The Maccabaean

signed, though in the meantime much valuable preparatory work is being done. Hitherto, a Zionist Congress was the only gathering that brought Jews from all countries together. The Paris Conference has also brought Jews together from many countries; but whilst a Zionist Congress always consisted of delegates elected by particular bodies, many of the so-called Jewish representatives now in Paris represent nobody but themselves. This would, perhaps, not be a very serious defect if their zeal prompted them to support the demands made by East European Jewry; but they actually have the audacity to work against these demands and to pretend that they are voicing the views of Western Jewry. It is certainly a matter for satisfaction that the Jewish communities of Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Galicia, Rumania, and Czecho-Slovakia have all been able to send their own competent spokesmen to submit and urge their respective demands. The Committee of Jewish Delegations, from which the Alliance Israelite and the Joint Foreign Committee of British Jewry hold unreasonably aloof, has hit upon a wise idea in proposing to make itself a permanent body to be domiciled in the seat of the League of Nations. All indications at present undoubtedly show that injustice—if not injury—to the Jew will be a regular feature of the New Europe for some time to come, and it is therefore of the utmost importance that there shall be a permanent Jewish Legation in the capital of the League of Nations.

The only definite progress that can be recorded so far is the announcement, incorporated in the Draft of the Peace Treaty, that a special treaty will be concluded between the Allied and Associated Powers and Poland containing provisions for the protection of racial and religious minorities in Poland. The object of this special treaty is, of course, to safeguard the interests and rights of the Jews. Exactly what it will consist of, it is as yet difficult to say, although the Committee of Jewish Delegations is doing its utmost, especially by conversations with the American and Polish Delegations, to secure the grant of Jewish national rights, and although the principle of minority rights has been recognized, little has so far been heard of the efforts to achieve the emancipation of the Jews in Rumania; but this question will doubtless be taken seriously in hand when the frontiers of Rumania and other matters affecting her future

come up for consideration. The position of the Jews in Salonika, who are experiencing very unjust treatment at the hands of the Greek authorities, also requires careful examination and amelioration.

The troubles caused by our enemies are now so grave and manifold that unity among our own ranks is more imperative than ever before. It is therefore exceedingly deplorable that ten prominent members of the Anglo-Jewish Community (or strictly speaking, nine members, with the addition of General Sir John Monash) should have written a letter in the Anti-Semitic "Morning Post" in which they accused the "Jewish Chronicle" and the "Jewish World" of encouraging Bolshevism, and discriminated between native and foreign Jews in this country, to the detriment of the latter. It is doubtful if the so-called leaders of the Anglo-Jewish Community could have committed a worse act of criminal stupidity if they had tried. Even if there were a shred of substance in the charge, the "Morning Post" is the last paper to which it should have been sent. But to place their signature to such a gross and unfounded charge, and give it publicity in an Anti-Semitic organ, is a serious Chillul Hashem, and shows what little confidence we can now place either in the sagacity or in the Jewish consciousness of our "leaders." Their days are numbered, however, as there is a strong movement now on foot to democratize our institutions and to secure at their head those who represent the Jewish community of today and not the autocratic system of yesterday. The elections to the Board of Deputies—our Anglo-Jewish Parliament—are taking place this month, and energetic efforts, guided by a special committee of the English Zionist Federation, are being made to increase the Zionist representation on the Board. Although two weeks of the election period have yet to elapse, I have little hesitation in predicting that the new Board of Deputies will contain a Zionist majority. It is regrettable that at the Annual Conference of the English Zionist Federation this week no agreement was arrived at on the proposal to have one united Zionist Organization of the United Kingdom. But the question, which has been put off for a special conference a few months hence, certainly admits of only one solution. Union is strength, and English Zionism needs both.

I walk aboutIn foreign fields,The sun is brightYet no warmth yields.The song that from my heart would springIs dead for want of echoing.

From the Yiddish of I. L. Peretz,by Leah W. Leonard

The world about me Is not free; The fields I tread Bloom not for me. I pluck a rose in early morn— A stranger's rose is but a thorn!