The Menorah Journal, Volume 1, 1915 | Page 4

justification of carnage
and wholesale destruction, do not the simple words of the old Hebrew
sage appear to us as a beacon-light in the surrounding darkness? "Truth,

Justice, Peace!"
Many similar lessons are awaiting those who will show some little
willingness to learn and to know. They are a part of the patrimony that
is ours, and which for the most part we refuse to claim. A voice is
crying to us out of our own midst. We do not hear; for our ears are
sealed as with wax. The Menorah Societies, which now are to be found
in most of our institutions of higher learning, have set themselves the
task of bringing our Jewish students to a consciousness of their own
past, to a knowledge of their history as members of a great historic
people, and to a just appreciation of the teachings of their religion. It is
only the knowledge of what we have tried to be that will make us
realize fully what we are and will enable us to see what our future may
be. The Menorah Journal is intended to bring this knowledge to our
young men, to harden their Jewish resolve and to point the way along
which lies the consummation of our Jewish hopes. It sends its greeting
to every Jewish student, whether or not he be a member of a Menorah
Society. We of an older generation look to our university and college
men as the Jewish leaders of the future. Let them gather around the
Menorah Journal in order to make it a true expression of Jewish ideals,
a powerful incentive to join the ranks of those who are active in our
cause. The word of the Prophet comes to me again: "Be ye strong,
therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work shall be
rewarded."
[Illustration: Signature: Richard Gottheil]
From Joseph Jacobs
Editor of The American Hebrew, New York
[Illustration]
I GREET the appearance of the official organ of the Menorah Societies
something in the spirit of Ibsen's Master-Builder, who hears the coming
generation knocking at the door. I have long been of the opinion that
the future of American Israel lies with the academic Jews of the
American universities. The organ that represents them should be, from

this point of view, the voice of Israel's future in America. If you can
live up to that ideal, you have indeed a great future before you.
[Illustration: Signature: Joseph Jacobs]
From Dr. Kaufman Kohler
President of Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati
[Illustration]
AS you wander through the ruins of the Forum Romanum and are
within sight of the Via Appia at the other end, your attention is riveted
by an exquisite white marble arch wonderfully preserved. It is the Arch
of Titus erected in memory of Rome's triumph over Judæa Capta. As
you look closer at the trophies chiseled on this famous monument, you
find there standing out most conspicuously the seven-armed candlestick
carried by the Jewish captives, the Menorah, regarded, no doubt, by the
proud victor as the most characteristic feature of the destroyed Jewish
temple. Yet how strange! It seems to be almost a foreboding of the
future dominion of the vanquished over the vanquisher. Israel's state,
with its temple, Israel's nationality was trampled under foot by the
Roman legions--Israel's religion remained unconquered, the light of its
truth remained undimmed; nay, it grew brighter and stronger until the
world was filled with its splendor. Little did the Emperor Vespasian
dream, when he granted Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, the Jewish maker
of learning, the privilege of building a schoolhouse at Jamnia as a
substitute for the hall of the judiciary in the temple at Jerusalem, that
this sanctuary of the Jewish law and what it represents would by far
eclipse all the power and greatness of the Roman civilization. Yet this
was symbolized by the Menorah. Whether originally intended or not, it
was the emblem of Israel's mission of light. It indicated the task of the
Jew, when scattered over the wide globe, to be a light to the nations,
the religious luminary to the world. And if we be permitted to give a
special meaning to the seven arms of light of the Golden Candlestick,
we might find therein a suggestion of the lights of truth, justice and
purity, or holiness, on the one side, and the lights of law, literature, and
art, or wisdom, on the other, while the light in the center stands for

religion, from which all the other lights emanated and for which the
Jew throughout the centuries lived, suffered, and died, to preserve
intact as mankind's highest treasure to the very end of history.
These ideas I would offer as greeting to the editors and readers of the
Menorah Journal. The name "Menorah" was aptly