Ir THE DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE c l TifEY) EIR011; /LW'S!" OWN ICLE Published Weakly by The Jovial Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc. 4, :.5;4 44; JOSEPH J. CUMMINS Presiaent JACOB MARGOLIS Edit Or JACOB H. SCHAKNE General Manager Entered a IMeond-clue matter March 3, 1916, at the Postnflice at Detroit. Mich.. under the Act of March 3, 1673. General Offices and Publication Building 525 Woodward Avenue Telephone: Cadillac 1040 LondonOffice, Cable Address: Chronicle 14 Stratford Place, London, W. 1, England. Subscription, in Advance $3.00 Per Year To Insure publication, all corremoindence and newy matter roust reach this office by Tomday evening of each wmk. Whenmailing notices, kindly use one Nide of the paper only. The Detroit Jewl4h Chronicle invites correspondence on subject. of 'atm.t to the Jewish people, but disclaims remponvibility for an Indorsement of the views expteaved by the writers, March 11, 1927 V'Adar 7, 5687 Purim. The Feast of Purim or Lots, which falls this year on March 18 (corresponding to V'Adar 14 of the Ilebrew calendar), is a joyous minor festival of the Jews and is celebrated by them in commemoration of their auspici- ous deliverance from imminent destruction, as narrated with fine dramatic power in the Book of Esther. The Purim story takes us back for its setting to an- cient Persia. Haman, prime minister of the realm and pampered favorite of the king, feeling himself especial- ly affronted because the Jew Mordecai, alone of those at the palace gate had refused him homage, came to cherish not only a rankling resentment against the one Jew who had crossed him, but also a passionate ani- mosity against all the Jews as such. In order to work their ruin he calumniated them to the king, accusing them of clanishness and lack of pa- triotism, of being alien enemies and the like— false charges which have become the stock-in-trade of anti- Semites ever since. Happily the appeal to race and re- ligious prejudice did not, in this instance at least, lead to outright massacre of the Jews. The brave interces- sion of Queen Esther, who in her elevation to the throne did not forget her people, saved the Jews from the cruel fate which threatened. The archplotter Haman came to an ignominious end, And Mordecai, in recognition of the public services he had rendered, was given high office. To celebrate the happy outcome, the festival of Purim was instituted as an annual day of rejoicing, a day of sending gifts to friends and remembering the poor. iced to Mr. Ford and his associates. They have found too an exaggeration of those things which have tended to bring the Jew into disgrace and ignominy, while at the sante time no favorable criticism has even been made which would give a fairly correct picture of the Jew as he is. Distortion and caricature are not photo- graphic and to this sort of misrepresentation we have good reason to object. Intelligent Jews have not hesi- tated to ridicule the pretentious of the brassy elements in Jewry. They have done this with a spirit of kindli- ness, however, that ruffled only those who would have a picture of sweetness and light which is equally inac- curate. In the forthcoming trial, we are hopeful that the genesis of the anti-Semitic movement sponsored by Ford Will be discovered. From the day his first anti-Semitic article appeared, there has been no end of speculation as to the reasons underlying and the motives prompting him. He has offered his reasons but they have not been convincing. The statements were ex parte and not subjected to the analysis of a searching cross examination, If Mr. Ford should appear in court and submit to cross-examination, we hope that competent psychologists would attend the trial so that we may be able to learn what mental twists and quirks there are in this man that should have com- pelled him to crucify a whole people. Mr. Ford has been elusive to date and there is no assurance that the Sapiro libel suit will bring hint into the open. We really would like to find out why he has used his prestige and influence for ends, which, to us, are shoddy and vulgar. If the trial does accomplish this, then will American Jewry be very grateful to Mr. Sapiro for the service rendered. Contrasts. Life is precarious for those Jews who are compelled to life by trade and speculation whether it be in Soviet Russia or Poland, according to the frank and objective articles written by A. Lagby who writes on Poland and Dr. A. Singalovsky who writes in Russia. Although the pressure in Poland comes from the fact that the mer- 7 chant is victimized to satisfy the ex-soldier in the mat- ter of tobacco and alcohol licenses, to mention but one instance, the Jew in the small towns and villages of Rus- sia cannot meet the competition of the Soviet co-oper- atives. The result is poverty in both cases, but in Rus- sia there is hope while in Poland there is depression. Though it is true that since the Pilsudsky revolu- tion in May the political discrimination has been meas- urably; lessened, yet the economic problems remain acute and apparently insoluable, The government could do several things which may mitigate the severity of the condition, but even at best the economic situation of Polish Jewry cannot be appreciably bettered until Naturally enough Purim came to have a strong pop- fundamental changes are made in the economic struc- ular appeal to the Jew during the later centuries of per- ture of Polish life. The more equitable distribution of secution. The story of deliverance which Purim told land, the absorption of the surplus peasant population, spelt a message of hope and courage to those under- the development of the industry are all conditions going sore oppression. And the merry festivities with precedent to the permanent improvement of Jewish eco- which the holiday was celebrated brought brightness nomic life. Thanks , to the more friendly attitude of the and cheer into the gloom of the ghettos. The spirit of Pilsudsky regime extensions, delays and concessions are Purim was throughout more social than religious. Its granted to the harassed Jewish merchant, but eventual- observance in the synagogue was limited to the reading ly' the thing will come to a head and they will have to of the Book of Esther from the traditional scroll. In and come to grips with the problem. All these uncertain- outside of the home, masquerades, plays and other en- ties and threats of ruin hang over Polish Jewry making tertainments made up the celebration. life precarious and in many cases quite hopeless. The name Purim is derived, according to the etymol- The picture of Russian Jewry has its dark and de- ogy given in the Book of Esther from a Persian word pressing shadows, while the light and rich colorings meaning lots, the name being given to the festival be- give rise to much well founded hope. Dr. Singalovsky, cause Haman is said to have cast lots in order to deter- whose intimate and exhaustive knowledge of Russian mine the day on which to carry out his plot against the economic and social life places him in a position of un- Jews.—The Tract Society, questioned authority sees in the new agricultural de- velopment a virile growth that compares favorably with the variegated and healthy life he found . among the The Sapiro-Ford Libel Suit. American Jews. Ile found a marked increase in the number of Jews engaged in productive industrial call- When the recent charges made by Henry Ford ings, but due to the fact that most of them have no against the Jews were taken up by Congressman Bloom, technical training, they must accept work as common it was not an over sanguine hope that led us to believe unskilled laborers. This, however, places them in the that at last. the animus behind the Ford anti-Semitic favored categories in the Soviet scheme. But it is in propaganda would be revealed. It may be that the pre- the field of agriculture that he becomes ecstatic over the present achievements and the future possibilities. The posterous charge of Federal Reserve Bank domination government is more than friendly and helpful because by Jews was too childish to even merit consideration on it realizes that the Jews are an integral part of the the part of Congress, or it may be that it was realized population and that its economic health makes possible that Mr. Ford could employ so many obstructionist tac- a sounder and healthier Russia. Then again the Soviets tics that it would be years before he could be compelled appreciate the fart that the Jew presents a special prob- to appear before the committee. Just such a contin- lem due to the discrimination and limitations which Czarism placed upon him. It is apparent that Singa- tti^ gency has arisen in the case of Mr. Insull of Illinois, lovsky is not at all surprised at the phenomenal success who was subpoened by the Senate committee investigat- of the Jewish farmers, but yet when he praises them ing slush funds in the late senatorial election there. unstintingly it is not the cheap encomium of one who is According to advance information on the Sapiro- seeking favors but is the cautious and studied estimate Ford trial, the plaintiff intends to call 251) witnesses. of a man who has devoted the best part of his life to +4.4 Mille the defense promises to call an equal number. making the Jews of Europe valuable and productive elements in the economic and social structure of the The Sapiro libel suit arose out of a series of articles that appeared in the Dearborn Independent that purported countries where they live. Singalovsky is not at all disturbed over the prospect to prove that the whole farm co-operative selling move- of the disintegration of Jews as such. lie finds thriving ment was a piece of Jewish scheming that had for its communities with definite and distinctive Jewish mark- purpose the enriching of the promoters and the mulct- ings. The language employed in these prosperous am- ing of the farmers. The whole series of articles was but bitious communities is Yiddish. Under such conditions the clanger of the disappearance of the culture of the ik a chapter in the venomous arraignment of a whole peo- people is rather remote. ple under the title, "The International Jew," .c-. From a study of these two reports issued simultan- Mr. Ford, or those who write for hint, for we are V-; eousl• one fact of great significance emerges, and that persuaded that he does not write or edit anything that is, that as hung us discrimination on the grounds of race, appears under his name and very often does not even religion or nationality persists, then those who belong read what has. been written, undertook to prove that all of the corruption and fraud, in the business world is to the allegedly inferior race, religion or nationality tracable to Jews while all the degenerate and porno- will suffer. Russia does not and has not discriminated against graphic expressions America literature and the Jews as such. Every attempt to disparage the Jews, art can be laid at his in door. This drama, same international Jew, according to the brief of Mr. Ford, is the disturber every anti-Semitic tendency has met with the severest of world peace, controlling all the financial centers of criticism and denunciation of those in authority. If Po- land would realize that the Jews of Poland are a special the world and consequently dominating the economic, problem requiring special consideration then the pessi- political and industrial life of western civilization. Ile mistic and dolorous stories would end just as they have says that he is motivated in all this activity merely by ended in Russia. We cannot hope for so much good the wish to enlighten the Gentile world of the sinister fortune at once, but the economic facts must eventually 1.) and meretricious agencies that control it. We would 4,4 gladly accept this as a bona fida reason were the artic- determine Polish Jewish policy despite the ancient and les not shot through with a markedly poisonous bias profound hatreds of many Polish anti-Semites. Of one thing American Jewry can he certain. It has and bitterness. The objectivity that characterizes a ++, scientific inquiry is conspicuously absent. We may be done an immense service to the Jews of Russia by spon- hypersensitive to criticism of those with whom we are soring the land settlement movement. The work is by intimately connected, but even non-Jews have found a no means completed. but American Jewry will see it definite acridity and hostility in all the writings accred- through even though European Jewry is remiss. WM**. .e42c. ,c4x, .. . y . .#.e ......... • e• • ,.....P.,40•••••••••k• ■ • •••• Jewish Humor Some Purim Puzzles By Leo M. Glassman. By RABBI LEON FRAM, Temple Beth El, (Copyright, 1927, by Jewish Tele- graphic Agency. How the Irishman Taught the Jew How to Ob Sabbath. How an Irishman taught it non- Sabbath observing Jew x lesson Was told recently by Magistrate Cairns of London. llere is the story as told by the English judge: "An Irishman was charged with stealing a pound note from a Jew. The Irishman pleaded guilty and said that hetook the money to punish the Jew for his sin, explaining that the latter asked hint to get the note changed on a Saturday, and as Satur- day was to Jewish Sunday he had walked off with the note to punish the Jew. I told the Irishman (added Mr. Cairns) that he had no right to judge and punish the Jew in that way and the Irishman replied: " realize that now, and if you can persuade yourself to overlook it, I will promise never to compete with the Almighty again.' " — I Am a Jew, Too." A story which illustrates the pecu- liar psychological reactions of sonic Jews on the subject of their racial identity is related by Das Juedische Echo ' A group of passengers in a Ger- man train were discussing a question of social justice. Among the pas- sengers was a woman who defended her point very clearly and stated that her point of view was based prig marily on the fact that she was Jew- ish. Iler fellow passengers, who were Christians, listened to her discourse and after some time one of then: said to her: "I did not know that Jews hold such views, but after listening to what you have said I want to express my admiration for your opinions." Whereupon a passenger who had been listening silently to the con- versation exclaimed: "1 am a Jew, too." Now He Believes That the Earth Revolves. Mottele, the town character of Moyatchka, Ukrainia, had been told earth revolves, but he re- fused to believe this, viewing it as a preposterous idea. One day, how- ever, he was convinced that this was so. It happened this way: Ott a hot summer day Mottele de- cided to take n walk to a neighbor- ing village some miles distant. As he was making his way along the road of the Ukrainian steppe, he became fatigued from the heat of the sun which was blazing down upon him, and he decided to lie down near a road for a rest. But how was he to know in which direction to proceed on arising from his nap? In order to make sure that he would not walk back to Moyatchka, he took his shoes off as he was standing with his face toward the town he was bound for and, leaving the shoes in that posi- tion, he lay down on the ground and was soon fast asleep. A resident of Moyatchka who happened along tne road recognized Mottele and, observ- ing the curious position of the shoes, he understood the significance of the situation and decided to play a ruse on the town character. Ile turned the shoes about with the toes toward Moyatchka and went away. When Mottele arose he followed his plan, stepped into his shoes and proceeded 011 his way. Soon he came hack to Moyatchka and on recogniz- ing the place he was greatly aston- ished. Ile was so perplexed that he stopped a man whom he knew and in- quired for the name of the place. On being told that he was really in Mo- yatchka and not in the town toward which he had started, he pondered the matter deeply and finally declared: "Well, if that is the case, then the earth does revolve." that the "Minion" or "Minchen?" The following amusing story of a misunderstanding arising from a mis- take made in a telegram by a Chris- tian operator who was puzzled by a Hebrew Wont was told in Berlin re- cently in a lecture by Sammy Grone- mann. A small Jewish community in a German town was unable to perform its religious prayers because they were short of one more member to make up the necessary "minion." A telegram way therefore dispatched to a neighboring Jewish community re- questing that a Jew be sent over to solve the problem. The surprise of the neighboring Jewish community may be imagined when they received the telegram, which read as follows: "Sendet einen Mann. sind in grosser Bersorg- nis wegen Minchen." Send a man, we are in great anxiety about Min- chen. The curious misunderstanding was later cleared up when it was ex- plained that the anxiety of the Jew- ish community was not about "Frau- lent Minchen" but about at "minion." The Jew Was Right. Alexander I. Czar of Russia, woo out walking near the palace one day when he came upon an old Jew who seemed to he in a desperate hurry. "Here." said the czar, addressing the Jew. "Why are you in rush a hurry? Where are you guying?" "I don't know," answered the Jew. "But that is absurd, my man." an- swered the czar. "You must know where you are going, and as I ant the czar. you want toll me." The Jew again assured hint that he did not know where he was going. "Then you must be hiding some. thing from me," and the czar, called one of his officers and told hint tyy put the Jew' in prison. Toward evening, when Alexander I recalled the incident, he commanded that the Jew be brought before him. "Now, tell me." said the czar, "what you meant when you refuse] to answer me this morning?" "I didn't refuse to answer you. I merely said that I had no idea where I was going." "What do you mean by that?" "I had intended before I met you to go open my shop for the day, but 40011 as you appeared I was at your orders. Therefore I said I didn't know where I would go. And, as your highness now sees. I was right." Why is the name of God never once mentioned in the Book of Esther? In the Midrash and the Rabbinical commentaries to the Book of Esther, the rabbis again and again ask that question, and despite their famed in- genuity, they can find no answer. In nearly every other book of the Bible the name of God is the word that is most frequently occurs. Why should it be altogether absent from the Book of Esther? Cain it be that the author oft he bookdid not believe in God? HOW then could the book have found its way into the Bible? What compli- cates the problem is the fact that while the name of God is never actually men- tioned, belief in God is implied throughout the stories. Thus when the Jews of Shushan learn of the king's decree against the Jews they fast and put on sack-cloth and ashes. These acts are invariably connected with religious belief. Than again, when Esther refuses to go to the king, Mordecai tells her, "Relief and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish." What is this "other place" but God? The sit- uation is, then, that the author of the Book of Esther believes in God and has Him in mind, but seems deliber- ately, for some ulterior purpose, to avoid actually stating the word, God. Why God Is Unmentioned. 1Vhat can that purpose ne? The probability is that the Book of Esther was written to reflect a new experi- ence that came into the life of the Jewish people with the Babylonian exile—the experience of living in lands other than Palestine. For us the Jews of today living outside of Palestine is the rule: to live in Palestine is the ex- ception; but in the time in which the Book of Esther was written—in the fourth or fifth centuries H. C. — the dis- persion of Israel had just begun. Many Jews had settled in Egypt. Many had remained in Babylonia, and it large number had gone to Persia. The Book of Esther is not the only book written to reflect the experiences of the new life in the Diaspora. The pathos of that experience is depicted also in the Book of Tobit of the Aprocrypha, and its glories are dwelt upon in the letter of Aristeas. It seems to have been the intention of the author of the Book of Esther, how- ever, to isolate one special aspect of Jewish life in foreign lands and to re- cord it in literature. Several books of the Bible and many of the books of Aprocrypha tell how Jews were Nurse- voted because their religion was differ- ent from that of the people among whom they dwelt. The Book of Esther is the only book of the Bible which tells how the Jews were persecuted he- (muse their race was different front that of the people among whom they dwelt. It is because the author wants to call attention to the problem of the Jew as a race that he deliberately re- frains from mentioning the religion of the Jew. The Book of Esther is in this sense a highly modern bank. It tells a story not of anti-Judaism, but of anti- Sem- itism. It presents the sante philosophy of Jew-hatred that is given by the lead- ers of the modern anti-Semitic move- ments in Europe—the Jew is disliked nut because his religion is different, but because his race is alleged to be different from that of the people among whom he dwells. In Persia, the author of the Book of Esther would have us know, the Jew was not merely a monotheist dwelling among dualists and polytheists, but a Semite dwelling among Aryans. This is precisely the way the Jew is regard- ed by the helloes, the Treitchkes, and the Chamberlains of today—a Semite living among Aryans, and making them somehow uncomfortable. Once the reader knows this to be the purpose of the author, several things in the Book of Esther which used to puzzle our fathers become quite clear to us. Why Would Not Mordecai Bow? There is the question—Why did Mordecai refuse to bow to Haman! Where do we find in any Jewish male of law the injunction that Jews shall not bow before superior officers? Where do we find in the Jewish law any attempt to forbid Jewish people from behaving towards non-Jews, in accordance with the conventional rules of etiquette? In refusing, to bow, :Mor- decai was certainly not guided by any religious precept. The rabbis who commented 011 the Book of Esther were aware of this They tried pathetically hard to find sena. plausible explanation for Mord, vai's refusal to bow. In the IMidrash Rabbit to the Book of Esther, we read that Rabbi Levi tried to explain Nlor- decars conduct by the theory that Ha- man always minimd it large idol hung by it golden chain about his neck. !lbw- denai refused to bow to Haman because he feared that the people would inter• nett his bowing as an obeisance to the idol which Haman wore. This apology is too obvious artificial to require any elaborate contradiction. Another the- ory proffered by the rabbis is that Ha- man had proclaimed himself a god and Mordecai refused to bow to him because :Mordecai could not afford to be in the position of appearing to wor- ship a human god. But this, too, is a lame and awkward apology. The facts as we read them in the Book of Esther seem to indicate clearly that Mordecai had no good reason fur re- fusing to bow. NVe simply have to face the fact, hard its it may be, to shatter an old and beloved idol, that Ntordevai WEIS no gentleman. Haman was per- fectly right in despising him; and if in accordance with the traditions of the court of Persia the penalty for a breach of the court etiquette was death. then Mordecai deserved to die. How Race Prejudice Works. It is at this point that the author of the book is most skillful in describ- ing the phenomenon of race prejudice. Haman, the Aryan, had just grievance against Mordecai the Jew. Does he then punish the individual who is guil- ty and forget about the whole mat- ter? No, he makes all the members of the Jewish race in Persia respon- sible for the guilt of 'Mordecai. Be- cause he has found one slew he decides that all Jews ore ill-mannered, and because one Jew has annoyed him, he must get rid of all Jews. This is the typical expression of prejudice against races. Every in- dividual is held responsible fur what is alleged of his group, and the whole group is held responsible for the crimes of any one individual. When the book is read from this standpoint, the writer stands out as at mind of keen analytical ability and of exquisite finesse. Observe for in- stance, the accusation which Haman makes against the Jew: And Haman said unto Ahasuerus: "There is it cer- tain people scattered abroad and dis- persed among the peoples of all the provinces of thy kingdom and their laws are diverse from those of every people, neither keep they the king's laws. Therefore, it proliteth not the king to suffer them." This accusation is composed If that conscious half- truth and half-lie which is typical of the racially prejudiced. It seas so true and obvious that the laws of the Jews were diverse from those of every other people in the Persian empire that it was easy to believe also the lie that they did not keep the king's laws. Sus- picion rests upon people who are dif- ferent and it is easy to believe all sorts of frightful things about them. The anti-Semitic mind is essentially undeveloped. It cannot conceive how people can be different without being dangerous. The author of the Book of Esther has not only penetrated deeply into the motives of Haman, he has psycho-analyzed the whole anti- Semitic movement. Ile has stated the tragedy of the Jews as a race. Whether the Book of Esther be re- garded as history (yr as fiction, wheth- er the holiness of Purim be regarded as the survival of an ancient heathen carnival or a genuine Jewish festival, the Book of Esther will always he val- ued for this distinct contribution which it has made to the literature of the world. It has presented in strik- ing, artistic form the phenomenon of race prejudice, and by exposing the folly and futility of this prejudiee, it has contributed toward its ultimate elimination as a factor in human life. The Jewish Situation in Poland A Letter from Galicia. By A. LAGBY (Copyright, 1927, Jewish Telegraphic Agency.) In America the impression seems to that everything in Poland is all right now, that conditions have im- proved and that the terrible diffirtd- ties with which the Jewish merchant class had to contend are a thing of the past. It is true that the attitude of the government is much better now. The awful depression that lay upon the whole of Jewish life because of the un- disguised anti-Semitic attitude of the authorities has lifted. It is no longer compulsory to be all anti-Semite, as was the ease two years ago. Those who will may be quite friendly with Jews without being denounced as trait- ors, communists and Bolsheviks. No one a ho did not live in Poland between the years 1920 and 1921 can quite realize the difference these last 1rt months have made. Being a Jew no longer implies being a traitor. One may even be a Zionist, and yet be a goad Polish citizen. he This new state of affairs started with the Polish - Jewish act cement. Pilsudski's rising in May carried it a step further. When Pilsudski took over the reins of government there was a further advance, and now Sir Wyndham Deede's stay in Poland has helped matters on still more. You who line in America or England cannot understand the effect produced in a country like Poland when a British gent rat stands up and declares him- self at one with the Jews. It is like a clean west wind driving through the fetid air of the ghetto streets. One has to lire in a place like Lemberg or Crauow to feel the full force of it. The fact of the matter is that what. ever one may think of the situation, and hoarser much one may complain of the conditions, the political atmos- phere has cleared. The sir is much purer and fresher than it was two i• Kr • • T years ligo. Ilut one cannot live on air. And when it comes to a question of earning one's daily bread, the position in Poland has not changed so much after all. Take, for instance, the question of the numerus clausus. If you like, there is a numerus clausus. If you like, there is 110 numerus clausus. Those colleges which provide only general education, without training the student for a professional career, are not difficult for in Jew to enter nowadays. If you have a little hack- ing behind you, it is possible to be admitted as a student at the college of philosophy, for example. But if you want to enroll in the medical school or at the polytechnic, that is to say, somewhere where you can obtain an education which will enable you to earn a livelihmal, you will find that there is a numerus clausus in opera- tion. Or take the question of trading li- censes. Ostensibly it has been shelved for the next la months. And strange- ly enough, on the demand of both sides. Both the Club of Jewish Deputies and t he representatives of the ex-soldiers, to whom the licenses now held by Jews were to be transferred, asked that the rarrying out of the proposal should he held up for Is months. At first sight. it seems a puzzle why the representa• tines of the ex-soldiers should ask for a postponement. The reason, how- ever. has now become clear. The intention was not to do the Jews a $r"od turn. It appears to hair come out that a large number of Jews who held lit roses for selling alcohol and tobacco, realizing that they were going to be deprived of their li. enstm by which they have been obtaining their livelihoid for years, thought of a way of evading the law—they arranged (Continuer, on next pate.) , • - -o• •i- t• -o• 4 4 44- .1 +4 + 4.1