Sunday, May 05, 2013

The Temple Mount a la Cyrus Adler

Found here, published July 15, 1931:-


Jewish Agency Meeting Opens with Adler Advocating Tri-partite Understanding Between Jews, Arabs and
BASLE, Jul. 14 (JTA) –

The creation of a tri-partite understanding between Arabs, Jews and the British government in Palestine was advocated here this evening by Dr. Cyrus Adler, acting-chairman of the Council of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, in the inaugural address at the opening of the first meeting of the Council since it was organized at Zurich in August 1929...

...Alluding to the question of the Wailing Wall, Dr. Adler, who was the author of the memorandum submitted by the Jews to the Wailing Wall Commission, and who is president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, condemned the recurring rumors spread in Palestine that the Jews desire to regain the sacred area in which is included the Mosque of Omar.

On the contrary, Dr. Adler said, "while objection may be made to what I am about to say, as an actual fact I believe that if the Moslem world would offer the site back to the Jewish people to rebuild the temple and restore the sacrifices that the Jewish people would not accept this offer".

In so far as the verdict of the Wailing Wall Commission itself was concerned, he expressed the hope that the Commission's conclusions would find general adherence by all concerned. He added, however, that he did not profess complete satisfaction with the report, taking particular exception to the prohibition of the blowing of the Shofar (ram's horn) on days when its use is a positive command.
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Now found an Einstein quotation:

...Prof. Albert Einstein spoke eagerly about his relation to the Zionist movement and what he considers to be the duty of the Jewish people toward the rebuilding of Palestine under the terms of the League of Nations mandate as granted to Great Britain.

...Dr. Einstein smilingly gave to the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the following statement on his attitude toward Zionism. He insisted, however, that the statement be published in full. The English translation of the text follows:

"Jewry is like an animal which was beheaded two thousand years ago. Jerusalem, with its Temple, was its head. It was God's miracle that it remained alive for so long a period without a head. The second miracle occurred when the body grew...[and] several scores of years ago decided that it must have a head, and has already formed a (##) head in Palestine. However, this head is still too small, too thin and too weak for such a image body. See to it that it grows into a full sized head, as befits the body."


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3 comments:

Laser said...

What Cyrus Adler was presumptuously stating was that the Conservative Movement had trouble with the idea of a Temple in modern times.

YMedad said...

actually, the Mizrachi delegate at the 1929 Zionist Congress, expressed almost the same thoughts: we don't want the Temple Mount.

Laser said...

Yes, and that delegation was willing to accpet Uganda rather than Eretz Yisrael. So perhaps the Mizrahi of then was indistinguishable from the Conservative movement of then.