The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-09-12
A Jewish Plea for Individual

AeAS4AN@s
From report by Miss Nina Morals in the North
American Reyiew.l
Why is it that the Jew is still excluded from
the brotherhood of humanity2 He is no dis
tant creature, to be idealized. He is colonized
with such power in Aryan countries as to make
the Pharaonic rulers dread the multiplication
of Hebrew resources. A divergence in relig-
ion, in physique, in mental habits, may be toll
Grated, but it must know its place, and not
compete successfully in the mart and in the
college with the apostles of humanity. The
dweller of the Rhine would lose some Of his
vaunted love for his brother Of the Ganges did
that brother show any disposition to encroach
upon the soil OF united Germany. Common
brotherhood has not reached the point Of for
getfulness of meum and tuum. "You are my
brother" cries the tolerant philosopher of to-
day, ''but only so long as you keep your dis
tance. Come nearer, show auy disposition to
take from me my philosophic laurels or my
unphilosophic gains, and denounce you as
scourge and plague"
Let us examine how far the Jew may be an
swerable for the prejudice which exists agains
him 1t is true that the body of rich Jews in
America fail to display the culture that wealth
demands. Compared with his Christian
neighbor whose equal afiuence opens similar
advantages, the Jew does not always present
pleasing appearance. Reaching this country
when the facilities for accumulation were
enormous with mercantile aptitude devel-
oped by long centuries of enforced confinement
to trade the Hebrew mounted too rapidly to
the top of the commercial ladder. Dazzled
with the new freedom of America, bewildered
by the privileges which tho almighty dollar
could purchase, the emigrant directed his en-
ergies in that road to power and comfort which
appeared to him the most available highway.
He was not slow to learn the tricks and sub
terfuges of American trade. While the Jewish
mercantile record is clear proportionally as
that of the Christian, the predominanee Of
merchants in the Hebrew community has
rendered the business shortcomings OF the Jew
conspicuous and proverbial With pack upon
his back or few shillings in his plcket, the
Hebrews contact with American culture was
exceedingly limited. When the accumulation
of wealth introduced him to American manners
he had already become habituated to his par
ticular grooves. 1t is hard for him to discern
the transcendant advantage of any other outlet
of energy than the money market Perhaps,
too, the difficulty of entering upon a new
course of action deters him from adopting that
course, although he may appreciate its value:
but he resolves to give his children the benefits
he has lacked and thinks that meanwhile his
money can make him independent of popular
opinion He ignores the communal RESPONSE
bility borne by each Hebrew for his whole
race. He does not pause to reflect when he
violates the laws of etiquette at a hotel or
watering place, that he is offering the back Of
every jew to the lash of prejudice.
What Theophrastus Such calls the 'abys-
mali ignorance OF the Christian world regard
ing the Jew, is really the main and ever active
fount of prejudice. The notion that jew
must necessarily speak German, is on par
with that of the Englishwoman who insisted
that Americans lived on buffalo meat There
is something sadly ludicrous in the total mis-
conception of Jewish tenets and practices by
persons possessing more than ordinary intellI-
gence Periodical literature explains Jewish
rites with an elueidation altogether novel to
the Hebrew mind. 1t is not only lack OF ac
quaitance with Jewish doctrine and cere-
mony, but absolute ignorance of the personnel
of other than the emigrant jew, that foments
prejudice No people, unless under e%cep-
tional circumstances, is willing to be Judged
by its emigration. A Lasker, JeSsel, or Oppert
is not apt to seek the fortunes OF strange SOIL
Yet many cultivated lsraehtes 40 sWel the
Jewish exodus. There are thinking men and
ambitious men who long for the land where
Thought is free and where individual worth and
industry have the largest reward. These He
brews, being foreigners and Jews, are identl-
fed by the keen instinct Of American society,
with the ill-bred lounger of the seaside porch.
If neither Jewish blood nor Jewish faith can
justify the prejudice against the Jew, it is but
fair that another test than that of race and re-
ligien be made law by which ostracism Is de-
creed. The. Hebrew wishes no allowance Tor
his faults. He desires merely to DO accepted
or rejected as a man. He discovers no virtues
ia the reasoning which finds Christianity un-
willing to typify itself in the veneerings, yet
which sees a just illustration of Judaism in the
columns of comic paper. He insists that an
aggregate estimate must necessarily be unfair
to the individual, and he points out his double
injury in the fact that not only is he judged in
the aggregate, but that the aggregate estimate
is founded on pecnliarities neither general nor