Excerpt from Jewish Questions: Three Lectures (New York: Bloch, 1914), 20–26 and 33–42.
Ignaz Zollschan (1877–1948) was an Austrian Jewish anthropologist and physician. After practicing medicine, he turned to anthropological research, focusing on Jews and the question of race. He was also very active in Zionist politics, and a highly vocal proponent of the need for Jewish thinkers and writers to use racial and social science to further the nationalist cause. This selection comes from a collection of lectures that Zollschan delivered in the United States. See the entry in the Encyclopedia Judaica, 21:666.
What can we say with certainty about the purity of the Jewish race? The answer to this question is of vital importance. For if intermarriage with alien races had in former years played a great role among Jews, it is self-evident that we are not justified in speaking of a Jewish race at all. Are the Jews of today really the pure descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Nobody assumes today that all the Jews are the direct descendants of three patriarchs; they are derived from the mingling of various stocks which were, however, essentially varieties of one and the same race.
When in the thirteenth century before the current era the Bedouin tribe of the Habiri, that is to say, the Hebrews, took possession of Palestine, they found there a vast native population, the Canaanites, Hetites, Getites, Amorites, and Philistines. During the period of the Judges and Kings, the Jewish tribes intermarried with all these nations. Their blood was mingled with that of the nations in whose midst they lived. This slow process of intermixture continued until after the first exile, until the time when the powerful word of Ezra severed all existing marriage connections with foreign nations, and henceforth the purity of the race became the dominant principle.
It is quite gratuitous to enter into a controversy about the exact definition and classification of such nations as the Hittites, Amorites, Philistines, and others, to which, in a broader sense, the Egyptians as well as the Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Jews belong. Whether we speak of Semites and Hamites in accordance with the inadequate linguistic methods, or of Semites, Hittites, Amorites, and Kushites, we regard these nations as related to one another in the racial sense. Ample anthropological evidence exists for this statement, though naturally it cannot be presented in this lecture.
Many historians are of the opinion that the appearance of Ezra did not put an end to the racial intermixture. They think that also in all subsequent centuries the Jews continued to mingle with the nations of the Diaspora, just as in the time before the Babylonian exile. They advocate the theory that the Jews of today are the descendants of the heathen proselytes during the Hellenistic period, or the offspring of mixed marriages between the Jews and their surrounding nations during the Christian centuries.
We can today assert with certainty that the extent of proselytism has been greatly exaggerated. There can indeed be no doubt that Judaism found numerous adherents among the pagan nations during the Roman and Hellenistic and early Christian periods. We have, however, sufficient reason to assume that those proselytes were only the so-called “proselytes before the gate,” that is to say, converts who practiced the worship of one God, but were never admitted to circumcision or marriage. They were proselytes who later on embraced Christianity.
And in the times that followed immediately, the policy of discriminating between Jew and Gentile was inaugurated. Hadrian’s laws forbidding circumcision were, it is true, revoked by his successor, Antoninus Pius, but it was expressly prohibited to make converts to Judaism. In consequence of this, the formal embracing of Judaism became a punishable crime, and it remained such until quite recent times. Even during the periods when the Jews commanded respect to some extent, the Church took good care that the religious boundary-line should be kept intact. In times of persecution and oppression, no appreciable number of adherents of other religions could have gone over to outlawed Judaism. The bars of the ghetto formed a reliable dividing wall.
But even if we grant that in some cases a few heathens became Jews in every respect prior to the Christian era, they could have been of no significance. As in the Hellenistic period there already existed millions of Jews, the admixture of foreign blood must have been infinitely small. And this foreign blood was, after all, derived from the kindred nations in Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt.
It may be regarded as certain that proselytism almost entirely ceased since the appearance of European Jewish history. Even the invasion of the Khazars in the eighth century does not alter the fact that during the Middle Ages not much of foreign blood was added to the Jews. For already in the tenth century the empire of the Khazars was confined to a small territory, something like Crimea of today, and in the eleventh century it was entirely wiped out. A small remnant of Khazarite Jews is still living in Crimea today, and belongs to the Karaitic sect. But even if we assume that the entire nation of the Khazars embraced Judaism, and professed that religion for a long time, this admixture would still be a quantite negligeable [negligible quantity] and would not alter the ethnic character of the Jewish race. Moreover, it is doubtful whether this conversion was not confined to the rulers and the ruling classes of the Khazars. We would be losing sight of historical proportion, if we were to infer from the conversion of the Khazars that the Jews have any remarkable admixture of foreign blood.
As far as legal mixed marriages are concerned we know that they actually existed in the times of high material culture, namely, in Egypt during the Hellenistic period and in Spain during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But, as is the case now in Europe, where there is a strong leaning toward intermarriage, the offspring of those marriages preponderantly went over to Christianity. Besides this, those early periods quickly passed away owing to the changed political conditions, the reaction of orthodoxy, and the decisions of the councils of the Christian Church. Moreover, this movement at that time, in contradistinction to the general spread of intermarriage of today, was only confined to one country. Intermarriage with northern nations never took place in former years to any considerable extent.
The Jewish nation accordingly has propagated itself in an essentially pure manner from the time of Ezra until today, and for more than two thousand years represents an ethnically peculiar race, which was not diluted by foreign blood. It is self-evident that a few drops of foreign blood must have found their way among the Jews during the long time in the Diaspora. But these admixtures were too insignificant to have any essential influence upon the ethnic character of the nation. Thus the Cohanim, who were absolutely excluded from mixed marriages, are typically the same as the other Jews. The state of affairs can best be described in one sentence: a great deal of blood was exported from Jewry, but little indeed was imported from outside. And, consequently, we can assume with certainty, that the blood which flows today in the veins of the Jews is the same as that of two thousand years ago.
That Ezra’s commandments, among which is also the one about purity of blood, have been kept for thousands of years is due to the fact that they claimed to be religious ordinances coming from God. It is the case with all nations that social institutions which are interwoven with, and supported by, religion are kept most tenaciously. In addition to this, Ezra’s prescriptions owe their strength to the circumstance that they consisted in the practical laws of the cult, and not in theoretical doctrines; and that the Jews, after being scattered among other nations, were forced to social and economic isolation.
The true consideration of this circumstance indicates the great significance of the solution of the problem of intermarriage in our own times. Economic and social isolation and the power of religious legislation, account for the fact that up until today this people did not fall a victim to intermarriage, despite its wanderings among strange nations for the last 2,000 years.
As long as ceremonial religion was a great power in the civilized life of all nations, this influence of religion was easily explained. But nowadays, for reasons which will presently become apparent, this influence upon the great masses is confined to the Ghetto environment. As soon as the Jew leaves this Ghetto environment, and participates in the national industry of his country as a factor of [citizen with] equal rights, and adapts himself to the speech and culture of his native land, he begins to free himself from the power of ceremonial religion. A century of free activity in the world of capital, combined with a secular education, entirely estranged the Jews, in all countries where the system of capital is developed, from their former mode of life. The pressure of changed economic conditions and the scientific materialistic conception of our age sap the vitality of orthodox Judaism and undermine its foundation.
Now since ceremonial religion on the one hand and economic and social isolation on the other, together with the prohibition of church and state, were the only reasons why intermarriage with foreign nations did not take place on a larger scale, it necessarily follows that affairs today have reached a critical stage. Free legislation in countries where the system of capital is developed has done away with the economic and political isolation; rationalism has shaken ceremonial religion; and no state nowadays prohibits mixed marriages.
In countries where one or another of these important conditions is not ful-filled, as, for instance, Galicia, Russia, and the Orient, Judaism is still kept alive, though the lot of the masses residing there is by no means to be envied. But in the Occident, and in all countries where the Jews are allowed to develop themselves freely, their lot is the same as that of other nations in a similar situation.
Without exception, all the nations who were compelled to leave their native soil and who never formed a compact majority in any part of the world, but were scattered in small communities, have vanished through intermarriage. And the Jews likewise would be swept away by the immense tide of the human race in the five continents, if all obstacles were removed. As can be easily shown, Jews have always married outside the fold whenever conditions were favorable. But never were conditions which make for the disintegration of Judaism as powerful as to-day. Nations who dwell together always mingle, unless intermarriage is made impossible by outside pressure of law or religion. The Jews nowadays come into contact with other nations, the civil law permits intermarriage, and the authority of religion is beginning to wane. The laws of love and material interests are mightier than all religious barriers, especially when the latter are weakened and enfeebled as they are today. The result of these considerations is that, today more than ever, Judaism is in danger of being dismembered.
The facts derived from statistics confirm this conclusion in all its details.
[. . .]
We may epitomize our conclusions from the processes described above as follows: When the Jews in the Diaspora became prosperous, assimilation which appears on the scene takes them away more or less from Judaism. It is mainly when they are oppressed, when they are in economically unfavorable conditions, that the Ghetto environment, in its old sense, is still retained. And although conditions today are not favorable in all countries, the beginning of this development can be recognized everywhere. Under favorable material conditions, and through the prevalence of secular education, Judaism, on account of its being scattered among nations of an alien race, is in danger of being disintegrated and destroyed, since the influence of ceremonial religion is waning.
It is not for the first time that we notice this process of disintegration. There were similar phases in all countries and throughout all ages. In accordance with the laws of historical evolution ever since the exile, this process has appeared in every country where a high culture brought about freedom from political pressure, from care for [earning] a livelihood, and from superstition. These phenomena appeared in those cases where Judaism actually imported foreign cultures, as for instance the Greek culture in the second century before the present era up until the first century of the common era, and afterward the Arab culture from the eighth until the twelfth century. Greek culture, from whose combination with Judaism, Christianity sprang, brought Judaism to the brink of ruin and deprived it of a great part of its adherents. The million of Jews who, during the first century after Christ lived in Egypt, which was then the center of Hellenistic culture, appear to have gone over to Christianity. And the intimate and friendly intercourse which prevailed later on between Jews and Mohammedans in Babylon and Spain caused the frequent recurrence of mixed marriages and conversions to Islam. The fact that in the empire of Castile, from the year 1290 until the year 1474, the number of Jews was reduced from 850,000 to 150,000 may serve as a proof for this assertion.
It is impossible to deny the resemblance of these two periods with the process of disintegration of our own times. Only nowadays, the beginning of this process exists in all countries, and it has the tendency of becoming universal. Formerly, these processes were only partial, confined to certain domains of culture. Modern culture, however, has broken all boundaries and has become a world culture.
In China, the Jews, who in former centuries were quite numerous, have almost entirely disappeared without leaving a trace, through intermarriage with the Chinese. And finally, we have to take into consideration the ten tribes who disappeared among the foreign nations, because at that time religion had not yet become ceremonial in the same sense as it existed after the Reformation of Ezra and Nehemiah. And also today it is possible that wherever religion ceases to be ceremonial, the greater part of Jewry in the Diaspora will, in the near future, become absorbed among the nations in whose midst it exists.
From all these considerations it becomes clearly manifest, how significant the problem of intermarriage is today. An inexorable process of disintegration is in progress. Although this process of breaking up Judaism is only gradual, from individual to individual, from family to family, it is of significance on account of the principle and inevitable result that it involves. The future of the Jews is seriously menaced by economic impoverishment in the East, and by baptism and mixed marriages in the west of Europe. In addition to this, there is a decrease in the birth rate of [Jews in] the latter [region].
The Jewish people which existed almost from the time when the history of the world began, which flourished in antiquity, which defied fire and sword in the Middle Ages, which is the only one of the nations that survived from the earliest times until today, whose representatives even today have brilliant achievements to their credit—it is just to this people that culture and the development of civilization have brought nothing but misfortune; they have estranged many of its best sons, and through political and economic anti-Semitism have slowly but surely taken away the ground from under the feet of the great masses.
It is therefore not impossible that Judaism may be disbanded in the near future—to be more precise, when the amelioration of the lot of the Jews will enable them to spread themselves still more [broadly]. Are we justified in hindering these historical processes, which may mean the termination of thousandfold tribulations? Can the continued existence of a nation which is externally persecuted by fate be of any value to us? What our sentiment says is quite clear; but what answer do we get from positive science? Would it not be perhaps of great benefit to the development of civilization if the Jews were to assimilate with other races of high standing?
These are questions and problems which cannot be solved from our subjective point of view, but we must seek for an answer in sociology, history, and natural science. Which is better when considered from the general point of view, race mixture or race purity? The point of view which modern science adopts toward the important questions of race mixture and inbreeding is totally different from that which prevailed up until the last quarter of the preceding century.
Whereas it was formerly believed that in the intermarriage of two different races, the qualities of both component parts would appear in the offspring, we know now that the question of race mixture is by no means so simple. It is possible, but not certain, that only kindred elements could improve through crossing. On the other hand, the interbreeding of totally different nations produces a bastard type whose character is far below the level of either parent.
The observations made in countries which have a population of half-breeds have pointed to the unfavorable effect of crossing. In India, the progress of race crossing caused civilization to retrograde. We also know very well the wretched conditions of Central and South America, which are inhabited by half-breeds whose cultural stagnation stands in striking contrast to the rapid and ambitious development of the United States and Canada. It is certain that the conditions in Central and South America must, to some extent, be considered as the result of race crossing. It is true that also in North America the population arose from a blending of various nationalities. But here it was chiefly Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Dutchmen and Germans; that is to say, nations which were closely related to one another, who were amalgamated; whereas in South America it was Spaniards, Indians, Negroes, and Mongolians who formed affinities.
Colonization in newly discovered countries has always succeeded in those places where, like in North America, the conquering nations have avoided crossing [with the indigenous peoples]. In Brazil, on the other hand, there rules an indescribable mixed type whose bodily, intellectual, and moral energy is exceedingly enfeebled. The natives of South Africa have a proverb: “God created the white man, God created the black man, but the devil created the mulatto.”
According to the laws of Nature, the general instinctive abilities, from which depth of talent and character emanate, dwindle among half-breeds, while individual abilities often become more pronounced. Almost all observers are unanimous that through cross-breeding, bodily shapeliness [and] facility of talent could be gained, but resistibility of body and strength of character are impaired. Furthermore, the ability to achieve anything great and extraordinary, as well as nobility of mind are, as a rule, unknown to half-breeds. The latter characteristics form the constitutional ability, and the former the individual. The constitutional type becomes enfeebled through crossing, and the more distant the two races are, the more pronounced is this weakening.
[. . .]
These examples will suffice to prove that crossing is one of the principal causes of the destruction of nations, and that the interbreeding of widely different types leads to the reduction of fertility and vitality. The difference of race and character leads, as also animal breeders assert, to the formation of discordant, irresolute characters. It is for this reason that all half-breeds who are the offspring of widely different races have a bad reputation in respect to character.
In history there are many examples of the impossibility for half-breeds, even when their parents did not belong to races very far from each other, to reach a state capable of developing a living culture. This impossibility is also observed in cases where each nationality in itself possessed very great ability. All investigations thus point to the ennobling influences of racial purity, and to the destructive effects of racial chaos.
One calls to mind the flourishing nations of the ancient Orient: the Indians, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. One also compares their former creativeness and influence with those of the time when the tide of foreign nations began to overwhelm them. How brave were the old Romans, and how capable did the Germanic race that mingled with them prove to be later on; and yet how wretched was the product of this crossing! After the barbarism of the Middle Ages, it took about a millennium before men of firmly rooted greatness arose once more, and before the national character strongly and harmoniously asserted itself! How changed were the inhabitants of Greece after they absorbed the Slavonic tribes! What became of the Indians after the Arabs and Mongolians broke into their country? Each of these racial components proved itself capable of high culture, and yet the result was always a change for the worse for both parent races. That these results were not due to historical and social conditions alone can be seen from the case of smaller nations like the Armenians and Jews who have retained their racial purity, and have consequently preserved and increased their cultural ability despite their unhappy lot. One calls to mind the high cultural ability of the Moors and the Goths, and one considers the result of the mixture in Spain, when the Gothic population absorbed the former after the destruction of the Moorish rule. One also thinks of the racial medley of Germans, Slavs, and Tartars in Russia. It becomes evident from these examples—not speaking of the single individuals, but of the greater majority—what a bad effect the mixture of races has. The normal historical development does not tend toward the effacement of race, but rather toward making the racial features more pronounced, and is thus combating political influences. The quintessence of race is the hero, the genius.
From experiments on and observations of our domestic animals, we also learn that thoroughbred animals, which possess superior characteristics, become deteriorated with respect to these very characteristics, through intermixture. The same holds good of the human races. It is now regarded as certain that virtues and superior qualities are mostly to be found among races which have kept themselves pure, while mixed breeds usually develop the defects and vices of their parents, but none of their good sides.
There is thus no doubt that the power of heredity is more powerful among pure races. Potential cultural energy will always predominate in pure, untainted races. It is only among such races that ingenious creative power as well as artistic and moral genius find a favorable home.
These are, accordingly, the answers which science gives today to the above questions. Even from the cosmopolitan point of view, therefore, it would be no advantage if Judaism were to disappear through assimilation with those Slavonic nations in whose midst the bulk of the Jews reside today. Such an event would be detrimental to both sides. We have to strive after race purity, not after racial chaos. Greatness of intellect, character in the highest degree, and genius can only emanate from the rich source of instincts which are to be found in pure races. In order to get an exact idea of the power of instincts and the effect of heredity, we ought to bear in mind that every man, in twenty generations, is the product of more than a million forefathers, and in thirty generations he is the product of a thousand million forefathers. If all these forefathers descend from one race, this enormous sum of similar instinctive talent, and with it the strength of constitutional capacity, becomes manifest. For it is this constitutional type, as above indicated, which produces bodily resistance, depth of intellect, and strength of character. And this constitutional type becomes enfeebled through crossing. Accordingly, if a nation wishes to achieve something great and powerful for itself and mankind, its policy with reference to the future must have only one aim: to force its way from racial chaos to racial purity.
We have proved by our investigations that the Jews have racial purity, and that an extraordinary high racial value falls to their share. Their disappearance would not only be a national loss, but also an irretrievable loss for the general culture. But unfortunately, even at this present moment, this race is in danger of being destroyed. The conservation and further development of the distinguished possibilities that are found in this ancient race, owing to its long-standing purity, are just now being questioned. For there is not so much danger to the Jew from baptism, as is usually maintained, as there is from intermarriage. [This is so] in the first place because baptism only finds its way among Jews of ignoble character, while intermarriage is found among all classes; and secondly, because intermarriage is practiced even in countries where baptism, for one reason or another, is of rare occurrence.
In conclusion, I wish to repeat the following sentence which contains the social law appertaining to mixed marriages, and for which we have previously cited statistical proofs: tribes which live together always intermarry when such marriages are not forbidden by law or religion. Since they have been scattered all over the globe, the Jews have mingled with other nations. Civil law today permits mixed marriages, and religion has actually begun to lose its authority.
In order to preserve the Jews for Judaism, two remedies are possible: to preserve the Ghetto with its external and social influences, or to abolish the Diaspora. The first alternative can only mean a continued morbid existence.
This is the Jewish Question in a quite different sense from that in which it is usually conceived—namely, the question about the future lot of the Jewish race, which, after thousands of years of splendid development and stubborn resistance, now presents the sad picture of the body of a people which is partly perishing in misery and partly in course of decomposition.