BOOKS.
ZIONISM.*
IT is believed that on the eve of the French Revolution there were less than three million Jews in Europe. There are now some nine million, besides about two million in North America and smaller communities in other parts of the world.
From the earliest days of the Dispersion the Jews have, for different reasons, been viewed with dislike and suspicion by the rest of the world. Juvenal, who regarded the Jews as magicians, inveighed against them, and attributed their faults to the fact that they set aside every seventh day as a day, not of rest, but of " sloth." The fifth-century poet, Rutilius (Itiner., V. 386), regretted the Dispersion, as he feared that the subjugated nation would conquer their conquerors. V ictoresque 81108 natio rich premit. The prejudices of the pagan world were inherited in an intensified form by Christians and Moslems alike. Those of the Christians led to the comprehensible but wholly irrational conclusion that future generations of Jews for all time should be persecuted because come of their predecessors had crucified Christ. Those of the Moslems were based on the personal history of Mohammed. They still survive. Among the most civilized nations of the world, dislike based on religious prejudices, if it has not wholly disappeared, has been greatly mitigated, but other causes have supervened which have kept anti-Semitic senti- ments alive.
In England there has never been any " Jewish question " properly so called. This is due partly to the fact that religious toleration, both in the letter and the spirit, has established a firm hold on English public opini_n, and partly to the further fact that the relatively small number of Jews in the United Kingdom—there are at present only some two hundred and forty-five thousand—has prevented them from exercising so commanding an influence over national life as has been the case in some other countries. There is not, as in Austria, a Jew moneylender in almost every village in the country, who often holds the future welfare of the noble in his castle and of the villager in his cottage in the hollow of his hand. An incident such as that which came within my personal knowledge whilst residing in Styria would be impossible in this country. I was asked by an Austrian friend to make inquiries as to whether he could rent a country house in the neighbourhood of Gratz. After visiting one house, the proprietor asked me whether my friend was a Jew. I replied in the negative. He then explained to me that he was an ardent anti-Semite, and that he would not, for any pecuniary considera- tion whatsoever, let his house to a Jew. In no country has the Jew fewer causes for complaint than in England. He is under no civil disabilities. After a struggle, which never excited more than a somewhat languid interest, he was given full rights of citizenship. Jews now sit in both Houses of Parliament. They occupy important public positions. A distinguished man of Jewish origin ruled for some years the destinies of England. The faith of his ancestors and his hereditary proclivities have not prevented him from being regarded to this day by a large section of the community as a typical British patriot. When, therefore, Dr. Weizmann says that what the Jew wants is "to find a place in the social structure of the world which shall enable him to live as a human being without demanding that he cease to be a Jew," the average Englishman will reply with much reason, and perhaps with some slight indignation and amazement, that he has given the Jew all that he asks; that Judaism is a cult like any other, which he is free to exercise in this country ; that the British conscience is clear ; and that the Jewish question may be dismissed from the minds of British politicians and the British public. And yet this answer, plausible though it may appear, is far from disposing of the whole question.
Whatever sentiments may be entertained towards the Jews, and whatever opinions may be held as to the wisdom of affording encourage- ment to their present aspirations, it is surely desirable that those aspira- tions should be understood. It may well be doubted whether they are generally understood in this country. The very useful series of essays now published under the title of Zionism and the Jewish Future enables us to gain some insight into the views current in Jewish circles, and the aims which the leading members of the Jewish community seek to attain. The publication is all the more timely because one of the consequences of the war will ahnoet certainly be that the whole Jewish question will in the future have to be approached under auspices which differ widely from those which have hitherto obtained.
The first point to be grasped in order to arrive at a true comprehension of the meaning of the movement known as Zionism is to recognize the fact that for many years past there have been two main currents of Jewish thought which have been moving in divergent directions. It is natural that it should be so. To use an expressive phrase employed by that talented novelist, George Eliot, Judaea—and, consequently, the Jews— is " poised between East and West." The tendency of the Western Jews has been to Westernize Judaism. Moses Mendelssohn (1729.86), who may be said to be almost the founder of this school of thought, held that the best solution of the Jewish question was that "the Jew should become as like as possible to the Gentile." The predominating note of Western Jewry has, therefore, been a movement from the Jewish to the non-Jewish. This movement received a great stimulus from the French • Zionism and the Jewish Future. By various Writers. Edited by H. Sachet. London: John Murray. 1.5i. Od. net. A IRevolution, which broke down the walls of the Ghettos and thus emancipated the Jews, but which, at the same time, went far to de- nationalize Judaism. Toleration has produced its natural and inevita- le result. It has tended to break up the solidarity of the Western Jews, and to facilitate assimilation with the non-Jewish communities to which they belong.
The thought of Eastern Jewry has developed on precisely opposite lines. The inefficacy of persecution, unless it be conducted on a scale and after a fashion which have now become practically impossible, has been clearly demonstrated. It has served to foster the movement which it was intended to stifle. The most passionately ardent Jews prefer persecution, which keeps alive the flame of nationalism, to emancipation, which tends to quench it. The following extract from the works of Asher Ginsberg, who adopted the synonym of " Aellad-ha-'Am " (Ono of the People), is characteristic of their views. Speaking of the Western Jews, he said :- " Do I envy these fellow-Jews of mine their emancipation'? I answer in all truth and sincerity, No ! A thousand times No ! The privileges are not worth the price ! I may not be emancipated ; but at least I have not sold my soul for emancipation. I at least can proclaim from the housetops that my kith and kin are dear to me wherever they are. without being constrained to find forced and unsatisfactory excuses. at least can remember Jerusalem, mourn for its loss in public or in private, without being asked what Zion is to me or I to Zion. . . . And this spiritual freedom—scoff who will !—I would not exchange or barter for all the emancipation in the world."
Zionism, which in its present form may be said to have been born in 1896, is the outcome of Eastern Jewish thought and action. Its head- quarters until recently have been in Poland. Whether the centre of gravity of Jewish activity will now be shifted remains to be seen. Dr. Weizmann says: " It is too early as yet to estimate even approximately the effect of the war on the great Jewieh centres in which a part of it is being waged, but it is already obvious that it will deal a shattering blow at what has been for centuries the great reservoir of Jewish strength."
What is it that the Zionists want ? The idea that they wish the Jews of all races to be congregated together in Palestine may at once be dis- missed as absurd. Nothing of the sort is proposed. Neither do they want to establish a niece colony in the sense in which that term is usually employed. Zionism stands for a national revival. Its aim and goal, the Very Rev. Dr. Caster says, " is to create for the Jew a new home, not so much for physical as for spiritual life. This must be borne in mind and never lost sight of—that the Holy Land is to become the spiritual centre of the Jews. This stands far above any political or economic consideration." It should be added that Dr. Gaster's idealism soars very high. He holds that the re-establishment of Jewish national life in the ancient home of Judaism will help to solve many of the burning questions of the day. Such are " the problem of tenure of property, the problem of commercial dealing, the protection of the labourer, the purity of food, simplified procedure in the Courts of Justice, protection against usury, against rings and monopolies, demo- cratic organization, and the principles of equitable taxation. . . . The Jewish re-gathering is to be of great moment in the history of the emancipation and progress of mankind. Only from this point of view has Zionism a meaning and Judaism a justification." Mr. Nahum Sokolow quotes the pathetic question propounded to him by an enthu- siastic youth, who may be regarded as a typical " New Jew," to the following effect : " Are we still a people to whom youth and health may return, or a bleached and scattered heap of bones Y Are these bones never again to live and move ? "
It would be both premature and presumptuous to attempt to forecast the future of the Zionist movement. All that can at present be done is to state the nature of the problem, and to note that some slight practical progress has been made towards the realization of the Jewish ideals. For some years past a steady stream of Jewish immigration to Palestine has set in. There are now forty-five Jewish colonies, having a popu- lation of about fifteen thousand souls and covering an area of about one hundred and ten thousand acres. Good roads have been made. Numerous elementary schools in which Hebrew is taught have been established. " That Hebrew as a living language has comp to stay," Dr. Selig Brodeteky says, " that, in fact, Hebrew is well on the way to becoming the mother-tongue of Palestinian Jewry, is obvious." From a material point of view, the Jewish colonies thrive. The very common idea that the Jews can never be successful agriculturists has been com- pletely disproved. Tbey export fruit and wine in large quantities. In one colony the value of the irrigable land has risen from £3 12s. per acre in 1890 to £36 an acre. The trade of Jaffa, which in 1904 was valued at £760,000, had in 1912 reached the figure of £2,080,000. Liberal encouragement has been given to arts and industries. Enough, however, has been said to show that, although possibly the Jewish question will not mature quite so quickly as some of the more enthusiastic Zionists consider probable, it is rapidly becoming a practical issue, and that before long politicians will be unable to brush
it aside as the fantastic dream of a few idealists. CHOMEn.
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