Metropolitan newspapers told American readers of an importance piece of work that was finished in Jewish life. The announcement was made that the American Jewish Relief Committee, under the leadership of Louis Marshall, Cyrus L. Sulzberger and Felix M. Warburg, would close its activities on Thursday, July 31st, 4 o’clock in the afternoon, with a record of hundreds of thousands of lives saved, more than 4,000,000 children fed and clothed and the distribution of close to 1,000,000 tons of food in Central Europe – and a total of $63,137,562 raised for that purpose.
This event was given wide publicity in the press. As usual, publicity writers are inclined to exaggerate, so it was claimed that the sum of $63,137,562 was raised by the American Relief Committee, and that the credit for this tremendous achievement of American Jewry, in the work of reconstructing Jewish life in the war-stricken countries, was due to Henry H. Rosenfelt, now affiliated with the La Follette campaign.
Mr. Rosenfelt, in a communication to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, wished to make the following corrections:
1. That he did not personally raise the tremendous sum as stated in the press report; that he having been the National Director of the American Jewish Relief Committee for four years, is in a position to know that it is Mr. Jacob Billikopf to whom credit is due for organizing the great work.
2. That the American Jewish Relief Committee has not finally closed; that only its campaign for money had closed, but that the collection of unpaid pledges will still go on at the offices of the Joint Distribution Committee, 64 Water Street.
These corrections are certainly well taken. There is, however, another correction which ought to be made and which, then overlooked, lessens the significance of the great period in American Jewish life that is apparently coming to an end.
The closing of the campaign for funds for the American Jewish Relief Committee, as officially announced, and the final liquidation of the activities of the Joint Distribution Committee, in Europe, mark the quiet end of an heroic demonstration of self-sacrificing generosity and big-hearted giving on the part of the American Jewish community. It is a romantic chapter that will gloriously be inscribed in the annals, not only of American Jewry, but of America as a whole. It is since the day when a group of immigrant Jews, by their social status and adherence to tradition, belonging to none other than the orthodox group, assembled in an East Side meeting room, a few months after the outbreak of the World War, that this romance was been woven.
The longer the war continued – and at first it was expected that it would not last more than three months – and the greater the misery among the Jews in the war-stricken countries of Europe, the greater grew the spirit of generosity and the ranks of those who felt the responsibility of coming to the aid of the suffering. It was originally the orthodox Central Relief Committee which was organized. There was then organized the American Jewish Relief Committee. These two were followed by the People’s Relief Committee, composed of such Jewish elements as were usually in principle opposed to any benevolent or philanthropic action. It was through the cooperation of all these three committees – and due recognition must be given to the dominant role of the American Jewish Relief Committee – that the sum of over $63,000,000 was raised and disbursed by their Joint Distribution Committee.
When the epoch-making donation of $1,000,000 of Julius Rosenwald to that fund was under touching circumstances announced, it was President Wilson who stated, “Your donation, while it furnishes inspiration, puts on us an obligation.”
The $1,000,000 donation of Rosenwald certainly introduced a new style, not only in Jewish America, but in American war-relief activities. This inspiration, no doubt, served as a constant reminder to American Jews of their obligation to their brethren in war-stricken Europe. The obligation was honorably fulfilled. Over $63,000,000 was raised and efficiently spent. The prestige of American Jewry, and with it of America, was elevated to an incomparable height.
But this effort did more than raise millions of dollars. It awakened a feeling of responsibility, created Jewish communal leadership in the remote hamlets of America, brought the Jewish social service, in the person of Jacob Billikopf, to its present prominent place in Jewish communal life, generated enthusiasm and laid a basis for a real united American Jewish community.
It is announced that the work of collecting money for war-relief activities will stop. Will the enthusiasm and communal responsibility created in the course of this work end?
* * *
The wheel of Jewish history is turning with its hub seemingly placed in Palestine. In addition to the Bedouin tribe, which has made an application for permission to return to Judaism, there has appeared another group, which has made a similar application to the Chief Rabbinate of Palestine. This application is reminiscent of a tragic period and gives food for thought to those who are accustomed to thinking in historical terms.
A group of Maranos, the descendents of Jews in Portugal and Spain who were compelled by the Inquisition of Torquemada, Ferdinand and Isabella to embrace Christianity, desire now to return to Judaism. A number of these Maranos are experienced farmers in Portugal, and there is an intention to help their settlements in the land of Palestine. It seems as though the Biblical prediction of the return of the “scattered of Israel” is beginning to be realized. However, the Chief Rabbinate has decided not to take any definite steps concerning the application of the Bedouins and the Maranos before consulting the national Jewish organizations, and before a thorough investigation is made from the standpoint of Jewish law.
In a conversation with the writer of these lines, Rabbi A. J. Kook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, who is now visiting the United States – [and] the one who is to decide the matter – had many doubts on the matter. With regard to the Bedouins, who are considered by reason of their language as Arabs, it is a very delicate political question. Unless sufficient historical proof is found establishing the Hebrew origin of this wandering tribe, the incorporation of the tribe as a group, with deeply rooted beliefs and modes of life of its own, into the growing Jewish body of Palestine is hardly to be recommended. It is different with the Maranos, who are, undoubtedly, of Jewish origin. But here again there are obstacles from the standpoint of Jewish law. Jewish law, particularly concerning marriages and divorces, represents a highly accentuated tendency towards legalism. Any shortcoming in the observance of the marriage and divorce laws are a grave transgression on the principles of traditional Judaism. In some cases the offspring of such marriages are under a question mark, which makes their incorporation into the Jewish religious community an impossibility. And these Maranos, though they clung tragically to the faith of their fathers, inwardly could not obviously be very particular.
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