From the Holocaust to the State of Israel
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert
Einstein (1879-1955)
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Reproduced from “The
Aquarian
Theosophist”,
November 2012 edition, pp. 13-16.
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An Editorial Note:
Jewish religion, philosophy and
culture are closely related to the origin and inner focal point of Western
Civilization’s Karma. Therefore to have respect for the Jewish nation is
inseparable from having respect for our civilization’s core values. Every
people and nation must be equally respected.
The following texts show
Albert Einstein’s thoughts in two different moments in the decisive 20th
century. The first article, “The
Dispersal of European Jewry”, is the transcription of an address by radio
for the United Jewish Appeal, broadcast March 22, 1939 in the USA, when the
World War II and the Holocaust were yet about to begin.
The second article, “The Jews of Israel”, is an address
delivered ten years later, on November 27,
1949, one year and a half after the
creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Both texts are reproduced from “Out
of My Later Years”, by Albert Einstein, Wings Books, New York, 1956, pp.
254-256; and pp. 274-276.
In the following lines,
Einstein frankly describes the feeling and the drama of being a Jew in modern
times. He shows the solidarity and the tenacity of the “people of the Book”. He
sincerely advocates friendship and mutual help between Arabs and Jews.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline, in
November 2012)
1. The Dispersal of
European Jewry (March 1939)
The history of the persecutions which the Jewish people have had to
suffer is almost inconceivably long. Yet the war that is being waged against us
in Central Europe today falls into a special category of its own. In the past
we were persecuted despite the fact
that we were the people of the Bible; today, however, it is just because we are the people of the Book
that we are persecuted. The aim is to exterminate not only ourselves but to
destroy, together with us, that spirit expressed in the Bible and in
Christianity which made possible the rise of civilization in Central and
Northern Europe. If this aim is achieved Europe will become a barren waste. For
human community life cannot long endure on a basis of crude force, brutality,
terror, and hate.
Only understanding for our
neighbors, justice in our dealings, and willingness to help our fellow men can
give human society permanence and assure security for the individual. Neither
intelligence nor inventions nor institutions can serve as substitutes for these
most vital parts of education.
Many Jewish communities have
been uprooted in the wake of the present upheaval in Europe. Hundreds of
thousands of men, woman, and children have been driven from their homes and
made to wander in despair over the highways of the world. The tragedy of the
Jewish people today is a tragedy which reflects a challenge to the fundamental
structure of modern civilization.
One of the most tragic
aspects of the oppression of Jews and other groups has been the creation of a
refugee class. Many distinguished men in science, art, and literature have been
driven from the lands which they enriched with their talents. In a period of
economic decline these exiles have within them the possibilities for reviving
economic and cultural effort; many of these refugees are highly skilled experts
in industry and science. They have a valuable contribution to make to the
progress of the world. They are in a position to repay hospitality with new
economic development and the opening up of new opportunities of employment for
native populations. I am told that in England the admission of refugees was
directly responsible for giving jobs to 15,000 unemployed.
As one of the former
citizens of Germany who have been fortunate enough to leave that country, I
know I can speak for my fellow refugees, both here and in
other countries, when I give thanks to the democracies of the world for the
splendid manner in which they have received us. We, all of us, owe a debt of
gratitude to our new countries, and each and every one of us is doing the
utmost to show our gratitude by the quality of our contributions to the
economic, social, and cultural work of the countries in which we reside.
It is, however, a source of
gravest concern that the ranks of the refugees are being constantly increased.
The developments of the past week have
added several hundred thousand potential refugees from Czechoslovakia. Again we
are confronted with a major tragedy for a Jewish community which had a noble
tradition of democracy and communal service.
The power of resistance
which has enabled the Jewish people to survive for thousands of years is a
direct outgrowth of Jewish adherence to the Biblical doctrines on the
relationship among men. In these years of affliction our readiness to help one
another is being put to an especially severe test. Each of us must personally
face his test, that we may stand it as well as our fathers did before us. We
have no other means of self-defense than our solidarity and our knowledge that
the cause for which we are suffering is a momentous and sacred cause.
2. The Jews of
Israel (November 1949)
There is no
problem of such overwhelming importance to us Jews as consolidating that which
has been accomplished in Israel with amazing energy and an unequalled
willingness for sacrifice.
May the joy and admiration that fill us when we think
of all that this small group of energetic and thoughtful people has achieved
give us the strength to accept the great responsibility which the present
situation has placed upon us.
When appraising the achievement, however, let us not
lose sight of the cause to be served by this achievement: rescue of our
endangered brethren, dispersed in many lands, by uniting them in Israel;
creation of a community which conforms as closely as possible to the ethical
ideals of our people as they have been formed in the course of a long history.
One of these ideals is peace, based on understanding
and self-restraint, and not on violence. If we are imbued with this ideal, our
joy becomes somewhat mingled with sadness, because our relations with the Arabs
are far from this ideal at the present time. It may well be that we would have
reached this ideal, had we been permitted to work out, undisturbed by others,
our relations with our neighbors, for we want
peace and we realize that our future development depends on peace.
It was much less our own fault or that of our
neighbors than of the Mandatory Power, that we did not achieve an undivided
Palestine in which Jews and Arabs would live as equals, free, in peace. If one
nation dominates others nations, as was the case in the British Mandate over
Palestine, she can hardly avoid following the notorious device of Divide et Impera. In plain language this
means: create discord among the governed people so they will not unite in order
to shake off the yoke imposed upon them. Well, the yoke has been removed, but
the seed of dissension has borne fruit and may still do harm for some time to
come - let us hope not for too long.
The Jews of Palestine did not fight for political
independence for its own sake, but they fought to achieve free immigration for
the Jews of many countries where their very existence was in danger; free
immigration also for all those who were longing for a life among their own. It
is no exaggeration to say that they fought to make possible a sacrifice perhaps
unique in history.
I do not speak of the loss in lives and property
fighting an opponent who was numerically far superior, nor do I mean the
exhausting toil which is the pioneer’s lot in a neglected arid country. I am
thinking of the additional sacrifice that a population living under such
conditions has to make in order to receive, in the course of eighteen months, an
influx of immigrants which comprise more than one third of the total Jewish
population of the country. In order to realize what this means you have only to
visualize a comparable feat of the American Jews. Let us assume there were no
laws limiting the immigration into the United States; imagine that the Jews of
this country volunteered to receive more than one million Jews from other
countries in the course of one year and a half, to take care of them, and to
integrate them into the economy of this country. This would be a tremendous
achievement but still very far from the achievement of our brethren in Israel.
For the United States is a big, fertile country, sparsely populated with a high
living standard and a highly developed productive capacity, not to compare with
small Jewish Palestine whose inhabitants, even without the additional burden of
mass immigration, lead a hard and frugal life, still threatened by enemy
attacks. Think of the privations and personal sacrifices which this voluntary
act of brotherly love means for the Jews of Israel.
The economic means of the Jewish Community in Israel
do not suffice to bring this tremendous enterprise to a successful end. For a
hundred thousand out of more than three hundred thousand persons who immigrated
to Israel since May 1948 no homes or work could be made available. They had to
be concentrated in improvised camps under conditions which are a disgrace to
all of us.
It must not happen that this magnificent work breaks
down because the Jews of this country will not help sufficiently or quickly
enough. Here, to my mind, is a precious gift with which all Jews have been
presented: the opportunity to take an active part in this wonderful task.
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On the role of the esoteric movement in
the ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical
Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in
2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist,
the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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