The Chicago Chronicle, August 22, 1924.
The advocate of the conservative tendency – no, I should say, [the] fact in Jewish communal life is the “Jewish Morning Herald.” It is distinguished by its age, circulation and sphere of influence. It has been in existence for over 20 years, and has not only brought information and strength to the older Yiddish-speaking generation, but also to a large part of a younger generation of Jews who adapted themselves to the American environment and did not at the same time abandon their interest in Jewish affairs.
The living force of thoughtful conservatism, a combination of modern knowledge, based on the wisdom and experience of [the] ages, is given to this publication by its venerable editor, Peter Wiernik. Readers of the Jewish press, when looking for the purely Jewish view of any matter that happens to occupy the minds of men, have necessarily to look to the editorial comment of Peter Wiernik. His pen finds interest not only in matters purely religious; his attention is devoted to matters of politics, Democratic or Republican, social reform, political appreciation of any given complicated situation in any country, and to the latest expression in modern philosophical thought, naturally comparing it with the inexhaustible sources of the Jewish philosophical school of Maimonides, Yehuda Ha’Levey, Ramban, the mystic self-seeking and self-expressing reflections of an Ari and Baal Shem Tov.
Peter Wiernik represents an entirely new type in Jewish literature and journalism. Although born in the midst of the heated fight that went on in the middle of the 19th century between the dominating tendencies in Jewish life, “Haskalah” and “Hassidism,” he was never caught in the whirlwind of this struggle. The course of his life marks a departure from the then-usual routine. He did not spend his youth in study alone; did not fight against the “darkness”; did not cherish high ambitions for saving the world from its troubles. He simply sat down to work from the very beginning.
The son of a traveling Magid (preacher), having the privilege of seeing his father only at rare intervals, perhaps once a year, he did not have to resist parental education, go through the usual conflict between “fathers and sons,” and could not naturally indulge in theorizing on account of material abundance. Being harnessed at hard work at the age of 13 in Riga, he found the joyful and enthusiastic attitude of the Hassidim on Saturdays and holidays a great redeeming feature. Being welded to the prose of everyday life, experience[d] in the poetry of a Hassidic Rabbi on the Sabbath.
Peter Wiernik is positively not a Socialist. But immediately upon his arrival in America he plunged into the field of productive labor, working as a compositor for many years in various newspaper plants. However, the work in the composing room did not prevent him from continuing his interest in the intellectual problems of life and did not limit its capacity for absorbing more and more knowledge of the world’s history, the history of his people and its literature.
When I came to visit Mr. Peter Wiernik at his home I found the American Jewish historian in most excellent spirits. Place a chemist in a well-equipped laboratory with all facilities for his work: what more will he require for his happiness? I asked a few questions of Mr. Wiernik and his replies came with such ease and familiarity that one would not feel like arguing any longer since they are the result of a lifelong process of thinking, based not only on historical study, [but also] an outcome of mature judgment, brightened by an optimistic view of the future.
“What is the main motive of the history of the Jewish people?” I asked Mr. Wiernik.
The basis of the development of all races and peoples is, as no one can deny, the economic motive. No development of advancement of any race or any people would be accomplished were not the very natural needs of the individuals and their collective striving as a group forcing towards expansion and conquest. This is true of all the races and of all peoples. It is equally true of our people. To put the purpose of making in a nutshell, one could say it is an elemental longing and striving for salvation of the world. It was the slow process of development, the first step of which was necessarily the establishing of a reign of justice of one individual towards another, and one group of individuals, call them peoples or nations, towards another. In this respect our people have made, one can say, the greatest of all contributions, proclaiming that principle and bringing itself as a sacrifice on the altar of this ideal. This tendency made itself evident beginning from the period of the Prophets and ending with the latest developments in attempting to solve the social problems. There are principally two tendencies in history. The one described above, represented by us; the other represented by those who oppose it. When the struggle for the dominance of one of these tendencies is to be ended there is no way of knowing. All we can do is record the things that have already happened.
“What is the central tendency in American Jewish life which is likely to gain dominance?” I asked Mr. Wiernik.
“Parallel with the pushing ahead of this tendency for justice and equity, aiming at the salvation of the world, the fight for the emancipation of the Jewish people has been going on. It was not until the French Revolution and the German Revolution of 1848 that the Jews were in principle given equal rights. The existence of the American Jewish community in its present form and numbers is the first fact of this kind which was ever recorded in the history of the Jewish people and the history of the world. America represents a unique experiment in this respect. It is for the first time that a great number of Jews are incorporated into the body of a great and free nation under the protection of a democratic and liberal government and given the possibility of enjoying full citizenship rights and religious liberty. This state of affairs certainly has its advantages, but it also has its dangers. Here again Jewish history can furnish us a good reason for optimism. It was not earlier than the date when the Jewish settlements began to grow and the development of the Slavic countries [took place] that the type of Jew that we are now accustomed to look upon as the only representative of traditional Judaism, characterizing him as [an] Orthodox Jew, began to make his appearance. We are always inclined to think of this type of a Jew, whose Jewishness is expressed by his difference in language, dress and external custom, from the other inhabitants of the land. But let us take a lesson from history. The Jewish community in Arabic Spain was highly cultured, highly developed and certainly highly Jewish, since it would produce such a basically Jewish literature as the one which has inspired our historians to name that period ‘The Golden Epoch.’ Nevertheless, a leader and intellectual genius like Maimonides was not any different from his countrymen in his language, external custom and culture than any other leader of that country and time. The essentials of Judaism do not depend upon such external appearances. There is no ground for pessimism in the prediction of the approach of a similar type of American Jew who, enjoying the to the full measure his political rights, cultural and economic opportunities, should remain true to his specific Jewish culture, line of thought and religion. The time is not far off, in my opinion, when America, the youngest of Jewish communities, will be in a position to supply with intellectual and religious leaders all the other, older and now seemingly decadent Jewish communities of the world. In this respect, Orthodox Judaism is a valuable protection and a veritable armor as it has proven to be in the course of our long and varied historical development.”
What is your opinion with regard to the lately much talked of theory of the superiority of the Nordics in connection with the anti-immigration bill, and is there any danger that America will become susceptible to the doctrines of anti-Semitism?
Here, again, Mr. Wiernik concluded, “History could furnish us valuable service. The fate of the Jewish communities in the Anglo-Saxon countries which we could rightly call biblical countries, is sufficient proof that anti-Semitism, at least so far as its sharp and violent forms are concerned, never could toot itself very deeply in these countries.”
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