In 1926, there were twelve murders in Jefferson County, in the space of three months. On Wednesday, June 09, 1926, an outraged Rabbi William Rosenbloom addressed the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. The rabbi, who was scheduled to leave the area the following week to assume a charge in Washington, D.C., gave a jarring speech that should have shamed every person in the county. The entirety of his dialog made the front page of the Steubenville Herald Star. This speech, given almost 100 years ago, is tragically applicable to the current state of Steubenville:
“If I were a young man or young woman in this city, I should leave here and go where the grime and dirt is of industry and not of morals or of blotches of lawlessness. Here is your community and it is described by press associations as a ‘little Chicago.’ How do you like it? ... It’s hugely due to the fact that the citizens of today, many of you sitting here, step aside from your responsibility to the community while authorities perform degrees that should not be recognized in any civilized court and which foster, rather than deter, crime. Certain vice is permitted to flourish, crimes are committed, and the citizens do nothing..."
And the citizens do nothing. Did you read that? Complaining on your social media accounts is doing nothing. Writing criticizing comments regarding articles by legitimately concerned citizens is doing nothing. Lamenting the state of the city to your grocery store cashier is doing nothing. If you are such an expert on the shortcomings of the city, get off that whine-inducing couch, stop being a state-of-the-art crab, and make an effort for the betterment of society.
“One of the greatest misstatements is that you reap what you sow. Not so. You sow and the generations that follow reap your mistakes or your acts. That’s the tragedy of it. And it is the generations unborn that are crying the challenge to you now. Are you building a city intelligent, a city beautiful, a city orderly, a city brotherly?”
Or are you hoping someone else will come along and build this city for you? Sure, we can all point fingers at the past citizens and leaders of this community, but that isn't going to make Steubenville any better for the next generation.
“Blind patriotism is the highest kind of disloyalty. This city has its faults ... We should have an orderly growth of the city and work spots and play spots should be provided. I haven’t seen a single park in the city, although there is one on the hillside. But no places of beauty are generally provided for our workers."
Rabbi Rosenbloom makes a fascinating point here. Places of beauty and recreational facilities in general are often brushed aside, as there seem to be more necessary items to spend time and money constructing, but there is a very real beauty-happiness connection that is built into our human nature, and which must be recognized for the success of any given community.
“All the constructive things will fail, however, if we do not carry into our daily life the spirit of a city brotherly, a true community. There is room for Christian and Jew, for those native to the soil and those alien to the soil. Remember that the land is yours by right of trusteeship only and not by ownership in perpetuity. And all of God’s children are entitled to their portion of it. Do you believe on Monday and Tuesday what you’ve said in church on Sunday?
“You can gain immortality by building your city to satisfy the challenge of the ones yet unborn, immortality greater than fortunes. It will not be a selfish building up, but you can gain prize of immortality if you build for a Steubenville in which the yet unborn will be proud to live."
Today, we are regularly encouraged to pursue our dreams and seek out our own happiness. We move to places that are "perfect" in our estimation, in hopes that we will be happy, but Rabbi Rosenbloom suggests that we are not meant to satisfy our own desires, and rather ought to build for the joy of our offspring.
“This is not a farewell speech. I shall come back to Steubenville often, I hope. Fellow students have carried to me headlines in metropolitan papers which stigmatized Steubenville as a “little Chicago,” and I bowed my head in shame, feeling that perhaps I had not done my full duty in attempting to attack these conditions. Nevertheless, despite its glaring faults, Steubenville is a progressive little city."
Do you want to hang your head in shame when you say you are from Steubenville? It's up to you to make sure that doesn't happen.
