The San Francisco call., 1910-10-09
MIXED MARRIAGES
SCORED BY RABBI
Temple Emanuel Preacher At
tacks Ideas of Zangwill's
Play, "The Melting Pot

Ihat fntermarriage, whether racial
or religious, was a "mongrelization
process" was the theory advanced by
Rabbi Meyer in the second of his two
sermons on the subject, given at yes
terday mornings service at the Temple
Emanu-El in Sutter street. Israel
AangWllFs play The Melting Pot, re-
Gently seen at the Savoy theater was
the inspiration for both speeches, and
the author OF that drama and Max
Nordau for his book "The Degenerates
were strongly scored for their attitude
in the matter.
The sermon was in direct opposition
70 the central idea of "The Melting
Pol as they will know who saw the
play during its weeks run in this city
Inc OASIS of the plot is that the United
states Is the great melting pot in
which all the races of the world and
lne natlonallties, be they Saxon or Celt,
RUSSIAN or Jewish, or any of the other
vast hordes that go to make up the
population of the earth, are blended and
melted and fused into one great whole.
AGAINST MIXING RACES
Rabbi Meyer took exception to the
deslrability of this. The races should
not mingle.' he declared emphatically.
Tor the strength and purity of each
race depends on it's marrying only
Within Its own ranks With inter
marriage there is weakening of
force, as is shown statistfcally, and the
future welfare of home and family life
IS not safeguarded as it should be for
the generations that are to come
Particularly did he emphasize the
Iact or religious interma rriages prov
ing detrimental and advised that so
called love should be tempered with
common sense
You who are married, he said. "are
aware of the fact that after the first
rev years the glamour does not last,
tnat the love making in the violent
form OF the courtship days will cease
and that in its place comes comrade-
snip that is better than love, because
IT IS rounded on mutual ideas, mutual
hopes, mutual aspirations and mutual
memories. Where there is a racial or
religious difference this comradeship
can not and does not exist, and that
is why so many marriages end in
desolation and decay in the divorce
court
EXPERIENCE OFF AUTHORS
A line in Zangwills play in which he
says that "A Jew is a Jew always,
whether Americanized or Anglicised,"
was especially mentioned, for this"
Rabbi Meyer argued, 'fs the truest
thing in the whole play. A Jew may
give up his religion, may marry
Christian and adopt another faith, but
he remains national Jew, and there
fore the main idea of The Melting
Pot is an incorrect one. The races
can not amalgamate with any good re-
suit, and zangwin and Nordau both
undoubtedly conceived these produc-
tions on the subject because of their
own marriage with those of an alien
race and faith.
''Intermarria ge is not right for sew
eraI reasons, both racial and religious
First, the bible forbids it, and surely
not without good grounds. Second, the
law of self-preservation, in these days
when individuality is the keynote of
life, demands it. for in such maria ges
the weaker generally yields to the
stronger, or both parties pull different
ways, upsetting the very foundation of
married happiness.
INFLUENCE OF RELIGION
IF one party is without religion, by
which [ mean convictions, then as far
a S the religious side is concerned there
is no question at issue, but where one
believes in the cross and its salvation
and the other in atonement, there is no
common basis upon which to begin life
together. Society prefers unmixed mar
riages in the third place, for marriage
affects not only the contracting par
ties but the two families. Without
something mutual they can not be
brought together as they should be, a.
a background for the mutual happi-
ness of the newly welded pair.
'Psychologically mixed marriges are
wrong, and physically also. They de-
stroy a certain family loyalty that
should exist. and often result in the
children being brought UP with only
religion of goodness, which is color
less, meaningless and not the thing to
base higher life upon.
STATISTICS ON CARRIAGE
Statistics show that in our own race
in marriage of Jew with Jew. in every
hundred marriages the average num-
Der of children is 400; with intermar-
riage, in every hundred marriages,
there are less than 125 children. And
these figures alone will say more than
I can possibly say to show you the
evil of intermarriage We alone do not
feel this way, but every church dis
approves of marriages of the sort. the
Roman Catholic expressing itself as
strongly on the subject as we do. Y ct
every day marriages of the sort take
place. The contracting parties, know
ing the possible results, plead love
Love. It should be tempered by com
mon sense, and marriage based on
honor and affection will be happier in
the end than those based on mad love,
which is after all only passion, and
does not last at fever heat
Every race, every religion, should
stand by itself and marry its own
kind, and put a stop to this mongreli-
zation process; which is the basic idea
of Zangwill's play, and is called in
termarriage"