The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-26

tion of large audience last night at the
Eighth Street Temple. He discussed The
Children of the Ghetto Mr.. Wolf did not
oonfne his remarks to Mr.. Zangwills book
or to the play. He said in part:
The Children of the Ghetto which is
to be the theme tonight, is a broad and
comprehensive subject and necessarily will
not be confined or restricted TO Mr.. Gang
Wills book or play bearing that name.
We must look deeper and closer into the
causes, origin, and foundation which made
it possible or necessary to write as Gang
will did. The Children of the Ghetto
are, in short, the Jews of the world, their
history, their sufferings. their persecu-
tons, and their wonderful achievements,
Notwithstanding this condition, must pass
in review when We speak of The Children
of the Ghetto
The Ghetto itself was the resident
quarters in which the Jews were permit
ted to live. and to which they were re-
stricted by law, and were not permitted to
reside outside thereof. The gates of the
Ghetto at certain hours were open and
closed, and thereafter there could be
= neither egress nor ingress except when in
vaded by mobs on murder and pillage
bent. 1t was a world of its own. with all
of its possibilities and with all of its re-
strictions. Within its narrow confines
Jewish thought and literature. Jewish
piety, Jewish ritualism. and love of char
ity were formulated and stimulated. To
the outer world they gave no sign except
when the Ghetto gates were open, and the
Jew emerged TO ply his daily calling
grudgingly and hesitatingly given by his
so-cailed pious Christian neighbors.
Marked by badge.
He had to wear yellow badge desig-
mating his race and religion. He was
amenable to all the rigors of legislation
without any of its privileges or blessings.
He was expected to discharge every duty
incident to citizenship without being
cheered with any of its results, and yet,
in spite of this cruel, merciless, and in
human persecution, the Jew lived and
thrived, and survived not only the perse-
cutors, but also the narrow confines and
influences OF the Ghetto. Often the ques-
tion has been propounded, Why is the
Jew so isolated. so clannish?' What else
could you expect from a people which for
centuries was treated in the manner that
have alluded to? Today there are six
eighths of the Jews of the world treated
in almost the same manner as / have de-
seribed.
The same narrow sectarian bigotry and
merciless persecution that fills pages and
pages Of Jewish history obtains in Russia
and Roumania, and the persecution there
SO persistently carried out drove to these
United States hundreds of thousands, who,
TO large extent are domieiled in the
cities of New York and Chicago, and the
Ghetto conditions. bereft, of course, of the
spirit OF persecution, can be daily seen on
the East Side of the city of New York as
they were in the palmiest days of the
Ghetto.
The moral. social and religious influ-
ences that dominated and prevailed among
the Jews hundreds Of year ago, and that
exist today in Russia, can be seen in New
York city, and you need not think or ex-
pect that this can be changed in a day. 1t |
takes time, assimilation, before change
can be expected, and when the change
comes. it Will be through the younger gen.
Grafton, who. growing up among more
favorable conditions. will throw off the in.
fuences that existed among their elders
Clannishness and isolation are the heir
looms of the Ghetto, and they will continue
as long as the Jew is oppressed and ostra-
cised.
Benefits of the Ghetto.
much for the Jew, as William Cullen
Bryant has so beautifully and truthfully
said in his criticism of Booths Shylock:
1t was the period when Christianity made
itself pre-eminent by its muscular demon
strations of the John Morrissey type; when
the Jew. whose brain was sharpened and
intensified by persecution. was an impor-
tant and valued factor in the civilization
Oft no les / OF II hn
play created by the genius of Zangwill,
and you will grasp the Importance of the
just made
Take the Friday evening services in the
Ghetto. Sabbath approaches. There is a
charm of holiness, beautiful sanctity
about the household that elevates each and
every member thereof. The outer world,
with its calamities. its distress. its per-
secution. has been shut out, and the inner
life of the individual is blazing forth in
the radiance of the Sabbath eve services.
He is no longer the mendicant, the peddler,
the jeer and jest of the world; but he il
the king, the worshiper and defender o.
the holy law in his own domicile, and as
the father and mother of the household
lay their hands reverently upon the heads ,
of their children, blessing them in recog-
milton Of the Sabbath, and of the love and
affection each bears TO the other creating
an atmosphere OF refinement, of educa-
ton, and of sanctity such as no other peo-
pie from the earliest days of civilization
have ever surpassed. and this spirit has
dominated through the ages. even in the
heart OF the Indifferent and agnostic Jew.
love and affection for father and mother.
for son and daughter, for brother and sis
ter
Il remember a few years ago. in COM
pany with three Christian friends OF mine
paid visit to my dear father and mother
in Philadelphia, and as parted from them
10 return to Washington, they laid their
hands reverently on my head and their
parting blessings is today treasured by me
as one of the hottest possessions, and
my three Christian friends tell
ing me time and again what beautiful
and touching exhibition that was. and how
1t had impressed them TO such an extent
that they had spoken of it hundreds OF
times to their own children.
THE Jewish mother or the Friday eve
blessing the light of the Sabbath lamp, and
SO beautifully reproduced by the genius of
N. Oppenheim. the German artist, is typical
of the worship on the part o. the Jew for
light TO dispel the gloom of life. and 10
educate by symbolism the creation and
diffusion OF light in all its splendor and
effectiveness. Another characteristic en-.
gendered and created under Ghetto condi-
tons has been reproduced by Zangwill.
You will remember the scene when the lit
tie girl had taken the money from the
players in aid OF what she wanted for the
Sabbath meal. how the indignant woman
turns upon the little girl, TO whom she
is related. and. while giving vent to her
indignation. falls into the natural train
of Jewish heart and sympathy. and gives |
her larger amount. Gliding her for hay
Ing taken money from strangers, and thus |