History of Zionism, 1600-1918, Vol. 2 (of 2)Sokolow, Nahum
History
History of Zionism, 1600-1918, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Sokolow, Nahum
Jews -- Restoration; Zionism -- History
and nationals of those lands.’ The Committee proceed to argue that
since ‘the Jewish religion’ is ‘the only certain test of a Jew, the
Jewish nationality must be founded on, and limited by religion. ’ It
follows, they believe, that a Jewish nationality would be obliged to
‘express itself politically’ by religious intolerance, and would thus
undermine the very principle which Jews have invoked to secure their
emancipation. The Committee further insist that the bestowal by Charter
of ‘certain special rights in excess of those enjoyed by the rest of
the population’ would be a questionable boon to a Jewish community
in Palestine, because in all the countries in which Jews live ‘the
principle of equal rights for all religious denominations’ is vital
to them.
“It seems to us that in attempting to define Jewish nationality in
terms of religion the Committee come dangerously near to begging the
question which they raise; and no question can be solved by begging
it. As Dr. Weizmann, the President of the English Zionist Federation,
observes in the letter which we published yesterday, it may possibly be
inconvenient to certain individual Jews that the Jews do constitute a
nationality. The question is one of fact, not of argument, and the fact
that the Jews are a nationality ‘is attested by the conviction of the
overwhelming majority of Jews throughout all ages.’ This conviction,
he rightly says, ‘has always been shared by non-Jews in all countries.’
But more immediately important than this discussion of a point which
cannot seriously be disputed is the denial by eminent and influential
Jewish leaders like Lord Rothschild and the Chief _Rabbi_ of the title
of the Conjoint Committee to speak for British Jewry, or, indeed, for
‘the larger mass of the Jewish people.’ Lord Rothschild writes: ‘We
Zionists cannot see how the establishment of an autonomous Jewish State,
under the ægis and protection of one of the Allied Powers, can be
considered for a moment to be in any way subversive of the position or
loyalty of the very large part of the Jewish people who have identified
themselves thoroughly with the citizenship of the countries in which
they live.’ The Chief _Rabbi_ insists that the statement of the
Conjoint Committee does not represent in the least the views held
‘either by Anglo-Jewry as a whole or by the Jewries of the Oversea
Dominions.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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