Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-12-09
JEWISH ExCLUsIvENEsS
A SeIf-lmpOsed OstraSIsm which Should
Be Removed.
Jewish Times.

jewish Times.
We are in receipt of several com
m~unications on the subject of our re-
cent editorial entitled Who is
Ashamed to Be a jew" One lady
writes to us, 1T is all very well for
men to deny the existence Of an anti
Jewish prejudice they may not feel
it. but we ladies find it at the water
ing-place hotels and in the society we
meet. a Jewess is rarely treated by a
Christian like Q Christian is" Our
fair correspondent is not entirely.
wrong. No doubt Jewesses are treat
ed somewhat differently from Chris
tians in Christian society. But whose
fault is this? Is it due to IN anti7
Jewish p~rejudiee2 VIZ believe not.
The time has come for enlightened
I~sraelites to decide for themselves,
once for all, if they viii form part of
modern society, or if they viii con
tinue to be socially, as well as re-
ligiously, a peculiar people. There
can be no hating half way. There is,
we know, a disposition on the part Of
some Jewesses to tolerate the society
of Christian ladies and gentlemen
whom they meet at summer resorts,
as long as they are there, and to drop.
them, as the phase goes, when they re-
turn to town. Christian men and
women are good enough for them in.
the country, faute de mieux, but they
cannot. or will not, invite them to
their houses. And because self-re-
specting Christians resent this APP
parent assumption of social exclusive
ness. they are accused of being prejU-
| diced against the Jews forsooth.
Either Jews must form part of
general society, or they must avoid it
altogether. They cannot play fast and
loose with Christian acquaintance.
They cannot be intimate with Chris
tan women, and refuse to invite their
male relatives to their homes. This
has been tried, and has failed. Our
readers well know hat We are in favor
Of the most unrestricted social inter-
course between Jews and Gentiles.
Both would be gamers by it. But
such Unrestricted intercourse can only
exist when perfect confidence has been
established. .s s
There may be among some people a
feeling against the Jews, just as there
exists among others a feeling against
Catholics, and among many a preiu-
tdiee against the Irish. But all the
weight of evidence is against any
Edeep-roOted, general anti-Jewish pre-
judice on the part of the American
people. For the most part the diff
.lculties in the way of the complete
social emancipation of the Jews are
the results Of the course that the
Jews themselves have pursued. Either
from fear of inter-marriages with
Christians, or from a feeling Of timid-
ity begotten of European prosecutions,
or from a fear Of the effect of Chris
tian associations upon the religion Of
their children, the American jews
certainly have, by their own acts,
reared artificial barriers between
themselves and Christian society and
replaced the enforced social exile that
their fathers complained of by a sys-
TEN of social self-ostracism, which j;
none the less burdensome because il
is self-imposed.
One of the result Of this has beer
that Jewish young women sometimes
have Christian acquaintance, un.
known to their parents, because the
know their parents object to entertain.
ing Christian men at their houses
This is self-eyidently wrong no CIR
should have any male Acquaintance
|, without the knowledge and approva
Of her family. Then again, Christian
young men, finding themselves exclud
ed from Jewish houses, black bal
Jews in their clubs, and sometime
i mistake the lowest type Of Jews for
type of the best class, simply becaus
they know no better, and because tn
Jews themselves prevent them fror
learning better.
Z All this should stop. As 0 a
! Jewish houses are opened to Chrs
. tians, Christian houses will be ope
to Jews-and indeed they are already
G If there exists in New York s6ciet
c any prejudice against the best classe
r Of Jews, it would take the lanterns q
ten Diogeneses to discover it. Gu
brethren must not seek to excuse thei
. own cowardice by preferring false &C
e eusstiOns against Christian society.
d is as much c0wardice as anything els
r that makes the Jaw continue his sell
ostracism and the social exile Of h.
children AS we have repeatedly sai'
y it is only necessary to acquaint III
Gentle world with the real charact,
Of the jew to remove from intelligei
n minds the last Yestige Of prejudice thi
exists. When jews aud Christian
y cease 10 be strangers, we shall have i
more Of anti.Jeyish prejudiccs,