e

n
e

,Aitricam lavish Periodical Carter

CLIFTON AVENOI - CINCINNATI 20, OHIO

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle

January 17, 1941

UNITY

•

-r4

"DIE SCHWARZE MAME" REMAINS
SECOND WEEK AT LITTMAN'S

fare Chests, understandings were . In addition to the "overseas" re-
lief, there was insinuated in the
arrived at in a social, "off-the- campaign the problem of refugee
record" way, which were more relief in the United States, which
(Continued from Page One)
effective than any official agree- assumed a priority both against Testimonial Evening in Honor of Jacob and Betty Jacobs
Tuesday Evening
one campaign be conducted in- meet. The pressure used to le- the United Palestine Appeal and
stead of several. It involved only duce the percentages allotted to the Joint Distribution Committee.
The play is replete with songs
The thrilling melodrama, "Die
the technical aspects of fund col- Palestine; the strange eagerness Why not? The refugees were
Schwarze
Mame,"
created
such
and
dances, is marked by a
letting for "overseas" purposes. to have impartial accountants here, in our midst. The responsi-
With the inclusion of the National criticize the bookkeeping system bility could not be shaken off. a sensation last week-end at Litt- touching theme and witnesses a
Refugee Service as a beneficiary, employed in Palestine; the at- Public opinion required that man's Yiddish People's Theater, cast that excels in character act-
the term "overseas" was stretched tempts made lately to bring in every Jewish refugee be taken 12th and Seward, that this play ing.
Next Tuesday evening, Litt-
to include expenditures for refu- the National Refugee Service not off the main street of public ben- is being repeated for another
gees in the United States. The merely as a beneficiary but as a efaction and become a specific week by popular request.
man's cast will present "Der
This is the first time this sea- Freilicher Kabtzen" ("The Hap-
care of National Refugee Service full-fledged partner—all of these Jewish obligation. Soon, there
in the United States was regarded gave indication of what might be was discussion in the United Jew- son that a play is running two py Pauper") as a testimonial
asa subordinate interest at the called, in a detective story, sinis- ish Appeal of the proposal to weeks. "Die Schwarze Mame" is
beginning, but on Jan. 1, 1941, ter motives. It was true that the give the National Refugee Serv- being staged again this Friday performance in honor of the two
the National Refugee Service most effective speakers in the ice its natural priority, for, it evening and Sunday matinee and leading actors, Jacob and Betty
Jacobs.
represented an item larger than campaign were, most frequently, was urged, before any money evening..
the allotment given to the United leading. Zionists. But they were could be sent abroad for any pur-
Palestine Appeal for the building of the show-pieces at banquets and pose, our obligations to the refu- tional Refugee Service will be de- shall be considered on its merits
the Jewish National Home. United mass meetings, and no one could gent here should be met 100 per
by the local Allotment and be given that adequacy of
Jewish Appeal had only the ap- tell what went on in committee cent. In 1910 the National Refu- Committee instead of by an agree- support which the overwhelming
pearance of union. Beneath the rooms or in the privacy of social gee Service, for the care of refu- meet nationally entered into be- majority of American Jews—in
•
smooth, non-committal, neu la ,re. lat.ions as between the non gees coming to the United States,
received out of the tween the principal agencies. In- our view—are prepared to give
Jew-
ized words of the campaign,
a .bio dnist leaders and communal will have
was
rJewish Appeal $3,500,000, stead of one check being sent to the cause of building the Jew-
struggle
more or less p elite str
l ea ers. No one could guess how United J
carried on to subordinate the many unofficial letters went uut to against the receipt by the United
to checks
the United
Appeal,
National
Home not
not merely
merely
three
will Jewish
be remitted
: as ish
a haven
of refuge,
ideals and objectives a the Zion- p ref erred friends throughout the Palestine Appeal of $2,900,000;
as a relief measure, but as the
Com- vessel of the rebirth of Jewish
ist movement to the aims and eountry , givi ng unofficial versions t his exclusive of at least $2,000,- one to the Joint Distribution
, one to t h e United Pales national li fe.
desires of a small but influential of differences of opinion that ,, u 00 contributed by local commit- mittee,
group of Jews who are anxious arose among the leaders of the tees to the solution of their own tine Appeal, one to the National
It may well be that the dis-
to keep American Jewish life campaign. One suspected that the local refugee problems. Thus, the Refugee Service. The national
loyal to isolationist, assimilation- partnership was a partnership of objective of the Zionist movement agencies will • be free to approach cussion which will ensue in the
th at the one had to swim in a pool with "over- the local Welfare Chests with course of the campaign of 1941
ist ideals, who are always limit- two antagonist
h s, and f
propaganda and to or- will lead to better understanding
ing
the
Jewish
interest,
always
ll the e dother. seas" relief and refugees just their own their
d
betterbewaree
o
supporters within of the significance and value of
t ♦
h__a
identification, ha
Jewish
natura
y
esired around the corner, and was placed
avoiding
of re- their
the framework of the Welfare the Zionist ideal than through
Zi oni sts
Jewish T, h_e i teness;
to
have
Jew
f-
the methods employed in the joint
t the non-Zionists de t in the impossible position f
always seeking
d e eti fi n i
Chests.
life adjust itself to the fears a finitely resisted all attempt at ceiving its support at the
campaigns. It may well be that
* * *
h expense
and negations arising out of an definiteness.
of the hungry and the homeless.
The Zionists will have the first this free campaign will prepare
everlasting apology for Jewish
a genuine coopera-
In the history of joint cam -
It is important to point out. opportunity in years, through a the way for American
Jews in the
-
existence.
paigns
there never was any seri
that the local disorders that free campaign, to carry their tion of all
* * *
out
effort
to
reconcile
conflicting
ideas. The late Felix M. Warburg might have come years ago propaganda into the communities, solution of the Jewish problem
On various occasions, this was one of the most earnest ad- through independent action by the undiluted and free from distor- on a national, territorial basis.
struggle was fought out in a vocates of unity in fund-raising. national fund-raising a g e n c i e s tion. They will have to abandon The 1941 break may be the pre-
more or less frank manner. It
are no longer a danger to be the tone of "appeasement" which ludo to a more genuine union.
was the gist of the struggle in It was due to his intervention fe_ared. This is due to the growth has run through much of their
the self-defense movement at the that on a number of occasions
Joseph R. Leemon An-
the Welfare Chests. The Wel- Zionist work in recent years.
•
time of the Kishinev pogroms. It what seemed to be a threatened e are Chests have created local They will have to be more cour-
noun ces Association
was the very heart of the strug- break, was transferred into a fare
in Law with Son
gle that was reflected in the con- maceful arrangement. But Mr. Ileals in which allo tments are ageous and more forthright in
made to a varied list of activities speech than they have been in
troversy about the American Jew- 1 Warburg did not like discussion the
community wishes to support; joint campaigns. They have no
Joseph R. Leemon who has
ish Congress. It appeared ob-
opp osed to the foremost among them, of course, interest in securing funds to en-
ideas. He
well known
for ow as an attorney
liquely in the discussions about, of
ecause he e felt any are the "overseas" funds. The large or strengthen the Jewish be Detroit
he last 27 years ,
def initeness b was
in
and the help given to, Crimea closer you approached the definite,
d the removal
the
more
certain
you
would
be
of
Welfare
Chests
organize
their
National
Home
at
the
expense
of
this
week
announce
and Biro Bidjan. It is represent -
into controversy. Gen- own single campaigns. They have relief or the American activity
ed with historic consistency in entering
will have
speaking, discussion was their Allotment Committees. They for the care of refugees. There of Bank
his offices
2124-26
Bldg., to where
he National
the resistance manifested toward
associated with him his son, Phil-
all Y dad as an irritant, not as cover their own local expenses, is no actual conflict in ideology
ass
the Zionist ideal. This struggle ev
is the
regar
and they are often strong enough between the two. of What
relief or of more A. Leemon.
sometimes takes place within the
forms of relief, within the forms a possible solvent of differences. to prevent a violation of the local specific ideology
The younger Leemon was, until
It was part
resented
as an attempt
on order they have set up. An in- caring for refugees? These causes
of doctrinairies
and
•
of Jewish defense, within the theorists
to lead the Master of dependent campaign by the Joint are being used as fronts from recently, research law clerk for
forms of communal organization, the
and in the field of political af- Business away from the practical Distribution Committee or the which attacks are made upon the the Hon. Walter H. North, Jus-
United Palestine Appeal, from a Zionist cause. Zionists have an tice of the Michigan Supreme
out
fought
fairs. But it is never Even
to de- into the realm of ideas. They P ractical point of view, means interest in seeing to it that the Court, and is now specializing in
pub arena.
rided
themselves
on being
real-
in a public
ists,
and
did not want
to have
the that the same local Welfare Chest Zionist cause—once more swung trial
and firm
appellate
practice.
The
retains
the same
stony the Zionist movement, for p
campaign will be conducted, but by the accidents of time into the
example, our friends (the enemy) realities
troubled theories.
and disturbed
intellectual
They the division as between the United very center of Jewish life, again phone number, Cherry 3978, which
would avoid publicity at all costs. b wanted to have the Jewish prob- Palestine Appeal, the Joint Dis- as in 1918 standing for the ful- Mr. Leemon had while practicing
y
The struggle must be carried on lem
reduced to its practical as- tribution Committee and the Na- fillment of Jewish national hope— as an individual.
within the corridors of Jewish
life. TI* disturbance must not acts—the aspect of relief, of --
reach the ears of the goyim. If P hunger and weakness—and any-
Rabbi Lazaron rushes to the thing above the lowest common
press with an attack on Jewish denominator was taken to be a
•
• th e first to flight into the unknown of specu-
nationalism, they are
condemn him, although they may _ lation and aspiration.
fully appreciate his zeal and en
* * *
thusiasm. Items in the New York
Thus
the
cause
of Zionism, of
are
undesirable
if
they
of
Times
fleet, in any way, a ripple of which the United Palestine Ap-
controversy in Jewish life. All peal is the material incorporation,
Jewish controversy, however, i s was set in juxtaposition to the
rn cause of elementary relief, and in
confined to conversations in co-
mittee rooms, conferences in ex- the distribution had to be meas-
ecutive session, confidential let- ured by the standards of relief.
tars circulated to a limited group All aspects of nation-building had
of friends, couched in language to be reduced to conform to the
which is the perfection of camou- general plan. But the United Pal-
b
flage. This "kid glove" manner estine Appeal symbolized a con-
would avoid speaking of anti- or structive national enterprise. That
enterprise involved the building
Zionists or anti-nationalists,
of anything that would indicate of a Jewish National Home as
an enduring form of organized,
dissension.
This old struggle was held cap- ts h elf-g. overning. Jewish life. It was
tive in the fund-raising field by the way to national freedom. It
the device of the United Jewish had all the attributes and quali-
Appeal. In the United Jewish Ap- ties of a state in the process of
peal the differences in ideals becoming. It meant the buying
were reduced to figures, percent- of land and its settlement. It
ages and ratios. In the United meant the building of roads and
Jewish Appeal the slogans were their use. It meant the reception
kept within the limits of the of new settlers and their trans-
1 o w e s t common denominator, formation into self-supporting., as-
which was found in the idea of sertive Jews. It meant the stimu-
"refugees", "overseas", etc. The lation of industry and commerce.
literature of the joint campaign It meant defense and military
reflected a colorless situation from support of the land and its Pro-
which neither Zionist nor anti- teeter. It meant the maintenance
Zionist could derive any comfort. of schools, high schools and a
The literature was given a bath university. Its success, from a
of a deodorant, which took away practical point of view, was to
all the flavor and color of an be measured by its inner strength
effort that was supposed to en- and its power to absorb new set-
gage the zeal and enthusiasm of tiers. It dealt with a continuing
five million Jews. institution on a long-range pro-
gram.
* * *
This enterprise was compelled
For some time, leading Zionists by the exigency of the joint cam-
in the joint campaign have been paign to justify its existence in
conscious of living in a suffocat- comparisons with relief and bare
ing atmosphere. It was hard to emergency. It had to suffer the
describe. There was nothing disadvantage of comparison with
MID WHEREVER MIAMI
definite about it. It was the way the immediate. It had to labor
Elf1:1;3 4E0
Palestine was spoken of by the under a prejudice not only di-
(4
5 es , OT ;LED 4,
n o n - Zionists; they were too rected against its chief objective,
friendly. It was the words used but also against its remoteness
:1 4 °
in telling of the building of the from immediate distress. On a
Jewish National Home. They so long-range program, relief would
nonchalantly avoided the use of be reduced to infinitesimal values,
Listen to Gus Haenschen's All-String Orchestra—Tuesdays
the word "national" and all the but on a short-range program
7:30 P.M.—E.S.T.-1,VJR—Detroit-75o Kilos.
attributes that go with the build- these infinitesimal values could
ing of a state. There was a feel- be made to assume an aspect of
ing that between the non-Zionist greater humanity and deeper
leaders in the joint campaign concern with Jewish welfare.
and certain elements in the Wel-

-

4

.

BOHEMIAN

•

BEER