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5423972_8_1_1005.xml
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5423972_8_1_1005.xml
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?oxygen RNGSchema="../schema/flps0.2.rnc" type="compact"?>
<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<title>
<bibl><title>Daily Jewish Courier</title>,
<date when="1923-05-02">May 2, 1923</date>.
<title level="a">The Great Demonstration of the Chicago Jews</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
</title>
</titleStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<publisher>The Newberry Library</publisher>
<pubPlace>Chicago, Illinois</pubPlace>
<address>
<addrLine>60 West Walton</addrLine>
<addrLine>Chicago, IL 60610</addrLine>
<addrLine>USA</addrLine>
<addrLine>http://www.newberry.org</addrLine>
</address>
<idno>5423972_8_1_1005</idno>
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<notesStmt>
<note>Transcribed from digital images contributed to the Internet
Archive by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.</note>
</notesStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<bibl><title>Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey</title>, <date>1936-1941</date>,
<sponsor>Works Projects Administration</sponsor>,
<sponsor>Chicago Public Library Omnibus Project</sponsor></bibl>
<bibl>
<title>Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey [microform]</title>
<sponsor>University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</sponsor>
<sponsor>Internet Archive</sponsor>
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<catRef target="#grp-jewish"/>
<catRef target="#grp-jewish #code-III.B.2"/>
<catRef target="#grp-jewish #code-III.C"/>
<catRef target="#grp-jewish #code-III.H"/>
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<change when="2010-02-12">Automated conversion to expanded header.</change>
<change when="2010-02-01">Initial TEI transcription from PanGeo Partners, Inc.</change>
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<div type="group">
<list>
<item>JEWISH</item>
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<div type="codes">
<list>
<item>III B 2</item>
<item>III C</item>
<item>III H</item>
<item>III A</item>
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<div type="citation">
<bibl><title>Daily Jewish Courier</title>,
<date when="1923-05-02">May 2, 1923</date>.
<title level="a">THE GREAT DEMONSTRATION OF THE CHICAGO JEWS</title><title level="a" type="sub">(Editorial)</title></bibl>
</div>
</front>
<body>
<p>The banquet given by the Orthodox synagogues of Chicago in honor of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, developed into a great demonstration of the Jews of Chicago in behalf of the greatest Jewish cause the world over, and has clearly proven two things: first, that Chicago's [Jewish] Orthodoxy is alive and developing; second, that it understands what its duties are at this moment. The vitality of Chicago's Orthodoxy was expressed Monday evening not only by the huge sum of money raised for the Keren Hayesod (exchequer of World Zionist Organization) but also by the spirit that prevailed at the banquet, as well as in the manner the people welcomed the masterful speech delivered by the great Zionist leader. Dr. Weizmann spoke in various languages--in the language of Bialik [noted Hebrew poet], in the language of Achad Am [father of modern Hebrew], in the language of the immortal Herzel [founder of the Zionist movement], and in the language of a venerable Jewish sage. Those who came to the mass meeting, the greatest <pb facs="5423972_8_1_1006.jpg" n="2"/>one Chicago's orthodoxy has ever seen, understood quite well what the great leader said, because these Orthodox masses, with all their faults, are still nationalistically inclined, think in Jewish terms, and see with Jewish eyes.</p>
<p>The whole vitality of the Orthodox Jewry was expressed in the two thousand excited faces turned toward Dr. Chaim Weizmann. The audience followed every word that fell from his lips. Only an audience such as this could understand him and receive with such passion every word that was uttered in his masterful speech. If the combination of Bialik's poetic portrayals, Achad Am's philosophical concepts, and an old sage's faith in the Eternal Israel finds such a loud echo in the hearts of the representatives of the Jewish Orthodoxy in Chicago, it goes to show that the Jewish community is still full of vitality and developing and has a great future ahead.</p>
<p>The Chicago Jewish Orthodoxy has stood the trial gloriously and may therefore congratulate itself. The large sum of money it has given to the Keren Hayesod <pb facs="5423972_8_1_1007.jpg" n="3"/>is valuable as a touchstone for its own vitality. Those who are always complaining that Orthodoxy in America is lying on its death bed would have changed their opinion had they attended the great and sublime meeting of Monday night. The Jewish community of Chicago is very much alive, if only because the forces of life place upon it a great responsibility. It can follow the path that should determine the development of future generations in this country, and this path is not one of compromises, not one of half-way peace with a total enemy, but a path of independence, pride, and constant struggle against the enemy. The enemy is assimilation in all its forms--in its religious form, as Reform Judaism; in its language form, as Yiddishism; in its political form, as territorialism. Territorialism does not necessarily mean the attainment of a Jewish homeland, but rather the theory that wherever Jews are and have "privileges" there is their Zion and Jerusalem.</p>
<p>If the Jewish Orthodoxy is able to uphold the three great traditions--the Jewish religion as we have inherited it from our fathers and grandfathers; the Jewish nationalism as we have inherited it from our parents; the Hebrew language <pb facs="5423972_8_1_1008.jpg" n="4"/>as the official language of the Jewry in Diaspora as well as of Palestine--it will then emerge victorious in its struggle against all destructive elements.</p>
<p>The Jewish Orthodoxy of America can only follow that path and no other, and it can only triumph if it is proud and conscientious, not if it is weak in morale and submissive. It must not be on the defensive, but it must always be on the offensive. It must remain the conscious factor of Judaism in Diaspora and must not sell its birthright for a pottage of lentils. It is not a question here of religious fanaticism, and perhaps not a question of religion at all, but a question of maintaining historical Judaism in a non-historical country [by "non-historical" the writer means a country that has no Jewish historical background]. Just because America and the American Jewry are poor in [Jewish] tradition, and just because all the established forms of [Jewish] life are prone to deform, traditional Judaism is exposed to great dangers and must therefore be more carefully on the watch, concentrating all its energy on maintaining that which Jewish history has spinned, and woven and <pb facs="5423972_8_1_1009.jpg" n="5"/>dyed for centuries with Jewish blood.</p>
<p>If the Jewish Orthodoxy in America has no vitality, as many assert, then it has to compromise, but since it has vitality, it must not compromise and must continue its policy of independence.</p>
<p>The leaders of the Jewish Orthodoxy in Chicago must realize that upon them lies a great responsibility. They must shape the countenance of the future Jewish generation, and upon their sincerity and labor depends whether Chicago will remain for all times a center of Judaism or whether the present Jewish generation in Chicago shall be the last. Only systematic and methodical work will lead to the goal, not politics nor compromises.</p>
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