THE BUILDER FEBRUARY 1918
ZIONISM AND ITS RELATION TO THE SACRED HISTORY OF MASONRY

BY BRO. DENMAN S. WAGSTAFF, P. M., CALIFORNIA

NOTE: Such Zionists as may be among our readers will understand at
once the spirit in which Bro. Wagstaff has written this vigorous
article. It is a vigorous presentation of one side of the question.
THE BUILDER will be very glad to publish a reply from some Zionist
Brother.
THE EDITOR.

"Zionism aims to obtain a publicly-recognized and legally secured
home for the Jewish people in Palestine."--From the Basle Program.

A suit of armor hung upon a wall,
An ancient sword, beside it;
An empty gauntlet clasped its hilt,
As tho' forsooth, to draw it.

ANTIQUITY paints the glamor of "sacred memory" upon the face of
everything it touches. Zionism grew to its maximum strength by the
same process of "treasuring," that has aided the forward march of
latter-day Masonry! Thus we build and build, until King Solomon's
Temple stands before us in all entrancing grandeur ! We may now see
the ancients flitting about the vaulted halls of fame, bearing
flickering candles that allow a glimpse now and again of their
surroundings !

By this symbol of light, the Zionist as well, sees dead embers of
what were once fires, upon sacred altars! He sees traces of burnt
offerings and scents in the charged atmosphere, the odor of
mystifying incense; and through the curtains of his retrospective
realization, beholds the Holy of Holies and the sacred vessels--the
rich Jewels too that adorned the vestments of the great High
Priests. He heal s the terrible voice of the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob and observes the light of his countenance envelop the
whole scene !

So Masonry and Zionism have found their relationship or fraternity
of origin. They were born in the same bed and nursed by the same
breast, just as were Romulus and Remus. For years, until now--and
the journey is about at an end--they have traveled hand in hand.
The present is marked by the incident of a separation. Persisted
in, the reason for an actual "parting of the ways" is because of
the well established fact that Masons are Patriots first, Masons
next!

Masonry will surely continue to rise, phoenix-like, to greater
heights than yet attained, while Zionism, because of her
abandonment of present and past-proven vital issues of national
life, both spiritual and material, will estrange her devotees from
the parent objective of all advanced effort, placing her skeleton
alongside the empty suit of armor on the wall. Modernism has won a
place in life ! Between the flickering rays of candlelight only,
may we see ancient things! By the full glare of the sun, we see the
present, the dawning days we are destined to overtake! Left to our
own volition, we (Jew or Gentile) would not trade a paving stone on
Market Street, for the tomb of some Moses in Jerusalem, except for
speculative purposes, were we obliged, on acquiring the sacred
place to renounce our allegiance to the country of our birth and
take up residence on hallowed ground. By the way, it would be a
good place to intern some American citizens, (yet unconfined) who
are afflicted with "Kaisermania" because of their hatred for
Russia. Wonderful reason for a Jew to give, in view of the shades
of Disraelli and the long line of Jewish Lords Mayor of London. The
dream of some day following up the allied armies when they have
made it safe for German and Turk atrocities, is indeed commendable.
This we may see by the flickering candle light.

To meet the point at once, I would say for Jew and Gentile !
Jerusalem is no more sacred to one than the other! To be sure the
Jew provided out of the abundance of his antiquity, a Savior, a
Christ. We would very much like to come across the stable where he
was born. When we succeed in driving the infidel Turk and German
out of the sacred place, we may be able to safely bribe some son of
the real Jehovah to disclose its whereabouts ! Now the Jews lived
in Palestine during various periods of their national existence,
when they were not in Egypt (because they could not govern
themselves) or elsewhere about the country fighting. The Jew thinks
more of Palestine now, than the Jew did then. These facts must
console the "me for the Holy-Land" agitator upon mature
contemplation. The Jew of course has retained his racial
characteristics more particularly than any other race, by having
continually reminded himself that he was a Jew. He has jewed the
whole world into the same habit. He has persistently, and ofttimes
offensively, declared himself a Jew, when he might just as well
have been known as an Englishman, a Frenchman, or even just an
American. Some have escaped confinement, by not being outspoken as
to nationality, seeming to value religion more than country.
Vigorous thinkers nowadays, when times are stirring, often fail to
take, time to consider that such a man could hardly belong to the
forward movement necessary in the making of full fledged citizens.

The world knows that what I have just said is true. I would like to
see the American of Jewish faith wipe out this new onus of
"precarious citizenship," by a complete resumption of his
prerogatives as a citizen, without the taint of religious
fanaticism. What is a Jew anyhow? Is he so different an animal by
nature, that he can, of his own free will and accord, separate
himself, throughout the length and breadth of all lands, from every
tie of birth, of association, both business and social? Does he
want anything further of Jerusalem, except to make it a safe place
for a fellow to visit when so inclined? I should think not!
Zionists are collecting a lot of money for what they call their
"cause." Better call it their "casus belli." The Zionist reveres
the same ancient landmarks as does the Mason. He does not think any
more of them.


The Catholic Church has made a great feature of the "Relics" of
Jewish Characters and personalities. Judea ought to be to them, the
most sacred place on earth. It is not, however. Their Church has
fought and bled for it, as it has about every country on earth,
except this. For the sake of what they have excavated in Palestine,
they have challenged the heretically civilized world to mortal
combat, from the time of the Crusades until now. However it happens
that they were neither Jews nor Masons! They were very wise. They
visited the tomb of Christ and long ago chipped off a piece of the
sacred boulder that once closed its entrance--they have disinterred
every body that had a sacred memory, and have taken as much away as
would hold together. They have in their museum, the original rod of
Aaron and some of the holy water out of his smitten rock, as well
as one of the original slabs of heavenly granite upon which was
written by God the Ten Commandments, and then handed to Moses.
These and more, they have taken to Rome, where they have sanctified
and established a new Jerusalem, all their own. They have there the
Holy of Holies. They do not consider the old place as material to
their religious purposes, neither do they wish to colonize it.

It would be a grand thing for the world and civilization, if they
did have such a plan. World interests would just slide ahead one
hundred years upon the day these Christian Warriors sailed away.

But we can not afford to lose the Jew! The American of Jewish
faith. Let me now plead with him to be American First, not Jew
first. One does not hear public men spoken of as
Methodist-Americans, nor even Catholic-Americans. There would be
some measure of truth in such a title as the latter one, because no
sane man doubts but that the papacy has a stronger hold upon her
"gassed" subjects than Woodrow Wilson, perhaps the greatest
President since Abraham Lincoln, could possibly expect to wield, as
a heretic, destined to pass away and then buried like an ordinary
citizen, in non-consecrated ground. The Jew and the Mason are of
course consigned to equally inconsequential localities on the map.

All that I have said may not be a just or proper arraignment of the
material body or spiritual conscience of the Zionist movement, and
these "faddists" may not have conceived, in their enthusiasm, to
what lengths such an "herous-mit'em" drive could be carried, before
meeting with resistance from even Gentiles, who recognize, in their
fellow citizens of the ancient faith, the great and sterling
qualities which make for the highest type of citizenship that
America is blessed with. But to the "man up a tree," an American
tree--without prejudice, it would seem that the desire to restore
the Holy Land could be done in a more quiet and indeed
business-like way, as any man would, for instance, go back to the
home place of his father or grandfather, buy it, fix it up so that
the "rats and mice" would not have undisputed possession, gloat
somewhat over the transition accomplished for his immediate posters
and rest content, because no strange unhallowed lands could now
caress the old brass door knobs, or the floors of the chambers, now
made safe, for reflection the glories of the past.

Jerusalem is safe. The British descendants of the Crusaders are
doing the trick without even casting a shadow upon the actual
legitimacy of the citizenship of any of the Allies. Masonry is
satisfied with the victory, because it gives back to her unsullied,
the ancient landmarks, in which Jews and Judaism have acted so
prominent a part, in the glorious past. Unsullied because the earth
remains, that the Creator made foreman to tread, and erect on, from
time to time, the playhouses he has always seen fit to decorate in
his very mortal fashion, and which may always pass away, like
milestones sink out of sight, on the highways of the onward
centuries.

