date          1938, December

Place       -

Source     Mahatma Gandhi Research and MediaService

Author     M. Gandhi

Title         Remarks byGandhi during discussion with Christian missionaries


 

 

 

REMARKS BY GANDHI DURING DISCUSSION WITH CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES

 

DECEMBER 1938


Take the question of the Jews on which I have written. No Jew need feelhelpless if he takes the non-violent way. A friend has written me a letterobjecting that in that article I have assumed that the Jews have been violent. Itis true that the Jews have not been actively violent in their own persons. Butthey called down upon the Germans the curses of mankind, and they wantedAmerica and England to fight Germany on their behalf. If I hit my adversary,that is of course violence, but to be truly non-violent, I must love him andpray for him even when he hits me. The Jews have not been actively non-violentor, in spite of the misdeeds of the dictators, they would say, "We shallsuffer at their hands; they knew no better. But we shall suffer not in themanner in which they want us to suffer." If even one Jew acted thus, hewould salve his self-respect and leave an example which, if it becameinfectious, would save the whole of Jewry and leave a rich heritage to mankindbesides.