de sensibilidad a flor de piel por parte de los judíos. En absoluto. No, era realmente por el bien de los niños gentiles que la Liga Antidifamación quería mantenerlos alejados de esa obra en sus lecciones de lectura.
Aquí hay extractos de una de las cartas enviadas por la Liga Antidifamación en Chicago al superintendente de las escuelas públicas de una ciudad importante. Las cursivas son nuestras:
“We have just been advised that the * * * * high schools still retain “The Merchant of Venice” in the list of required readings * * * * “We do not base our request because of the embarrassment which may be caused to the Jew¬ ish students in class, nor is our attitude in this regard based on thin-skinned sensitiveness. It is the result of mature consideration and in¬ vestigation. Our objection is made because of its effect upon the non-Jewish children who subconsciously will associate in their own minds the Jew as Shakespeare portrayed him with the Jew of today. Children are not analysts. A character in the past vividly portrayed exists for “JEWISH RIGHTS” TO PUT STUDIES OUT OF SCHOOLS 183 them in the present. The Jew of Shakespeare lives in the mind of the child as the Jew of New York, or the Jew of Chicago, or the Jew of Newark. Your teachers of literature might say much in favor of Shylock’s good qualities, but our experience has been that only very seldom are Shylock’s good qualities brought out strongly before children. Those traits of his character which are brought out most vividly in the study of the play are Shylock’s greed, hatred, revenge and cruelty.
“El hecho