The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-26

Europe, in Persia and in Morocco VIC kvn
an Approximately corrtct picture Of Kbc
anti-Semilic movement Of Tia. Middle Aks
me charges brought against the JewIn
! western Europe are nLn different in M
| they are formulated aitera different fashih
( and nave allotted 10 them basis Of eth,b
| logical ana anthropolpgicai theory: III,
| causes. however have not altered sunA-
| ciabiy. ana modern anii-Scmitsn difek
! from the anti-JGdairm of former times upk
| IN that II l. more self-collsciolis, more prak
| matte and moro deliberate A, the IA ,ttuA
! of the anti-Seinitism or orr DIV, a. AZ thI
bottom Of the anti -Judaiem of the hirpnnA
century G'c thc 'ear or and the hatred fr(
the STRANGER. This IL the primal calsJ
of al! untl-Semitism. All the suppressed
causes which have brought il about or hawai-
served to maintain ii may I've reduced nl
this one only: the Jews are not as ~!
assimilated That is to say. they h.r-
not yet Eiven up their belief in their own
nationality. BY the practice of circum.
cision, by tho observation of their special
rules of prayer and their dietary reeula-
! tons, they still continue to ,iifferentiate
| themselves from those around them: they
persist in being Jews. Not that they arc
incapable of the sentiment of patriotism.
on the contrary, Mr.. Lazare insists that the
| Jews in certain countries. as in Germany
have contributed more than any others
TO the realization Of national unity. Thew
seem, however, to solve the apparently
unsolvable problem Of constituting an
integral part Of two natonalities. If they
are Frenchmen, or If they are Germans.
they are also Jews, and If they succeed
in gaining Some slight appreciation al
! Germans or aa Frenchmen their Judaism
does not fail to call down upon them
tho liveliest reproach. The German anti
bSenites, indeed. accuse the Jews Of enter
tanning sentiments hostile to Germany.
and of partially for the interests Of France:
, while the French ant-Semtes in their
| turn denounce the Jews for entertaining
tender regard for Germany. This il
merely one way Of saving that the Jews
are strangers, or. in other words. are not
vet. assimilated. Among all nations, in
fine, they are regarded as the Americana
regard the Chinese. that is to say, as an
aggregation of strangers who have secured
| possession of the same privileges as
| the native born, but refuse to give up
! their separate national identity. In the
great process of evolution which leads
every people to assimiate harmoniously
| the various elements which compose It,
! the Jews are the refractory element. They
are still the stif-necked nation against
| which the lawmaker launches his anathema.
| They still cling to forms OF social life long
since abolished. In certain measure
| they are a nation which has survived ita
| nationality.
Why il this SOP Our author answers.
Because everything has contributed to
| MAINTAIN tnelT peculiar CIldTdTUSTlSIlCB dW
| a people: because they have been the pos
SCISSORS of a religion which is national in
| character and which had perfect reason
| for existence while the Jews constituted
| a people, but which ceased TO be of service
after the Dispersion, and now tends only
to keep them apart from the rest OF tho
world; because all over Europe they have
established colonies jealous Of their pre-
negatives and clinging firmly to their
customs, to their religious practices and
to their manner OF life; because they have
| been living for ages under the domination
of theological code which has rendered
| them immobile because the laws OF tho
numerous countries in which they have
made their abode, together with prejudice
| and persecution, have prevented thom
from mingling with the body Of the people:
and finally, because since the second
exodus, since their departure, that Is;
! from Palestine, they have raised around
themselves, and others have raised around
them, rigid and insurmountable barriers
| Such as they are, they are the outcome
of a slow process of evolution on their
! own part and of creation on the part or
others; their intellectual and moral life
! is what il is, because others made 1t then
object to differentiate the Jews from the
world, and the Jews devoted themselves
! to the same object.
| Are the Jews incapable Of being as
smilatedp Not the least in the world.
proves the contrary. Their history shows
lis, he says, how large is the number O.
| Jews who have become mixed with other
! nations through baptism; how numerous
! we're their conversions in the Middle Ages
! how many Jews have been absorbed b.
the surrounding populations, going over
| of their own free will 10 Christ, or driven
| 10 the haptismal font bv the violence ~
monks and fanatical Kings. There are
! Jews. in short. of whom We can no iongtr
/ find any trace. just az we can no lonSer
find any traces Of the Goths. the Alemarl
/ and the Suev. which, with many Other
peoples, helped 30 form the French ma
! lions. At all times the Jew ike all Senlites.
/ has been in touch with the Aryan; AZ aI'
! times there has been intercommunica
! ton between the two races. and nothing
! can serve better to prove that their As
! Sinlation il possible.
10 demonstra in fine. that the Jews
cannot be- assimiated, il would be ncedfD'
TO prove that ,hey are incapable OF chang
| human being Incapable of adapting
! himself TO his surroundings could no NOR"
| be merged into any social aggregatl ion
! than foreign element could enter into
! the economy of the human body. AS =
| matter of fact. the Jews have been con-
! stnntlv transformed by their surround
, mgs. If we tiud certain resemblance
bet ween the Spanish Jew and the Jew ~
, Russia we find also marked difference,
10 the absorption by the jew Of other race
! attracted and converted by him, but rh"v
are also the result of the Jews environ
menr, physical social, moral ard intel
lCctual Not only has the jewish type
varied geographicallv' but il has changed
through the lapse of tim" lie jew Of Nh"
| Roman Ghetto was not physically ~"
same as the jew who fought under Bar
Cochba. iust as the Jew of The great Euro
pean cities to-day does not resemble thu
Jew of the Middle Ages.
II TO differences prevailing among Jews
O: different colIrt tries ard Of different tne'
are, perhaos. less striking than their retcr'..
| hlarces, this or ly proves that the artificial
environment in which the jew has been
forced to live has proved more effective
than his natural on virorTert, II has been
! invariably observed in the history Of man
that he is less affected bv climatic CO. d.
tiors against which he il always IN reaction.
than by his social surrour drCs. The JoTr
has been o eSrertior to this law Of hu"tn
! evolution. ard il Is rot 'Ne srows W Pollard
nor the burning suns Of Srair thar Rave mn't
affected hin, He has been reduced to
state of retre"actior by TIE hostile law .
the rations in which he lived. ard by hla
religion, a puissart ard fearful religion.
like all ron -r'eta Nhvsical reli~iors which
are characterized predomirar tlv by ritual
ard q law. For tie Jews this religion
ard this law have always hecn the sa0'e'
IN all ti''les ard all places. They Rave been
constant forces in hhs development botn
extern ally ard irterrav.