ARE YOU FAIR

to JEWS?

Rev. John A. O’Brien, Ph D.



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Are You Fair

to Jews?

by

JOHN A. O’BRIEN, Ph.D.

University of Notre Dame

No. 190

Printed and Published in U.S.A. by

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR INC.

Huntington, Indiana 46750



>
v

TO

The memory of Roger Williams Straus

Apostle of understanding and

Ambassador of good will

The author

Dedicates this booklet with

His esteem and gratitude.

Nihil Obstat:

REV. EDWARD A. MILLER

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

*LEO A. PURSLEY, D.D.

Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend



Are You Fair

to Jews?

K IO nation in the world has a population
1 N

with such enormous differences of race,

color and faith as the United States. Here

one finds people from every land and of

every faith under the sun. This endless

variety has given to our culture a richness

unparalleled in history: it constitutes the

unique genius and the distinctive glory of

America, and has compelled the admiration

of the whole civilized world. In the mighty

symphony of American life the immigrant

catches echoes of the mores, thought, aspi-

rations and dreams of his native land and

speedily finds himself at home among us.

REAL PROBLEM
The differences which fertilize and en-

rich our culture, however, beget strains and

tensions. We all feel more at ease among
like-minded people: the greater the differ-

ences, the greater are the tensions. From the

days of the Pilgrims the immigrants have

brought along with their baggage their

racial animosities and religious prejudices.

Hence the problem of learning to live to-

gether and like it has been with us since

the first settlers met the Redmen who had

preceded them, and it has grown in volume

and complexity with the increasing number



4 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

and variety of new-comers to our shores.

Indeed, it is inherent in the very structure

and composition of our society.

Learning to live together means learn-

ing not only to feel at ease with people

who, while devoted to America and its

ideals, are of different racial origins and reli-

gious faiths, but also to respect those dif-

ferences. This calls for tolerance, mutual

esteem, understanding, good will and even

brotherhood among all the multitudinous

ethnic and religious groups making up our

cosmopolitan society.

The problem is not an easy one: its

solution goes against the grain of instinctive

feeling. It calls for clear thinking, self-

discipline and a respect for the sanctity of

the human personality with its inevitable

differences: the unfailing mark of a truly

civilized person.

INNOCENT VICTIMS
Staining the annals of our history are

the waves of organized bigotry which peri-

odically sweep across our land. Notorious

among these were the Nativist movement of

the 1830*s, the Know-Nothing campaign of

the 1850’s the Loyalty League, the original

Ku Klux Klan and allied movements of the

post-Civil War period, the American Pro-

tective Association of the 1890’s, the re-

vived Ku Klux Klan after World War I

and the anti-Semitism of the 1930’s.

They kindled the fagots of flaming

hatreds in a thousand communities, incited



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 5

mob violence that led to the murder of

hundreds of innocent victims, to beatings,

brandings and whippings, and to the burn-

ing and looting of stores and homes. In the

Know-Nothing riot in 1855 in Louisville

alone more than a hundred innocent victims

were butchered or burned to death, while

the civil authorities, all Know-Nothings,

stood idly by. In the smoldering embers of

religious hatreds dies the dynamite that can

wreck our civilization.

Despite such setbacks, however, we

have made progress in the development of

tolerance and understanding. The strength

of America depends upon this inner unity

of its citizens in spite of all outward differ-

ences of race, color and creed. “National

unity in the midst of cultural pluralism,”

points out former President Hoover, “has

become the ideal of our American democ-

racy.” In matters of race, color and faith,

observed Booker T. Washington, we can

be as distinct and separate as the out-

stretched fingers of a hand but in all that

affects the welfare of America we must be

as united as the fingers of a clenched fist.

START WITH NEIGHBOR
The need for such essential unity and

solidarity in all that concerns the interests

of our nation is rendered all the more urgent

by the world leadership that has been thrust

upon America. How are we to think clearly
and objectively of other nations if we have

not learned this art in regard to our own fel-



6 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

low citizens? The place to learn it is in our

own neighborhood: the persons with whom
we can best practice it is the family that

lives next door.

Foremost in seeking to eradicate racial

hatred and religious prejudice is the Na-

tional Conference of Christians and Jews.

Founded in 1928 on the initiative of Charles

Evans Hughes, Newton S. Baker, S. Parkes

Cadman and other distinguished Americans,

the Conference seeks to promote justice,

amity and understanding among citizens of

all faiths. It endeavors to analyze, moderate

and ultimately eliminate intergroup prej-

udices, which disfigure and distort religious,

business, social and political relations, with

a view to the establishment of friendly hu-

man relationships.

CHECK RANCOR
With branches established in most of

our large cities, the Conference sponsors

Brotherhood Week each year and brings

together representatives of the three major

faiths for frequent discussions of problems

of common interest. Headed by Dr. Everett

R. Clinchy, the Conference has been in-

strumental in nipping in the bud many ex-

plosions of religious rancor and has deep-

ened and consolidated the peace and good

will among members of different faiths in

hundreds of communities.

Brotherhood Week was started by the

Conference in 1934 and it promises to be-

come as much a part of the American calen-



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 7

dar as Independence Day or Thanksgiving

Day. A week in February is designated

Brotherhood Week and the President issues

a special message calling upon all the citi-

zens to put into practice the ideals of tol-

erance, friendship and brotherhood.

As a result of the Conference's appeal,

thousands of sermons are preached from

the pulpits of all the major faiths during

Brotherhood Week on the duty of respect-

ing the beliefs of others and their rights to

freedom of conscience and of worship. Even

more important are their efforts to get at

the sources of prejudice and bigotry and

through education and friendly conference

to eradicate them.

THREE CONCLUSIONS
Along with Dr. John Sutherland Bon-

nell, Pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presby-

terian Church of New York, and Rabbi

Maurice N. Eisendrath, President of the

Union of American Hebrew Congregations,

I have been co-chairman of the Conference's

commission on religious organizations for

many years. In that capacity I have traveled

thousands of miles, attended innumerable

meetings and listened to lengthy discussion

of the causes of racial and religious an-

tagonism and of the means of eradicating

them. Out of those years of experience have

emerged three simple conclusions which

seem to be of widespread interest and far-

reaching significance.

First. No single group, racial or reli-



8 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

gious, should have to “go it alone.” It should

have allies to present its case objectively

and fairly when it is misrepresented and

misunderstood: such spokesmen will not be

accused of “special pleading,” of “selfish

interests” and will get a much wider and

better hearing.

Second. Most antagonisms and prej-

udices spring from misconceptions of the

other group’s beliefs, motives and purposes.

This is particularly true of religious ani-

mosity. Upon investigation it is found to be

directed not against the actual belief and

practice of people of a different religion

but against the misconceptions of them

which exist in our minds. Hence most of us

war against caricatures, ghosts that haunt

our imagination and bats in our mental

belfries.

This is good neither for our health,

peace of mind, nor sanity. We suffer need-
less fears and work ourselves into frenzies

of indignation and wrath for which there

is no basis in fact. Hatred is both corrosive

and poisonous: it bites into our capacity for

clear perception and poisons our judgment

with evidence distorted out of all propor-

tion. It begets tensions, disrupts the peace

of a community, and stymies the advance-

ment of understanding and good will. It is

the enemy to our individual and social

happiness.

Third. The remedy is to correct the

misconceptions in an objective and friendly



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 9

manner, to promote wider and better under-

standing between members of different

faiths, and to work together on all matters

affecting the welfare of the community,

state and nation.

Let us now scrutinize the causes of

suspicion, distrust and prejudice against

Jews. Let us see if they are not largely

traceable to misunderstandings and miscon-

ceptions. The National Conference of Chris-

tians and Jews maintains 65 regional offices

throughout the country and spends millions

of dollars each year in seeking to track down

the sources of religious prejudice and to

remove them.

It sponsors costly investigations and the

publication of scholarly monographs. Not

a little of its effort has been devoted to the

elimination of anti-Semitism from American

life. Its studies, conferences and discussions

tend to show that anti-Jewish feelings is

largely traceable to a few widespread mis-

conceptions of Jews, their influence and ob-

jectives.

NEED LIGHT, NOT HEAT
In touching upon a subject of great

sensitivity to many people, I hasten to say at

the very outset that I do not want to stir

such sensitivities, and much less to hurt the

feelings of a single reader, Christian or

Jew. When our feelings are hurt, we do

not think clearly but merely tend to hit

back in a blind, instinctive manner.

My topic requires light, not heat: it



10 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

demands objectivity and open-mindedness

on the part of both reader and writer. Such

I shall try to bring to the discussion; if any

word unwittingly wounds a single reader, I

assure him it was farthest from my in-

tensions and I apologize in advance.

Anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism and

anti-Protestantism exist in this country but

all three are fortunately on the wane. Of

the three, anti-Semitism has of course the

longest history throughout the world. It

was brought to this country by the early

settlers.

Governor Peter Stuyvesant of New

Amsterdam, later called New York, tried to
exclude Jews. Failing in this, he refused

“for pregnant reasons” to issue a deed to

a Jew who had bought land on Manhattan

Island and he forbade Jews to trade at Fort

Orange and South River.

After listening to a bitter attack upon

Jews, the Assemply of New York decided

in 1737 that they were not entitled to vote.

Here were the early manifestations of Euro-

pean anti-Semitism that was destined to

crop up so often in American life.

DEBUNKING COMMON CHARGES
What then are some of the more com-

mon charges against Jews? They control

Wall Street, it is alleged, and exercise an

undue economic influence in the United

States. Similar charges were made by the

Nazis as a simple prelude to the confisca-



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 11

tion of Jewish possessions throughout Ger-

many.

What are the facts? Fortune , a non-

Jewish magazine, made a painstaking in-

vestigation of the economic status of Jews

in this country. The findings disclosed that

Jewish dominance of the American economy

was a pure myth. “A vast continent of heavy

industry and finance may be staked out,”

reported Fortune
,
“in which Jewish partici-

pation is incidental or nonexistent . . . The

Jews are so far from controlling the most

characteristic of present-day American ac-

tivities that are hardly represented in them

at all.”

Jews, it is charged, control the press,

movies, radio, television and theatre and

thus unduly influence American public

opinion. How different are the facts? The
International Yearbook of Editor and Pub-

lisher shows that only 3/2 per cent of the

daily newspapers are owned or controlled

by Jews, while only three general maga-

zines are classified as under Jewish con-

trol.

RARE EXCEPTIONS
True, Jews are well represented in the

movies, radio, television and theatre busi-

ness, in which they have demonstrated

marked talent and ability. But the accept-

ance of movies, shows, radio and television

programs is determined not by the pro-

ducers but by the American public, in

which Jews constitute but a tiny fraction.



12 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

Jews, it is charged, furnish a dispropor-

tionately large number of communists and

traitors, such as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

The truth is that Jews are overwhelmingly

opposed to communism. Virtually every

racial and religious group has had a few

communists among its members. A few
Jewish communists and traitors have re-

ceived wide publicity and have created in

uncritical minds the misleading impression

that they are typical. Far from being typi-

cal, they are the rare exceptions. From the

days of the founding of the Republic no

group has shown greater loyalty than the

Jews.

Jews, it is charged, direct the policy of

the United States and of the governments

of Europe. Pure myth. According to the

1956 American Jewish Year Book
,
there are

only 11,908,443 Jews in the entire world.

Of these an estimated 5,000,000 are in the

United States, of whom 2,050,000 are in

New York City. Thus they constitute less

than three per cent of our population. It is

obvious that such a microscopic percentage

could direct neither the domestic nor the

foreign policy of our country.

NORMAL INTERESTS
Jews, it is charged, are concerned pri-

marily with the interests of the Republic

of Israel and only secondarily with those

of the United States. They would drag this

country into war to pull Israel's chestnuts

out of the fire. The truth is that Jews have



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 13

only a normal and legitimate interest in

Israel.

What racial group in the United States

is not interested in its homeland? How un-

natural and inhuman it would be for the

Jews of America to be unconcerned with the

efforts of Jews of all countries to see the in-

fant Republic, established in their historic

homeland, grow and prosper?

Such solicitude and concern are in no

way inconsistent with their loyalty to the

United States, to which they give their first

allegiance and devotion. They do not put

the interests of Israel above those of Amer-

ica, nor seek to drag this nation into war to

aggrandize Israel. The pronouncements of

Jewish leaders have made this abundantly

clear. Americans first, Israelis second.

MISCONCEPTIONS AND RUMORS
Thus all the basic charges repeated

with endless variations against the Jews of

America are seen to be without foundation

in fact. They are based upon misconceptions

and rumors: upon investigation the labels

so often pinned on Jews prove to be libels

and the charges turn out to be fabrications

and myths.

How then are we to lessen and gradu-
ally eliminate anti-Semitism from American

life? By refuting the rumors and charges

with the facts, correcting the misconcep-

tions, and getting to know the Jews in our

respective communities. Isolation is the

favorite breeding ground of suspicion and



14 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

prejudice which, as its etymology (pre-

judge) indicates, means a passing of judg-

ment before all the facts are in.

“I don't want," remarked Charles

Lamb, “to meet the man who lives at the

end of the block."

“Why not?" asked a friend.

“Because if I knew him," replied Lamb,

“I would be robbed of the luxury of

him."

How true that is of all of us. When we
don't know one another, we are subject

to the most irrational suspicions and the

blindest hatreds. Ignorance, kindled by lies,

flames into passion which explodes with

lethal violence and terror. There, in brief, is

the anatomy of intolerance, religious bigotry

and racial hatred.

“In the night," wrote Hegel, “all cows

are gray." In the night of ignorance, all

members of the despised race are alike.

Their nationality alone is sufficient to con-

demn them. When pre-judgments of this

kind are formed, morality disappears; blind

passion and terrorism hold undisputed

sway.

SCAPEGOATING DEVICE
A capital instance of passing judgment

upon all the members of a race occurred in

Nazi Germany. No matter how law-abiding,

patriotic and devoted a Jewish citizen was,

the Nazis condemned him because he was

a Jew. To have even a small portion of

Jewish blood in one's veins was enough to



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 15

incur the wrath and the beatings of the

Gestapo. Herein is seen the device of scape-

goating as a mechanism of escape from

one’s own frustrations.

Dispirited, humiliated, half-starved and

frustrated after World War I, the Germans

projected their frustrations upon the Jews,

cast upon them the blame for their sorry

plight and made them their scapegoats. Too

few and too impotent to strike back, the

Jews became the targets upon which the

Hitlerites vented their pent-up emotions of

anger and hatred.
'

With a cruel arrogance unparalleled in

history, they herded millions of Jews into

concentration camps and incineration cen-

ters and filled thousands of ash cans with

their remains. In so doing, the Nazis stained

the pages of German history with an infamy

so black and so deep that it will remain to

the end of time as a warning to the nations

of the paranoid mentality which scapegoat-

ing fastens upon those who indulge in it.

HOW EXPLAIN?
How can we explain such conduct on

the part of a cultured nation in which

modem science had reached its apex. It was
the drip, drip, drip of repeated charges

against the Jews that wore out the resistance

in the minds of men. It made them act like

automata in the pillaging, beating and

murdering of people who had been for

years their respected and friendly neigh-

bors. Let no one underestimate the incredi-



16 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

ble power of charges constantly repeated.

They are like the drops of water, which by

their continuous fall, wear out the stone.

The drippings of poisonous propagan-

da in uncritical minds, points out Thomas

F. Doyle, all too soon form a calcifying

crust which smothers the natural virtues of

sympathy and kindness. To minds thus con-

ditioned, it becomes possible to view with

complacency and even with satisfaction the

infliction of penalties upon a helpless and

unpopular minority. Such victims become

the scapegoat upon which they fasten all

their frustrations and grievances, and then

lead to the slaughter.

What happened in Nazi Germany can

happen in other countries where poisonous

propaganda, unanswered and unrefuted, is

allowed to inundate the population and

condition the minds and hearts of men.

Slanders must be answered in order that

truth and justice may prevail. As often as

calumnies are repeated, they must be re-

futed. Eternal vigilance is the price of

liberty: it's the price too of justice and fair

pIay
\,

“There are no caves,” said Heywood

Broun, “in which men can hide when their

fellows cry out in agony.” There are no

ivory towers to which men can retreat when

their fellowmen are being vilified.

There are many signs that anti-Semi-

tism is waging a losing battle in America,

whose whole ethos and genius are dia-



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 17

metrically opposed to discriminations on the

grounds of race, color or religion. Let me

cite a few heart-warming instances of what

takes place in communities where Christians

and Jews really get to know one another

and show concern for the welfare of each.

When I was the chaplain of the Cath-

olic students at the University of Illinois,

Rabbi Frankel confided to our Religious

Workers’ Association that Jewish students

were finding difficulty in getting lodgings

in homes near the campus. At the sugges-

tion of a big-hearted Methodist minister.

Rev. James C. Baker, now a bishop, chap-

lains of all faiths appealed to their congre-

gations to end such discrimination and to

welcome Jewish students into their homes.

The response was as immediate as it was

overwhelming.

HELPING HAND
In Brooklyn Rabbi Marans of the

United Sephardim Synagogue sought to get

a band to provide suitable music for the tra-

ditional parade for the dedication of a new

Torah, a holy Scroll of the ancient Jewish

law. Father Paul N. Fiore of Our Lady of

Loretto parish happened to hear of his pre-

dicament. In a jiffy the 100 members of the

school’s band were mobilized and, march-

ing in their bright new uniforms, provided

the music.

The scales were balanced by the action

of Lt. Stephen Brown, a member of Temple

Beth El of Providence, Rhode Island. While



18 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

stationed with the 34th Medical Battalion

some 25 miles south of Seoul, Korea, he

had some free time on his hands. Seeing the

Korean men, women and children trying

with their crude tools to build a church at

nearby Yang-Pyung, he decided to give

them the benefit of his American “know-

how.

”

At the dedication of the church the

congregation presented a citation to Lt.

Brown for his “invaluable services” and

“noble contribution” to brotherhood. “Those

who pray here,” read the citation, “will

remember you forever as a dear benefactor.”

BLESSES CHAPEL
Brandeis University, presided over by

my old friend, Dr. Abram Sachar, is Jewish-
sponsored but non-sectarian. When it in-

vited Archbishop Cushing to bless its new

Bethlehem Chapel for the use of its Catholic

students, he readily accepted. Immediately

a splinter group of fanatical Jew-haters

raised a frenzied hue and cry of protest.

Ignoring their efforts at intimidation the

great archbishop, whose broad human sym-

pathy and unfailing kindness have won the

hearts of all Boston, went to the campus,

blessed the chapel and offered the first

Mass.

The Hebrew community of Lowell,

Massachusetts, named the archbishop as its

choice for the Man of the Year Award for

“outstanding good will and exemplary serv-

ice to people of all creeds.” In accepting the



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 19

award at a great testimonial dinner, Arch-

bishop Cushing made an earnest plea for

the washing out of racial and religious

hatreds and the discriminations which stem

from them.

"The road to world peace,” he said, "is

the street where we ourselves live. The first

steps to world peace are steps to the

stranger in need or the sorrowful next door,

be his race or religion what it may ... To

those who, through ignorance or malice,

would infect us with the spiritual disease of

bigotry or the contagious germs of racial

hatreds, and thus serve the enemies of God

and of country, I say:

Whoever degrades another de-

grades me,

And whatever is said or done

against another,

Returns in the end to hurt me.”

INJURY TO ALL
In the increasing perception of this

profound ethical truth lies the best hope for

the eradication of anti-Semitism and of all

racial and religious hatreds. Discrimination

against any of our brothers blasts at the

moral basis of the rights of all, and in the

end will injure all. When I defend the Jew
or the Protestant against discrimination and

injustice, I am buttressing the moral citadel

in which my own rights repose.
The person in Holland who is con-

cerned solely with the strength of the dyke

in front of his own land finds that an open-



20 ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS?

ing before his neighbor’s farm will speedily

inundate his own. So it is with the mighty

moral dyke that protects the rights of all of

us. We are like voyagers in a boat. A leak
in any part of the vessel will spell destruc-

tion for all.

It is well for all Christians to reflect

occasionally upon the great debt which they

owe the people of Israel. For thousands of

years before the birth of Christianity they

held aloft the torch of monotheism when

the rest of the world was plunged in the

darkness of polytheism and idolatry.

STRANGELY INCONSISTENT

They carried the message of the pro-

phets to subsequent ages and enriched the

world with their religious and ethical in-

sights. To honor Christ as God incarnate

and then to sneer at the people from whom

He sprang is strangely inconsistent and

ironical. Hence in teaching the truths of

the Christian religion it is essential to ob-

serve the law of charity and to avoid, even

unintentionally, arousing prejudice against

the Jew.

Laws are not sufficient to protect the

individual from the subtle cruelty of dis-

crimination in social, political, economic and

civil life. Only the enlightened spirit of fair

play and good will on the part of citizens

can provide this protection. This is the busi-

ness of all of us. Well did Samuel Johnson

say:



ARE YOU FAIR TO JEWS? 21

Of all the ills that human hearts

endure,

How small the part that kings

and laws can cause or cure.

GROWTH IN TOLERANCE
In America we can transform our dif-

ferences into opportunities for growth in

tolerance, understanding and brotherhood

and thus enrich and deepen our spiritual

life. When a grain of sand gets lodged in

an oyster, instead of vainly brooding over

the irritation, the mollusk transforms the

grain into the most precious thing within

its power—a shining pearl.

So can we transmute our differences

into the shining pearls of understanding

and brotherhood: the precious jewels of the

spirit. Paraphrasing the title of a book popu-

lar a few decades ago, “Live Alone and Like

It,” we in America can live together and

like it.







\



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