PIEPLTROITJAMSRCAROXICL4
January 10, 193G
and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
THERerRonjEwisti el R014 1CL£
and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
it • O
Published Weekly by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc.
—ma
estini
their
comp
the ss
and
tions
who
Entered as Second-class matter March IL 1911, at the Post.
algae at Detroit. Web., under the Act of Much S, MY.
General Offices and Publication Building
525 Woodward Avenue
Telephone: Cadillac 1040 Cable Address: Chronicle
London Office:
14 Stratford Place, London, W. 1, England
CraSI
Subscription, in Advance
part
$3.00 Per Year
To Inure publication, all correopondence and news matter
must reach this office by Tuovida y evening of each week.
When mailing notices, kindly use one ,Ida of the paper only.
11100
mail
wort
Apr
The
then
sign.
by'
pris
not
ref[
timi
mat
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle Inv iten correspondence on sub-
jects of Interest to the Jewinh people, but dialeime renponnl-
bhtty for an indorsement of the views expressed by the writers
Sabbath Readings of the Torah
Pentateuchal portion—(en. 47:28-50:26
Prophetical portion-1 Kings 2:1.12.
January 10, 1936
T
Tebeth 16,6696
The Late Lord Reading
peel
are
mai
ion;
pra
Tin
on
Ar:
ligi
leg
A great son is lost to Israel in the death
of Lord Reading. In spite of everything
that may be said with regard to his aloof-
ness from his people during his lifetime,
Lord Reading's great interest in Pales-
tine's reconstruction, his numerous inter-
cessions ih behalf of persecuted Jews, the
Part he played in the issuing of the Bal-
four Declaration, and his more recent con-
demnations of Nazi atrocities prove that
interest in Jewry, was not altogether dead
in his breast.
His resignation in 1933 from the Anglo-
German Association as a protest against
Nazi atrocities is proof of more than pass-
ing devotion to the cause of justice for his
own people. On other occasions, too, he
spoke his mind against bigotry. Several
years ago C. J. C. Street published a
biography of Lord Reading in which he
pointed out that during the early career of
Rufus Isaacs a heckler insisted on shout-
ing repeatedly "Down with the Jewel"
For a time he ignored him, but soon he
digressed from his subject and launched
into a passionate defense of his people.
As Mr. Street wrote:
Cell
ten
wa
the
hie
the
Icy
res
Je•
Ch
chi
sh
in.
dit
CC
U1
au
ml
tit
er
cif
of
cal
at
ti
spoke of his religion and his race,
of his ancestry, of Its eufferings and it trium-
phant survival throughout ages of persecution
and tribulation. Ile spoke of England, of
English ideals of justice and fair play, of
Englishmen who had fought for religious
and civil freedom, regardless of caste or creed
or race. And he sat down amid the thunderous
applause of the audience. Later, on occasions,
he was to arouse again the bitterness, the
anger, the blind jealousies of anti-Semitism.
But he was to find, at the same time, that the
England which had granted him his pathway
to success, because of the man he was, cared
for none of these things. There was no need
for him to defend his race or religion. His
friends and his fellow.countrymen answered
for both.
He
A
It
it
p
It
ti
5
F
0
p
p
li
a
But perhaps the greatest tribute to the
late Lord Reading's contributions to his
people is the interest that is being taken
in Jewish affairs by his son and heir to his
title, Viscount Erleigh, who, together with
Lady Erleigh are now recognized by world
Jewry as leaders in Jewry.
Jewry mourns the death of a great son.
1
1
President on Religious Freedom
In a recent address, President Roose-
velt took as his keynote the religious lib-
erty paragraph in the Virginia Declara-
tion of Rights, and stated that
"there can be no true national line either
within • nation itself or between that nation
and other nations unless there be the specific
acknowledgement of and the support of or-
ganized law to the rights of man . In the
conflicts of policies and of political systems
which the world witnesses today, the United
States has held forth for its own guidance and
for the guidance of other nations, if they will
accept it, this great torch of liberty, of human
thought, liberty of conscience. We will never
lower it. We will never permit it, if we can
help it, the light to grow dim. Rather through
every means legitamtely within our power and
our office we will seek to Increase that light
that its rays may extend the further; that
its glory may be seen even from afar. Every
indication of the sanctity of these rights at
home, every prayer that other nations may
accept them, Is an indication of bow virile,
how living they are in the heart of every true
American."
This is one of the numerous declarations
made in recent months by the President,
offering assurance that this government
will "never lower" the traditional torch
of American liberty.
Here is an assertion which should hear-
ten every lover of liberty, and which
should reassure those who may have
feared that the oppressions of backward
countries are encroaching upon us.
In his message to Congress on Jan. 3
President Roosevelt was even more em-
phatic in condemnation of religious per-
secutions and in defense of free Ameri-
can institutions.
As long as the chief executive of our
government continues to speak in terms
such as we have just quoted from Presi-
dent Roosevelt's address, we have reason
to feel secure in the guarantees given the
American people by the constitution.
New Anti-Immigration Scare
The self-imposed exile of the Lind-
berghs had the peculiar effect not of
arousing public opinion against corruption
and for the strengthening of the police
and judicial systems of this country, but
rather of re-awakening the enemies of im-
migrants in this country in a new crusade
against the foreign elements.
Not only did Senators Coolidge and
Davis jump into the limelight with dec-
larations that they will introduce new
anti-immigration bills in the present ses-
sion of Congress, but Representative Mar-
tin Dies of Texas once more made the
threat that he will press for the adoption
of his measure. The Dies bill is perhaps
the most vicious piece of legislation that
was ever introduced in Congress. It calls
not only for the complete shutting of the
doors of this country to newcomers—af-
fecting relatives of those already in this
country—but it aims to deport all un-
naturalized Americans. The latter provis-
ion would have the ridiculous effect of
demanding the deportation of millions of
people, some estimate that it would run
into about 20,000,000.
Instead of facilitating the naturaliza-
tion of non-citizens, rabid reactionaries
aim to make the lot of the unnaturalized
all the harder. All the agitation against
immigrants and foreign-born is carried on
in spite of the established fact that crime
is not the inherited boon of foreigners but
that predominating criminals are native
Americans.
Several months ago we had occasion to
comment on the so-called Dies bill. At
that time we pointed out that the enemies
of immigration are peculiarly linked with
fascism, and we warned that the moment
fascist roots are permitted to grow every
vestige of justice and fairness will be
doomed in America. We derived com-
fort then, as we do now, from an editorial
in the Progressive of Madison, Wis., the
organ of the LaFollettes, in which the Dies
bill was condemned under the heading
"The Problem of Our Foreign Born." The
LaFollette weekly stated in part::
Representative Martin Dies of Texas is
the author of a bill before the present session
of Congress which professes to cure the un-
employment problem in the United States by
deporting several million unnaturalized for-
eign born persons who live within our borders.
It is easy to drum up resentment by ex-
ploiting a situation where millions of American
citizens are out of work' while many aliens
in this country have managed to hang onto
jobs. But we wonder if this scheme pro-
pounded Sy Rep. Dies really offers any hope
as a solution of the problem of the jobless.
Unemployment statistics show that the
proportion of jobless among the unnatural-
iced foreign-born is as high or higher than
among native-born Americans. The unnatur-
Rifted have had to suffer the distress brought
by the depression with the naturalized and
native born.
Looking at this proposition from a view-
point of economic logic, what would happen
if five or six million people were suddenly to
be deported out of this country, as contem-
plated in the Dies bill?
A vast consumers' market would be taken
away, production would have to be further
curtailed, and unemployment would be in-
creased. It is an old maxim that one man's
expenses are another man's income.
Such wholesale deporting would result in
innumerable cruelties. Families would be
split. People would be sent back to countries
whose governments would very likely subject
them to hardships and herd them in concentra-
tion camps. There would be countless cases
where no greater inhumanity could be in-
flicted.
There was a time when America was
- looked up by all the world as a haven of
refuge for the politically oppressed. The back-
bone of this nation, the historians tell us, was
built up from the stock of immigrants who
came to these shores to escape the tyranny at
home. Go back only a few generations in the
family history of our best citizens and you
will And their forbears were immigrants to
America.
Times and conditions have changed and
it has been felt necessary to drastically re-
strict immigration. Today stringent quotas
are enforced. But if the United States can-
not continue the spirit of welcome it once
extended to the oppressed of other lands,
shouldn't it seek to extend that spirit to those
who are already here? •
There is reason to believe that this sud-
den drive against the foreign-born residents
of this country is part of the fascist-like drive
being carried on by reactionary forces in this
country. Strangely enough, big business and
industrial interests once favored unrestricted
immigration in order to maintain a supply of
cheap labor. Today they want to deport
those they once welcomed to this country.
There is, however, an important alien
problem in this country today. There are
thousands of foreign-born who entered the
United States illegally and in violation of law.
These persons have no standing here and are
entitled to little consideration. Another phase
of this problem is the fact that many of our
foreign-born who entered the country legally
and have lived here for years without evidenc-
ing any desire to return to their homelands
have failed to take out naturalization papers.
It would seem that an enlightened gov-
ernment such as ours, instead of contemplat-
ing the wholesale deportation of these people,
most of whom have American-born children
and have established families, would encour-
age them to become citizens.
The problem of our foreign-born popula•
lion is one that is subject to much misinter-
pretation. It has a very real place in social
planning for the future. But it is difficult
to see how measures such a, that set forth
in the Dies bill can bring about a constructive
solution.
I
Revisionism's Bed-Fellow
I
Czechoslovakia's existing Jewish Party„'
which is pro - Zionist in sentiment, is !
henceforth to have as its opponent a "new
people's party." which is the combination
1 It is unfortunate that the immigration
of the Zionist Revisionists and the extreme issue must again be added to our numer-
Jewish assimilationists.
our problems, thus making it all the hard-
The correspondent who cabled this re- er for Jews to arrive at a solution of their
port from Prague called it a combination many complicated issues which oppress
of "strange bed fellows" made by the pe- millions of our kinsmen throughout the
culiar twist of politics. Evidently anything world. But the fight against the reaction-
still goes that helps to harm Palestine: aries who seek to make the lot of the im-
and Revisionists instead of remaining migrant harder than ever must not be
lryal to their early Zionist ideals are fall- stopped even for a single moment. And as
ins prey to hatred of the parent Zionist long as we have the support of liberals
organization. Aside from its being Jewry's like the LaFollettes we should feel en-
loss, such a combination adds to the dis- couraged in our struggle for justice to the
grace of the Revisionists. "strangers" in our midst.
Lights from
Shadowland
By LOUIS PEKARSKY
Reproduction In part or whole forbid-
den, without permission of the seven
Arts Feature syndicate, Copyrightsre of
this feature.
Grandfather of Yiddish Literature
Tidbits from Everywhere
On Mendele Mocher S'forim, Founder of a Culture
HER FIRST ENGAGEMENT
The warmth of the reception ac-
corded her performance encouraged
Miss Sidney. Further fortified by
self-confidence, she looked for work.
Two months later she found it in
the form of an engagement for
"The Challenge of Youth." The
play only ran a week.
Important roles in the stage pro-
ductions of "The Squall," "Crime,"
"Mirrors" and "Don't Count Your
Chickens" followed.
Then Miss Sidney deserted N.
Y.'s Broadway for Denver, Colo-
rado, where she played in stock
for 14 weeks.
After this engagement she went
to Hollywood to make her debut
in films under the Fox banner in
"Through Different Eyes," one of
the early talkies. She could not
"feel" the part, however, for, as
she herself tells us, "the break
from stage to screen was too sud-
den." So she returned to Broadway.
IN STOCK AT
ROCHESTER, N. Y.
Then came another stock engage-
ment—this time at Rochester, New
York, under the direction of George
Cukor, who is now one of Holly-
wood's greatest directors and also
one of our own. Readers of the
Jewish Ledger in Rochester will
readily recall Miss Sidney's fine
performances in plays at the Ly-
ceum and the Temple Theatre, if
memory serves me correctly, and
how she quickly became the toast
of the Kodak City's elite.
Following that rich stage ex-
perience, Miss Sidney appeared on
Broadway again in four plays,
"Nice Woman," "The Old-Fash-
ioned G i r I," "Crossroads" and
Many" a Slip."
Thus ended five years •of profes-
sional training which had prepared
Miss
Sidney for stardom. And
stardom came shortly afterward
in "Bad Girl". This was her last
stage play. During its sensational
run B. P. Schulberg, who then was
managing director of production
for Paramount Pictures, envisioned
her as a great potential screen star
and persuaded her to forsake the
footlights.
That happened late in 1930. In
January, 1931, she began—or
rather re-began her film career,
appearing with Gary Cooper in
"City Streets." Mr. Schulberg's
prediction turned out to be true
and since then she has been fea-
tured in about 15 or more films
including "An American Tragedy,"
and among her most recent ones,
Samuel Raphaelson'a "Accent on
Youth."
KNOWLEDGE
The old tree brooded in sorrow:
"I know not whence I come nor
why,
I know not why I live nor why
I die,
And life in bitter cold and burn-
ing drought is hard."
From the leaves there burst a
flood of golden sound:
A hidden bird poured out his soul
I n joy unspeakable to Him Who
knows.
—R. L. in the Issue.
■
•_
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
o'op s rJelit
(copyright, Isle. a. A. F. R)
SYLVIA SIDNEY
Sylvia Sidney, Paramount mo-
tion picture star and one of the
leading celebrities of the Jewish
faith in Hollywood, is a product
of the "sidewalks of New York."
She was born in a Bronx flat, the
daughter of a Russian mother and
Roumanian father.
Early in her childhood she felt
the urge to become an actress.
Since she was only 12 at the time,
her ambition naturally encoun-
tered parental objections. Persis-
tence, however, finally overcame
this difficulty, and she started to
work towards her career by taking
a course of private instruction in
dramatic art. A few months later
the child performer received her
baptism of applause in a series of
Little Theatre recitals.
Not long after that Miss Sidney
was invited to matriculate in the
Theatre Guild school. Out of a
chug of 105 students, she was
selected one year later to play the
leading role in the school's gradu-
tion play.
Strictly
Confidential
By ABRAHAM GOLDBERG
EDITOR'S NOTE: World Jewry and particularly its Yiddish-speaking section, will commem•
orate on Jan. 13, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mendele Mocher S'forim, reco•
nixed as the first writer to elevate Yiddish to the plane of ■ literary language. Abra-
ham Goldberg, noted Zionist orator and
writer,
here gives a critical estimate of Men-
dele's contribution to the literature which he is acknowledged to have founded.
l'op,110t, 1935, 8,ttn Arts Fr.att:
It was a benign fate which brought to the
cradle of infant Yiddish literature three great
giants—Mendele Mocher S'forim, J. L. Peretz and
Sholem Aleichem. The three represented not
only three different types of literature but also
three important sections of Jewry; Mendele the
Lithuanian Jews, Peretz the Polish and Sholem
Aleichem the Ukrainian Jews. The influence of
these three on modern Yiddish literature is in-
calculable, but of them all Mendele has exerted
the greatest influence, for he left his mark not
only on the generations which have followed
but also on Peretz and Sholem Aleichem, who
were almost his contemporaries.
Sholem Aleichem it was who gave Mendele
his title of "Seide" (grandfather) of Yiddish
literature. Indeed, Sholem Aleichem himself
called Mendele "Seide," and regarded himself
as his spiritual grandson. And while Mendele
was incluined to frown on the light touch which
Sholem Aleichem used in his writing, and to dis-
trust his facility, he recognized the relationship
none the less and was genuinely fond of his fos-
ter-grandson.
Realist of Yiddish Literature
In the case of Peretz the relationship was
quite different. Peretz, indeed, refused to sub-
mit to the influence of Mendele. With the re-
sult that we can trace the "Seide"' influence in
his work in both the positive and the negative
sense—that is, we can see Mendele's direct in-
fluence, and also his indirect influence, the lat-
ter betrayed in the instances where Peretz made
conscious efforts to escape the influence of
Mendele. In any event, it is Mendele who taught
Peretz to express the spirit of the Jewish masses
in his writing, and it is that spirit, permeating
so many of his works, which has made Peretz one
of the great cloaks of Yiddish literature.
Mendele Mocher S'forim—the pseudonym
means Mendele the book-peddler; the author's,
real name was Shalom Jacob Abramovitch—be.
came the first great realist of Yiddish literature
not only through his inherent character but
through conscious effort. In this he followed the
guidance of some prominent Russian critics. For
Mendele good literature meant the portrayal of
life as it was, wihout embellishment or toi.ing
down. From the very beginning he knew that
the best literature is true to life. In those days
little distinction was drawn between photographic
reality and that artistic realism which stresses
only the important and characteristic elements.
But Mendele instinctively grasped this distinction
and realized the importance of selecting the ele-
ments to be portrayed in detail.
Three Types in One
It was his aim to create characters that
lived and breathed. Ile did not always succeed.
At times he succumbed to the tendency, pre-
dominant in his time, to create mere types, ab-
stract personalities. But he was successful of-
ten enough to leave us a large gallery of actual
individuals, characters who were real people.
Critics have often compared Mendele to
Charles Dickens. And in the main the corn-
parison is apt. The writings of both are highly
imaginative, so that events do not follow one
another with any real inner necessity. Coinci-
dence plays a large part. Some occurrences are
so clearly brought in merely because they fit into
the pattern of the story that the author seems
a romanticist rather than a realist. Yet the
descriptions themselves are highly realistic, and
the characters possess true individuality. Men-
dele paints his scenes with light and masterly
strokes, exaggerating nothing, guiding his brush
with sure hand. His hand follows his eye, and,
most important of all, his eye sees clearly and
without distortion, so that he has the proper
perspective.
When we speak of Mendele we must not for
a moment forget that he did not attain his full
Comnutnism Alien to Religion
a t t b lIcirt e
stature all at once. As a matter of fact we may
well say that there are three Mendeles. To begin
with there was Mendele the Maskil, burdened
with all the faults of that historically most im-
portant type. The Maskil's point of view was
too utilitarian to enable him to be a great ar-
tist. He also cherished so many prejudices
against the common people that for Mendele,
had he not succeeded in overcoming them, they
would have constituted a serious obstacle to his
normal development. Before he could become
our great classic writer Mendele had to fight
against the Maskil in his soul; and while on the
whole the artist emerged victorious, Maskilic
traces still remained perceptible in him.
He Grew Epigrammatic
After leaving the fold of the hlaskilim
Mendele went to the other extreme, and tried
to become one of the masses. He wanted to
dedicate himself to the common people, to be-
come their servant so to speak, rather than to
depict them as an artist standing somewhat
aside. Fortunately for Yiddish literature, how-
ever, he did not reach his goal.
Only in his third phase did he become Men-
dele whose artistry served the masses. It was
then that his style became so clear and lucid,
that he achieved that true realism which is sym-
bolical and allegorical and illustrative. A scene
depicted in this style becomes representative of
many others, for it is a part of—not apart from
—life. It is as a bough growing on a tree, not
the same bough cut off from the tree. The es-
sential quality of this style is lucid simplicity
capable of standing alone, without a supporting
framework.
From his Maskilic period Mendele always
retained his tendency to grow epigrammatic,
though this draws the reader's attention away
from the main theme and into a field which no
longer is art. Another relic of his first period
was his inclination to generalize. One city which
he describes is inhabited by wise men only, an
other by people who are stupid and indolent.
Later, however, he broke away from this method,
and gave us cities in which lived, on the same
soil, individuals of totally different character.
istics.
Restoring Him to Rightful Place
From his second period he carried over into
the third a deep love for the common people,
a love clearly perceptible between the lines of
his writings. The paradoxical truth of the mat-
ter, however, is that Mendele, while he really
loved the Jewish people, cherished little love
for individual Jews. Thus !Break, the Jew
who suffers, does not arouse his genuine sym-
pathy until, losing his individuality, he becomes
typical of the entire Jewish people. He sees the
Jewish failings too clearly to love individual
Jews. He sees all the faults of the individual:
yet when it comes to describing an individual
he creates not an evil character, as we might
have expected from what he has said preViously,
but a human being possessed of good qualities
also, with a heart capable of suffering and sor-
row. A human being, a wretched creature in a
huge and inimical world.
In our age of seething confusion we have
not the repose necessary for a true appreciation
and understanding of Mendele. But these are
abnormal times. In a more normal age Men-
dele will be restored to the supreme place that
is rightfully his.
But even today we can appreciate the
greatest of Mendele's achievements: He it was
who raised Yiddish to the plane of a literary
language. He cleared the path for Yiddish liter-
ature. And it was he who demonstrated that
it was possible to write for the people in the
liebrew language also. These achievements will
keep his memory alive among those who love
both these languages.
THE JEW OF ROME
A Review by Dr. Henry Smith
Labelling of Religious Groups as "Reds" Denounced by
Rabbi Goldstein; Deplores Attack on
Progressives
Leiper
7. is
E J E
i, F It 0 31 F:
Ily Lion
Vein htwaneer The Viking Pres.
sz SO)
1936, R. A. F
)
SCOOPS
James hl. Barrie's famous play,
"What Every Woman Knows,"
inspired by the late Marquess
of Reading's first wife, who had
a great deal to do with her hus-
band's phenomenal career . • • The
next High Commissioner for Ger-
man Refugees will probably be
selected from among Lord Lytton,
Lord Lothian and Sir Arthur Sal-
ter, all Englishmen . . . Jewish
leaders are opposed to having a
Jew as Commissioner . . . That's
why Sir Herbert Samuel won't get
the job ... There'll be a new An-
glo-Jewish weekly in New York
shortly ... It'll be called The Star
. . . Incidentally, James G. Mc-
Donald, the ex-High Commissioner,
was presented with a silver service
by the executive committee of the
Joint Distribution Committee at a
reception in the home of Felix M.
Warburg ... Angelica Balabanotf,
an aged Russian Jewess, who is
supposed to have given alussoliiii
his Socialistic education in the days
when II Duce was a left winger,
is now in this country ... A cer-
tain immigration inspector in the
New York area may lose his job
because he has been asking Ger-
man Jewish immigtants whether
they are racially German or He-
brew ... Though since the U. S.
immigration code lists the Hebrew
race as a distinct nationality this
seems somewhat illogical ...
Was
THE BACK ROOM
Governor Hoffman of New Jer-
sey doesn't know it yet, but his
political enemies are responsible
for a malicious whispering cam-
paign in which the Governor is
falsely accused of being in cahoots
with anti-Semites .. Representa-
tive Florence Prag Kahn of Cali-
fornia is the only Jewish member
of Congress backing the Townsend
Plan ... James Marshall, son of
the late Louis Marshall, may be
the next president of New York
City Board of Education ... For-
mer Senator Bernard Gettelman
of Milwaukee and Julius Cohn of
Cleveland are credited with giving
Senator Borah's presidential boom
its greatest impetus If Gover-
nor Herbert Lehman cannot be pre.
veiled upon to seek re-election next
November Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,
may resign as Secretary of Treas-
ury to run for lieutenant governor
of New York ... The Democrats
want a Jew on the state ticket ...
Jerome Frank, ex-member of the
Roosevelt brain trust, has become
a partner in a big New York law
firm ... Justice Cardoso. a Hoover
appointee to the Supreme Court,
has upheld the New Deal more
often than any other member of
the Court ...
THIRD REICH
The leader of the underground
anti-Nazi movement in Germany,
who is now in this country, informs
us that the organized opposition to
Hitler in the Reich is pitifully
weak and small ... All sensational
rumors to the contrary notwith-
standing, the underground organi-
zation has less than 3,000 members,
thanks to the ferocious effeciency
of the secret police ... Nazi guide-
books to Germany describe a cer-
tain section of the Rhineland as
follows: "Here stands the impos-
ing, legend-haunted Lorelei, theme
of many poems, the first words of
one which are 'Ich weiss nicht was
soil es bedeuten'" . . . Which, in
case you don't know, are the first
words of Heinrich Heine's famous
poem "Die Lorelei" . . . Julius
Stretcher's friends believe the high
priest of Nazi anti-Semitism has
some sinister hold on Hitler . .
Otherwise he wouldn't be publicly
boasting that as long as Hitler re-
mains Streicher's power will be
unimpaired ...
SPORTING DEPARTMENT
The American Olympic Commit-
tee expects American athletes to
be beaten up by Nazi sports fans
during the Olympic Games . , .
That's the interpretation being
placed on a document drawn up for
the Committee leaving it free of
financial responsibilty for athletes
who suffer major accidents during
the games ... Heywood Broun is
circulating a private petition
among leading sports writers and
athletes, asking American with-
( PLEASE TURN TO NEXT PAGE 1
Advice to the Jewish Press
By MENTOR
I asked an acquaintance who
edits one of our better known Jew-
ish weeklies whether he was going
to run an editorial on the Lind-
bergh affair. He seemed to think
that my inquiry was something in
the nature of a joke, as though
to say it had nothing at all to do
with the Jewish problem. Of course,
on this particular point he was
wrong, for a section of our press
has utilized the affair for a re-
newed anti-alien and red-baiting
campaign and such efforts are of
concern to Jews because they often
end up in anti-Jewish campaigns.
So my contemporary was really
wrong and I was right. And this
leads to a far deeper and more
important problem, which is wheth-
er the Jewish press is playing an
adequate part in the prevention of
anti-Semitism. To my mind it is
not. and this arises out of the con-
viction that the prevention of
prejudice consists of something
more than an exposure. of anti-
Semitic organizations and an eter-
nal apology for the existence of
Jewry.
cannot boast of a single journal
of the standing of The Christian
Century and the Churchman, of
When I think of an histori-
Protestants, and The Common-
cal novel, I am reminded of
weal and America, of the Catholics,
(Copyright, N. C. J.
New. Pen to)
the story of the little boy who,
equally active and effective in thiw
cause. It is not as though social'
hearing a lecture on anatomy,
The name "red" has been used tical method of achieving the goal.
justice were something extraneous
asked his mother, "Is a skele-
to denounce a multitude of heter- Whereas socialism denotes the at-
to the Jewish religion, for it is an
odoxies. Is a Y.M.C.A. guilty of tainment of its objectives by the
ton the bones with the gentle.
important part of Judaism and we
speaking frankly to the youth on political method, namely, the bal-
man scraped off?" Most of
must give credit to our rabbis for
sex problems? Then it is spreading lot, communism, skeptical that
emphasizing it on all occasions.
history comes to us in skeleton
"communism". Is a group of Meth- Ulnae in position of wealth and
It is all the,more lamentable that
form, the gentleman being
odist Church leaders proclaiming power will give them up peaceably
such issues should be considered
war resistance as a Christian pol- advocates the use of force for over-
scraped off, as it were! If the
outside of the realm of the Jewish
icy? Then they are "reds." Is a throwing the present capitalistic
press.
history in question is ancient
Rabbinical Conference excoriating system. Russia is an example in
The Jewish weeklies have their
enough, only imagination can
the iniquities of our economic sys- our day of the method which has
place in our communal affairs, to
put the gentleman back on the
tem? Then they are a lot of "bob been used, in order to abolish capi-
be mire, and insofar as they are
sheviks."
talism.
bones.
designed to reflect the activities
The advantage of calling names
Progressive s Not Communists
of local Jewish life I have no fault
That somewhat homely phrase
is that it does not put one to the
to find with them. Our greatest
If these be the criteria of our
aptly describes what Feuch-
trouble of electing an issue on its definition, it will be found that
need, perhaps, is for a national
merits, with rational argument. It most of the groups who are being wanger does for the period
Jewish weekly on the order of The
is • cheap appeal to the lowest called "red," "bolshesik," "com-
Christian Crnhury which, among
roughly lying between 80 A. D.
level, the level of prejudice.
munist," etc., are in fact opposed to and 80 A. D. As an historical
other things, would discuss current
one or both of the salient features
social, political and economic events
Defining Communism
novelist, he has already achiev-
of
communism.
It would he well to define what i-:
from the Jewish point of view.
ed a place in the sun and his
a "red." The term "red" and the
The Jewish Viewpoint
It is doubtful if even one per
term "communist" are used inter. cent of the progressive groups and
preceding work dealt with the
That there is a Jewish point 'f
Causes of Anti-Semitism.
vjeW, no one will deny. It is prob-
changeably. The communistic doc- leaders in our country who are of-
same great character who is the
By this time we ought to he ably identical with the Christian
trine has two salient features, one ten labelled "red" by the reaction-
hero of "The Jew of Rome," aware that anti-Semitism is the
in its ideology and one in its prac- aries in the press and on the plat-
point of view on all larger issues.
product
of a number of root causes. If Jews and Christians were united
—Flavius
Josephus,
the
general
tical program. It espouses the abo- ; form, would approve of the use of
lition of our present economic sys- force for the overthrow of our
who later became himself • One of the most important of these in their demands for social justice,
is economic. As long an we have for peace and other major issues
tem known as capitalism, and its capitalistic system. It is doubtful
writer of history.
economic insecurity we will have confronting the world, we should
replacement by a system of social- if 10 per cent of them would ad-
that explosive condition which is get somewhere in the solution of
With • very slender skeleton
ism, in which production must be ' vocate, without reservation, the so-
the breedin g gr
f or tinnier- these problems.
for use and not for profit• and in cialistic, communistic program of
of known facts, the author has
once. It would appear, therefore.
which distribution must be so man- production and distribution. Reli-
managed to contrive a fascin- that one of the most important ;
The pusillanimousi will assert
aged that they who work with gious groups, within the progres.
ating story which one feels to
functions of the Jewish press ought , at once that if our Jewish press
brain and hand shall have a just sire category, may even be pre-
engages in an aggressive campaign
to
he
to
work
ceaselessly
for
the
be characterized by a very high
share in the wealth of a society. sumed to be antagonistic to com-
inaucuration of a more equitable for social justice we will be ac-
From each according to his munism because of the latter's an-
degree of probability. In the
economic order in which the fear cused of being radicals, even of
strength, to each according to his tajmnis trn to religion. Although hos-
days of the early Christians, a of poverty will be removed from being red radicals. But it should
need, — that is thegoal in the , Way to religion is not a sirs ono
be pointed out that our profes-
the ordinary man.
tremendous struggle took place
theory of communism as well as now in communistic ideology, it has
This, happily enough, is one of sional patriots and out red-baiting
with at least three major fac-
in the theory of socialism.
in effect been one of its chief char-
the chief concerns of the Chris- newspapers already look with deep
The difference between commu- acteristics, motivated by the charge
tors involved—the Romans, the
tian religious press, and it ought suspicion upon the Christian
nism and socialism is in the prise-
IPLEAILE TCRN 1'O NEXT PAGE)
(PLEASE TURN TO :t:EVI. PAGE)
churches and regard them as hot-
to be to our discomfort
By DR. ISRAEL GOLDSTEIN
Rabbi of Congregation Weal Jeshurun, New York