Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; Morgenthau, Henry, 1856-1946; United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century
As regards the administration of Palestine, this phase of the
subject does not seem to me to present any insurmountable
difficulties. Under an international and inter-religious commission
there could be a very large measure of self-government on the part
of the local citizenship. The whole world is now moving away from
the emphasis hitherto placed upon extreme nationalism. The forces
of internationalism must be developed practically and
systematically. What an error it would be, at the very time when
the primary message to the world of the Jewish people and their
religion should be one of peace, brotherhood and the international
mind, to set up a limited nationalist State and thereby appear to
create a physical boundary to their religious influence. Let us
give the strictly Hebraic culture a better chance than this would
imply. Let us permit it in its original form and purity to test out
its strength with other religions amid twentieth century
surroundings. Whatever value it may have for the world’s
civilization will thus be fully realized. Meanwhile nothing should
draw our attention from the infinitely greater opportunities of the
age in which we live. After the many centuries of restrictions,
persecutions and cruelties suffered by our people we are at last
sharing the blessings of freedom and of universal fellowship in all
the great democratic countries of the world.
HENRY MORGENTHAU.
New York, Dec. 11, 1917.
Sunday, March 3, 1918, was the last day for me to function as presiding
officer of the Free Synagogue. Dr. Wise had asked me to occupy his
pulpit on that date, because he had to go to Washington on business of
the nature of which I was then unaware. The next day, the New York
_Times_ contained the following statement, telegraphed from Washington,
March 3rd:
Approval of the plans of the Zionist leaders for the creation of a
national Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine was given to-night by
President Wilson to a delegation of representative Jewish leaders
who spent an hour at the White House in conference with the
President over the international status of the Jews around the
world. The delegation was headed by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New
York....
It affected me strangely to think that while I was taking Dr. Wise’s
place in the pulpit, he should be helping to secure the approval of the
President of the United States for a plan of which, because of my
knowledge of conditions in Palestine, I totally disapproved. I
telephoned Dr. Wise that this occurrence determined me to resign the
presidency of the Free Synagogue. He called at my house and tried to
dissuade me, but my duty seemed clear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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