REPORT OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH YEAR OF THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1922-1923 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA OFFICERS PRESIDENT SIMON MILLER, Philadelphia FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT ABRAM I. ELKUS, New York SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT HORACE STERN, Philadelphia TREASURER HENRY FERNBERGER, Philadelphia SECRETARY I. GEORGE DOBSEVAGE, Philadelphia EDITOR DR. B. HALPER, Philadelphia TRUSTEES DR. CYRUS ADLER1 Philadelphia HART BLUMENTHAL 3 Philadelphia LEO M. BROWN 3 Mobile ABRAM I. ELKUS 1 New York HENRY FERNBERGER2 Philadelphia JOSEPH HAGEDORN 2 Philadelphia S. CHARLES LAMPORT * New York EPHRAIM LEDERER3 Philadelphia WILLIAM M. LEWIS2 Philadelphia ALPHONSE B. MILLER3 Philadelphia SIMON MILLER3 Philadelphia ADOLPH S. OCHS3 New York JULIUS ROSENWALD l Chicago 'Term expires in 1923. * Term expires in 1924. "Term expires in 1925. 380 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK HORACE STERN 2 Philadelphia SELIGMAN J. STRAUSS2 Wilkes-Barre CYRUS L. SULZBERGER ! New York HON. MAYER SULZBERGER1 Philadelphia A. LEO WEIL ' Pittsburgh JULIUS S. WEYL 1 Philadelphia EDWIN WOLF ' Philadelphia HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS ISAAC W. BERNHEIM l Louisville REV. DR. HENRY COHEN 2 Galveston Louis K. GUTMAN ' Baltimore REV. DR. MAX HELLER 3 New Orleans S. W. JACOBS2 Montreal Louis E. KIRSTEIN 2 Boston JULIAN W. MACK 2 New York REV. DR. MARTIN A. MEYER2 San Francisco SIMON W. ROSENDALE 3 Albany MURRAY SEASONGOOD ' Cincinnati M. C. SLOSS ' San Francisco SIGMUND B. SONNEBORN 3 Baltimore REV. DR. JOSEPH STOLZ 3 Chicago SIMON WOLF 2 Washington PUBLICATION COMMITTEE HON. MAYER SULZBERGER, Chairman Philadelphia DR. CYRUS ADLER Philadelphia REV. DR. HENRY BERKOWITZ Philadelphia DR. S. SOLIS COHEN Philadelphia DR. HERBERT FRIEDENWALD Washington FELIX N. GERSON Philadelphia DR. JACOB H. HOLLANDER Baltimore RABBI JACOB KOHN New York REV. DR. J. L. MAGNES New York DR. MAX L. MARGOLIS Philadelphia DR. ALEXANDER MARX New York LEON S. MOISSEIFF New York REV. DR. DAVID PHILLIPSON Cincinnati DR. A. S. W. ROSENBACH Philadelphia REV. DR. H. G. ENELOW New York HORACE STERN : Philadelphia OSCAR S. STRAUS • New York SAMUEL STRAUSS New York HENRIETTA SZOLD New York 1 Term expires in 1923. ! Term expires in 1924. ' Term expires in 1925. JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 381 JEWISH CLASSICS COMMITTEE DR. CYRUS ADLER, Chairman Philadelphia REV. DR. H. G. ENELOW New York DR. LOUIS GINZBERG New York REV. DR. KAUFMAN KOHLER New York DR. JACOB 2. LAUTERBACH Cincinnati DR. HENRY MALTER Philadelphia DR. ALEXANDER MARX New York REV. DR. F. DE SOLA MENDES New York REV. DR. DAVID PHILIPSON Cincinnati REV. DR. SAMUEL SCHULMAN New York HON. MAYER SULZBERGER Philadelphia The Board of Trustees meets in January, March, May, and October. The Publication Committee meets in the afternoon of the first Sunday in January, February, March, April, May, June, October, November, and December. THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA The Annual Meeting of the Jewish Publication Society of America was held on Sunday evening, March 26,1922, at the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Philadelphia, Pa. The President of the Society, Mr. Simon Miller, acted as Chairman, and Mr. I. George Dobsevage, of Philadelphia, as Secretary. The President read the following report of the Society's activities: THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS A generation ago the Jewish population of America num- bered about 300,000. It had its fair proportion of Jewish institutions of worship, of learning, and of social service, also a reasonable number of students, scholars, and authors. When these scholars and writers wished to publish their literary output, they either paid for it themselves or occa- sionally secured a publisher for a small edition. It was left to that enthusiastic group of sturdy Jews who gathered in this city in 1888 to create an organization for "the publica- tion and dissemination of literary, scientific, and religious works, giving instruction in the principles of the Jewish religion and in Jewish history and literature." Before the Society's existence there had been a number of learned works issued by such scholars as Leeser, Kohut, Jastrow, Szold, Samuel Hirsch, and Wise, while a small number of pseudo-scholars and writers of Jewish miscellanies flou- JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 383 rished without great injury to Jewish literature, for their books found a very small market. These individual efforts, even of the worthy kind, lacked in definiteness of pur- pose as well as in the scope of the appeal to the general pub- lic. With the establishment of the Jewish Publication Socie- ty, there arose in America not only a publisher of books of merit but a great distributing agency as well. It is hard to estimate what the progress of Jewish literature in America might have been had the society not been established. Cer- tain it is that some of the writings of Graetz, Dubnow, Karpeles, Abrahams, Radin, Philipson, Greenstone, Jacobs, Bentwich, Malter, Margolis, Halper, Lazarus, Schechter, Wolfenstein, Isaacs, Perez, and Zangwill, would either not have appeared at all or would never have reached so many thousands of readers. The Society has issued more than 120 books, and has dis- tributed more than a million and three-quarters copies of these publications. These figures by no means represent the numbers who have read our books, nor the influence they have had in educating the Jew to know himself or in creating an intelligent public opinion. Authoritative books on Jewish history, Jewish religion, Jewish literature, and Jewish thought were needed, not only for self-instruction but to present to the world the facts of Jewish history, reli- gion, literature, and thought. With due modesty, we may proclaim that no educational society in the world, certainly no Jewish society, has accomplished so much. We have done this work without having been adequately supported by our community. For thirty years the Society tried to supply three or four books a year to its members on an income from membership 384 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK dues barely sufficient to pay the cost of revising manuscripts, editing them, seeing them through the press, and paying for their production and distribution. Owing to the financial crisis brought about by the war and the consequent read- justment, even a five-dollar membership is not enough to meet the expenses. For a long time we have been running short in our finances, but particularly so since the war. Last year we appealed to the American Jews to help us raise a Sustaining Fund of $200,000, which would not only pay our debts but place the Society in a position where it could with the necessary capital carry on more than a hand-to- mouth existence. This fund is essential, not only to meet the heavy indebtedness but to bring to fruition the large projects which are necessitated by the increasing demands of a population that has risen from three hundred thousand of a generation ago to over three millions. Moreover, a group that numbers three millions certainly requires a greater liter- ary output than has been rendered thus far, and its budget must include not only money for the relief of sufferers abroad and the amelioration of physical discomfort at home, but must also supply the spiritual food, without which the body cannot thrive and the soul cannot function. Shall we cease spreading Jewish knowledge? Shall our boys and girls have no Jewish Bibles, no Jewish histories, and no Jewish literature to inspire them to be better Jews? Had not these questions been answered affirmatively, the New Translation of the Bible—a version by Jews for Jews—Graetz's "History of the Jews," Dubnow's "History of the Jews in Russia and Poland," Lazarus' "Ethics," and the essays by Schechter and Ahad Ha-'am, and the list of worthy books by worthy authors too long to be mentioned, JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY 385 would not have seen the light of day. If we are to cease spreading Jewish knowledge, we must cease at once the work on the Jewish Classics; stop the progress of the Jewish Commentaries on the Bible; cancel our arrange- ments for the preparation of biographies of celebrities; dis- continue the books dealing with the movements in Judaism and the many manuals on the Bible. If we are to cease spreading Jewish knowledge, we ought to scrap the New Hebrew Press, which promises to make America the centre for the finest Hebrew printing of our sacred literature. Shall we stop combating prejudice? Racial and religious prejudice must not be allowed to take root in the free soil of America. If we are to impress our neighbors favorably, they must learn that we are the bearers of something worth preserving. To gain the respect of our neighbors we must learn to respect ourselves as Jews, and this can only come through a knowledge of Jewish history, religion, and litera- ture. Through its books the Society has helped to produce a cultured Jewry and sympathetic public. Jewish literature not only reveals the Jew to the Jew, but the Jew to the Gen- tile. Jewish books should be in the hands of American statesmen, legislators, editors, teachers, clergymen, and leaders of business and public opinion. Shall we discon- tinue our contributions to Americanism and Jewish ideals? Shall thirty-four years of sacred service be ended now for lack of funds? Among all denominations, shall the Jews be the only people whose literature is inaccessible to them- selves? Shall the Jewish Publication Society of America, with its great record of service, live or die? We require the $200,000 to help distribute the Bible; dis- seminate information