September 5, I y I I
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
14
Jewish Agency for Palestine Thanks J. D. C.
Convention Honors
J. W. V. Auxiliary for Aiding Emigration of Many to Holy Land
Dr. Jeremiah J. Berman's Interesting Evaluation Is a
Sociological Study of Shehitah
Splendid Collection of Data on Cultural and Social Life
of Jews; Tells of Detroit's First Shohet
Detroit Ladies Auxiliary No.
135 of Jewish War Veterans
of the United States, at the 14th
Rabbi Jeremiah J. Berman
The sources of information are annual national encampment,
(D.H.L.) has written a most fas- the History of Congregation held in Buffalo, won a citation
cinating book, "Shehitah : A Beth El and the publication the for outstanding accomplishments
Study in the Cultural and So- Occident.
cial Life of the Jewish People,"
Here is a story of Detroit
which has just been published by that is fairly iwell known; yet it
Bloch ($4.50).
is always interesting for Detroit-
The average reader will no ers, and it is especially import-
doubt wonder why the author ant since it proves that Detroit
selected the sub-title for his 514- was then in the position that
page book. But after the very many small communities find
first few minutes of perusal of themselves today — except that
the volume he will be convinced there may have been greater con-
of the validity of it. In the course cern at that time for kashruth
of his compilation of data and (even among the founders of
study of facts regarding the Jew- Detroit's first congregation, now
ish method of slaughtering ani- Reform).
mals, Dr. Berman not only se-
The Shohet in History
cured the necessary information
The story of Shehitah is traced
on the immediate subject but by Rabbi Berman to the earliest
also enhanced his study with de- times. There is the description
scriptions of the cultural and of the ritual slaughtering in
social activities of Jews during Biblical times, the rabbinical con-
MRS. ROSE M. COWAN
the various periods described in trol of Shehitah in the Talmudic
the volume.
periods, the position of the Sho- with all auxiliaries of the nation
Detroit's First Shohet
het since the year 1000 in the competing. The Auxiliary was
As a matter of fact, the book Orient and in Europe, Shehitah awarded the Frances Brams
contains some fine historical ref- in America and in modern Pal- Membership Trophy, National
erences. For instance, there is estine.
Defense Citation and Hospital
mention of Detroit, and here is
Work Awards.
As
indicated,
the
social
and
the story we read:
The president of the Detroit
cultural
study
emerges
as
a
re-
"In 1850 the Congregation
Auxiliary, Mrs. Rose M. Cowan,
sult
of
the
author's
descriptions
Beth El of Detroit, Michigan, was
was elected national trustee, be-
founded, and engaged as teacher of the Shohet's place in the sides receiving a trophy present-
community,
his
qualifications,
leg-
and shohet the Rev. Samuel
ed by the Detroit Auxiliary dele-
Marcus, late of New York. A islation affecting Shehitah, his gates for loyal service.
relation
to
the
meat
dealer,
etc.
letter received from Detroit two
Detroiters who participated as
An interesting portion of the delegates at the convention were:
years later described the cir-
cumstances under which these section dealing with legislation Sarah Berent, Ruth Bolhower,
tells how Jews secure kosher Libbie Cohen, Lillian Feldman,
steps were taken.
"'Several men having moved meat in lands where there are Lillian Fink, Eve Feinstein, Sadie
here with their families some anti-Shehitah laws — including Gladwin, Mae Ginsburg, Annette
time last year, the total want of Switzerland, Russia, Nazi Ger- Kahn, Betty LeBost, Jean Leib-
all opportunities for the religious many, Norway, Sweden, Hun- son, Luba Lupiloff, Tillie Madi-
instruction of their children was gary.
son, Eva Mann, Mae Marsh,
The description of Shehitah in Helen Marks, Henrietta Niman,
severely felt, especially as their
business called them away from this country forms a religious Dorothy Potiker, Birdie Rosen-
home most of the time. Subse- history of the Jews in the United berg, Elizabeth .Shapero, Ida
quently, at a meeting called States. Furthermore, a survey Schultz and Ruth Schreiber.
among those few Jews residing conducted among various cities
here, 12 in number, it was re- in this country gives an interest-
solved to engage a teacher and ing view on Jewish religious CHARACTERISTICS OF
shohet, and also to buy a piece standards and on certain Jewish SEVENTH-DAY ADVENT-
attitudes affecting animals. For 1ST DENOMINATION
of ground for a burial place.'
"The Rev. Marcus served un- instance, there is a chapter deal-
Seventh-Day Adventists have
til 1854, when he was carried off ing with the attitude of Jews on
no formal or written creed. The
by cholera. His place was taken hunting.
There are a number of illustra- Bible is their rule of faith and
by the Rev. Liebman Adler, a
native of Germany. The Rev. tions which add greatly to the practice. They hold that the sev-
Adler, who received an annual value of this voluminous study. enth (lay of the week, from sun-
On the whole, Dr. Berman has set on Friday to sunset on Sat-
salary of $400, stayed on until
1861, when he was called to a made a splendid contribution to urday, is the Sabbath established
more munificent post in Chi- the study of Jewish religious life by God's law. They have never
in his fine work on "Shehitah". set a definite date for the visible
cago."
coming of Christ, believing that
Lower Basin Street" — or else, it is near, but that the day and
a special album of her own of hour have not been revealed.
all-time favorites.
By MARTHA NEUMARK
Dinah's idea of fun, she says,
Jacob Ark of Rochester is the
is to collect recipes — for the second Jew to be elected New
FROM NASHVILLE TO
time when she has her own home. York State Commander of the
NATIONAL GLORY
In the meantime, she is living American Legion . . . The first
It's hard to kep up with sultry- with her sister and family in Jew to hold that post was Sam-
uel Aronowitz of Albany back
voiced Dinah Shore. From the Long Island.
in 1924. . . Ark has a passion
juke-box on the corner tavern, SCRIPT BY SLESINGER
for striped ties which his pretty
from the stages of movie houses
The Hollywood columns carry spouse selects for him . . . And
and from the pages of the na-
tional magazines, the girl from the name of Tess Slesinger in he's an all-around Jewish affairs
Nashville is winning the na- small type at infrequent inter- man, being a member of the lo-
tion's plaudits. When she re- vals. As glory and power go, the cal Zionist district, Bnai Brith
and the leading congregation ...
turned to the air this week on
the Eddie Cantor show on NBC, script writer is not the most' Ark says that at home his wife
she marked the completion of honored unit in the Hollywood 'is the real commander.
three years in New York. The machine. But that doesn't mean
girl who used to be captain of that hard work is not being (lone who visited her in her palace on
the women's fencing team at to earn every one of the mul- the Champs Elysees.
Vanderbilt University and who tiple dollars recorded in the
Perhaps the family magazines
sang on a sustaining program weekly pay checks. Tess Sles- would rather not hear of her
for six months before the merit inger has been doing two pic- even today, for even though she
of her voice was recognized is tures which vou • will soon see.
was a Marquise and then a
being groomed by M.G.M. as a
For people who think that Grafin, she was of that group of
possible rival to Dorothy La- writing for Jewish magazines is women which includes such fig-
mour.
only a labor of love, there is ures as Lady Hamilton and Ma-
Dinah Shore is a story of food for thought in the remind- dame Dubarry. Born in a Polish
courage and determination. The er that the first story ever to ghetto, she followed destiny
parents of Dinah. thinking of carry the name of Miss Sles- when she married a tailor when
the work of her older sister, de- singer in print appeared in the she was only 15, an age when
cided that she would make an Menorah Journal in 1928. I some of her friends already had
excellent social worker. But from think that Miss Slesinger (Mrs. children. But the marriage ended
the time that Dinah sang as a Frank Davis in married life) is soon with her escape to Paris.
"lyric soprano" at high school, sufficiently hard-boiled not to She was determined that success
only to lose her "soprano" when mind the record of her 36 years. should be hers. In London she
she became cheer leader, she After graduating from the Co- became a friend of Lord Stan-
has nursed a singing ambition. lumbia School of Journalism in ley. She married a fortune and
Now she has her B. A. and her 1927, she did a variety of writ- Marquis Aranjo de Paiva, a
ing, including a stint as assistant Portuguese. A subsequent friend
career.
Dinah — a study in brown, fashion editor on the New York was the Graf Henckel von Don-
emphasized by her eyes and hair Herald Tribune. For one semes- nersmarck.
She was ordered to leave
— has changed little, even ter she taught what is known as
though she has reached eminence "creative writing." But since her France because of that German
on the radio, on the platters and marriage five years ago she has relationship. When she died in a
soon, perhaps, also on the screen. been turning out movie scripts Berlin suburb, she was under
She wants to get married, have and infrequent short stories. She fifty and still one of the most
three children and settle down, did an excellent novel once — toasted women of Germany.
If Theresa Lachmann is men-
she tells interviewers. That's in "The Unpossessed" — but ap-
keeping with a girl who majored parently she hasn't gotten around tioned at all 105 years after her
in sociology and economics. In yet to proving that she isn't a birth in Polish poverty, it is be-
cause she was the product and
fact, she reveals that there's an "one-novel" woman.
not the cause of the corruption
Army corporal she's interested
THERESA LACIIMANN
which swirled about her. It is
in.
especially fantastic to hear the
No one will bother to remem- Germans and their Vichy friends
If you want to be one of
those who, a few years hence. ber Theresa Lachrrann. No spe- speak of "moral order" today
want to say you remember Di- cial issues will be dedicated to when one thinks back to the de-
nah Shore "when", you ought to the 105th anniversary of her cadence which festered from
birth. But there was a time when them a
century ago.
get one of her recordings, espe-
yrIght 1941 6y I fith•p•nd•nt jew1Kh
cially the ones made with the when she was almost as well
known
as
Gautier
and
Delacroix,
Pr•sm wrier
)
"Chamber Music Society of
Women in the News
,
More than 4,000 refugee have
emigrated from Europe to Pal-
estine in the past 12 months,
largely through the "generous
assistance" of the Joint Distribu-
tion Committee, according to a
report from the immigration di-
rector of the Jewish Agency for
Palestine to the Joint Distribu-
tion Committee, it was an-
nounced by Joseph C. Hyman,
executive vice chairman of the
J. D. C.
The report by Chaim Barlas,
director of the Jewish Agency's
Immigration Department in Jeru-
salem, revealed for the first time
statistical details of the extensive
overland migratioon of Jewish
refugees through the Near East
which began a year ago, after
Italy's entrance into the war had
closed the Mediterranean Sea to
peaceful shipping.
In his report, Mr. Barlas
stated that during the eight
months, from August, 1940, to
April, 1941, while he was in
Turkey, more than 3,800 immi-
grants reached Palestine via that
country, including: 1,688 from
Rumania, 1,100 from Kaulms,
Lithuania, 273 from Yugoslav ia,
90 from Moscow and 250 from
Istanbul.
In April, he reported, there re-
mained outside Palestine 0 x .
eluding France, Belgium and
Holland), sonic 900 persons
ing immigration certificates for
Palestine, of whom 300 were in
Budapest, 290 in Switzerland,
100 in Rumania and 150 in Yu-
goslavia. There were also about
100 in Mersina, Turkey.
Young Jews Challenge Nazis As
They Get Death Sentence
Once a Rebel
GENEVA (JPS) — The rolls
of the martyrs of Jewish history
can now proudly add the names
of Joseph Licht, 21, and Franz
Hegdish, 22, members of the Ha-
shomer Hatzair, youth Zionist
organization, of Budapest, who,
when tried by a court for anti-
Nazi activity, defied their cap-
tors and won a sentence of death
by hanging for their courage.
The two young men had been
accused of burning a farm near
Sobodka where they and a num-
ber of other Jews were engaged
in forced labor. The Nazi judges
pronounced Licht and Hegdish
guilty and sentenced them to be
shot. When the young Jews were
told they could make a state-
ment, they said:
"We confess to having com-
mitted the act of sabotage of
which we are accused. But we
want to make it clear that we
(lid this to express our protest
against the Nazi persecution of
the Jews and particularly against
the anti-Jewish laws introduced
into Hungary at the demand of
the Nazis."
Enraged by the challenge of
the two young Zionists, the
judges changed the death sen-
tence to one by banking instead
of shooting. The sentence was
executed immediately.
Subsequently, five other mem-
bers of the Budapest Hashomer
Hatzair were arrested as com-
rades of the executed men and
accused of having known of the
fire plot.
Once, Simon Kaplan was a real
radical. He was a rebel, and what
sonic would call a Red. Today
he is passionately devoted to
the democratic ideal and he has
learned from experience and
from intimate knowledge the
superiority of the American way
of life.
Kaplan's life story, his experi-
ences in Russia during the early
revolutionary days, his personal
share in sonic of the underground
activities against the Tzarist re-
gime—these form a fascinating
story in his personal narrative
"Once a Rebel," published by
Farrar & Rinehart.
Today he is a leader in the
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., community,
and he is a vital factor for good
there. His knowledge of the clas-
sics, his revolutionary back-
ground, his rich experience in the
study of human nature, help him
in the advancement of higher
social values.
The experiences of this revo-
lutionary date back to the Russo-
Japanese War and the Revolu-
tion of 1905. The vile discrimina-
tions practiced against Jews
served to arouse his bitterness
and antagonism and he flung
himself headlong into the rebel-
lious work against the tyranny
of Tsar's government.
In the course of his work in
behalf of the revolution, Mr.
Kaplan traveled through Russia,
met revolutionary leaders and
workers, studied the ways of the
populace, saw the life of the
people and their miseries. He was
witness to the squalor of the
Jewish population, to frequent
degradations to which they were
forced in order to eke out a
livelihood.
Of particular interest in this
volume is the description of how
the author became disillusioned
in the "liberators," when he
came face to face with the men
like Stalin—whom he knew as
Nijeradze when he met him—
and when he began to despise
their tactics. He writes: "The
end of my peace of mind con-
cerning. the Revolution of 1905
must be dated from that day in
Boutyrka when I found out that
this man, Nijeradze, was the
one who had staged various rob-
beries and "expropriated" over
300,000 rubles from a Tiflis bank
to promote the revolution. Now,
this was not in accordance with
my theory of liberation . . . "
The story of Simon Kaplan's
escape from Russia is familiar
to many who had to go through
similar experience. But it is nev-
ertheless a thrilling tale of ad-
venture.
"Once a Rebel" ends in 110
optimistic way. It affirms faith
in democracy and declares upon
its conclusion : "The time for
tion is almost at hand and . v
will not shirk our responsibilitn
A mother does not betray
r
children ; we, foreign born ' 1'
local born, it makes no differen.
will not fail our mother, eits' r,
and our mother is the Amer: 'a
of our dreams. America v Ill
stand up under this terrible 1. 4
in spite of all the blathering r''-
liticians from all the tall stic!•s•
It cannot fail."
Argentinian Foreign Minister
Voices Sympathy for Jews
BUENOS AIRES (JPS) —
Although the Argentinian gov-
ernment followed an indetermi-
nate policy toward the Nazis in
her midst until recent weeks, her
Foreign Minister, Enroque Ruiz
Guinazu, has the most cordial
sympathy toward the Jewish
people and the problems they are
facing because of persecution,
the statesman told Dr. Nahum
Goldmann, chairman of the World
Jewish Congress, who has been
on a tour of the South American
countries.
The Argentinian diplomat was
formerly his country's Minister
to Switzerland during the period
when Dr. Goldmann was the rep-
resentative of the Jewish Agency
for Palestine to Geneva.
In a long and friendly talk,
the Foreign Minister commented
on the work being done by JOWA
in the upbuilding of the Jewish
National Home in Palestine and
asked Dr. Goldmann for a com-
prehensive review of the latest
accomplishments. There was also
a discussion of the general Jew-
ish problem, in terms of anti-
Semitism, refugee immigration
and governmental policies.
Mr. Guinazu expressed ap-
proval of the purpose of the In-
ter-American Jewish Conference
to be held this autumn in Wash-
ington under the auspices of the
Ameircan Jewish Congress. This
view was especially striking in
view of the fear that some Jews
had expressed that attendance at
the Conference might be misun-
derstood.
Report Ban On All German
Nazis Deny 300 Jews Burned In
Byalistok Synagogue
NEW YORK (JPS) —All Jew-
ish women, as well as men, be-
tween the ages of 18 and 45,
will no longer be allowed to
emigrate from Germany, it is re-
ported by the Berlin corres-
pondent of the United Press. The
labor shortage in Germany is said
to be the reason for the ban.
GENEVA (JPS) — The
radio station at Berlin issued
denia lof a current report 11 at
300 Jews were burned in the
Byalistok synagogue. The state-
ment admitted that the syna -
gogue had been burned during
the battles in that city but de-
clared that no Jewish lives w, 're
lost in the fire.
Emigration