methods in attempting to seize communal control. He reported with satis-
faction that even Schechter, an enrolled Zionist, agreed with him. Blaming
the nationalist Zionist wing that shunned religion, Schiff continued to
raise money for the Technikum, but he bemoaned the negative effect of
the quarrel on international goodwill, on support for other cultural enter-
prises in Palestine, and especially on Jewish unity. “I only wish we still had
a Sanhedrin,” he wrote to Marshall, “which could condemn to death by
stoning, anyone who tried to sow the seed of discord within our own ranks.”
Jews had enough to do, he said, defending themselves against attacks from
non-Jews.^80
Zionists around the world successfully raised money in defense of the use
of Hebrew, and many in the United States looked to the American direc-
tors to come up with a settlement. Some cited the predominant share of
funds contributed to the school from the United States, and others stated
that the Americans, unlike the Europeans, were not blinded by chauvin-
ism. The American directors finally suggested a compromise worked out
by Schiff (who put pressure on Nathan) and Magnes, providing that as far
as possible Hebrew was to be the dominant language of instruction. Julian
Mack, a federal judge and new convert to Zionism, warmly congratulated
Schiff for his peacemaking role. If the compromise held, “you will have
done the finest of the many fine works of your life for the Jews of the
world.”^81
The executive in Berlin accepted the compromise with some modifica-
tions, but peace in the yishuv was still elusive. The controversy between
Zionists and non-Zionists continued as before. Even Schiff grew impatient
with Nathan and told him that a language can’t be forced on a people.
Since leadership exacted sacrifices, he urged Nathan to keep on working
despite Zionist attacks. Again he turned to the Bible, this time to Moses’
plea, when he came down from Sinai, that God destroy him but spare the
stiff-necked people.^82
In the midst of the language war new obstacles arose. Formidable fi-
nancial difficulties threatened the opening of the school, and all the Amer-
ican members of the curatorium, who were less sympathetic with the Ger-
man trustees than Schiff was, resigned with Schiff’s consent. Frustrated by
the delay, Schiff told several Zionist friends that the situation might well
cool his interest in “things Palestinian.”^83 In July he himself stirred up a
new round of communal infighting with a letter to the Anglo-Jewish press
complaining about the tactics of the Jewish nationalists, who clamored for
the cooperation of international Jewry for Palestinian work but “will not
hesitate to stoop to employ the most reprehensible means in order to ac-
complish forcibly, if needed, their own purposes and designs.” As Adler
In Search of a Refuge 185