H EVEMOITIEWIS/letRONIGUR T 00 7itE1EIRDITIEWISII9IRONICLE Published Weekly by The Jewish Chronicle PublIshlai Ce., lac. Entered as Second•clays nt•tter office at Detroit. Mirb., under 1 .,: 3:. /larch 3, 1916, at the Poet. the Act of Harsh t, 1579. General Offices and Publication Building 525 Woodward Avenue Telephone: Cadillac 1040 Cable Address: Chronicle L Office: 14 Stratford Place, London, W. I, England Subscription, in Advance To Inure publication, •11 $3.00 Per Year correspondence and new. matter reach this Mee by Tuesday •venIng of each week. When madigg notices, blot!. use one side of the paper only. When The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on nub. of Were.: tr the J•wish people, bui disclaims responsl. kris blItty for •n Indorsernint of the views exprt4sed by the writer. Sabbath Readings of the Law. Pentateuch portion—Ex. 1 :1-6 :1. Prophetical portion--Is, 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23, T C 4 = 010% •en'e60'6"e6 SiJ r January 9, 1931 Tebeth 20, 5691 Great Britain's Guilt, After the riots ill Palestine in November 1929, and in response to the White Paper which came a year later, Jews charged that the anti-Semitism of British officials in Pal- estine is responsible for placing obstacles in the path of Jewish effort for the recon- struction of the land. It was charged by Jews that Britain has given encouragement to Arabs to riot unrestrained because mis- leading statements with regard to Palestine were creating mistunderstandings among the ignorant Moslem masses. Proof of this came last week, when a group of Arabs clashed with Jewish set- tlers near Herzliah. Arab agitators were reported to have caused a disturbance over the eviction of Arab tenant cultivators, though the Jews had compensated the Arabs. On the way to jail one of the Be- douins is quoted as having declared: "Af- ter we heard the White Paper had been is- sued, we were told that all the lands be- longed to the Arabs. Therefore we came to take possession." This is the kind of propaganda that was created by unfriendly British statements. These are the kinds of ideas that were born in Arab minds as a result of the unfairness of the present Labor Government. British officials must be blind not to realize that their actions may eventually serve to bring trouble upon their own government, be- cause in the long run peace must reign be- tween the kindred Arab and Jewish peo- ples. On the question of Arab-Jewish peace it is interesting to quote the opinion of Me- nachem Mendel Ussishkin, international head of the Jewish National Fund, whose visit to Detroit on January 18 and 19 is eagerly looked forward to by this commun- ity. Speaking in Washington, D. C., last week, Mr. Ussishkin, criticizing the Brith Sholom Society of Palestine, quoted the Biblical injunction, "Hoemes ve-husholom yehavu," "ye shall love truth and peace." Pointing out that truth is placed before peace, Mr. Ussishkin said: "We want peace with the Arabs but we cannot surrender the truth to obtain peace. The truth holds pri- ority over all else. If we Jews wanted to give up the truth for peace, this is not the first opportunity in our history that we have had to do so. Israel's uniqueness among the nations is that it always placed truth foremost and was prepared to suffer for it." This falls in line with the Jew's ideal for 'justice, out of which he strives to attain love and peace. Certainly justice must tri- umph, and with such triumph will come tranquility in Jerusalem, the City of Peace. Reform Rabbis and Zionism. -■ The inauguration, by a group of Reform rabbis, of an anti-Zionist campaign is, at this time, as amazing as it is unfair. Corn- ing as it does on the eve of the opening in Philadelphia of the thirty-second biennial council of the Union of American Congre- gations, it is a shocking display of some- thing which may result in a split in the ranks of Reform Judaism, and in the pre- vention of unity in all Israel. Because it was with Zionism, or Palestine, as a basis, that Jewish leaders representing all groups in Israel were able to meet on common ground for great constructive effort, and to disrupt unity at a critical time like the pres- ent is hardly commendable. This is not the time for such an anti-Zion- ist campaign. If only for the reason that such an effort may harm the existing com- munity in Palestine, it ought not to be done. And the anti-Zionist Reform rabbis ought also to remember that Palestine is one of the growing centers /ViliCh is attracting the Jewish wanderers who are everywhere else excluded. It is well to remember that some of the greatest leaders in Zionism, even among the movement's founders. were Reform Jews and Reform rabbis. The late Dr. Gustave Gottheil was a pioneer Zionist. His son, Prof. Richard Gottheil of Columbia Uni- versity, was the first president of the Ameri- can Zionist Federation. The late Dr. Max Heller and Dr. Joseph Silverman were staunch ' Zionists. Outstanding Reform rabbis of our own day are leaders in Zion- jam, among them being Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Louis I. Newman, Rabbi James Heller, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, Rabbi Mor- ris A. Lazaron and others. In the event of an open break on the question of Zionism at the Philadelphia convention, it can hardly benefit the Reform movement, and the anti-Zionist elements will be wiser not to stir up strife. O IS4.9•9-9 * bel) tb'eh' A Picturesque Figure Is Gone. The death in New York last week of Nis- sim Behar, 83-year-old Jewish leader, phi- lanthropist and defender of the rights of his people, robs American Jewry of one of the most picturesque figures who have played a part ill the development of the community of Israel on this continent. A strikingly attractive personality, Mr. Behar has even in his lifetime already be- come a legendary figure. As the represen- tative of the Alliance Israelite in this coun- try, and prior to his coming here in the Orient, and as one ready at all times to be in the thick and thin of the battles for Jew- ish rights, he won the esteem of his people. It will be recalled that in the demonstra- tions against the betrayal of Jewish rights in Palestine, New York Jewish parades of protest acquired a note of dignity and add- ed importance because they were led by this octogenarian. Mr. Behar at the head of a line of young and old Jews crying out for justice gave a romantic touch to the as- pirations of the oldest people which insists upon remaining young. Those who have known Nissim Behar, or have watched his activities, will not for- get him. A Polish Jew Honors the Sabbath, Our London contemporary and name- sake carries an interesting story from its Warsaw correspondent to the effect that expert evidence is being taken by a judge in a case in which the facts are as follows: The landlord sued the tenant because the latter filled his bath every Thursday, to keep alive in it the fish he bought for the Sabbath meal, This, argued the landlord, is an en- tirely superfluous luxury and is a wicked waste of water for which he, the landlord, has to pay. The tenant did not deny the fact of his filling the bath to keep the fish in it, but based his defense on the assertion that there was no question of any unnecessary waste. According to Jewish tradition, he said fish for the Friday repast is a part of the ritual, and the keeping of the fish fresh and fit to eat on the Sabbath is a mitzvah and cannot therefore be considered wasteful. The decision in the case is unimportant compared with the facts which reveal that tradition is not yet dead in Israel. The cus- tom of preparing the best and tastiest foods in honor of the Sabbath has been observed religiously by Jews, and that Warsaw Jew's experience is a display of the continued existence of sacred devotion to the prin- ciples of the Sabbath and its observance. Einstein Pokes Fun at Self. Dr. Albert Einstein continues, in spite of his dislike of publicity, to remain in the limelight. To Jews he is great because of his devotion and his readiness at all times to aid his less fortunate brethren. His great- ness did not, as generally happens with notables, estrange him from his people. To humanity as a whole he is great for his con- tributions to science and for his idealism, as was evidenced in his address on paci- fism. His greatness is often mirrored in his hu- mor anti his very human actions. Interest- ing evidence of his sense of humor was giv- en upon his arrival in this country, when he poked fun at himself in a verse which the ordinary mortal would interpret as offen- sive. Professor Einstein autographed a sketch of himself made by Fred A. Mayer of New York, a former Berlin neighbor of his, and underneath his signature wrote this verse; Dienes tette satte Schwein Soli Professor Einstein sein. (This fat, well-sated pig you see Professor Einstein purports to be,) Well done, Herr Professor! Arab•Jewish Amity The British Colonial Office is doing a lot of talking about the need for co-operation and amity between Arabs and Jews in Pal- estine, but its failure to do anything con• crete in thegreat effort for the reconstruc- lion of a wasted country subjects its chief spokesman, Lord Passfield, to comparison with the man in the old rhyme: "A man of words and not of deeds Is like a garden full of weeds." But the poor Jewish colonists in Palestine do not talk; they act. The former radical, Sidney Webb, now possessor of the title Lord, may still expound theories of Social- ism, but the Jewish pioneers practice while he preaches. Thus, while Britain is prom- ising loans to the Arab farmers, the Jewish settlers in the Plain of Esdraelon, which is now mostly populated by Jews, set aside a sum of $10,000 to be used for extending loans to poor Arabs whose crops were de- stroyed by the recent mice plague and who are otherwise impoverished because they use primitive methods of scratching the soil they cultivate. In this way, and by fraternizing socially, the Jewish pioneers in Palestine are paving the way for peace and harmony with the Arabs. In a similar way Hadassah extends medical aid to the Arabs and continually- invites peaceful co-operation between the two peoples that populate Palestine. Pass- field's perfidy is thus defied by a people whose mission is peace. 'Iataae. rt. BY-THE-WAY Tidbits and News of Jew- ish Personalities. By DAVID SCHWARTZ GOODBYE, 19301 If Harry Houdini were alive he'd say "No wonder." An odd com- bination was this super-maagi- cian—this son of a small-town Wisconsin rabbi. lie would perform spiritualistic phenomena which would make men like Conan Doyle gape with won- der and explain: "You have spirit- ualistic, supernatural powera" And Harry would say: "Fiddle- sticks. They all can be explained in a natural, common sense way. There is no supernatural." But if Houtlini were assigned a hotel room, the integers of whose number summed up to 13, he would raise a Comanche yell. He didn't believe in the supernatural —he wasn't superstitious, but "13," well, he didn't want to have anything to do with that number. - • - BLAMING IT ON THE NUMBER And so, I say, if Houdin' were here, and reviewing the year 1930, he would say "nil wonder." Its in- tegers add up to "13." Is it any wonder that in the Jewish world it was the year of the unfortu- nate White Paper, and in the gen- eral the bigger world of humanity —the year of the stock exchange crash, and general hard times. Somehow I, myself, cannot blame all this bad luck on an in- nocent combination of numbers, though I am aware of the profes- sions and philosophy of the mod- ern numerologists, and know that this number monkey business has even a decided Jewish angle—in the Kabbalah, the Agatlah and Jewish mystic literature gener- ally. When Neysa Mchlein, the artist, declares that she wasn't a success until she no modified her name as to conform to this so-called science of numbers, she could almost go to the passover Ilagadah for justifica- tion Yet, nevertheless, I file my de- murer—but it has been a re- diculous year nevertheless, if you will pardon the expression. Depression did not hit poetry. While business may have been bad, however, and troubles have beset us from other directions, I am glad to say that one business is still running on a full time basis. I refer to the manufacture of Yid- dish poetry. The fact that most of these Yid- dish poems will never be read, ex- cept on those occasions when the author just can't refrain from reading them to his friends, mat- ters not a whit to these scribes of the muse. I chanced to visit one of these shops this week, "Have you the Jewish weakness, too," said one of the poets, toiling over his proofs. "The Jewish weakness"—this writing of verse. FLOWERS AND FRUITS Plato wanted to deport all poets. And many of the great Jewish sages have felt similarly. The great Maimonides seemed to look down upon poetry with a good deal nn contempt, and even Yehuda Its- levy, who himself wrote beautiful poetry, said a bit disdainfully of the Greek poetry that it had flow- ers, but not fruit. But despite I'lato and Maimonides, th epoets keep "poetizing" in greater pro- fusion than ever. I am told that it has been estimated that there are enough amateur poets in New York City to make a city almost the size of Indianapolis. And I am speaking by the book when I say that a very heavy proportion would be the Jewish segment, EVERYBODY'S DOING IT And even those who aspire not quite to the empyrean realms of the muse seem unable now and then to refrain from dabbling in rhyme. The doctors will tell you that at one time or another every person has had tuberculosis, and so it might be said of "versifico- sis." It seems that even Einstein is addicted to this rhyming busi- ness. A fellow passenger on the boat with the professor asked him to write something on the bottom of a sketch which he had made of Einstein, and this is what Einstein wrote underneath his picture: "Dienes tette satte Schwein "Soil Professor Einstein win." Loosely translated. I suppose, it would read something like this: "This fat, sated swine Is none other than Einstein." EINSTEIN. GOETHE AND LINCOLN This habit of detracting of one's self in rhyme seems to be a fairly commonplace characteristic of the great. You remember Goethe la- mented: "And here, I stand with all my lore, Poor fool, no wiser than before." And Lincoln, as a youth, auto- graphed a book something like this: "Abraham m Lincoln, his hand and his pen He willhe7, when iser, but God knows (I believe I must have s word or two of the last wrong, but in substance it is right—I am quot- ing from memory.) And you recall Wilson's rhyme in which he so spoke so disparag- ingly of his own physiognomy: "For beauty, I am no star. There are others handsomer by But nip face. I don't mind it For I am behind it, The people in front get the jar." —a-- ONE OF LIFE'S PARADOXES Theatrical life is supposed to be rather irresponsible. A thousand writers your out a couple of rivers of ink each year painting the sord- idness of Broadway. Street of fair weather friends. As deceitful as it is seductive. Et cetera and more to cetera. Yet all this to the contrary not- withstanding, I'll wages that if a (Turn to Next Page) h'eb' b'6 • b' '0•6 " br6b. b" aVzIt ■ SNT,.:C7..41.:Q:Vt,'XIX•te hrT.1 ✓ Washington and Jerusalem Charles ff.Joseph I SPOKE the other night at a banquet given by the delegates to the national convention of the Phi Epsilon Pi. I was glad of the opportunity to speak to a couple of hundred Jewish college boys who I believe are trying to do something to promote at least a JEWISH recognition of their fellows' achievements. Beautiful cups were awarded to the chapters who excelled in campus activities, in- cluding, of course, scholastic achievement. But I was very much interested in the suggestion that was made that in addition to their other contribu- tions to Jewish cultural and educational life, that a fund be raised by the various chapters to adventure still further in search of something that would en- rich JEWISH life among the Jewish undergradu- ates. While I am not a "frat" nian and never ex- pect to be, I believe that fraternities have their uses, and can be of value at least in developing a socializing influence. Minority groups need this sort of thing: it is stimulating. One thing I must commend this fraternity for, and that is in giving the income of $10,000 annually for scholarships at the National Farm School.Jewish boys desiring to make scientific farming their career should receive every possible encouragement, Nissim Behar is dead. It wasn't more than a S O .few months two that I inquired about him, wondering if he was still with us or whether he had passed on. Ile was a remarkable num. In 1882 he founded the first academic and training school in Palestine under the auspices of the Alliance Israe- lite Universelle, of Paris. Ile came to th e United States in 1900 and founded the National Liberal Immigration League. And I want to say that there are some men and women reading this paragraph who should bless the name of Nissim Behar for had it not been for his extraordinary efforts the restric- tive immigration laws now in force would have been adopted in this country 25 years ago. And some l•llo are here today would never have been able to enter., I worked with Mr. Behar and know the wonderful work he did for his brethren. lie was 83 years old when he died. lie was an inter- esting personality and even in his advanced years displayed remarkable vigor. And he never ate meat. And he proved, to my satisfaction at least, that one could live actively and vigorously to a ripe old age by subsisting on a few vegetables and chocolate candy. Tills is an interesting item. The Community Church of New York City, of which our friend Dr. John Haynes Holmes is pastor, has announced the establishment of an annual prize to be given to the man or woman who has made the most notable, beneficient or original contribution to the progress of religion in this country. The judges will be Dr. Holmes, Rabbi Stephen Wise and Dr. Frank Hall, pastor of an Universalist church in New York. I am very much interested to see who the winner is to be and for what contribution. One can easily imagine that a Fundamentalist isn't likely to have much chance to obtain such an award with those judges. I am sure of one thing, and that is when the award is announced the pulpit of this country will have something to preach about for nine Sundays! MILTON W. GOLDBERGER, editor of the He- brew Watchman, of Memphis, Tenn., has raised a most interesting point, one which has been the subject of considerable discussion for a great many years. And I am especially interested because I have for 25 years been associated with committees having the responsibility for obtaining lecturers for the men's society of a temple, as well as for other Jewish organizations. Mr. Goldberger in an edi- torial criticized the men's club of the Temple in Memphis for bringing Lewis Brown e there to lec- ture. The charge made against Mr. Browne, who, as our readers know, is the author of "Stranger Than Fiction," "This Believing World," etc., is that he derided and ridiculed the Jewish religion in a Jewish temple before a Jewish audience. The president of the men's society, replied, taking issue with Mr. Goldberger that Browne had derided the Jewish religion. But he took a broader position in this statement: ". . . it was surely going too far . . . to speak of it being a sacrilege to have had him speak in the Temple auditorium. Ile came on a week-day, at which there were no religious services, with an address that was open to the general public. There was no religious significance associated with his appearance. His subject, which was "Morality for Intelligent People," is in itself interesting and the group before whom he spoke were presumably intelli- gent. They (lid not need to agree with Mr. Browne's idea of morality . . . but all they needed was the open mind that is willing to listen and that reserves the right to reject. It has always seemed to me that Judaism itself, with centuries of tradition back of it, is strong enough to withstand the utterances of any speaker and does not need to fear to open its pulpit to a speaker who may express views that are not in accord with its own." BOTH Mr. Goldberger and the president of the men's club may be interested to know that on other occasions rabbis have taken exception to cer- tain men appearing in their pulpits, k compromise has been made by permitting their appearance in the assembly room. I can easily appreciate Mr. Goldberger's attitude becaus e Lewis Browne is a radical. And he has no respect for what we choose to term "conventions." Ile has the courage of his convictions and speaks as he pleases. I have known many thin-skinned persons to feel uncomfortable by his rather facetious deferences to things and persons they hold sacred. And knowing Lewis Browne and having heard him on many occasions, I appreciate how easy it is for him to shock his hearers. But should he or should he not have been permitted to speak in the Temple? Mr. Goldberger has opened up a topic for discussion which I am sure will prove interesting. • WELL, here we have that old question being dis- cussed by rabbis as to whether we should or should not permit our children to have Christmas trees. Thus far I have heard of no r•ligtous casual- ties among the ranks of the Jewish children who have dared to have trees. Though I believe that trees were to be found in only a very few Jewish homes. Most Jewish families for the sake of their children compromised a little by letting the kiddies hang up their stockings and you will find many stockings but few trees. I am not prepared to say whether the stocking is worse than the tree. But I fancy that even such a clear thinker as Rabbi Men- delsohn of the Sentinel of Chicago, who writes con- cerning the Christmas tree in the Jewish home, will agree that hanging up a stocking is not quite as objectionable as having a tree in a Jewish home. I have purposely avoided the subject this season as I always seem to get into a lot of troubl e every time I discuss it. And so here I am in trouble all over again despite my resolution, I AM still a little puzzled why dignitaries of the Catholic Church, both prelates and laymen, are apposed to Einstein and his theory'. In a recent issue of the Commonweal, a Catholic publication, Dr. James J. Walsh draws upon various authorities to ridicule the whole idea of Einstein's and to dis- pose of it as childish nonsense. And in the same article another Jaw, Freud, is also laughed out of court. If this w, re the first occasion of a Catholic attack on Einstein it would he passed unnoticed. Rut it is but one of many. The only explanation that occurs to me is that the Catholic Church dis- likes to see the world at large converted to a theory that may in some way run counter to its own theories. trrt " 41 1, I*EfTr(IDTVE.t'F. Orria1W-f aoanaaa,aaeaa aaavaa(oaaaaaa'‘aaass-a^. .....< By MEYER LEVIN Editor's Note. Menachem Mendel Its- sishkin, world president of the Jewish National Fund, I, one of the personalities poke n •s • possible successor to Chaim W eirmann as ' , resident of the World Z ta i t Organization. lie Zi re •re POMP Of hi, views of current onist problems. Menachem Mendel Ussishkin is being spoken of as one of the most likely candidates to the presi- dency of the World Zionist Organ- ization, to he chosen at the Feb- ruary Zionist Congress in Karls- bad. Zionist leaders know of his ability as an administrator, since he has for years been the world president of the Jewish National Fund, living in Jerusalem and watching over the purchase and development of Jewish land. His work is somewhat in the nature of that of a Jewish ambassador-at- large. Menachem Mendel Ussishkin in now in America, having come here after a lapse of 10 years to re- visit the great Jewish population of America, and to strengthen the position of the Jewish National Fund. Recently AL M. Ussishkin visited Washington. There he was es- corted through .the government buildings. lie visited the great house of justice, where a Jew. and a leader in Zionist thought, and curiously enough another of the personalities spoken of as a likely choice for the next World Zionist president, sits in the Supreme Court of Justice. Old Capitol Speaks to New. Speaking before a distinguished audience that massed the Jewish Community Center of Washington, M. M. Ussishkin said, "I bring greetings not merely from Jewish Jerusalem to the Jews of Wash- ington, but from Jerusalem, the oldest capital, the city whose very name means peace, to Washington, the newest capital, the city of freedom and liberty. Jerusalem is the oldest cultural center of the world; Washington is the most im- portant city of the new world. Both those cities have dreamed the same ideal. "From the city of Zion there went forth the message of peace which was of universal import. From Washington, through the words of the late President Wil- son, there went forth the message of equality and freedom for small peoples as well as great peoples. "That peace has not been ob- tained in Palestine," said M. M. Ussishkin, "is not the fault of the prophets who traversed its paths, but of others in whose hands it lay to secure the emancipation of Israel. Sad to relate, in the holy city of Jerusalem, blood has been spilled under the flag of Great Britain, that banner which meant truth and justice to all nations, and whose meaning was particu- larly cherished by the Jews. An obligation rests upon the English people, the people of Shakespeare, Gladstone and Balfour, to vindi- cate it by doing justice to the Jew- ish National Home which they un- dertook to facilitate," Declarations of Freedom, Mr. Ussishkin spoke of the hope of the Jews to make a Washington out of new Jerusalem. "I have visited in Washington," he said. "anti seen the great Congressional Library and other magnificent state buildings, but of all the grand features of thin city, two things impressed me most. One was the shrine which encases the historic American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. As I gazed upon the hallowed setting in which those documents reposed, I thought of the day when we, too, should be able to set up, in Jeru- salem, a shrine containing not only the Declaration of Cyrus and of Balfour permitting us to return to our home, but containing our own self-asserted Declaration of Independence." There was a loud applause at this utterance. "The second feature which most impressed me was the Supreme Court of Justice, set in the center of the two great legislative build- lags. The place of highest honor had been reserved for that court in which justice and right hold sway, a court in which, to the credit of American Jewry, there sits one of its own sons. "And to the American nation, which in that manner has empha- sized the great store it sets by righteousness, I would appeal to insist upon Justice for the Jews, The American Congress in 1922 passed a resolution supporting the establishment of the Jewish Na- tional Home in Palestine, and righteousness: demands that that resolution be observed and trans- lated into reality." rS "We Devise Plan." He pointed out that the Zionist principal of national ownership of the In was aprinciple that fol- lowed 1111 1111111 reforms introduced in England. "We desire peace in Palestine," he said, "but it must be based on truth. We have 110 quarrel with any of those who live in Palestine. Our own law commands us to treat the stranger as ourselves, "There was a time when private ownership of land was considered an invulnerable principle. But as man progressed it was seen to be wnorg for one man to possess wide areas of land while another, anx- ious to till the soil, was possessed of no soil to till. And so, particu- larly in England, under liberal Gladstone, land reform was intro- duced to insure equity. "Another illustration of changes in our conception of what is right is to be seen in the granting to minorities of political and national self-determination, a principle in- sisted upon by a great American president, although at one time it was considered proper for those minorities to be under the thumb of the numerical majority. "If our conception of right in regard to individual ownership of land has been modified, the same might be true in regard to people's ownership of territory, The Arab people enjoys vast territories, not only Arabic, but Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Morocco, its regions stretch from Damascus to Bagdad. The Jewish peopl e as a people has hitherto been denied any land whatsoever? Is it right that its own single territory shall be de- nied to it?" Heart of Jewish World. The president of the National Fund then spoke of Palestine as the heart of the Jewish World, while all Jewry formed the limbs and body. "The heart is but a small thing physically, but on its health depends the health of the entire structure." Ile demanded that the tempo of work in Palestine be strengthened and increased, He pointed out that positive achievements in the land determined the political fu- ture. "The existence of the set- tlement of Metulah in the north ensured the inclusion of Upper Galilee within the boundaries of Palestine under the mandate. Had these been Jewish settlements in the Trunsjordan area, that area, too, would no doubt have been in- cluded in the provision for the Jewish National Home." This may, to some, seem a dubious po- litical postulate. Ussishkin has always been known as a realist, who centers all Zionist hope in a strong land policy. The Jews of America are 4,000,000; they provided half a million dollars a year for the Jew- ish National Fund. They could do more. If you have a regard for the future of your children as con- scious Jews, then you must redeem the land of Eretz Israel for your sake and for theirs. The time will come when they will seek that that haven of a Jewish National Home." Mr. Ussishkin was received in Washington by Mr. Louis Siegel, president of the Zionist District of Washington; by Mrs. Alpert, president of Washington Hades- sah, and by Mr. Danzinger, chair- man of the Jewish National Fund council of Washington. (Copyright. 1931. J. T. A.) Spain Sanctions a Synagogue, and Where is Torquemada? By MEYER LEVIN Editor's Note: After nearly half • file lam of denial. Spain •gsin com- pie!, ly acknowledges the rights of the Jews. News. through the Jewish Tek, gr aphic Agency. of the official ..nction o f a synagogue in Madrid. •nd of the con- secration of ground for • JPIViA h ceme- tery. marks the rinsing episode in • dram• played from 1452 to 1930. This article tells of the new status of Jews in Spain. It has taken 438 years. But the Jews again have a synagogue in Spain's chiefest city, a synagogue recognized and sanctioned by the government of Spain. And at the same time there is issued in America a book, purport- ing to be the work of a scholar, in which proof is attempted that Tor- quemada was a mild and gentle man, and that after all the cen- turies of shouting horror! horror! it must be realized that only about 2,000 Jews were burned at the stake during the Inquisition in Spain. Two thousand out of a possible 2,000,000 ought to prove that Torquemada was a mild and gentle man! I'erhaps the Inquisition never existed, perhaps the Inquisition was a dream of "creative' histor- ians. Certainly as modern Spain, anx- ious that the darkest blotch of medievalism be more and more confused with the general darkness of remote backgrounds, each year comes more emphatically forward in her assurances of full rights for the Jews, the racial memory?scar inflicted by the edict of Ferdinand and Isabella becomes less painful. Last year, for a time, there was a rumor that Spain, realizing that her economic decline so a world power began in 1492 with the ex- • pulsion of the Jews from he realm, and anxious in modern times to recover her gone import erica., was encouraging a wholesale return of the Jews to Spain. In vestigation of the rumor prove( that the "wholesale" was exagger- ated emphasis — perhaps Jewish emphasis. But various Spanish of ficials did admit that Spain stil watched the scattered descendants of Spanish Jews, and tried, in the words of the Duke of Albo, "as much as possible to foster their sentimental attachment" to Spain, though their wholesal e return was not encouraged as economic con- ditions in Spain would not bear of a heavy rise in immigration. But during the last centuries, as the laws of the Inquisition and the edict of expulsion were long in disuse, Jews have seeped into Spain, and many descendants of alarrnaos--Jews who on compul- sion accepted the Catholic faith— have reasserted their Jewishness. There has been a tacit recognition of such Jews. Now, on Dec. 24, 1930, came the news that the first recognized synagogue to be established in Spain since the Jews were exiled in 1492 had been opened in Madrid. Synagogues in Spain have been spoken of before. One writer, Morris Goldberg, mentions "sev- eral synagogues in Barcelona" and a "magnificent synagogue" rebuilt after the war in the street of 1, umbreeras in Seville, which he says is "destined to become the most important and active Jewish (Turn to Next Page.) a.) =g1" - e ,44.,...MVO41