It is but rarely that Jews have been permitted the opportunity of fighting for their country, but whenever they have been allowed to enter the lists, they have proved that the yellow badge of degradation and contumely had not altogether quenched the soul of manhood within them, that they were not unworthy descendants of the Maccabean heroes who cast off the yoke of the Syrian king. An imperial Austrian standard is to this day suspended in the Alt neu Schule at Prague, one of the oldest synagogues in Europe—a standard presented to the inhabitants of the Judenstadt by the emperor Ferdinand the Third in recognition of the valor they had displayed in keeping at bay the Swedish besiegers in the year 1648.
During the present century until very recently Jews were not permitted to enter military service. Now that they have been admitted, have they proved themselves cowards or traitors on the day of battle? "Patriots they cannot be," says Professor Goldwin Smith. Is it just to cast this opprobrium upon the Jews of Germany who but lately shed their life's blood in defence of their fatherland? Is this insult deserved by the brave Jews of France who rallied with equal alacrity under the banner of the empire and the republic when the safety of their country was imperilled? The Iron Cross and the badge of the Legion of Honor which decorate the breast of many a valiant Jew of Germany and France prove how confidently a state may reckon upon its Jewish sons in the hour of danger. Nay, even the poor, down-trodden Jews of Roumania volunteered in large numbers to serve in the national army, and fought patriotically at the side of their oppressors, in the war with Turkey just ended.
And in this dear England of ours have we Jews ever been guilty of an offence that could deserve the stigma of the professor? Have the Jewish members of Parliament shown that "they cannot really share the political life of a European nation"? Have Jewish magistrates, has a Jewish master of the rolls, discharged judicial and magisterial functions less faithfully than their Christian fellow-citizens? When the cry of the famine-stricken indwellers of India reached our shores, did the members of this "exclusive race" hold back their hand? When the heir-apparent was laid low by disease, did the Jews fail to send up their fervent prayers on high? Did not the primate in that memorable thanksgiving service at the Metropolitan Cathedral state in his sermon, "None were more hearty in their prayers than God's ancient people"?
I have been informed that of the two hundred thousand volunteers enrolled in England there are no fewer than two thousand Jews. And this I can assert without fear of contradiction, that of all the subjects of our most gracious Majesty there is no section more deeply concerned for the honor, the highest and truest interests of our beloved country, no class more ready at the same time to make for its sake every sacrifice of comfort, of substance, aye, and of life, than that which professes the ancient, primeval faith of Judaism.
It is quite true that we Jews feel ourselves bound by the ties of religion with our brethren in foreign lands. It is quite true that when we hear that they are oppressed and persecuted we seek to do what is in our power to mitigate their sufferings. We invoke the powerful help of the British government that is ever ready to lift up its voice on behalf of persecuted humanity. But does this feeling of kinship militate against the loyalty we owe our country? Are those Christians less loyal citizens of England who have pleaded for the better government of their co religionists in Bulgaria? Inasmuch as we are Englishmen, it behoves us to sympathize with the oppressed throughout the globe. We never prove ourselves better Englishmen than when we plead on behalf of humanity and justice, and in the name of civil and religious freedom.
I am aware that I have left one loophole to the professor. He may say, "Granted then that you are patriots, but then you are not genuine Jews." Genuine Jews perhaps not, according to the distorted conceptions of an Eisenmenger, a Chiarini, or a Billroth. I, however, deny the right of an historian to first set up the travesty of a Jew, and then to say, "This is a Jew, and he who does not resemble him is not a genuine Jew." And so, conscious of my own Judaism, I distinctly refuse the professor the right to deny me the appellation of genuine Jew.
An old Talmudic adage has it that it is the function of the scholar to plant peace and goodwill upon earth. It should, in truth, be his mission to extirpate prejudice and to banish sectarian hatred. Is it not then to be deplored that a teacher of history should have lent the weight of his name to perpetuate prejudice and to galvanize into a spurious vitality the hydra of religious intolerance?
A teacher of history should regard him-
