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Well, kind reader, we have been travelling together
over a variety of roads, all, as we conceived, leading to the one goal,
the appreciation of the religion of Israel, during a period of five
years. We have taken the whole range of literature, as far as accessible
to us, to instruct you; and we at one time thought that we had succeed
in a measure to interest you. But, alas! for the vanity of human
labours, though exerted in the best of causes, we have totally failed in
our aim, if we are to believe all that we occasionally hear. Our plan is
considered bad; our contributions are regarded as stupid, and the
articles furnished as just those which ought to have been excluded. So
one wants more literary articles, of which, indeed, we regret to have
given so few; one deems the news department too limited; one finds fault
with the purely religious papers, such as sermons, and those relating to
observances; another thinks we do not give tales and light reading in
sufficient quantity; another dislikes our controversial pieces, deeming
it wrong to molest those who differ from Judaism; whilst another at last
observes our work to be quite useless; because it is not exclusively
devoted to the diffusion of precept. It is a misfortune almost to be an
editor of any kind; but no one will dispute that the editor of a Jewish
periodical in America has not an easy task, since, literally, there are
a hundred tastes to be gratified, if he hopes in the least to obtain an
adequate circulation to pay his expenses.
We tell, therefore, candidly, all those who may be
disposed to find fault with us, that we are perfectly conscious of the
many imperfections of The Occident; and the best way they could pursue
to enable us to remedy them, <<2>>would be to furnish us with well-written
papers of their own or others’ composition. We have in our person done
all our means permitted us to serve the blessed cause of Israel through
the power of the periodical press, without being benefited in a
pecuniary point by a labour continued for five long years; of this all
our subscribers and readers may rest assured, that we have not been
enriched by their aid, since at no time were the subscribers more than
barely enough to pay expenses. Now, therefore, let those who ought to,
and no doubt feel, interested as much as we do in the progress of our
religion, lend us the aid of their superior talents, to give that
solidity to our contents which they allege to be wanting. We venture,
however, an assertion, without laying claim to a prophetic spirit, that
they would speedily discover that they have overrated their power of
satisfying the public demand, and that the uniformity of the papers laid
before the people would soon cause the entire suspension of our
periodical, unless it could be issued without any readers, or to say the
most, with less than a fifth of our present number. Perhaps our friends
may call to mind the anecdote related of some celebrated painter,
whether Raphael, Rubens, or Claude Lorraine, or who else we know not. He
had finished a piece to his own satisfaction; but, in order to learn the
public sentiment, he placed it in front of his house, and attached a
label requesting every one to put down in writing the particular fault
he might discover; and sure enough, every one censured some part, some
feature in the painting; so that the artist soon discovered that by
asking every one’s criticism, he obtained only universal and therefore
undeserved censure, and was hence satisfied to depend on his own
judgment, more than the opinion of all.
Now we are not so satisfied with our production, as
the painter was with his; we know its deficiencies, as we have stated
several times already; nevertheless, we venture to say, that it is
probably the best which could have been produced, under all
circumstances, in this country. We are a very mixed people, composed of
fragments from all parts of Europe and America, with ideas differing as
far as possible on the same one subject—religion; and still it was our
duty to offer something pleasing to all, only to keep in view the sole
object of our enterprise, the glory of our God and the spread of our
faith among the Jews in the western world; and if
<<3>>we are judged from
this point, we candidly hope to receive some small approbation from our
readers. Any one can censure; any one can say, “I wonder why the editor
inserted such a one’s article? is not mine, which has been refused,
infinitely better?” Likely enough that the editor has not always the
good taste to discover every one’s merits; but we would only urge on
these fault-finders the wise sayings of the ancient Rabbi:אל תדין את חברך עד שתניע למקומו “Judge
not thy neighbour till thou art placed in his position.” Nothing is so
difficult as to satisfy all; and nothing so easy as to displease one,
especially if some self-love be mixed up with a portion of just blame,
to lend a little colouring of propriety to his censure and indignation.
It must not be lost sight of, that we commenced our
editorial career, it is true, urged from a great variety of persons and
quarters; but still it was done from our own sense of duty, on our own
especial plan, and unaided by the advice of any of our colleagues, from
whom also we have received but little aid in the progress of our work.
This we do not say in censure or anger; but as a simple fact, well
knowing that circumstances would have prevented them from extending our
circulation if even they had wished it.—The subscribers we have, have
come to us in they various ways; and we are only glad of the opportunity
we now have of returning our thanks to our many private friends for
their often unsought and unexpected exertions in our behalf. Hence, if
now several of our lending men find The Occident not to their taste, we
are only able to say that we are sincerely sorry for the circumstance,
and request of them to furnish us with better, readable material
to fill our pages. We beg to call the attention of our readers to
another circumstance, since The Occident was first commenced, there have
been started one magazine in Jamaica, one or more in England, several in
Germany, and we think one in Italy, which have all expired for want of
support, or perhaps because the editors found it difficult to obtain
suitable contributions. In addition to these, several other papers and
magazines have disappeared in Germany, France, Belgium, and elsewhere,
whilst others contemplated have been abandoned; and still the editors or
projectors have all more extensive learning than the editor of this
unpresuming magazine can lay claim to. Our success, imperfect as it has
been, must then be owing to <<4>>something more than our own merit, and we
deem it to be the mixed character of our contents, by which we have
succeeded in interesting readers of every class of society. Our friends
may believe us, that it is not an easy matter to fill the pages of a
magazine, month after month, with articles as will be pleasing to all;
and though we commenced without any experience in periodical literature,
we have in the course of five years learned many a lesson which some of
them who censure us might profitably inquire into. We claim to know
something of the people of this country; we have a large number of
personal friends, and are not so much blinded by self-love, nor are we
so deaf through an indulgence of personal vanity, but that we can see
and hear, and profit, too, by what is done or said in our presence or
absence. Hence, we venture to say, that had we followed any of the vague
hints we have occasionally received, or been readily mindful of a
carping fault-finding, we should never have appeared with sixty numbers
of this Jewish monthly, containing more than three thousand pages of
matter, which, to say the least, cannot be injurious to any one who
belongs to Israel. Others might perhaps have done more; but we did all
which our limited faculties permitted us to accomplish; more than this
cannot be expected from us.
We would not have troubled our readers with the
above apology, had we not received the subjoined communication. Perhaps
many may think that we ought to have sent it back, and left “Truth” to
find another channel to vent his censure on us. But we do not care much
to be published to the world as a delinquent to our duty through the pure
organ of the penny press of the day, some portion of which might be
inclined to open their columns for a rebuke on the only Jewish
periodical in the country. Besides, we take some little credit for
good-humour, and can even bear to see a scolding epistle in our own
pages; and as our vanity has not often led us to print encomiums on our
course, we trust that our friends will not disdain to bestow some
good-natured attention on the flagellation administered to us by one
who, though well-learned in Hebrew literature, has not all the
knowledge of what is wanted by and for the people to pronounce an
infallible judgment. So here follows the rebuke of “Truth.”
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