The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, July 29, 1921 Page: 1 of 16
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DR. GEORGE FOX.. ED TOP
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LADING JEWISH JXff?m2h
VOL. IX. NO. 15.
Is the Rabbi's
YES
SAYS YOUNG RABBI WHO
GIVES UP MINISTRY.
(By Mordecai Jacobs.)
Is the rabbinate a failure? Is the
modern preacher of Israel's Law a
voice that calleth in the desert T Has
the .rabbi become a piece of orna-
mental tapestry a soother of jaded
nerves a "beautiful but ineffectual
angel beating: in vain his luminous
wings in the void?" Is the ministry
of God futile T
Yes says Rabbi Harry R. Rich-
mond the brilliant young preacher of
Paterson N. J who after filling suc
cessfully the post of rabbi of the Bar-
nert Memorial Temple of that city for
more than a year and a half has just
given up the calling to which he had
eonsecrated his life.
"I have come to this bitter de-
cision" he writes in his letter of res-
ignation "because of the growing
realization upon me of the futility of
the ministry in the life of today. . . .
I want to be spared the high privilege
of being God's deacon of reforming
the world. It can't be do:!"
In the course of his farewell ser-
mon delivered Friday evening July 1
he amplified this point as follows:
The people of Israel came unto the
prophet Samuel and asked him to ap-
point a king and master over them.
Samuel bewildered by their petition
withheld their request saying unto
them: 'Know ye not that the Lord
God is your ruler your king your
matter; why seek ye then a man of
flesh to lord over you ?' But the voice
of the Lord came unto Samuel say
1 ing: 'Samuel Samuel! withhold not
the request of the people. Give thfcm
- a king of flesh and blood for in ask-
ing for a king of their own they have
not forsaken thee but me as their God
and King.' Similarly I say unto you
tonight: I have not forsaken Israel
but Israel has forsaken me. For the
effectiveness of spiritual leadership in
' America may well be expressed as
aero.
It is not long since I spoke from
this platform on the theme of The
Jews of Paterson.' There were some
in our midst who agreed and soma
who disagreed with me. One man in
particular teemed to agree with me.
He congratulated me on my humble
efforts adding that his only fear waa
that my remarks about the Jews of
Paterson might find an echo in the
k' local preaa. Yet the very tame man
said to another before he had yet left
this house of God: 1 would have pre-
ferred to be in the club tonight and
hold four aces in my hand.' There-
FORT WORTH-DALLAS
Calling F :e?
fore I say unto you
It is n:' V
leave you
It ia you who leave me. Qtf4: this a case of lack of harmony
TT I 1 M At 1
nere is iooa ior serious mougnu
For this is not a case of a young
idealist grown despondent because his
first efforts to reform mankind did not
meet with instant success. Rabbi
Richmond is made of sterner stuff
than that He was already seventeen
when he came to this country from
Russia. This is quite an advanced
age for a man to begin his schoolings
yet it did not deter him from entering
school and making his way through
the University of Cincinnati and the
Union Hebrew College in both of
which he established a record for
brilliant scholarship. How much per-
severance this requires they know
who have gone through a similar ex-
perience and those who have not may
find out by reading say Mary Antin't
"Promised Land." And as for court
age he gave a rare example of it
when following America's entrance
into the war he waived his claim to
exemption from military service by
virtue of being a minister and joined
the army as an ordinray private in
' - 'i
. .'
M. RESNICK
. ' Mr. Resnick ia touring; the state in the interest of the
.
new YiddisheWochcnblatt which will appear about Sep-
''tember 1st. He will visit Waco Austin San Antonio El
Paso Houston Galveston and Beaumont
' Mr. Resnick is one of the organizers of the Yiddishe jour-
nal and before its organization was for the past seven years
Hebrew teacher of Shareth Israel Congregation Dallas
Texas and the Hebrew Institute Fort Worth.
He is considered by authorities to be one of the best He-
brew teachers in the United States.
tSThe Gpeat Southwes
FRIDAY JULY 29 1921.
the infantry from which however he
was detached by order of the War De-
nArmpnt and nrnmotid ta ehanlain
'Ve already on the way to France.
'O. rabbi and congregation for
shori before Rabbi Richmond's res-
ignation hit congregation extended
him a unanimous vote of confidence.
Finally it cannot be maintained that
this is an exceptional case for we fre-
quently hear nowadays of rabbis
giving up their calling although
Rabbi Richmond is the first so far as
we are aware to advance the futility
of the ministry as his reason for re-
signing it How then shall we ac-
count for it?
In our opinion it is due to the gross
materialism cf the age. God is no
longer enshrined in our hearts; we no
longer think of His Law morning
noon and night; our life is no longer
actuated by a high ethical purpose.
Gain and pleasure are orr sole aims.
We have effected a complete separa-
tion of religion and every day life
which is quite a different thing from
a separation of Church and State.
We have shut religion up in the tem-
ple and shut it out of our hearts and
homes and shops. We still go to the
Price Five Centt
synagogue from sheer force of habit
or because it offers relaxation to the
t. b. m. but we are too worldly wise
to heed the admonitions given us
there. We respect our rabbi but not
his teachings. We say to him in ef-
fect: Be good for us for we cannot
afford to be good ourselves.
Into such an atmosphere of cold in-
difference comes the young rabbi
filled with youthful ardor and fired by
his own exalted notion of his mission
in life. The effect upon him it chill-
ing deadly. For the minister it in-
tensely social his mission would be
unthinkable without social life and
he craves for sympathy for apprecia-
tion of. his efforts by others. When
therefore he discovers as he toon
does that he is regarded as a mere
spiritual figurehead that men pay
him only lip service that he la living'
in a kind of Doll'a House that he it
speaking in a vacuum is it any won-
der that he finally loses heart and de-
cides to give up a ministry that to
him appears wholly futile?
Whether this it the true explana-
tion of the present and other cases
we do not know. But there can be no
doubt that the resignation of Rabbi
Richmond constitutes a challenge to
every serious-minded Jew in America.
The American Hebrew.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF BNAI
BRITH.
The Independent Order of B'nai
B'rith has secured the services of
Captain Elkan C Voorsanger to take
charge of its recently organized War
Orphans Bureau. Captain Voorsan-
ger will also manage the Order's Na-
tional . Lyceum Bureau which will
supply lecturers to lodges and Jew-
ish organizations generally and in
co-operation with the Anti-Defamation
League will establish courses of
lectures on Jewish subjects in schools
and colleges. He will also co-operate
with Mr. Sidney C Kusworm the
Director of Americanization in ex-
tending the scope of the Americaniza-
tion department
Captain Voorsanger who ia a grad-
uate of the Hebrew Union College
and who prior to the war occupied
pulpita in Grand Rapids and St Louis
hat had a most varied and interesting
career. During the war he was chap-
lain for New York't famous fighting
division the 77th. After the armis-
tice as Director of the Jewish Wel-
fare Board work in France he estab-
lished most of the J. W. B. branchea
overteat. Subsequently he organised
the overseas unite of the Joint Distri-
bution Committee and waa Director of
Personnel for the J. D. C In Europe.
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Fox, George. The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, July 29, 1921, newspaper, July 29, 1921; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth296823/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .