The B'nai B'rith magazine · 1927-06-01 · 9 (6.1927) · p. Seite 382

382 THE HOLY CITY OF FRANKFURT The Holy City of Frankfurt (Continued from Page 376) tweens." If you carry an umbrella on Saturday you do not belong to Breuer. You may belong to either of the other groups. If you carry an umbrella and you ride to synagogue, then you are a Liberal. If you carry an umbrella and ride to business—you are not a Frankfurter. From the ultra-Orthodox, let me return to the ultra-Reform. Their synagogue is situated in the wealthiest part of the city. Outside, it presents the appearance of a Westernized Moorish mosque. Inside—at first sight it takes your breath away. You wish to fall on your knees and cry: "Ra, shine thou upon us! Isis, be merciful unto us! Osiris—mayest Thou bring us safely into Heaven! ..." For the building is like that of an Egyptian temple. Not that the style of architecture is ancient-Egyptian. No Luxor temple was ever so conceived. But the decoration and the colour is purely that of the land of the Pharaohs. The columns are Pharaonic. The patterns round the wall are reminiscent of the days of Thotmes III and even the Scarab— the sacred beetle of Egypt—finds itself crawling over the doors! How far it is possible to pray to "the God of the Hebrews" in this "heathen temple" I do not know. In spite of the paganism of design there is nothing pagan, nothing extreme about the Liberal Judaism practiced here. It is true Frankfurtian. The service is a perfectly recognizable one. All the old elements of the Orthodox service are here reproduced. No woman is allowed to give a sermon. No Sunday services. Men predominate in the attendance at prayer. The basic difference between Breuer and Osiris is social. The Breuers keep to themselves. They ostracize the rest of the community, whether Jewish or Christian. The Liberals are willing to intermix freely with Christians or Jews (provided the latter are not too obviously foreign) and the sole limit to their acquaintance with the outside world is fixed by the per-fervid anti- Semitism of certain members of the Christian upper classes. He will suffer indignity and insult provided he can claim acquaintanceship with Christian big-guns. A nodding acquaintanceship—but still, acquaintanceship. But the Liberal Jew of Frankfurt is peculiarly Frankfurtian in this also— he will not readily tolerate extermarriage. ... In Frankfurt the Jewish virus is exceeding strong. ... It need scarcely be added that, outside their own small circle, selection of a bridegroom or bride is somewhat restricted. No Breuerite would marry a member of the Temple of Osiris. Sound, stolid Germans, unemotional, conceited, successful. Such are the groups already discussed. There remains to be drawn a slight sketch of the "Betwixts." They are the lowermiddle class, the shop-keeping, smallfinancier class, with a healthy leaven of foreigners. They are more emotional, more excitable. They are not typically Frankfurtian in this, that they are strongly Zionistic. Red-hot Zionists one and all, with blue J. N. F. boxes in every room. It is from this group that that brave band of Frankfurt Chalutzim and Chalutzoth, which is now doing such splendid work in the Holy Land, was drawn. But their Zionism is Frankfurtian in that it is strongly tinged with religion. I met one such Chalutzah a few months before she left Frankfurt for Palestine. She told me much. All I can.retell here is what she said with regard to religion. It throws such a flood of light on Frankfurtian psy-' chology. "It is difficult for us Jews in the galuth," she said. "We cannot keep Sabbath holy. Yes, it is easy in Frankfurt, but in Berlin, in Hanover, in Hamburg it becomes more and more difficult as years go by. Then, as soon as we mix with non-Jews there is the difficulty of food. It is so easy to forget Jewish customs with regard to food—but once you break them, assimilation follows. In our own country Sabbath will be the normal holiday, kosher food will be normal food, we shall be able to follow all the mitzvas which is so difficult, if not impossible here. . . ." For her Zionism was not an answer to anti-Semitism, to political difficulties, to cultural decadence. For her the chief reason for a return to Erez Israel was to enable the Jew to carry on his religion. That is just Frankfurt, characteristically Frankfurt . . . and the Frankfurt Judaism of the betwixt-and-between. The betwixt-and-between loves a fight with the ultra-Orthodox. The quarrels between the Misnagdim and the Chassidim in the earlier part of the last century only dimly reflect the ill-feeling that exists between the two Frankfurtian parties. Each side knows that the other side is hypocritical, stupid. One side knows that the other's Orthodoxy is only skindeep, and the other side knows that the one side's learning is fathomless ignorance. How they enjoy running down one another, and how they enjoy telling naughty stories the one of the other. It all goes to show that in Frankfurt, Judaism is a real live force. Otherwise there would be nothing to quarrel about. It must not be forgotten, however, that the discussions do not center around the problem: "Who is on the Lord's side?" but: "On which side is the Lord?" They all make claims equally to divine infallibility and the air of Frankfurt is such that logic never steps in to settle the dispute. After I had explained to a Frankfurter what I considered the community's main virtues and vices, he spoke in this wise: "Perhaps you are right and perhaps you are wrong. What you consider our vices are really our virtues. We are dogmatic—of course we are—is it not necessary in a shifting world? We are quarrelsome—of course we are, we are human. It is good to quarrel in a good cause. We are religious—fanatical—why not? It is no worse than being irreligious. You say we cannot see the other man's point of view. Of course not. It is not necessary. If we understand our own—that is sufficient. You say we live in an unreal world, because the rest of the world has given up Orthodoxy! That is because the rest of the world has not tried our orthodoxy. They do not understand it. One must live here, see how it works from within, before one can live it. We are not behind the time. We are in advance of it. When assimilation has taken its toll of large masses of Jews, the rest will return to the teachings of Rabbi Hirsch—may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing—and of Rabbi Breuer. . . . You will see." I would sell my soul to see what the Recording Angel has noted up against Frankfurt Jewry.