Addressat the First Zionist Congress

That Jewish distress cries for help.

By Max Nordau

ToJewish distress no-one can remain indifferent, neither Christian nor Jew. It isa great sin to let a race to whom even their worst enemies do not deny ability,degenerate in intellectual and physical distress. It is a sin against them andagainst the work of civilization, in the interest of which Jews have not beenuseless co-workers.

ADDRESS AT THE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS
Basle, August 29, 1897

The specialreporters for individual countries will depict for you the condition of theirbrethren in the different states. Some of their reports have been submitted tome; others not. But even of the countries about which I learnt nothing from mycollaborators, I have, partly from personal observation, partly from othersources, obtained some knowledge, so that I may, without presumption, undertakethe task of reporting on the general situation of the Jews at the end of the19th century.

This picture can,on the whole, be painted only in one colour. Everywhere, where the Jews havesettled in comparatively large numbers among the nations, Jewish miseryprevails. It is not the ordinary misery which is probably the unalterable fateof mankind. It is a peculiar misery, which the Jews do not suffer as humanbeings, but as Jews, and from which they would be free, were they not Jews.

Jewish misery hastwo forms, the material and the moral. In Eastern Europe, North Africa, andWestern Asia -- those regions which shelter the vast majority, probablynine-tenths of our race -- the misery of the Jews is understood literally. Itis the daily distress of the body, anxiety for every following day, the painfulfight for the maintenance of a bare existence. In Western Europe, the strugglefor existence has been made somewhat lighter for the Jews, aithough of late thetendency has become visible even there to render it difficult for them again. Thequestion of food and shelter, the question of the security of life, torturesthem less; there the misery is moral.

The Western Jewhas bread, but man does not live on bread alone. The life of the Western Jew isno longer endangered through the enmity of the mob; but bodily wounds are notthe only wounds that cause pain, and from which one may bleed to death. TheWestern Jew meant emancipation to be real liberation, and hastened to draw thefinal conclusions therefrom. But the nations made him fear that he erred inbeing so heedlessly logical. The magnanimous laws, magnanimously lays down thetheory of equality of rights. But governments and Society exercise the practiceof equality of rights in a manner which renders it the same mockery as did theappointment of Sancho Panza to the splendid position of Viceroy of the Islandof Barataria. The Jew says naively: "I am a human being, and I regardnothing human as alien," the answer he meets is: "Softly, your rightsas a man must be enjoyed cautiously; you lack the right notion of honour,feeling for duty, morality, patriotism, idealism. You must, therefore, holdaloof from all vocations which make possession of these qualifications asconditions."

No-one has evertried to justify these terrible accusations by facts. At most, now and then, anindividual Jew, the scum of his race and of mankind, is triumphantly cited asan example, and contrary to all laws of logic, the example is made general. Thistendency is psychologically correct. It is the practice of human intellect toinvent for the prejudices, which sentiment has called forth, a cause seeminglyreasonable. Probably wisdom has long been acquainted with this psychologicallaw, and puts it in fairly expressive words: "If you have to drown a dog,"says the proverb, "you must first declare him to be mad." All kindsof vices are falsely attributed to the Jews, because one wishes to convincehimself that he has a right to detest them. But the pre-existing sentiment isthe detestation of the Jews. 

II

I must utter thepainful word. The nations which emancipated the Jews have mistaken their ownfeelings. In order to produce its full effect, emancipation should first havebeen completed in sentiment before it was declared by law. But this was not thecase. The history of Jewish emancipation is one of the most remarkable pages inthe history of European thought. The emancipation of the Jews was not theconsequence of the conviction that grave injury had been done to a race, thatit had been treated most terribly, and that it was time to atone for theinjustice of a thousand years; it was solely the result of the geometrical modeof thought of French rationalism of the 18th century. This rationalism wasconstructed by the aid of pure logic, without taking into account livingsentiments and the principles of the certainty of mathematical action; and itinsisted upon trying to introduce these creations of pure intellect into theworld of reality. The emancipation of the Jews was an automatic application ofthe rationalistic method. The philosophy of Rousseau and the encyclopedists hadled to the declaration of human rights. Out of this declaration, the strictlogic of the men of the Great Revolution deduced Jewish emancipation. Theyformulated a regular equation: Every man is born with certain rights; the Jewsare human beings, consequently the Jews are born to own the rights of man. Inthis manner, the emancipation of the Jews was pronounced, not through afraternal feeling for the Jews, but because logic demanded it. Popularsentiment rebelled, but the philosophy of the Revolution decreed thatprinciples must be placed higher than sentiment. Allow me then an expressionwhich implies no ingratitude. The men of 1792 emancipated us only for the sakeof principle.

As the FrenchRevolution gave to the world the metric and the decimal systems, so it alsocreated a kind of normal spiritual system which other countries, eitherwillingly or unwillingly, accepted as the normal measure for their State ofculture. A country which claimed to be at the height of culture had to possessseveral institutions created or developed by the Great Revolution; as, forinstance, representation of the people, freedom of the press, Jury, division ofpowers, etc. Jewish emancipation was also one of these indispensable articlesof a highly cultured state; just as a piano must not be absent from adrawing-room even if not a single member of the family can play it. In thismanner Jews were emancipated in Europe not from an inner necessity, but inimitation of a political fashion; not because the people had decided from theirhearts to stretch out a brotherly hand to the Jews, but because leading spiritshad accepted a certain cultured idea which required that Jewish emancipationshould figure also in the Statute book.

Only to onecountry does this not apply -- England. The English people does not allow itsprogress to be forced upon it from without; it develops progress from its innerself. In England emancipation is a truth. It is not alone written, it isliving. It had already been completed in the heart before legislation expresslyconfirmed it. Out of respect to tradition, one hesitated in England to abolishthe legal restrictions of the Nonconformists, at a time when the English hadalready for more than an age made no difference in Society between Christiansand Jews. Because, a great nation, with a most intense spiritual life, does notallow itself to be guided by any spiritual current or blunder of the time, inEngland;l anti-Semitism is only noticeable in a few instances, and then only ithas the importance of an imitation of Continental fashion.

III

Emancipation hastotally changed the nature of the Jew, and made him another being. The Jewwithout any rights did not love the prescribed yellow Jewish badge on his coat,because it was an official invitation to the mob to commit brutalities, andjustified them in anticipation. But voluntarily he did much more to make hisseparate nature more distinct even than the yellow badge could do.' theauthorities did not shut him up in a ghetto, he builst one for himself. Hewould dwell with his own, and would have no other relations but those ofbusiness with Christians. The word "Ghetto" is today associated withfeelings of shame and humiliation. But the Ghetto, whatever may have been theintentions of the people who have created it, was for the Jew of the past not aprison, but a refuge. It is only historical truth if we say that only theGhetto gave Jews the possibility to survive the terrible persecutions of theMiddle Ages. In the Ghetto, the Jew had his own world; it was to him the surerefuge which had for him the spiritual and moral value of a parental home. Herewere associates by whom one wished to be valued, and also could be valued; herewas the public opinion to be acknowledged by which was the aim of the Jew'sambition. To be held in low esteem by that public opinion was the punishmentfor unworthiness. Here all specific Jewish qualities were esteemed, and throughtheir special development that admiration was to be obtained which is thesharpest spur to the human mind. What mattered it that outside the Ghetto wasdespised that which within it was praised? The opinion of the outside world hadno influence, because it was the opinion of ignorant enemies. One tried toplease one's co-religionists, and their applause was the worthy contentment ofhis life. So did the Ghetto Jews live, in a moral respect, I a real full life. Theirexternal situation was insecure, often seriously endangered. But internallythey achieved a complete development of their specific qualities. They werehuman beings in harmony, who were not in want of the elements of normal sociallife. They also felt instinctively the whole importance of the Ghetto for theirinner life, and therefore, they had the one sole care: to make its existencesecure through invisible walls which were much thicker and higher than thestone walls that visibly shut them in. All Jewish buildings and habitsunconsciously pursued only one purpose: to keep up Judaism by separation fromthe other people and to make the individual Jew constantly aware of the factthat he was lost and would perish if he gave up his specific character. Thisimpulse for separation gave him also most of the ritual laws, which for theeveryday Jew is identical with his faith itself; and also other purelyexternal, often accidental, marks of difference in attire and habits received areligious sanction only in order that they might be maintained the more surely.Kaftan, Peoth, Fur Cap and Jargon have apparently nothing to do with religion. Butthey feel that these ties alone offer them connection with the communitywithout which an individual, morally, intellectually, and at last physically,cannot exist for any length of time.

That was thepsychology of the Ghetto Jew. Now came Emancipation. The law assured the Jewsthat they were full citizens of their country. In its honeymoon it evoked alsofrom Christians feelings which warmed and purified the heart. The Jews hastenedin a species of intoxication, as it were, to burn their boars. They had nowanother home; they no longer needed a Ghetto; they had now other connectionsand were no longer forced to exist only with their co-religionists. Theirinstinct of self-preservation fitted itself immediately and completely to thenew conditions of existence. Formerly this instinct was only directed toward asharp separation. Now they sought after the closest association andassimilation in place of the distinction, which was their salvation. Therefollowed a true mimicry, and for one or two ages the Jew was allowed to believethat he was only German, French, Italian, and so forth.

All at once,twenty years ago, after a slumber of thirty to sixty years, anti-Semitism oncemore broke out from the innermost depths of the nations, and revealed to thehighest of the mortified Jews his real situation, which he had no longer seen. Hewas still allowed to vote for members of parliament, but he was himselfexcluded from the clubs and the meetings of his Christian fellow-countrymen. Hewas allowed to go wherever he pleased, but everywhere he met with theinscription: "No Jews admitted." He had still the right ofdischarging all the duties of a citizen, but the nobler rights which aregranted to talent and for achievements in those rights were absolutely deniedto him.

Such is theexisting liberation of the emancipated Jew in Western Europe. He has given uphis specifically Jewish character; but the peoples let him feel that he has notacquired their special characteristics. He has Lost the home of the Ghetto; butthe land of his birth is denied to him as his home. His countrymen repel himwhen he wishes to associate with them. He has no ground under his feet and hehas no community to which he belongs as a full member. With his Christiancountrymen neither his character nor his intentions can reckon on justice,still less on kindly feeling. With his Jewish countrymen he has lost touch:necessarily he feels that the world hates him and he sees no place where he canfind warmth when he seeks for it. This is the moral Jewish misery which is morebitter than the physical, because it befalls men who are differently situated,prouder and possess the finer feelings.

IV

Before theemancipation the Jew was a stranger among the peoples, but he did not for amoment think of making a stand against his fate. He felt himself as belongingto a race of his own, which had nothing in common with the other people of thecountry. The emancipated Jew is insecure in his relations with hisfellow-beings, timid with strangers, suspicious even toward the secret feelingof his friends. His best powers are exhausted in the suppression, or at leastin the difficult concealment of his own real character. For he fears that thischaracter might be recognized as Jewish, and he has never the satisfaction ofshowing himself as he is in all his thoughts and sentiments. He becomes aninner cripple, and externally unreal, and thereby always ridiculous and hatefulto all higher feeling men, as is everything that is unreal. All the better Jewsin Western Europe groan under this, or seek for alleviation. They no longerpossess the belief which gives the patience necessary to bear sufferings, becauseit sees in them the will of a punishing but not loving God.

They no longerhope in the advent of the Messiah, who will one day raise them to Glory. Manytry to save themselves by flight from Judaism. But racial anti-Semitism deniesthe power of change by baptism, and this mode of salvation does not seem tohave much prospect. It is but a slight recommendation for those concerned, whoare mostly without belief (I am not speaking naturally of the minority of truebelievers) that they enter with a blasphemous lie into the Christian community.In this way there arises a new Marrano, who is worse than the old. The latterhad an idealistic direction -- a secret desire for truth or a heartbreakingdistress of conscience, and they often sought for pardon and purificationthrough Martyrdom.

The new Marranosleave Judaism with rage and bitterness, but in their innermost heart, althoughnot acknowledged by themselves, they carry with them their own humiliation,their own dishonesty, and hatred also toward Christianity which has forced themto lie.

I think withhorror of the future development of this race of new Marranos, who are normallysustained by no tradition and whose soul is poisoned by hostility toward theirown and strange blood, and whose self-respect is destroyed through the everpresent consciousness of a fundamental lie. Others hope for the salvation fromZionism, which is for them, not the fulfillment of a mystic promise of theScripture, but the way to an existence wherein the Jew finds at last thesimplest but most elementary conditions of life, that are a matter of coursefor every Jew of both hemispheres: viz, an assured social existence in a wellmeaning community, the possibility of employing all his powers for thedevelopments of his real being instead of abusing them for the suppression andfalsification of self. Yet others, who rebel against the lie of the Marranos,and who feel themselves too intimately connected with the land of their birthnot to feel what Zionism means, throw themselves into the arms of the wildestrevolution, with an indefinite arriere penste that with the destructionof everything in existence and the construction of a new world Jew-hatred maynot be one of the precious articles transferred from the debris of the old conditionsinto the new.

This is thehistory of Israel at the end of the 19th century. To sum it up in a word: Themajority of the Jews are a race of accursed beggars. More industrious and moreable than the average European, not to speak at all of the inert Asiatic andAfrican, the Jew is condemned to the most extreme pauperism, because he is notallowed to use his powers freely. This poverty grinds down his character, anddestroys his body. Fevered by the thirst for higher education, he sees himselfrepelled from the places where knowledge is attainable -- a real intellectualtantalus of our non-mythical times. He dashes his head against the thick icecrusts of hatred and contempt which are formed over his head. Like scarcely anyother social being -- whom even his belief teaches that it is a meritorious andGod-pleasing action for three to take meals together and for ten to praytogether -- he is excluded from the society of his countrymen and is condemnedto a tragic isolation. One complains of Jews intruding everywhere, but theyonly strive after superiority, because they are denied equality. They areaccused of a feeling of solidarity with the Jews of the whole world; whereas,on the contrary, it is their misfortune that as soon as the first loving word ofemancipation had been uttered, they tried to pluck from their hearts all Jewishsolidarity up to the last trace. Stunned by the hailstorm of anti-Semiticaccusations, they forget who they are and often imagine themselves in realitythe bodily and spiritual miscreants whom their deadly enemies represent them tobe. Not rarely the Jew is heard to murmur that he must learn from the enemy andtry to remedy his feelings. He forgets, however, that the anti-Semiticaccusations are valueless, because they are not based on criticism of realfacts, but the effects of psychological law according to which children, wildmen and malevolent fools make persons and things against which they have anaversion responsible for their sufferings.

To Jewish distressno-one can remain indifferent, neither Christian nor Jew. It is a great sin tolet a race to whom even their worst enemies do not deny ability, degenerate inintellectual and physical distress. It is a sin against them and against thework of civilization, in the interest of which Jews have not been uselessco-workers.

That Jewish distress cries for help. To find that help will be the greatwork of this Congress.