The Present Crisis in American Jewry
A Plea for Reconciliation
By Israel Friedlaender
ISRAEL FRIEDLAENDER (born in Russia, 1876), attended the Universities of Berlin and Strassburg (Ph.D., 1901); called to the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1903, where he is now the Sabato Morais Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis. Professor Friedlaender is not only the author, editor, and translator of a number of scholarly works but his wide observation of Jewish life in various countries, coupled with his broad historic knowledge, have enabled him to write and speak on present Jewish problems with exceptional authority and insight, as for example in his new book, "The Jews of Russia and Poland." His lectures before Menorah Societies have been particularly stimulating and have made him a great favorite with University students.
VARIOUS occurrences of recent date have revealed a rift in American Jewry which if not healed in time is likely to result in a permanent schism. The agitation centering around the question of a Jewish Congress is not the cause of this rift; it is rather an effect or a symptom betokening the profound difference of opinion and sentiment which at present divides the Jews of America. In the realignment of American Jewry which this struggle is calling forth, the Zionists and the non-Zionists of this country—the former centering around their local organization, the latter represented by the American Jewish Committee—have been taking opposite sides. Those of us whose Judaism is broad enough to embrace with equal loyalty the ideals of Zionism and the interests of American Judaism, cannot but view with the deepest concern the possibility of a permanent conflict between these two sections of American Jewry, a conflict fraught with the gravest consequences, not only for the Jewish cause in this country in general but also for the Zionist movement—a conflict, moreover, in which no victory achieved by either side can be anything but a Pyrrhic victory.
The situation is one that demands careful thought and delicate action. Only a few of us are in a position to influence the course of events by acting, but many of us may help to clarify the situation by thinking. A correct diagnosis is an indispensable preliminary to a cure, and it is only by finding out whether the issues underlying the present struggle represent a chronic and perhaps irremediable conflict, or are rather the effect of an acute and therefore curable misunderstanding, that a proper solution may be discovered and proposed. It is from this point of view that an attempt is here made to analyze the present situation in American Jewry, to trace the causes which have produced it, and to point out the consequences which are unavoidable unless a remedy be applied in time.
The Two Issues in American Jewry
TO my mind there are two fundamental issues which separate the two groups in American Jewry from one another. They may be expressed in the following terms: 1, Diaspora versus Palestine; 2, Religion versus Nationalism.