as, alas, fallen into the hands of men who are not
themselves liberally educated; and so as an ardent advocate of the
humanities, with hope that the Intercollegiate Menorah Association
will contribute to the laying of greater stress upon the value of the
study of the humanities in our college curriculum, I bid you
God-speed, and again extend to you the cordial greetings of the
University of Cincinnati.

DR. KAUFMAN KOHLER

I do not know whether you have observed that Cincinnati is somewhat
akin to the city of Rome as well as to the holy city of Jerusalem--it
is a city with many hills. On this hill here, facing one another for
friendly and harmonious cooeperation, the two institutions of learning
in which we especially, the Jewish community, take particular
pride--the University of Cincinnati, which so prominently and in ever
expanding proportion stands for the humanities, for classical culture,
for the professional and scientific branches of secular knowledge, and
on the other hand, the Hebrew Union College, which stands for the
mother religion of civilized humanity and for the progressive spirit
of Judaism and of Americanism. In this rather insignificant incident
the Jewish community may well find a great principle expressed. With
his face towards the East from which issues the light of day, where
was cradled the faith of Israel, the Jew, ever beholding in classical
wisdom and knowledge the sister of his faith, proceeded with the
westward march of civilization in order to make religion, by the
reason and research of the ages, a great, progressive power, ever
regenerating his spiritual heritage and rejuvenating that religion of
his own as it goes on through the centuries.

This fact, however, of a continual intellectual and spiritual progress
of Judaism, is altogether too rarely recognized by the surrounding
Christian world, even by its men of light and leading or by its seats
of learning, because the New Testament is looked upon by altogether
too many as the death warrant of the Old Testament, as if the sun of
civilization had stood still over Israel ever since its seers and
singers and sages of yore voiced the Divine message. Nor does the
Jewish man of culture and college training as a rule appreciate the
wondrous achievements of the Jewish genius since the very dawn of
history until our day, in the whole domain of learning and science, or
of ethical and religious culture.

It is therefore a highly laudable end