A JEWISH REGIMENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3199, 25 September 1917, Page 6

A JEWISH REGIMENT

WITH SHIELD Oi , DAVID AS BADGE. Tho Secretary of the British' War Office made the iullowing annouuceiuent v«cently:—Arraugeiuejits'are now nearing comwictioH for tne formation ot a Jowwn Kesimout of Infantry. Uxuerieiiced iiritie'U oMisers are being seleetqd to till tne lußiier appointinents' in the unit, auu iiitructious iiavo already been issuudwitli a view to the transrer to this unit of Jewish soldiers, with a knowledge vt the Yiddish or lluesian languages, who ,vre now serving in British regiments It is proposed that.the .badge of the ieglmcut shall ox>nsist of « •«P« « f King David's shield, further .iiloimatio as to the conditions-of-enlistment md service will be issued.-shortly-as soon as the necessary legal powers have been ° Jjeforo'the Jewish Regiment was mooted "ewe as a body objected b/enrolling mainly on the grounds ot racial and relyiuus customs which eiiiolded tuem. Tuey felt-and .no doubt rightly—tliat they could not surrender their immemorial methods'of- worship and tood-then-kosher meals, and so on. It they dill that, by becoming part of British--regi-ments they would lose caste, life would becomo a misery to them and death a liroblem imsblvable. Now, all these disabilities have been removed. Oincers ot their own tribes have been selected to lead them. They will bo trained by specially chosen instructors who can speak Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian. Their doctors and their muses -will bo drawn from the same class. Kosher meat will be supplied to them by kosher butchers and rooked in kosher fashion. They will get their bread just-as they have it now. None of their religious observances will be checked or hindered, and even their intellectual recreation will be carefully considered. The camp in which they find themselvos will be supplied with a library well stocked with Jewish .publications and served daily with Jewish "newspapers—in a word their mental aud moral and religious equipment will see no change from their ordinary everyday life. As a race they will still bu'together: the bond, strong as death, will not severed. The authorities have gone to endless titmblo to see that all their old traditions and ceremonials shall lie respected. _ [The Shield of David is a design formed bv the combination of two equilateral triangles. It is used as the symbol of Judaism, and is'placed upon synagogues, sacred vestments', and the like. Its.origin is obscure, and it is mentioned neither in the JBible nor Rabbinical literature.]