Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-01-04
INDIAN AND fSRAELfTE.
Rev. DIR. Stern Discusses Col. MalIcry's
Paper.

AN ELooUESr REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE
JEWISH PEoPLE-HE SAYS THEY RAVE rrEx
MORE EXCLUDED THAN ExcLUsIvE-rHE CUES
TON OF ISTERMARRIAaE.
"1srselite and INDIAN A large audience
gathered at the sth street Hebrew temple last
evening to listen to Rev. DIR. Stern discuss Col
Malerys paper on this subject which was read
before the scientific society OF Toronto re-
Gently
DIR. Stern said, referring to Col Mallerys
paper:
Tine scope OF the paper appears 70 be TO
point out some remarkable coincidences in the
religious notions and practices of both the In
dians of North America and the ancient
Hebrews in order 10 prove the independent
growth by which men in the same plane OF cul-
ture act and think alike and arrive at the same
results. 1t is but just to the colonel 20 remark
that he does not subscribe 10 the long exploded
theory that the Indians were the descendants
OF the so-called lost ten tribes, which really
were never lost. but amalgamated. The par
aIIel, as we are furthermore assured, is not
presented because Its two couuterparts were
more similar 20 each other than either of them
II 10 any Other people. and could Just as we'll
oe drawn between the Indians and the Israel
ties and the Aryan people. from which most of
the audience To whom the paper was read are
supposed 10 have descended The selection is
made Tor convenience, as the audience Is sup
| posed to be familiar with the Old Testament
anu The anthropology of the Indians. We must,
therefore, exonerate the colonel from any in
territorial slight by CHASING us side by side with
our good friends and wrongly supposed kins-
men, the red skins"
After numerous illusions to the religious
conceptions and usages of both people the au-
thor arrives at the conclusion that neither the
Indians nor the lsraeites were a peculiar peo-
PIE, ana that the true parallel between them as
10 Their behef IN a single overriding God is not
that both but that neither held IT,"
what Col. Mallery tells us said DIR. Stern.
I'm regard TO the Israelites. as he admits ia
not the result of his investigation He
| quotes Renan as his principal authority Now,
henan belongs to that school of modern Bible
critics whose statements and CONCLUSIONS to
say the least. must be considered hypothetical
| Col. Mallery. therefore, can hardly expect the
ready acceptance of the theories set forth in his
paper concerning the ancient Israelites"
The speaker quoted eloquently from the his
| tory OF Judaism to refute the statement that
| the ancient Hebrews did not believe in a single
] o'erruilng God and consequently were not .
peculiar people.
| PECULIAR PEOPLE.
THAT the ancient Hebrews we're not a pecu-
| liar, that is characteristics, people in MANY
ways, shall not be gainsaid," said Dr. Stern.
They undoubtedly had religious obseryances
and practices resembling more or less those of
other people, ancient or modern. They were
| but human, human IN their virtues and vices
| their strength and weakness. How often did
| Moses, how frequently the prophets severely
| censure and rebuke them because of the sins
ana shortcomings they had in common with
| the rest OF mankind or rather-as Col MAllery
well puts it-with people IN the same plane of
| culture. But concedIng all this the fact re-
| mains, which has puzzled the historians of
every age, that the same people lived and
endured while contempOraneous tribes and
| nations persisted; that their belief in a single
| one God remained their sacred legacy through
out the ages, transmitted from generation 20
| generation, together with all those great moral
teachings of the Mosaic code, which today
| form the very basis of ethics. the corner stone
| OF modern civilization. Ii tue ancient Israeli
ties had no fixed faith and belief why were
| they not won over, finally and forever, to the
heather practices OF the outside world? Why
| dld they, on the contrary, gradually ascend the
| scale OF religion and morality until they became
race of teachers to the world? Why did not
one OF all the contemporaneous nations living
with and alongside Of the ancient Israelites
under similar, and perhaps more favor
able, conditions. and in the same plane
OF culture, or even in advance of them,
live TO attain similar results, accomplish as
| glorious ends, become useful 10 mankind?
| Indeed, friend and foe must admit that in
| this respect Israel must be considered pecu-
| liar people. Babylonla, the ancient conQueror
Of Judea, disappeared from the arena OF his
| tory. Rome, the mightiest people of antiquity,
which proudly and cruelty set Its foot upon the
| meek OF the weeping daughter of Zion, sank
into oblivion. Nor could the gods of Olym-
pus save classical Greece, the nation pre-emi-
nent in the realm of beauty, philosophy and
] art and nothing remains but her literature and
her ruins to tell of her former glory. Israel
alone triumphs; the jew alone hyed-lived,
| though driven from country TO country; lived,
though the world stood up against him to de-
stroy him! Would you know the secret Of the
continuous existence of this peculiar people?
THE MISSION OF THE JEWISH NATION.
"The Jewish nation had a mission TO perform
of which it always was fully conscious-the
mission to be holy nation in the sense ex-
planned above. 1t is in this sense, and in this
sense only, that we do not object to be called a
| peculiar people. And here L wish to protest
| against some of the final words of Col Mallery,
| when he says: In one sense the jews are a pc
culiar people, from the fact that for many GEN.
| turtles until lately they proclaimed themselves
| to be such. They did not intermarry with
with other peoples, but that should be no rea-
| son for their boasting. Where and when has
| the Jew been boastful? To whom should he
| have boasted2 To his haters and oppressors2
| And for what purpose? Surely he knew only
! too well that Boosting of any kind would be the
| last thing TO amehorate his deplorable condi-
| ton. If the jew was ever conscious OF his
past glory and future mission that conscious
| ness only served to stimulate his ambition and
| quicken his nobler impulses but never did it
| lead him 10 undue conceit The reason of his
| not intermarrying with other people the
| colonel explains himself when he continues:
| Persecution made them pariahs and other
persons would not intermarry with them
| Even soi The jew has always been more ex-
cluded than exclusive, although as to
THE QUESTION OF INrERMARRIAoE
it must be said that for reason of still existing
| differences, it does not seem to be much
favored by either side. One more point and
shall be done. Col Mallory thinks that as ex-
listing prejudices seem TO be dissolving, il is
probable that the Jewish race will disappear,
as the Indians are now disappearing. This
| does not seem very probable. In the colonel's
line of argument this parallel appears, indeed,
1 to be the weakest of all The Indians as they
are, form a hlndrance to the development Of
civilization; the Jews have always proved
4 useful factor of the same. The Indians are q
relic of bygone ages of barbarism, the Jews in
the domains of commerce, science and art, are
marchingSn the van, while their pure mono
1 theistic belief, unchanged since the time of
| Moses, seems destined to be an important fac
| tor in solving the religious question of the
| future. The jew, wandering through the ages,
| in the light of liberty and blessed humanity,
now is enjoying the privileges due him rs man
among men. he has found ne W home No longer
does he feel himself stranger in q strange
| land, but rather a loyal citizen among citizens,
a freeman among the freel But his mission,
| In religious sense, will be fulfilled only when