"Yes," replies our Jewish friend, with more of grief than of censure in his voice, "and to-day the Christian world is awarding the Iron Cross for excellence in killing. And our people it has made to loathe the name of Christ, because it was his image that was in the hand of the priest who led the mob to massacre at the Inquisition and at Kishineff; though all the time it was that very persecuted people that was itself living the principles and the martyrdom of its greatest prophet." And he continues, and tells us brusquely how he went once to church with a Methodist young lady and how when he was rapt in the music of a Psalm that was being sung, she whispered giddily to him: "Don't that remind you somewhat of the one-step music?" "No," he tells us he replied, "it reminds me that I am the only Christian in this audience."

And we understand in his reply he was not thinking of himself alone (for extremist though he was, he must have known there was many another devout listener in that audience) but rather of his race, of those very Jews of the bended backs, "wily, unkempt," who were elsewhere chanting that same Psalm in a language, 'tis true, they scarce understood, yet with a spiritual zeal and forgetfulness of the "treasures upon earth" which was the very soul of the teachings of Christ. Could his Methodist friend, could even he, with all his university training and American ruddiness, but have the noble spirit of his unlettered grandmother he remembered weeping so bitterly in the old synagogue on Yom Kippur, as though weeping for the sins of all humanity,—Rachel weeping for her children. No, it was not the religion put on and off with the phylacteries that distinguished his fathers; it was never the raiment, but the body. Even in the darkness of the Middle Ages it was the Malkuth Shaddai, the kingdom of righteousness, that the old Jew prayed for on his sacred days.

Narrow-minded, indeed, is this last type of Jew; but yet when rays are concentrated to a narrow radius, the outlook through the lens may be wide and far-reaching. We understand that he, too, thinks of posterity as does his cousin, but only as mistress within its own household does he believe the Jewish race can bequeath great strength to its posterity and the posterity of the world,—not as intruder into the home of others, nor even as their welcome guest. The Bible was the work of a narrow, provincial Israel; the Talmud their work when scattered among the nations.

"To Make Strong the Spirit of the Prophets"

"WE have made too much," concludes our young friend, "of the cosmopolitan likenesses among nations and men; we must promote their differences, and respect for those differences. That is in the path of peace; it is war, as you know, that levels distinctions. The harmony of an autumn sunset is in its many colors. Our own little handful of people does not wish to make itself great in possessions or strong in arms. We have ever been the meekest among men; while many a Christian nation was taking an eye for an eve, it is we that were turning the other cheek. Yes, we think we have outgrown that boyish fascination for brutal brawn a little more than they. Today, Israel wishes but to express its pent-up soul, to make strong the spirit of its prophets and teachers, its Moses, its Isaiah, its Hillel, so that it may be 'for a light to the Gentiles, (and bear) salvation unto the end of the earth.'"



The Romance of Rabbi Akiba

BY GEORGE J. HOROWITZ



AKIBA ben Joseph, deservedly called the father of Rabbinical Judaism, was one of the most original and the most talented of all the great galaxy of ancient Rabbis. In him was typified the great ideal of a Jewish Rabbi—a man of heart, of hand, and of head. But Akiba is still more remarkable for the charm and romance of his life. He is indeed the one Rabbi with a great romance. The story of his life, stripped of all exaggeration or literary artifice, reads more like a tale of "knight and lady" than like the simple facts of a scholar's life. His great love, his sudden rise from the humblest obscurity, his brilliant intellectual and spiritual achievements, and his glorious death, make up the successive scenes of one of the most inspiring chapters in Jewish history.

His Youth and Romantic Marriage

AKIBA was born about the year 50, at a time when the Roman Empire at its height was about to turn all its mighty forces against his people, the little state of Judea; and he died a martyr to his faith, in about the year 132, on the eve of the last great rebellion against Roman domination. His origin and early years are shrouded in darkness. We know that he was an unlettered shepherd in his youth and mistrustful of Rabbis and their learning. His master, Kalba Sabua—so the story goes—was one of the richest men in Jerusalem, one of the three wealthy philanthropists who offered to prevent the famine occasioned by the last great siege of Jerusalem.

While in the service of Kalba Sabua, young Akiba made the acquaintance of his daughter Rachel. They were immediately drawn to one another, he attracted by her great beauty, and she by his innate refinement and superiority. A deep attachment soon sprang up between them. Akiba was still an illiterate man, however, and Rachel made him promise that if she were betrothed unto him he would go to the Beth Hamidrash to study. In those days this was equivalent to acquiring education and culture. To this Akiba assented and there followed a secret marriage. When her father learned of what she had done, he became furious. He disinherited her, and cast her off, leaving her without a roof over her head and absolutely penniless, and he swore that as long as Akiba remained her husband she would receive no help from her father. Then set in a period of bitter poverty for the young pair. Akiba's heart was rent with pain to see his young wife, who had been accustomed from earliest youth to a home of luxury, pass her days in a miserable hovel, with the barest necessities and sometimes even lacking bread to eat. In winter they slept on a pallet and Akiba would pick the straws out of her wonderfully long and beautiful hair. She was beautiful even in her rags and tatters, and once Akiba was moved to exclaim: "Oh, that I had a fitting ornament for thee: a golden image of Jerusalem the Holy City!" Both indeed were nearest his heart. Once a man came to the door of their hut and asked for some straw, saying that his wife was confined to child-bed and he had no couch for her. "Ah, see," said Akiba to his wife, "there are those even poorer than we. This man has not even straw to lie on." This seeming poor man, the Rabbis say, was none other than Elijah, who had come to comfort them in their misery.

Struggles and Sacrifices for an Education

THE incident did indeed give them new heart, for until then Akiba could not summon enough resolution to go off and study while his wife remained behind in such abject circumstances. Nor could she insist. But now her old strength came back to her, and she reminded Akiba of his promise: "Go thou, and study in the Beth-Hamidrash." She must have felt undoubtedly that there were great possibilities in him, and in truth she was not mistaken. Akiba, however, in his modesty, had no confidence that he could master the intricate subtleties of Rabbinic law. How could he, who had now reached forty years of age without once attending even an elementary school, hope to make any progress at all so late in life? One day, musing thus, as he stood by the village well, his interest was suddenly roused by observing that one of the stones had a deep hollow, caused probably by the drippings of the buckets. "Who hollowed out this stone?" he asked; and he was answered: "Canst thou not read Scripture, Akiba? 'The waters wear the stones,'—the water, that falls on it continually day after day, has hollowed out the stone." Immediately Akiba argued a fortiori (Kal Vahomer) with respect to himself. "If what is soft can cut what is hard, then the words of the Torah, which are as hard as iron, will surely impress themselves upon my heart, which is only flesh and blood." So Akiba repaired forthwith to a Melammed Tinokoth, a teacher of children, and, seated beside his own little son, he began learning his letters. Akiba held one end of the A. B. C. board and his son the other.

The elements once mastered, the next step was the Rabbinical academy. Bitter poverty, however, would not permit Akiba to leave home, and he would probably have remained in his little village for the rest of his life, an obscure and unknown man, if it were not for his wife. It was her noble self-sacrifice that enabled him to become the greatest Rabbi of his time and perhaps of all time. Unknown to him, she stole out into the market-place and sold all that beautiful hair of hers, so that he might continue his studies. Indeed no sacrifice, no self-abnegation, was too great for her. She sent Akiba away and for twelve long years dwelt alone in sorrow and in want, a "living widow," and at the end of that period she crowned it with a renewal of the same great sacrifice. As Akiba was crossing the threshold, home again after twelve years of study, he overheard Rachel talking with a neighbor. "It served thee right," said the neighbor, "for marrying a man so far beneath thee. Now he has gone off and forsaken thee." "If he hearkened to me," was Rachel's reply, "he would stay away another twelve years." At these words Akiba exclaimed: "Since she gives me permission, I will go back to my studies,"—and he went and stayed away another twelve years. Such was the noble renunciation of Rachel, wife of Rabbi Akiba, for his sake and for the sake of the Torah.

Akiba's Rise to Recognition and Fame

AKIBA studied assiduously at the schools of R. Nahum of Geniso and of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua, both renowned teachers, who in their youth had been favorite pupils of Rabbi Jochanan ben Zakkai. It is illuminating to consider Akiba's general method of study. He had the habit, the Talmud tells us, of going alone to meditate over every Halakah (law) that he learned. After this bit of hard thinking, as we would call it, he usually came back with some very difficult questions. Only when these questions were answered did he feel satisfied that he knew the Halakah. That this thorough method of study bore fruitful results Akiba's subsequent achievements showed. At first, however, his genius was not evident and R. Eliezer paid no attention to him. But one day Akiba gave him his first answer and R. Eliezer was astounded at its profundity. Said R. Joshua then to R. Eliezer, in a slightly modified Scriptural phrase, "Is not this he whom thou hast despised? Go thou now and contend with him." From that time on Akiba was acknowledged a master of Rabbinic law.

All that confused mass of traditional rules, precepts, laws, discussions and opinions which composed the Oral Law, and which it usually took a lifetime to master, Akiba made his own within the space of a few years, and at an age when the mind is no longer fresh and impressionable. Akiba's genius showed itself even more brilliantly in his subsequent labors in the same field, which were marked by three great achievements. These were his arrangement of the Oral Law into a systematic code, the Mishnah (substantially as later edited by R. Judah Ha-Nasi), his establishment of a logical foundation for each Halakah, and his discovery and formulation of new and original methods of hermeneutics and exegesis. To appreciate the magnitude of these achievements, we must remember that up to and for some time after Akiba's day, instruction in the rabbinical academies was oral. Each teacher taught, as well as he could recall, exactly what he had heard from the lips of his master, and his pupils in their turn did likewise. Every great Rabbi therefore had his own set of Halakic traditions, his own Mishnah.

The results of this system or rather lack of system were mainly two: the reasons for many of the Halakoth were forgotten, and of the laws that were taught an immense number were uncoordinated, confused and often contradictory. The greatest fault, however, of these early Mishnayoth (Mishnayoth Rishonoth) was their general lack of arrangement. The Halakoth were usually strung together without connection and without any logical grouping. It was Akiba who first organized them into an orderly system. He put all the Halakoth dealing with one particular subject in one group, and then he divided the groups into the six general divisions that our Mishnah has today. Besides this he introduced number mneumonics wherever possible, in order to facilitate memorization. The second work that we owe to Akiba's influence is the Tosephta or Supplement to the Mishnah, as later edited by his pupil R. Nehemiah. Akiba's purpose in this Supplement was to give explanatory matter on the Halakoth of the Mishnah in the form of citations of cases, discussions, and opinions. Here there was more room for originality than in the first work, for when the reason for any law had been forgotten Akiba discovered it again.

"The Third Founder of Judaism after Moses and Ezra"

THE achievement, however, in which Akiba's mind revealed itself in all its brilliant originality, and which more than anything else delighted and astonished his colleagues, was his new system of Biblical, or rather Pentateuchal, interpretation, his Midrash ha-Torah. The importance of these new methods cannot be overestimated. The Oral Law is nothing more than the Jewish interpretation of the Torah, and consequently new methods of Pentateuchal exegesis meant the further growth and development of the Oral Law. Akiba thus gave Judaism the capacity for vigorous further development. He was indeed a firm believer in the principle that the Oral Law, even as life itself, is always in process of evolution—"immer in Werden," as the Germans put it—but never completed. His main exegetical principle is quite simple. The language of the Torah is not like the language of an ordinary book. In the Torah every syllable, every letter is fraught with meaning. It is all essence. Hence every detail in the Torah must be interpreted. There is absolutely nothing superfluous. It was these exegetical methods that excited the unbounded admiration of his fellow-rabbis. They said of him that things that were not even revealed to Moses were revealed unto Akiba. By his preservation of the old Halakoth in the Mishnah and by his stimulation of newer developments with his exegesis, Akiba laid the foundations of Talmudic and Rabbinic learning, and truly earned for himself the title of third founder of Judaism after Moses and Ezra.

Akiba's method of teaching also was extraordinary. The order and system that he had brought into the Rabbinic curriculum coupled with his novel methods of exegesis rendered his lectures clear, simple and most interesting. Multitudes flocked to hear him. With hardly an exception all the prominent Rabbis of the following generation attended Akiba's academy. Notable amongst them was R. Meir, who handed down Akiba's Mishnah to R. Judah Ha-Nasi and through him to posterity.

Happiness and Affluence

TOWARDS the end of the twenty-four years thus devoted to study, Akiba turned his steps homewards, accompanied by a large band of disciples, which tradition numbers in the thousands. At the rumor that a great Rabbi was coming, Rachel's heart was all aflutter with hope and expectation. Perhaps it was he at last! The whole village went out to meet him, she with the rest. When she saw that it was indeed he, she fell on her knees before him sobbing and began kissing his feet. The pupils surrounding Akiba wanted to push her aside, but he said, "Let her be. What knowledge I possess and what knowledge you possess belongs to her." When Kalba Sabua heard that a great Rabbi had come to town, not dreaming that it was his son-in-law, he made up his mind to go to him and have his vow absolved, for at the sight of his daughter's misery his heart had softened, and but for his vow he would long since have taken her back. He came to the Rabbi and the Rabbi said to him, "If thou hadst known that her husband would one day be a great scholar, wouldst thou have vowed?" "If he knew even one chapter or even one Halakah, I would not have vowed," was the reply. "I am he," said Akiba simply. At these words Kalba Sabua stared in amazement, and then fell at his feet and begged pardon for all his past unkindness towards both Akiba and Rachel. To make more substantial amends he gave them half his fortune and they lived in comfort ever after. The affluence in which Akiba henceforth lived, contrasted with the poverty of his student days when he used to cut wood for a living, is thus quaintly described in the Talmud: "When he was a student Akiba used to fetch a bundle of wood every day. Half he sold for food and half for clothing. But before Akiba departed from this world, he had tables of silver and of gold, and he climbed into his bed on golden ladders." His wife too had the satisfaction of receiving from him and wearing the "Golden Jerusalem," that Akiba had wished he could give her in the days of their poverty. Indeed the magnificence of Rachel's jewels called forth a protest on the part of the students of Akiba's academy. "Thou hast put us to shame before our wives," they said, "for our wives do not possess any such precious ornaments." "Ah, yes," said Akiba, "but she has suffered much with me in the Torah."

Akiba's Virile Ethics and Philosophy

AKIBA'S philosophical speculations were no less famous than his Halakic activities. Just about this time all sorts of hybrid religions made up of decadent Greek philosophy and of dying Pagan creeds were in vogue—the various forms of Gnosticism. Christianity—Jewish Gnosticism, that is—was only one of the many perversions that Judaism had to combat. These religions exercised a particular fascination because they dealt largely in esoteric doctrines and in theosophic speculation. There was great danger that Jewish minds might be led astray, as in fact some were. Of the four great Rabbis, who the Talmud says entered upon theosophic studies, only Akiba came through safely. Upon ben Azzai and ben Zoma, both brilliant young students, and upon Aher (Elisha ben Abuya) it had disastrous effects. Ben Azzai died young. Ben Zoma went mad and Elisha ben Abuyah repudiated Judaism. Wherefore the Rabbis never mentioned his name but always spoke of him as "Aher" ("the Other").

Akiba's philosophy and ethics are revealed in the following sayings:

"Labor is honorable to man."

"They err who say I will sin now and repent after. The day of atonement brings no forgiveness to the insincere." This saying is strikingly similar to Dante's famous line in the Inferno: "No one can repent and will at once."

The eternal problem why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper is answered by Akiba in this way. The righteous are punished in this world for their few sins, so that in the next world they may receive only reward. The wicked on the other hand are rewarded here for what little good they do, so that in the next world they may receive only punishment.

"Beloved are Israel, for they are called children of the All-present, as it is said, 'Ye are children unto the Lord your God.' Beloved are Israel for unto them was given the desirable instrument by which the world was created, as it is written 'For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my Torah.'" Israel is therefore the Chosen People. Nay more. In another place Akiba says, "Even the poorest of Israel are looked upon as nobles," and even R. Ishmael agreed with him that "Every Jew is a royal prince." Our motto to-day of "noblesse oblige" is the same thought in a strange tongue. "By which the world was created" means that Akiba identified the Torah with "Wisdom," which is described in Proverbs, in that famous chapter beginning "Doth not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice?" as having been "set up from everlasting, from the beginning before the earth was." Adapting the opening verse of John, Akiba could very well have said, "In the beginning was the Torah and the Torah was with God," but he certainly would not have said, "and the Torah was God."

"Everything is foreseen," Akiba goes on to say, "yet freedom of choice is given; and the world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the amount of work." His doctrine of "grace" and "works" was that "grace" is acquired through works, or in non-theological language, God's favor goes to the man of good deeds. This was in opposition to the Christian teaching that "grace" came through faith alone. God's justice is tempered with mercy; yet even divine mercy is dealt out fairly, says Akiba. He had such a strong sense of right that he even condemned the action of the Israelites in despoiling the Egyptians. "It is equally wrong to deceive a heathen as to deceive an Israelite," he said. Akiba agreed with Hillel that the chief commandment of the Torah is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Lev. XIX, 18), which again is nothing more than an application of the principle of justice in our dealings with our fellow-men.

A Man of the People

IN spite of his great fame Akiba was the most modest of men. While still a student at Jamnia Akiba was noted for his humility. R. Jochanan ben Nuri told how he had occasion several times to complain of Akiba to the Patriarch and how each time Akiba took his reprimand meekly. Nay more. Despite these reproofs Akiba was all the more affectionate towards R. Jochanan, so that the latter was moved to exclaim in admiration, "Reprove a wise man and he will love thee!" (Prov. IX, 8.) Another notable example of Akiba's modesty is his speech at the funeral of his son, which was attended by a great gathering of men, women, and children from all parts of Palestine. "Brethren of Israel," said Akiba, "listen to me. Not because I am a learned man have ye appeared here so numerously. There are those here more learned than I. Nor because I am a rich man. There are those here far richer than I. The people of the South know Akiba; but whence should the people of Galilee know him? The men know him; but whence should the women and children that I see here know him? But I know full well that ye have not given yourselves the trouble to come but for the sake of fulfilling a religious precept and to do honor to the Torah, and your reward will indeed be great." Practising it as he did, Akiba did not fail likewise to preach modesty. "He who esteems himself highly on account of his knowledge," said he, "is like a corpse lying at the wayside; the traveler turns his head away in disgust and walks quickly by." Again, in words almost identical with Luke (XIV, 8-11), Akiba says: "Take thou a seat a few places below thy rank until thou art bidden to take a higher place, for it is better that they should say to thee: 'Come up higher' than that they should bid thee 'Go down lower.'"

Akiba was likewise famous for his kindness and charity. He was a man of the people. His heart was full of charity and affection for the multitude. His interest in their welfare was so deep and genuine that he ultimately came to be called the "Hand of the Poor." As overseer of the poor, Akiba made many long and arduous journeys to collect funds for their relief. It was his opinion that the funds of charity ought not to be invested, in order that ready money might always be at hand, should a poor man present himself. Once Akiba received some money from R. Tarphon, for the purpose of buying some land. But instead Akiba distributed the money to the poor. When Tarphon asked him where the property was, Akiba showed him the verse in Psalms, "He hath scattered, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth forever; his horn shall be exalted with honor." Thereupon Tarphon kissed Akiba on the forehead and exclaimed, "My master and my guide!"

His Fervent Patriotism

FOR us to-day, however, the most striking thing about Akiba is his nationalism. Other Rabbis were men of great intellect, other Rabbis were learned, modest, and benevolent, other Rabbis lived, worked and died for Judaism, but no other Rabbi was conspicuously and so zealously a nationalist. Akiba loved "Eretz Yisrael" passionately, not only with the visionary fervor of the pious Jew, but with the practical idealism of a patriot. In all his extended journeys for the collection of alms, he took care to spread and keep alive in the breast of his fellow-Jews the desire for the rebuilding of Zion as a practical and immediate reality.

It was Akiba's spirit that inspired and animated the last great rebellion against Rome. This "final polemos," as the Talmud calls it, was preparing for a number of years. Akiba openly acknowledged Bar Kochba, who was to be the leader of the revolt, as the promised Messiah, as "the star that would come out of Jacob." All the great influence, therefore, of Akiba's moral support was behind Bar Kochba's military preparations. The Jews had indeed much to complain of. Hadrian had broken faith with them; he had failed to rebuild their Temple as he had promised, and now (about the year 130), to make matters worse, he was beginning a systematic persecution of their religion. He forbade circumcision, the study of the Torah, the keeping of the Sabbath, the ordination of disciples, in short everything that went to express the Jewish religion. The Jews determined upon war. But even before the outbreak of hostilities their greatest loss occurred. Akiba and several other great Rabbis were captured by the Romans, imprisoned, condemned to death, and executed. Their crime was simply that they had continued teaching the Torah in spite of the Imperial decree.

"Even Unto Death"

THIS was the manner of Akiba's death. When he heard that the renowned R. Ishmael and a certain Simon were captured, he was stirred all the more to persevere in his teaching. "Prepare ye for death, for terrible days are awaiting us," said Akiba to his pupils. A certain Pappos ben Judah met Akiba assembling the people and teaching the Torah in public. "Dost thou not fear the Government?" said Pappos. "Thou art considered a wise man, Pappos," answered Akiba, "but verily thou art but a fool. I shall give thee a parable to the matter. Once a fox was walking along the edge of a stream. He saw the fishes in commotion, hurrying hither and thither. 'Before what do ye flee?' said he to them. 'We are fleeing before the nets of the fishermen that are cast out to catch us.' 'Would ye be willing to come up on dry land and live with me, even as your fathers and my fathers were wont to live?' 'Art thou he who is called the most discerning among beasts? Verily thou art but a fool. If even in the element that means life to us, we are fearful of death, how much more so in the element that means our death.' Even so are we. If even in the time that we are occupied with the Torah, of which it is said, 'For it is thy life and the length of thy days,' we are fearful of death, how much more so if even for a moment we cease its study." Not many days later Akiba was captured and thrown into prison. Pappos ben Judah also found himself imprisoned with Akiba. "How camest thou here?" asked Akiba. "Happy art thou," replied Pappos, "that thou hast been taken prisoner for the sake of the Torah; woe is me, Pappos, that I have been taken prisoner for vain things."

When they led Akiba out to execution it was the hour of the reading of the "Shema." Tinnius Rufus, the governor, caused his skin to be torn off with hot irons; but Akiba was directing his heart towards accepting the yoke of God's kingdom, that he might accept it with love. He recited the "Shema" with a peaceful smile on his face. Rufus, astounded at his insensibility to pain, asked him whether he was a sorcerer. "I am no sorcerer," replied Akiba. "All the days of my life have I grieved that I could not carry out the commandment, 'Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might,'—even unto death. But now that I am able to fulfill it shall I not rejoice?" And with the last syllable of the "Shema"—Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is One—Akiba expired.



EDITORS' NOTE.—This is the third in a series of sketches of "Jewish Worthies," of which the fourth will have "Judah the Prince" for its subject.

HEBREWS willingly neglectful of their own inheritance cannot hope to be of much value as Americans. Nor is the republic interested in suppressing this or any other valuable legacy from the past. Our "assimilative process" is far off from being the terrible thing which European critics sometimes charge against us. We do reshape peoples who come to us from the old world, but not at the cost of the things they cherish or of the gifts they bring. Our civilization is enriched, not impoverished, by these diverse race traits, loyalty to which helps to make a loyalty worth having. If the future world order is to be founded on the harmonization of ethnic differences, there should be place enough for such differences in our own peace-aspiring republic.—From an Editorial in The Boston Herald.



Aspects of Jewish Life and Letters

As Revealed in Four Noteworthy Books

I

A SYMPATHETIC STUDY OF PHARISAISM[B]

AS a rule, Jewish readers approach the works of Christian writers upon Jewish subjects with distrust. They are accustomed to find in them either the misrepresentations of Anti-Semitic hatred or the misrepresentations of conversionist love. The present book, based upon lectures delivered at Oxford upon the Hibbert foundation, is a representative of the rare group of studies belonging to neither class. It embodies an earnest and surprisingly successful attempt to depict justly the religious life of the Jews in the time of the Talmud. The writer is well prepared for his task by thirty years' devoted study of Rabbinical literature; he is known as the author of a careful and scholarly work on "Christianity in Talmud and Midrash."

The book includes a preliminary historical sketch, a study of what the Rabbis meant by Torah, indicating the true nature of Pharisaic legalism, chapters on the attitude of Jesus and of Paul toward the Pharisees, and two final chapters on the Pharisaic theology. The book is valuable as a Christian reply to Weber, the German author of a learned, widely-used, and thoroughly unfair presentation of Jewish theology. Mr. Herford frankly confesses that he is an apologist of the Pharisees, but his book is in no sense an iconoclastic attack upon the ideas received among Christians as to the character of the Pharisees. He freely admits, as any fair-minded Jew would, the dangers of the Pharisaic system, but he is likewise careful to point out that these dangers were by no means destructive of true spiritual life. It is most refreshing to find a book of this sort included in the Crown Theological Library, along with the erudite but anti-Jewish works of Bousset and Harnack.

The Truth About the Pharisees

MR. HERFORD aims to set forth the truth about the Pharisees rather than to present new ideas or conclusions. Nevertheless, his book contains here and there new suggestions. His theory that the men of the Great Synagogue were identical with the Soferim, though it has a certain plausibility, is hardly supported by any great weight of historical evidence. It is interesting to learn that the Synagogue represents the oldest form of congregational worship, and is the oldest human institution that has survived without interruption. The parallel between the Hassidim and the Saints of Cromwell's time (p. 38) is curious. Mr. Herford has the somewhat strange notion (pp. 44-5) that there is a sign of "mutual distrust" in the weeping of the High Priest and the representatives of the Beth Din after the former had taken the oath to observe the regulations concerning the Day of Atonement. To the ordinary reader of the Mishnah the tears seem a perfectly natural expression of the emotional strain under which all the people labored on the great day.

It is hard to part from Mr. Herford's admirable book without quoting a very fine tribute which he pays to the Jewish people. In speaking of the influence of Ezra's ideals, he says (p. 55): "The Talmud is the witness to show how some of his countrymen, some of the bravest, some of the ablest, some of the most pious and saintly, and a host of unnamed faithful, were true to those ideals and clung to those hopes; and how, through good report and ill report, through shocks of disaster and the ruin of their state, ground down by persecution, or torn by faction, steadily facing enemies within, they held on to the religion of the Torah."



University of Illinois

II

JUDAISM AND PHILANTHROPY[C]

SOME years ago I met a certain Russian Jew at a conference called to discuss various problems of education. He was an immigrant who had made his fortune through speculation in real estate, and with his rise in fortune he had, it was evident, thrown off, one after another, the social habits, the religious outlook, and the organization of the daily life which were the heritage he had brought with him from Russia. He was at that time, he told me, president of a large Jewish congregation, whose pillars of support were men like himself. He complained bitterly of their backwardness and illiberality. They would not introduce an organ and refused to change the prayer book or to secure an "advanced" rabbi. For himself, he did not care whether they had a synagogue—I mean temple—at all. He retained no longer any of the superstitions or narrowness of his colleagues, and if it were not for the fact that he felt himself out of place among members of the radically reformed temple he would have attended that long ago. He was a member of it, of course. His wife had made him join some years ago. It was a double expense, to be sure, but his wife wanted to be active in the Women's Council, and the children met other nice children in the Sunday School. He did not think anyhow that synagogal affiliation made any difference.

"I am," he said, "a good Jew. I give charity."

The remark took me aback, yet the logical development to the point of view that he expressed was inevitable. In an environment where the call of ambition is generally a call toward de-Judaization, the connection between Jews who prosper and the great masses of the Jewish people becomes, perforce, an external and artificial one. It is notorious that the temple has thus far had no appeal to and no message for the Jewish masses, that its membership is recruited from the well-to-do and the successful, and that its relation to the great groups which are destined never to be well-to-do or successful becomes purely a relation of philanthropy. The elements of brotherhood, of a common consciousness and a common purpose, fade or get submerged. Where the masses are concerned the whole corporate essence of reformed Judaism becomes concentrated in the word "charity."

Justice vs. Charity in the Jewish Ideal

YET it is significant that in Hebrew there is no special word for charity. The term [Hebrew: tzadee-dalet-kuf-hey; transliteration: tzedakah] (Zedakah) meant originally righteousness, and the righteousness which the prophets advocated was the substance of social justice. It was incorporated into the fundamental law of the Jewish state, which differed from that of other ancient states in the fact that its intention was to secure freedom and "life" for each individual man. Charity, as we now understand the word, had no place in the social conceptions of the prophets and was not acknowledged in the Law. The three codes which are preserved to us in the Bible from the covenant in Exodus to the extraordinarily profound legislation of Leviticus express an evolution of the social sense founded on a right appreciation of social justice and democracy. "Life," and its sustenance food, and shelter were regarded as the rights of each and every man and not as gifts from one man to another. The law concerning the tenure of land is particularly significant for its insight into the economic basis of social justice, and the laws concerning indebtedness and slavery only less so. Charity appears only when the state disintegrates. It is coincident with the decay of the social organization and the consequent failings of the sense of corporate responsibility, and consists substantially of the conversion of a right into a gift. This change is registered in the new meaning which the word "Zedakah" receives. For a state in which social justice prevails there is no room for charity, while a social order which involves charity is not one which maintains justice. Thus it may be said that the prophets, because they operated in terms of the reorganization of the whole of society and not of the incidental correction of piecemeal evils, were humanists. Their program was constructive and aimed at the enfranchisement of manhood. The rabbis, on the other hand, were (relatively only) philanthropists. Their program was remedial, and they aimed rather at the relief of suffering than the realization and perfection of human potentialities.

To-day the term "charity" has given way to a new equivalent, with a somewhat different connotation. This new equivalent is "social service." That it should be urged, as Mr. Lewis urges it, upon liberal Judaism is simply another indication of the evanescing adherence of that sect to the corporate life of the Jewish people. Although "social service" carries with it more of the sense of justice than the term charity, it is still, in intention, a charitable thing. It is not a thing done through the inevitable forms of right social organization, but through the gracious good will of a kindly individual. It still maintains the Christian quality of "grace" which is a condescension, a going down, a philanthropy. It stands in contrast to law, which knows no such qualities, and the call which Mr. Lewis makes to liberal Judaists for a special kind of social service is itself a demonstration that "liberal Judaism" thus far has little in common with the substance of Jewish life. Indeed his whole book is a demonstration of this fact, for of the six chapters that it contains only one has anything to say of social service as such in the present day, while four are analyses, not of charity, but of the law of righteousness as it operated in the Jewish polity, both in Palestine and in the Diaspora. Even the actual charity of the Middle Ages carries a quality of obligation and socially ordained necessity which is derived from the basic law of the Jewish people.

The Hope of Liberal Judaism

BUT to-day, while the great Jewish masses still live, more or less adequately under the basic law and exercise such righteousness as they may in the division of obligation which the laws of the Galuth lands compel, the classes are divorced from its rule altogether. The call with which Mr. Lewis closes his book,—

"We must teach the masses of our people, upon whom the Judaism of yesterday has lost hold, that their salvation lies in liberal Judaism, which is beginning to find itself to-day and which will become the Judaism of to-morrow,"

—is the best indication of this. Liberal Judaism has not touched the minds or hearts of the masses. The radicals despise it as a capitalistic system of compromise with the social environment. To the rest of the working classes, it makes thus far no appeal whatever. It is only upon the radicals that the "Judaism of yesterday" has lost its hold, and to them liberal Judaism can have no appeal. To the rest of the Jewish people it can be significant and really developed into the "Judaism of to-morrow" only in so far as it can succeed in reincorporating itself into the common life. I am an old social service person, and I am prepared to deny categorically that such a reincorporation is possible through social service. What is needed is sympathetic intelligence, insight into the life and aspirations of the masses, return of the classes to the masses, participation in their ideals, their traditions, and their common life. It is not by a cutting off from the past, but by a development out of it that such a reincorporation can be consummated.

If liberal Judaism is to be a living and growing force at all, it can become so only by accepting the inevitable conditions which govern all life. Life is organic; religion is only one of the many organs of human society, even Jewish society. Its health and vitality are dependent upon the health and vitality of the social residuum. The hope of liberal Judaism lies in a reincorporated national life for the Jews. That alone can preserve the Jewish religion, either from petrifying as orthodoxy through resistance against environmental pressure, or from evaporating as reform through submission to environmental pressure.

University of Wisconsin



III

THE HEBREW GENIUS[D]

THIS little volume is five years old, but its review is always timely; and for THE MENORAH JOURNAL very appropriate. The English language is extremely poor in popular, yet scholarly and well-written books and essays on Jewish literature. A great many of those who are thoroughly versed in Hebrew literature, who regard the study of the original Rabbinic sources as a work of love if not a profession and a life work, have not a sufficient command of English or of systematic exposition to be able to present the spirit of these writings in acceptable form to the lay reader. The few scientific scholars in our seminaries and colleges who could if they chose write authoritatively and withal in an interesting manner concerning the course of Jewish thought during the past two or three millenia, prefer to devote their time and energy to the more technical aspects of the subject, which are not designed for the uninitiated reader. And the men of journalistic calibre and inclination, even if we had them, are not the most desirable purveyors of Jewish knowledge. The truth of the matter is, in the words of Nietzsche, that ears are still growing for the intelligent American Jewish people so far as Jewish literature—Hebrew classical literature—is concerned.

The cause of the paucity of works in English on Jewish literary subjects is really economic. There is no lack of young men among the people of the Book whose ideal of a well-spent life is one of complete devotion to a scholarly career in the service of our ancient and medieval classics. But unfortunately the very young men who give promise of presenting in a creditable manner our intellectual heritage for the benefit of the majority otherwise occupied, have no means of their own, and yet are not ready (as it should not be expected of them that they should be) to take the vow of poverty and celibacy and form a Jewish monastic order of St. Haninah. Accordingly not a few of these choose the Rabbinic career as the most likely profession to enable them to keep in touch with Jewish learning—more or less a disappointed hope to the real scholar who has no other fitness for the modern Rabbinate except his scholarship. Others are completely side-tracked and lost to Jewish scholarship.

Thus the lack of interest in Jewish learning and scholarship keeps promising young men away from these unpromising studies. The result is that the field in English remains uncultivated, which reacts again unfavorably in a diminution of interest, and the vicious circle is complete.

The Need of Encouragement to Jewish Learning

I HAVE used my text in good old fashion as a pretext for a little sermon to the intelligent lay reader of THE MENORAH JOURNAL who may be an influential member of the American Jewish community, pointing out that we are sorely in need of a great many such books as the present one, treating various "aspects of the Hebrew Genius"; and they are sure to come just as soon as there is a real demand for them. The Jewish students in our colleges and universities whose number is rapidly increasing have in their midst a great many talented young men who only need encouragement to devote their best energies to Jewish learning. These will serve as a leaven to raise the entire Jewish community of America to a more intelligent Jewish level. What we need is liberal endowments for Jewish chairs in our universities and for the promotion of Jewish education generally.

And now to proceed to my proper topic: Aspects of Hebrew Genius is a very creditable volume consisting of eight well-written essays on several topics of Jewish history and thought. Norman Bentwich contributes an article in which he gives an interesting sketch of the Jewish Alexandrian period of the first two centuries B. C., whose thought activities culminated in the works of Philo, the first man in history who attempted an amalgamation of Hebraism and Hellenism. It was not a success so far as Judaism is concerned, as is evidenced by the fact that he was neglected and forgotten by his Jewish successors. He was made use of, however, by the early Christian writers in the formulation of the Trinitarian dogma, and by early Christian apologists and theologians in presenting the doctrines of the new religion in a form likely to appeal to the Graeco-Roman world, which trained as it was in philosophical thought would have been repelled by the simple narratives of Scripture and the Gospels.

Representative Men and Tendencies in Jewish Thought

THE next essay by M. Simon deals with the second and more successful attempt to enrich Jewish literature by infusing into it the spirit of rationalistic inquiry originally derived from Greece. This time, in the ninth and tenth centuries, the scene is placed in Babylonia. The place of the Greeks is now taken by their medieval successors, the Mohammedan Arabs, upon whom fell a part of the Hellenic mantle, that represented by Greek science and philosophy. The aesthetic and literary aspects of the Greek genius were left severely alone by the Arabs. The man about whom this sketch centers is the famous Gaon of Sura, Saadiah. And Mr. Simon lays great stress upon his achievements in Biblical exegesis. As the Septuagint was the first Jewish translation of the Bible, so Saadiah's Arabic translation was the second, and it was enriched by introductions and a commentary in which Saadiah leads his co-religionists, the Rabbanite Jews, from the Talmud back to an appreciation of the Bible.

The period of systematic and rationalistic effort culminated in the legal and philosophical works of Maimonides, the greatest Jew of the middle ages. The Rev. H. S. Lewis gives a readable and sympathetic sketch of this pre-eminent Jewish systematizer and rationalist. He defends him against the strictures of Luzzatto and Graetz and points out the great influence his thinking had on Judaism and Jews of his own and subsequent ages, and even on the Christian scholastics.

The following four essays are devoted not to representative men but to brief and interesting sketches of tendencies in Jewish thought and departments of Jewish literature. The Rabbinic legalistic lore of the Mishnah and Talmud, which finds no general treatment in the volume, is partly represented by the article of Dr. S. Daiches, who gives a popular account of the post-Talmudic attempts to codify the immense legal material scattered in Mishnah and Talmud and in later additions. Maimonides' code naturally occupies an important place in this sketch, and a novel feature is the important place assigned to Jacob ben Asher (1280-1340), the author of the Turim, who superseded Maimonides and is popularized by Joseph Caro in his Shulchan Aruch.

Jewish Rationalism and Mysticism

THE title of the next paper, written by the competent hand of Dr. A. Wolf, versed in philosophy as well as in Jewish literature, sounds novel; and as the author says, is the first effort of the kind so far made. It is well known that the philosophic movement in medieval Jewry is characterized with few exceptions by the more or less faithful adaptation of Aristotelian thought as represented in the Arabic translations of his works and in the compendia and expositions made by such ardent disciples of the Stagirite as Al Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes. Dr. Wolf undertakes briefly and readably to indicate how much the Jewish medieval philosophers owed to the Greek sage and what their attitude to him was, and interestingly summarizes the Aristotelian point of view by the one word rationalism, as distinguished from dogmatism and mysticism. He rightly points out that while the specific doctrines borrowed from Aristotle and read into the Bible by his ardent Jewish disciples are for the most part obsolete, the spirit of systematic inquiry, the use of the reason in elucidating disputed problems, "the exalted conception of the place and function of human thought, the hallowing of intellectual effort," which was the product of this philosophical activity, is a gain of inestimable value for all time.

Rationalism and dogmatism, however, do not exhaust the aspects of Jewish thought and literary endeavor. Parallel with the development of Mishnah and Talmud and philosophy, there is visible, at first feebly and in the background, and later, as circumstances favored it, more aggressively and in full view, the mystic outlook upon life and religion in its various phases. H. Sperling in a very interesting and sympathetic manner traces this mystic element in Jewish literature from the Prophets of the Bible, through the "Maase Bereshit" and "Maase Merkaba" of the Haggadah down to the Sefer Yezira and the Zohar and its successors.

There is no treatment of Jewish medieval poetry, and the volume closes with a brief account of the more critical and historical treatment of Jewish literature created in the nineteenth century by such men as Krochmal, Rapaport, Luzzatto, Zunz, Geiger and others. Rev. M. H. Segal gives a brief but illuminating account of this latest phase of Jewish writing, which is not yet closed, and is likely to stay with us for a long while.

E. M. Adler contributes an eloquent introduction by way of connecting the necessarily independent essays and emphasizing the unity which the collection in a great measure possesses.

The volume, as we are told in the Preface, "owes its appearance to the Union of Jewish Literary Societies" in London, and it does credit to their earnestness and loyalty to the cause of Jewish learning. Let us hope it may serve as an example and incentive to the revival of Jewish interests in this country. It is well that all should read this useful little book and many others of the kind which we hope will follow. But it is more important that such reading shall inspire the student with a desire to study at first hand the original depositories of Jewish thought. For this purpose a serious study of Hebrew is imperative. And let us cherish the hope that we may witness a revival of, and a wide-spread interest in, Jewish literature in this country where next to Russia the greatest number of Jews are found and where, moreover, they enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

University of Pennsylvania



IV

A GENERAL SURVEY OF JEWISH LIFE[E]

THROUGH his Jewish Life in Modern Times Israel Cohen has made a notable contribution to the literature of Jewish life and thought. In a single volume of scarce 350 pages of text there is presented a description and estimate of the Jewish position in the modern world which may well be considered among the most comprehensive and the most authoritative now available in the English language.

Taken as a whole, the volume is noteworthy because of three commendable characteristics. It deals with Jewish life as it appears in modern times, not as it should be in the light of the literature of the ancient Hebrews. It presents Jewish life in all its important aspects and complexities, not on the basis of the theory so widely prevalent that religion, of all human activities, constitutes the sole binding force and the only distinguishing characteristic of the separate Jewish existence. Finally, it aims to picture the life of the Jews in all corners of the Diaspora, and not their problems and activities in a single country or section of the globe.

Jewish Life Not Synonymous With Jewish Religion

AN exposition of Jewish life as it is actually lived in modern times helps to clarify a much-beclouded situation. It enables the Jew the better to know himself; it presents to the outside world a clearer outline of a figure who must ever, to some extent, remain "strange" and "unknowable." Moreover, the reader's sense of proportion is adjusted by a work which does not make Jewish life synonymous with Jewish religion. Whether there is sufficient evidence of a biological and anthropological character to support the claim of those who look upon the Jews as a separate race, whether the Jewish people in their dispersion may properly be considered as a distinct national group in spite of the absence of a government and a territory of their own, it is certainly difficult, in all intellectual honesty, to maintain that the Jews are merely a religious community. One of our brilliant young philosophers has strikingly said that a Jew can change his religion, but that he cannot change his grandfather; nor, he might have added can he destroy his more general antecedents, that complex of customs, traditions and ideals which have manifested themselves in the course of thirty-five centuries of recorded history and which create within him an ineradicable historic consciousness. Jewish solidarity is not grounded in religion alone, and the distinctiveness of the Jewish people manifests itself in activities other than religion.

A work which like the present aims to present the Jew in every important phase of life, which describes the social, political, economic, and intellectual aspects of Jewish life, as well as the religious, deserves commendation because of its mere scope and completeness. But Mr. Cohen has gone further. He has not fallen into the error of many of the spokesmen for the cultural or historical unity of Jewry of denying or even minimizing the potency of religion as a factor in Jewish survival. Indeed, he everywhere recognizes that the primary or motor force in the organization of the Jewish community, which is the concrete expression of Jewish solidarity, is religious, springing from the desire for public worship. But while religion is the underlying factor, it is not the only factor. There is a sane coordination of the leading aspects of Jewish life, a clear grasp of the relationship between them.

Finally, the work is significant because it seeks to represent the Jew in all lands, to paint Jewish life in all its diversity. Mr. Cohen, an Englishman intimately acquainted with conditions in his own country, travelled extensively on the continent in preparation for his task. But his knowledge of American conditions was derived from study of American books and newspapers, and from correspondence, instead of from personal experience. This accounts for such minor lapses, with regard to American conditions, as the statement that the Jews are "excluded from . . . the principal hotels on the east coast of the United States" and hence "take their holiday in the well-known resorts of central and southern Europe" (p. 110). On the whole, however, the attempt to describe Jewish life in all its diversity, as it is lived by Jews in all lands, is crowned with marked success, and the author has ample justification for his claim that he has brought "within the covers of a single book the fullest description yet attempted of all the main aspects and problems of Jewish life in the present day."

The Various Aspects of Jewish Life

A MORE detailed statement of the scope and plan of the work may best be given in the author's own words. "First, a General Survey is presented, showing the dispersion and distribution of Jewry in its countless manifestations, its diversity of composition in political and spiritual respects, and the solidarity that unifies its disparate elements. Then follow five main sections, in each of which a leading aspect of life is investigated—the social, the political, the economic, the intellectual, and the religious. Under the Social Aspect are set forth the growth and constitution of the community, the characteristics and customs of the home, social life and amenities, morality and philanthropy, and racial and physical conditions. Under the Political Aspect are related how one-half of the people acquired civil equality, how the other half is still suffering in bondage, and what services Israel has rendered to so many countries in both their government and their defence. Under the Economic Aspect are reviewed the different spheres of commercial, industrial and professional activity in which Jews are engaged, the contrasts of material welfare and predominance of poverty, and the ceaseless currents of migration from the lands of bondage to the havens of refuge. Under the Intellectual Aspect are considered the advance made by secular education among the Jews, the nature of their national intellectual products in modern times, and the contributions they have rendered to the progress and culture of humanity. Under the Religious Aspect are described their ecclesiastical organization and administration, their traditional faith and observance and the growing divergences therefrom, and then the drift and apostasy that are assuming ever more alarming proportions. Finally, the resultant tendency of all the foregoing manifestations is examined under the National Aspect, the strength of the forces of assimilation and absorption is contrasted with the inherent force of conservation, and the realization of the Zionist ideal is urged as the most effective means of ensuring the perpetuation of Israel" (pp. viii-ix).

The purpose of the author is thus seen to be, first, to present the facts of Jewish life, and secondly, to offer an interpretation of them—"to depict the variegated life of the Jewish people at the present day in all its intimacy and intensity, and to trace the evolution that is being produced by modern forces" (p. viii). He is more successful in the first of these objects than he is in the second.

His shortcomings in interpretation, however, are negative rather than positive; they are due to omission rather than to commission. There is inadequate consideration of the philosophy of Jewish life; external description has crowded out internal analysis; the point of view is too largely objective. While, for example, the conclusion is reached that Zionism is the only permanent and adequate solution of the Jewish problem—with which we do not disagree—insufficient stress is laid upon the distinctive Jewish obligation in the Diaspora; the Jewish contributions to general culture and progress which the author enumerates with such concreteness and detail are not distinctively Jewish contributions. Even if Zion is the ultimate destiny of the Jew, he must, in the meantime, justify his separate existence among the nations; if he is to remain a Jew as well as a citizen of the world, his contribution must be that of a Jewish citizen; in addition to the general obligation of his citizenship, he must fulfil the special obligation of his Jewishness. But these deficiencies of interpretation, like the inadequacies of description arising from the impossibility of treating exhaustively so large a field within so narrow a compass, but reflect the inherent limitations of the task set himself by our author.

University of Michigan.



JEWISH STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

An Excerpt from Israel Cohen's Book, "Jewish Life in Modern Times," pages 105-106:

"It was not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century that the Jewish students at any of the principal seats of learning were numerous enough to form a society of their own. The first organization was founded in 1882 in Vienna by Jewish students from Russia, Rumania, and Galicia, who entitled their society Kadimah, which means both 'Eastward' and 'Forward,' as an indication of the ideal of a resettlement in Palestine which they advocated. Since then, partly as a result of the advance of Zionism and partly as a result of the anti-Semitic attitude of the general students' corps on the Continent, separate societies have been formed by the Jewish students at almost every university at which they number at least a dozen, and are now found in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Switzerland, France, and Holland. Some of these societies owe their existence simply to the exclusion of Jews from the general corporation, and they adopt a passive attitude on Jewish questions, but the majority are animated by the ideal of Jewish nationalism and actively foster the Zionist cause. The Jewish nationalist societies in Germany are grouped into two organizations, the 'Bund Juedischer Corporationen,' founded in 1901, with a membership of over 600 (graduates and undergraduates), and the smaller, 'Kartell Zionistischer Verbindungen,' founded five years later, with a membership of 250. The Zionist students' societies in Holland were federated in 1908, but those in other Continental countries pursue an unattached existence. Established to assert and promote the principle of Jewish nationalism, these corporations have nevertheless adopted all the methods and conventions of German corporations; they each have their distinctive colors, and they hold 'beer evenings' at which the students sing spirited songs in swelling chorus around tables which they bang with their beer-mugs, presided over by officers who are accoutred in a gorgeous uniform and armed with a sword that does duty alternately as chairman's hammer and conductor's baton. But their songs tell not of Teuton valor but of Jewish hope, breathing the spirit of a rejuvenated people. Besides these convivial gatherings the members cultivate the study of Jewish history, literature, and modern problems, and also practice fencing so as to be prepared for any duel in which they might be involved in vindication of the Jewish name. The Jewish societies at the universities in English-speaking countries are not, like the Continental corps, the inevitable product of an unfriendly environment, but voluntary associations for the study of Jewish questions and for social intercourse. The Jewish students in England, and to a less extent in the United States, join the societies of their university; but their racial sympathies prompt them also to fraternize with one another. Thus, Oxford has its Adler Society and Cambridge its Schechter Society, whilst at both universities there is also a Zionist Society. Moreover, in the United States, 'Menorah' societies for the study of Jewish history and the discussion of Jewish questions have been formed at twenty-five Universities and organized into an Intercollegiate 'Menorah' Association with over 1000 members."

[There are now 37 Menorah Societies, with an approximate membership of 3,000.—ED.]

FOOTNOTES:

[B] R. TRAVERS HERFORD: Pharisaism, Its Aim and Method. London, Williams and Norgate; New York, Putnam. $1.50. (Any of the books reviewed in this article may be ordered through THE MENORAH JOURNAL.)

[C] HARRY S. LEWIS, M.A.: Liberal Judaism and Social Service. New York, Bloch Publishing Co. (The Lewisohn Lectures.) $1.00.

[D] LEON SIMON, Editor: Aspects of the Hebrew Genius. Essays by Elkan Adler, Norman Bentwich, H. S. Lewis, S. Daiches, A. Wolf, H. Sperling, M. Simon, M. H. Segal. London, Routledge. $1.00.

[E] ISRAEL COHEN: Jewish Life in Modern Times. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. $3.00.



The Symbolism of the Menorah[F]

BY HYMAN ASKOWITH

AFTER the severe and constantly-expanding test of nearly a decade, the founders of the first Menorah Society may be permitted to felicitate themselves on their choice of the name. For it was far truer of the Menorah than it is of most organizations that the choice of a name was of vital moment, and the founders were impressed by a number of considerations which we can all fully appreciate even today. They were bent upon choosing a name which would not deter any Jewish student from enrolling under it with avidity; which would not excite opposition from any source; which would command respect and reverence, increasing respect and reverence, both from the University public and the general public; which would be voluntarily adopted by similar societies in other Universities in preference to any other that might be suggested; and finally, a name with enough charm and euphony and significant symbolism to stand constant repetition, to bear living with day by day, and all the while grow in our imaginations and yield new beauteous meaning through the years.

From a descriptive standpoint, it would be difficult to find a more appropriate name for a University society devoted to Hebraic culture than the name Menorah. For there is hardly another available word in the entire range of Hebraic history and learning which is so freighted with sentiment and so symbolic of all that Israel stands for.

The Most Expressive of All Hebraic Symbols

TAKEN in a general sense, it is evident that the Menorah or seven-branched candelabrum, being the distinctive lamp or light of the ancient Hebrews, serves more distinctively than would the classic torch or the conventional oil lamp to represent Hebrew enlightenment. Our aim being to spread the light of Hebraic culture, it is clearly fitting that we should employ the Hebraic lamp. It should be more effective, too, inasmuch as its light is sevenfold, and our efforts are illuminated with a sevenfold splendor.

The word Menorah, it is worth noting, is among exclusively Hebrew words the only one which would be readily understood by any considerable number of people aside from students or readers of Hebrew. It has been made familiar to all by the representation of the captured Menorah on the Arch of Titus (see Frontispiece).

According to the Bible, the original Menorah was of divine pattern. It was ordained by God in his instructions to Moses for the sacred paraphernalia of the Holy Tabernacle (Exodus XXV, 31 et seq.). The Menorah was thus among the first instruments or tokens of the Hebrew religion, and the only one which in any sense is in our possession today—the only one which can be perpetuated. The divine pattern is still with us and we are repeatedly modeling new copies from it. The Menorah is today, therefore, the most expressive of all concrete symbols of the Hebrew race and religion.

A Favorite Object of Metaphor and Poetic Sentiment

A HALO of symbolism—almost kaleidoscopic in its manifold beauty—surrounds the Menorah in Hebraic literature and tradition. Both the single light or candle, and the distinctive combination of seven, are the favorite objects of metaphor, interpretation, and poetic sentiment. In the Bible the word "ner" ([Hebrew: nun-resh; Transliteration: ner])—candle or light, embodied, of course, in the word Menorah ([Hebrew: mem-nun-vav-resh-hey; Transliteration: menorah])—is used metaphorically in many significant senses. God is a light—enlightening, comforting and honoring his people. The rational understanding and conscience are lights which search, inform, direct and judge us. A profession of faith is called a lamp, which renders men shining and useful and instructors of others. The last two interpretations certainly cast an appropriate reflection on our choice of Menorah.

For the number 7, as we all know, the ancient Hebrews had a singular fondness, attributing to it a magic potency. This may have arisen from the traditional story of the seven days of Creation, and the institution of the Sabbath—without a doubt the most important of Hebrew institutions. This certainly enhanced the reverence for the number 7, which soon became the most sacred Hebrew number, bearing nearly always the connotation of holiness and sanctity or mystic perfection. The acts of atonement and purification were accompanied by a sevenfold sprinkling. There were seven trumpets, seven priests that sounded them seven days around Jericho, seven lamps, seven seals, etc. The seventh day was the Sabbath, the seventh year was the Sabbatical (still observed to the well-earned emolument of our professors in the Universities), and seven times seven years brought on the Jubilee. The seventh month was the holiest month of the year (which we appreciate now by regarding September as an auspicious month in which to return to college studies). The number seven soon came to be used also conventionally as an indefinite or round number, indicating abundance, completeness, perfection.[1] Cicero calls seven the knot and cement of all things, as being that by which the natural and spiritual world are comprehended in one idea.

The Manifold Symbolism of the Seven Lamps

BE that as it may, our ancestral learned men seem to have found no end of significant meanings in the seven lamps of the Menorah. Generally it was held to represent the creation of the universe in seven days, the center light symbolizing the Sabbath. Again, the seven branches are the seven continents of the earth and the seven heavens, guided by the light of God. According to Philo and others, the seven lights represent the seven planets which, regarded as the eyes of God, behold everything.[2] The light in the center, which is especially distinguished, would signify the sun, as the chief of the planets. With this was combined the mystic conception of a celestial tree, with leaves reaching to the sky and fruit typifying the planets.

There would be little difficulty, of course, in extending this symbolistic catalogue ad infinitum. We could easily and perhaps profitably select Seven Wonders of Hebraic history or achievement, seven great epochs in the development of Hebraic culture, seven great leaders of the race, etc. We might also say that the seven lights represent the seven chief studies which make up a liberal education—the Trivium and Quadrivium of the Middle Ages, substantially the foundation of the university curriculum of today[3].

The words [Hebrew: yud-hey-yud aleph-vav-resh; Transliteration: y'hi or], "Let there be light," just above the Menorah on our seal, are not only reminiscent of the first great word of God, pregnant in meaning for humanity, but stand also for the purpose of this Society—the relighting of the Menorah in order that it may shed its ancient lustre and once again illumine the minds of men with the glory and uplift of Hebraic ideals.



The Symbolism of Palm and Olive Branch

THE seal as originally drawn for the Harvard Menorah Society (see accompanying illustration of membership shingle) bears two or three other symbols which deserve a word of interpretation. Below the Menorah appears the so-called Star of David—lately revived by the Zionist movement as the only exclusively Jewish figure or geometric symbol of any national meaning. Entwined below the seal proper are an olive branch and a date palm, both of which are intimately associated with the history of the race in Palestine. They are the two most characteristic trees of the promised land, and provided the chief staple foods of the Hebrews during their occupation of the country. The olive, moreover, gave the oil with which the Menorah was lit. There is also much fascinating symbolism in the olive tree and the palm. Both are evergreens—standing for the persistency of the Hebrew race. The date palm, we are told, has a slender and very yielding stem, so that in a storm it sways back and forth but does not break; and throughout its length it bears scars showing where leaves have fallen off. Could anything be more beautifully expressive of the career of the Jewish nation? Finally, the olive branch has always stood for peace—one of the most cherished and distinctive Hebraic ideals; and the palm has always stood for intellectual achievement—and who would deny the palm to the race that gave the world its Bible and all that it stands for?



FOOTNOTES:

[F] This article is based upon a paper delivered at the Seventh Annual Banquet of the Harvard Menorah Society last May.

[1] Cf. Gen. vii, 2; xxi, 28-30; I Kings xviii, 43; Deut. xvi, 9; Ezek. xl, 22; xli, 3.

[2] Cf. Zech. iv, 10.

[3] In the form in which this paper was read before the Harvard Menorah Society, the following paragraphs of a more local interest were added at this point:

"And it certainly adds to the eternal fitness of things that there should be just seven letters in the word MENORAH, just seven letters in the word HARVARD, and just seven letters in the word SOCIETY;—the whole name of the society thus forming three times seven, or a majority.

"That there is something much more Hebraic in Harvard than the mere mechanical coincidence of seven letters in the name, is well known to every one who is at all aware of the part played by Hebrew ideals in the founding, organization and early history of Harvard. The fact that Harvard took root in Hebraic culture and traditions is a welcome and gratifying encouragement to this effort to replant the Hebraic influence on Harvard ground."



The Decennial of the Menorah Movement

The Menorah movement enters upon its decennial with the beginning of the present academic year, the first Menorah Society having been organized at Harvard University in 1906.[G] From this Society with an original membership of sixteen, the Menorah movement has grown throughout the country so that at the close of the last academic year there were Societies at thirty-seven colleges and universities with a membership of some three thousand. Every Society has arisen upon the initiative of the students themselves, inspired by a desire to pursue the objects embodied in the Menorah. In January, 1913, the Intercollegiate Menorah Association was formed for the purpose of mutual encouragement and co-operation among the several Societies, and also to carry out enterprises beyond the scope and power of any individual Society—such as the publication of THE MENORAH JOURNAL.

On the threshold of the decennial, and especially since the present number of the JOURNAL will come into the hands of many new students and readers, it may not be amiss again, in brief terms, to review the purposes of the movement.

The Three-Fold Purpose of the Menorah Organization

THE Menorah Societies have been organized by the students in response to their desire first of all to know more about the history, literature, religion—in a word, the culture and ideals of the Jewish people, and the conditions and problems which confront the Jews in the world today. Being thus educational in primary purpose, every Menorah Society is open to all the members of its university who have an interest in Jewish life and thought. And inasmuch as the great majority, if not all, of the students who have such an interest in Jewish knowledge and Jewish aspirations are themselves Jews, the Menorah organization cherishes the second purpose of strengthening the Jewish idealism and noblesse oblige of the Jewish students, so that by understanding and carrying forward their Jewish inheritance they may become better men and women by becoming better Jews. And from this moral aim there flows still a third purpose, that of patriotic service to the Republic; for by enriching the common treasury of American culture and ideals with the spiritual resources of the Jewish people, the educated Jews of the country may serve America to the profoundest degree. Animated thus with the spirit and broad purposes of our universities, the Menorah Societies have been warmly welcomed and generously assisted by the university authorities.

The Distinction Between Menorah and Other Student Societies

THE purposes of the Menorah movement will appear in greater relief by comparison with the objects of other types of Jewish organization—social, political, religious—that have arisen at our colleges and universities. The Menorah Societies are all-inclusive, non-partisan, non-sectarian. Hence they are to be distinguished in the first place from the exclusive social organizations, such as the Greek letter or Hebrew letter fraternities. Being rather educational in spirit and purpose, the Menorah Societies make no social test for membership, nor do they pursue any convivial activities except such as are deemed desirable for the most agreeable and efficient pursuit of the Menorah objects. Again, the Menorah Societies are clearly distinguishable from the Zionist Societies, which were united last June in the Intercollegiate Zionist Association of America; whereas the Zionist Societies are devoted to a specific political program in confronting the so-called Jewish Question, the Menorah Societies, being non-partisan, are neither Zionist nor anti-Zionist, but perfectly free and open forums for the discussion of all points of view. The Menorah membership consists of men and women of divers convictions, as well as of those who have not yet made up their minds but come to the Menorah for enlightenment and inspiration. Finally, just because the Menorah appeals to every student who has a liberal interest in Jewish life and thought—to every Jewish student particularly, whatever his present beliefs and ideas—the Menorah Societies are not to be regarded as specifically religious organizations. Therefore the observance of religious services and practices is left to those students who desire them, individually or in appropriate organizations, such as the Jewish Students' Congregation organized recently under reform auspices at the University of Michigan. The Menorah Societies are neither reform, conservative nor orthodox but broadly inclusive of all elements.

The Catholicity and Comradeship of the Menorah

INDEED, next to the Menorah idea—the sum of Menorah purposes—the peculiar strength of the Menorah Societies lies in this catholic spirit which determines the Menorah "open door." Thereby the Menorah Societies are enabled to perform more and more an incidental but most important service apart from the objects to which they are formally dedicated. With the growth of various Jewish organizations in our universities—which, whatever the opinion as to their value and propriety, tend to divide the Jewish students rather than to unite them—a most important service performed by the all-inclusive Menorah Societies is to bring the students together, in spite of their various differences, on a common high plane. As stated over a year ago in the Association's book on The Menorah Movement: "Where, as in almost all large universities, there are Jewish students of diverse antecedents, it is one of the most important functions of a non-partisan organization like the Menorah Society to bring all classes and parties together upon an academic plane, in order that they may learn each other's points of view, in order that their prejudices against one another which are founded on misunderstanding and snobbishness may wither away, and in order that they may pursue in generous comradeship the knowledge of their common tradition and the hope of their common future."

The Graduate Phase of the Menorah Movement

IT is becoming increasingly evident, moreover, that such a unifying force is called for outside of the universities among the graduates and other educated Jews; and it is hoped that through the graduate phase of the Menorah movement, this need may be subserved by graduate Menorah groups in various communities. To quote once more from The Menorah Movement: "Such graduate Menorah organizations, while academic and non-partisan in their nature, like the university Menorah Societies, might yet, if properly constituted and conducted, be of practical as well as of ideal service to their communities. They could bring together, upon the lofty basis of Jewish idealism, men of different views in the community, who approach practical Jewish problems in different, sometimes in mutually antagonistic, ways. Devoid itself of any sectarian or fraternal or political bias, a graduate Menorah organization should be ideally fitted to serve as a kind of intellectual clearing house of the Jewish community, and thus promote on all sides a deeper understanding of one another, a clearer vision of the common problems, a greater concord in Jewish life."

In any event, it is hoped during the present year to bring the graduates and other public-spirited Jewish citizens into closer touch with the activities and aspirations of the students. At the fourth annual Convention of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association to be held during the coming midwinter recess, the idea of graduate Menorah committees and other forms of possible graduate association with the Menorah movement will be carefully considered.

The Year Ahead

IT may be added that at this Convention, which promises to be the most important thus far held by the Menorah Societies, there will also be given a full review of the activities of the Menorah organization since its inception and a survey of the present opportunities and demands for Menorah work throughout the country. More and more emphasis will be laid upon the quality of accomplishment of every Menorah Society; upon the active participation by all Menorah members in one phase or another of Jewish study and labor; and, in general, upon an even greater utilization of the lectures, libraries, study courses, and other means provided for the accomplishment of Menorah ends.

In this terrible time for Jewry, amid the general catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Jewish young men are offering their lives heroically in the contending armies, the members of the Menorah Societies in this favored country cannot but enter upon the new year with a solemn sense of added responsibility. More than ever in this decennial year of the Menorah movement is intellectual and moral consecration to Jewish ideals demanded of Jewish students in America.

Henry Hurwitz, Chancellor I. Leo Sharfman, President

FOOTNOTE:

[G] It should be noted that in 1903 a Jewish literary society was founded at the University of Minnesota which was later changed to a Menorah Society and is now one of the constituents of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association.



Menorah Notes and News

The International Students' Reunion

THE Intercollegiate Menorah Association was represented at the International Students' Reunion, which was held in connection with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco, the University of California, and Leland Stanford University, under the auspices of Corda Fratres Association of Cosmopolitan Clubs, from August 16th to 21st, 1915. Intercollegiate Vice-President Milton D. Sapiro read a paper at the session in the Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, on "The Purposes of the Menorah Movement," submitted by the Chancellor. Dr. Horace M. Kallen, of the University of Wisconsin, delivered a discourse at the session at Stanford University on "The Hebraic Spirit." The following is an abstract of his address:

Dr. Kallen on "The Hebraic Spirit"

"A people's spirit is its character, considered not as a cluster of qualities, but as a spring and form of action—action that expresses itself in social institutions, in political and economic organization, in art, in religion and in philosophy; in short, in all that expressive part of human life we call culture. A people's culture is organic. However varied its form and media, the varieties springing from a single source possess an identical and unique quality which is the quality of that source. They express and reveal it, as generative power, a force of creation, having good or evil bearing upon the residual civilization. The process of such revelation is a people's total history; just as the process of revelation of an individual's character is his total biography. To find the Hebraic spirit we must seek its substantial development in the culture and ideals of the Jewish people—in the unfoldment, in the history of their common attitude toward the world and toward man, in their theory of life.

"The Jewish theory of life involves three fundamental conceptions, interdependent, and forming a unit which has no near parallel in civilization.

"The first of these conceptions defines the nature of God. What is significant about it is the fact that it makes no distinction between God and Nature. God is Nature and Nature is God. The two are related to each other as a force and its operation, and what difference there exists between them is a difference in completeness and self-sufficiency, not in kind. God reveals himself thus in and as the cause of Nature, the whirlwind, the process of life and decay, the development of history. His essence is Change, Force, Time. There is hence no Hebrew word for eternal; God's attitude is everlasting. That is, that which changes yet retains its identity, as a man changes from infancy to manhood, yet retains his identity.

"God is one, all-inclusive, everlastingly creative. In consequence, there exists a real distinction between God and man, such that the one cannot be defined in analogy with anything human. Neither wisdom, nor goodness, nor justice apply to him; yet the goodness, wisdom and justice of man depend upon him. Man is a finite speck set over against divine infinitude. His life is a constant struggle for survival with forces which have each an equal claim on divine regard with man. Man's salvation, herein, consists in knowing these facts, in understanding, using them, and guarding against them. The fear of the Lord, sings the chorus in Job, is the beginning of wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

"To depart from evil is to act as a social being, to be righteous. Righteousness is acknowledgment of the value and integrity of other persons. It is the application of justice in all fields of human endeavor, particularly in fundamental economics. Thus the three historic constitutions of the Jewish state, the Covenant, Deuteronomy and the Levitical code, are all directed toward making impossible other than natural inequalities within the state. Their intention is a social democracy; and all Jewish law, departing from this fundamental intention, aims, under various conditions, to realize it. The prophets, from Amos to Isaiah, preach it; and men like Ferdinand Lassalle, Karl Marx, Jean de Bloch, simply enhance their tradition.

"The Hebraic spirit carries the principle of democracy beyond the individual to the group. Men having a common ancestry, history, culture and ideals, living a common life, have definite contribution to make to civilization as a group. They constitute a nationality and the principles of justice that apply among individuals must apply equally among nationalities. Hence Hebraism, through its prophets, formulates the conception of an internationalism, consisting of a co-operative democracy of nationalities, under conditions of universal peace. The great Isaiah, who flourished in the fifth century B. C., is the first to formulate this national vision. His people have never departed from it. In terms of it, they have been the foremost protagonists of a constructive internationalism, in every land and at all times. Recently, as they have begun to find that their service to civilization as a people grows more and more impaired by the Diaspora, they have formulated a program of national reconcentration in Palestine, and of the free development there of Hebraic culture and ideals such as all European peoples carry out in their own homelands of their culture and ideals. This program is called Zionism. It is the practical and most expressive incarnation of the Hebraic Spirit."

California Menorah Society

THE California Menorah Society met on Monday evening, August 30th, for its first meeting of the college year. There was an attendance of 125. Mr. Louis I. Newman gave a short talk on the aims of the Menorah movement. Milton D. Sapiro, first President of the California Menorah and now the second Vice-President of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, spoke on the history of the movement, tracing the development of the Menorah idea and the formation of the Intercollegiate body; and in closing he presented Stanley Arndt, now President of the Society, with a bronze Menorah, which is to be handed down from President to President each year. President Arndt, in accepting the Menorah, said that it suggested the great problem that the Jews are now facing. The great question at the present time is whether this Menorah will be a mere symbol of the past glories, the past achievements of the Jews, whether it is to be a mere monument of a dying race, or the living emblem of a living race, the soul of a living people. As an exponent of the latter doctrine, he introduced Dr. Horace M. Kallen of the University of Wisconsin, Intercollegiate Menorah Lecturer.

Dr. Kallen spoke on "The Jews and the Great War." He pointed out that democracy in its essence was the liberation of individuality; that by being most one's self, a person or a nation does the most for his neighbors. First of all, therefore, we should know ourselves. Dr. Kallen then took up the condition of the Jews in Russia. He discussed the frightful persecutions there as the result of a great anti-Jewish conspiracy to cover up the graft, the corruption and the inefficiency of the government. He spoke on the great drive of the Jews from the Pale by the military authorities and then the drive back again by the civil authorities. This, he pointed out, involved not only a Jewish problem, but a great international one besides. The second phase of the Jewish question was that of a free Jewish life in Palestine. There the Jewish colonists have practically an autonomy of their own; they have established a Jewish stage, Jewish art, Jewish music; and the colonies were founded upon a social democratic basis, upon the same fundamental conceptions of social democracy that the Hebrew Prophets had preached. Dr. Kallen concluded with a plea for the Jew's double responsibility. The Jew commits a crime hot only as a citizen but as a Jew. The Jews who in length of service to the world are surely an aristocracy must carry this responsibility.

In the discussion which followed, Professor Simon Litman of Illinois, who was present, took part.

A Menorah prize of $50. was announced at this meeting. The judges will be Professor William Popper and Dr. Martin A. Meyer of the Semitics Department of the University, and Judge Max Sloss of the Supreme Court of California.

A musical program, followed by an informal reception to the new members, completed the evening.

N. M. Lyon, the Treasurer of the Intercollegiate, formerly of Cincinnati, is now a student at California and a member of the California Menorah.

Dr. Kallen on the Pacific Coast

BESIDES his address at the opening meeting of the California Menorah Society and other informal talks with the students, Dr. Kallen delivered a series of three addresses at the University of California, under the auspices of the Department of Philosophy, on the general subject: "The Hebraic Tradition in Europe." On August 31st, he lectured upon "The Rise and Significance of the Hebraic Tradition"; on September 1st, "Hebraism and Democracy"; and September 2nd, "Hebraism and Art."

On August 30th, Dr. Kallen met a company of graduates and other public-spirited Jewish citizens in San Francisco at luncheon and explained the purposes and activities of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association.

Dr. Kallen addressed the Menorah Society of the University of Washington in Seattle on August 14th, on "The Jewish Question and the Great War." He also met at a dinner a company of graduates and other public-spirited Jewish citizens in Seattle, and explained to them the purposes and activities of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association.

Dr. Harry Wolfson of Harvard

HARRY AUSTRYN WOLFSON, the author of the articles on "Jewish Students in European Universities," published in the first two numbers of the Journal, has been appointed Instructor in Jewish Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard last June in the field of Semitic Philology, his thesis subject being "Crescas on the Problems of Infinity and Divine Attributes."

During the ensuing year he will give the following courses: Post-Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Aramaic, Jewish Literature and Life From the Second to the End of the Seventeenth Century, and An Introduction to Medieval Jewish Philosophy.

Cornell Summer Meeting

ON August 8, 1915, the Cornell Menorah Society held a meeting for the summer students. There was an attendance of about 50, both Jews and non-Jews. Rev. Dr. H. P. Mendes, of New York, gave an address on "Bible Ideals in Modern Times," and Professor Frank Carney of Denison University, Professor of Industrial Geography in the Cornell Summer School, spoke on "The Inorganic Basis of the Hebrew Contribution to the World." Professor W.A. Hurwitz of Cornell spoke briefly on the scope of the Menorah movement, and Dr. L. L. Silverman played Kol Nidre on the violin.

Hunter Menorah Society

THE Menorah Society of Hunter College, in New York City, begins its third year with a marked increase in the enthusiasm and the number of its members. A program dealing with various phases of Hebrew culture has been planned for the regular monthly meetings, comprising lectures on the Bible, the Talmud, Medieval Hebrew Poetry, Modern Hebrew Literature, Hebrew Music, and Hebrew Art. In addition, the Society hopes to present a pageant and a reception to freshmen in February (for Hunter College admits two classes during the year). The lectures will be preceded by refreshments, and the singing of Hebrew songs by the Menorah Glee Club.

Besides the regular monthly meetings, the Society is organizing courses in conversational Hebrew, Bible Study, and Zionism—the first to meet weekly, the others on alternate weeks.

It is also hoped to have a general informal meeting every week to discuss modern Jewish problems in connection with the reading of various newspapers and periodicals.

College of the City of New York

THE Menorah Society of the College of the City of New York closed its activities during the past year with a very interesting meeting held on May 20, 1915. Rev. Dr. H. Pereira Mendes spoke on "Jewish Ideals of Peace," and he was introduced by the new President of the College, Dr. Sidney Edward Mezes, who presided. Dr. Mezes has come to City College from the University of Texas, and it is gratifying to note that he had already been made familiar with the Menorah work through the Texas Menorah Society.

The new year was opened with a forum meeting on September 21st, in the Menorah alcove, when the Chancellor addressed a number of new men as well as old, upon the significance and the increasing scope of the Menorah movement. The week beginning October 3rd will be known as "Menorah Week" at the College. On Monday, October 4th, the study circles will meet for the first time; on Tuesday there will be another meeting of the Menorah forum; on Wednesday a semi-annual smoker will be held in the City College Club; and on Thursday, Mr. Marcus M. Marks, President of the Borough of Manhattan, will deliver a lecture to the student body under the auspices of the Menorah Society.

Fourth Annual Convention

IMPORTANT matters touching the development of Intercollegiate activities, the work and membership of the constituent Societies, the association of graduates with the Intercollegiate body, the problems and plans of THE MENORAH JOURNAL, will be among the subjects presented for discussion and decision at the Fourth Menorah Convention, to be held during the coming mid-winter recess. The precise days and place of the Convention will shortly be decided by the Administrative Council, in accordance with Article II, Section 4, of the Intercollegiate Constitution. In addition to the business sessions there will also be a formal dinner and an academic session devoted to the reading of papers by eminent scholars. It is hoped that a large number of Menorah men and women from all parts of the country will be able to attend. Further details will be published in the next number of the JOURNAL.

Informal Gathering of Menorah Officers

ON June 21, 1915, there was an informal gathering at the headquarters of the Intercollegiate Association, 600 Madison Avenue, New York City, of Menorah officers who happened to be in New York. There were present, besides the Chancellor, President I. Leo Sharfman, Vice-President Abraham J. Feldman, and Secretary Charles K. Feinberg of the Association, President Stanley Arndt of California, President Jacob Rubinoff of Pennsylvania, ex-President Leon J. Rosenthal of Cornell, ex-President George J. Horowitz, President Moses H. Gitelson, Treasurer Herman I. Trachman of College of the City of New York, President Bernard J. Reis of New York University (Washington Square), ex-President Samuel Sussman of Columbia, President Sarah Berenson, Vice-President Babette Reinhardt, Treasurer Minnie Weiss, and Secretary Ernestine P. Franklin and ex-Secretary Julia Mitchell of Hunter, and Dr. H. M. Kallen of Wisconsin.

There was informal discussion of the activities of the various Societies, the progress of THE MENORAH JOURNAL, the program of the next Intercollegiate Convention, and the development of the graduate phase of the Menorah movement.