The Denver Jewish news., 1920-05-12
The Nervousness" Of the Jew
Continued from Page One.)


avenue of discharge for nervous ten
sion. They breed confidence in one
self. Being eXtensor in their char
ucter, they allow for the rise of pride
and courage Circumstances excluded
the Jew from their wholesome influ-
grew up to be very serious, very earn
est, too early devoted to mature ef-
forts. excessively cerebral in their nc;
tivities, and not sufficiently strenuous
physically. In other words. the Jew,
thru his restrictions. was cheated out
of childhood.
This urban, sedentary trend would
in itself have sufficed to change the
character of the Jew. In addition, be
cause of their exclusion from friendly
and wholesome contact with other
races, the Jews beanie more clannish.
Tie ghetto life was not only unwhole-
some physically, but mwholesome men-
tally. emotionally and spiritually.
Living in constant dread of massacre.
exposed to rdicule, degradation and
more serious disaster, the race develop
ed an apprehensiveness and acquired
lowered threshold for fear stimuli.
The ghetto life developed an overin-
innate and close family life. On its
illus side, this family life was char
acterized by devotion and purity, ana
on its minus side was a reyerberatihg
emotionality which intensified the
neurasthenic trend of the Jewish child.
There was little rest or quiet in the
small dwelling crowded with children
watched over by apprehensive parents
guarded so well. indeed. that the jew
ish infant and child death rate for
centuries has been the lowest of any
race. but with the evil result that
this intense care and solicitude incrcas-
ed the fear attitude of the Jew. Thus
we may add to the urban. sedentary,
cerebral character of the Jew an-ap'
prehensiveness and an emotionality
that arose from the conditions of life
to which his Christian neighbors sub
iected him.
need not 90 into detail concerning
the persecution of the jew. Every
,mtoward event that occurred in the
town or country in which he dwclt
was in part ascribed to him. often di-
rectly to his evil and even magical
efforts, indirectly because God was
angry that Christ killers lived AMI
were prosperous For example. the
black plague was "A pestilence that oc-
Cured as the result of their evil
tendencies. and they We're accused OF
starting the great london fire. The,
most disastrous faccusa tioIrsof all was
the infamous hloodritual accusation.
Some day historians will follow the
lead of the anthropologists such as
Frazier and correctly ascribc to super
stition the leading place in the dc
Selopment of IDEAS That historian
will trace good deal of the character
ef the Jew and much of his unhappj-
ness to this superstition of his neigh
bors that the Jews required the blood
of Christian child to celebrate the
Passover ritual
In addition, of course, to the perse-
cutiOn that was expressed in massacre
and insult and restriction of occupa-
rion. there was the liability to expul.
sion from the land of his birth at
any moment The Jews were success
sively expelled from England, France
and Spain in the years 119O. 1901 and
1902, and they were expelled from
various cities In Italy at different
times. Gold. cash. became the only
stable good of the world to the Jew
because he had no other property that
he could be sure Of The hate of his
Gentle neighbor for the Jew was fully
returned. He did not wish TO he like
him in any way. He rejected his
learning. his art. and his sports to-
gcther with his food and his religion.
But the feeling of hate and contempt
was not the main emotional trait that
arose from the centuries of pcrsecu.
tion. Apprehensiveness / have already
spoken of. but in addition there was Il
melancholy which expressed itself in
motto, in song. and in the Jewish
literature. Der Yid hat klein masel.'
THE Jew has no luck"-was the
opinion of the jew of himself. Despite
an occasional ephemeraI prosperity.
the bulk of the race was undernourish-
ed. underdevcloped and ovcrstimulated
mentally and emotionally Here it is
well to emphasize what is well known.
yet commonly overlooked. Emotion
is not matter of mind: it is some
thing that concerns the whole body.
1t is an intense display of somatic
activity, in which blood vessels.
glands, great viscera, aud skeletal
nusclns all tnkn nnrt An nnni ion