he symbol of the enkindling of a nation.
When there is but one light all is still dark, and the solitary light
looks melancholy. Soon it finds one companion, then another, and
another. The darkness must retreat. The light comes first to the young
and the poor,--then others join them who love Justice, Truth, Liberty,
Progress, Humanity, and Beauty. When all the candles burn, then we
must all stand and rejoice over the achievement. And no office can be
more blessed than that of a Servant of the Light.

The Present Crisis in American Jewry

_A Plea for Reconciliation_

BY ISRAEL FRIEDLAENDER

[Illustration: _ISRAEL FRIEDLAENDER (born in Russia, 1876), attended
the Universities of Berlin and Strassburg (Ph.D., 1901); called to the
Jewish Theological Seminary in 1903, where he is now the Sabato Morais
Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis. Professor Friedlaender
is not only the author, editor, and translator of a number of
scholarly works but his wide observation of Jewish life in various
countries, coupled with his broad historic knowledge, have enabled him
to write and speak on present Jewish problems with exceptional
authority and insight, as for example in his new book, "The Jews of
Russia and Poland." His lectures before Menorah Societies have been
particularly stimulating and have made him a great favorite with
University students._]

VARIOUS occurrences of recent date have revealed a rift in American
Jewry which if not healed in time is likely to result in a permanent
schism. The agitation centering around the question of a Jewish
Congress is not the cause of this rift; it is rather an effect or a
symptom betokening the profound difference of opinion and sentiment
which at present divides the Jews of America. In the realignment of
American Jewry which this struggle is calling forth, the Zionists and
the non-Zionists of this country--the former centering around their
local organization, the latter represented by the American Jewish
Committee--have been taking opposite sides. Those of us whose Judaism
is broad enough to embrace with equal loyalty the ideals of Zionism
and the interests of American Judaism, cannot but view with the
deepest concern the possibility of a permanent conflict between these
two sections of American Jewry, a conflict fraught with the gravest
consequences, not only for the Jewish cause in this country in general
but also for the Zionist movement--a conflict, moreover, in whi