The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-10
MISDIRECTED ZEAL.

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5s--e
The New York Tribune is editorial
authority for the cold and shameful rec
ord of the fact that week before last, in
the chief metropolis of free America,
where men are guaranteed the right
to worship God according to the die
tates of conscience and to attach them
selves to such religious belief as to them
seems best, the Jews of the East Side
were prosecuted. 1t declares that the
matter did not end there, but the Jews
in turn assaulted the missionaries
who were endeavoring to Christianize
them. Over-zealous workers in the cause
of Christianity and Hebrew Chris
tians'' We're pelted with stones and eggs
by Jews, while Jewish children We're
branded with the sign of the cross by
the missionaries. The Tribune" adds:
The scheme to lead, coax or drive the
Jew out of his faith into another is a
thankless task. He is Jew, and he
rejoices in it, and does not wish to be
converted to Christianity. For centu-
ries he has resisted the overtures OF the
proselyter and missionary in countries
and at times when a change would have
been blessing to him and his Re
nounce your faith and be man; remain
Jew and continue to be a slave, has
been dinned into his ears for generations,
but never with any effect He has seen
his civil rights dwdndle and shrink until
they were gone; he has felt the knout
of Russia and the fire of Spain With
like indifference. His loyalty to his faith
and his veneration for the edicts Of his
fathers never grew less. and the blood
Of persecution was the cement with
which the family union became
strengthened. The Jew went to the
stake or to the rack or out Of the coun-
try which he had looked upon as home
true to his faith, chanting his "Shema-
Yisroel." Thousands of these people
who have been driven from other lands
because Of their creed have found homes
in New York. Here they worship as
they please; they enjoy liberty beyond
their expectation; being Jews does not
debar them here from any rights or
privileges which people Of other relig-
ious denominations enjoy; they are
free men. who need not fear noc be
ashamed to worship their God in their
own way, and they thoroughly appre-
ciate the blessing.
{ Nevertheless there are simple-minded
people who believe that vital energy Is
mot wasted in attempts to lead the Jew
to remuneration Of his faith. They pour
out their money and expend their
strength in the vain effort These very
efforts led to retaliation by ignorant
Jews, and hence the pelting with stones
and eggs. It is notable that these self
constituted missionaries make no effort
to convert the intelligent and educated
Jews, but waste their forces among the
poor, degraded and non-English speak
ing, fanatical inhabitants of what is
known in New York as the Ghetto.
They think that by street preaching and
singing psalms in the open in that quar-
ter of the great city they can turn q
Jew into a Christian, and that by
stamping the cross upon the naked
arms of Jewish children in the cutters
of the East Side, they accomplish great
and glorious work in the name of the
"Crucifed Jew"
AS the Tribune well remarks, If
these misguided missionaries and those
who prompt them wish to do material
good and impress the Jew with the real
Christianity of Christ, let them bend
their energ. es to relieving the restitution
and want on the East Side. Let them
set on foot movement that may result
in the sanitation of that quarter and
the betterment of the physical condi-
tons of the Ghetto. In short, let them
strive to make the Jews of the East Side
better Jews. and this our contemporary
asserts is possibility, since the fanasi-
eism, ignorance and degradation preva,
lent in that quarter are most largely
due to the prosecutions and intolerance
under which that people have suffered
in foreign lands. We quite agree with
the Tribune that:
Learning to read and write the Eng
lish language, generating the flag and
singing 1.-The Star-Spangled Banner"
will make the children of New York s
Ghetto more useful citizens than sing
ing hymns or branding them with re-
ngious symbols.