Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-24
a storehouse Of sympathy for humanity
In it's widest sense, and for human prog
ress,> which could be utilized by prophet

"a storehouse Of sympathy for humanity
In it's widest sense, and for human prog
ress,> which could be utilized by prophet
or sage.
Among truly typical thinkers there was
ever cherished q larger hope, wider in
spiration. which was not the idle cry Of
child for a star. but the deep. impassioned
yearning for human perfection and uni
versal brotherhood as the goal to which
law and statute. symbol and ceremony
pointed. How pitiful that outside pres
sure, unrighteous conditions in church
and state. have made the Jews history
continuous tragedy and manned him at
times almost beyond recognition. SO that
ity. Yet the miracle of resurrection was
ever there. the blossom beneath the snow,
the love Of humanity which was uncon-
querable under every amictfon. In the
worlds welfare he read and felt his own
welfare. He knew he would not wear
forever his gaberdine He could bide his
time. The day must break, the shadows
pass away. The sword would change
into the plowshare. the bitter taunt into
brotherly love. Let suffering be the
badge Of the tribe
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears 1t Needed not.
The Jew in America.
What of the relation of the Jews to
American life and ideals? Here his plas-
tic quality has been illustrated in the
work of representative men and women
in every epoch. from the colonial through
that Of the revolution. and in the civil and
Spanish American wars. There is some
thing divine in the American atmosphere
which causes old-world rancors and pref
udices to weaken and lose much Of their
keen edge under it's influence. In the de-
mands Of American life, in the strain and
spur of competition. with the closer con-
tact enforced by school and shop. mill and
factory. the creeds, consciously or uncon-
sciously. are affected as never before. and
the Jew like the rest, is broadened by his
currents Of his time-whether he becomes
q pioneer in Alaska or an upbuilder in
California, as he rears his department
store in tho great cities or plans his
philaqthropies without distinction Of
creed. He upholds the new education, is
among the investigators in science. de-
tends the public schools. is active in
movements for civic betterment. and
whether democrat or republican, feels the
stir OF his age. He is as proud of his
the emigrant In the intoxication Of their
first flag drill Patriotism Is to the Amer
lean Jew a part OF his religion, as was
shown in the days of '76 and 81. and in
Rough Riders had their Jewish quota.
Nor il the Jew less in touch with
American ideals; they sound curiously IA
miliar. for did not his fathers hear the
slogan Of old-"proclainn liberty through
out the land and to all the inhabitants
thereof? America spells freedom under
the law. as does Judaism. The American
ethical standards are the old-fashioned
ones of justice and morality, public and
private virtue. even If these for the time
are somewhat obscured by prevalent graft
and greed. And has not Theodore Roose-
welt been termed a later Hebrew prophet {?
Why should not the American Jew be at
one with his country and it's ideals, and
be aroused to his best as the years adj
vance? No Ghetto has stained the Amer
lean soil: no foul bigotry to deny the Jew
the right of man. He will be spurred on
to breadth in life and thought, I'm sympa-
thies and achievement. Today America
means more to the Jew than to any one
else. for it Is the only land that opens
wide its gates to the prosecuted and the
downtrodden. He and his children can
never forget their obligation in return,
as loyalty. modestiy and helpfully they
do their part In realizing the ideals of our
republic.