The Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 34, Ed. 1, Thursday, May 20, 1909 Page: 4 of 11
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thing seemed necessary in order that
the spirit of democracy should he put
in full rerteat and that was that the
religious prejudices of the people
should be aroused along racial lines
so that the Jews from whom the re-
actionary clericals could gain no aid
or comfort and the discontented labor-
ing class who were becoming more and
more restless over the growing arro-
gance of the military and clerical influ-
ence should be put at sword points
so to speak
Hence Dreyfus the Jew was select-
ed as the victim and from one end of
France to the other every reactionary
agency opened up its batteries against
the Jews Precisely the same tactics
Avere employed as have for years been
employed in Russia in order to set the
peasants and the unthinking masses
against the Jews of that country
The Jews are the most useful peo-
ple in the world Just when the coun-
try reaches a political impasse and
everything is stuck some bright fel-
low thinks of the Jews leads an ex-
pedition against them and all is serene
again The Jews are worth their
weight in gold to every civilized coun-
try
AntiSemitism as it is generally un-
derstood is radical not religious hat-
red Dreyfus certainly is not a shin-
ing example of a pious or religious
Jew Nowhere is the Jew despised on
account of his religious sentiments for
Judaism is the foundation upon which
Christianity rests Prance where the
Jew hatred is most intense cannot
boast of religious Jewry The Jew is
despised on account of his racial pro-
clivities his racial peculiarities his
racial characteristics
Last summer a Jewish periodical
sent out inquiries to the most promi-
nent Gentiles of this country asking
what in their estimation was the cause
of the Jewhatred and the almost un-
animous reply was that deplorable as
the fact is the Jew is despised and
hated racially only
A prominent rabbi last summer was
the author of a very brilliant and cle-
ver idea He advised us Jews in these
United States that if we wish to avoid
AntiSemitism we must be as much
like our Christian neighbors as pos
THE JEWISH HERALD
sible the only place where we might
differ from them was while in our tem-
ples and synagogues When once out
of the synagogue presto and we are
again Christians That is preaching
assimilation with a vengeance But
granted that assimilation is the best
for us we are not so certain that
the other races and nationalities stand
ready and are eager to assimilate with
us
From far oif Russia comes the news
that Jews who become converted in
order to enter the universities are
no longer permitted to do so It will
be remembered that in the large cities
of Russia where the Jewish popula
lation greatly outnumbers the Russian
the per cent of Jewish students who
are permitted to attend the universi-
ties is very small Formerly a large
number ot Jewish students outwardly
embraced Christianity or Mohamme-
danism even the Turks are greater
favorites than we in order to be per-
mitted to attend Jews may become
Christians or Mohammedans but still
remain Jews This is the latest legis-
lative achievement of Russian bureau-
cracy and it certainly has an air of
comic opera about it It is clear that
a certain number of Jews in Russia
are trying to see if they can evade
the harsh restrictions put upon them
by their native country by devices
equivolent to those of the Marranos
in old Spain The latest plan seems to
have been to adopt Mohammedanism
but the Russian authorities have evi-
dently seen through the device So it
is selfevident that one born a Jew
must nolens volens remain a Jew
Queer but somewhat to our advan-
tage I think
To be continued next week
ABE GORDON
President of Adath Yeshurun Congre-
gation
Abe Gordon came to Gelveston in
1891 and among the first things he did
was to organize a Y M H A He
served as its president for three years
and on retiring was presented with
a gold medal for his service In 1899
he was elected an honorary life mem-
ber
That same year he assisted in organ-
izing the Brith Zion Society of which
he served two terms as vice president
The memorable storm of 1900 which
devastated Galveston did not slight
Mr Gordon and he was left in mighty
bad circumstances Sore in mind and
crushed in spirit he went to New York
and three months later to Cleveland
where he became editor and proprie-
tor of a Jewish paper Here he was
elected president of one of the Zion-
ist Societies and soon aided in the
federation of five subordinate bodies
into one powerful organization
In 1902 at the solicitation of rela-
tives and friends he returned to Gal-
veston and later to Houston where
he embarked in business
He at once took an active interest
in affairs in general Jewish in partic-
ular and in 1903 organized the Herzl
Zion Society of which he has served two
terms as president and several times
as delegate to the State Federation
He has served on the State executive
committee and proposed the Federa-
tion of all Texas Zionist Societies of
which he served one term as vice pres-
ident
Mr Gordon has also taken an ac-
tive part in the affairs of Anschell
Hirsch Lodge O B A and held the
highest offices at the disposal of this
organization
In 1904 he aided in the organization
of Houston Lodge P O W and in
appreciation of his services as presi-
dent and vice president he was given
a gold medal at a picnic in 1907
In 1907 as chairman of the propa-
ganda committee of Herzl Zion Society
he organized the Sons and Daughters
of Zion of Houston and the Bnai Zion
Society of Galveston
Having held all these arduous posi-
tions did not dampen Mr Gordons
ambition and he next aspired to the
honors of president of Congregation
Adath Yeshurun to which position he
was elected recently Since the six
weeks he has been in office the mem-
bership has increased by about 25
This in itself speaks well for Mr Gor-
don and that his administration will
be a success cannot be doubted
Of course by himself he can not ac-
complish much but with the coopera-
tion of the members and trustees his
ambition to build up a strong congre-
gation financially unincumbered will
be consummated
m
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Goldberg, E. The Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 34, Ed. 1, Thursday, May 20, 1909, newspaper, May 20, 1909; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth84769/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .