The Jewish advance., July 26, 1878, Page 4, Image 4

About The Jewish advance. (Chicago, Ill.) 1878-1881

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
The Jewish Advance.
84 & 86 FIFTH AVENUE.
Terms of Subscription:
Per annum.$3.CC
For six months.1.50
Single Copies. 10
Kates of Advertising :
One line Nompareil, one insertion,.$ .T
“ “ “ 1 month (4 insert.).. .50
“ “ 3 months, (13 insert.) 1.00
“ “ “ 12 “ (52 insert.) 3.00
HENRY GERSONI, - - Editor.
MAX STERN, Publisher.
Chicago, July 26th, 1878.
The Amended Constitution.
Without going into details and techi
ealities, we may sum up the bearing of
the Amendments which have been made
in the Constitution of the IT. of A. H.
C. in a few brief paragraphs: ■
The Hebrew Union College of Cincin
nati is now constitutionally the first,
but not the only institution of the kind
for which the Union has to provide.
Provisions have been made for the
establishment of “ institutions of learn
ing” wherever it may become neces
sary, and probably the day is not distant
when New York will have a college un
der the auspices of the Union, or those
provisions would not have been insisted
upon. If the “ Jewish Educational So
ciety” should be resuscitated in this
city, as there is undoubtedly a great
necessity for it here, and work in con
formity with the spirit and Constitution
of the Union, we may also enjoy the
privilege of fostering Jewish learning,
and the Union would co-operate with us
and lend us its help and influence.
The curriculum of such “ institutions
of learning,” is no longer in the hand of
the Western Rabbis exclusively; a com
mittee of Jewish men of learning from
all parts of the United States will take
charge of it, Herewith, the Amended
Constitution has done aAvay with the
objections which have heretofore ex
isted, that one place should be considered
the seat of rabbinical authority, and that
one set of rabbis should dictate the sub
jects and manner of instruction. All
rabbis alike have now the privilege of
giving their opinion in the matter; and
the opinion of neither one will weigh in
the scale by reason of his influence.
The “ Indigent Student’s Fund,” will
also belong to all “institutions of Jew
ish learning ” alike which may be reared
in this country, and not to any one col
lege exclusively. As the Board of Gov
ernors for such institutions is to be
elected by a presentation from all sec
tions of the country, the indigent stu
dents of all the institutions of learning
will be equally provided for.
By the amended wording of Article I,
Section 1, Paragraph b, which makes it
one of the objects of the Union “ to es
tablish relations with kindred organiza
tions in other parts of the world for the
relief of the Jews from oppression, and
for rendering them such aid for their
intellectual elevation as may be
within the reach 'of this Union,” the
work of the “Board of Delegates”
of New York, is now included in the
schedule of the Union. That body which
has stood almost isolated and alone,
watching the interest of our brethren of
foreign countries, will henceforth be
supported by the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, and will conse
quently be able to extend its beneficial
activity and influence.
In fact, a Union of American Israel
in general, has been consummated by
the Council of Milwaukee. There is no
reasonable excuse for any Jewish corpo
ration to keep apart from the Union.
All barriers of sectional prejudice has
been removed; all causes which have
divided the hearts of Jewish communi
ties have been destroyed; our men of
learning and the practical laborers in
behalf of Israel have joined hands.
There is no excuse for any one not to
work along with the rest. The contribu
tions are so insignificant that even “ the
hard times ” cannot be pleaded as an
excuse. What is One Dollar a year to
an Israelite? Three cigars, or five glasses
of beer, or two bouquets in the button
hole less, pay the contributions for three
months. And should our ladies take it
in their heads to encourage their hus
bands and fathers to help the Union
why, God bless you, neither the milliners
nor the fancy goods’ merchants need feel
the expense—it is so trifling, and the
good which the Union can accomplish is
so great and so important!
At the conclusion, we might recite a
small paragraph from the Talmud:
If a person severs his connections
with the general interests of his people,
two angels come and put their hands on
his head, saying,
■ this
person who has withdrawn from the
communal interests, shall not enjoy the
benefits thereof.”
The two angels may be selfishness and
indifference. Both of them the causes
of isolation, pronounce the verdict of
the one who isolates himself May
Heaven guard us from these angels, may
God protect us against their unkind ver
dict, may all American Israelites “ see
the
and participate in it
through the work of the Union of Ameri
can Hebrew Congregations.”
CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON.
A few years ago we had expressed*
the metaphor that the Jew is the ther
mometer of civilization. By the station
which the Jew occupies in society, one
can judge about the civilization of that
society, whether it is of a high or a low
degree. That metaphor has been adopted
and used to a large extent in the press.
The same circumstances which have
caused us then to create that metaphor,
provok us atthe present time to recant
and to withdraw it, Having drawn a
parallel between Roumania and other
European states, we have imagined that
because the former was not as civilized
as the latter, the position of the Rou
manian Jews was worse than that of their
brethren of the other states. We are
roused now by the cry of violence against
our brethren in Russian Poland. It
would be ridiculous to say that that
state is less civilized than Turkey ; and
yet, the Jews of that state are worse off
than our brethren in the East. Russia
has a literature, rail roads, scientific in
* In the Jewish Times of December, 1871.
stitutions and institutions of art, which
Turkey has not. It is the neighbor of
Germany and Austria, and stands in
constant communication with France and
England, in friendly relations with Amer
ica, of whom it learns lessons of civiliza
tion every day. And yet it is from Rus
sia that reports of Jewish oppression
reache us, the cry of violence perpetrat
ed against the Jews startles the air of
the civilized world. While the Congress
of Berlin was framing laws of religious
liberty for all, the mobs of Zduska-Wola,
Blasky, Warta and Kalish prove that
the law is one thing and the practice is
another. But the governments rule the
masses ? one might interpose. Yes,
they rule them to a certain extent, they
rule them and keep social order as far
as the government itself is concerned.
But the cultivation of their morals, the
training of their disposition and sen
timents are in the hands of another
power—in the hands of the Church. And
as long as there is an established church
recognized by the constitution of any
country, persecutions and oppressions of
other religious believers will darken the
horizon of civilization.
The adamentine pillar of Christianity
is a crucified Savior, a god who has been
put to death by Jews. The Jew is de
clared a Deicide by the very foundation
of Christian belief; and as long as a
government patents Christianity as its
ruling principle, it exposes non-Christ
ians .to the disdain of the masses, the
Jews to hatred and peosecution. The
Romish Church, which has fed and
grown fat on Jewish blood for twelve
centuries, which lives on its pageantry
and theatrical performances which are
calculated to stir the hearts of the igno
rant masses by presentations of the suf
fering of a god—the Romish Church
cannot give up these demoralizing things
without giving up the ghost, And
wherever that cancer of the body of hu
manity has spread its venomous veins,
the sap of human justice, the interests of
civilization must be absorbed for the
interests of the Church. The decrees
of a Congress which declares liberty of
conscience for every one, freedom of re
ligious culture of every kind, must be
nothing else than tyrannical impositions
to the masses who see in their church
the passions, the agonies, the death of
their god, and are prohibited to mete
out vengeance against his persecutors.
Wherever those masses find a plea, they
will attest, even at the risk of punish
ment at the hands of the government,
that their faith has not diminished, that
their adherence to the church has not
relaxed, that the lessons of their religion
has taken root in their hearts.
The government cannot have its eye
on every bigoted and narrow-minded
minister, and every prelate of the Rom
ish church is well trained to act in the
interest of his church. Whatever is
most calculated to take hold of the
hearts of the devout worshipers in be
half of the Church—this the priest must
foster best. Hence the clouds of the
horizon of civilization, hence the out
croppings of prejudice and malice, when
ever and wherever they are least ex
pected. As long as Christianity will
sway the hearts of the masses, the Jews
must watch and work for themselves
Too much liberality on our part will not
enlighten the masses. The Jews who,,
becoming themselves secure under the
protection of a liberal constitution, for
get the duties they to owe their breth
ren, cannot be said to fulfil the teachings
of their religion. Wo must, by virtue
of (rod’s command, forgive the wrongs
which we have suffered, but we must
not neglect to watch the signs of the
times; we must not forget that there
are yet clouds on the horizon pregnant
with hail and with storm. Our mission
is not fulfilled yet as long as we see
those clouds. Israel, watch and work!
SOCIALISM AND THE JEWS.
III.
There was earnest devotion to the
cause of humanity in Saint Simon; there
was sincerity and generosity in Robert
Owen. They were the first who gave
expression to the vague ideas of social
ism which had been, so to say. floating
in the air. Expression they gave to
those ideas, but forms they could not
give. It is well known how greedily the
Germans have devoured every new idea
which appeared in the French literature
in the last and at the beginning of the
present sentury. To the philosopher (or
potentate) of Sans-Souci, the reproach
is made that he ruled his people more
on the Irench style, and introduced
more of the French element than was
wholesome for the German people, In
^Napoleon Bonaparte, the German people
has seen little less than the redeemer of
the world, just because he was the out
growth of the Revolution, and they
hoped to see through him the consum
mation of equality or socialism. The
French literature, and with it the liber
alism of France first, and the commun
ism next, has been almost an object of
devotion in Germany. Hence it came
to pass that the communism of St. Si
mon worked its way through the German
brains and sentiments, until it found
expression in the agitation of Lassalle
and his contemporaries.
The logical connection of ideas which
led to the ideal of a communism is
clearly apparent. The French, a sanguine
People groaning under the yoke of the
immoral and demoralizing Louises, con
ceived a desire to liberate themselves;
to do away with kings, and to govern
the interests of their country by the
will of the people—in brief, to establish
a republic. In a republic, every citizen
enjoys equal rights, and there was a rich
aristocracy and an all absorbing and
scheming church, which might by virtue
of their riches and of their cunning,
contrive to hold a superior position.
The aristocracy and the church, there
fore, must be destroyed together with
the crowned heads. Hence the Giron
dins, the Jacobins, and the reign of ter
ror — the Guillotine. The Germans,
thoughtful and phlegmatic neighbors of
the former, were pleased with the Re
publican ideas—even with the cry of
“ egalite,” for they had a heavier burden
(of thirty odd petty tyrants) to bear.
Rut, not as sanguine as their neighbors
they did not jump at conclusions, and
were not in a hurry to act upon them.
1 hey reasoned. Reason was not per