Breslau, the capital of Upper Silesia, Germany, has a population of four hundred thousand and a Jewish population of twenty thousand. Most of the Jews in Breslau are more or less assimilated Jews; they all speak German, think in German terms, live as Germans, keep up German customs, and they are not religious at all. Most of the Breslau Jews are "Day of Atonement" Jews--only a small number of them are "Sabbath" Jews. [Translator's note: The term "Day of Atonement" Jew means a Jew who attends the synagogue only once a year--on the Day of Atonement. The term "Sabbath" Jew means an observant, Orthodox Jew.]

The Breslau Jewish community is as big as the Jewish community of Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Jews are not poorer than the Breslau Jews, yet Breslau is known throughout the world as a leading Jewish city, while Milwaukee is 2a Jewish village. Even Jewish Chicago, which has twenty times as many Jews as Breslau is, in comparison with Breslau, a village. Why is it that a small Jewish community like Breslau is considered a leader of Jewry, and Chicago, which is the second largest Jewish community in the world, is considered a village?

There is a Beth Ha-Midrash La-Torah, a Jewish theological seminary, in Breslau, where about fifty young Jewish men are engaged in Jewish studies. This seminary has a staff of professors, instructors, and research workers who devote themselves to the study of Jewish sciences. The whole Jewish cultural history of the nineteenth century cannot be understood if the chapter "Breslau" is omitted. Graetz, the first great Jewish historian, Frankel, Horwitz, Levy, Braun, Jewish scholars of renown, who have educated a generation of Jewish scholars, all studied at the theological seminary in Breslau.

These fifty or sixty young Jewish men who study Jewish sciences in Breslau, and are, at the same time, students of the Breslau University, create a 3certain atmosphere in the city. Around those fifty or sixty Jewish students, who devote themselves to Jewish studies, a few hundred educated and prominent citizens group themselves, and both of them constitute a cultural force. You will find in Breslau Jewish businessmen who are interested in rare Hebrew books, and who buy rare Hebrew manuscripts. You will also find in Breslau a much larger group of prominent citizens who are interested in Jewish studies. A group of prominent Breslau citizens follow with the closest attention the activities of the theological seminary, and the careers of the students of that institution. Coming continually in contact with spiritually minded people, they, the ordinary businessmen, also become spiritually minded Jews; their attitude towards Jewish thought and Jewish scholarship is changed.

In the other European cities, such as Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, London, Paris, and Florence, where there are modern Ba-Tay Midrashim La-Torah, there are also small or large groups of Jews who take a great interest in certain Jewish affairs and Jewish studies--Jewish businessmen who are semi-scholars and who 4own magnificent Jewish libraries.

There is not a single Jewish businessman of any importance in Chicago, who owns a decent Jewish library. There aren't five Jewish businessmen in Chicago, who buy literary or scientific works, unless a peddler of books comes to them, and, in order to get rid of him, they buy a book which they never read.

There is no group of Jewish businessmen in Chicago which cares about books, which cares for the spiritual word, for the spiritual side of Judaism. In short, there is no spiritual Jewish aristocracy in Chicago, and, therefore, Chicago, the second largest Jewish city in the world, is spiritually a wilderness.

Even if Chicago did not need a Beth Ha-Midrash La-Torah for educational purposes--to educate Hebrew teachers, and perhaps rabbis, and to give young Jewish men an opportunity to acquire a higher Hebrew education--Chicago Jews 5would still need a Beth Ha-Midrash La-Torah, because, without it, Chicago is a forsaken city. When it has a Beth Midrash La-Torah, Chicago may become an educated Jewish city, or, at least, may create some spiritual atmosphere. When there is a Beth Ha-Midrash La-Torah, it will have an educational council, and the members of that educational council, in order to express an opinion about the curriculum, will have to become absorbed in the problem of pedagogy and study. They may find it necessary to study deeply those books in which Jewish thoughts are expressed. Willy-nilly, they will have to learn something from those books, and they will have to become spiritually minded people.

The older students of the Beth Ha-Midrash La-Torah will not be isolated. They will come in contact with certain circles and those circles, for social and psychological reasons, will take an interest in these educated young men, in their studies and in their careers. A new spiritual atmosphere will arise in the city, thanks to the contact of the students of the Beth Ha-Midrash La-Torah with certain groups of the Jewish population. The ignorance and 6boorishness, which exist at present, will gradually diminish.