DS 149 A A ■ -^ 1 4 3 -(— 2 RA 5 33 4 8 4 KAPLAN ORIGIN AND GOAL OF ZIONISM THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES / h^ (B\%\\x and #aal of iioitiOT* BY Rev. Bernard M. Kaplan RAEBI OF ' 'SHA A R-HA SHOMA YIM " CONGREGATION, MONTREAL, DELIVERED AT THE ZIONIST DEMONSTRATION Held Under the Auspices of the /ebcrtttion af CanoMan flonist ^ofifties — IN — DRUMMOND HALL. MONTREAL MARCH -Srd 1901 MONTREAL THE OWEN PRINTING HOUSE. 19OI. Publication of the Federation of The Canadian I L Zionist Societies. T^ THE 0[[IGipND GO>L OF ZIONISM. r^^_ Mr. Chairman, Ladies aud Gentlemen: — jQ l ] I am cognizant of the fact that, while some ^!^ ^- j of my listeners possess considerable know- l ledge about the aim and object of Zionism, there are here many others, who are as yet un- itiated into the trne meaning of Zionism. If they were conversant with the far-reaching ideals of the Zionist movement, there would not be any non-Zionists in our midst. To be imbued with the signification and the significance of Zionism and not be in sympathy with it, is like claiming to be standing on solid ground and be suspended in the air at the same time. They, who are in suspense about Zionism, will have to aban- don the claim of standing on terra Jirma as far as the great Zionist problem is concerned. Man dreads that which is unknown to him. Very few are brave enough to venture out into a region with which they are unac- quainted and about which they heard, as the dear old Bible says, "an evil report." It is the unacquaintance with the aspirations of Zionism which is responsible in most cases for the apathy to the cause. It is to the un- itiated that I am addressing myself principally, and that will account for the historical aspect of Zionism, which I shall emphasize in the course of mj^ address. Published by the Canadan Federation of Zi'>nists. 3023595 4 TIIK nlUUIN AM" »H)At. OF ZIONISM. I. Zioiii.-iii lias sent a iiiugic thrill throtigliout th<.' wliolo world, wljercver the Jewisli heart throbs and fccly. It has aroused a universal interest. It is the talk in palaces and in hovels. It is discussed by states- men, weiglied hy financiers, and sung by poets. Like the eipiator, the Zone of Zionism has encompassed th ■ entire globe from ocean to ocean, from island to island, from continent to continent, and from country to country. The little ripple of the modern outburst of Zionism, which started from the slumbering banks of the peaceful Rhine, has since grown into a huge, mighty wave, which, after washing nearly every shore and sweeping nearly every sea, is finally heard ot a^ liaving made its appearance ou the high waters where the brave American Admiral had defeated the Spanish fleet of tyranny. The soldiers who serve under the beautiful flag of American freedom, rose from their Jewish slumber as if awakened by the drum of duty, and also joined the ranks of Zionism, thus demonstrat- ing to the world at large, that they, who stand, ready to struggle and sufl'er for an ideal, cannot afford to keep aloof from a great humanitarian movement sucli as Zionism. In one sense, I may be permitted to remark en passent, our English Jewish soldiers are a little in advance of our American Jewish lieroes. They are ahead ot them, not perhaps in bravery or patriotism, but in their loyalty to the cause ot Judaism. The English Jewish soldiers, such as Cjlonel Goldsmid and many THE ORIGIN AXD GOAL OF ZIONISM. others, had been ardent Zionists long before they went down to South Africa to fight for humanity, equality, and liberty, whereas our American Jewish soldiers seemed to have required practical experi- ence on the battle-field to convince them that patriot- ism and Zionism might go hand in hand as two sweet and devoted companions who seek each other's good. But, what is Zionism ? This question I shall try to answer this afternoon. II. Evi.ry definable idea is susceptible of a two-fold definition. One is the simple or concrete definition ; the other is the general or abstract one. The simple or concrete definition of Zionism, such as is given every day, is, that it represents the endeavor to secure Palestine by purchase as a legally assured home f'jr our persecuted and oppressed brethren who are punting and pining away in Russia, Rouraania, and other such despotic lands. Zionism is, thus, the oft'- spring of Jewish misery and Jewish persecution, the outcome of Anti- semitism. According to this defini- tion, it follows logically, that if the bright rays of liberty and justice of such humane countries as Eng- land, the United States, and our baloved Canada, suddenly penetrated into those benighted lands and dispelled the darkness and gloom that hover over them, there would be no occasion for Zionism any more than there is need of a lamp in broad day light. This charitable definition of Zionism is intended to reach the comprehension of the smaller children of Israel. ,!■ Ii.l \ V M( (iip Vr. (.I- /ImN l-Wf. The broail and abstruct definition of Zionism is, that it roi)roscnt.s llio ^u1>liine8t national ideals and the highest national aspirations that have ev^r actuated the Jewish consciousness from the remotest times of the Patriarchs down to the period of the Prophets, and from the period of the Propliets down to the time of the Talmudic sages, and from the time of the Talmud- ic sages through all subsequent ages down to our own time. Zionism is, thus, not the oflt'spring of Jewish misery and Jewish persecution, but, rather the out- come of the imperishable glory and grandeur of our sublime national faith and the indestructible vitality and the perennial opiimistic spirit of our race, whose glorious mission in the world is to teach righteousness, morality, and religion, the three cardinal factors which alone can make humanity happy and united as one brotherhood, with one God as the Universal Father of all. Not destructive anti-Semitism is the parent of the glorious ideal of Zionism, but the constructive tendency of Semitism. And by Scmitism I meau the peculiar genius of the Hebrew race w^hich inclines with a centripetal and irresistible force towards purity of faiih, purity of life, and equality of human rights. If such barbarous lauds as Russia and Roumania were suddenly to emerge from darkness into light and were to become enlightened, humane, and free, the growth of Zionism would receive even a greater impetus, for Zionism, like any other ideal, can flourish best in an atmosphere of freedom and humanity. Zionism further represents the idea that the Jews THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF -ZIONISM. are a peculiar people, and like certain peculiar plants which ojrow, blossom, and bear fruit much better in their indigenous soil, so the Hebrew genius with its passionate yearning for religion, purity, and humanity, would best flourish and develop in the hills and dales of Palestine. This definition of Zionism is intended for the advanced children of Israel, or rather for the men of Israel. It is this majestic and inspiring tendency of Zionism which has attracted and is attracting, as if by magnetic torce, the greatest Jewish idealists and thinkers the world over. III. Zionism as an integral part of Judaism shares the fate of Judaism. It is grossly misinterpreted and misunderstood. Some people entertain the idea that Zionism first saw the light on the banks of the Rhine and is the child of the Jewish litterateur and journal- ist. Dr. Theodore Herzl. No, friends ! Zionism, though full of life and energy, is not a youngster. Zionism, though possessed of youthful vigor and buoyancy, ambition and hope, is indeed, very old. It has witnessed the appearance and disappeareuce of many nations ; it has seen the rise and ruin of many cities and kingdoms. It is older than some of the Egyptian pyramids and is not the junior of any ideal that has ever dawned upon humanity. Zionism is nearly 4000 years old. The first Zionist was the first IIebre\y. Yes, the first Patriarch was the first Zion- ist, and an ardent, self-sanrificing, and true Zionist he was, for he had left behind him kin and country, com- comfort and splendor, and journeyed to the laud of Cannan, where heliad Ijoped that his dcsendants would hjconie a great hlesain^ to "all farailiei^ of the earth." The other [)atriarch3, too, wore greatly attached to till) land of Oannan. Particularly 90 \va3 Jacob, who had journcj'ed from Padan-Arara to the Holy Land at the risk of his life. By force of circum- stances he was afterwards corapolled to emigrate to Egy[)t where one of his sons had risen to the exalted position of Grand Vizier. The index of the favorable conditions of the lime pointed almost with the ccrtanity of the compass-ueedle that Egypt was to become the happy home of the children of the coven- ant. The sagacious Patriarch, as if by inspiration, took, however, a different prospective view. He entreated his sons to bury him in Cannan, which he considered as the home of his children in the future, as it was the land of his fathers in the past. Joseph, too, was a staunch Zionist. He firmly believed that the fond hope of his great ancestors, in regard to Cannan, would be fulfilled someday. "And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die ; and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land which he swore to Abraharaj to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." It was Zionism that emancipated our forefathers from Egyptian servitude. Have you ever thought of it? It was the thought of Cannan that had inspired them with the longing for freedom and a home of THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF ZIONISM. their own. If they had no promised laud to look for- ward to, they might never have left the banks of the ISTile. Bat in the hope of dwelling in the land of their fathers, even the unspeakable horrors of the dreary desert did not appall them. Moses, who had looked with contempt upon the gorgeous palace of Pharaoh, would have deemed it a great privlege to tread upon the soil where the Hebrew national ty was t) take root. In the year 586 our ancestors were carried oft a5 captives from Judea to Babylon. Nebuchadnazzar planted them in the capital of his country and granted them every right and privilege, which his native sub- jects enjoyed. They built for themselves houses and were cultivating the soil. And if there is anything that will tie a man to a country it is the soil ; yet, they never forgot the land where King David sang his soul-stirring psalms, and where Isaiah gave vent to his sublime effusions of morality and humanity. Their fond longing for Zion is poetically expressed in the sub- lime words of the sacred Psalmist who says : " By the rivers of Babylon, there ive dwelled, yet. we iD&pt when we remembered Zion." The noble King Cyrus authorized the exiles to return to the land of their fathers. 42,000 lovers of Zion wiped away their tears, took down their harps from the weeping willows, and with song and prayer of thanksgiving crossed the Jor.lan under the ideal leadership of Zerubbabel, whose wise and pious words of 2500 years ago still express the manner in which we expect Zionism to be 10 'I'lll'. iilMCIV \N|i (;(»A[. Ill /.ni\i-.\i. realized. " Not by might, nor by j)0\vor, but by my B])irit, Biiitb the Lord of hosts." Some '>00 years later the Jewish nationality was again threatened. The patriotic Maccabees ru?hed to its rescue. The names of these Zionists have since passed into universal history as synon3'mou8 with the highest bravery. When the great Zionist, Sir Moses Montefiore, visited Russia in 1840, Czar Nich- olas paid him the high compliment by telling hira that his Jewish soldiers were *' veritable Maccabees." The self-sacrificing efforts of the hero Bar-cochba and the sage and martyr Rabbi Akiba in behalf of Zion- ism form the last glorious pages of the inspiring and thrilling history of Ancient Zionism. During the Middle Ages our brethren, though scat- tered far and wide, were united by th;iir hopa in Zion as much as by their belief in one God. Wherever they sojourned, they turned their hearts and their minds towards the East in prayer We. too, turn our faces towards the East in supplication, but I fear, that not many of us incline their hearts and minds in that direction. Some of ns sa}' our prayers as mechanical- ly as the organ-grinder turns out his airs. There is no sincerity or devotion in such prayers as there is no musical skill or emotion in the organ-grinder's grind- ing. Some pray three times a day : ''And let our eyes behold thy return in mercy to Zion," and, yet, they are inconsistent enough to declare that they do not believe in Zionism. From now on, when you receite that prayer, I ask yon, kindly, to make up your minds THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF ZIONISM. 11 whether you are Zionists or no*". If you are not, leave out that praj'or and the many other prayers in which Zion is mentioned ; for why should you pray with your lips for that which your hearts do not desire ? ISTow, there may be room for honest difference of opinion regarding Zioniisra, but, certainly, who can gainsay the fact that the dignity of Judaism requires the utmost sincerity in our words as well as in our deeds. But, let me return to Mediaeval Zionism. It is said that each true poet reffects the spirit of his ag3 a? a clear stream reflects the heavens above it. If so, the Jews of the Middle Ages must have been very ardent Zionists in- deeed- Think of the fervent and soul-stirring Zionist songs of Jehudah Halevi, our great poet of the 11th century. Did he not express poetically what the people in Spain and in other countries felt practically? Even tlie calm and dispassioned philosopher Moses Maimonides travelled a long distance out of his way and risked his life in order to step on the hallowed ground of Zion, of which his great namesake, alas, had only a view. Modern Zionism practically commences with Na- poleon, who, like Cyrus of old, evidently, recognized the claim that Judea is for the Jews. Nor was this the dream of a romantic and adventurous soldier. The great statesman Bismarck, too, thought that Palestine might solve the Jewish problem. Disraeli, prompted by Jewish instinct, and by statesman-like reason enter- tained similar views. Sir Moses Montefiore's attach- ment to Palestine forms perhaps the most beautiful 12 TlIK UKItUN ANb GOAL OF /lOM.-.M. chapter of his ideal and pliiluiithropic life. The i^roat English writer George I^'liot, in her superb novel "Daniel Deronda" reflects in fiction what some great men of her time thought in reality. "The effect of our seperatenees," says Mordecai, " will not be completed and have its highest transformation unless our race takes on again the character of a nationality." In 1881 a terrible storm of persecution swept over the cold and inhuman region of Russia. The down of Jewish pillows was scattered by the hands of ruffians and filled the air with a constant flux like flakes of snow from impending clouds The heart of the Rus- sian government froze like the Obi River of Siberia. There was no safe shelter for the Jews, Many of our brethren flocked to the hospitable shores of England, the United States, and Canada, while the m:)re ideal refugees, amongst whum were many students, fled to Palestine as sweet birds ^y to the south when the wintry storms are hying. They organized thsre cen- tres of colonization. They suffered, struggled, and persevered till their efforts were crowned with success. These colonies which now number about thirty and which are scatteded all over the land have since attrac- ted the attention of the world by their growth and prosperity. These pioneers of Palestinian agriculture have transformed, as it by magic power, the sandiest and dreariest places into veritable gardens and vine- yards. The wines of the southern colony Rishou le Zion were the only spirits that received the Gold Medal at the recent Paris Exhibition. THE ORIGIN AXD GOAL OF ZIONISM. 13 The storm of perseculion which rose in the cold Rus- sia in 1881 has been raging ever since with Uttle abate- ment. Nay, it has since swept with renewed force across the bounderies of other countries. It has wrought much consternation and brought indesribable ruin to many a peaceful home in Israel. A worthy co-religionist of ours, a celebrated journalist and a learned jurist, of the beautitul and historic capital of Austria, animated by noble impulses and sympathet- ic tendencies, pondered long and deeply on the distressed condition of his brethren in faith as did our ancient Liberator in the tranquil meadows of Midian. In a Pamphlet entitled ''The Jewish State" he sug- gested that the only way to secure Israel against the perils of the periodic Anti-Semitic outbursts is to pro- cure some independent permanent home as the Jewish national centre in some niche of the globe, be it beyond deserts or seas, in Asia or America, where the Jew might be able to work out his own destiny unmolested and unhampered by trinitarian, utilitarian^ or some other insanitarian demagogues. When Jewish repre- sentatives were called together from all parts of the world, in the year 1897, in Bastle, Switzerland, to consider Dr. Theodore Herzl's grand project, it was unanimously agreed that, if ever the scudded and scattered Jewish race is to find a haven of rest, it can be realized only in its old home, Palestine, towards which every Jewish heart inclines as naturally as the sunflower inclines towards the sun. This, in brief, is the History of Zionism. 1-4 Tin: OFIIUI.V ANI» U'JAL OK /.(ON'I.SM. IV. But why ha8 Palestine such a hold u[>oii the minds of the Jewish people ? There are two strong reasons to account for it. One is ideal, the other j»ractical. The ideal reason is that around Palestine as a centre cluster the most sacred and the most glorious mem- ji ories of the. Jewish existence for a period of almost 2000 years. Nearly every hill and every hollow, every mountain and every meadow, every river and every rock in Palestine, is associated with some event or other in the great history of Israel. Mt. Carniel and the Brook Chcrith, Mt. Hermon and the River Habor, Alt. Gilboa and the River Jabbok, Mt. Gilead and the River Jordan, Mt. Lebanon and the River Kishon, Mt. Moriah and Mt. Olivet, Mt. Tabor and Mt. Zion, are great and inspiring monuments iu our sacred history. The practical reason is, that in no other country in the world has Jewish colonization been so successful as in Palestine. The 30 centres of agriculture, which were established in Palestine during the last 18 years, have been an unqualified success. The Jew in Palestine, remembering that his forefathers had follow- ed the plough, is inspired to do likewise. The Jew in Palestine is thus animated and actuated by an ideal, and nothing will endow man with courage, endurance, and perseverance as much as an ideal. That is why the Jewish agriculturalist of Palestine feels wedded to the soil, that is why he has been successful in his com- paratively new and difficult occupation; and that is THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF ZIONISM. 15 wh}^ we believe that in Palestine, and in Palestine only, onr people would turn once more to the soil, which was ploughed and cultivated by our ancestors for a period of 1500 years. A^ As to the question whether the acquisition of Pales- tine is practicable, I answer, that depends upon the Jews themselves. Outside of the few sqecially holy places, Turkey has no special use for Palestine and de- rives veay little benefit from it. The Turks and the Arabs, who inhabit our ancient home, are nomadic tribes and are too eas3'-going, too impa'ient, and too indolent to undertake the difficult task af agriculture. It is onh' within the last few years that some of the natives began to emulate the industrious example of their cousins, the Jews, in the way of hard and earnest labour in the field and in the vineyard. As Turkey is by no means a very rich government, it would accrue largely to her material improvement to surrend- i er this small territory for pecuniary considerations to the Jews who would not only turn Palestine once more into a land "flowing with milk and honey," but would, also, by their indefatigable energy, galvanize the whole Ottoman Empire into industrial life, which would place her on a level with the other great modern countries. Turkey has the greatest confidence in the Jews. Some of the highest offices of trust in her government are occupied by Jews, upon whom she never looked as upon strangers, as do some of the so- called enlightened nations. It is a remarkable fact 16 TUB OIIIUIN AND UOAL 01-' Z10M6M. tliiit thr Anib.s uiid Turks liavu never ceased to look upon th< Jews as distant kinsmen and near friends. If all the Jews of the world encouraged the Zionist movement, both morally and materially, its success would be assured. But you cannot expect the Jewish state-chariot to reach the summit of Mount Zion when there are Jews pulling it backward. Let all the Jews put shoulder to shoulder and give the Jewish state- chariot a proper push and it will reach the top ofi Mount Zion, who can tell, perhaps even in our own generation. It is absolutely necessary for the ultimate achieve- ment of the Zionist project that we should be united as one people. For Turkey as a government canaot deal with individuals. Individuals die, a nation lives. A government cannot deal politically with private persons. It must deal with a nation, i.e., with represen- tatives of a nation. Out of the 12,000,000 .Jews in the world only about half a million of Jews are followers of the Zionist movement. Turkc}' cannot therefore enter into negotati'ons with a fraction of the Hebrew people We must have at least a large majority be- fore we can approach the Sultan as representatives of a nation. Every Jew, therefore, who stands aloof from this m&vement is a hindrance to its progress. On the other hand, every Jew who joins the ranks ot Zionism is personally promoting its ultimate realization. The lunds alone, when raised, will not be sufficient for the realization of the Zionist project. There must be a residue ot national and spiritual patriotism at the bottom of the purse. THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF ZIONISM. 17 While it is necessary for the triumph of Zionism that at least the greater portion of Jewry should he supporters of this movement, it is not necessary that all who espouse the Jewish national cause should re- turn to the Holy Land. It is not expected that all the Jews of such happy and free lands as the United States and Great Britain should pack up their trunks, break up their happy homes, and go to sojourn in Pal- estine, unless their idealism transcends every material consideration. It is, however, both natural and reason- able that those Jews who are denied the inalienable rights of men in certain inhuman countries should look to Palestine as the land where, they have every reason to hope, they will not be stigmatized as aliens, where they will not be molested, and where they will be pro- tected and respected. Nor is it necessary that all the Jews who will return to Palestine should return to the soil, which would hardly be ample enough to sustain all who would wish to return, England, which is the leading country in the world, does not produce enough of natural products to feed 20 per cent of her population. England's great power lies in her commerce and her manufactures. Through her industries she is able to maintain not only her own ].opulation but even to render succor to the hungry in some of her distant colonies. And so Pales- tine, too, would develop great centres of commerce and industry. The national .aspirations would be real- ized in agriculture, while the national source of support would be derived from commerce and manufacture for. 18 TUB OIUdlN ANI> 0«ML uK /iuNlSM. wLlcli tl»c [lorts on lliu Meditcrruneun Sea often many many excellent opportuniticH. VI. But you ask is the Jew a farraar at all ? Is he any- thing else but a tradesman? To this question I answer he is a tradesman not from choice but from necessity. Agriculture was his occupation for a period of 150) years. He was wedded to the soil from which h ■ was torn away by the Romans. Daring the Dark Ages the natural occupation of farming was denied him. His real property was continually confiscated. But a living being has to maintain himself in some way ; and so he was forced into trade and traffic. The Jew may say to the world : "Look not upon me because I am black ; the sun hath scorched me : my mother's child- ren were angry with me ; they made me the keeper of vine3'ards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept." There is a difterence between the naturally black man and the man who is only sun-burnt. The Jew is naturally of a white moral complexion. The blazing fires of the Inquisition of the Dark Ages, and the fiery tongues of the Anti-Semites in our own time, have tanned and singed his outward aspect. His inner true nature has been miraculously preserved in purity and in tact. Give the Jew a fair chance in the world and his ideal tendencies will soon assert themselves. If the Jew. the persecuted Jew, has any faults, he can lay them at the door of his persecutors. If the Gen- tile world wishes to redeem itself in the eyes of civili- zation and justice, it must assist in Israel's physical ami THE ORIGIN AND GOAL 0¥ ZIONISM. 19 moral rehabilitatiou, which can best be realized ia Palestine, where the Jew will be the happy dweller of the land of his fathers and the spiritual denizen of the world . VII. The acquisition of Palestine as a Jewish national centre will not only afford a home to the homeless and the persecuted Jews, but would also give a spirit- ual and religious impetus to the prosperous but indiff- erent Jews of the West, who are drifting away from the best traditions of Judaism. Just as Judaism preser- ved the Jews during the stormy days of persecution, so will Zionism preserve the Jews from spiritual decay in the coming ages of tolerance and liberty. In the free lands outside of Palestine, as soon as a Jew pros- pers materially, he generally begins to fade away spiritually. Xot so was the case in the Holy Land. Never were our ancestors so true and so devoted to the faith of their fathers as in the time of prosperity and peace, as exemplified by the reign of King Solo- mon. Palestine would serve as a spiritual aqueduct, or reservoir, to feed the religious springs of our coreligion- ists in other lands. '-For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the LDrd fro:n Jerusalem." VIII. The rehabilitation of the Jews in Palestine would also be a benefit to the world at large. The Jews would establish an ideal form government where order, moralit}', and religion would go hand in hand. The Jews in ancient times enjoyed the must democratic 20 TUE UlllUlN AND UUAL UF ZIUNL-JM. aiul the most ideal form of ^ovenmiciit, wliicli in our day is the beautiful dream of idealistic social econom- ists. There was no conflict between labor and capital in ancient Judea. The bitter strugi^le that cxiste-l between the llelots and the Spartans in Greece, and between the Plebs and the Patricians in Rome, was unknown in the Iloly Laud. The land was equally parcelled out among all the people. Each man lived under ''his vine and his fig tree." Henry George's theory of Land was in the main a living reality in Ancient Judea. I sincerely believe that the new Jew- ish state in Palestine would not be any less humane than the old one of 3400 years ago. The Jews are fit for an ideal communal life because of their natural ideal- ism and their broad sympathies for one another. No nation in the world has suffered eo much for an ideal as the Jews. The Jews in Russia are the greatest idealists and martyrs the world has ever seen. Suppose they professed to believe what their minds and conscience do not exactly approve of, and suppose they allowed themselves to be sprinkled over by bab- tismal water taken from the River Volga, or the Dan- ube, or, for that matter, from any pool, would they not at once be cleansed from all their supposed sins and iniquities, and would the}' not at once be eligible to the highest offices and positions of rank and honor? And yet, they rather suffer privation and misery than to do violence to their conscience and their intellect. The Jews have been and are the champions of freedom of conscience, as they have THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF ZIONISM. 21 been and are the forerunners of industrial equality. Karl Marx, Ferdinand Lassalle, Bernard Lazarre, and Max Nordau, are Jews, and we are proud of them. The world does not know the Jew. The world does not know his ideal home life, his pure morality, and his practical charity. Charles Lamb at one time expressed himself contemptuously about a certain per- son. ''Pray, do you know him ?" — he was asked. '•IS'o," — was his retort — "'had I known him, I might have liked him." And so the world, too, had it really known the Jew, it would have had ample reason to admire him instead of disdaining him. Some say the Jewish mission of spreading morality, charity, and monotheism, can be best fulfilled if the Jews are scattered all over the world. I am inclined to think that the Jews could be a greater power for o;ood if thev were united as one nation. According to historj^ the reason why the Russian Grand Duke Vladimir, of the 10th century, did not accept the Hebrew faith as the religion ot his country, is, because the Jews, though having the most reasonable religion, had no country of their own. There is no telling what a power the Jews might have wielded i)i the ethical, political, and religious world, if they had a government of their own. IX. Some Jews would become Zionists, but the}- fear, that the world might accuse them of lack of [jatrii)tism. No truly intelligent psrson will think the le^s of the I 22 TFIE ORIGIN ANb GOAL Or' ZXo.wo.d. of Jews because they happen to cherish the flame of Zionist patriotism which represents the most ideal patriotism eulogized in poetry and song. As to the enemies of the Jews, they will find fault with them anyway. Let the Jewish enemies rather find fault with the Jews for their self-respect, dignity, true man- liness, in brief, for their Zionist patriotism than for imaginery wrongs. Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, the Jews have greatly risen in the estimation of the world since 1897, which is the memorable year of the first Zionist Convention. The Jews will rise still higher and highhr in the estimation of the whole civilized world, when the high aims of Zionism will ultimately be realized by the aid of God, and by the indefatigable energy and by the noble efforts of all the Jewish people the world over. UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 001 432 548 4