ROTARY CLUB

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1938, Page 9

ROTARY CLUB

THE PROBLEM OF THE JEW.

ADDRESS BY MR S. L. P. FREE.

There was a good attendance at the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club at Masterton yesterday when the problem of the Jew through,the ages was the subject of a most interesting and instructive address by Mr S. L. P. Free. Mr Free said that when he was asked to give a half-hour talk about the Jews he hardly realised the size of his task. . . ;

Using a sketch plan of the Eastern Mediterranean to illustrate his address, Mr Free said that if one wanted to know anything about the Jews one had to learn something of their origin, which in broad lines was clearly indicated. Originally they came from Mesopotamia, being part of the Semetic race which inhabited that region. Mr Free, dealt with the Jewish oppression from the time of their sojourn in Egypt and how they had been dominated 'by great nations since. The independent history of the Children of Israel was obscured by waves of conquest, he said. It did not end with the domination by the Egyptians and Assyrians, because later the Greeks came along and for some centuries their influence predominated all over the country where the Jews had settled.

Then came the Romans. If the Jews had been Well-disposed people there was no reason why they should not have been happy under the Romans, who did not interfere with their re-) ligious practices. The Jews, however, were ever turbulent individuals, and started first one and then another insurrection, and even fought among themselves. After a series of insurrections the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and no Jew was allowed to enter the ancient city under- penalty of death.

Various colonies of Jews were formed, notably at Cyprus and Alexandria, and in Spain, under the Moors, they did particularly well for a time. They were in England about the time of the Conquest, but in 1290 were banished from England, and it was not until the seventeenth century, under Cromwell, that they were permitted to filter back. They were reasonably well treated, but it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that they were able to take their place in the House of Commons.

In Russia they had a much worse time, being restricted to certain districts and subjected to all kinds of indignities, culminating in fearful pogroms.

The Jew had never been popular. “Why?” asked Mr Free. He thought it was because the Jew naturally was a more astute trader than most. A more subtle and acute mind whetted by centuries of oppression turned out a man insistent on his pound of flesh. That happened in Germany, where the Jews held important positions. By their manner of life they had earned and retained more money than their neighbours, and so Germany devised ways of getting some of it.

After the war Balfour said that Palestine should become the national home for the Jews. They went into the country rejoicing and with the blowing of trumpets, but after a while there was trouble again. The Jew would offer a price for an Arab’s farm, which was more than it was worth to the Arab, but by his energy and resource the Jew did well out of the transaction. The Arab, seeing only the success and not the work necessary for the success, felt himself ousted by the more subtle Jew.

Mr Free said the Jews had retained their form of religion, and had never coalesced with others. Yet it was found that the Jews, who had had very few opportunities, were leaders of thought everywhere. They had held together by their law, retaining always their separate identity, and where equal rights were granted to them they became worthy citizens, subject always to the criticisms and jealousies of their less successful neighbours. A vote of thanks was passed to MiFree for his address.