TRAGIC HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 97, 27 April 1933, Page 10

TRAGIC HISTORY.

JEWS' SUFFERINGS.

WORLD'S DEBT TO RACE.

AH mSPIKING ADDRESS.

"Jews Throughout the Ages and the World's Debt to the Jew," was tho subject of a most interesting talk broadcast by Mr. I. Meltzer from station IZE on Monday evening.

On the borders of the Mediterranean was a little land which the Romans called Palestine, but winch the Jews had always known ae "Eretz Israel," which was Hebrew for "Land of Israel," said Mr. Meltzer. It was a small strip

of territory extending from Dan to Beersheba, and covered only 6000 square miles—slightly larger than half the Auckland Province. Mo country had left a greater mark on the world's history. It gave birth to three great religions—Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism. It was in this place that the prophets spoke and the poets sang their immortal messages to mankind. Here was born tho Bible, which was imperishably enshrined in the life and thought of the Western world. Palestine was the highway of the nations, and Syria, Greece, Kome and Persia battled for its conquest. The Jews of old, at the height of 'their nation's greatness, numbered about 3,000,000, and their capital, Jerusalem, Avas one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. The time then came when the Roman conqueror cast envious eyes upon it, and the Roman legions thundered at the gates of Jerusalem. Jewish territory passed under Roman sway, and it became a country of the dead, Jewish slaves being carried captive to Rome to make a Roman holiday. But'though the Jews had lost all their territorial rights and material possessions, they still retained their spiritual wealth. That was enshrined in their Sefer Torah, or Scrolls of the Law. On parchment was written tho Five Books of Moses, which were to bo aj guide to them by night and by day inj all their subsequent wanderings through tho ages. A Golden Age. "Inconceivable sufferings followed," said the speaker. "The Jews were scattered to tho furthest provinces of the Roman Empire, and even beyond. When the Roman Empire itself decayed and fell, Europe became divided amongst its feudal lords, and Jews were bartered and sold like chattels. Nowhere could the wandering Jew find a haven of rest or refuge. Insulted, plundered, hated and despised by all the other nations of Europe among whom they dwelt, they found a refuge in Spain, which had been conquered by the Moors. There, for a time, in peace and quiet, they enjoyed what in years to follow they were to look back upon as a golden age. There the thought of the Jew flowered in a rich harvest. Medicine, philosophy, poetry—they were pioneers and masters of, them all." Mr. Meltzer described graphically the expulsion of the Jews from Spain with the rise of the Inquisition which formed one of the saddest chapters in their tragic history. Over 400,000 Jews left the land they loved so well because of the faith which they loved even more. Among the exiled refugees from Spain were the ancestors of many Jews who were, in years to come, to play a great part in the world of thought and affairs of men. Disraeli, Prime Minister of England; Sir Moses Montefiore, the greatest Anglo-Jewish philanthropist; Spinoza, the famous philosopher of the 17 th century, were all descended from' these exiles in Spain. These Spanish Jews were the aristocracy of Jewry and they numbered amongst them great Ministers of State who had served the Sovereigns of Spain. Even in New Zealand there were" Jews who could trace direct descent 'from the Arbar-Canells and other famous Jewish families who were high in the councils of sovereigns and princes over 400 years ago in Spain. Holland opened its gates to many exiles, and others found their way, after indescribable suffering in which tens of thousands perished, to Turkey and Northern Africa. Persecution came to the Jews in many other countries in its most horrible forms. The story of the " Jew in the Middle Ages, in France, Germany and throughout Europe, was one long drawn-out tragedy. - Emancipation. With the emancipation of the Jew in Western Europe he began to enter fully into the national life of the people around him. He enriched their literature and at the same time to record as history his long travail of experience and suffering through the ages. Previously restricted b yState Decree to commercial occupations, he then began to enter the professions—medicine, law, science, and every branch of human thought benefitted by the application of his alert mind. Liberty had its own reward and the world was enriched by his discoveries. The Jew, throughout the centuries had survived his oppressors. In the words- of Longfellow, "Trampled and beaten were they as the sand, and yet unshaken as the Continent." "Those 'countries which extended free- ' dom to the Jew reaped a rich harvest," said Mr. Meltzer. "For instance, in the early 'sixties, two Jews who had suffered from persecution in Germany and Russia, came to Australia as penniless refugees. The son of one of them, who in Germany had been denied the right of being even an officer in the army, became known to the world as a great general, Sir John Monash, Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Army during the Great War. The 6on of the other Jew who had fled from Poland was afterwards to become Chief Justice of Australia, and, as Sir Isaac • Isaacs, he is now tho first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. There are others in Australia who,rose to high positions." To England, always regarded as the home of constitutional liberty, there came, in the 'eighties, a Jew, poor in material means but who was rich in intellectual endowment. He sold matches that he might educate his son. That son, Dr. Selisj Brodetaky, after gaining scholarship after scholarship, entered Cambridge University, and, as Senior Wrangler, showed what the Jew could accomplish amid conditions of freedom. He was now professor of mathematics nt Leeds University, and was one of the examiners appointed by the Now Zealand University for the honours paper in 'mathematics. Another poor inimi•zrant to England later became known to tho world as Bernardt Baron, of cigarette fame.. Luring his lifetime his gifts to hospitals and other institutions. irrespective of religioiis denomination, I amounted to £2,000,000, and when ■he died, three years ago, ho left a further £2,000,000 as an endowment for charitable purposes for all creeds, f \j

Perhaps the greatest of the Jews who came to England as refugees from religious persecution was Dr. Weizmann, eminent scientist and leader of the Zionist movement. Arriving in England a few years before the war, he was appointed to the faculty of chemistry at Manchester University. During the war lie ]>laced his scientific knowledge at tho disposal of the British Government, which, in 1917 appointed him Director of the Admiralty Laboratories. His scientific inventions and discoveries were among the most remarkable of the war, and Mr. Lloyd George publicly stated that the British Government owed him a debt which no money could repay. He was offered princely rewards and honours by the British Government, but he stated that he desired none of these, but simply that Great Britain should give her sympathy and support to the creation of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

During the war 9000 Jews gave their lives for England, and five earned the coveted Victoria Cross. As the Jewish "Chronicle" had said, when the war began "England has been all she could be to the Jews —we shall be all we can to England!"