The Maccabaean

A JEWISH LAW SOCIETY

But notwithstanding the fact that the subject under consideration is one that will develop according to the needs of the life that is as yet unborn and will be the resultant of social forces whose power and direction cannot as yet be determined, it is possible to make some contribution toward a scientific formulation of principles and practice, and it is equally desirable that the attention of the Jewish people throughout the world should be directed to these problems for the double purpose of stimulating their interest in the great problem of the resettlement and widening their horizon through the consideration of large questions far removed from their simple and ordinary provincial and local interests. Dr. Weizman reported to the Eleventh Zionist Congress on the establishment of a Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Presumably this University should contain a Faculty of Law, and in view of the many and complicated legal problems that the new State will have to face and

solve, such a faculty engaged in instructing a reasonably large student body seems to be indispensably necessary. In the meantime for the purpose of uniting all those to whom the many different legal problems of Palestine are of interest and who may desire to contribute to their study and solution, it may be feasible to establish a Jewish Law Society through which the subject may be lifted out of the region of polemics into the purer atmosphere of scientific discussion and inquiry. Many classes of persons might be interested in such a society. Lawyers, Talmudists, and other Jewish scholars, those who have had special training in Jewish law as well as in general jurisprudence, those interested in comparative jurisprudence and those having a general interest in Judaica, Semitica and Orientalia. Such a society, through its organization, work and publications, might do very much toward clearing the ground for a better understanding of the problems of society and law in the new Palestine and the methods looking toward their hest solution.

Without, the lonely night is sweet with stars: But me an ancient gruesome tale has bound Of them He chose and later cast aground As on a raging sea to drift like spars.

Great God! Was it but mockery Thy choice? Is martyrdom the highest crown You give? And shall a People, maimed and fugitive, Be bearer of the thunder of Thy Voice?

Burn low, my lamp, I cannot further read; The woes of countless thousands o'er me flood! From out the shadows lurid shapes arise: Of executioners inflamed by greed, Of "holy" swords that drip with infants' blood, Of flames that roar and shapes that agonize!

And yet the night is sweet with stars. Away Then put the tale of martyrs red with blood, Of them He chose to prove in fire and flood, Of saints defiled and grim auto-da-fé.

Come! Draw the curtains! Why forever read? The million-jewelled heavens are awake, As when to Abraham the Voice outspake: **As numberless as Heaven's stars thy seed!”

Sweet, friendly stars! Your splendor and your calm Have not since then diminished by a gleam! Are ye not witness to the promise still? Then, heir of sorrow, purge your heart of qualm! Shall bitterness of soul destroy the dream? The Peak still glimmers: thrill, my spirit, thrill!

Behold! What strange procession do 1] Before my vision dimmed with tears of rage, Emerging as from mists that mar the page, In sadness stern they tread so solemnly.

The shadows grimly lie to left and right,Like huge and moving forests o'er them bent:Up winds the road in tortuous ascent,And far and faint a Peak in misty white.

And see! From out the lurking shadows leapUncanny monstrous shapes with howl and shriek!White flash their fangs, like points of fire their eyes!The victims fall and neither groan nor weep;Each lifts his eyes unto the gleaming PeakAnd cries: "The Lord our God is One!" and dies!