Simon Wolf

“ But would any rational man infer from these facts that either the Roman Catholic as such, or the Calvinist as such, is incapable of loving the land of his birth? If England were now invaded by Roman Catholics, how many English Roman Catholics would go over to the invader? If France were now attacked by a Protestant enemy, how many French Protestants would lend him help? Why not try what effect would be produced on the Jews by that tolerant policy which has made the English Roman Catholic a good Englishman and the French Calvinist a good Frenchman? ”

“ He might take the clamorous anti-Semitic by the hand, show him the hospitals, orphans homes, charity schools, founded and sustained by Jewish money, Jewish labor, Jewish public spirit, benevolence and devotion and say to him: 'If you have any sick, any aged, any children who cannot find help elsewhere, here we shall have room for them, and they are welcome.' What has the anti-Semite to answer? No, no, that movement cannot survive. It must perish in shame. It will be consigned to an ignominious grave by the generous impulses of human nature and the civilization of this age. ”

“ I know from personal knowledge that many Jews fought in the battles for the independence of Hungary in 1848, with as much bravery and gallantry as the American Jew fought here during the late strife between the North and the South, and I also know that the late humane and illustrious apostle of liberty, Louis Kossuth, always fully appreciated the patriotism, loyalty and devotion of the Jews to the cause of Hungary during that great struggle for freedom.
Patriotism and bravery are not the birthright of one nation or race, but of all mankind. ”

“ What more beautiful conception than that which prompted Abraham Kohn, of Chicago, in February, 1861, to send to Mr. Lincoln, on the eve of his starting to Washington, to assume the office of president, a flag of our country, bearing upon its silken folds these words from the first chapter of Joshua: 'Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord, thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses so shall I be with thee. ”

“ Such, indeed, was the opinion of the Greeks and Romans in regard to the Jews. The Greeks, given over to all conceivable turpitude and tyranny, to an anarchy without bounds and without end, incapable of even simulating a defence against Rome, despised the Jewish people, and the Romans entertained the same feelings. They despised them for the same reason that the economists, the capitalists, the modern free-thinkers, despise the Catholics. The Jews did not worship idols; they alone did not prostrate themselves before nature ”

“ They do honor to the community which calls them its own; for any community, whatever its pretensions, will be honored by citizens who take so high a view of their duties to humanity.
"And who are these citizens? They are Jews. This is not the only monument the Jews of New York have planted to their benevolence and public spirit. There are others—some even far exceeding this in costliness and grandeur. But none—none of their own and none instituted by any other class of citizens excels it, nay, perhaps none equals it in beauty of sentiment and devotion. ”

“ Of bitterness and of persecution, of suffering beyond man's power to describe, of its depth, of all that is sad and sorrowful, the history of the Jewish nation bears tearful testimony. The student has two marvels, as he turns these weary pages of the very monotony of cruelty. He wonders how the ferocity of man could ever enact this horrible tragedy, and then he wonders how the race survived. ”

“ Revenge is not a characteristic of the Jew. He is subject to sudden fits of passion, but that intellect which always stands sentinel over the Hebrew soon subdues the gust. However strong in Shylock's time might have been the hatred of the Jew towards the Christian, the lust of lucre was more strong, and Shakespeare might have ransacked every Ghetto in Christendom without finding a Jew, or a Christian either, who would have preferred a pound of flesh to a pound sterling; and Jews also shrink from physical contests. Their disposition is to triumph by intellect rather than violence. ”

“ And all this, not only in Eastern Russia, buried neck-deep in the Middle Ages or rather in the ancien régime, but in the West, in France, in Germany, among nations said to be the most advanced of ancient Europe. Oh, how old she is, this ancient Europe, and how difficult it is for her to slough her skin and regain her youth! What an effort it is for her to strip off her old prejudices and practices and clothe herself in the spirit of a new age! ”

“ I do not rest these sentiments upon the unfeigned respect I feel for the immemorial traditions and glorious history of your people, who in theology, ethics, philosophy, arts, literature, jurisprudence and legislation have either led the thought of the world or kept abreast with it. I prefer to rest them upon the broader, higher and truer ground, that these exiles are men, with all the inprescriptable rights that belong to men because they are men, irrespective of religion, race or nationality, rights which governments do not create or confer, so they cannot rightfully deny or destroy. ”

“ I have heard it said that a Jew cannot be a patriot because he has no fatherland. Those who say so do not want the Jew to have a fatherland and would, if they had their way, make it impossible for him to be a patriot. A country can hardly expect those of its inhabitants to be ardent patriots whom it treats as aliens or outcasts. In the same measure as an anti-Semitic spirit prevails, a Jew is a patriot under difficulties. If he is a patriot under anti-Semitic persecution, that patriotism is in him a virtue of especial merit. And this virtue Jesse Seligman possessed in the highest degree. ”

“ But how could absolutism be consistent with equality? There is no contradiction between the two, and indeed, in some respects, no form of government is so favorable to equality as a theocracy. Encroachments upon popular liberty and the oppression of the people do not come from the head of the State so often as from an aristocratic class which is arrogant and tyrannical. But in a theocracy the very exaltation of the Sovereign places all subjects on the same level. God alone is great and in His presence there is no place for human pride. ”

“ Stand fast by your brethren who have accomplished so remarkable a course of martyrdom through centuries and now stand on the threshold of their liberation; devote all the energies of your intellect to the spiritual labor wherewith your millennial history is instinct; success cannot, will not fail you and the rich results that you, my young friend, will obtain from the mines of science, will calm and comfort you in many a sad experience in the dull and cloudy present, that is but the precursor of the bright dawn of the day of liberty. ”

“ As a matter of fact, he was thought much richer than he really was—richer not because of his display, but because of his benefactions. To judge from the good he did, his wealth should have been much greater. He was a liberal giver, but he gave much more than money. That rich man only manifests the true spirit of benevolence who not only gives to the needy, but who also thinks for them and works for them. It was by this that Jesse Seligman proved the genuine gold of his humanity, and nowhere did this gold shine more brightly than on this very spot. ”

“ The persecution of your people with mediæval cruelty, whereby they are exiled without cause, suddenly and en masse, with all the multiplied and nameless hardships and sufferings which must necessarily attend such an exodus, from a country in which they had lived for generations and had the right to peacefully remain, has awakened among all right-thinking persons sympathy for the victims and indignation against their oppressors. This is not a matter that appeals alone to the people of your race. It appeals to every man with a heart of flesh in his bosom. ”

“ Are all such ingenious speculations other than devices to explain and justify a mere prejudice of race, such as some African tribes cherish against people of white skins? Those who find in such prejudice a profound significance will continue to plead the feeling as its own sufficient reason. But honorable men will be careful how they carelessly use the name of a race to which the religion, the literature, the art, the civilized progress of humanity, are so greatly indebted, as a term of utter derision and scorn. ”

“ I have had occasion to be acquainted with several gentlemen of your nation, and to transact business with some of them, whom I found to be men of as liberal minds, as much honor, probity, generosity and good breeding, as any I have known in any sect of religion or philosophy.
I wish your nation may be admitted to all privileges of citizens in every country of the world. This country has done much. I wish it may do more, and annul every narrow idea in religion, government, and commerce. Let the wits joke; the philosopher sneer! ”

“ It is a characteristic sign of the natural poetry of the Hebrews, that, as a reflex of Monotheism, it always comprises the whole of the universe in its unity, both life on earth and the bright realms on high. It seldom dwells upon single phenomena, but rejoices in the contemplation of great masses. Nature is not described as self-existent, or glorified by a beauty of her own; to the Hebrew singer she always appears in connection with an over-ruling spiritual power. ”

“ It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. ”

“ Indeed, the legacy not only of benefactions, but of lessons which that life has left behind it, may be, especially to the young among us, if they understand well and treasure them up to inspire and guide their hearts and minds, of far greater value than any amount of his money that Jesse Seligman might have bequeathed to them. Some of us may, perhaps, have envied him while he lived, as an eminently successful man. But do we consider him worthy of envy now, since he is dead? Why do we honor his memory, and wish that, when we shall be gone, we should, in many respects, be remembered as he is? ”

“ Sunday morning will walk slowly down the middle aisle in the Christian church, and with sanctimonious mien bend the knee before the altar of God with no more of Christianity in their hearts than may be found in the stone steps leading up to the church door. If a living representative of 'Shylock' is to be singled out, one whose talon-like fingers itch for usury and stretch out toward your pocket for the principal as well, let us be honest enough to admit that we can throw a stone into any of our temples of Christianity and hit such a sinner. ”