The Denver Jewish news., 1923-07-05
Needed - Misunderstanding. ..of Je,Dish
Life in America
BY CYRUS ADLER

the foreign born Jews i'll ue C"i'SN
staies, the nntivc-born Jews In the main
declining to take part in 1t.
Much has been claimed for this Con-
eIess and the success of Its demands"
"a favorite term in those days. But
it can be said with complete accuracy
that the principal point upon which the
Congress insisted. namely, the demand
fol national rights was rejected BY the
Cci. .erence of Versailles. while the re-
mainder of the minority clauses had
been proposed and agreed to by Jewish
organizations u: America. England, and
France before the Congress was ever
held. The real history Of the ehors III
lnris has not been written-mayie IL
will he "A long time before 1t can he
written or should he written. Tie pub
lie has, however, been fed with propa'
sanda In the form Of history, notably
| in the book of DIR. Kallen which In GER
tain matters of high Importance shows
n lack Of knowledge or distortion OF the
facts.
Now my object In reclting this is not
Mt all for the purpose of stirring up
feeling or causing revival OF nncient
auarrels but solely In the hope that
the past may point way to the future.
The Jews of the United States are
organized for religious, benevolent. etlu-
cational. and charitable purposes. Their
organizations are nearly all OF them
federated into national organizations.
These national organizations are the
only ones that represent the Jews OF
the United States, and In order to rep
resent them all, these national organi-
zations should be brought into some
sort OF council or conference for such
limited purposes as do not affect their
specific objects. but In behalf OF which
1t may be important that they should
labor in common There Is no other
way in which an understanding can
Ike reached among the Jews In the
limited States for any general purpose
IThey can never he represented through
La new independent organization based
upon a plcbiscite, because large SEC
ticn. probably majority OF the Jew
lsh people Of the United States will
refuse to take part In such n plebiscite.
as indeed they did even under the pres
snre Of war conditions. The endeavOr
to create n experimentation based
upon manhood and wOulanhocd s,tf
fIase down to the age OF eighteen. md
poll tax to ~ expenses. savois too
much Of the Genernl political election
10 mako 1t possible for 4 Jew who has
really lived himself into the spirit Of
American institutions TO take part In
it. 1t IL just M well that this should
he understood clearly II much damage
is to be, avoided, and the damage. le,
1t he raid. will not fall to any grca
extent upon the people who participate
in 1t hut will fall upon the people In
Eastern Europe and Palestine and up
IN the Jewry the world over.
1t must furthermore he pointed out
that It is one OF the anomalies of
American Jewish, life that to this day
matters which infect the whole COM
munity are still acted upon by indi-
vIdunl organizations as though the par
ocular bodies concerned were the on
ly sections of the Jewish people that
had to do with them
Let me give you few examples Of
what I mean. Certain organizations
md individuals secm to have decided
that 1.-THE Merchant Of Venice" by one
william Shakespeare, il prejudicial to
he interests Of the Jews and that its
performance and study in schools
,houId be prohibited. They have wag-
ID campaigns on this subject md in
zone parts of the country have been
successful in having 1.-THE Merchant of
Venice" banned
These worthy people apparently did
his thing ON their own account and
with view to preventing anti-Jewish
prejudice Now to my mind, It is open
to question as to. whether they have
not created anti-Jewish prejudice by
this very act. do NOT say that they
have, but in the anti-Jewish literature
which has been circulating in the last
few years. this policy concerning "The
Merchant of Venice" has played some
part.
Now. yield to none in my Jewish
feeling. but I have grave doubts as to
whether it is at all possible, even II it
he desirable. to suppress a classic piece
OF literature like ~The Merchant of
Venice" and whether the mere adver-
H. Il
TO the play has not brought about a
recrudescence of it and put 1t upon the
stage in much more prominent fash
ion than 1t has been for several gen.
erations.