The Sentinel, v.054 no. 11, 1924

              3 e Sentin e
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO JEWISH INTERESTS
A SIGNIFICANT ANNIVERSARY
The Hebrew Union College, which is located at Cincinnati, Ohio,
will next year observe its first jubilee. The institution was founded in
1875 by the late Isaac Mayer Wise who possessed sufficient vision to
realize the great role which a college for the training of Rabbis is
bound to play in the development of American Judaism. From the
standpoint of influence the Hebrew Union College is today undoubtedly
the greatest and most significant national institutional of American
Jewry. Its more than two hundred graduates are occupying the fore-most
Jewish pulpits in the land, and they are besides champions of
civic and social betterment in their respective communities. In recent
years, under the able leadership of its energetic President, Dr. Julian
Morgenstern, the College has been seriously endeavoring to expand
and strengthen its sphere of influence. It has augmented its faculty
considerably, and it has this year dedicated two new. buildings, a
dormitory and a gymnasium. The annual budget of the College today
is close to two hundred thousand dollars. It is certainly most en-couraging
to think that the reform wing of American Jewry is spend-ing
so significant a sum every year for the upkeep of its theological
college alone.
Chicago Jewry is indeed fully convinced of the importance of the
Hebrew Union College in its communal life. All the reform congre-gations
of our city (with the exception of one) are headed by alumni
of this institution. Our chaplain, Rabbi David Rosenbaum, is a
graduate of the College. The two reform congregations which were
recently organized at Winnetka and Hammond, too, are headed by
graduates of the same school. The Board of Governors of the Hebrew
Union College, of which the Honorable Alfred M. Cohen is chairman,
will no doubt find a way by which the fiftieth anniversary of this in-stitution
will be commemorated most fittingly, and we have no doubt
that the reform congregations of Chicago will be happy to participate
wholeheartedly in this jubilee.
The alumni of the Hebrew Union College are naturally more than
anybody else interested in the approaching celebration. We should
therefore like to suggest to the members of this body that, in our
opinion, the first jubilee of their alma mater can be very excellently
commemorated by the founding of a periodical for the discussion of
the practical problems of Judaism. We do not know of anything
which liberal Judaism in America is in greater need of than this
type of a journal. Reform Judaism, although representing a new
outlook upon Judaism, does not today have a single organ through
which it is able to explain its point of view to the American Jewish
world with the desired clarity and seriousness. Moreover, according
to present indications it seems certain that the future type of Judaism
in this country will be reform in character, and it is therefore high
time that the reform Rabbis begin to establish a "minhag America."
The great task before American reform today is construction and
standardization. This kind of work has for more than three decades
been carried on by the Central Conference of American Rabbis through
the papers and the discussions which were presented at its annual
conventions. But then we must remember that these gatherings have
been taking place only once a year, and that not all of the reform
Rabbis have found it possible to attend them. The Central Conference
has besides been doing its work only for Rabbis, while it should be
our aim to create a learned laity in this country. Because of these
considerations we believe that the educational work in reform circles
can be carried on very efficiently through a serious journal containing
an authoritative utterance about the various phases of our congre-gational
life. The Hebrew Union College has at present a corps of
young and energetic professors who, together with a committee repre-senting
the alumni, could well be entrusted with the editorial manage-ment
of the proposed journal which should be published quarterly or
bi-monthly. We hope that the Alumni Association of the Hebrew
Union College will take up our suggestions* at its next annual meeting
which will be held the latter part of this month at Cedar, Point, Ohio.
THE YIDDISH PRESS AGAIN
Last week we called the attention of our readers to the irre-sponsibility
of the Yeddish press. In order to corroborate our con-tention
we are going to present here a translation of an item which
appeared in the "Jewish Daily News" (New York) on May 29 in the
form of a correspondence from Chicago, signed by a Mr. Morris
Margolis:
"Close to ten thousand dollars for the Jewish Congress were
raised at a dinner which was given in honor of the fiftieth birthday
of the Rev. Dr. Stephen S. Wise. The speakers of this dinner included
Judge Pam, Judge Fisher, Rev. Stolz, Max Schulman, Nathan D.
Kaplan, Mr. B. Horwich (the well known Jewish public worker),
Rabbi Saul Silber, Dr. Sultan, and others. The money, in cash and
pledges, was raised after Dr. Wise's address in which he described
the work of the American Jewish Congress."
Just where the omniscient correspondent of the Jewish Daily
News got his information about the dinner in honor of Dr. Wise,
which took place on May 26, at the Congress hotel, we do not know.
We are convinced that he was not present at this function, for had he
been there he would have known that the five last named gentlemen
did not speak at the dinner, and it is also possible that some of them
even did not attend the affair at all. More over, Dr. Sultan has to the
best of our knowledge been dead for many months; but what difference
does such a small consideration make to the correspondent of a Yiddish
newspaper when he is out to advertise the favorite sons of the Chicago
Jewish community? Since this correspondent is so liberal in his pub-licity
work, it is indeed surprising that he left out from the list of
speakers the names of Dr. Hirsch and Rabbi Album. It is true, that
these men have been dead for some time, but a writer for a Yiddish
newspaper is not supposed to pay attention to such insignificant in-formation.
Let the editors of our Yiddish newspapers, however, bear in mind
that so long as a spirit of irresponsibility pervades their pages, no
serious-minded person will ever pay any attention to them and to their
policies.
OUR GREATEST PROBLEMS
What are the greatest problems by which American Jewry is
confronted today? This question has for the last few years been dis-cussed
very frequently from the columns of the American Jewish
press by many of our communal leaders. Mr. William Z. Spiegelman,
representing the Jewish Telegraphic agency, put the same question to
Mr. Herman Bernstein, who is an important figure in Jewish and
American journalism. Mr. Bernstein's answer to this question appears
to us so striking that we wish to present it before our readers.
" There are two questions," said Mr. Bernstein, " which are of
interest to leaders of American Jewry above everything else. The
first is the question of securing a Jewish education for our youth. It
has been the evil of our life in this country that in exchange for the
material blessings which our people have received here, many of us,
in our anxiety to become fully American, have overdone it. Many
have become one-hundred-and-ten per cent American, crushing entirely
their Judaism, and losing thus their rich racial and cultural heritage,
the things that make for their individuality. It is evident that if
Jewish life in America is to continue it must have a sound foundation
in a proper Jewish education. There is no conflict between real Ameri-canism
and the ancient teachings of Judaism.
"The second problem which ought to get the attention of our
people in this country is the problem of rebuilding Palestine. With
the other relief work stopped, the work of rehabilitating Palestine is
the only great task, the fulfillment of which is rightly expected from
us. "
Anybody who has done any thinking at all about Jewish affairs
in America will heartily agree with the above utterance. Mr. Bern-stein
rightly conceives the Jewish problem to be internal rather than
external in character. A vigorous campaign for Jewish education
will not only strengthen the Jewish life in America but it will also
intensify our specific contribution to this country. Then an increased
interest in the upbuilding of Palestine will establish the proper re-lationship
between American and world Jewries. When the American
Jew will actually make a serious attempt to solve the two problems
outlined by Mr. Bernstein, then all our other problems will fade into
insignificance.
7
TOPICS OF THE WEEK
, RABBI S. FELIX MENDELSOHN
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