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Published Med' by The Jewiah Chr•wici• Tubbable' Ca., law.
JOSEPH J. CUMMINS
JACOB MARGOLIS
JACOB H. SCHAKNE
President
Editor
General Manager
Mitered aa lamed-clue matter March I, 19111. et the PostoSce at Detroit,
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Clews asp
November 26, 1926
Kislev 20, 5686
Jews Celebrate Feast of Chanukah.
Chanukah, the Feast of Dedication, likewise known
as the Feast of Lights, will be ushered in by the Jews
on Tuesday evening, Nov. 30. The festival lasts for
eight days, and is one of great joy and gladness.
The Syrian King Antiochus IV, or Epiphanes in the
year 168 13. C., had decided to unify all the provinces
and peoples of his kingdom. Following the idea of his
predecessor Alexander the Great, he believed that this
could be accomplished only by compelling all his sub-
jects to adopt a common religion, that of the Greeks.
For this reason, he issued a decree to the effect that
only the Greek gods were to be worshiped and only the
Greek religion was to be practiced. But the polythe-
ism of the Greeks did not appeal to the Jews who, alone
of all the peoples of that time, worshiped the One God.
Undaunted by the persecutions heaped upon them by
the Syrians, undismayed by the profanation of their
holy temple and the setting up of idols therein, the
Jews, led at first by the aged priest Mattathias and
after his death by his son Judas Maccabeus, success-
fully resisted the strong armies which the Sy,rians sent
against them, defeated them repeatedly and finally
marched triumphantly into Jerusalem. There they re-
dedicated the temple to the service of the One God after
it had remained defiled for exactly three years. The
rededication took place on the twenty-fifth day of the
Jewish month of Kislev, in the year 168 B. C., and it is
in commemoration of this glorious event that the Feast
of Chanukah, or Dedication, is celebrated today.
The festival lasts for eight days, in accordance with
an old legend which states that a single cruse of unde-
filed oil found in the temple at the time of the rededica-
tion burned for eight days through the miraculous in-
tervention of God. For this reason the kindling of the
lights in the home and in the synagogue is the most dis-
tinguishing feature of the festival. One candle is lit
the first day, two on the second day, and so on until
eight are kindled on the last day of the feast. Special
prayers and scriptural readings are recited in the syna-
gogue, but the holiday is nevertheless regarded as a
minor one because there is no injunction against labor
on that day.
In modern times the festival has assumed more and
more the character of a children's celebration, a period
of great joy, marked by the playing of games and the
recounting of the great deeds of the Jewish heroes and
martyrs of the past.
VinZIAIV
maladjustments and dislocations affecting many mil-
lions of the people of Europe, and especially the Jews,
have given rise to a new social relief technique.
Prior to the war and the revolution, the economic
life of Russian Jewry was in many respects unsatisfac-
tory, but they were able to muddle through with the
assistance of their own social relief agencies and the
aid sent by their American relatives. They had a place
in the Czarist economic system, even though that place
was undesirable and often irksome, but with changes
inaugurated by Bolshevism they spilled all over the Eu-
ropean Russian scene, exhibiting their misery and mal-
adjustments so that all those with any regard for the
maintenance of social life were compelled to give some
attention to the grievously acute problems.
American Jewry should join the Ort movement. It
is a splendid social investment. We would not hesitate
long if a typhus, smallpox, or cholera area endangered
the population of the country. We would apply mod-
ern methods and technique in an effort to arrest and
then to wipe out the infected spot. Just such a spot ex-
ists today in Russia and Poland. The relief agencies
are the sanitary, social engineers which must isolate
and then cure the economic maladies,
The Ort Program.
The conference of the American Ort which was held
recently in New York decided upon a membership cam-
paign in which it hopes to enroll tens of thousands of
Jews of America. The Ort is particularly interested
at this time in the development of trades and crafts and
the distribution of tools among Jewish artisans and
craftsmen in Eastern Europe. If for the present and
during the next few years the matter of agricultural
settlement comes within the purview of the Joint Dis-
tribution, yet the Ort program provides for colonization
activity in conjunction with the J. D. C. and when the
J. D. C. is liquidated the Ort shall continue its construc-
tive work until a sound economic basis is established
for East European Jewry.
The solution of the economic problem of East Euro-
ri! pean Jewry is not the exclusive concern of American
Jewry. The Hilfsverein Der Deutchen Juden through
I)r. Paul Nathan, its president, proposes to send a com-
mission to investigate the status of Russian and Polish
Jewries.
The Hilfsverein shows a proper appreciation of the
work of the Joint Distribution Committee, but yet the
fact remains that the entire East European Jewish ques-
tion cannot be settled by colonization alone. There are
6,000,000 Jews pressed together in a limited area. The
economic and political conditions are unsatisfactory.
The possibility of emigration is so remote that it hardly
merits consideration. Therefore, the proper distribu-
tion of Jewish population and the allocation in trades,
professions and occupations becomes all important. I)r.
Nathan is of the opinion that it would be a mistake if
the mass of Russian Jews or its overwhelming majority
should be transferred into agriculture. On this point
the leaders of the J. D. C. are in entire agreement with
him, while Dr. Joseph Rosen believes that to settle more
than 500,000 of the 3,000,000 Jews in Russia on the
land would be an economic blunder. Despite hopes
and wishes, we are of the opinion that the economic and
industrial development of Russia will make the settle-
ment of a larger number than 500,000 unnecessary and
improbable. The leaders of German Jewry view this
Eastern European Jewish area as a plague spot which
must of necessity affect not only those in the immediate
circle, but even those at a distance. In order to wipe
out this area, they propose to send an expedition into
Russia which would determine to what towns the suf-
fering and maladjusted Jews should be sent and in what
occupations they should be placed. The project takes
on a scientific aspect. It is a problem of social engi-
neering which requires as a prerequisite detailed find-
ings of facts. The Soviet government will no doubt co-
operate with the German expedition, for the respon-
sible officials of Russia realize that a plague area of
such size cannot but affect the whole economic struc-
ture.
The activities of the Ort, J. D. C., Ozet, ICA and
the Hilfsvereim indicate a movement in the direction of
political, social and economic modernism. The same
canons of criticism which have been accepted in the
examination of religious fundamentalism must be ap-
plied to the secular questions which have been specially
vexatious since the war. The acute and innumerable
Offinkft,
'
'
'6b"
• = COSMO'
How Does Modern Judaism
Meet the Needs of
Educated Men?
VgaVVV:ilk '6196b
)7V7.WV.1
By ROLLIN G. OSTERWEIS
A Scientific Survey of Palestine.
YVVIAZI-VAMZIgia(I'eer•
',stow
Jewish Republic in Russia
"It is a tree of life to them that lay
hold of it, and the supporters thereof
are happy."
If I ant to enter into a •discussion as
to the means by which modern Juda-
ism satisfies the needs of the educated
man, I ant under the primary obliga-
tion of examining and describing
those demands. In spite of the ever
present influence of individual taste
and requirement in all fields today, I
feel they can be placed into a more
or less general grouping.
The trained mind of this generation
van be satisfied only with a type of
religion that permits a wide range of
opinions and philosophies. Its pos-
sessor does not wish to feel himself
tied down to a lengthy creed, involving
obligation to accept many definite and
detailed tenets of faith. If he is to
register himself as conforming to a
certain religion, he wishes at the same
time to retain many of his individual
ideas. Therefore the educated man
demands a religion broad in Scala.,
liberal in attitude, simple in doctrine.
Adequately modern Judaism fills
this need. It requires belief in the
Franz Oppenheimer, internationally known eco- unity of God and the brotherhood of
nomic expert, visited Palestine at the request of the man in addition to setting forth a
simple code of fundamental ethical
Zionist Executive.
principles. Whatever else remains is
a matter of individual taste, desire,
His observations were given in an address which he
or interpretation. A religion of doc-
delivered in Vienna on Sept. 25. It is as objective and
trine rather than of creed, it strives
scientific as anything we have read on the subject since to convince rather than to compel.
In the liberality eef its attitude the
the Balfour Declaration. One may not agree with all
educated man finds a peculiar appeal.
his conclusions. His findings of fact are of interest to However great the variety of philo-
sophical opinions he may entertain, he
everyone who has the slightest concern about the meli-
probably find himself. neverthe-
oration or solution of the vexatious problems touching will
less, quite in harmony with his re-
ligion.
For example, I think myself
world Jewry.
somewhat of a transcendentalist and
Dr. Oppenheimer revisited Palestine after an ab- from what knowledge I have of Juda-
scene of 13 years and found three chief problems fac- ism feel quite loyal to it in spite of
ideas. It is significant to note
ing Palestinian Jewry. The Arab problem; the con- such
that two exponents of modern .luda-
flict between socialism and capitalism ; and the problem
ism with identical ideas on religion
do not exist. Everyone considers him-
of agricultural colonization.
self privileged, in fact almost obliged
He finds peace between Jews and Arabs mainly be- to interpret the faith to suit his own
cause those who combatted Zionism have profited from particular needs and opinions.
In the matter of ceremony modern
Jewish colonization which has caused enormous in- Judaism likewise displays a broad and
liberal attitude. It stresses not alone
creases in land values.
festivals themselves so much as their
Of the possibility of the Jews becoming a majority, significance. Such a conception is
he has this to say: "The danger of the Arab majority heartily in accord with one thought
the day, which seems almost diame-
becoming converted into a minority is practically out of of
trically opposed to the intricate, im-
the question. I have asked from the very start that the portant, and detailed celebrations of
Arabs be treated not only as equals before the law, but the past. Here, too, one may largely
decide for himself the nature and the
as brothers. Their race is not our inferior, but our extent of his participation.
Modern education cultivates indi-
equal.
vidual taste. Modern Judaism sup-
"The prospects of our becoming a majority are prac- plies a religion adoptable to that taste.
The training of the mind today is
tically nil. With the means at the disposal of the Zion-
simply a process of rational develop-
ist Organization for colonization purposes, the main-
ment. A religion built along purely
tenance of the rate of immigration of the Fourth Alijah emotional lines must of necessity find
itself in conflict with such a process.
is out of the question. We shall have to be satisfied
The educated man, therefore, demands
with the firm establishment on the land of a couple of a reasonable, rational religion. Mental
development is the father of the ques-
thousand people yearly." His expert opinion on this
tion "Why'!" Modern Judaism strives
question outweighs any exaggerated prediction made wherever possible to answer that. ques-
tion. When it deals with ethics, its
by zealot and fanatic.
attitude is like that of Moses in his
On the question of socialism and capitalism, he farewell speech to the children of
shows the same realistic grasp of the economic factors. Israel. After stating the fact that
God presents to every one that oppor-
Although he is a Marxian, yet as he aptly remarks, tunity
of selecting good or evil, life
there is no trade union strong enough to modify the law or death, the great prophet urges his
followers
to choose life in order that
of supply and demand. Although the wage demands
they may live. That final clause at
have made it difficult for industry to thrive, he believes first sight appears rather obvious and
banal. However, reflect on the mean-
that the capitalism of land speculation has been the
ing. Moses argues for the right kind
most dangerous type of capitalism and the source of all of
living by terming it essential for
evil. In speaking of the orgy of speculation in Tel Aviv getting the most out of life. Blind
faith plays no part in that method of
from which the greatest enemies of colonization—the
reasoning.
Effendies have profited the most—he said, "One thing
The adherent to modern Judaism
finds his beliefs unhampered by the
pleases me about that, although ordinarily I do not in-
influence of antiquated theory or
dulge in malicious pleasure—anti that is the blow which superstitious
bigotry. The religion
contains an appeal to the mind by the
speculation has received in Tel Aviv and which be long
reasonableness
of it all. Even in the
remembered. Speculation in Tel Aviv has been abso- organization of the
faith this logical
lutely shameless. The exploitation of the poorest of trend makes itself felt, for the absence
the poor by the usury perpetuated there is beyond ex- of a strong central government makes
the local congregation an almost in-
aggeration.
dependent unit, quite free to work out
However important these questions are they are its individual problems. What a rea-
sonable system that is!
rather inconsequential when compared with the prob-
The craving for spiritual satisfac-
lem of land colonization. Zionism stands or falls with tion and comfort is eternal in man. It
is
what accounts largely for the very
the cause of agricultural colonization. This position instance
of highly developed religious
he has stubbornly maintained since 1914.
faiths. The educated mind of today
liberal, is rational yet it does have
He sees the difficulties in colonization and states is
this craving. And it is in the satis-
them explicitly. On the whole he finds that the land
fying of the need for spiritual com-
workers are poorly trained and only a few are fit for fort that I find the true greatness of
modern Judaism.
farming. The colonies take in three forms: the co-op-
There is nothing of the worldly
erative, the small communist and the large communist; emotional or hysterically turbulent in
its prayers of joy, in its prayers of
the first two have achieved some measure of success, sorrow. There is a reasonable, wholly
while the latter are yielding but 30 per cent of the nor- sincere one in its appeals for as-
mal. He admits he came to Palestine prepared to find sistance. "Be my support when grief
silences my voice and my comfort
the large communist colony a failure, but he found it
when woe bends my spirit."
There is a soothing strain of gentle
even worse than expected. He found the fields poorly
pervading the whole spirit of
cared for and a wagon could be driven through gaping comfort
the present day Kaddish: To the de-
holes in the buildings, while not a window was whole parted whom we now remember may
and bliss be granted in the world
andgreat junk heaps extended from them. As to the P
of eternal life. There may they find
men themselves, not one was capable of leadership. grace and mercy before the Lord of
Most of them not qualified for independent farming Heaven and earth. May their souls
in that ineffable good which
and few were competent land workers. An expert rejoice
God has laid up for those that fear
nursery man was in the kitchen because that was his him, and may their memory he a
blessing to those who cherish it."
assigned task for the day.
As I read those lines over, I feel
Not a heartening picture when the glamour is strip- that they contain sufficient in them-
selves to justify the presence of the
ped but the difficulties are not insuperable.
they represent.
To us the survey merely proves that economic laws religion
The twilight of an earthly existence,
operate the world over and man's psychology is much influenced by such a faith is like "a
evening, calm and free."
the same everywhere. In the larger experimental lab- beautiful
Broad outlook, rational treatment,
oratory of Russia as well as in Palestine it has been spiritual comfort—these then are the
demonstrated that training is indespensible if economic fundamental principles. Resting on
centuries of evolutionary development
success is to be achieved. Just as impossible to car- arel supported by deep rooted beauti-
ful tradition, they are the treasures
ry on successful communist undertakings in Palestine
which belong to the exponents of mod-
without special training as farmers, so it was found in ern
Judaism.
Russia that the workers could not carry on industry
"Behold a good doctrine has been
when the technical experts sabotaged or refused to given unto you. Forsake it not."
render any service.
If an economic system is based upon the principle
of use according to need. and not on contribution. then
those who need must he highly competent otherwise it
will follow that the smallest contributor will use the
most and if the incompetents are in a majority the ven-
ture must be a failure despite the enthusiasm and good
will of the members of the commune.
We are quite certain that the responsible leaders
of the Zionist movement will study the findings of Dr.
Oppenheimer. The rebuilding program of the future
must recognize the economic and psychologic factors
pointed out by this expert who is deeply concerned
about the whole project.
Vt'Llbt-b•
It's a had soldier who does not
aspire to be a general.
What is fallen from the cart is lost.
Do not trust the friendship of a
clown.
Take the wool but leave the skin.
It is Chinese grammar to us.
He who serves the altar, the altar
should provide for.
They are beating Thomas for Ere-
min's guilt.
MOSCOW—O. T. A.)—The work
of settling Jews on the land in Soviet
Russia may lead to the creation there
of a Jewish republic. The Union of
Socialist Soviet Republics would favor
and actively assi-t in the creation of
such a unit within the union.
This was the burden of the address
delivered by Michael Kalinin, presi-
dent of the Union of Socialist Soviet
Republics at the Jewish land settle-
ment conference called ley the Ozet, the
society for settling Jews on the land,
which is in session here with an at-
tendance of 15 delegates from foreign
countries. including the United States,
and 200 delegates from all parts of
Russia.
Michael Kalinin, who was rendered
a tremendous ovation, declared in his
address that the Jewish land settle-
ment conf erence characterizes the
policy of the Soviet government
toward the various nationalities living
within the Union of Socialist Soviet
Republics. Formerly the Jews in Rus-
sia retained their nationality due to
the policy of oppression which was
conducted toward them. Now they
are retaining their nationality, not
through oppression, but through free-
dom. In Soviet Russia, which is a
state of classes, there is no reason nor
a desire for the assimilation by the
Russian people of any nationality.
The contrary is true. The Soviet gov-
ernment aims at giving a maximum of
economic, political and national inde-
pendence to all the nationalities who
live within the Union of Socialist
Soviet Republics. If it would he
otherwise, the Union of Socialist
Soviet Republics would not deserve
the name of a union, he declared.
Since the October revolution, even
the smallest and almost forgotten na-
tionalities of former Russia have ob-
tained their independence. There is no
wonder, therefore, that it took the
higher developed Jewish nationality
years to gain its nationality. By set-
tling on the land in compact masses,
the Jews subconsciously aim at gaining
their own nationality. The first terri-
torial Jewish units have already been
built in the form of Jewish districts.
The rest depends on the Jews alone.
They can fully rely on the support of
the Soviet government in this respect.
The Jewish peasants feel themselves
masters of the land because the land
has not been granted to them, but they
have fought for it alongside of the
workers and the peasantry, he de-
clared.
"I see no reason for Jews of Soviet
Russia to go to Palestine, which holds
for them only the promise of exploita-
tion and poverty, while they have all
the opportunities and possibilities to
build their fatherland in Russia. Of
course, it is understood that the Soviet
government, having settled peasants
of other nationalities on the land can
assign for the purpose of Jewish col-
onization only limited means. We,
therefore, count on the support of
foreign organizations to aid the Jew-
ish colonization," he said.
Amid uproarious laughter, the presi-
dent of the Union of Socislist Soviet
Republics proceeded to comment on
this phase of the relations between
the Soviet government and foreign
Jewish organizations aiding in the
colonization work.
The foreign Jewish capitalist feels
himself guilty before his eastern
brethren. Ity helping them, he hopes
to reach heaven. We will support his
efforts by accepting the money. How-
ever, if he grudges, the government
will not leave the Jews in Russia to
their fate," Kalinin declared.
Kalinin further expressed his con-
fidence in the fact that the process of
turning the Jewish masses in Russia
from petty trailers into a class of pro-
ductive people will kill anti-Semitism,
which is nut, he stated, deeply routed
among the toilers.
The New York Times Moscow cor-
requendent, Walter Duranty, gives the
following account of Kalinin's address
rend his observations on the present
stage of the anti-Semitic movement in
Russia:
"The wholehearted assistance of
the Soviet government to the Jewish
land colonization scheme was pledged
today by President Kalinin, in a
speech to the colonization committee,
a number of foreign delegates and the
peasant representatives of the various
colonies already est ablished.
"President Kalinin insisted strong-
ly on the national character of the
colonization movement and concluded:
"'A Jewish territorial unit should
be formed in Russia. Even without
assistance from abroad the Soviet
government would co-operate and
facilitate its formation.'
"The president began his speech by
explanation of the Soviet federative
system. The country is no longer one
nation, but a union of free, brotherly
peoples, each with its cultural, mein'
and political autonomy, living in its
own fatherland, he said.
"If any national group fails to have
its own fatherland, there can he no
true brotherly union, he declared.
This conference shows that the Jews
are beginning to acquire the character
of a nation. As a result of oppression
the Jews have maintained their na•
tional traditions, but they have riot
been assimilated.
"The Soviet government does not
want them assimilated, it wants to See
them an autonomous nation in the
Soviet Union.
"President Kalinin admitted that
the October revolution, while giving
the Jews the same rights as the rest
of the peoples formerly composing the
czar's empire, had struck them a blow
by suppressing private trade in the
cities and smaller towns and villages.
"The government wished to repair
this by establishing the Jews on the
land and developing the handicraft of
their peasants and workers.
Same CI
Oppose the Jews.
"Ile declared that there is little
anti-Semitic feeling, but in the cities,
amongst the small bourgeoisie and the
intelligentsia, it is worse than under
the czar, because when these classes
declined to cu-operate with the Soviet
government the Jews were willing to
do so.
"While the prime 'object of the
colonization scheme is economic, to
provide work for workless Jews, the
government at the same time sympa-
thizes with the national sentiment of
the Jews and wishes to preserve the
national character of the movement.
It had Neen said that the Jews were
obtaining the hest land, but this was
quite untrue, President Kalinin said
The Crimean land was not available!
to Russian settlers, because irrigation
was too expensive, the Azov land was
VgYa
unavailable because the drain-
ing is too expensive.
The Soviet government was op-
posed to Jewish emigration or the
Palestine settlement, because there.
the Jews have lit eel 10011 years, and
here they should make a free father-
land by their own genstructive labor.
"The speech was received with great
applause and the delegates were great-
ly impressed by M. Kalinin's straight-
forwardness, and sincerity. They got
the impression that the Soviet govern-
ment riot only is anxious to help the
Jewish colonized) , n by every means
within its re wen, but also is de-
termined to elineileste• as far as pos-
sible the Jewish fears that danger
might result frecin an anti-Semitic
feeling among any section of the
population.
Government Can Stem Prejudice.
"It may be taken for granted that
the Soviet government heelers Russia in
far too tight a rein for any popular
sentiment, whether anti-Semitic or
otherwise, to be. translated into action
without its approval.
"At the session •of the conference
telegrams were read trent the central
executive committee and the commun-
ist party central committee of the
Ukraine, wishing success tie the colon-
'ration scheme and announcing that
the first large Jewish administrative
territorial unit in the Soviet Union is
now being created in the region of
Kherson, where the oldest Jewish
colonies and several new ones are set-
tled.
"A prominent communist, M. Lavin,
declared it was the intention of the
Soviet government to establish a tia•
tional Jewish autonomous republic in
Northern Crimea and the •ontermin-
ous coast region bordering on the Sea
of Azov. It planned, he said. to settle
100,000 Jews in Northern Crimea and
200,000 in the Azov region, where an
extensive drainage project is now be-
ing undertaken tee occupy four years
in construction at an expense of 5,-
000,000 rubles.
Old Feeling Was Artificial.
"Extraordinary as it may sound,
ninny people here—belonging it is
true, to the former upper, or bour-
geois„ class—declare that anti-Semi-
tic sentiment is stronger today than
ever before. They argue that, in the
old days, the Russian people, as a
mass, felt little hostility toward the
Jews and that 'pogroms' were almost
wholly artifical and fomented by the
Czarist police and what now might
be called the Fascist Black Hundred,
an organization for political purposes.
to make Israel the scapegoat of all
kinds of revolutionary activity and
distract public attention from reforms
which the czar's government declined
to adopt.
"This view has been taken even by
a number of communists; but the lat-
ter do not draw: the conclusion which
their adversaries now put forward,
that today there is a general anti-
Semitic feeling, due, first, to the echo
of this old fictitious identification of
the Jews with revolution, which holds
them responsible for present hard-
ships; second, to jealousy against the
comparatively small number of Jews
who profited ley t he 'new economic
policy' and third, the misunderstand-
ing created among the Russian peas-
ant population by re-ports "that Jewish
settlers arc. receiving the best Rus-
sian
ap n re Il u
i d LiCe Leta Than Formerly.
"Unjust as all three. points are, the
fact remains that there is a consider-
able amount of anti-Semitic feeling at
present in Russia; lest such sentiment
is less then in the pre-revolution
period. It is also considerably dimin-
ished as compared with three or (Our
also
eY
on
etr
yea " A
rst t that
period there seas a remark-
able efflorescence of gambling rooms,
smart restaurants, The Dansants and
night cafes in Moscow and Petrograd
where Jewish Neepna n reveled in a
luxury comparable to the. old days lee-
fore the revolution. In 1523 and 1921
all this was suppressed with an iron
hand, and it is only within the last
six months that a new: note of anti-
Semitism began to rise among the
peasant population in response to
what was culled the 'favoritism'
shown the Jews in the matter of land
c'I '' ' ' S nei e z n a re months ago these grievances
found voice in a letter from a com-
munist schoolmaster living in the
('rime-a to Soviet President Kalinin,
which Kalinin answered—with entire
truth and frankness --that the land
given to the Jews in the Crimea and
other parts of South Russia was not
only far smaller in comparison to the
numbers Id the populaitieen than that
given tee the Russians, but that it Was
land which was not available for set-
tlement without irrigation, which the.
Russians were unable tee undertake,
and which was Mimi by the. Jews
thanks to foreign assistance, thus de-
pricing no one and increasing the pro-
ductivity of the Soviet state'.
:Nevertheless, the sentiment per-
sists to a certain extent, despite the
fact that the Agojoint and other Jew-
ish colonies have (hems their utmost to
conciliate their Russian neighbors by
putting at their disposal tractors, well
wells and technical instruc-
t diggers,
or n s l
e ndeed there is every ground for
believing a report of the Agrojoint
and the Soviet Jewish Committee that
the Russian peasants neighboring
their colonies are on the friendliest
terms with them. There remains a
certain hostility in villages that do
not profit ley the close asso•iatieen and
yet hear reports of the sudden pro-
gress and —comparatively — superior
stand of living of the new Jewish pea-
sant groups.
"On such trifling and faulty leases
is public sentiment often founded.
That it exists is clearly evident from
an article in the Soviet press, two or
three days ago, ley one of the leaders
of the Soviet-Jewish colonization com-
mittee, deprecating and replying to
the unfair anti-Semitic sentiment.
"Isvestia rontnintil an appeal on
similar lines ley the well-known poet
Mayakofski, who says:
"'You see Jews doing a good busi-
ness in Moscow and hear that they
are getting the best land in the Cri-
mea; but do you realize the horrors
and misery they suffered—the whips
of Cossacks, the Poles' bullets, the
ravishment of partisan leaders? From
what flails of tears, what bitter
agony, they emerged to try to take a
place on land when 'dark hunger cried,
'Land or death'. Barren steppes and
encampment huts, then furious, unre-
(Continued on next page.)
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