The Allied Countries and the Jews

The addresses collected in this little book were delivered at the Sabbath morning Services of Temple Emanu-El during the autumn and early winter of 1917-18. I tried to give a bird's eye view of the relation of the Jews to the several countries with which America is now associated in the War for the defense of democracy. Also, I tried to point out how intimately the advance of democracy has been connected with the improvement of the lot of the Jew. Forming part of Divine Services, the addresses had to be short, but I hope they contained enough to illumine the subject and to stimulate thought, if not further study, as well as patriotic action.

In the present form, the substance is offered of the spoken addresses. The address on Russia may seem more hopeful than the situation today would warrant. Right now, unfortunately, chaos reigns in Russia, and the Jews are said to suffer terribly. Though Trotzky is reported to have renounced all affiliation with the Jews, or any particular interest in them, his changes of fortune are likely to react upon the people from which he sprang. None the less, we must not despair. In the end, Democracy must win in Russia, and find a way of living together and working together for the numerous racial and religious groups which form her vast population.

I wish to express my thanks to the Board of Trustees of Temple Emanu-El for their kindness in publishing these addresses and for generously providing a special number of copies for distribution among Jewish men in our Army and Navy.

H.G.E.

Washington's Birthday, 1918.

I

FRANCE AND THE JEWS

Every American is now more than ever interested in Europe, and especially in those countries with which we are associated in the War. France, in particular, claims our attention. It is for this reason that as Jews we cannot help being interested in the relation of France to the Jewish people. Many of our sons soon will find themselves on French soil to take part in the liberation of France, which now means part of the defense of our own Republic. Not a few of our women, also, will be there--are there already, engaged in work of relief and restoration. It is but proper that we should recall what connection has existed between the Jew and France.

France has played an important part in Jewish history. There have been Jews in France from earliest times, perhaps from the very beginning of the Christian era. About the middle of the fifth century we know definitely that there was a considerable number of Jews in France and that they lived on terms of friendship with the rest of the population. When Hilary, bishop of Arles, died in the year 449, Jews as well as Christians wept at his funeral, the Jews chanting Psalms in Hebrew. From that early age on, France has been a most important factor in Jewish history.

The conditions of life for the Jew have not been the same there always. There is the usual story of vacillation and misfortune. France also has had her periods of persecution and expulsion for the Jews--particularly when she consisted of small provinces and factions. There was the usual story of malign charges and disputations, and Hebrew books now and then were confiscated and burnt as containing attacks on Christianity. The public burning of the Talmud at Paris, in the year 1242, the several expulsions during the fourteenth century, culminating in the expulsion of 1394--just about a century before the expulsion from Spain--are among the tragic incidents of medieval Jewish history. France did not escape the religious fanaticism which formed one of the dark features of the middle ages.

But all in all, the Jews have had a glorious history in France, crowned by the fact that she was the first country in Europe to give full civil and political rights to the Jews, as she did during the Revolution, on September 28th, 1791. France thus inaugurated a new era in Jewish history. Indeed, she thus brought about the modern rebirth of the Jew--the Jew's full entry into modern life. Therefore, when it is said that every man has two countries--his own and France, we may justly apply it in particular to the modern Jew.