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T"he Southern Israelite Page 5 Restricting The Jewish Faith In Italy By G. SACERDOTI ;<• effect of the concordat be- „ the ratican and the Italian v has had some rather strik- iituf comparatively unknown ;ults for the Jexvs of Italy, motion, religion and social <• for the Italian Jews have all ■red a change, a significant tuic as a result of the new tus of the Vatican. This hie explains what these noes have been and hoiv they come about.—Editor. ( days when there was a Dem- (lovcrnment in Italy it never oc- <1 tu anyone to think what the other religion might be. The student in the soldier in the barracks and n and maid about to marry were a»ked what their religious convic- The Church was entirely e from the State. For that reason rriage ceremony performed in h had no civil validity, and for that u no religious instruction was ever n the State schools. Religion was >rivate concern, and no one ever thought j*>king his nose into it. t was why the Italian Government days never bothered about the of the Jewish Communities, or the labbi'. or the Jewish schools and their (1 means of existence. Some Jew- innuinities in certain provinces like out and Tuscany obtained permis- om the Government in 1857 to im- mmunal taxation upon all the Jews n their locality. Rut when a Jew- imunity in the north of Italy once "f the time, di Freitis, that this privilege ted to the Liberal Prime Minister apply also to the other Jewish unties in Italy, the Prime Minis- ' r * P1 y was that it would be advisable >e Jews to drop the subject, because >e he would be compelled to abol- existing privilege enjoyed by those ,n >lar Jewish communities, h the conclusion of the Concordat i Mussolini’s Government and the n. a complete change has come over nation. As soon as the Concordat ncluded in February 1929, it be- !<ar that the Italian Government have to make an alteration in its 1,1 >t only towards the Catholic hut also towards the other faiths. y great distinction, between the <-nt of the various religious com- of the country, could last for And, indeed, on June 24th, 1929, nate enacted a law regulating the :1 ot those religious communities are recognized by the State and validity to the religious marriage "nies performed by the clergymen respective faiths. The complete x - : this law has only just been pub- i so there is a Special Committee "uig which is engaged in complet- ' Ira ft of a specific law regulating e -ition of the Jewish Communities. ~ die members of this Commission )r Sacerdoti, the Chief Rabbi of Advocate Sereni, the President of tion of Jewish Communities in , and Dr. di Falco, Professor of Law at Milan University. The decree which has now been pub lished, embraces all the non-Catholic faiths, and, of course, also the Jewish faith. A study of the decree shows that while in certain respects the non-Catholic faiths are being better treated than pre viously', in other respects, however, cer tain restrictions are introduced in their case, which do not apply in the case of the Catholic faith. T he Constitution which was promul gated by King Charles Albert of Pied mont in 1848 and which is still valid in Italy', says that “the Catholic Apostolic Roman Faith is tolerated.” The first Article of the new law states: Faiths other than the Catholic Apostolic Roman Faith are permitted in the Kingdom of Italy, in so far as they do not pursue principles or customs which arc contrary to public order or good conduct. In its style, too, the new law makes an advance in comparison with the old. The Jewish faith is no longer “tolerated,” but “permitted”—that is to say, recog nized. Without going into any lengthy examination of the reasons prompting the change, one feels that there is a more sympathetic ring about the new phrasing. But the new decree also introduces a number of restrictions in respect of the Jewish Communities. There is an unpleas ant surprise, for instance, in the very first Article of the I^aw. Before a syn agogue or Beth Hamidrash may be built, the Rabbi, whose appointment must have This sketchy survey of the Jexvs of Irealnd, (there arc nearly 10,000 of them there) is by a former Irish newspaper man, himself a non-Jew, now resident in the United States. Mr. Bruen traces briefly the origin of the Irish Jexvs ami shows Xi'hat their progressive business tendencies are doing for the ancient home of St. Patrick and his traditional snakes.—Editor. A recent political upheaval in Ire land caused far more anxiety to Irish men thousands of miles from the Em erald Isle than to those in Dublin or Cork. Irish-Jewry in particular, inter ested mainly in the educational, com mercial and industrial progress of the nation, suffered no twinges of uncer tainty and things moved along with it smoothly until Cosgrave was re-elected. The explanation for this placidity at home is to be found in the fact that the great majority of the people of Ireland have deserted political myths for the substantial industrial and com mercial growth promised by the com pletion of the Shannon power scheme. No little responsibility in bringing about this condition is shared by the Jewish industrialists of Ireland, who been approved by the Government, must apply to the Minister of Public Worship and submit documents to prove that the projected synagogue is really necessary, and that there are sufficient members and funds to maintain it. The synagogue must not be built until permission has been given in the form of a Royal De cree. When the Synagogue has already been built, however, its members, enjoy the same rights as the Catholics in their churches. It has been said that the application must be made by the Rabbi, whose ap pointment must have been approved by the State. The new law provides that the appointment of a Rabbi must be ap proved by the Minister of Public Wor ship. The approval is made dependent on several conditions, one of which is of con siderable difficulty. It is that every Rabbi must be an Italian citizen. It is true that the same condition applies to the Catholic clergy, but when we recall the present condition of Italian Jewry, and the terrible shortage of Rabbis in Italy, we realize what a grave situation is created by this restriction. One of the greatest gains secured by the Catholic Church as a result of the Concordat is in the matter of religious marriages. Hitherto religious marriages performed in Italy had no validity in civil law. Henceforth religious marriages will be valid in civil law, whether performed have put this new power to work. In many a Free State town today, one suf fering from a calm that was only the peacefulness of death and desolation, the dizzy hum of mill and shop spur ring the people to spread their inter ests instead of depending entirely on agrarian possibilities. In addition to the Jewish industrialists, Jewish work ers, trained in English manufacturing centers, arc prominent in the Irish la bor movement and have accepted the responsibilities that membership in this movement entails as well as the bur dens thrust upon them by their fellow- workers. Some people may think it a paradox to speak of Jews in connection with Ireland, but there have been Jews in the Emerald Isle for more than two centuries. The bulk of the Jews now living in Ireland are the descendants of a group of 150 families who settled in Belfast in 1846 at the suggestion of Queen Victoria’s Prince consort, who saw and admired their industry and in telligence in his native Germany. It is in Belfast that the largest community of Jews in Ireland is located. This prominent textile settlement of the world boasts of 1,500 Jewish families. (Continued on Page 16) by the clergy of the Catholic Church or of the other faiths, including the Jew ish. There is a great difference, how ever, in the rights given to the Catholic faith and those given to the other faiths in the matter of divorce. The Catholic Church notoriously docs not recognize divorce. But in certain cases it will declare a marriage null and void. While the Catholic clergy have the right to de clare a marriage null and void, the Rabbis have no right, however, to grant divorce. Consequently a Jewish husband and wife who wish to separate must appear before the civil court, while a Catholic husband and wife who wish to separate can obtain their separation from the Catholic Church. There are many other privileges in the new law in favour of the Catholic Church which destroy the principle of equality existing hitherto between the va rious faiths. All clergymen, of whatever faith, were hitherto required to do their military service. The Catholic clergy are now released from military service, but the Rabbis arc still required to serve. In case of general mobilization those Rabbis who have been approved by the State may be released from military service if the Attorney-General finds that their re ligious ministry is essential. But students at the Rabbinical shools in Florence, Leg horn, and Padua are exempt from mili tary service till the age of 26. In this regard they enjoy the same privilege as the students of the Catholic theological seminaries. Perhaps the most serious and far-reach ing change, however; has been made in the matter of education in the schools. Before the conclusion of the Concordat the schools in Italy were secular schools, with a specified number of hours set apart for religious instruction. Now all the schools have been brought under the direct influence of the Catholic Church, which extends to every branch of the curriculum. In history and literature, for example, the Catholic element is always emphasized in such a way that in practice the effect is to impregnate the children, the Jewish children among the rest, with the spirit of Catholicism. In other words, Jewish children attending the State schools are in constant danger of Cath olic proselytisation. It is true, that Article 23 of the new law provides that if there arc a sufficient number of pupils the Jewish parents may open Jewish schools of their own, but at their own expense. Obviously this would not be an easy matter, and to all practical pur poses the situation now is such that there is a grave menace confronting the coming Jewish generation in Italy. There is still hope, of course, that the Special Commission which is now en gaged in drawing up the Jewish Commu nity Law will find a way out of this difficulty, by providing for the establish ment of Jewish schools, which it will be possible for the Jews of Italy to main tain. The members of the Commission are certainly alive to the danger, and perhaps the result of their work will be to remove this menace which at present looks black for the future of Italian Jewry. Copyright 1930 by the J. T. A., Inc. ♦ ♦ The Jews of Ireland Jewish Industrialists and Business Men of Ireland Transforming the Emerald Isle Into Bustling Commercial and Industrial Center By E. J. BRUEN