Revolution in Russia; two deaths mourned
The new Russia: general joy
The festive mood created by this Revolution and the sudden grant of freedom to the Jews, is still in full swing; and the news from the provinces announcing the fall of former real Russian strongholds gives rise to great rejoicings and firm hopes that the darkness of past oppression will never return. With our great friend M Kerensky as the moving spirit of the new Government, the Russian Jews cannot only breathe freely, but they can also with a clear mind, attend to their national problems of the hour.
(The Russian Republic led by Kerensky was overturned in October 1917)
A Jewish idealist
Dr. Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, has passed away. He died at a moment when all the ideals which inspired him seem wrecked and broken. Esperanto was intended as a means of undoing history — of correcting Babel. Dr. Zamenhof saw in Babel not only a dire confusion of tongues but a confusion and darkening of counsel. Difference of language was to him the main reason why the nations did not understand one another, and out of that, so he diagnosed, grew animosity and war …Only a Jewish idealist could shoulder, with such small resources, so gigantic a task, or could combine such meekness and modesty with a bravery so signal.
The death of Denzil Myer
No need to tell of the grief that has been manifested in the East End at the passing of Lieutenant Denzil Myer. Those of us who knew and loved him clung to the hope that the missing officer would eventually turn up, alive and well. But it was not to be. Stepney is practically in mourning; its Jewish boys and girls grieve at the death of one who possessed a disposition that could only be described as sweet and noble. In the arid desert of the ghetto, Denzil Myer was as an oasis of kindliness, a man whose daily life resolved itself into a succession of good actions. . A life that can ill be spared; a communal loss in its widest sense.
(Denzil Myer of Bayswater was killed on active service in Basra Iraq, aged 41. A merchant, he was active in social work in the East End of London, especially the Stepney Jewish Lads’ Club)