THE JEWISH SOLDIER
MOTHER England, Mother England, ’mid the thousands
Far beyond the sea to-day,
Doing battle for thy honour, for thy glory,
Is there place for us, a little band of brothers?
England, say!
Long ago and far away, O Mother England,
We were warriors brave and bold;
But a hundred nations rose in arms against us,
And the shades of exile closed o’er those heroic
Days of old.
Thou hast given us home and freedom, Mother England,
Thou hast let us live again,
Free and fearless, ’midst thy free and fearless children,
Sharing with them, as one people, grief and gladness,
Joy and pain.
For the Jew has heart and hand, our Mother England,
And they both are thine to-day—
Thine for life and thine for death—yea, thine for ever!
Wilt thou take them as we give them, freely, gladly?
England, say!
ALICE LUCAS, 1899.
THE JEW’S LOVE OF BRITAIN[12]
IS it a matter of surprise that so goodly a number of our brethren offered themselves willingly among the people? One of the masterpieces of eloquence bequeathed to us by classic antiquity is the funeral oration delivered by Pericles on those who had fallen in the Peloponnesian War. He dilates upon the sources of Athens’ greatness. He portrays in glowing colours how justice is there equally meted out to all citizens, from the highest to the lowest, how all are under the aegis of freedom, and all equally inspired by obedience to law. And he continues: ‘Such a country well deserves that her children should die for her!’ The members of the House of Israel have always faithfully served the country of their birth or their adoption. But surely England deserves that we, her Jewish children, should gladly live and die for her: since here, as in no other country, the teachings of Holy Writ are venerated and obeyed. Here, as in no other Empire in the world, there breathes a passionate love of freedom, a burning hatred of tyrant wrong.
HERMANN ADLER, at the unveiling of the Memorial to the Jewish soldiers who fell in the South African War, 1905.