Transcriber's Notes:
Blank pages have been eliminated.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in theoriginal.
A few typographical errors have been corrected.
The cover page was created by the transcriber and can be considered public domain.
S. M. Melamed, Ph. D.
Alpha Omega Publishing Company,
New York
Copyright, 1918
Alpha Omega Publishing Co., Inc.
The following pages comprise anumber of editorial leaders discussingquestions and problems pertainingto Jewish nationalism andZionism which were published in theAmerican Jewish Chronicle in theyears 1916-17-18.
The war has caused an upheaval of thewhole world; vast changes have beenwrought in many peoples. Destruction oflife and treasure has brought about a revolutionof national assets and resources, andthere has been stock taking of the spiritual noless than of the material possessions. Wehave confident hope that the material losseswill be balanced by the moral progress of thepeoples of the world, great and small.
No people has felt the upheaval more thanhave the Jews. None has had a greater sharein its sorrows. None has had more reason toexamine carefully its past and its present andto define its future plans; and none can lookwith clearer purpose or with firmer courageinto the future. For none has better groundthan have the Jews for confident hope in themoral progress of the world,—that peoplewhich has been the constant witness of thecourse of civilization throughout the ages[iv]and has never lost its faith in the ultimatevictory of Justice and Right.
We need not speak in generalities. Thesmaller nations are assured that their rightswill be safeguarded in the future, and thatthese rights will embrace not only protectionfrom attack and aggression, but equally theright of development along the lines of theirown national bent, the right of self-government,the right to cultivate their ownspiritual possessions. There is no other peopleto whom this is so full of deep meaning asto the Jews. During the many centuries ofthe Dispersion our people has ever looked forwardto its Restoration in its ancestral home.During these many centuries there has neverbeen a day that the prayers for the Returnhave not ascended in every country of theworld in which the Children of Israel havebeen dispersed. This undying hope has beenthe factor in the unique, the miraculous preservationof a small people scattered amongall the peoples of the globe.
The national movement of the past generation,which has led to the rejuvenation of theHebrew language, to the founding of prosperousJewish colonies in Palestine, to the[v]establishment of the Zionist Organizationwith its branches throughout the world, thisnational movement has trained us to thinkpolitically and to act with statesmanlikegrasp of present conditions and of plans forthe future. A part of our people has beenprepared to deal with the great national problemswhich obtrude themselves upon us today.Large numbers are still confused by thenew outlook and must find guides to directthem in the new paths.
The Essays which Dr. Melamed presents tous in this volume are therefore most welcomeat