The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-01
is JUDAISM PASSINGf
Dnunsu shed Jew Asks n Its LiQulos'
t0n Is Really in Sight.

| tiOn Is Really in Sight.
10 THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-!Sir: In your
| editorial OF Monday. is There Drift Toward
hationalIsin" YOU said enough to stir up the
| jewish section Of your faithful readers ana
| SUBSCRIBERS TO most Of whom your -ex cathe-
ORA theological teachings replace the syna-
eosue pulpit. from which they have definitely
| oritted away since shortly after their conf1rma-
tioh' ALLOW mo to adduce a few corrobora-
i've ana suggestive facts and to bring them
INTO the proper connection with the present
religious currents In the Jewish community.
You stated your inability ito estimate with
| any approach to accuracy how large per-
centage Of the three quarters Of million
jews residing in this city are strictly religious
believers. On May DR.. Walter Laidlaw
presented to the Sisterhood Of the Shearith
1srael congregation startling facts allowing
the righteousness Of the greatest Jewish COM
munity OF the world. three-fourths OF whose
members are recent arrivals from Eastern
Europe. which is generally considered as the
main bulwark Of Hebrew Orthodoxy.
DR.. Laidlaw found that In the Fifteenth
Assembly district SO per cent. OF Jewish fam
lies are without synagogue connection: In
the Twenty-frst he found that OF .0is Jewish
families 70 per cent. reported themselves not
to possess pew In any synagogue; OF the
remainder 10 per cent. claimed affiliatlon
with downtown syna gogues, thus represent
families who while moving into more fashion,
able quarters continue. for various reasons.
to pay for their pews In their former modest
houses OF prayer In East Broadway. In Nor
folk and Hester streets. Among the 1,7%8
jewish families In the Fourteenth Assembly
District In 1909 over 9s per cent. were without
regular synagogue connection and there was
not one synagogue in the district In the
Greenpoint section OF Brooklyn over 10 per cent
OF the Jewish families were churchless. This
percentage rises to over 80 per cent. in the
Twenty-second and to 90 per cent. in the Flew
enth and Thirteenth Assembly districts OF
Manhattan
Thus. II we except the so-called Ghetto
proper, where the population Ia clustered
around nearly 800 synagogues and private
prayer halls. over 81 per cent. OF the Jews
OF New York can. as far as their synagogue
connections are concerned. bravely compete
with the overwhelming "churchless majority
| OF the Professionals and the large number Of
Roman Catholics inattentlye to the observa-
tion OF their religion.
As to the Ghetto ITSELF the very center Of
the foreign born Jewish population tTenth
street to Chatham Square. from the Bowery
to the East River). its utter Irreligiousness
passes belief To grasp the full meaning Of
this statement. which may seem strange to
some. the reader must not forg ct that Judaism
is no dogmatic religion In the theological sense
of the word, but rather complex of reli eious
laws, customs and traditions.
Under these circumstances even the most
radical jew baiters and anti-immi ct atlonists
have certainly no longer the right to complain
of the observation-disclosures OF the Hebrew race.
The Sabbath. one Of the main institutions
OF the synagogue. is boldly thrown to the
winds by at least four-ffths Of the $780,
900 Jews living In that section OF our city
where the natives OF Warsaw. wilma and
Odessa keep their stores open on the Day of
Rest. as II they never had heard OF Deca-
logue. OF the Talmudical treatise Shabbat,
where minute description Of the legal in
functions relative to tho Fourth Command
ment is given. the halowed traditions OF the
jewish past and Of their own youth. Every
Saturday morning tens of thousands Of Jew
ish working men and working girls leave in
streams the streets OF the Ghetto. while the
elder people prepare for the synagogue
Evidently the stru ggle between the old and
new faith. In Grand street and East Broad
way, has been decided In favor Of the more
liberal dispensation.
Another pillar OF Jewish Orthodoxy, the
strict observance Of the Dietary Laws. is also
crumblins away among the children and
grandchildren Of the various uptown and
downtown Jewish colonies. The most FASH
ionable Jewish restaurants, those kept by
Jews and almost exclusively patronized by
religious fig leaf. mean the kosher sign II
I were permitted to make a suggestion to DR..
Laidlaw. since the great and rich Jewish COM
munity of New York has not yet plucked up
courage to establish a Jewish statistical bu-
reau OF its own. would ask him to give us
some data about the synagogue attendance
on Saturdaysand holidays and the consump-
ton OF the so-called kosher meat among the
1900 600 jews OF the United States; for these
figures would constitute the surest rel gious
barometer of American Judaism
Not less characteristic of the gradual dis
solution OF old time Judaism Is the absolute
Indifference of the Jewish masses. from tho
multmillionaire to the pedler. with regard
to the study Of the Law and the cultivation
Of Jewish literature. held by the rabbis Of old
to be of greater importance for the mainte-
nance of Israel than even the most scrupulous
observance OF religious customs and tradi-
tons.
The annual budget OF the Jewish Publica-
ton Society OF America, which numbers two
score of the most eminent and influential
Jews among Its officers and trustees. is only
Sl7 600. and in spite Of all efforts during the
last thirteen years to publish an English Bible
translation to be made by Jewish scholars
and from the Jewish viewpoint only the Book
of Psalms has appeared so far; the yearly
increase of the Bible fund. two-thirds OF
which has been contributed by the family Of
Jacob H. Schif. does not exceed 33ool
Would one. further. believe that the Ameri-
can branch OF the people Of the Book has
become 80 callous to Jewish literature that
not one Jewish bookseller from the Atlantic
to the Pacific coast could pay his rent II he
did not sell fair lot OF prayerbooks at the
approach Of the autumn festivals? The
Jewish Encyclopedia had to be taken up by
a Christian publisher after 1t had been re-
Rretfully rejected by the Jewish Publication
Society. to which it was first offered, and the
foremost Jewish leaders, in their fear OF COM
mercial disaster. tried to avert from his
project the promoter Of the enterprise. the
writer OF these lines. Yet 1t Is avowedly the
most important Jewish work ever published
In the English language.
One moro instance to show that there 10
something foul in the State of Denmark"
There are two rabbinical seminaries In this
country. the progressive Hebrew Union Col
lege in Cincinnati. which was founded by DR.,
Isaac NJ. WISE In 1875 and the conservative
Jewish Theological Seminary OF New York,
whose foundations were laid in 1880 by DR.,
Sabbato Moriais Of Philadelphia DR.. Wise.
who maintained his institution principally
through his tremendous influence upon a few
h undred well to do Jews In the West, and by |
his own and two Of his teachers disint erest-
edness, died in 1900. Immediately after his |
n oath m, hun dra isf