The Denver Jewish news., 1920-01-21
The Late Carmen Sylvia
and the Jews
A TRIBUTE BY THE LATE QUEEN
OF ROUNIANIA TO !. BERNANS,
JEWISH SCHOLAR OF ROtMAN-
Ia
BY LEO woLFsoN
Copyright by I. !. r. b.


mania, known thruout the world as
writer of note, under the nom de
plume of Carmen sylvia, has in one oil
her books, "Mein Penaten N1nkei
written several chapters. on the Jews.
i translation of them appeared In the
Roumanian papers. and they caused
great commotion thruout the country.
The Queen was strongly assailed Tor
l,er opinions, and a hostile agitntioh
against her was conducted for years
In the Roumanian press. Even the
German papers criticized her sharply
for having said IL good word for the
Jews. The Jews were always III
sympathy with her on that account
ard the Roumanian Jews, particularly.
esteemed her highly.
Her statements are most interesting.
and it is worth while for American
Jews to become acquainted with them.
The Queen says: AN intimate
friend in our household was the great
Jewish scholar, l. Bernays. Many OF
his leisure hours. he used to spend
with my mother. and she used actually
rc drink in his words and was con-
tinually learning from him. He never
ate with us. While was still child,
] used to feel offended ut this. lie
said, however, that he was n jew ana
that he observed the tenets OF ms
faith He was better acquainted with
the New Testament than we We're. HIS
mentality was extraordinarily keen ana
profound. Later, discovered that ne
had been an intimate friend of Ernest
Renun, and that they used to cor
respond together He constantly main'
tanned that the Mosaic faith was the
purest and that it was free from an!
superstition whatsoever. L agree Win
his contention Christianity has i'm
bibed all sorts of superstitions which
it has encountered In the lands thfu
which it has passed. 1t could moi
have been otherwise with II religion
which made propaganda in its own
= fchalf-and that is one Of the weakes'
parts of the Christian religion. 1t mas
had to yield in number OF respects
and thereby it has lost much of It's
value. If the Christian religion were
mt least the religion which christ
preached it would be another CHRIS
tianity. If we would compare our
deeds and thoughts with Jesus Ser
mon on the Mount, we should have TO
t,usb with shame and disgrace. Things
went very badly with Bernays. AS
,cw. he was unable to secure nn ap-
pointmcnt, as professor. and lie was
probably the greatest scholar in Bonn.
His earnest face and urge spectacies
which he wore. used to make me feel
that he was unfriendly. He never
erected anyone. ! found out later.
however. that he was very nearsighted'
and that accounted for 1t. 1t Is Il
rity that was too young then to pe
present when he visited us and to
listen to his words. However. once
i'm a while. I managed to snatch rev
sf his comments. In common with m!
narents, 1 felt great respect ana
admiration for the great scholar
simply do not dare to quote anythihe
,f what I heard him say, for fear OF
making an error. and he is no longer
here to correct me. I have not Deei'
,,bla to leave him out of my reminis-
ccnces because he had such strong
and enduring influence upon our mousse
hold and upon every one of us. l-re-
member how 1 wanted to talk with
him about his religious convictions
hut 1 was too young Mt that time. Nj!
uarents, however, used to talk with
him for hours at time. and they
used to enjoy his breadth of view ana
his clever words. How should have
liked to hear discussion between
Bernays. Renan and Tolstoy.
For many years. Bernays' name
was frequently mentioned in our house
used to hear constantly 'Bernavs
said this Bernays did that His
great learning and powerful person.
ality always made themselves felt
among us. and had n deep influence
upon us. At that time. brother OF
Bernays became converted to Christi
anity. and that fact embittered him
yery much. believe that he was
justified. As all religions are man
made and we even conceive God in our
own image. what is the use of for
saking the religion in which one is
born, and of adopting another? On
The contrary, it seems to me that each
one ought to do his best for his own
relicion-tO make it finer. and better
II, ,.,It tvtn
soon discovers the same Shortcomings
and vexations of the Old faith which
(Continued on Page Two.)