The Denver Jewish news., 1925-04-02
A GENTLE LOOKS AT THE
JEWISH QUESTION
by ALFRED CRossLEY-DAvIEs

hN ALE hEb 'lttSSl4E1 DAVIES
Let me say at once that am neither
Zionist nor anti-Iionist. But as Brit
ish subject of long Celtic ancestry, | /
am perforcc concerned because Zion I
ism. for good or III, has now become n .
part Of British politics. Whether we
like II or not, we must face the fact /
that the Balfour Declaration and the |
Palestine Mandate have involved us
Britishers directly in the world affairs
of Jcwry
To me II seems, though, that Zion /
ism by turning from spiritual aspira-
tion into n political ambition has made |
Il fatal mistake Fatal because no
movement that is truly spiritual can
ever die, can ever fail, whereas political
movements are purely material and so
doomed. For this is world of change.
Only spiritual ideals have eternal life.
In the political arena are the storm
and dust and death of battle.
Judaism is the vital possession Of
Jewry. Take away the religious faith
from any people and you take away all
The matters.
The Mohammedans will show what
l mean. There are more Mohammcdans
in the British Empire than In any other
State. All are good British citizens.
The more dcvout the Mohammednn. the
more loyal he is. But that does not
mean that there are not followers of
Nlahomet in other States. Their rclig-
ion forms a close spiritual bond between
them all, as close as the bond between
the Jews OF various countries, but they
are no less patriotic Britons or French
or Italians or Turks for that
What else than the common religion
rouses the Christian Englishman when
there are pogroms of Armenian Christ
ians in Turkey?
Is it really different with the Jews?
Judaism forms n spiritual bond he
tween the Jews of all countries. But
they are citizens of the States where
they live. Where the Jews are persc-
cUted, is 1t not for the same reason
that In Protestant countries Catholics
have been prosecuted and in Catholic
Countries PrctcStantS have been TcrSc-
cuted? Jewish emancipation in Eng
land came at the same time rs Catholic
emancipation. The Catholic in the pre-
emancipation period was as much out
cast and more so than the jew.
For better or for worse, prosecuted or
cmancipated the Jew is citizen of his
country and his place is in the country.
No man can be n citizen Of two coun-
tries. Only n very small proportion
lot Jews would or could cmigrate to
Palestine. The Jews of Europe and
America are not Oricntals. They are
Westcrners. Their outlook and their
culture are Western Very few of them
intend TO leave the lands where they
enjoy their citizenship, where their
roots are deeply thrust, where they are
Mt home in customs and in culture
| There Is more in common between the
Christian Englishman and the Jewish
|
EnGlishman and the Jewish Lithuanian
The English Jew is an Englishman and
the American jew is an American just
as much rs the Irish American or the
country. 1t is his country.
Bone and blood the English Jew is n
Britishcr. Iionism may appeal to him
when it touches the chord of his spirit. /
ual Jcwishness, of his Judaism, in so
far as Palestine is the cradle of his /
faith. But modern IiOnism talks of n
Jewish national homeland, it talks of Il .
Jewish citizenship in Palestine, of Il
Hebrew culture as a national Jewish
culture, not as the culture of the jew
ish faith. The English or the American
.Jcw may give large sums when you
bring home to him the plight of fellow
Jews, co-rcligionists, prosecuted in East I
European countries, and he will help TO
establish for them place of refuge, a |
place of refuge the better if it is in Il
the country which is the cradle of their
common Ihlih, Inc appeal lS, however, II
n spiritual one. 1t is not the bond of Il
n Jewish nation, worldwide rs ma
tionality, that ties lin. The Jews can
have no national homeland. They ceas-
ed to he nation long before most ma
tions came into existence, and it would Il
be absurd TO force Jewish nationality II
ON the fourth million Jews in the world /.
today. The modernist Jews who bavc I.
rascd Jewish nationality in place Of the
inith Of Judaism, what have they in
common with the religions Jew-Orth-
odoX or Reformist? The religious jew
in England Is much closer to the Eng
lish Christian than he can possibly be
TO the Atheist jew of Haifa.
Dena jacobson, youngest woman at.