Newspaper Page Text
IiH-_S_g U T H E R N ISRAFI.tc
Why
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMimiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiKimiiiiiiiiiiimiiniiiiiMiiiHMiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
r 'he Southern Israelite presents this ex
it contribution by America's distinguished
ney and liberal thinker. Darrow’s straight
the shoulder condemnation of Zionism
nlution of the Jewish problem will arouse
ht d opposition; we believe, however, that a
. ,<nality of the stature of Clarence Darrow
aid be given a free platform to speak his
'./ even if his view's do not coincide with
: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiMiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiii
I don’t know that the Jews have any
mission in this world, or, for that matter,
whether any people have a mission—but
if the Jews do have a mission, surely it
is not to hide themselves in one forsaken
I corner of the universe, but to mix with
the world, to spread among the goyim.
Zionism, the movement for the re-estab-
lishment of a Jewish National Home in
| Palestine, is doomed to failure, both be
cause of its practical defects and its spir
itual shortsightedness. Zionism is an effort
I to withstand the onsweeping currents of
time, which are slowly but certainly de
molishing those fundamental ideas to
which the Zionist movement clutches for
support.
There can be no doubt that Zionism is,
at bottom, a religious movement. I will be
told that thousands of the men and women
who to Palestine do not subscribe to the
religious tenets of the old orthodoxy;
others will tell me that a man like Theodore
Herzl was not religious in any sense of
the word, as many of the leaders of the
Zionist movement today are not religious.
Hut. nevertheless, in its spiritual ecstasy,
in its mystic hope, Zionism is primarily
religious in its motivation. That is the
magnet which draws masses of Jews to it.
Hut because Zionism is a religious move
ment, it must suffer the fate which over-
hns religious moves. They must all soon-
later succumb to the march of time,
ne growth of reason, to the widening
; °n of man in his evaluation of things
’ him. And without this religious back
ed, Zionism must collapse,
is probable that the persecution to
h Jews are subject in many lands has
cd an incentive to the Zionist move-
• but that is not the predominant fac-
as some observers have been led to
ey e. As Dr. Stephen Wise pointed out
^ e time ago in a discussion I had with
: the Zionist movement was started
I he very day the Jews were taken to
I h >ylon.
onism is a woefully inadequate attempt
'Olve the Jewish problem. In the con
ation upon Palestine, huge sums of
e >’ are wasted in an effort to push
ions of Jews into the country on a
that has no promise. In the mean-
e » the situation of millions of Jews in
parts of the world, where the Jewish
lem is immediate and pressing, is in
Vlse improved.
Don't Believe In
By CLARENCE DARROW
What drives Jews to a consideration of
Palestine as the remedy for their ills?
Is it a political state? Or is it the desire
for a cultural center?
I remember very well the days when
Theodore Herzl started his work. At that
time, when phrases were the only posses
sions of the Zionist movement, grandiose
dreams were developed. There was talk
of a political state comparable to any Eu
ropean state. Rut as time has gone on the
folly and the impossibility of such a goal
has become apparent to ever increasing
circles of Jews. I have no doubt that if
Clarfnce Darrow
Jews should make an insistent drive for
the establishment of a political state at
this time that no many days would pass
before thousands upon thousands of Jews
would find their throats cut. And that
would not be a sacrifice to attain the final
end. It would merely be a vain spilling
of blood.
You cannot ignore the Arabs who live
in Palestine. Perhaps the Jews do have
some rights, though politically and even
morally the land has always belonged to
nomadic peoples—of which the Jews were
once a part. But Jews, with a sense of
reality, must realize that the 700,000
Arabs cannot be annihilated.
And what do these gentlemen mean when
they talk of a Jewish cultural center? The
phrase is meaningless. What sort of cul
ture could the Jews achieve in Palestine
that they cannot achieve elsewhere, or for
that matter, what culture could they cre
ate that I am not as capable of creating?
When I ask for an exact definition of what
this culture is supposed to mean, I hear
only stammering and indecision. And then
I will be told that the Hebrew language
will be revived. But one might just as well
talk about bringing back the oxcarts and
the sun dials. The laws governing the
Zionism
growth and death of languages cannot be
controlled by man’s ambitions. The Irish
tried exactly the same experiment by at
tempting to revive the Celtic language.
They are making a brave effort, but their
failure is already apparent. The centuries
of disuse, the centuries of acclimatization
to new r languages, to new r vehicles of
thought cannot be conquered by some fan
tastic scheme of national regeneration.
If Zionism were not a religious move
ment, it would not ignore the very obvious
fact that Palestine can never be a Jewish
homeland. I have no objection whatever to
any proposal that Jews as a group settle
in some land where they may escape per
secution. But is absurd to settle them in a
country which is wholly inadequate. If
Zionism had no religious source, the Jew's
w'ould seek out some area in South Amer
ica, or Russia, or Africa. If they planted
seeds in such countries, they w'ould be sure
of getting rich crops. But in Palestine they
are not even certain of getting the seeds
back.
1 am what might be called a territorial-
ist, as w-as Israel Zangwill
Not, however, that I believe that Jews
should segregate themselves. The assimila
tion of the Jewish people is going on
steadily and should go on steadily. All the
barriers of creed and dogma, of national
istic pride and chauvinistic intolerance
must ultimately come down. That way lies
the only hope for the solution of the Jew
ish problem. For the Jews to set them
selves deliberately against the evolution of
social thought is not characteristic of their
usual intelligence.
But outside of being socially undesir
able, the establishment of a Jewish Na
tional Home in Palestine is not feasible.
Consider the width and length of the coun
try. And on top of that keep in mind the
two large mountain ranges. And you real
ize that there cannot possibly be any land
for agricultural colonization—on the scale
which Jews have in mind.
Five years ago I visited Palestine and
studied the country—but much more of my
information has come from a reading of
the available documents in the matter. The
land is hard and labor-resisting. It is deso
late because that is the nature of the soil.
Of course, there is much talk these days
of developing the industrial growth of the
country. But there must be an outlet for
industry. The only available market are in
the Near East. But that market is not re
ceptive to industrial development. To
change the habits of living and the customs
of the peoples in that area would take a
minimum of five hundred years. Then Jew
ish industry in Palestine might find a real
outlet. And what are Jews to do in the
meantime?
The Jews have tried their hand at devel
oping the country. (Please turn to page 18)