' LENIN AND THE TALMUD
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sn't,—In your issue of July 4th an anonymous writer, relying on a quotation from the work of an unnamed author, has—
one must assume in ignorance—contrived to give fresh cur- rency to an old slander upon the Jewish faith. The prayer called " Kol Nidre," which still figures in the Atonement liturgy of many Orthodox congregations, is not employed by the Reform or the Liberal Jewish congregations to which, as it happens, we belong ; and so, in a sense, perhaps, your cor- respondent may be said to have left the withers of our two Synagogues unwrung. Nevertheless, in common fairness to our Orthodox brethren, and for the enlightenment of your readers who might otherwise be misled, we think it only right to call attention to the following typical footnote which is printed on the same page as the older version of the " Kol Nidre " that appears in the Prayer Book edited and revised by Dr. Gaster, sometime Chief Rabbi of the oldest Orthodox community in this country. The footnote is in the following words :—
"This solemn absolution of vows, bonds and promises refers only to those vows which a person may have voluntarily promised to the Almighty during the past year, and which promises or vows have not been observed, either through neglect, error, or other cause. But it does not in the least possible degree affect the pro- mises or obligations entered into between man and man, as the latter can only be dissolved by the mutual consent of the parties, nor can it absolve any man from a judicial oath."
We imagine, though we cannot say for certain, that the American Prayer Book referred to in your correspondent's letter contains a similar footnote ; but be this as it may, we can and do assert that, either by means of a footnote or other- wise, "teachers of the Synagogue have never failed to point out to their co-believers that the dispensation from vows in the Kol Nidre ' refers only to those which an individual voluntarily assumes for himself alone and in which no other persons or interests are involved" : see the article in the Jewish Encyclopaedia, vol. vii., p. 541.
But though, if he were ignorant, such considerations mighti extenuate his offence, nothing can, we feel, wholly excuse the anonymous writer who has been allowed to revive in your' columns the cruel and oft-refuted slander that Jews, as Jews„, are taught or permitted to violate their oaths.—We are, Sir, &c.,
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