Brandeis and Zionism

Julius T. Loeb, “Letter to the Editor: Brandeis and Zionism,” Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, GA), Sept. 23, 1913. 

BRANDEIS AND ZIONISM

    Editor Constitution: A recent editorial in which you question the consistency of Louis Brandeis on Zionism, leads me to ask you to present a few facts on the Zionist movement from a sympathetic standpoint.

    Zionism is not a new sort of “Oriental peril.” The whole scheme of the Zionist movement is not for a wholesale and forceful immigration to Zion-land, but it is to create a “legally-assured and publicly-guaranteed home” for those of the Jewish people who are homeless in the lands of their sojourning; for those who suffer persecution and bitter contempt on account of their being Jews, and for those also from the more civilized countries, who prefer by their own free will to settle in Palestine, in order to continue the historic life of ancient Israel, to observe the Sabbath of Sinai, and to rear up a Jewish generation, with a full sense of their moral responsibility.

    Zionism is the only peaceful and practical solution to this problem. And all those who are engaged in the world of Zionism, from the Jew-millionaire down to the wage-earner saving his pennies for the Jewish national fund, are really the best type of citizens everywhere. For they are idealists and not people engrossed by egotism and self-love. They are those who will readily make sacrifices to principle, and who will stand for human liberty, and fight for the right everywhere. So the shining example of a Zionist regiment in the British ranks or the many Zionists who fought their best under the Stars and Stripes in the late Spanish-American war; a Colonel Goldsmith in Great Britian, or a Moses Montefore, [sic] who is known to have made several attempts at colonizing Jews in the Holy Land on an independent basis. And Sir Moses was the peculiarly loyal subject of the British queen.

    It is a conceded fact that they who prove themselves loyal to their won household and kindred race may equally be relied upon for their sense of honor and loyalty as members of a community or commonwealth.

    And as the Zionists do not always work for themselves only, so they do not generally have to go to Palestine by themselves; but they are to join in the noble effort of helping others to a life of dignity and self-dependence. 

    Louis Brandeis is one of their type. He, like Louis Marshal, Samuel Strauss and other American Zionists of high standing in the community, need not by himself go to Palestine as long as this country is in need of his services. 

    “Nothing that is necessary is impossible,” is the true saying today. And most of the world’s leaders of thought have now recognized Zionism as a necessity for the peaceful solution of the Jewish problem.

    No matter what happen [sic] with James McCarthy or John Johnson, he is always answerable for himself, by himself. No one will delve into his ancestry. No one will go into hysterics over his lineage or his religious faith. No one will care aught whether or not some one else of his own race or religious denomination may offer an analogy in the direction of the alleged offense that the individual in question may be charged with. And the position of the Jew is therefore a more peculiar one. 

    Zionism is not only to give a land to the Jewish people, but it is likewise to regenerate the people as faithful children of Zion. For out of Zion is ever to come forth light and law to the whole world. It is with this end in view that Zionists are exerting their best efforts to rejuvenate the Jewish people by a revival of their ancient faith, by a restoration of their won Jewish culture and ethics and lore. Jewish universities, Jewish schools of art and agricultural and manufacturing industries in the Holy Land will give the best showing and influence for good to the Jewish people all over the world. 

    By the realization of the Zionist ideal the Jew may come to his own, to show the world what good he has done, and is doing. For during all the ages of his captivity none else but the faults and failings of the Jew were brought public view. The shortcomings of the Jew, real or imaginary, are always thrown back to him, while his virtues are rarely considered. It is simply heart-rending to note how the Lambrozos, the Bergsons, the Metchnicoffs and the host of other great men and public benefactors are passed and turned into Frenchmen, Russians, Germans, etc., and what is left to the “credit” of the Jews are the queer characters mentioned before. No, we want some of those others to be counted among our own number. And this is why we Zionists strive to enlist the services of the Norduas, the Marmoreks, the Warburgs, and also the Louis Brandeis type. Not that all of the world’s great Jews leave their posts and cease their labors for the upbuilding of nations and states, but that just a few of them come to aid in the reconstruction so necessary for the scattered nation. It is a noble task which portends peace for the Jew and peace for all the world. An honest participation on the part of an American Jew in the promotion of such lofty purpose is the purest sort of consistency.

    RABBI JULIUS T. LOEB.

    Birmingham, Ala., September 21, 1913.