1 6 V O L . 1 4 , D O C . 3 3 2 a A P P E A L T O J E W S O F H U N G A R Y Vol. 14, 332a. “Appeal to the Jews of Hungary” [Einstein 1929e] Dated ca. 4 October 1924[1] Published 1929 In: Einstein 1929a, pp. 25–26. I gladly comply with your request to direct an appeal[2] to the Jews of Hungary on behalf of Keren Hajessod.[3] The great enemies of Jews’ consciousness[4] as a people and their dignity are gilded degeneration, that is, a lack of principles proceeding from[5] wealth and well-being, and also a kind of inner dependence on the non-Jewish environment that arises[6] from the loosening of the Jewish community. The best in a man can flourish only when he is absorbed in a community thus how great is the moral dan- ger to the Jewish person who has lost the relationship[7] to his own people and is seen as a foreigner by the host people! Often enough, vile, joyless egoism has grown out of such a situation. Presently, the external pressure that weighs on the Jewish people is particularly great.[8] But precisely this hardship has been salutary for us. A renewal of Jewish community life has begun, of which the generation before last could scarcely have dreamed.[9] Under the influence of newly awakened Jewish feelings of solidarity, the work of colonizing Palestine under apparently insuperably difficult conditions that has been undertaken by the prudent leaders who have gone there, has already produced such splendid results that I have no doubt that it will be a lasting success.[10] The[11] value of this work for Jews throughout the world is high. Pal- estine will be a cultural site for all Jews, a refuge for the most oppressed, a field of action[12] for the best[13] among us, a unifying ideal and a means of inner healing for Jews all over the world.[14] Jews of Hungary, show that you do not want to fall behind your fellow Jews in the rest of the world.[15] [p. 25] [p. 26]