The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-17

inhabitant. Innumerable forces of his tory through many ages have helped to form his destiny. His story is at once the miracle and the romance of human history. None can blot him out, Baby lonian captivity, Roman domination, Grecian absorption, mediaeval persecu-
 tion, modern massacre, have been in vain. Talk about the splendid line of Roman pontiffs on the banks of the yell low Tiber-the Jew has outlived Egypt Chaldea, Assyria, Persia and the dynas- ties of the past. While our fathers were savages living on roots in the forest or gnawing bone in a cave his were princes in the house of King David. He of today is nothing more or less than child of his great yesterday. Though removed from his Asiatic origin we'll nigh 2,000 years, there's queer dual ism which makes him a creature old and new, He has one foot on the soil 1 of antiquity, the other rests on the fore ground of today. His profile is that of i UT of Chaldees, but in Russia his fea- lures are Russian, in Italy, Italian; in 1 Spain, Spanish. There are 50,000 black Jews in Abyssinia, negro Hebrews, while there are even Chinese Jews who observe all the Jewish religious rites and all their dietary laws--yet they l have the almond eyes, the flat noses and the yellow skin of Mongolians. IN THE FIERY FURNACE l The three Hebrew children in the fiery ! furnace were forerunners.
 1 In the sixteenth century in Venice was begun the concentration camp known as l the Ghetto. Back of the old ghetto, or ! iron foundry, the Jew had to live in a restricted district. The name was grad ualty applied tc the Jewish quarter of | every city. In each ghetto he developed a life Of his own-rehgion, custom, liter l atare, tradition, song, pleasure all his own.
 l During those middle ages he was per secuted relentiessly, bitterly. It wouldn't
 surprise me if that medieval life had not left an indelible impress on him That past, indeed his any past, is moi
 mere memory to be cherished and
 revered. but hideous, living. ever-pres- | ent experience, burned on his conscious
 ness. Is he "peculiar?' If he s, cir
 cumstances have made him so. Sup
 pose we had taken a few hundred thous- I and people, of any nation 2,D0 years ago, set them apart to live in re- stricted districts forced them to wear a
 distinctive garb, forbidden them to en.
 gage in agriculture, limited their useful
 ness to particular trades, only in rares' 1 cases allowed to own property, many other things prohibited under pain oi
 death-wouldn't any people become ''pe. 1 culiar?" Would it be wondered at Il 1 long persecution would leave ] them suspicious? The constant menace l of the proselyter would make them nc | less fearsome than the torture chamber l itself-they would soon fear the Greeks when bearing gifts. Each period of op- | precision would send him back decades l grjeved and bewildered.
 In spite Of all this he has developed l a marvellous love for his stepm other lands. The Jew has always been a patriot of the land which gave hin ] birth He quickly adapts himself tt the country that gives him food ant shelter. He soon finds himself. Given the | opportunity, he perfects himself il science, music, painting, sculpture, lit
 erature. philosophy, sociology, philan l tfrophy. medicine, mathematics, his | tory, astronomy. Inl all he gave hls best, frequently in return he was re fused civil privilege, political office, mil 1 itary honor Their hands were tied anc they were blamed for not using them Persecution, fire, sword, rack and dun geon wer his reward. Captive chil d-en, murdered men ravished womer were considered his birthright.
 How loyal he is may be seen in th
 strife of the great war. In England per cent of the Jews enlisted to 6 pc gent of aea-Jcws. America sent between 20o,0oo and a25, ,onr into all branches 0 the service. Their quota. being about per cent of tho population. they exceed le.l by ore-.h;r6. Of the 800 citations fo vaior. 174 won the Croix de Guerre, 13 the distinguished service cross, three tn
 United States Congressional medal O
 honor, our highest gift. and two the rar
 French metallic militaire. The casual , ties were about 1S,00o. Three thousan
 five hundred laid down their lives by tn side Of their non-Jewish comrades un1e the peoples of Flanders. They, too, ha | a rendezvous with death. Honor t
 them. In the great conflict on all side
 cre-twentieth of the Jews of the worl lfought with nothing to gain but the op . l.ort'rnity of kiling their own martyre
 race.
 THE MELTING POT
 America spells opportunity for the Jew Some one has said: 'In this meltin pot the Jew will be lost--he is losin , rapidly through intermarriage, modern : ism and infldelity.'
 l No. He will not be lost. If he vi |. only he true to his ancient landrnack he will find himself. You see. he be longs here as surely as the rest of u. He came with Columbus. There wer