The Maccabaean

THE CONGRESS ELECTIONS

ALL those interested in the Jewish Congress will have to exercise patience while the Congress Committee works out the system of nominations and elections. This is a difficult task. We are now paying the penalty for our past neglect. A democratic Jewish Congress, cannot be built in a day after a long period of undemocratic and chaotic organization. This delay is unavoidable. There is so much internal difference of opinion and of judgment that unless an understanding is arrived at in advance of the Congress, the Congress forum itself may become the scene of unpleasant partisan differences. Better a little delay now than public disorder later. In the meantime—until the method of elections is definitely agreed to—Zionists shall not be idle. They have important work to do right now. The shekel campaign should be begun at once, in order that when the nominations take place we shall be in a position to know our strength. The greater the delay in the Congress, the more time we shall have to do that pressing work which the war has brought upon us.

aad 7-5 זא 1 st VW¥ ו 41 .ו.\+11 110 we ו עיצי בגל **1מ3י A nation-wide canvass for the shekel must be started at once. While making propaganda for the shekel, and enrolling Jews as Zionists, our Zionist workers should use the occasion to explain to Jews generally the importance and significance of the Congress. Through the enrollment of shekel-payers, we should place ourselves in a position of influencing, first the Congress nominations, then the elections, and, finally, the Congress itself. We are dedicated to one thing in the Congress: That within keeping of the Congress program, the free, self-respecting, progressive and idealistic elements of American Jewry may give expression to their longings and aspirations, their hopes and plans for the future. Patience and Work should be the watchwords.

HERMAN ROSENTHAL

ERMAN ROSENTHAL, who passed away during the month, was. a typical Maskil of the Russian school, but thoroughly Europeanized. He was interested in a variety of subjects, but seemed to be capable of only one enthusiasm. All that he had of genuine enthusiasm he expended in the colonization plans he was a party to in the United States in the eighties. After the failure of these plans, he hovered about other causes, partly assented to them, in some cases made considerable sacrifices for them, but he lacked enthusiasm. He was always coming back to or going away from a movement. He was capable of warmth, but not of heat. In Zionism, he found much satisfaction and participated in the organization of the Federation of American Zionists, but soon he virtually abandoned it, and from time to time word was received from him that he was coming back. When Nahum Sokolow was here about four years ago, Rosenthal expressed the hope that he would be able to return to the movement soon. He had a large capacity for work; as a scholar he was an authority on many aspects of Jewish life; he had a large circle of influential friends, who thought highly of his ability. But he could not throw himself at his age with energy into any movement. He never actually returned. When the Congress movement was begun, he offered his services, and he could have been a great help, but it was too late. Always a courtly gentleman, always gracious and free from dogmatism, Herman Rosenthal will always be remembered for the innumerable gentle acts of helpfulness rendered causes related to Zionism, as well as to the Zionist movement itself.

ZIONISM IN ENGLAND

SINCE the outbreak of war, Zionism has made rapid strides in every country in Europe. In no land have there been such gratifying results as in England, where, in spite of the limited numbers interested—and they are increasing every month—the group of leading Zionists has been able to strengthen the position of Zionism in a way that is bound to be of inestimable value. One of the leaders in the movement is Dr. Chayim Weizmann, who, at the recent. convention of English Zionists, was elected to the official leadership of the organization. Weizmann has always been one of the dependable men in English Zionism, but owing to the internal strife that has raged there for many years, has stood aloof from the conflict and preferred to give his service in directions where larger results were possible. At the Zionist Congresses he was one of the few men who combined the devotion of the Chovevei Zionists and the political acumen of the Herzlian Zionists. He was always found working hand in hand with the administration wherever the administration had need of his co-operation. With his election to the presidency of the English Zionist Federation, all parties in the movement are united. That union of effort in Zionism is, we need not repeat, essential if Zionism is to wrest from present circumstances something of value for the Jewish people.

THE BALTIMORE MEETING

THERE are two ways of dealing with the Zionist problem. One of these ways is no way at all, for it is not the way of courage or candor. Unfortunately, it was the way chosen in Baltimore by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, an assembly that will be remembered for the firmness with which it grappled with trifles and the futility with which it toyed with realities. Evasion may at times be a convenient expedient with certain types of folk, but it does not deserve to be erected into a governing principle by those who are indifferent to “the glory of facing facts.”

₪ כו mete ae aie עץ א אק Ahi eee ee Se Se ey eee שת Se ie American Israel enjoyed the unique experience at that Convention of looking upon a cause which the Baltimore assembly sought completely to suppress, but which overshadowed it from the beginning to the end. A distinction must be drawn between the achievement of evasion and the failure of suppression. Zionism was by no means ignored by its relentless foes. The keynote address was a solemnly compiled syllabus of not wholly unfamiliar arguments against Zionism. One wonders why one should trouble to dress up ¢new these now stalely fervid objurgations against the evil of Zionism.

Before and after the keynote address of Dr. Philipson, doughtiest and most solemn of the anti-Zionist fulmina- tors, some of the rabbis of Baltimore (in a sense hosts of the occasion), uttered views unmistakably clear against Zionism. They portrayed it as so widely and variously imperilling that one wonders when the police authorities will be called upon to stay its deadly blight. As if these gentlemen could not unitedly destroy Zionism, earlier anti-Zionist speeches were resurrected from the limbo of forgotten things, among them Dr. Kohler’s address at the beginning of the Hebrew Union College year which was given out as an improvised prophecy against Zionism. 7

As for the meetings themselves, the assembly was notable not so much because of the absence of anti-Zionist speeches as because of fearfulness lest the dread term be uttered. On the one hand, covertly hostile references