Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Jewish Memorial To A
Catholic Priest
By RABBI STEPHEN S. WISE
sermon of Rabbi Stephen S.
recently before the Free Syna-
• Carnegie Hall, dealt with “A
Memorial to a Catholic Priest.”
\ i>e designed his address to be
note of what is to be a world-
ntenary commemoration of the
i Abbe Gregoire, one of the
figures in France of the Eigh-
Century.
Wise called attention to the fact
i one turn to the Catholic En-
;n(lia. one finds no biographical
niching this priest of the Ro-
Catholic Church. The Encyclo-
i Britannica on the other hand,
RABBI STEPHEN S. WISE
no mention whatever of his
• pionship of the cause of freedom
e Jews of France. The Catholic
!'>pedia is as silent about Abbe
"ire as the Catholic Encyclopedia
century hence may be expected
!><iut Zamora, first President of
Republic of Spain, or about Una-
>et-r and prophet of the new’
his battle for the political, civil
above all, human rights of Jews,
ire stood not alone but in the
any of such great figures of their
Robespierre and Mirabeau.
egoires life as a public figure,
and beyond his faithful curacy as
began with the publication of
"■ay on “The Physical, Moral and
! °al Regeneration of the Jews.”
after the publication of this
essay, he became a member of
rvnch States General and an ad-
of Jewish emancipation. This
an advocacy braver and more dif-
by far than Macaulay’s advocacy
years later in England—his battle
- for “equal rights for all men,
dess of creed and nationality.”
ise pointed out, whatever oth-
^ unmemorations may be held in
lCe and in other lands, there is
special reason that the Jewish people
institute a special commemoration of
Gregoire, that shall have regard to the
courage of his advocacy and the noble
ness of that service which led, per
haps more than anything else, to the
Jewish emancipation in France and
subsequently in other European lands.
Let us of the House of Israel always
be eager to praise whenever praise is
worthily bestowed. We have had at
least nineteen hundred years in which
to master the art of forgiving our
enemies. Let us never forget our
friends.
The truest reason for our part in
the commemoration of this priest of
the Roman Catholic church lies in the
circumstance that this great “friend of
the Jews” proves to be yet another
whose fame shines as that of a friend
of the oppressed and enslaved among
all peoples and races.
Dr. Wise made special reference to
the character of men throughout the
ages, whose only kindness to Israel
lay in the truth that they were great
enough to be utterly just in their atti
tude toward the Jew’. Dr. Wise con
trasted the base Hitlers of any age
with the noble Gregoires. “I thank
God that our foes are the foes of
freedom. I thank God that our friends
are the friends of humanity and of
human liberty.”
Oh, the tragic degradation of the
term, “good to the Jews!” “Good to
the Jews”—as if any man were good
to Jews whose acts or words were
inspired by the motive of kindness to
inferiors. It becomes necessary to say
in this hour, in the light of recent hap
penings, that being “good to the Jews”
shall not, save from the basest and
vulgarest among our people, secure
condonation of wrong-doing. Else are
we the enemies of the State! Abbe
Gregoire was “good to the Jews,”
though he named no Jewish magis
trates nor ever appointed a Jewish
borough president. He was good to
the Jews in the only way in which we
would have any man be “good to the
Jews,” insofar as he was a great and
daring friend of humankind, insofar
as he wjis an uncompromising foe of
wrong and tyranny and injustice!
EMMA REDELL is a New York-
bred girl who left the town for Europe,
to study music, and has now’ returned via
Chicago, where, after her first season
with the Chicago Civic Opera Com
pany, she has been acclaimed the
greatest Wagnerian opera singer of
our time. The former New’ York girl
slipped into Gotham unobtrusively,
without any publicity drums. She is
trying to rest up, in New York, from
the public spotlight. She seems to have
picked the right spot.
Page
Steel
k
Sea Season
Before taking the plunge into beach
togs, let Iris Lee, our personal shopper,
chart your course. She knows more about
the sea-season than old Davy Jones him
self, and she’ll be happy to give you a steer
in the right direction.
She’ll tell you about the raft of new
ideas afloat—about the barbaric color-
contrasts, the bathing suits that wear
skirts, the lazy loafers that pajamas have
turned out to be.
We won’t steal Iris Lee's thunder
by spilling any more ideas. Just
make her your pilot, and we’ll pre
dict smooth sailing this Summer.
Iris Lee Bureau, Mezzanine
DAVISCN-PAXCN CC.
ATLANTA • - ojjdiattd. With. M ACY*S,