ve
all of devotion to Judaism.

[Illustration: Signature: M. Gaster]

_From Norman Bentwich_

_Professor of International Law, School of Law, Cairo, Egypt_

[Illustration]

You are indeed happy in the moment of your appearance. I am not of
those who regard this world war as a terrible catastrophe. I can see
in it with God's grace the preparation of a great uplift of humanity
and especially the coming of redemption for Israel. But the more
glorious the vision of the future the greater the need of light, and
more light, to illuminate the present and to enable the young
generation to advance steadily towards the vision and make it reality.
That is what I believe the function of THE MENORAH JOURNAL to be, and
your first number is an earnest of the sincerity of your aim and the
goodness of your means.

The Jewish people stand on the brink of a new era in which they are to
resume their true function of the spiritual teacher of mankind. And
American Jewry, it is a truism to say, has a vital and a leading part
to play in moulding the destiny of the Jewish people. So we may adapt
the old Rabbinic saying: "He who saves the soul of a single Jewish
student is as though he saved the world." THE MENORAH JOURNAL in
holding up the light of the Jewish spirit to the young men and women
of America is doing the work of humanity.

May I express the hope that the Menorah Societies will direct the gaze
of their members to the land of promise and the land of the prophets,
where the inspiration of Judaism has always come and whither the hopes
of Jewry have always turned. Living as I do, in the reflection of
Palestine as well as in the shadow of the Pyramids, I am very
conscious of the need for a continued Passover from the ideas of the
various Egypts that beset the Jewish people to the message that calls
us, in spirit if not in body, to the land of our fathers. To-day in
Palestine the light has begun to shine brightly again. Judaism has
relit there its prophetic lamp, which in centuries of stress and
darkness has never been permitted to fade away altogether. In our own
time the Menorah has been re-established in the Temple of the land by
a new band of Maccabees. But a single branch, so to say, of the seven
branches as yet shows its clear light. But if the Jewish youth wills
it, the whole Menorah may be lighted and shine full and clear to the
world with fresh lustre. In our day there may be a new Hanukka, a
rededication of the Hebrai