selves, emphasizing their nationality, continuing their special qualities and their age-long dreams, they will not only be preserving themselves from destruction, they will also be giving a needed example to the rest of the world."
In his last article, "The Jews and the War," Mr. Hapgood speaks of the great calamity that has befallen our people in consequence of this stupendous war. Fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, are being inhumanly murdered and maltreated, while our best sons, the flower of our youth, are staring death in the eyes, shedding their blood for their most unrelenting enemy. The world, however, looks upon the murdering of a whole people with cold indifference. Not so is it with the Belgians. Many tears are being shed over their fate, a whole world mourns their misfortunes, and what are the sufferings of the Belgians compared with ours? The reason is obvious: We are in the eyes of the world, individuals and not a nation, and the world does not reckon with individuals. Had we our national soil, had we lived like all other nations, the world would have lent a more ready ear to our demands and our outcries.
These are the consequences of an abnormal life. Not until we re-establish our national home, will the world cease to look upon us as a people singled out to suffer. Not merely out of hatred, but as a fixed idea this has been transmitted through the ages like a hereditary disease, it passes from one generation to the other. The only remedy to this disease is the national rebirth of our peo-
Ideals
ple on its historical soil. The Zionists are often warned from “above,” from “influential” headquarters not to make too much noise about their national aspirations, lest it jeopardize their complacent position in society. It is therefore interesting to hear what a distinguished non-Jew of the intellectual calibre of Mr. Hapgood has to say in regard to this ludicrous assertion. “One of the most frequent mistakes in thought about the Zionist movement is that it is in conflict with patriotism. As a matter of fact it will very much improve the quality of patriotism. There is a saying that every country has the Jews it deserves. A saying worth thinking about, as it is very profound. Jews are, as a whole, very patriotic wherever they live, but patriotism is not mere enthusiasm for a flag. It includes all the character and ability and insight of the person who feels it. Perhaps no part of the Zionist movement needs more explanation and enforcement than this fact that, instead of reducing the patriotism of the Jews who live in other countries, it will leave that patriotism at least equally strong and with a much finer idealistic and intellectual background.” Mr. Hapgood thus ends up his interesting series of articles: “From whatever angle therefore we study the Jew and his future, we come back to one of the most fertile and striking movements in present day history : the movement towards moral freedom for a powerful race, and the finding of that moral freedom in the possession of a local habitation. which is a necessity of a racial, intellectual and moral home.”
Yes, money talks; but ideals sing And soar to kiss the sky and bring To earth the song of heaven's caress. Listen! 'Tis God! Or has the stress So dimmed your soul that arching blue And forest bloom wear leaden hue? For bursts of joy but fill the air When hearts are closed and barred by care. Or have the wiles and schemes of life, Intrigues and tact and greed and strife, Power and law and men in arms, Buildings, steamships, factories, farms, And guile successful, honor poor And God loved less, and pleasure more And worship of the practical
So bound your soul as money's thrall, That heavy prose at least is sensed, But song's a stuff cannot be fenced And sold in lots, or held for rise, And music's heard, with mild surprise And boredom, from machines of tin That shriek and burr discordant din. Yes, money talks: men understand The current tongue in every land. But struggles die, and schemes decay, And tact and shams all pass away, And customs change, and big guns rust, Old empires blow away in dust. Amid the crash of change and wrong, Listen! You hear eternal song!