The indispensable condition for such a realization is autonomous nationality; not nationhood, necessarily, but autonomy. This, more than civil rights among other nationalities, is our stake in this great war. In the last analysis, the Hebraic culture and ideals which our Menorah Societies study, can be advanced, can be a living force in civilization, only as a national force. Our duty to America, inspired by the Hebraic tradition,—our service to the world, in whatever occupation,—both these are conditioned, in so far as we are Jews, upon the conservation of Jewish nationality. That is the potent reality in each of us, our selfhood, and service is the giving of the living self. Let us so serve mankind; as Jews, aware of our great heritage, through it and in it strong to live and labor for mankind's good.
I THINK I see in your Society a recognition of the real spirit of our country's motto, e pluribus unum. That does not mean a sinking of the differences between us all into absolute uniformity, but rather the harmony that can result from the recognition of these differences and developing our own individualities so that we shall have variety in unity.—From an Address before the Yale Menorah Society by Professor Benjamin W. Bacon of Yale University.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] For a fuller treatment of this point compare in the New York Nation for February 18 and 25, 1915, the author's articles on "Democracy Versus the Melting Pot."
[D] Cardiff Speech, 2d October, 1914.
[E] Dublin Speech, 25th September, 1914.
[F] Cf. Isaiah, II, 2-4; XIX, 23-25; XI, 6-9; LXV, 17-25, etc.