The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1920-12-29
Why Are the Jews Mis-
understood?
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ANTI-JEW
ISH PREJUDICE IN AMERICA
BY the Rev. DIR. Hugh Birckhead
Rector of Emanuel Protestant Epls
copal Church, Baltimpre, Md.

in few words, and with great frank
ness, how the Jews in America appear
10 n citizen who is thoroly interested
in them and their inevitable contripu-
tion to the life of the :lation. 1t Is
merely from the basis of good will that
/ have any right to speak ut all, for
only those who care can understand.
In the first place. the Jew, without
doubt represents the strongest race in
the world.
I'm all human history it would he
hard to find any figure so pathetic
and so sublime as the Jew. He has
Leen the prey of all nations and their
masters He has been flung
down into an unutterable depth of In
fanny. but the infamy has constantly
recoiled upon his prosecutors. His lot
las been made bitter by every species
OF wrong. cruelty and inhumanity, put
lie has survived them -. In the
utmost darkness he has found light
10 guide him. and amid the most ter
rible of deprivatiOns a hope to console
tHl support stAhNas'
new nations and civilizations today,
himself unchanged-the wonder and
the enigma of the world. He has sur
vived the Roman and the Greek, and
in turn he may survive the Teuton
and the Anglo-SaXon If we can fancy
any human creature standing on the
ruins of Westminster bridge and sur
ycying the desolation that was once
called London it will not be Lord
Macaulay's mythical New Zealander-
It will be Jew. In the presence OF
this strange race all the people of mod
crn Europe are but children just out
Of school; for the Jew had literature
and philosophy when our fOrefath'
crs were barbarians and worshiped
blocks Of wood and stone. And as one
surveys that literature ana philosophy
us one endeavors to arrive mt the secret
hidden In all this long. eheluered.
rathetic and sublime history. one fact
continually energies: the greatest Pc
RODS of the nation coincide with the
periods when the sense of religion was
strongest among the people; the most
terrible downfalls and dispersions with
the loss of that religious sense ID.
W. Dawson in "The Divine Chal-
lenge").
The Seeds OF Hostility.
Every self-respecting jew must BIZ
proud of his race. and in the long run
l..l IA l..atp
to realize the greatness of his Inherit
ance. At his best. he has reached the
highest altitude of God-consciOlsness
known to man. His supreme contri-
buttons have been his unswerving
monotheism and the ethics of the
Nazarene. Modern civilization for
two thousand years has borrowed its
religious ideas from the Jewish race.
laying most emphasis on that which
the Jew himself has refused to re-
ccive. This alone creates situation
which hears within itself the seeds of
hostility, misunderstanding and per-
secution. There undoubtedly have
been periods in the life Of Christian
1ly wHtn II utthNN upon ~
.daism has given opportunity for
greater emphasis on the Christian
Greed. Unfortunately. this hostility
has been deliberately used to give ex-
preston to Christian loyalty. As has
been said before half of patriotism
is hate" 1t Is not without sigrifi-
cance that the day most dreaded by
the Hebrews of Eastern Europe Is
Good Friday; and 1t is indeed tragic
that on this day which emphasizes the
complete sacrifice of Love, human hate
should be generated and sent forth on
its errand of destruction. 'l'
Thank God, we have emerged in
America from the sad aad terrible
prejudice which is left on purely re-
ligious grounds Is lingering remem-
brance which in time must disappear.
The emphatic decree of religious toll
Grafton laid down by the covenants
of the Colonies of Maryland and
Rhode Island became a fundamental
principle of government in the Constl-
tuition of the United States. This has
increasingly borne the fruit Of mutual
sympathy and understanding, and
must eventually extract the sting of
religious difference. 1t is CONSUME
nation which awaits the processes OF
education and of time.
Misunderstanding Brought With the
Jewish Immigrant.
OF course. the Jew recently arrived
from Europe does not understand TINS
Continued on Page Five.) .