The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-04-27
The JEWS LOYALTY

Hon. Isaac Siegel of New York, in
order to show the loyalty of the or
thodox Jew, read an address delivered
in New York by Emanuel Hertz, pres
ident of Washington Heights congre
CATION, in response to the call of the
president.
The distinguished rabbi said:
"On this glorious day when the
Passover celebration has reached its
climax. being the anniversary of the
day when we as a liberated people
crossed the Red Sea, it is proper that
orthodox Jewry should make such an
unequivocal declaration of loyalty to
our country and to our flag that it
should echo and re-echo through all
the corners of the world. What, then,
is the position of the orthodox Jew on
this mOmentous of world problems
since the diaspora with which he is
this day confronted? What has he to
say at rime when what he has been
hoping for, praying for, yearning for,
dying for, may be granted to him as
result of this woodworking war?
Palestine, the unattainable, may be
returned 10 him as result of an uni
versal readjustment of nations of peo-
pies, and of boundaries: when he may
receive the right to go and to live in
every portion of the world. What has
he to say at a time when the country
which has been so good and so just
and so kind to him has risen in its
might to her rightful stature among
the nations of the world and has join
ed the war of liberation and of dem
ocratization for the sake of the OPP
pressed nd prosecuted of every land;
when America, the young giant which
Washington nodded into a nation out
of few unwilling colonies, and which
Jefferson made continental, and which
was united by Lincoln, was, by Presi-
dent Wilson, after fusing it's various
strata of citizenship, made to join the
forces of right in order to crush the
forces of reaction? The orthodox
Jew, who has been the custodian OF
the decalogue, the promulgator of re-
ligion the preacher of ethics, the ex-
ponent of federation and of brotherly
love. has he nothing to say on this
OCCASION
Has the wise man of antiquity, the
philosopher of the ages, the eternal
Jew, nothing by way of comment,
nothing by way of declaration or an
nouncement? Can he only think, write,
create. ald prosper intellectually in
adversely? At a time when our off
shoots, the religions which owe their
origin directly or indirectly to the peo-
pie of the Book, vie with one another
in declaring their allegiance, their joy
at the prospect of this conflict. when
our own reform congregations hasten
to bedecH their houses of worship
with the Stars and Stripes and keep
their congregants spellbound listening
to patriotic addresses and singing the
Battle Cry of Freedom and the ma
tional airs, are We alone TO remain
silent? IS our patriotism to be in
ferred and surmised? No, a thousand
times, no, The people of Abraham, of
Isaac AMI of Jacob have ever been he
role. The people of Joseph, of Moses
and of Aaron have ever been law
abiding fnd sanity The people of
Joshua, Of David. of Gideon, and of
the Maca5ees have ever been heroic
and martIal-when the fight was for
the Lord and his commandments. And
in this greatest of all wars, in this let
us hope last bloody conflict for the
liberation and acknowledgements of hui
mainly, let every orthodox Jew, in the
name of his Bible. his liturgy, his pro-
phets, his rabbis, his leaders, his
thinkers his poets, and his dreamers;
in the name of his martyrdom of 1000
years. rise in his might and declare
before the whole world that this
fight is his fight; this war is his war;
that the United States, which was
builded end founded upon the Book
of Books, is his United States, his
Il. H. q
and die for it as he fought and died
for Jerusalem of old, as he fought and
died for his own native land"-Con,
gressional Record.