THE WANDERING JEW

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21192, 15 August 1940, Page 11

THE WANDERING JEW

SUFFERED EVERYWHERE RECOGNITION BY BRITISH “The Jews have spread everywhere and have suffered everywhere,” said the Rev. Dr. Alexander Hodge, of the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, when speaking in the Hamilton Baptist Church last night on the subject of “The Wandering Jew.” They were huddled in ghettoes in every mediaeval city, said the speaker, and English Kings like John, extracted a tooth a day from rich Jews to extort money from them. Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe” gave too true a picture of how they were treated during the Crusades. “The Dreyfus affair in France, the pogroms in Europe, the tragic plight of multitudes of Jewish refugees, all speak of a peculiar fate relentlessly pursuing this one race,” continued Dr Hodge. “Or is there another explanation? The Jew survives. There is scarcely a town without a synagogue, and in every sphere the Jews are among the highest intelligences. The explanation of it all is found in the Bible.” The speaker stated that the Jewish problem must find its answer in Palestine. Their agony was a Divine judgment which was leading the gifted, noble race back to the land of promise. Britain now held the mandate and it must be remembered that Mesopotamia was part of the promised land. The 400,000 Jews now settled in that area were the vanguard of a greater number. Prior to the war Hitler’s policy of antiSemitism accelerated immigration considerably and the developments in industry, education and agriculture in Palestine were incredible. * “The figure of the Wandering Jew fascinates the student of human history,” stated Dr. Hodge. “He challenges thought and evokes sympathy. It is to the everlasting honour of the British Empire that it has afforded recognition and protection for a unique and talented people. Since the Jews are still the Chosen People, we may anticipate the Divine blessing on our arms today, for we are opposed to a monstrous system which is pledged to anti-Semitism.”