working for the revival of Jewish state in Palestine?"