Samuel Solomon Cohon, 1888-1959

Jewish Reference Book: B'nai B'rith Manual (1926)

Jewish Reference Book: B'nai B'rith Manual (1926) by Samuel Solomon Cohon, 1888-1959

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF B'NAI B'RITH ENDORSED BY U.S. PRESIDENTS

 
Permit me to extend my hearty good wishes to the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith and to wish it all success in continuing its work, in strengthening the ties between man and man and endeavoring to contribute to the uplift and betterment of humanity. It has been a great educational and enlightening factor in our American life.
 
THEODORE ROOSEVELT

I have great respect for the Order because of the good which it has done, the conservative attitude which it has occupied, the harmonizing eject it has had upon otherwise discordant elements and the general world fraternity which it has promoted. It is a body Jf representative American citizens that deserves the approval and encouragement of all their fellow-citizens.
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT
 
 
I follow from time lo lime with the greatest interest, the fine work of the Order, work which undoubtedly contributes to the uplift and betterment of the nation and I have been particularly interested in the work of education and philanthropy and the extort to destroy the Provincialism of prejudice as between races.
 
WOODROW WILSON

I hope that all America will catch the spirit of B'nai B'rilh in campaigning against all the movements aimed lo rend the concord of American citizenship. Fraternity must be the abiding Purpose of our People and the compensations that come to this consciousness of helping one's fellow-men contributes more to the happiness of self than success, distinction and all the other triumphs of life.
 
WARREN G. HARDING 
 
For a long time, I have been quite familiar with the work and purposes of B'nai B'rith. As my acquaintance with theOrder has widened, my regard for its high aims and ejective methods has increased. Its ideal of practical usefulness is one which can not be too earnestly commended.
 
CALVIN C. COOLIDGE.
 
 

PRESIDENT'S OPINION OF WHAT A BEN B'RITH SHOULD BE

 
A loyal citizen.
 
Possessed of these convictions' Each Jew is a link in a chain, the forging of which began in the hoary past. No Jew comes into the world isolated; whether he would have it so or no, he is a party to a covenant sanctified by the sacrifices of countless generations. He may make this covenant either a joy or an accusation, but he can not escape it.
 
Permeated with the belief that Judaism is life. Feeling in every fibre of his being: "God signs the covenant, but we have to seal it-to seal it by a life of service."
 
Keenly conscious of the indissolubility of the household of Israel, and that the non-Jew scores all the vices and weaknesses of an individual Jew against the Jew as a whole; hence the weal or woe of Israel is in the keeping of each Jew, and that this harsh but inevitable judgment imposes an especial obligation on every Jew to live an upright life and thus deserve the affection and esteem of his fellow citizens.
 
A lover of mankind. A deliverer of the poor, the fatherless and the helpless. One deserving "the blessing of him that was ready to perish;" who "causes the widow's heart to sing for joy." Sympathetic in his contacts in every relation of life.
 
A proud protagonist of his faith and yet always noted for his humility. Is it not written in the covenant: all that the Lord requireth of man is that he "Shall do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God?"
 
Affiliated with a synagogue, the fount whence How the spiritual waters of our religion.
 
The head of a home instinct with Jewishness-a home wherein the heart of the father turns to the children and the heart of the children turns to the parent; a home radiating the spirit of Judaism in rites and ceremonies. Who reared in such a home fails to recall with tenderest memory the blessing of the Sabbath lights? He is poorer who has no such sweet recollections.
 
Interested in the Jew, past and present, which will lead him to learn the history of his people and concern him in the solution of situations which constantly arise.
 
A regular attendant at lodge meetings, thus gaining and giving inspiration for the performance of duty. Each Ben B'rith is a unit of the great Order, and the strength of the latter is dependent on the Fidelity of the former.
 
Ever alert to remove prejudice of Jew against Jew, which usually has no deeper basis, than that the persons involved, emigrated from different countries.
 
Convinced that the B'nai B'rith while dealing with subjects that primarily interest the Jew, is concerning itself in matters, which in the final analysis, affect all mankind. If the B'nai B'rith is able to make of those affiliated with it, better men and higher types of citizens, is it not performing a truly genuine service for all? The peoples of the world will not come to a better under- standing en masse. This understanding will come only through individual and group effort. The time is far oft when all the children of a common Father will regard themselves as brothers. Now and then, however, we see a rift in the clouds. Evidence is plentiful that something like God's love exists in many creatures of His handiwork.
 
The ideal Ben B'rith thinks of God's love in the words of an Israelitish poet of the eleventh century:
 
Could we with ink, the ocean fill, Were every blade of grass a quill, Were the world of parchment made, And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love Of God above
Would drain that ocean dry;
Nor would the scroll
Contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky!
 
and he prays for the coming of the day when God-love will H11 the hearts of all. On that blessed day every man will be an ideal Ben B'rith.
 
ALFRED M. COHEN
 

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