box 3/2
23. Der Nec ins Fr.
1 U d 44 — Aenianen e enenerene
and to set them in ornaments which mav still besworn. Ourage is eclective; and
there is an honourable aspect to this modern catholicity. We are determined to lose
nothing worth holding ofthe heritage of the past.
Even in the case of the Bible, where selection is hardest, the process is becoming
popular. Books of selection are appearing, sometimes the basis of choice being
literary beauty, sometimes religious import. The two qualities, however, are not
separate. Excellence of style and dignity of contents frequently go hand-inchand in
the Scriptures. Hence it is that we welcome so cordially the new-born zeal for the
literary study of the Bible. What we want is that the Bible should be admired and
loved. Let men enjoy its poetry, praise its eloquence, realise its artistic merits.
Literary appreciation must carry with it moral appreciation; its style cannot be
admired without its contents becoming an inspiration.
Remains of the Rev. Simeon Singer,“ p. 163.
The American Jewish Year Book is edited this year by Dr. Herbert
Friedenwald, Secretary of the American Jewish Committee. The volume is
issued by the Jewish Publication Society of America.
In dialogue form Dr. A. Flesch has published“ Der Jude.“ The author is
Rabbi in the Hungarian congregation of Mohacs, and the parties to the
dialogue are an old-fashioned pietist and a modernised child of Judaism and
the world. The latter gets the best of the argumen; that was the author’s
purpose, of course. It is noticeable that there has been of late a revival in
the liberal camp on the continent. The party has now its organ, a monthly
called Liberales Judentum, which is edited by Dr. Seligmann in Frankfort¬
on-the-Main. It is published bythe“ Vereinigung für das liberale Judentum
in Deutschland.
The new number of Freimann’s Hebrdische Bibliographie has a good
account by Dr. S. Poznanski of the Book-lists found in the Cambridge Geniza.
Inthe same number, Dr. Porges (of Leipzig), in a discussion of the term
Mumar (Woit) as a term for renegade, connects this word with Marrano,
thus offering a new etymology for the latter. Dr. Poznanski, by the way, is
to edit the publications of the revived Society of" Mekitze Nirdamim,' whose
London representative is to be Dr. Büchler. This is one ofthe best results
of the Copenhagen Congress.
* The Reflections of Lichtenberg'’ is not a new novel by Elinor Glyn.
It is a selection of thoughts (published at half-a-crown by Swan Sonnen¬
schein) by George C. Lichtenberg, who was born at Darmstadt in 1742 and
died in his fiftv-seventh year. A scientist and satirist, and a sceptic to boot,
he said (speaking in the third person, in a self-character-sketch):“ It is not
beyond him to pray with fervour, and he has never been able to read the
90th Psalm without an indescribable feeling ef exaltation.“ The present
volume is well deseribed by the translator, Norman Alliston, as a“ hotch¬
potch of aphorisms, thoughts, criticisms, witticisms and the like.“ They are
often commonplace enough, but more often are clever and sometimes are
profound. Here are a few sentences: “ Where moderation is a fault
indifference is a crime.'—“ Perhaps in time to come the so-called Dark Ages
may include own own.'’—“I have frequently been reproached for committing
faults which my censurers had neither the power nor the intelligence to
contmit.“ Perhaps Lichtenberg’s most famous epigram (popularised by
Schopenhauer) is this:" God created man in his own image. This
probably means that man created Ged in his.“ Here, again, is a very subtle
remark:“ We are a great deal more certain that our will is free than that
everyching that happens is bound to have a cause. This being the case, could
we not, for once in a way, reverse the argument, and say: Dur ideas of cause
andeffect must be very inaccurate, for were they right, our will could not be
free?
„ This, too, is a good remark, with much truth init:“ In general,
men find it more diflicult to believe in miracles than in traditions of miracles;
Mles auertHr-
* Perhaps,“ he says,“it is only because Tam getting older, perhaps because 1
read so much about Zionism and all that; but I can't helpit, I would like to
see Jerusalem before 1 die.“
In this house, where the vain mother and daughter, with their leanings
to the Christians, have the upper hand, grew up the son of the house, Oskar
Ehrenberg, Lieutenant of Reserve, a revolting Jewish snob, who, for fear of
being disinherited, will not get baptised, but ostentationsly takes off his hat
in front of every Catholic Church, and, on one occasion, gets : box on the
ears from his father for the offence. This house, too, is visited b., t#e Jewish
author, Heinrich Bermann, a splendidly depicted type of that self-centred,
uncertain Jewish poet-mind which is always uneasy,“ because it always
finds itself on hostile soil.' This perpetually brooding, painfully doubting
man, gives expression to his feelings in words which will find an echo in
every intelligent Jewish heart. Speaking to his friend, Baron Georg, he says:
Do you believe that there is a Christian on earth, no matter how noble, just and
true he may be. who would not, in a moment of temper, ill-humour or anger, turn, at
any rate inwardly, against even his best friend. against his wife, if they should be
Jewsor of Jewish origin? There is not one, Tassure you. You can, moreover, make
another test. Read, for example, the letters of any celebrated, otherwise quite clever
and excellent man, and notice the passages containing hostile and ironical
references to contemporaries. In ninet nine cases the individual will be referredto
withont any mention of his origin or religion, but in the hundredth case where the
offending person has the misfortune to be a Jew, the author will certainly not forget
to mention the fact. It is so, and Lcan't help it.
In the course of the subseguent conversation Bermann expresses the
view that there can be no combined solution of the Jewish question, but that
each individual must solve the problem for himself.
In our days there will be no solution; that is absolutely certain. At least no
general solution. Rather will there be a hundred thousand different schutions,
because it is really a matter that for the present each must settle for himself in the
best way he can. Each müst see for himself how he can be extricated from bis
distress, his despair, his miserv wherever he can onco more breathe freely. Perhaps
there are really people who will have to goto Jerusalem. Ionly fear that many
when they have arrived at this common goal will find that thev have made a grievous
mistake, 1 do not for a moment believe that such pilgrimages to freedom can be made
in consort, for the roads thither do not lead out into the land but lie withinus. lt is
for everyone then to lind his inner road. It is, therefore, necessary to look as cleaily
as possible into his own being, to illuminate his most hidden corners, to have the,
courage of his own nature, not to be deceived. Tes, that must be the daily prayer of
every respectable man: Let me not be deceived!“
Georg thought:" What is theimatter with him? In his way he is as ill as his
father was. But it cannot be said that he has personally had bad experiences. He
once asserted that he feels attached to no-one. That is not true. He feels himself
attached to every Jew, and to the last of them more closely than to me.“
This is evidently Schnitzler’s view. To this society there belongs also
the Ishmaelite Jewish critie Nuernberger, who is satisfied with nothing in
the world and is alwavs grumbling to himself. Then there is the young Leo
Golowski, an ardent Zionist, who is strengthened in his faith by his bad
treatment in the army, and who, at the expiry of his term of service, shoots
his Lieutenant. In contrast to him is his sister Therese, a Social-Democrat,
who vacillates between free love and political propaganda. There is, further,
the old Jewish physician, Dr. Stauber, whose whole philosophy is expressed
in benevolence, and his son, Dr. Berthold Stauber, who, as a Liberal parlia¬
mentary deputy, makes the bitter experience that Liberalism in Austria is
played out, and that he, owing to his Judaism, is given the go-by by his party,
and in disgust resigns his seat.
Then there is the real hero of the novel, Baron Georg von Wergenthin,
who devotes himself to music andseeks inspiration in this intellectual Jewish
23. Der Nec ins Fr.
1 U d 44 — Aenianen e enenerene
and to set them in ornaments which mav still besworn. Ourage is eclective; and
there is an honourable aspect to this modern catholicity. We are determined to lose
nothing worth holding ofthe heritage of the past.
Even in the case of the Bible, where selection is hardest, the process is becoming
popular. Books of selection are appearing, sometimes the basis of choice being
literary beauty, sometimes religious import. The two qualities, however, are not
separate. Excellence of style and dignity of contents frequently go hand-inchand in
the Scriptures. Hence it is that we welcome so cordially the new-born zeal for the
literary study of the Bible. What we want is that the Bible should be admired and
loved. Let men enjoy its poetry, praise its eloquence, realise its artistic merits.
Literary appreciation must carry with it moral appreciation; its style cannot be
admired without its contents becoming an inspiration.
Remains of the Rev. Simeon Singer,“ p. 163.
The American Jewish Year Book is edited this year by Dr. Herbert
Friedenwald, Secretary of the American Jewish Committee. The volume is
issued by the Jewish Publication Society of America.
In dialogue form Dr. A. Flesch has published“ Der Jude.“ The author is
Rabbi in the Hungarian congregation of Mohacs, and the parties to the
dialogue are an old-fashioned pietist and a modernised child of Judaism and
the world. The latter gets the best of the argumen; that was the author’s
purpose, of course. It is noticeable that there has been of late a revival in
the liberal camp on the continent. The party has now its organ, a monthly
called Liberales Judentum, which is edited by Dr. Seligmann in Frankfort¬
on-the-Main. It is published bythe“ Vereinigung für das liberale Judentum
in Deutschland.
The new number of Freimann’s Hebrdische Bibliographie has a good
account by Dr. S. Poznanski of the Book-lists found in the Cambridge Geniza.
Inthe same number, Dr. Porges (of Leipzig), in a discussion of the term
Mumar (Woit) as a term for renegade, connects this word with Marrano,
thus offering a new etymology for the latter. Dr. Poznanski, by the way, is
to edit the publications of the revived Society of" Mekitze Nirdamim,' whose
London representative is to be Dr. Büchler. This is one ofthe best results
of the Copenhagen Congress.
* The Reflections of Lichtenberg'’ is not a new novel by Elinor Glyn.
It is a selection of thoughts (published at half-a-crown by Swan Sonnen¬
schein) by George C. Lichtenberg, who was born at Darmstadt in 1742 and
died in his fiftv-seventh year. A scientist and satirist, and a sceptic to boot,
he said (speaking in the third person, in a self-character-sketch):“ It is not
beyond him to pray with fervour, and he has never been able to read the
90th Psalm without an indescribable feeling ef exaltation.“ The present
volume is well deseribed by the translator, Norman Alliston, as a“ hotch¬
potch of aphorisms, thoughts, criticisms, witticisms and the like.“ They are
often commonplace enough, but more often are clever and sometimes are
profound. Here are a few sentences: “ Where moderation is a fault
indifference is a crime.'—“ Perhaps in time to come the so-called Dark Ages
may include own own.'’—“I have frequently been reproached for committing
faults which my censurers had neither the power nor the intelligence to
contmit.“ Perhaps Lichtenberg’s most famous epigram (popularised by
Schopenhauer) is this:" God created man in his own image. This
probably means that man created Ged in his.“ Here, again, is a very subtle
remark:“ We are a great deal more certain that our will is free than that
everyching that happens is bound to have a cause. This being the case, could
we not, for once in a way, reverse the argument, and say: Dur ideas of cause
andeffect must be very inaccurate, for were they right, our will could not be
free?
„ This, too, is a good remark, with much truth init:“ In general,
men find it more diflicult to believe in miracles than in traditions of miracles;
Mles auertHr-
* Perhaps,“ he says,“it is only because Tam getting older, perhaps because 1
read so much about Zionism and all that; but I can't helpit, I would like to
see Jerusalem before 1 die.“
In this house, where the vain mother and daughter, with their leanings
to the Christians, have the upper hand, grew up the son of the house, Oskar
Ehrenberg, Lieutenant of Reserve, a revolting Jewish snob, who, for fear of
being disinherited, will not get baptised, but ostentationsly takes off his hat
in front of every Catholic Church, and, on one occasion, gets : box on the
ears from his father for the offence. This house, too, is visited b., t#e Jewish
author, Heinrich Bermann, a splendidly depicted type of that self-centred,
uncertain Jewish poet-mind which is always uneasy,“ because it always
finds itself on hostile soil.' This perpetually brooding, painfully doubting
man, gives expression to his feelings in words which will find an echo in
every intelligent Jewish heart. Speaking to his friend, Baron Georg, he says:
Do you believe that there is a Christian on earth, no matter how noble, just and
true he may be. who would not, in a moment of temper, ill-humour or anger, turn, at
any rate inwardly, against even his best friend. against his wife, if they should be
Jewsor of Jewish origin? There is not one, Tassure you. You can, moreover, make
another test. Read, for example, the letters of any celebrated, otherwise quite clever
and excellent man, and notice the passages containing hostile and ironical
references to contemporaries. In ninet nine cases the individual will be referredto
withont any mention of his origin or religion, but in the hundredth case where the
offending person has the misfortune to be a Jew, the author will certainly not forget
to mention the fact. It is so, and Lcan't help it.
In the course of the subseguent conversation Bermann expresses the
view that there can be no combined solution of the Jewish question, but that
each individual must solve the problem for himself.
In our days there will be no solution; that is absolutely certain. At least no
general solution. Rather will there be a hundred thousand different schutions,
because it is really a matter that for the present each must settle for himself in the
best way he can. Each müst see for himself how he can be extricated from bis
distress, his despair, his miserv wherever he can onco more breathe freely. Perhaps
there are really people who will have to goto Jerusalem. Ionly fear that many
when they have arrived at this common goal will find that thev have made a grievous
mistake, 1 do not for a moment believe that such pilgrimages to freedom can be made
in consort, for the roads thither do not lead out into the land but lie withinus. lt is
for everyone then to lind his inner road. It is, therefore, necessary to look as cleaily
as possible into his own being, to illuminate his most hidden corners, to have the,
courage of his own nature, not to be deceived. Tes, that must be the daily prayer of
every respectable man: Let me not be deceived!“
Georg thought:" What is theimatter with him? In his way he is as ill as his
father was. But it cannot be said that he has personally had bad experiences. He
once asserted that he feels attached to no-one. That is not true. He feels himself
attached to every Jew, and to the last of them more closely than to me.“
This is evidently Schnitzler’s view. To this society there belongs also
the Ishmaelite Jewish critie Nuernberger, who is satisfied with nothing in
the world and is alwavs grumbling to himself. Then there is the young Leo
Golowski, an ardent Zionist, who is strengthened in his faith by his bad
treatment in the army, and who, at the expiry of his term of service, shoots
his Lieutenant. In contrast to him is his sister Therese, a Social-Democrat,
who vacillates between free love and political propaganda. There is, further,
the old Jewish physician, Dr. Stauber, whose whole philosophy is expressed
in benevolence, and his son, Dr. Berthold Stauber, who, as a Liberal parlia¬
mentary deputy, makes the bitter experience that Liberalism in Austria is
played out, and that he, owing to his Judaism, is given the go-by by his party,
and in disgust resigns his seat.
Then there is the real hero of the novel, Baron Georg von Wergenthin,
who devotes himself to music andseeks inspiration in this intellectual Jewish