THE PROBLEM OF THE JEW*
[*Published
in D. M. Panton’s Dawn - July, 15th, 1938.]
1
A Jew! A name replete with interest. A singular name! Strange and opposite feelings it excites;
passions most various; thoughts most profound; ideas most absurd. The little monosyllable Jew has caused and
will continue to cause deeds most appalling to be perpetrated. It has called into exercise near four
thousand years contempt and reverence, hatred and compassion, malice and
compunction – in short, every sentiment of the human heart and every faculty of
the human mind. Philosophers call him a
riddle; infidels dread the fact of his existence. He is the marvel of history,
the anomaly of nations, the wonder of ages, heaven’s
great witness on earth of earth’s righteous King in heaven.
- DR. LOUIS MEYER.
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2
Massacred by the thousands during the enthusiasm of the
Crusades and the War of the Shepherds, the Jews found every ecclesiastical
revival, and the accession of every Sovereign of more than usual devotion,
occasions for fresh legislative restrictions.
Theodosius, St. Lewis, and Isabella the Catholic - who were probably the
three most devout Sovereigns before the Reformation - the Council of the
Lateran, which led the religious revival of the thirteenth century, Paul IV.,
who led that of the sixteenth century, and, above all, the religious orders
were among their most ardent persecutors.
Everything was done to separate them from their fellow-men, to mark them
out as objects of undying hatred, and to stifle all compassion for their
sufferings. They were compelled to wear
a peculiar dress and to live in a separate quarter. A Christian might not enter into any
partnership with them; he might not eat with them; he might not use the same
bath; he might not employ them as physicians, he might not even purchase their
drugs. Inter-marriage with them was
deemed a horrible pollution, and in the time of St. Lewis any Christian who had
chosen a Jewess for his mistress was burnt alive.
Even in their executions they were separated from other
criminals, and till the fourteenth century they were hung between two dogs, and
with the head downward.
- WILLIAM LECKY.
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3
The malaria insect whose poison infects healthy creatures with
the fever of Jew hatred is buzzing in our ears to-day with the same vicious hum
and deadly poison as it ever did in the days of the Torquemada. If they are rich, they are birds of
prey. If they are poor, they are
vermin. If they are in favour of war, it
is because they want to exploit the bloody feuds of the Gentiles for their own
benefit. If they are anxious for peace,
they are instinctive cowards or traitors.
If labour is oppressed by great capital, the greed of the Jew is held
responsible. If labour revolts against capital, as it did in
- D. LLOYD GEORGE, M.P.
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4
The wonder culminates.
All these astounding features of Jewish history were written out
beforehand; near three thousand years beforehand; written in their own sacred
literature, and with the accuracy of the historic pen. This can be said of no other people. Is not this Jewish wonder the greatest of
all? The events of their history - their
being without the bond of government and without a country, their dispersion
from one end of the earth to the other, their sufferings the worst, the cruellest,
the most frightful ever known, and yet their unparalleled persistence as a
people, dwelling alone among the nations, - these events compare with what was
written so long before; the correspondence is exact, even in minutest
particulars. Again, the civil
emancipation of the Jews among the nations, which has now been going on for
about one hundred and fifty years and is still progressing, their consequent
increase in number, and their rise in wealth, and learning, and influence,
although still maintaining their racial identity, and their great agency in the
revolutionary movements of the
nations, - these events compare with what was written so long before; again the
correspondence is exact, even in minutest particulars.
Now, it matters not whether the Scriptures containing these
predictions were written at the dates traditionally fixed; the lowest possible
dates which the morbid critics might assign would still leave between the
writings and the events so vast an interval of centuries that no forecast of
man could have leaped the distance. There
stand the predictions, and there stand the events, and there stands the long
interval between them. This alone should
smite with paralysis that destructive school of criticism so much in vogue with
some. Here, then, is the Jew’s chief
distinction. His history was written in
advance. A miraculous element pervades
his affairs. In him the supernatural is
before our eyes, within the hearing of our ears, underneath our touch. Science is wonderful; but in this miracle-man
the wonder excelleth.
Strange that we should be so insensible to this living
wonder amongst us.
- Watchword and Truth.
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5
I have a number of Jewish friends, and without mentioning them
by name I may allude to one, who is high in the academic world, a very great
scholar, to another who is a deservedly respected professor of art also in a
university, to half a dozen who are good writers, including one first-rate
literary critic, to a dental surgeon (the best I have ever come across) and so
on: there are among them painters, actors, singers, musicians of the highest
talent, and first-rate mathematicians.
Each of these men by his abilities has come to occupy the position which
he holds, has founded a good home and is earning a good income, which he
deserves to earn. How could I condone a policy which would condemn all these
men at a moment’s notice to lose what they have thus acquired? How can I call it anything but an abominable
and barefaced robbery? Yet that is what
has happened over the water, and that is what we are asked to agree with and
excuse. I confess it seems to me
incomprehensible. I read of one
distinguished professor, to mention only one out of very many, who had a
definite contract to occupy the position which he held and to draw the salary
of it for so many years, presumably with a pension thereto attached. Without compensation, without warning, the
man is suddenly thrown on to the streets.
If that is not theft, what
is? As it seems to me, particular and
flagrant injustice of this kind affects not only the individual who suffers
from it nor only the unhappy men who perpetrate the outrage, but also those who
are silent in the presence of it. They
themselves will be poisoned if they do not protest, for it is their duty to
protest.
- HILAIRE BELLOC.
* * *
6
The report for the year 1937 of the “Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland”,
the central body which organizes the charitable relief, economic help,
training, and emigration of German Jewry, is a striking and, for all its packed
statistics, a moving document. It
records the development of the five-year plan, pursued by force of hard
circumstance, for the gradual “liquidation” of
the community. The outstanding feature
in the five years has been the reduction of the Jewish population in
The total emigration has amounted to about 130,000, and there
is an excess of deaths over births which in the last years has risen to more
than 5,000. The dwindling and hard-pressed
community managed to collect 3,500,000 marks, with which food, coal, and
clothing, as well as money, were distributed between
82,000 beneficiaries. That means that
over one-quarter of the Jewish population need relief from public philanthropy.
The squeezing out of the Jew from economic life, which has
followed his exclusion from public life, proceeds relentlessly. It was another blow to the Jewish organization
that it was forbidden to carry on the work of employment agencies or to help to
find places in Jewish factories for the thousands of unemployed Jews. Only Government labour exchanges are now
allowed, and the Jew has scant chance of help from them. The Jewish organization is prohibited even
from finding places abroad for Jewish emigrants.
The budget of the Reichsvertretung
for the year was about 4,500,000 marks, of which 1300,000 was borne by contributions
from
- PROFESSOR NORMAN BENTWICH.
* *
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7
In his book The People
of God Nathan Birnbaum, a leading Jewish thinker,
presents a wonderfully clear portrait of the Messiah of the Prophets in his
outline of the character of the Gipfelmensch
(Supreme Man). He says:- “A man must arise, a man who
will bring salvation to mankind, a Gipfelmensch,
to whom God will entrust the one eternal task of world history, one who
with unparalleled spiritual power will conquer the hearts of millions and those
of generations yet unborn, one who will love each one as though he alone
existed. And this Man, whom the Most High
will send, must have power to deal with the age-long struggle of mankind with
sin.” Birnbaum’s statements
reveal the heart of
- The Christian Victory Magazine.
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8
A teacher in the Jewish Communal School in Tapio
Szele, Hungary, became the possessor of a copy of the
New Testament, and showed it to his rabbi, who had diligently studied the Old
Testament, but had never seen the New Testament Scriptures. As the rabbi glanced at the title page of the
Book, and saw the words “Jesus Christ” upon it, he became enraged, and rebuked the teacher for
possessing such a Book, and would not return it to him. The rabbi put it away in a corner of his
library.
The Book was not opened for thirty years. This is how it was opened and read by the
rabbi. Professor Delitzsch, of
“I had thought,” he says in one of his books, “the
New Testament to be impure, a source of pride, of overweening selfishness, of
hatred, and of the worst kind of violence; but as I opened it I felt myself
peculiarly and wonderfully taken possession of. A sudden glory, a light, flashed through my
soul. I looked for thorns and gathered
roses; I discovered pearls instead of pebbles; instead of hatred, love; instead
of vengeance, forgiveness; instead of bondage, freedom; instead of pride,
humility; instead of enmity, reconciliation; instead of death, life, salvation,
resurrection.”
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