The Sentinel, v.071 no. 07, 1928

              THE SENTINEL
AfAe SentineT
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO JEWISH INTERESTS
ROSH OHODESH ELUL
Today is the first day of Elul which means that the annual season
of religious revival is close at hand. The entire month of Elul has
always been utilized by the Jewish people for the purpose of making
elaborate preparations to receive adequately the "awful days"-Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In this day and in this country, however,
we are living under new conditions and Elul has lost completely its
former significance to a large portion of Jewry. It is true that this
month continues to usher in religious activity among orthodox Jews,
but even here it no longer possesses its traditional function. Orthodox
synagogues iresume new life during the weeks preceding the sacred
season, but the purpose of this entire hustle and bustle is not to sum-mon
the Jew to square himself with his God and with his people.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur only helps orthodox synagogues to
fill up (at least in part) their empty treasuries.
Of course no one is going to censure a synagogue for its efforts to
raise enough money to pay its obligations. Even religious institutions
cannot live on wind, and if the cold and indifferent Jew can be made
to discharge his duty to his faith only during Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur, it would be the height of folly to neglect this golden
opportunity. What orthodox synagogues (particularly in Chicago
and other large centers) are to be censured severely for, is the ob-jectionable
method employed by many of them. Instead of inviting
the Jew to meet his God during the Holy Days they are urging him
to come to hear Cantor So and So who is as good as any opera singer.
In other words, many synagogues exchange the worship of the God of
Israel for cheap vaudevillism. Just why there is an atmosphere of
theatricalism around our orthodox synagogues during this season is
not hard to find. The American Jew is on the whole no longer capti-vated
by religious worship, but since the synagogue budget must be
raised, our lay leaders are resorting to undignified and objectionable
methods in order to attract the people. "The end sanctifies the
means" say our synagogue leaders.
Fortunately this vaudevillism is only ephemeral. Even immigrant
Jews who were accustomed to listen to cantors in the old country are
getting tired of them. We wish to predict that no matter how great
and famous the cantors may be it is going to be more difficult to sell
admission tickets for Holy Day services this year than ever before.
Many of the synagogues who have engaged "Jewish Caruso 's" are
going to be disappointed in their business ventures. This is as it
should be, for it is only such financial failures which are going to teach
our orthodox leaders that vaudevillism is endangering the future of
the synagogue in America. Something more radical and efficient must
be done in order to train the rising generation to maintain the tradi-tions
of the synagogue. Our youth must be taught to worship God and
this can be done only by giving them a dignified, decorous, aesthetic,
and impressive service. Vaudevillism will drive our youth away
from Judaism altogether.
THE INTERMARRIAGE QUESTION
It was Herbert Spencer, we believe, who first made the analogy
between the individual and the group, which means that the latter
possesses all the characteristics of the former. The primary instinct
of life is self-preservation and it is because of this fact that neither
Judaism nor the Jew could possibly sanction intermarriage, since the
majority of parties contracting such marriages are thereby lost to
us. However, there is another very significant angle to this question.
Marriages between Jews and Gentiles are very rarely successful even
from the .standpoint of the individual. Of course since intermarriage
among our people in this country has been on the increase it has be-come
a very delicate proposition-and yet we feel that Jewish leaders
would be guilty of gross neglect of duty should they fail to raise
their voices and tell the world their sincere conviction on this very
weighty subject. Recently Dr. J. L. Landau, chief rabbi of the Jew-ish
communities in South Africa, issued a statement on intermarriage
in which, we are happy to state, he did not mince words.
"I am drawing my knowledge," said Dr. Landau, "from an ex-perience
extending over almost twenty-five years in this country,
apart from the fact that I have studied this question very closely.
for the last forty years in various large Jewish centers in Europe, and
my experience and knowledge fully justify me in stating most em-phatically
and with a feeling of absolute certainty that with very few
exceptions all such marriages prove fatal errors, a source of discord
and unhappiness. One does not only marry a Christian wife, one
establishes family ties with all her relations. It is folly on the part of
the man to expect his young wife to sever all connections with her
nearest and dearest, to be able to emancipate herself from their po-tent
influence, just as it is impossible for her to tear from her very
blood the roots of beliefs and traditions and prejudices which have
grown with her from early infancy and have become interwoven with
the very fibres of her heart and soul. And those alien, nay, those anti-
Jewish influences become later in the Jewish family new .factors of
considerable harmful force."
The situation in South Africa is essentially the same as in this
country, and those of our people to whom the traditions of Israel are
dear and sacred should therefore ponder long and carefully before con-tracting
a marriage with a Gentile.
THE ALEPH ZADEK ALEPH
Mr. Oscar Leonard, director of the B'nai B'rith Information De-partment,
calls our attention to the proposed educational program of
the Aleph Zadek Aleph which is the junior branch of the International
Order. "Among the activities for the comining year," Mr. Leonard
writes "will be special A. Z. A. services in temples and synagogues
arranged in co-operation with the A. Z. A. chapters, niembers being
requested to attend these and other Jewish services during the year.
Groups and study circles in Hebrew will be part of the program of the
season. Studies in Jewish history, the Bible, contemporary events of
Jewish interest, movements of significance in Jewish life, will form part
of the Jewish youth program. Speakers well versed in the various
subjects will be asked to address the study circles. Exhibits of Jew-ish
art, Jewish ceremonial objects, books on Jewish subjects, Jewish
concerts, will form an integral part of the activities of the A. Z. A.
chapters. Discussions, debates on Jewish subjects and oratorical con-tests
will be arranged. Significant periods in Jewish history will be
given special attention. Anniversaries of great Jewish figures will be
celebrated as a means of acquainting the Jewish youth with outstand-ing
Jewish personalities, their ideals and their influence. These new
phases of work will not interfere with the physical activities of the
A. Z. A., so that athletic features will go on as usual."
This program, which was worked out by the Supreme Advisory
Council of the junior order, is indeed a very ambitious one and if the
organization will, during the coming year, succeed in carrying out at
least one half of it we shall be satisfied. The Aleph Zadek Aleph has
grown considerably in the last two years and it now has chapters in
various parts of the country. We feel that the organization, particu-larly
because of the aid which it receives from the parent body, the
B 'nai B'rith Order, is at present fully prepared to do constructive
Jewish work, and we wish it godspeed in all its undertakings.
Incidentally we wish to express our regret that the Aleph Zadek
Aleph of Chicago, although consisting of several chapters, has hitherto
been a weak and inactive organization. The youthful members of the
A. Z. A.. cannot of course be blamed for this situation which is only a
result of the lack of interest displayed by the local lodges in junior
activity. The B 'nai B 'rith lodges of Chicago have made a wonderful
showing in raising funds for the Hillel Foundation whose aim is to
win the Jewish college youth for Judaism. However, we must bear
in mind that the Hillel Foundation cannot do any effective work unless
our boys and girls bring with them to the various universities! some
sort of an appreciation of things Jewish, since it happens frequently
that Jewish students do not care even to identify themselves as Jews.
The B'nai B'rith lodges of Chicago should therefore realize that they
must prepare the material for the Hillel Foundations and this can be
done very effectively through the A. Z. A. chapters.
I I TOPICS OF THE WEEK RABBI S. FELIX MENDELSOHN
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