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L Viniieo mr uie aewisu ttxponeiJijJEWISH BOOKS AND AUTHORSNationalism and Internationalism byHerbert Adams Gibbons(f\ A. Stoke* Sc Com pan r\ ,E\V force* have playedan dominant a part in the 1'fe of the Western people during the lastcentury and a half ashas the force of Na-t onalism. It destroyed old empires and created new ones. Itostensibly was the principle guidinghe statesmen who remade the map ofEurope at the end of the World War.Its power has in no way waned. On he contrary. Nationalism i* moreleeply entrenched today than it everas before. But thus far this all-important factor in our happiness hasscaped adequate analysis. What isNationalism? What is a Nation? No efiuition has as yet been given that •mild include fully even the five or ix greatest of the powers. Tins collusion in thought is undoubtedly re-pons ble in large meusure for confu-km in action. What a great service,herefore. would he render to mankind ho would help bring order into thishaos. It is with a hope of finding ome such new light that one turns o a volume having so promising a irle as “Nationalism and Internation-Hsm/* and containing the first lecture nurse of the first season of the Initiate of World Fiuty. But one leaves he volume with his hope* completely lisappolnted. If anything he is more ewildered than when he started.What is a Nation? Mr. Gibbons a very impartial and uses whatever efinition suits him at the time. In ne chapter the nation originally n ‘‘Ethnic group** (p. 6). in the other The first step In Nationalism was he growth of the feeling of belonging o the land** (p. ft) and in a third, ersonal economic privileges are made ut to be the determining factor of ne s nationalistic allegiain e. “There # nationalism for you—the quintes-dice of it. You belong to a group leaning a nation—for a group has ome to mean that. Your group has landed together in order to secure and caintain exclusive | advantages ? j§°r ts members” (p. 22ft). “It pays! The *od dividends of Nationalism are one f the principal causes and one pf the esaons of the World War:” (p. 183),My in the case of the British Empire be« the author feel that “a new kind If National soi* a new definition of theerm. a new psyehologiml interpreta-ion of it, must be made/* in order to t the situation. Yet there is no definition with wh eh he operates for ten «es at a stretch.The matter of definition Js all im-drtant in such a ^discussion because rithont it one wanders through the mxc of the h itoric events of the lastHundred and fifty ears without a tompas*. And'lit is just that unless wandering that makes up 90 cent, of the book. we are given a ketchy summary of the great move-ients resulting in the creation. of the new and the disruption of the old Euro-*an states, with no organizing prfctt* m around which! to group them.N’or is there any consistent attemptt evaluating Nationalism. Throughout most of~l the book one gets impression that the author is unsympathetic to it He apparently IdeUghbi playing the part of a liberal and in ^Bouncing Nationalism as selfish.* asslt;H‘iated always with force andodshed. “The subject of National-*aii canniq be divorced from violence. aiKmahsm calls for ■ the spilling of £?*r at birth and during growth/' ** imagine for a time that the an-k» interested in proving that Na-°nahsm in ita most^ usual assets is- rental to the creation /w/ an/itt-rnare.jiai frame oft mind;'liSSifc the v* }*** Natlowll|iij®counteracts• n, te l^neficent results of interna-trade, travel andJpe-r», ^fying mankind. Thus vve areitn*—! every §XatioijnJi*t|eat ^i| inception I was ac~i»r xU gibbon# •/apparentlyLj ?hl* Christian missionary ideal' / ;if Mtempt to l***tow \\\*ni all ll , K ; ?hc Isuiefiu a nation -wlt;/? “t in its lHrssessiou), the^*Parated| and nation-setuea down into ita own nar-®el f - c# Me red and self seeki ng volume, however, ends withword* that might have been spoken by the most rabid and bigoted of Nationalists. “Internationa! to-Apdtion has best been exemplified In the worldmaking confusionMORE CONFOUNDEDso far by practical achievements of countries with, a vigorous national life. Nationalists ought to be the best internationalists. The hope of internationalism lies in Nationalism/’ Thattjjtat may be true if we would know what kind of nationalism the author has in mind. Certainly he cannot mean the brand most prevalent in the world today.To his hrief discussion of Jewdsh Nationalism the author brings neither knowledge, understanding nor sympathy. We read for example, that the most bitter opponents of Zionism are “The Jews who did not go away fromPalestine, and to whom it was historically a native land/* (p. 228) that with Herzl “Zionism was a mystical religious movement, to call the' Jewish people to a spiritual regeneration/’ etc. (hie wonders what he means by thestatement that “the common sense of American Jews has prevented the Zionist question from becoming a serious one/* and that because the Jewswere so hopelessly In the minority inPalestine “the question is not as troublesome as it was/* to the British, (p. 230). Nor does he omit to speak of the righteous resentment Americansmay have against the “double nationality” implied by Zionism, and of the “Jewish inadaptability to agriculture/’ which precludes any possibility of success for the movement.The author tells us his audiencewanted facts and not propaganda. Iassume they wanted more than thellii:; they got iu their school textbooks, and that they wanted them organized. They got neither, neither inspiring propaganda nor illuminatedfacts. ^ -41?* £SIMON GREENBERGJEWISH BOOK WEEKMAY I 1-17. 1930The ittmual eelebrat;on of ‘‘Jewish Book Week” is intended to remind Jews of their great history and literature of which, also, most of them are inadequately Informed, and it is hoped and believed that calling attent:on to the rich store of knowledge which a reading of Jewish books has to offer, w ill result in a widened culture -dud a better background on which to bu Id for the present and future of Israel. Certainly no better service can be rendered to Jews than to guide them to the reading of the best ot what has been thought and done by Jews.Special lista of/selected '||§|k8 have been prepared for adult and youth, books of/history, literature, fiction, poetry, etc. These lists are appended,are books j sn table for children of all ages, for it has lyng since been determined that at the .youthful 1 stage of their development a love of their own hiato^ and tttMMMil; can best be cultivated and be used to encourage a knowledge and a desire for information as to their own people.This a tlMl foiirth consecutive year for the celebration of “Jewish Book Week/* It was suggested in/^MBT by Iiabbi S. Felix Mendelsohn, of Chi* cago. % and :|| hasThe Jewm^pulfAl and presshave taifonmfdrf the -■ tfa^latter -by commenting edtorially and encouraging the buyMUT and reading ish hooka, and the former bj preaching aervmoa of Jewishbooks in general and of some in par- ^M The? libraries $ have e^bpacctaa W-displays of ancient and modem volumes and by |w«terH catling attention to the Jewish books on their shelves, and religious school leaders and jfeaaidb-era have impressed their students withthe Importance of such books.To ^Ipafef r the work donedur ng Ntwlik Book Wf#!^ in advocating the |0miiK%aBd reading of Jew ish hooka, it b^i been suggested thatthe 'JWftiWlag eljyill- be adopted: “A.J ewish TlnoishHf in Every Jewish HoaIn way, botAs of mter-e«lt; and concern to Jews canl»»* nr hand and referred to aa occasionar.aes. Young and oM alike can findon this* shelf the mediuin tbrrmgh which can I* learned the glorious hi*f hh .... ■ mmmmfor service on Isfhalf of Jewryand abr0$4^Zy« . '^ As the Shabuoth orserv.ee and U»e closing excrciac* ot
Newspaper Details
Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, May 02, 1930
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Arkansas S.
AR, USA 10 Nov 2018
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