The Denver Jewish news., 1925-09-17

leyiathan. 10 the generation that Is
growing TO manhood In Jerusalem. 1t
seems such n terrible waste Of ma.
ternl that should be- utilized for the
upbulldlng Of the land. Perhaps, II
only few hundred We're involved IL
wouldn't much matter, either way. But
so many
! know how strong IL the feeling Of
every Jew that the study of the Law
should be encouraged Need | say
that | share that feeling? But surely
1t must be realized by everybody that
Palestine cannot afford the luxury Of
several thousand "orcm bocherlm." At
least not at the present juncture. Fifty
years hence II may be able to indulge
itself in that Jewish luxury, but not
now.
This Is the era OF reconstruction In
Palestine. Every hand that displaces
n rock, or wields n plow, or turns n
wheel is an asset to the land. The
greater the number Of hands engaged
in productive, creative labor, the wider
open swings the portal to the land, the
greater the number who may enter TO
displace rocks, WELD plows, turn
wheels. And here we have these thou
sands of young men who albeit they
do not respond to the metaphor of
''lilles in the field" yet neither toll
nor spin. even though some of them
may tend store or stand. In the
eyes of many, they are deterrent
factor. ! am not willing TO share that
view. But | count 1t as a thousand
pites that the Zionist executive in
them; has not found a way TO recruit
them into the forces that are making
Erez YiSroel bloom like the rose.
Palestine needs religious Jewish
youth, but productive youth. earning
lts bread by the sweat of its brow.
In another place / have discussed the
new Jewish youth of Palestine, and
the tendencies OF some. No need to
go into that now, except to say that
my view of the matter is strongly forti-
fed by letter which | have been priv,
ileged to read. written by DIR. Sholom
Spiegel, Chalutz of the finest type,
who was in this country recently in
the interest of Chalutzioth-the Jewish
youth movement.
THE most urgent proposition for the
establishment of religious life in Pal
estine is the immigration of the re
ligious Jewish 'youth fs. Palestine" he
writes. 1T is indeed hard to overesti
mate the power and influence of such
religious group should it succeed in
obtaining foothold in the land
And in Jerusalem there is ready to
hand a religious Jewish youth who
could, who should be added. somehow
to the productive forces Of Palestine
AS it Is now. they are in Palestine, but
not of Palestine No one reckons with
them. The Chalutz does not under
stand them. They and the Chalutz
have no Accommodation. Their
lives do not meet at any point They
have nothing In cOmmon-are as far
apart in interest as if they lived in
two different worlds. But, these two
different worlds must he brought to
gether, must be fused, for the com
mon task As things stand today, ex-
cept the few who may inherit store
or stand. there is no future for them
in Palestine, not even as Rabbis for
the colonies Even though, as DR.
Spiegel writes in the letter from which
| have just quoted, there is strong
desire for religious life, for oppor
| tunities of religious expression, by a
large number of the Chalutzim in the
Emek for example. But they will not
accept as n Rabbi one who is not also
to certain extent, a tiller of the soil
visualizing n Beth Hamedrash in the
Emek, DIR. Spiegel says: "A vegetable
| garden should surround it, and the
Rabbi should busy himself with 1t, as
well as with teaching the Law. A
young and intelligent Rabbi of culture,
who loves field work would have it in
his power to develop religion and Jew
ish tradition in the entire Emek. He
| would be able to perform miracles in
the field of religion"