Christians who all unsuspectingly sit near by and who are so affected by the Jewish applause that they applaud too! Truly, in one way of looking at it, Jews have a right to despise the “gentiles.”
“THEY have burnt us; THEY have shamed us,” but we, the poor Jews, have been harmless all the while, none among us daring to depart from the Law! That is the meaning of “Eli, Eli.” That is why, in spite of its words of religious resignation, it becomes a rallying cry. “They” are all wrong; “we” are all right.
It is possible, of course, that right-minded Jews do not approve all this. They may disapprove of “Kol Nidre” and they may resent the use which the Jewish leaders are making of “Eli, Eli.” Let us at least credit some Jews with both these attitudes. But they do nothing about it. These same Jews, however, will go to the public library of their town and put the fear of political or business reprisal in the hearts of the Library Board if they do not instantly remove The Dearborn Independent from the library; these same Jews will form committees to coerce mayors of cities into issuing illegal orders which cannot be enforced; these same Jews will give commands to the newspapers under their patronage or control—they are indeed mighty and active in the affairs of the non-Jews. But when it is a matter of keeping “Eli, Eli” out of the theater, or the “Kol Nidre” out of the mouths of those who thus plan a whole year of deception “aforehand,” these same Jews are very inactive and apparently very powerless.
The Anti-Defamation Committee would better shut up shop until it can show either the will or the ability to bring pressure to bear on its own people. Coercion of the rest of the people is rapidly growing less and less possible.
The “Kol Nidre” is far from being the worst counsel in the Talmud; “Eli, Eli” is far from being the worst anti-social misuse of apparently holy