The Denver Jewish news., 1923-10-18

Life moves fast these days. Every
day. and every hour, practically, since
the great wrold war brings its own
budget of news. its own surprises and
sensations. The din is practically end
less and the strain up on our nerves
continuous and almost interminablc
Every day brings its own surprises: its
own problems. its own difficulties and
its own bitterness. We are fed up
on news from abroad, especially the
hand and unpleasant species of news
that we have been getting all along.
And there. in really lies the difficulty
Man loves himself and hates to disturb
his own well-being and comfort by an
every-renewing stream of evil tidings.
We have had IA snrfeit OF misery and
wOuld like to get well-enrned rest
after our several years OF strenuous
effort ON behalf Of 1ir less-fOrtunate
brothers abroad.
Meanwhile. the fate OF our communal
and educational ins. itutions abroad Is
left hanging In the balance. suspended
by n tenuous thread that is apt tn
snap by the breath of every ill-winl
that bloweth In these lands of many
changes and unstable policies. These
institutions. one must not forget. have
been huilt mp. and mostly by Ameri-
can effort, since the great catastrophe
that so mcrcilessly destroyed all that
the native genius and the devotion OF
the people had built mp during cen
turtles And they are yet too weak to
stand up unaitlcd. and by their own
effort
Yet, IL the adviccs resx riding them
Ike hut frngmentary and sometime even
conflicting: II the news We get is Of the
msrt.sheaeer ssrf and contain sO,lifrTG
Of real information to us. how then
can We be guided In action towards
them. know whether to give or NOT
to give. OF whether the conditions
abroad still Gull for the great rcnuncisr
tiOn and sacrifice ON our part, or
whether the giving Of the mere crumbs
off our tnble will not do? The best
course to follow is. thought. to meet
the persOn---or pers0ns-who has seen
the actual conditions with his own
eyes has come In contact with the
Jewish leaders on the spot: has seen
the various institutions in action and
has studied their needs md their prob
lens.
Israel Herbert I.evinthal is the
Rabbi of the Brooklyn Jewish Center,
one of the most influential and most
active Jewish cpnters. situated III one
of the finest Jewish residential sec-
tiOns in the greatest Jewish city in the
world. Ralb iIevinthnl has recently
returned from abroad where he attend
ed the Zionist Congress at Carlsbad,
and visited the more important Jewish
Centers of population in Germany.
Poland and Lithunnia. His exper-
icnces and observations. correctly sur
missed. ought TO prove a valuable source
to the one who is seeking light On a
much -mOOted subject and I. according
ly. sought him out and put my ques-
tions to him.
To my first question-regarling his
of Jewish education in the
that are even now recovering
from the effects of the great war.
Rabbi Levinthal surprised me greatly
by replying In Il thoroughly optimistic
vein.- I naturally pressed the Rabbi
for more specific infOrma lion, desirous
as was of learning the result of his
in certain specified lands
and individual towns and regions, and
his study of the educational institu-
tion;. old and new. was agreeably
surprised to learn that the Rabbi climg
to his previously expressed
opinion regarding most of the eluca-
tional institutions that have been found
ed since the war, with the sole ex-
perhaps, of the few Yeshivahs
of the old type. These schools. ga H.
cred from the Rabbits talk. did not i'm
press him as n real earnest and bread
minded attempt to stem the tide of
ignorance and assimilation. or to form
a connective link between the old and
new generations. However, he admit.
ted that he saw hut few of these
not enough to form an honest opinion
by. Ci TO serve as u standard of com
parison for the rest
In the old cemetery of wilma. l
saw." said Rabbi Levinthal. among
the graves of the GaOn and other illu-