The Maccabaean

REVIEWING the story of Israel for the year 5680, we find it both a tragic and a hopeful story, marked by the paradox so characteristic of Israel's experience. New charters of rights side by side with new prejudice and new persecutions, Poland and Hungary offering examples of both. No longer can we speak of Russia as a unit, for in Great Russia, and in the new Baltic provinces, the Jew seems to have acquired a larger liberty, while in the Ukraine the record of pogroms is more terrific than that recorded in the '80s under the despotic Czars!

But as we turn our eyes further eastward the picture is more stirring and exhilarating. In Palestine we find that the hope cherished for two thousand years is to be realized. Israel is to become a people again. Those who desire to return to the home of their ancestors are having their wishes granted. Zionism, a vision in the brain of the dreamer a generation ago, is now a concrete reality. So this restoration to the Holy Land is the incident of the year just closed that in significance dwarfs all others.

That history ever repeats itself has rarely been more notably indicated than here. Nigh 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Persian ended the Babylonian exile by inviting the Jews to return to their fatherland, and likewise offered them a local autonomy under a Persian suzerainty. Not all availed themselves of this hospitable invitation—not even the majority, but enough to become a people and make history on the soil of Judea once more. Those who continued to remain voluntarily in Babylon and other lands, none the less maintained a sentimental relation with the revived Jerusalem, and, when the Temple was rebuilt there, scattered Israel looked to it as their religious center. So now England is inviting Jews to settle in the old home of their fathers, granting them a local independence, but under the English sway. Here again the bulk of scattered Israel will remain in their respective homes in which they are happily settled—in England and the United States, in Italy and France, wholly identified with their respective national interests, in all senses continuing English and American, French and Italian citizens, second to none in their patriotism and in their loyalty to their respective flags. Yet I trust that the second parallel between the present and the past will likewise be true, that those of us who choose to remain in our western homes will still feel sentimentally allied with Canaan, will follow the development of those settled there with kindly interest, and will aid them if needs be to create in the Orient a new Jewish center. All the world will watch this new unfolding of Jewish life, this experiment of Jews no longer having to adapt themselves to the modes of life of other peoples, but to create their own.

It was my pleasant privilege this summer to attend a vast ratification meeting in the Albert Hall in the City of London, to voice appreciation of this generous promise of Great Britain. This hall, larger than Madison Square Garden, seats 10,000 persons, and was crowded to the doors with enthusiastic Israelites who had come there from all parts of the globe. Not only eminent Israelites addressed that meeting, but likewise some who are among the leaders of the present English government. One of these, Lord Robert

Cecil, said: "When the history of the war comes to be written, I believe that the two outstanding features of it will be the establishment of the national Jewish home and the creation of the League of Nations, and they are not really disconnected. They represent two great ideals for which we fought and by which we conquered." Mr. Arthur Balfour said that he came before that audience as a convinced Zionist. In his most sanguine moments he never foresaw or conceived the possibility that the great work of the reconstruction of Palestine would happen so soon. During that entire week a great Zionist Congress was held in London; at which Judge Brandeis presided. I there heard the aged Max Nordau, the logical successor of Herzl in the leadership of Zionism, and its soul today, voice the hopes of a rejuvenated Israel.

Though a fait accompli, we must not be carried away by our enthusiasm, but must look at all aspects of this situation. Many co-religionists I met in England, wholly identified with English life, looked rather askance at the entire project. They fear that it may identify them with a nationality that as Englishmen they are not willing to acknowledge or recognize. They feel that they are now facing a choice of being either Jews or Englishmen. These only voice a similar opinion in American Jewry. In fact, all aspects of this issue are duplicated in most lands. I have carefully investigated this fear, and let me assure the reader that it is groundless. It arises only through misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the whole undertaking. Palestine is offered as a National Home for Jews who wish to make it that, and for such only. It will be chiefly sought by those of scattered Israel who have never enjoyed complete national participance in the lands of their residence as we enjoy in the West. It will be a boon to those who in Eastern Europe have never known what citizenship means, who have, perforce, lived aloof under their own local laws—have been regarded by their neighbors as a distinct national entity. Such has been the status of Jews in Russia, in Poland, in the Orient for several centuries. Such persons feel that they belong to a Jewish nation, for they certainly belong to no other. Even have not been the status in Western Europe ever since the French Revolution. The issue was bluntly put to the Jews in France over one hundred years ago. They there declared that they regarded France as their country, which they would serve and defend even unto death, and that they regarded all French citizens as their fellow countrymen. That spirit was successively taken up by most lands, and is a platitude today. Such do not feel that they belong to a Jewish nation; but they can sympathetically appreciate the hopes of those who do, in consequence of having had a different history.

But without being Zionists—without agreeing with those who claim that the Jews, as such, are a nationality, in spite of American or English or German citizenship—those of us who recognize only one land, only one flag and only one mother tongue and only one governmental fealty, may still, I hope, look kindly upon such who decide to make Palestine their land, the lion of Judah their flag, the Hebrew tongue their official language, should a time arrive when complete