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Page 4 The Southern Israelite Have Christians Forgotten the Golden Ruled By MRS. ESTELLE M. STERNBERGER In recent months, increased emphasis has been placed upon Good-Will between Christians and Jews. Mrs. Estelle M. Sternberg, executive secre tary of the National Council of Jewish Women, is also a member of the executive committee of the Conference of Jews and Christians. In this article, she suggests some ways in which Christians may help stem the tide of anti-Semitism in Europe, and of employment discrimination against Jews in America.—The Editor. -£g)l-=r= ■■ =. — There arc Christian preachers who are seeking to throw over- hoard the attitudes and habits that retard the spiritual unification of the human race. 1 he Reverend Doctor Fosdick has set up in the Riverside Church the statue of a Jew of our day, in recognition of his worth to the human race. Dr. John Haynes Holmes has chal lenged the Jew to display a simi lar breadth of spirit, not by set ting up a statue of Jesus in the synagogue, but by inscribing his name in golden letters upon its walls. 1 le asks the Jews to reclaim Jesus as one of their great sons, even as England has reclaimed George Washington by placing his statue in front of the National Art Gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square. I, for one, would be ready to have Jesus recorded in the an nals of Jewish history as one of its great men, just as we record that of Spinoza, overlooking the fact that he taught many doctrines that arc opposed to those of Juda ism. but only on two conditions: The first condition is that Chris tianity cease teaching that the Jews crucified Jesus, and the second con dition is that Christianity remove from the highways and byways of the world, especially in the coun tryside of European lands, the figure of Jesus on the cross, his body dripping with blood—a spectacle that stirs up and perpetu ates bitter and vengeful judgments of the Christian toward the Jew. The plea of Doctor Holmes, to restore Jesus to his rightful posi tion as one of Israel's gifts to the humanizing of the world, should first be addressed to Christianity. T he Jew will view the character of Jesus differently only when he is no longer a symbol that permits his followers to perpetuate a libel of well nigh 2,000 years. I ask Christian men and women: “Do you want the Jew to end this conflict of the centuries by run ning away from his past, by being disloyal to it and by throwing overboard his entire heritage? Do you believe that the only solution lies in the surrender and disappear ance of the Jew?” Surely no Christian believes that the human race can be enriched by making cowards of an entire people, trait ors to the faith that gave the world two great religions of Christianity and Mohammedanism. We are entering upon a new calendar year. During its days there will be born Christian chil dren who will live to see the year 2000, marking the second millen nium of the birth of Christian ity’s founder. Upon their Chris tian parents and teachers depends whether these children will, as sep tuagenarians, greet the year 2000 as a year in which the Golden Rule shall be a practice and not a mere pronouncement. What a glorious triumph for humanity if these years would be hold the Christian Church marshal its forces toward leading Rumania out of its present mire of anti- Semitism! Practical religion rc quires its application to the con ditions and affairs of men. World Christianity should point an ac cusing finger at Rumania in thv striking way it once pointed it at Turkey for its treatment of Chris tian Armenians. Christian and Jew recently joined in protests against abuses of religious freedom in Rus sia. I call upon the Christian churches to stage such vigorous protests against the people and government of Rumania. Will Jew and Christian behold one another successfully fulfilling the preachment of Hillel and the declaration of Jesus? For Chris tianity, such a century would be a glorious prologue to the second millennium of its founder’s birth For the Jew it would be a crown ing vindication of its prophet, who asked: “Have we not all one Fa ther? Hath not one God created We inquire whether Christian ity has scrapped the Golden Rule, not in a spirit of criticism, or com plaint, but as one who believes it is our common duty as Jew r s and Christians to lead the human fam ily to a spiritual fellowship that shuts out no race or religion. During this period of tremen dous unemployment, more than ever, we have learned, discrimi nation is practiced on the sole grounds that people’s names, their race, and their religion are differ ent. There are offices, stores, trades, and industries that discour age the use of Jewish personnel There is a phase of this employ ment discrimination that is really tragic, namely, that of Jewish cm ployers refusing to engage Jewish workers because they have allowed themselves to believe that their non-Jewish patronage requires it By silent consent, the Jew and Christian are thus united in this injustice to the Jew who seeks an opportunity in commercial and in dustrial life. I appeal to both Jev and Christian to face this prob lem and to solve it. Let them join hands, not in crushing the Jewish worker, but in uprooting the mo tives and prejudice that make tb employers forget the teaching of Hillel and the teaching of Jesus. (Copyright, 1931, by the J. T. A., Inc.) Pogelstein Receives Golden Cup Left to right, Benjamin Altheimer, Ludwig Vogelstein, and Mr*. Maurice Steinfeld A golden cup, in tribute to services in behalf of Reform Judaism in America, and to his 60th birthdav, observed recently, was presented to Ludwig Vogelstein. of New York City, at the recent XXXII Biennial Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in Philadelphia. Mr. Vogcl- stein was re-elected to the Chairmanship of the Executive Board. The committee on presentation consisted of Benjamin Al- theimer, of New York; David A. Brown, of New York, chair man of the Union’s Board of Finance; and Marcus Rauh, of Pittsburgh. Mrs. Steinfeld, of St. Louis, is president of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and a member of the Union’s Executive Board.