The Denver Jewish news., 1924-01-17

God Furnishes those whom he loves
most" That was his reply. And he
did not quote the Old Testament as his
proof. That would he no evidence for
n Jew w-baiter-the evidence of the lew
ish Scriptures No! SIase quoted the
example of Jesus of Nazareth, from
| whonr God turned his face, eeen as
he was npon the cross. What will be-
come, he asked. of your Christianity il
we say that God Furnishes those whom
he hates? No! Your good Christians
believe that Gods punishment is sign
or his love, and when believing Chris
tian is AFFLICTED by misfortune, he does
not say. God has punished me, hut he
says God has visited me.
At hundreds Of such moments, con-
stantly alert. it was Mase who had his
ready answer to every. Indictment
ways his brilliant brain framed with
out hesitation the one argument that
could refute the charges brought for
ward by these anti-Semites. with their
long-standing training in formulating
accusations against the Jews.
Quietly. but with tremendous pas
sion, the Moscow Rabbi Mase begins
his speech. He is not of tall stature.
80 he stands upon chair that he
should be seen. And higher and higher
raises his voice as he speaks of the
religious feelings and beliefs of his peO-
pie, of their sacred laws, their customs
and manners. Here. in the chamber Of
the Kiev court of law, and from here
rcsountls his voice. Like molten lava
flows from his glowing heart the last
confessional OF n peoiae everywhere
prosecuted. everywhere degraded physi-
cally hut everywhere retaining desnite
its suffcrings and its misfortunes the
whole tremendous power and strength
of its spiritual heritage.
with his first words, passionate and
tense. his voice ringing out like that Of
a prophet dcnouncing blasphemy
against God. a change Of feeling comes
over the chamber, and the heart is
strangely moved. There. behind the
stools Of the judges. they nre making
an effort to laugh Mt him. They try to
But no. know that your hearts, too,
will stop beating for n moment, and
your souls will tremble as you listen
TO this fearless man, who stands here
prepared TO offer uphis life for his peo.
pie. for their culture, for their faith.
But what is this? will not say
that hear it. No 1 feel 1t. 1 feel
that they are sobbIns There Is an IL
most impcrccptible trembling Of their
lips. their heads are bowed In their
hands, tears are flowing from the
daughters of the martyred race. And
why should they not weep? Here there
is the great judgment before God and
men, here their race stands before the |
high tribunal, here is the Holy of Hol-
les itself
'And there, in the center Of the
chamber. rises the powerful voice of
the great scholar Mase. Sentence aft
er sentence, phrase after phrase. he
dissects the forged texts which men in
their bOundless malice have dug up to |
bring in evidence against his people. 1t
is wonderful. his knowledge of the
Bible. the Talnrid, the Caballa, and Of
all Jewish literature. He explains 1t
clearly. Enthusiastically, logically, every |
thing that is Of interest to the judges,
to both contending parties, to the whole |
world In this strange trial. And all,
everybody without exception. I am GER
tain of that. feel in the depths of their |
hearts that something has become
easier"
Not by Jew was this written. 1t
was written at the time of the Bells |
trial while the fate of BELLS was still
unknown, while the world OF Jewry |
was stirred to its depths by every word
spoken at the trial, when everything
still hung in the balance. 1t was writ |
ten by the famous Russian novelist,
the great friend and disciple of Leo
TolstOi-it wns written by Bontch-
Bruewitch.
Whenever and wherever the honor of
the Jewish people was at stake, Mase
stood out without fear, without thought
of himself, stood before the whole peo-
pie before the whole world and spoke,
and defended and accused. Russian
Jews will remember the speech of well
come which Mase delivered at the Cor
Nicholas II. At that time, under such
circumstances, there We're few men who
would venture on such words. Mase
was not raid.
And Mase never held back because