The Irish standard., 1897-02-20
In Europe There is a Tendency to
-. Abandon the Ancient
Faith.
There is Considerably Less Than
Seven Millions of Jews
:.~s':- ssl-~s
in the World.
!. s-J-
And the. Number Does not Appear
to be Greater Than Thirty
=. =. :.
Years Ago.

-~--rn'~ "HS-EE
Apropos of the recent conversion of
member of the Hungarian House of
Magnates, and of Madame Montefore-
Levi, of Liege, Belgium, the Antigonish
Casket remarks that conversions from
Judaism are few and far between. But
it must be remembered that the number
of Jews in the world s. very small-con-
siderably less than seven million. The
number of conversions from judaism,
taking the world over, is almost as
great in proportion to their total num-
Der as the number from Protestanism.
The following paragraphs, which we
reproduce from the Catholic Standard
and Times from Philadelphia, give
glimpse of the real state of affairs al
though even these fall snort of express
ing the strength of the contemporary
movement from Judaism to Catholicity.
A Frenchman, DR.. L. Gaze, tries to
demonstrate two unusual propositions
In an article which he has written for
the Revue des Revues. The first is that
the Jews are fast abandoning their re-
ligion for Christianity, and the second
and more surprising, that the converts
Of their descendents are fast winning
for themselves the same prominence in
the Christian church that men of their
race have SO long enjoyed in finance,
commerce, philosophy and other lines
Of human endeavor.
Judaism, he says, has to struggle
against not only the skepticism and the
Indifference which ar attacking all re-
hgions, but also against powerful social
conditions. Heine describes. it as, not
a religion but great misfortune. AS
proof that the state Of affairs is result
ing in conversions by wholesale, he
says that notwithstanding the prolific
ness of Hebrew families the number of
Jews does not appear to be any greater
than it was thirty years ago. 1t is as
serted that in 1843 one-talf of the men,
bers of the Jewish community in;Ber}in
had deserted the religion ca their faith
ers. Statistics are given to show that
between 1890 and 1893, I'll Jewish fam
lilies in the same city were converted to
the Protestant religion. The move
ment is said to have attained even
greater propositions in France. AS for
Austria, in 1895, in Jenna alone, more
than 45O Jews are said to have become
Catholics. In Russia and in Poland,
where the strongholds Of Judaism are
found today, the conversions are no
longer counted. Persecution and pres
sure of many kinds are bearing fruit,
sometimes in the shape Of the so-called
reformed sects, sometimes in CONVEX
sions to the Catholic, Orthodox, or: Pro-
testant religion. !.
The difficulty Of Judging the extent Of
this movement is the greater because
the converts avoid drawing attention
either to their former faith or to their
abandonment of it. Thus upon the
death of Achille Fould, minister of. fl
nance in France under A~apoleon III,
the emperor requested the chief rabbi
of Paris to pronounce the funeral ora
tion over him; but it was then discov-
cred that Fould had been a Catholic
convert for dozen years before hls
death. DR.. Gaze enumerates men and
families famous in Europe who either
were Jews themselves at birth or are
the descendants Of Jews. He argues
that if so many conversions are dlscov-
cred in the cases OF people well-known,
the number among those more obscure
must be vastly greater. He says that
the descendants of the philosophers OF
whom modern Judaism prides itself
most have almost all become Chris
tians. In several instances these con-
verts or their sons and daughters nave
become eminent in their new faith for
their piety and zeal. No section among
the Jews seems e have been exempt
from this moyemenS Israel Jacobsohn,
eminent among Jews in Germany as a
reformer, had the sorrows OF seeing his1
-. - -!
own son desert the beliefs 50. dear to.
him and become a Protestant clergy
man and distinguish himself by ardent
missionary zeal. But he was not alone :,
in this respect, for other Jews as prumfS<
nent as he have had the samessfxperi-
ence in recent years. Alarmed at the
number of desertions, certain Jews in
Germany founded in 1920 an association
to combat this tendency, but it had ex-
listed only a few years when it was dis
solved because so many of its members
had embraced Christianity. One Of
these members was Heinrich Heine.
Rabbis themselves are mum bered
among the converts, Hun gga.r iaa rab-.