Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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ragnienteci vUof ' ld by ALLEN MANDELBAUM QEMENTING fragments of a world, we shall piece together the shattered with the love of man we bear, that love once there now hidden away with the G-d they chose to forget in their moonless night and their sunless day; it is for us to bask in the future ' s first warm ray of a G-d given sun on a G-d given day. Let us build on the fear; let us build on the hate , they said; and some listened to the drunken bowlings in the stagnant night; there were the hungry and the thirsty and the mystics who slept on the magic mountains and drank 10-pfennig lager in the Munich beer-halls. And Wagner composed far into the misty night, stirring the heady brew. Let us build on the atom; let us build on whirling nuclei , they scdd; and some listened to the hazy lullaby in the stagnant night; there were the hopeful and the starry-eyed gazers and the quanta-curious waiting for the savior who never came; all may be well but if this be heaven — what and where is hell? Eighteen

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M A S M I D nation be entrusted with control over prod ucts which are designed for universal con- sumption. There must be an all embracing, international framework within which each nation will be assigned its specific role. This implies a world confederation along lines which have recently been extensively outlined. Elsewhere in this magazine is to be found a somewhat detailed article dealing with this aspect of the problem. The political structure of the United States of America may well serve as a model for the executive, legislative, and judicial organization of the government of the world. Needless to say, the proposal for the abrogation of national sovereignty does not imply the destruction of the individual na- tional cultures and the prevention of their natural development. On the contrary, un- der a universally coUectivistic order, each nation will be afforded a greater oppor- tunity of pursuing its own cultural path, unhindered by economic considerations and political pressures. The Russian experience in these matters bears out all of these con- tentions. One more word before the subject of v oild confederation i.-j dropped. No one will dispute the fact that it alone will effec- tively abolish war forever. In bare outline a plan for post-v ar re- construction has been submitted. If it seems entirely too Utopian and visionary, the fault lies with lack of imagination and reaction in the past. The present writer entertains absolute conviction and faith that ultimately the entire scheme or one similar to it in principle will come to be adopted. He sees in constant postponement an unnecessary sacrifice of human dignity, human rights, and human blood. He hopes that the pres- ent golden opportunity is not a gain muffed. He is a despairing witness of reaction in the saddle working zealously and thus for successfully against the tide of progress. He sees at the some time the apparent com- placency and indolent inaction of liberal and progressive forces throughout the world. His heart is filled with a great fear for the future. Being convinced that prog- ress cannot in the long run be checked, he sees in a successful reactionary stand the seeds of even more horrible conflict in the future. Towards the prevention of this con- flict has he dedicated this writing.

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M A S M I D And Haber synlhoM od aininonia and the bomb sidled slowly from the rack. And others spoke of I ' art pour I ' arl , building on the non-entity; there in the stagnant night the cobwebs of aesthetics cluttered a symbolistic mind when Paul Verlaine polished his verse and Rimbaud sought the terse, pregnant phrase and decadent ways of achieving form in the mold of le mot juste , as ponderous-phrased Proust and the soulful stream of time did sleep and dream in a cork-lined room, as Hypochrondria and Lesbia did groom their pervert selves for the literary strip-tease; but life is broader than Marcel Proust and the earth does not revolve on the axis of le mot juste . And the old man Sigmund died in London, whispering of Ego, muttering of Eros, and the old man Walt died in Camden dreaming of Peter Doyle and the cosmos delights of the joyful comrades. And in this still, still night the warmth of the waves on the cool sand shore found me chanting with the singing sea, and the song I song was of the dead poet and the dead world, world in the poet —