jitEvitorriErroft in ROA Ken.
PIE DETROIT/ JEWISH RON IGLE
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
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Sabbath Readings of the Law.
Pentateuchal portion—Lev. 26:3-27-34.
Prophetical portion--Jer. 16:19-17-14.
lyar 21, 5689
May 31, 1929
Ford, the Repentant.
The rabbis of old have said that "those who have
sinned and repented rank higher in the world to come
than the righteous who have never sinned." This is
paralleled with a New Testament declaration that
"there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who re-
penteth than over ninety and nine righteous persons,
who need no repentance."
In the light of which, the manner in which Henry
Ford graced the dais at the dinner in honor of David
A. Brown in New York on May 23 deserves the wide
attention it was given by the press throughout the
world.
On Curing Crime.
The sentence of fifteen years to reformatory, im-
posed by a K entucky judge last week on a six-year-old
"criminal," attracts interest to two conflicting state-
ments by authorities in their fields on the question of
crime and the curing of criminals.
Dr. William J. Hickson, director of the psychopthic
laboratory of Chicago's municipal court, believes that
gangsters come from defective families whose members
are criminals. Ile is of the opinion that gangsters of
the future now are in the schools making life miserable
for teachers. "These gangsters," he declares, "should
be taken from the schools and should be segregated on
farms. In nearly every case that would mean life seg-
gregation."
This hopeless view, which disputes a theory in mod-
ern social science that criminals should be treated as
mentally ill and should not be dubbed gangsters and
"born criminals" at every step, is contradicted by the
noted Jewish leader, Hon. Joseph M. Proskauer, New
York Supreme Court Justice, who told the New York
City Conference of Social Work on May 23 that the
function of the law should not be to punish the criminal
but to remedy conditions which breed the crime. Jus-
tice Proskauer believes that the chief problem is that
of returning youth who have made a first misstep to
decent society rather than casting them on the "perma-
nent junk heap of hardened criminals."
These two views are so diametrically conflicting,
and the problem it touches is so vital to America at
this hour, that a paralleled comparison is in order. To
quote from the views of Dr. Hickson and Justice Pros-
kauer:
Misled by men who chose to malign the Jewish peo-
ple, Mr. Ford, our one-time bitter enemy. has repented.
His statement lauding Jewish qualities, made public at
the Brown Dinner, is serving in a sense as a complete
"Teshubah,"—as an honest return to the righteous path
of a repentant who recognizes the sin he has commit-
ted against an entire people.
In the Book Ezekiel (XXXIII, III) there is beautiful
prophetic exaltation in the act of repentance:
"As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but that wicked turn from
his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;
for why will you (lie, 0 House of Israel?"
Mr. Ford, with one friendly act, has helped dispel
the suspicion with which he was regarded by millions
throughout the world. Ilk was an act worth studying
by those of our people's enemies whose chief occupa-
tion in life is to engender hatred in the hearts of men,
and to make this world an uncomfortable place to live
in. Let them read the complete story of Henry Ford's
sinning and repenting, and let it serve as a lesson for
Israel's maligners.
The Project to Honor Haym Salomon.
The Broadway Association of New York City,
through its board of directors, went on record oppos-
ing the erection of a monument in Lincoln Square in
honor of Haym Salomon, the financier of the American
Revolution. The reason given for this action by the or-
ganization is that it is opposed to "encroachments on
park property for the purpose of erecting statues or
buildings."
Had an exception been made in the choice of a site
for the proposed Haym Salomon monument, there
would be nothing objectionable in the Broadway Asso-
ciation's action. But most monuments happen to be
erected on public and park sites, and the suspicion must
therefore be entertained that this association's action is
directed not against the erection of the Salomon monu-
ment but against the fact that Salomon was a Jew from
Poland.
If the effort to honor Ilaym Salomon, to whom Chief
Justice of the United States Supreme Court and former
President William Howard Taft referred as "a man
entitled to the gratitude of the entire country," arouses
such unfair competition on grounds of racial prejudice,
how much more should the Broadway Association be
upset by the statement of Professor Albert Bushnell
Hart of Harvard that "it looks as though his (Salo-
mon's) credit was better than that of the whole United
States of America?"
Professor Hart's address on the occasion of the
opening of the Haym Salomon Monument Campaign
at the Biltmore Hotel in New York, published in a
recent issue was an eloquent defense of the claims
in behalf of the financier of the Revolution." "In
my judgment," said Professor Hart, "a movement
for a permanent memorial to lIaym Salomon is justi-
fied and patriotic. In the first place, Haym Salomon
risked his neck for the cause of America, and he was
all but hanged for an attempt to weaken the force of
the British army in New York. In the second place,
there was no record of any other heavily-moneyed man
who would endorse the papers of the government and
who, at that critical stage, when financial needs were
many and bank balances were small, was willing, day
after day, to give his credit, his name and his influence
to back up what seemed a failing cause."
It is encouraging, in justice to this worthy Jew who
has done so much in behalf of the cause of American
liberty, that a monument is soon to be a fact. The cause
of justice, however, demands also official recognition
of Salomon's efforts by both Houses of Congress. Such
recognition has on numerous occasions been denied,
and the gravity of such injustice must be repaired if
Salomon's contributions to the formation of this Repub-
lic are to be fully recognized.
1b0
IN THE REALM OF
SONG and LAUGHTER
Col.f
.9415
GAS. th JOSEPH-. o=aa—.
A Column in Verse and Prose, Heard,
Clipped and Contributed.
I
HEARD hr. Foster Kennedy give a talk over the radio
the other night and he mentioned the fact that the
Jews and the Chinese because of their great reverence
for their elders had seemed to be able to survive appar-
ently endlessly throughout the ages. The Jew of today
is given credit for some of the things—the important
things--done by the Jews of yesterday. I fear that too
frequently we take credit for what our forefathers did.
Certainly the Jewish life we lead today doesn't reflect
much credit upon the prophets. Yet when we hear the
world saying what a wonderful contribution the Jews
have made to civilization we accept the praise without a
blush. What is worrying me is that we Jews seem to be
losing our religious distinctiveness. When Jews them-
selves dismiss as unimportant the very idea of a mission,
and when we emphasize the racial and nationalistic sides
of Jewry, thenitlooks as if we were something else
again. I hope that the reverence for the alders that the
world speaks of will be continued but it doesn't seem to
be quite such a feature among the Jews as in the former
days. Maybe I'm living too close to today to get the
proper perspective. But I just want to bring home the
point that we can't continue to hitch our future to a
tombstone and get very far.
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
WHEN COHEN TURNS ('ORRIS YOUR NAME EVER 'STATLER'
Continuing on the subject of
Milt Gross, in a recent issue of
names, were you over placed in
the New Yorker, pictured a tomb-
the same predicament as the
stone dedicated to the memory of
smother who was asked by her
Isidore Cohen by his five children,
(laughter, as she was examining
whose names now are:
the family towels, whether her
Benson Cowan.
maiden name was "Statler?"
Samwyck Cain.
Jackson Quesne.
WITH HUMORISTS OF OLD
Maxwell Kane.
Hebrew writers of the Middle
Davison Connell.
Ages possessed n humor which
RABBI ABRAHAM FELDMAN, of Congregation Beth
Israel of Hartford, Conn., sends me an interesting
letter regarding an unique experience. Recently I had
(occasion to mention Rabbi Rosenthal, who was asked to
deliver the benediction at an Easter service in s Chris-
tian church. But I think Rabbi Feldman's experience is
even more unusual. In fact, it is well worth quoting Dr.
Feldman's complete version of the incident:
April 29, 1929.
Dear Mr. Joseph:
One of the Congregational churches of Ilart-
ford elected a new minister. The procedure is
this. What is called an Ecclesiastical Council is
called on the day of installation, composed of
representatives of neighboring Congregational
DR. HICKSON
The typical gangster conies
from a defective tastily, whose
members are criminals, black
sheep, feeble-minded and in-
sane. A trace of this antece-
dents will reveal his family
name in the public records deal-
ing with dependency, delin-
quency for generations back.
He commits murder without a
quickening of the pulse—with
no more emotion than would
grip the ordinary person saying
"how to you do" to a slight ac-
quaintance. He marches to the
electric chair (on rare occa-
sions, or course) with the same
unconcern, lacking even the
emotion of self-protection.
There is no sense of industry
in his nutkeup. Neither has he
love, hate, fear or revenge. He
is incapable of feeling remorse
for the most heinous crime, is
markedly superstitious and he
talks much about religion.
Punishment of a fellow
gangster—if such ever hap-
pened—would have not the
least effect on the racketeer,
for he isn't equipped with the
feeling that might enable him
to take heed. His heart and
blood pressure doesn't even flut-
ter when, and if, he contem-
plates his own removal from the
scene.
JUSTICE PROSKAUER
churches—two laymen and the minister of each
The administration of crimi-
nal justice can and should be
changed to correspond to the
new teachings of the psychia-
trist and the psychologist. We
have arrived at a time and place
when we must tell the jurist
and the lawyer as well as so-
ciety in general that criminal
justice is in a bad way and to
improve it we must graft the
teachings of science into our
work of handling the wrong-
doer.
church. They meet in formal session, at which
About 75 per cent of theo in-
mates of our prisons are boys
and girls under 21 years of age.
With scientific handling, these
young people can be redeemed
to good citizenship, but instead
our administration of criminal
justice often converts them into
veteran crime makers.
The trouble is that we deal
out punishment according to
the severity of the crime. We
must learn that the crime itse.t
is one of the less important
factors in Ha problem of deter-
mining the malignity of the
criminal. We must deal out
punishment not according to
the crime but according to the
criminal, especially with regard
to his environment, mental hy-
giene and other teachings of
psychology and psychiatry.
When we do that we s all have
ceased to turn out men and wo-
men from our prisons more
serious menaces to society than
on the day when they entered
prison.
To accept the view' of Dr. Hickson would mean to
become skeptical, to adopt a hopeless view of life, to
pack our prisons with weak-minded and to set aside
vast stretches of land for the life-imprisonment of gang-
sters whom this Chicagoan believes to have been born
that way and therefore incurable.
To follow the views of Justice Proskauer is to adopt
a hopeful view of life, to cure rather than to condemn,
to aim at making good citizens rather to brand them in
advance as incurable gangsters.
These two conflicting views, expressed on different
occasions by Dr. Hickman and Justice Proskauer, call
for serious consideration by leaders in social service,
and demand the dissemination of such knowledge as
will dispel the pessimistic view of the former which
would make it possible for the slightest evidence of
feeble-mindedness on the part of a school child to con-
demn it to life segregation on a criminals' farm.
Engendering Hatred in the Young.
It is generally admitted that much of the hatred
against the Jew is inherited by Christians from their
childhood, as a result of the stories heard in Sunday
Schools about the Crucifixion. In the "Good-Will" pro-
grams now pursued by friendly non-Jews is included a
clause calling for the study and guidance of Sunday
School curricula to prevent the engendering of hatred
in the young.
In view of this fact, the information revealed edi-
torially in a recent issue of the Jewish Tribune of New
York that the "Book of Knowledge," which is to be
found in thousands of Jewish homes, in its latest edition,
contains "Mother Goose" rhymes which are insulting
to the Jew, calls for immediate action on the part of
American Jewry.
The rhymes to which exception is taken are profuse-
ly illustrated, and a bearded Jew is pictured as the vil-
lain in rhymes of which the following stanzas are sam-
ples:
Jack gold his gold egg
To a rogue of a Jew,
Who cheated him out of
The half of his due.
The Jew got the goose
Which he vowed he would kill,
Resolving at once
His pockets to fill.
We join the Jewish Tribune in urging the publish-
ers of the "Book of Knowledge" to delete this insulting
section from forthcoming editions. Nothing can pos-
sibly bring greater harm to good will among peoples
than the dissemination of such poisonous material
among the young, and the sooner such material is elim-
inated from juvenile literature in particular the better
for all concerned. We have faith that the publishers of
the "Book of Knowledge," otherwise among the finest
sets of juvenile readings in the English language. will
not be parties in the future to the spreading of racial
and religious prejudice.
time the proceedings leading to the election of the
clergymen are read under the presidency of a
moderator, who is elected for this purpose out of
the assembly present, and a scribe, likewise desig-
nated frotn anion); those present.
The new minister's credentials and church af-
filiations are read and then the minister is called
upon to give his confession of faith and outline
his creedal doctrine. Following that statement
comes a formal examination, during which each
member of this council is asked whether he wishes
to ask the minister any question on his doctrinal
statement.
At the conclusion of this session, the new min-
ister is excused—the Ecclesiastical Council meet
in executive session behind closed doors, and they
pass upon the qualifications of the new minister
and whether he should be formally elected to the
church and installed. Upon approval a committee
is appointed from the Ecclesiastical Council to
arrange for the installation of the minister, and
that is followed by installation; but in this particu-
lar instance that I am speaking of, I believe for
the first time in history, I, as a rabbi, was formally
invited to be a member of this Ecclesiastical Coun-
cil, and to participate in the entire proceeding,
A
READER sends me a long letter in which he says
that "sometimes I agree with you, often I don't."
Well, that's not so bad. He takes exception to a Texas
reader of this column who objects to my scolding the
Jews. Ile commends me for that. And he amuses me by
saying that since Jews are reading this column, why
scold anybody else. That has given me something to
think about. He is inclined to believe that all the preju-
dice is not solely due to the fact that we are Jews but
sometimes because as individuals see are not all we should
be. But the most interesting part of his letter deals with
a visit he made to a meeting held by a Mr. Gordon in
New York, who was giving a series of "Quiet Talks." He
refers to a notice of this meeting, which he omitted to
enclose. And here are some of the things Mr. Gordon
said:
Ile spoke of the Jews as being leaders in what-
ever they undertake, of our being at home in every
land but foreigners everywhere; that we don't mix
because we can't, no matter how hard we try; that
we do not assimilate in any country and are always
a noun and never an adjective---American Jews
or English Jews not Jewish Americans. (He's right
there but that is due to ignorance or carelessness
and not to intent.) Ile said the word Jew means
"throw" and that no people had been more thrown
at; that we had also done our share of the throw-
ing.
out of all the numerous statements of Mr.
H OWEVER,
Gordon's some of which were, of course, quite inexact,
I noticed this. A Jew in the audience asked him why
the Christians persecuted the Jewr and Mr. Gordon re-
plied that he and all true Christians were thoroughly
ashamed of the persecution and there was no excuse for
it, but that on the other hand when the Hebrews were in
power they had persecuted their neighbors too, although
that didn't excuse the Christians. Of course this is what
H. L. Mencken would call tish.tosh. Mr. Gordon may
explain, if he can, why this persecution keeps up right
under his nose, and there is no much of it, that if there
are Christians such as he mentions, they are in a piti-
fully small minority. The gentleman who writes me the
letter sees in all this friendly conversation on the part
of Mr. Gordon an evidence of goodwill on the part of
the Christian toward us and if we only meet them half
way everything will be just fine.
AM SORRY, Mr. Levy, to dash your hopes to the
ground. If you had sat in a Jewish journalist's chair
for 25 years as I have done and have heard all this, snot
read all this and a whole lot more, and would See day by
day less goodwill and more illwill toward the Jew, you
wouldn't he such an optimist. What you heard from Mr.
Gordon, well meaning Christian that he may be. was just
conversation that means exactly nothing, except possibly
an invitation to the Jews to become Christians. In other
words, Mr. Levy, I think that you must have been listen-
ing to a missionary to the Jews. Mr. Gordon would like
the Jews to follow Jesus. I have often said that the first
efforts of Christian missionaries should be to get Chris-
tians to follow Jesus. If they do that then there will be
less persecution of the Jews. Let me whisper it, brother.
what we need in this rather patched-up, messy world of
ours is to give religion a chance to breathe. Whatever
little we do have is being smothered to death under a
blanket of creed and dogma.
I
THE IDEA of Rabbi Louis Gross of Brooklyn, to form
a Jewish book-of-the Month Club has some merit.
But the statements made that Jews are, as a rule. indif-
ferent to books by Jewish authors or to books on Jewish
subjects does not seem to me to he accurate. For exam.
ple, let us take some of the very names that are men-
tioned in an article discussing the Jewish Book-of-the-
Month Club, Emil Ludwig, Andre Mounds, Ludwig
Lewisohn, Jacob Wasserman, Lewis Browne. I contend
that these authors have been widely read by Jews, prob.
ably by more Jews in proportion to their numbers, than
by non-Jews. I don't believe for a moment they were
read by Jews because the books were written by Jewish
authors, but because the books were well written. Lionel
Feuchtwanger certainly attracted a large Jewish audi-
ence with his book "Power." At the same time there
are a large number of Jews who would, I am sure. be
attracted to a book if they knew the author was a Jew
and in that way such a club as suggested may benefit
Jewish authors. But it seems to me more important to
call attention to books on Jewish subjects. I ant not
"sold" on the plan to have the books chosen by two rabbis,
one writer, a business man, and a woman. I prefer to
have my books recommended by authors, critics and
publishers. That's their trade and they know, (oa ought
to know, good books.
.,V,We.TW.*M,-.:Fz4:
.; etMIW.ett:P',6T*::-SVP.FC:V.FLV,fAFA;T.4VT.,*ZIM.V.F.qe;WFssFEqsf.atr2:F.gfq. MW
Which reminds us of our own matches the best of our own day.
Cohen who turned Cohrin, but Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen, in his
who, unfortunately, had occasion volume "When Love Passed By
to write his name also in Hebrew and Other Verses" (the Rosenbach
characters. When, however, it ap.
Co., Philadelphia), offers us in
ored in Hebrew print one day
English translation the following
as Eabrton, written thus:
from the Ilebrew of Abraham ben
Meir Ibn Ezra, born in Spain
about 1092 and (lied in 1167:
OUT OF LUCK
and meaning, grave-digger, or sex-
'Twas sure a luckless planet
ton, friend Cohen was quickly
That ruled when I was born-
cured of his inferior complex. Now
1 hoped for fame and fortune,
he once again classes himself with
I have but loss and scorn.
the age-honored Jewish priestly
family, reverting again to his clas-
An evil fate pursues me
sical name of Cohen.
With unrelenting spate;
SPEAKING OF NAMES
Speaking of names, the London
Jewish Guardian tells as that one
day Michael Levy went to a Lu-
theran minister and asked to be
converted into a Lutheran. When
he came to be baptized, levy choose
the name of Martin Luther. The
minister was somewhat astonished
at the choice of his name, and the
following conversation ensued:
"Why do you wish to be called
Martin Luther?"
"My dear minister, I will tell
you. It is all because of my
wife."
"How is that?"
"It's because she doesn't want
to change the initials on our
household linen."
If I sold lamps and candles,
The sun would shine all night.
1 cannot, cannot prosper,
No matter what I try—
Were selling shrouds my business,
No man would ever die!
And from the Hebrew by Judah
ben Samuel Ilalevi Dr. Solis-Cohen
presents us with the following
verse:
THE FIRST WHITE HAIR
I spied • white hair lurking in my
beard,
And straightway plucked it thence.
"Thou'rt br•ve," it sneered,
lone scout—quite
a
• 'Gainst
brave. But wilt thou be
As plucky, when my troop comes,
seeking me?"
GETTING RESULTS
"Billie, got me a rag," ordered
his more or less Americanized
mother, from the front porch.
Three-year-old Billie. whose me-
"Newsman," popular columnist
dium of conversation at home was
of the London Jewish Guardian,
Yiddish, and who heard English
also tells this tone:
from his mother only when on the
Mr. Lionel Cohen, one of the
front porch, bus, street-car ear at
new chancery K. C.'s, appeared in
I he downtown department stores,
a case Lefore Mr. Justice Clauson
burritod out with it pan.
last week for • client whose name
"Billie, I said a rag. This isn't
was also Cohen. He informed the
it rasa"
judge that there was no relation-
Obedient William again turned
sh•p between them.
back indoors and returned again
with
the same pan, forcing it on
"The name," he added, "is the
his mother.
J, wish equivalent of Smith."
"Velvel,
ich vill a shneitto, a rag,
There have, indeed, been some
curious name translations amongst a shmate," his mother as a last re-
sort whispered into his ear.
Jews. The most recent one I beard
And forthwith came the desired
was by a man named Jacobs, who
called himself Jack Hobbs. This
rag.
Moral: Speak gemixt.
is, of course, hardly cricket!
JEWISH EQ Ul VA LENT OF
SMITH
Gems From Jewish Literature
Selected by Rabbi Leon Fram.
JEWISH
PIETY
No crown carries such royalty
with it as (loth humility; no monu-
ment gives such glory as an un-
sullied name; no worldly gain can
equal that which conies from ob-
serving God's laws. The highest
sacrifice is a broken and contrite
heart; the highest wisdom is that
which is found in the Torah; the
noblest of all ornaments is mod-
esty; the most beautiful of all
things man can do is to forgive
wrong.
Cherish a good heart when thou
findest it in any one; hate. for thou
mayest hate it, the haughtiness of
the overbearing man, and keep the
boaster at a distance. There is
no skill or cleverness to be com-
pared to that which avoids temp-
tation; there is no force, not
strength that can equal piety. All
honor to hint who thinks continu-
ally and with an anxious heart of
his Maker; who prays, reads, an
learns, and all these with a pa
sionate yearning for his Maker'.
grace,
Let thy dealings be of such sort
that a blush need never visit thy
cheek; be sternly dumb to the
voice of passion; commit no sin,
saying to thyself that thou wilt
repent and make atonement at it
later time. Let no oath ever pass
thy lips; play not the haughty
aristocrat in thine heart; follow
not the desire of the eyes; banish
carefully all guile from thy soul,
all unseemly self-assertion from
thy bearing and thy temper.
Bear well thy heart against the
assaults of envy, which kills even
sooner than death itself; and
knows no envy at all, save such
envy of the merits of virtuous men
as shall lead thee to emulate the
beauty of their lives.—Elenzar
(Rokeach) of Worms.
We Observe That--
Here's another blow to one-hundred-per-cent American-
ism. Henry' Clay's great-granddaughter's name is Mrs. Wil-
liam Sawitsky. We find that out when she unveils a bust of
her illustrious ancestor in the Hall of Fame.
Henry Ford says that preachers should talk on correct diet from
the pulpit. Judging from some of the sermons we have heard, most
preachers suffer from a mental as well as physical indigestion.
And then again it is possible that Henry feels that a full
man maketh a full collection plate.
Morris Geet is consistent if nothing else in rubbing it in to his
fellow Jews. Ile offers a benefit performance for the Jewish Theater
Guilt' of his Passion Play.
But the Guild is quite dispassionate about it, The Jewish
actors refuse to take the dirty pieces of silver.
Every notorious anti-Semite who is caught with the goods, yells
"International Jewish Conspiracy."
Adolf Hitler, who is alleged in open court, took money
from the French during the World War, and would have
taken it from America. tried to use the smoke screen of the
"Jewish Conspiracy" to crush him.
, This "International Jewish Conspiracy" is surely a slick proposition,
for Henry Ford too has succumbed to its spell las the bigots will yell),
when they read that Ford has granted permission to use his Detriot
plants and all its resources in helping a Jewish architect to design
factory buildings for the Soviet government.
The King of Abyssinia donated $2,500 for a Hebrew
religious school in that country, and the Pope's Chamberlain
organized a group of English aristocrats to save the Talmi n
Torahs of Whitechapel, London. Maybe this will induce
the Jews themselves to support the Hebrew schools.
A Christian minister in speaking of the Passion Play stated that
Judas had the redeeming decency to hang himself when he SAW the
approaching crucifixion. Well, Ge=t and Belasco are hanging them-
selves on the gallo•s of universal contempt, for more pieces of silver
than Judas ever got.
•