ies that it
dare not burden itself with problems extraneous to it. The injection
of political or economic issues into the movement is fraught with
incalculable consequences for the future of the movement in this
country. These issues are so extensive in their bearings and so vital
in their manifestations that if superimposed on the delicate structure
of Zionism they may crush it, never to rise again.

Zionism must, therefore, remain neutral. While including all Jews, it
dare not identify itself with any section of them. It dare not be
either a movement of the classes or of the masses. While holding
scrupulously aloof from the issues which divide modern Jewry as part
of modern humanity, it must keep its eye fixed on one point, the
securing of a Jewish center for the Jewish people as a whole, in which
the ills that afflict humanity may be cured in the prophetic spirit of
justice and righteousness.

_A Plea for Peace and Cooperation_

THE practical conclusion of these considerations is clear. It is a
plea for reconciliation, for a return to that Synthesis which was on
the point of becoming the common ground of all American Israel.
American Judaism needs peace to carry out the great task confronting
it. Zionism is no less in need of peace in order to gain the hearts of
those whose hearts are still Jewish. The very possibility of a
conflict has bred a spirit of suspicion and unfriendliness which falls
like a blight upon every attempt at united action. The non-Zionists
may succeed in defeating their opponents; they can never dispense with
Zionism which is a driving force in American Jewish life. The victory
may perch on the banners of the Zionists but they can never forego the
assistance of the non-Zionists who still form the backbone of American
Jewry. Representing the common longings of the Jewish people
throughout the world, Zionism should serve as a leaven, quickening and
stimulating the Jewish activities of this country, and rescue them
from the greatest danger of Diaspora Judaism, the danger of
provincialism, of falling away from the main body of universal Israel.
In the particular situation confronting us Zionism ought to assert the
claims of Palestine, in addition to those of the Diaspora. But the
Zionists cannot replace the present agencies of American Jewish life,
nor can they dispense with the cooperation of the non-Zionists. Such
cooperation, based on the synthesis _Palestine plus Diaspora_, would
be of equa