Rick's Cafe Americain

Henry Schwarzschild was a German Jew who came to the United States in 1939 and devoted his life to the protection of liberty.  Reprinted here, for your consideration, is his letter of resignation from the journal Sh’ma in 1982:

I remember this statement when it was first published in Sh’ma Magazine, a journal of contemporary Jewish thought conceived and published by Eugene Borowitz, the progressive Jewish philosopher.  Schwarzschild’s public announcement was the most daring statement ever made by any Jew on the topic of a Jew’s (especially an American Jew’s) responsibility and ethical independence concerning Israel.  It had a profound effect on my own thinking and willingness to voice what I thought concerning the Israel-Palestine tragic dilemma.  Eventually, my openness cost me my employment as a rabbi.  Nevertheless, I look back with gratitude to Schwarzschild’s pronouncement for having inspired me to live by my conscience, whatever the cost.