JEWISH WAR MEMORIAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 261, 31 July 1919, Page 5

JEWISH WAR MEMORIAL

A FUND OF £1,000,000 PROPOSED UNIVERSITY COLLEGE Proposals for a Jewish War Memorial are under consideration. The promoters hope to raise a fund of .£1,000,000, with the following objects:—(l) to endow Jewish education in this- country; (2) to build and endow, at Oxford or Cambridge, a College of Jewish Learning, to which the present Jews' College in London will be transferred; and (3) to make further. provision for the Jewish ministry. Early last month Lord Swaythling, Mnior' F. C. Stern, and Mr. R. Waley Cohen addressed to Major Lionel de Rothschild, M.P., as leader of the Jews of the British Empire, a letter expressing the view that the time had come to erect a permanent War Memorial as.a monument to tho Jews of the British Empire who had fallen in the war and a thank-offering for those who had been soared. Organisation of Traditional Judaism. The letter proceeds: "Prouder, than ever of our British citizenship, loyal to the faith which has sustained us, we wish to retain both our British citizenship and our inherited faith. ' To create as tho British Jewish War Memorial a great organisation of traditional Judaism should in- our view, bo tho answer to this irresistible call. "The War Memorial of the Jews of the British Empire should found a movement which would begin by creating a British College of Jewish learning that would in time produce teachers who would expound the hue faith of our ancestors and make it illuminate the secular ideals of progress and freedom. "We believe that euch ministers can bo created only by a college of traditional Judaism, situated in an atmosphere of British learning, such as Oxford or Cambridge, and we suggest that the Jews' College now situated in Blonmsbury should be moved to Oxford... or Cambridge. ■ "But tho War Memorial Fund must do more than endow the college; it must endow the calling. The best men must bo encouraged to take up the vocation of the ministry. "We ask you, concludes the letter, "to lead the Jews of the British Empiro to erect this thankoffering—a magnificent and lasting monument to tho memory of those of our faith who have fought and died for our country and its ideals—a religious organisation of the Jews of tho Empire which shall enable their future generations'to know and to practise their patriotism and their faith." British Citizenship. Major Rothschild, in his reply, says; "Your letter raises a question of the utmost importance to .the future of Judaism in the British Empire. I shall take immediate steps to call a. meeting as widely representative as possible of the wholo of our community to consider your scheme, and, if it is adopted, 1 shall gladly assist in any way 1 can to secure its consummation. "Our community has recently been divided %v largo issues in which tho strong convictions held on cither side have led in deep' cleavages which wo must all regret. There enn certainlv be no liner war memorial than one which will maintain for future generations that which we all have in common—the great traditions of Judaism and of British citizenship. If tho proposals which yon mako find acceptance in the community throughout tho Empire it will, I feel sure, bo a great satisfaction to us all to find ourselves once moro united ui a great causo."