For Memorial Day: A Speech from the 1950's

Given to the Veterans of the Spanish American War in Saratoga Springs, NY

For Memorial Day I would like to publish a speech my father, Rabbi Solomon Slomowitz, gave to the Saratoga Springs, NY chapter of the Veterans of the Spanish American War.

The speech was given in either 1956 or 1957 while he was the rabbi of the synagogue in Saratoga.   It was his first (and favorite) pulpit and it was his first position after being discharged from the US Army as a First Lieutenant, where he served as a chaplain in Verdun, France.

While he writes that it was the 54^th annual memorial, we can assume that the first memorial was not the year after the war (which was in 1898).   The speech was scanned from typed sheets and we used a conversion program to convert it so we could edit and publish it here.  It is all in caps since that is how it was typed.    Thanks to my brother Alan for editing help.

Any errors in editing are mine.

MR. CHAIRMAN, COMMANDER O'KEEFE, DISTINGUISHED MINISTERS, HONORED GUESTS

LADIES AND GENTELMEN.

I AM DEEPLY HONORED BY THE INVITATION EXTENDED TO ME, TO ADDRESS AT THIS MEMORIAL SERVICE, THE 54^TH ANNUAL ENCAMPMENT OF THE UNITED SPANISH WAR VETERANS. HAVING RECENTLY SERVED MY COUNTRY AS A CHAPLAIN IN THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, I AM INFINETLY PROUD FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SALUTE THESE NOBLE COMRADES IN ARMS, WHOSE MOTTO IS FREEDOM, PATRIOTISM, AND HUMANITY.

IT IS THIS DISTINGUISHING MARK OF OUR BLESSED DEMOCRACY, THAT THE MAXIM OF THE FIRST ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES TO FIGHT ON FOREIGN SOIL, WAS NOT OPPRESSION, VANDALISM AND CONQUEST, BUT WAS THE EMBODIMENT OF HUMAN DIGNITY, SPIRITUAL IN NATURE, IDEALISTIC IN CONTENT, AND HUMANISTIC IN PURPOSE.

IT IS RATHER STRANGE THAT THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR BEGAN WITH THE DAWN OF THE 20th CENTURY. FOR WITH THE ADVENT OF THE 1900, AS WINSTON CHURCHILL STATED,  A SENSE OF MOVING FORWARD TO BRIGHTER AND EASIER DAYS WAS PREDOMINANT. LITTLE DID THEY GUESS AT THAT TIME, THAT WHAT WAS TO BE CALLED THE CENTURY OF THE COMMON MAN, WOULD WITNESS AS ITS OUTSTANDING FEATURE, MORE COMMON MEN KILLING EACH OTHER WITH GREATER FACILITIES, THAN ANY OTHER FIVE CENTURIES PUT TOGETHER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

AND TODAY UPON REFLECTION OF THE YEARS OF HIDEOUS AND UNPARALLED MECHANICAL SLAUGHTER 0F THE  PAST WAR, ILLUMINATED BY INFINITE COURAGE & SACRIFICE, THE WORLD HAS WITNESSED WAR, STRIPPED OF EVERY PRETENSION OF GLAMOUR AND ROMANCE, AND BROUGHT HOME TO THE MASSES OF THE PEOPLES; AND BROUGHT HOME IN FORMS NEVER BEFORE EXPERIENCED, EXCEPT PERHAPS, BY THE DEFEATED. SO TONIGHT WE ARE ONCE AGAIN GATHERED HERE TO HONOR THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM, PATRIOTISM, AND HUMANITY.

AND AS WE REFLECT UPON THESE PATRIOTIC DEAD, WE BEGIN TO QUESTION; WE WHO BELIEVE SO MUCH IN THE WORTH OF HUMAN LIFE;  WE WHO DETEST BLOODSHED, AND ABHOR USE OF FORCE; HOW CAN WE JUSTIFY OUR USE OF FORCE, OUR SHEDDING OF HUMAN LIFE.

ALPRED NORTH WHITEHEAD, ONE OF OUR GREAT PHILOSOPHERS, ANSWERED THIS QUESTION IN SIMPLE AND PROFOUND WORDS.  IN HIS BOOK “ADVENTURES OF IDEAS”, HE WRITES “THAT THE ONLY JUSTIFICATION FOR THE USE OF FORCE , IS TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF FORCE NECESSARY TO BE USED.” AND HE ADDUCES AS PROOF AN ENGAGING ILLUSTRATION. IF THERE IS A YOUNG MAN, WHO MAKES AN INFERNAL NUISANCE OF HIMSELF BY GOING UP & DOWN DRUNK, IN OUR BUILDING, ANNOYING ALL ITS OCCUPANTS, WE CAN DO ONE OF TWO THINGS; WE EITHER WRITE A LETTER TO THE NEWSPAPER ABOUT IT, OR WE TELEPHONE THE POLICE. ONE IS A MILD FORM OF PERSUASION, THE OTHER IS POTENTIAL FORCE; IF HE PERSISTS, HOWEVER, WE HAVE HIM PUT AWAY. THAT IS RESTRAINT.

YES, IF A TYRANT ATTEMPTS TO DISSOLVE THE G-D GIVEN LIBERTIES OF A PEOPLE AND REFUSES TO LISTEN TO THE ADMONISHMENT OF THE FREE WORLD; IT IS THE SACRED DUTY OF THE FREE WORLD TO HAVE THE TYRANT AND HIS COHORTS PUT AWAY.  FOR THE REQUISITE AND THE ESSENTIAL PROTEIN, NECESSARY FOR LIFE, IS FREEDOM. FOR TO RENOUNCE FREEDOM IS TO RENOUNCE BEING A MAN; TO RENOUNCE FREEDOM IS TO SURRENDER THE RIGHTS OF HUMANITY  & ITS DUTIES.

A STORY IS TOLD OF A RUSSIAN WHO MEETS AN AMERICAN IN ONE OF THE FOREIGN CAPITALS OF THE WORLD. DURING THEIR CONVERSATION, THE RUSSIAN SUDDENLY ASKS THE AMERICAN,"TELL ME SIR, IN AMERICA,YOU HAVE MANY POLITICAL PARTIES"? WHY YES ANSWERS THE AMERICAN. AND THE RUSSIAN CONTINUES "TELL ME SIR, IN AMERICA,YOU HAVE MANY NEWSPAPERS"? WHY MOST CERTAINLY, ANSWERS THE AMERICAN. "AND THEY ALL PRINT DIFFERENT THINGS? CONTINUES THE RUSSIAN?  AND HOW ANSWERS THE AMERICAN . THE RUSSIAN THEN, AFTER A FEW MOMENTS CONTEMPLATION SAYS "HOW STRANGE, IF THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUTH".

BUT OUR GREAT DEMOCRACY IS TODAY THE MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD, BECAUSE, IT WAS BORN IN LIBERTY, IN THE BELIEF THAT THERE IS MORE THAN ONE TRUTH. FOR FREEDOM OF WORSHIP MEANS THAT PROTESTANT,CATHOLIC,  JEW, BUHDIST OR MOHAMEDAN, EACH HAS THE RIGHT TO WORSHIP IN THE MANNER WHICH TO HIM EXPRESSES TRUTH; FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH MEANS, THAT EACH  AMERICAN WHETHER HE BE WHITE OR NEGRO, OR YELLOW, HAS THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO EXPRESS WHAT HE BELIEVES TO 'BE TRUE' AND ABIDING PRINCIPLES . FOR DEMOCRACY IS NOT A MELTING POT WHICH SEEKS TO IMPOSE A UNIFORMITY OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS; FOR OUR GLORIOUS DEMOCRACY IS THE PUREST REPRESENTATION OF A SOCIETY BASED UPON CULTURAL PLURALITY. WHERE BY PLAYING HIS OWN SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL INSTRUMENT, EACH INDIVIDUAL SHARES WITH OTHERS, IN THE BLENDING OF THE SFRITUAL AND CULTURAL SYMPHONY, WHICH IS THE DEATHLESS HARMONY OF OUR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.

SO TONIGHT, AS WE CONVENE TO HONOR THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR UTMOST FOR FREEDOM, PATRIOTISM AND HUMANITY, WE BRING TO MEMORY, ALL OF OUR COMRADES WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN THE FIELD OF BATTLE, SO THAT THIS MOTTO CAN REMAIN AN ETERNAL SYMBOL; WE ASK OURSELVES, WHAT IS IT THAT HAS INSPIRED SO MUCH HEROISM, COURAGE AND DEVOTION IN THESE YOUNG MEN, TO DIE, BEFORE THEY HAVE HAD TIME TO LIVE. THE ANSWER IS; THEIR IDEAS NO DOUBT WERE MULTIFORM, YET THERE IS ONE WHICH THEY HAD IN COMMON. IT WAS NOT PUT INTO PHRASES, IT WAS NOT VERBALLY DEFINED BY THEM;  BUT IT IS AS NEAR AS ONE CAN COME TO A DEFINITION. IT IS THE IDEA OF HUMAN WORTH.  AS WHITEHEAD SAID "THEY DIED FOR THE WORTH OF THE WORLD”!

FOR THE BATTLES WHICH OUR COMRADES HAD FOUGHT, AND DIED, WAS NO FIGHT OF MEN WITH MEN, FOR THAT IS BRUTALITY.  BUT IT WAS AND STILL IS THE STRUGGLE OF RIGHT WITH WRONG, OF FREEOOM  WITH TYRANNY, OF LIBERTY WITH ENSLAVEMENT. FOR OUR FOES ARE NOT WORTH BEATING. NOR ARE THE LIVES OF OUR YOUNG SO EXPENDABLE, IF THE SOLE PURPOSE OF THESE BATTLES WERE SIMPLY TO BEAT THE OTHERS. FOR TRIUMPH IS NOT THAT WE OVERTHROW THE FOE, BUT THAT WE ESTABLISH THE PRINCIPLE, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. FOR MAN CAN NEVER CONCEIVE OF HIMSELF IN THE SINGULAR, BUT ALWAYS IN THE PLURAL. FOR ALONE HE IS NOT EVEN MAN; ALTOGETBER HE BECOMES MANKIND. IN THE WORDS OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, "WE AMERICANS ARE NOT DESTROYERS, WE ARE BUILDERS. AS A BRAVE MAN PERILS HIS LIFE TO SAVE THAT OF ANOTHER CHILD, SO OURS HAVE GIVEN THEIRS SO THAT WE MAY LIVE.

 AND THUS WE DO NOW DEDICATE THIS NIGHT; A NIGHT SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR PATRIOT DEAD. AND TO THE INSPIRATION OF PATRIOTISM, IN THE LIVING.

WE PLEDGE OURSELVES TO AMERICA; IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON “I WISH TO SEE AMERICA, NOT LIKE THE OLD POWERS OF THE EARTH, GRASPING EXCLUSIVE, AND NARROW; BUT A BENEFACTOR SUCH AS NO COUNTRY EVER WAS, HOSPITABLE TO ALL NATIONS”. FOR AMERICA IS ANOTHER WORD FOR OPPORTUNITY. OUR WHOLE HISTORY APPEARS TO BE A LAST EFFORT OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN BEHALF OF THE HUMAN RACE.

AND WHEN THE QUESTION ARISES; IF LIBERTY IS SO WONDROUS TO BEHOLD, AND FREEDOM THE EXIGENCY FOR LIVING, WHY IS TYRANNY SO RAMPANT, AND HUMAN BONDAGE SO PREVALENT TODAY? PERHAPS, A PARTIAL ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION, COULD BE SOUGHT IN THE WRITINGS OF SANTAYANA "HUMAN THOUGHT", HE WRITES, "WOULD LONG AGO HAVE REACHED ITS GOAL, IF EVERY MAN WHO RECOGNIZED A GOOD COULD AT ONCE APPROPRIATE IT, AND POSSES WISDOM FOREVER, BY VIRTUE OF ONE MOMENTS INSIGHT.

THE WORLD MUST BE TAUGHT, AN ADMITTED LONG AND ARDUOUS TASK, JUST AS THE ERADICATION OF DISEASE IS ESSENTIAL FOR EXISTENCE, SO IS THE CULTIVATION AND THE BLOSSOMING OF FREEDOM, URGENT FOR LIFE. WE MUST BE THE ONE'S TO LEGISLATE FREEDOM AND HUMANITY AT HOME, AS AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL THE WOLRD TO FOLLOW. AND THOUGH THERE IS STILL SO MUCH HUMAN MISERY, POVERTY, AND ENSLAVEMENT; WITH FAITH IN DIVINE PROVIDENCE WE CAN DEMONSTRATE TO THE WORLD, THRU OUR OWN LIVING, THE WORDS OF THE POET:

"AFTER GREY VIGILS, SUNSHINE IN THE HEART,

AFTER LONG FASTING ON THE JOURNEY, FOOD.

AND AS A MEMORIAL FOR THOSE WE HONOR THIS EVENING, AND ALL OF OUR COUNTRYMEN WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM, PATRIOTISM, AND HUMANITY, I HUMBLY OFFER THESE IMMORTAL WORD OF KIPLING.

"THE TUMULT AND THE SHOUTING DIES,

THE CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS DEPART,

STILL STANDS THINE ANCIENT SACRIFICE,

AN HUMBLE AND CONTRITE HEART.

LEST WE FORGET O'LORD

LEST WE FORGET.”