The Maccabaean

JUDAISM AND SOCIAL SERVICE.

Books on Social Service were wont, some few years ago, to consist either of sentimental outpourings by people whose hearts were better than their heads, or of "principles of charity," written by people who were hypnotized by a desire for efficiency in charity distribution, and whose heads, though better than their hearts, were not conspicuous for clear thinking. The encouragement given to the wastrel by the former was as harmful as the suspicious questioning and red tape of the latter.

Fortunately, the increased social consciousness evinced in all modern countries during the last ten years has led not only to a higher sense of obligation and duty towards our fellow citizens, but also to a more enthusiastic study of economics and to a keener understanding of the place and function of charity in our social system. Philosophy and science, but more especially religion, have inspired this growing sense of social responsibility and solidarity and the many-sided activities in which it has resulted, and we are at last producng works on social service and charity which are not hypnotized by "efficiency," nor drownd in pathos.

It is interesting to note the growing interest in social service evinced by modern sects in Israel.

What is it due to? Why is not orthodox Jewry moved to the same activity? A full answer to these questions would need a deep study into the tendencies in Jewish life. What is, however, obvious, is that this phase is new and very significant.

Judaism, the Religion of Justice in Palestine, became in Goluth the Religion of Charity, but since the Emancipation it has become more and more a religion of faith. Of course, we have had our charities since we gained emancipation and they compared well with those of non-Jews, but they were not the product of Judaism. They were sureties of our good behavior as citizens. They were part of the price we paid for emancipation. Jewish charities constituted our first line of defense against Anti-Semitism.

It follows that a book on the relationship of Judaism in modern years to social service could not be written, because there was no direct relationship. It was accidental, derived, and of little importance.

In the Middle Ages, in Western Europe as well as in Russia today, where charity is part of Judaism and of the sense of Jewish brotherhood, the attitude towards charity differed toto coelo from our practice until recently. To them, charity was a means of serving God and of satisfying their internal impulses.

The Liberal Synagogue has seized on the feeling of social consciousness which is now prevalent in society at large and is endeavoring to harness it to its own purposes. Indeed, it is aiming to unite in itself the two ideals which characterized Judaism before the disintegrating influences consequent on Emancipation set it. It aims to unite the Righteousness of the Prophets with the Charity or Social Service ideal of the Middle Ages. Whether it will succeed or it is going about it in the right way, and, much more important, whether it derives its inspiration from Jewish sources, is not now at issue. It is necessary to recognize these facts in order to undertandd why it is that Liberal Judaism should be first to seek its relationship to Social Service. Rev. Harry S. Lewis, in his excellent little book, “Liberal Judaism and Social Service” (Bloch Publishing Company, New York), has traced the history of Jewish ideas and Jewish practices of Social Duty and Charity from Biblical times until the present day. This book, as the author himself suggests, is merely an outline treatment of the subject, and it is to be hoped, and there is reason to believe, that we shall soon have a bigger work on this subject. Meanwhile, we ought to consider a number of the practical suggestions which Mr. Lewis, a scholar who speaks with the authority of over thirty

years' experience as a field worker, makes in his book.

There are three suggestions which merit immediate attention: First, our author suggests the calling together of "an international congress on Jewish social service." Problems like immigration, wife-desertion, and a host of others suggest themselves at once as likely to result in a more effective treatment.

Secondly, our author writes: "It would be advantageous if most Rabbis, before assuming the charge of a congregation, undertook settlement work for a year or so, or were employed in the office of a Jewish charitable or educational society."

Thirdly, he writes: "No attempt to run a Jewish settlement on merely racial lines deserves support; it must be enthusiastically religious or it is nothing."

This little book is a timely, stimulating, well-written work which ought to be in the hands of all social workers who need inspiration and guidance. To all Jews who are not indifferent to the great and growing problems surrounding them and to those who wish to show their nationalism in concrete and immediate activity, Mr. Lewis's book should prove of the highest service.

JOSEPH L. COHEN.

IN THOSE DAYS.

Dr. George Jeshurun has made an excellent translation of the fine little story written by Jehudah Steinberg, entitled “In Those Days.” We have been surfeited with translations from the Yiddish literature in which good sketches written in idiomatic Yiddish are turned into bad sketches written in awkward English in a pedantic attempt to stick to literalness at all costs. In most cases, the cost is the loss of interest in Yiddish literature and a lack of understanding of its value. Dr. Jeshurun has not been slavish in his devotion to the text of Steinberg’s novelette, but has written deliberately, with.an idea of making the story clear and vivid. As a result, the reader has before him a story that needs no commentary. It tells itself. And the story told is most interesting. It holds the attention. The story is familiar to all readers of Hebrew literature. It is the story of a cantonist, one of the large number of Jewish lads taken forcibly from their homes, carried into a Russian environment and trained for the Russian army. How the lads maintain their Jewish interests, how they are treated by their captors, their relations with their comrades in arms and how, after fighting, they return, more or less injured by the encounter with the alien environment, to their Jewish homes, is here told in a simple, direct and fascinating manner. The story is old by the cantonist himself, now an old man, to a traveller. It is terse, unsentimental, dramatic. It deserves to be read. It is published by the Tewish Publication Society.

SINGER PRAYER BOOK IN POPULAR EDITION.

The Hebrew Publishing Company has issued a popular-priced edition of the Rev. S. Singer's Daily Prayer Book. The American edition is printed on specially good paper from the original plates sent here by the Jewish Education Board of London. This Prayer Book has established itself as the book of devotion to hundreds of Jewish families. Over 135,000 copies of the book have already been printed and sold. The English translations are good, and no attempt is made to tamper with the traditional arrangement of the sevices. The Prayer Book sells for 25 cents net, excluding postage.

We have received a copy of “The Conquering Jew,” by John Foster Fraser. It is published by the Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York. Mr. Fraser is the author of a number of books dealing with foreign lands—Argentine, Australia, Canada, Panama and Turkey. A review of the book will appear in our next iccne