The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-07

of Passover bread has been revived. in
order to infuriatel the populace. despite
the fact that Popes,2 ecclesiastics. and
hosts of Christian professors have de-
clared the accusationtto be purely imag-
mary and malignant. The false charge
that a Jewish officer In France had be-
trayed secrets of his Government was
sufficient to unloosen the most savage at
lacks upon the Jews which the modern
world has seen.
The fact which stands out in the whole
agitation is not that the charges have
been made, in most cases by men who
sought in some way or other to fish in
troubled waters, but that these charges
find a ready echo and a ready response
among the people at large. it cnpha-
sizes so clearly that the Jews are de-
fenceless people. with no means If eff
fectuaIly warding off attacks: and though
IN Germany and Austria societies OF
Christians have been formed for the pur-
pose of combating anti-Semitism. there Is
no mower which can effectually cTter the
lists in their behalf. This was notably
seen in. the great London demonstration
of 1852. when the petition signed by the
foremost members of church and state
never even reached the Car, to whom 1t
was addressed.
Among the few bright spots on the
worlds chart are those countries lnhapit-
ed by the Anglo-Saxon race. Nnti-Semit-
ism is unknown in England through the
attempt has been made to fix the blame
for the Boer war IN the Jews; and the
institutions of the United States have up
TIL now prevented the entrance Eere OF
the disease, though in the mild form OF
social anti-Semitism which debars Jew
ish children from private schools ana
Jewish people from clubs and summer
hotels II has Infatuated itself into some
of the Eastern cities, notably into Ne"
Ysrk.
There can be no doubt that next to the
reform movement the profoundest modl-
fication of the forces within Judaism has
come about during the last years of the
century through the rise and progress OF
the Zionist movement. 1t has been said
by some that Zionism is the expression
of Jewish pessimism. by others that 1T
is the highest form OF Jewish optimism |
venture to say that 1t is both. The
able to do away with anti-Semitism: his
tory has repeated itself time and time
again. When the Jews of a country were
few in number and of little influence.
they led a tolerably secure existence; but
as soon as their number increased and
their influence commenced to be felt, an
ti-Semitism was the effective weapon in
the hands of their opponents In so far
then as Zionism takes account of this
fact. it is pessimistic; for conditions In
the future will hardly differ from those
in the past 1t sees the Wandering jew
of history continuing still his dreary
march through the ages. never at rest
and never able TO effect a quiet and even
development of his own fOrces- 1t ex-
plains this phenomenon from the fact
that Israel has in all the changed err
cumstances striven to maintain it's racial
identity, and as this racial identity has
religious side as well. that The two
combined may well be called a separate
national existence: that a people hold
ing tenaciously to this separate existence.
but having no home of its own. must be-
come. when occasion demands. che scape-
goat and the play ball Of other forces.
1t recognizes anti-Semitism as continI-
ally existent, and IN so far the oppO-
nents of Zionism may be right in say
ing that its rise ~ the result of the anti
Jewish movement. 1t is The Jewish an
swer from the Jewish point OF view. ON