The Denver Jewish news., 1922-09-20
Jewry Arrives It the
Cross Roads
Reflections nj the New Years. Aliilstone
hy Harold Rerman-

1
| Copyright. 1922. by Jewish correapondescs
4 Bureau.)
1t IL characteristic of man that when
standing in too close proximity TO the
subject nnder observation. he invari-
ably fails to grasp many, and some
times. the most Important. attributes
OF the thing which forms the object Of
his study. many Of its tllmensional as
well. as abstract and spiritual qualities
and AS beanties duly escaping him. A
minimum OF distance and detachment
from the object is needed fhr the physi-
cal eye II II is TO appreherid the messake
conta inesi IN the thing-in the tints and
shades and pigments placed m 4 can
Twas. and to send home It's lesson.
Intimacy in human life usually leads
to contempt and the under.valuntion of
greatness, for then 1t Is not the marks
| Of genius that reveal themselves to the
observer. but rather the petty foibles
and ecccntricities In small things that
become SO manifest-while the attrib-
ntes of greatness vanish into the thin
air. No man ~ n hero TO his vafet !;
nor did the north Pole look any differ
ent from any other barren and frozen
hit OF terra frma f0'its sliscovcrer after
having spent many tireless years OF his
life in the quest for that particular bit
Of mother earth. And were 1t not for
the unerring Testimony Of his Sextnnt
and the magnetic needle he would not
even have been aware Of having
achieved both the apex Of his career as
well us of the world.
Equally so is 1t when studying some
contemporary spiritual OF social phe-
nomenon whereon we are almost always
hampered by too close proximity to
the object examined and, as conse-
quence, are apt to miss a great many Of
its most pregnant Implications, not to
speak of the temporary blindness which
AZ often as not results from the too
bright glare Of the revealing light.
Studies Of the life Of modern Jewry
resemble not little the position Of the
man who is standing too close to the
picture to properly Judge 1t. To observe
recent events Alright and to evaluate
their import properly as well as to in
terpret their meaning for future his
tory, we need the effect Of distance and
the correct perspective that only future
years will be able to give us. For CEN
turtles the world stood practically still
or moved at a slow. scarcely recog-
nixable pace. and 30 had Jewry in the
many lands Of the Dispersion. After
mans genius had discovered American
invented the printing press, the steam
engine and electricity, the world had
settled down to 1lfe-the Industrial
llfe-that was becoming ever more and
more standardized, mechanised and un-
inspiring. Man, having conquered the
forces Of nature. began to hope that
now life would take on u new and
brighter lustre, when as matter OF
fact, he. .<sery soon discovered that AL
the virility as well as all the inherent
poetry had gone like q phantom out OF
1t. Like Alexander Of old, he now be-
gan to sigh for new worlds to conquer,
new worlds to take the place Of those
lying prone and lifeless at his feet.
This civilization crumbled like Solom's
apple before he could bring 1t to his
mouth. and the inevitable result was ::
sense Of unhappiness as well as
deep-felt though vague dissatisfaction
with it all. Man simply felt that some
thing vital had gone wrong with his
Paradise and yet knew not what 1t was
that did go wrong.
Under the abnormal circumstances,
the Jew suffered doubly, both as man
as well as Jew. The anomaly Of his
position-a homeless and tolerated
minority singled him out
for the role of the scape-goat to bear
away everyone's sins. In the general
spiritual debacle Of the day he was
the convenient target for all parties: !:
witness the growing anti-Semitism of
the West and the increased persecu-
tions of him in the East. Under these
most unfayorable circumstances, his
own mental fibre began to deteriorate,
to weaken and give way, especially in
its weaker places.
The catastrophe occurrences Of the
past eight years, sad in themselves as
they were as well as surprisingly rich
in human misery, have nevertheless
brought to us undreamed Of changes
and hitherto inexperienced metamor-
phoses. -"Out of the strong came the
sweet and out of the unparalleled
miseries of our brothers abroad has
come forth that equally as unparalleled
manifestations of Jewish solidarity and
Jewish kind -heartcdness On this side of