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- Mr. Wolf—“As the representative of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations—which I have been for nearly 30 years—I took up the matter and propounded a series of interrogations to some of the leading Jews of the United States, among others * * * Dr. Cyrus Adler, who was librarian of the Smithsonian * * * and every one of them states that the Jews are not a race.”
- Senator Lodge—“That, I think, is an important point. I have always supposed they were. I find in the preface of The Jewish Encyclopedia, which is signed by Cyrus Adler, among others this statement:
- ‘An even more delicate problem that presented itself at the very outset was the attitude to be observed by the encyclopedia in regard to those Jews who, while born within the Jewish community, have, for one reason or another, abandoned it. As the present work deals with the Jews as a race, it was found impossible to exclude those who were of that race, whatever their religious affiliations might have been.’
- “In the same encyclopedia is a statement by Joseph Jacobs, B.A., formerly president of the Jewish Historical Society of England:
- ‘Anthropologically considered, the Jews are a race of markedly uniform type, due either to unity of race or to similarity of environment.’
- “Do you mean to deny—I want to understand your position—that the word ‘Jew’ is a racial term?”
- Mr. Wolf—“I have made my statement, and my opinions are in this pamphlet.”
- Senator Lodge—“Let me get at it. How would you classify Benjamin Disraeli? Was he a Jew?”
- Mr. Wolf—“He was born a Jew.”
- Senator Lodge—“He was baptized as a Christian. He then ceased to be a Jew?”
- Mr. Wolf—“Yes; religiously he ceased to be a Jew.”
