4
:E;TROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
Detroit
Jewish Chronicle
and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
Published Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc
JACOB H. SCHAKNE
President
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post-
office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
General Offices and Publication Bldq., 525 Woodward Ave.
Telephone: CAdillac 1040
Subscription in Advance
Cable Address: Chronicle
/3.00 Per Year
JACOB MARGOLIS
Publisher
Editor
MAUkICE M. SAFIR....Advertising Manager
1143LIP SLOMOVITZ
to insure publication, all correspondence and news matter
must reach this office by Tuesday evening of each week.
When mailing notices, kindly use one side of paper onl y .
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on sub-
jects of interest to the Jewish people, but disclaims respon-
sibility for an endorsement of views expressed by its writes s.
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 13:17-17:16.
Prophetical portion—Judges 4:4-5:31.
Chamisho Osor b'Shevat (New Year for Trees),
Monday, Feb. 2
JANUARY 30, 1942 SHEVAT 12, 5702
Nature Refutes Misery
On Feb. 2, 4ws will observe Chamisho
Osor b'Shvat, mown also as Rosh Ha-
shonah Lellonoth—the New Year for the
. Trees. It is the Arbor Day for Palestine.
This minor festival has become a day
of major importance in Palestine, and
for generations it has been an occasion
for rejoicing and for the acquisition of
hope and courage by Diaspora Jewries.
Why does a mere agricultural festival,
marking the beginning of the faming sea-
son for Palestine, receive such signifi-
cance? The answer is simpler than the
question may imply.
The festival refutes everything that is
contrary to faith in Jewish life. In time
of storm and stress, it assures Jews that
life goes on and warns Israel's enemies
that nature triumphs over those elements
which stand for the temporary inhumanity
of man to man.
In a time of a world-wide period of de-
spair and fear, Jews in the ancient cradle-
land of our people are planting trees,
are looking forward to reaping the fruits
of their labors. Our people is one with
nature on this day, and the brave men
and women who are building a new life,
and those who are aiding them in this
work, defy misery, deny fear, give cred-
ence to hope and confidence for the ad-
vent of a better day.
Because the festival is so significant as
a builder of morale, it should be observed
by expanding the Jewish possessions in
Palestine, by the planting of more trees
in Eretz Israel, by increasing the food-
producing power of the land—for the
sake of Jewry's future and in order to
strengthen the position of the democ-
racies in the Near and Middle East.
May the spirit of Chamisho Osor pre-
vail for all time!
Journalistic Revival
Louis Lipsky, brilliant Zionist leader
and publicist, is the trustee for the Day,
26-year-old Yiddish daily which has gone
through a crisis during the past year.
Associated with him are: Morris Mar-
gulies, former secretary of the Zionist
Organization of America, as manager of
the paper, and Dr. Samuel Margoshes,
who remains in the editorial post.
This, briefly, is the saga of Jewish jour-
nalistic revival which augurs well for the
coming of a new day in Jewish com-
munity organization. A sense of re-
sponsibility for handling Jewish news and
for interpreting Jewish conditions is in-
corporated in the assumption of the post
of trustee of the Day by Louis Lipsky.
The new set-up will be watched with
a great deal of interest. It will also call
forth congratulations and good wishes to
the Day's new management.
The Times and Zionism
The New York Times, America's best
newspaper and one of the few owned
by Jews, has seen fit to take a fling at
the idea of a Jewish army, and instead of
discussing that issue objectively it has
viciously hurt Jewish aspirations.
In an editorial entitled "A Zionist
Army?" the Times goes back 50 years in
its reasoning of the position of the Jew.
It rehashes the old, and exploded, argu-
ents in behalf of emancipation, and
uses the proposals for the establishment
of a Jewish army in Palestine as a basis
for an attack on efforts to establish a
"Zionist state in Palestine."
The reasoning in this editorial is
amazing. The Times, apparently echoing
sentiments of those whom Dr. Abba Hil-
lel Silver branded as suffering from a
"Jerome Frank Complex," fails to take
into consideration Jewish aspirations, de-
votions to an ancient hope by millions of
Jews who have been driven from pillar
to post and who are denied havens
throughout the world—except in little
Palestine.
Palestine's redemption as the Jewish
commonwealth ought to be looked upon
as a great and important act in the drama
of world reconstruction consonant with
American ideals of witnessing the rehabil-
itation of small peoples after the war.
But the "Jerome Frank Complex" thinks
otherwise.
An ancient hatred -- against national
Jewish aspirations is revived in the Times
editorial. It does not lend credit to the
otherwise great American newspaper.
On the contrary—it justifies the charge
that the "Zionist Army" editorial (note
that the Times does not speak of a Jew-
ish army, or a Jewish state, but resorts
to Mufti tactics in reducing "Jewish aspir-
ations" to "Zionist politics") was a stab
in the back. It is justification of the con-
demnation that the editorial was an "anti-
Zionist Pearl Harbor."
Pelley Gets His Due
William Dudley Pelley has been sen-
tenced to serve from two to three years
in a North Carolina State Prison for vio-
lating terms of his suspended sentence
and for publishing false and libelous state-
ments, particularly about the President
of the United States.
The truth catches up with these fellows,
and they always get their due. Others of
his ilk are sure to pay the price for de-
stroying the morale of the land.
The pity of it all is that many people
in responsible positions fail to realize that
those who spread anti-Semitism are mere-
ly paving the way for un-American sub-
versive activities. Therefore the statement
by Rep. Martin Dies that all these ele-
ments are anti-Semitic ought to arouse
the country to a realization that the Pel-
leys and their associates should be dealt
with as enemies of America and humanity.
Our Veterans
The Jewish War Veterans of the United
States have gained the recognition that is
justly due them, and they now occupy a
position of first rank in Jewish life.
It is not only because we are at war
that the veterans become symbols of an
age of conflict and of striving for the bet-
ter things in behalf of freedom for all
peoples. It is because the veterans are
spokesmen for courage, for greater morale
in the community, for faith and for the
eradication of every manifestation of de-
spair or hopelessness.
The endorsement given the Jewish
War Veterans by Mr. James I. Ellmann,
the president of the Jewish Community
Council of Detroit, is symbolic of the bet-
ter relationship established between all
existing organizations and those who rep-
resent the fighting force of the last World
War.
The veterans will have the good wishes
of all Detroiters in their sponsorship of
the patriotic ball on Feb. 14. The fact
that part of the proceeds will be used to
augment a fund for the presentation of
pursuit planes to the United States gov-
ernment is important.
Our sincere good wishes to the Jewish
war veterans.
•
• •
January 30, 1942
earl in the Lobbies.'.
By DAVID DEUTSCH
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
There's a whisper that the
wily British chuckled when the
United Palestine Appeal confer-
ence at Cleveland appealed to
America to arm a Jewish Army
in Palestine. Seems that's just
what our English cousins have
been hoping for: that the State
Department would politely but
firmly turn down the demand and
then the British would be freed
of all guilt.
A combine headed by Louis
Lipsky, veteran editor, has ac-
quired The Day, most literate of
the Yiddish dailies. It's reported
that the American Jewish Con-
gress will get the financial back-
ing. Hard to believe, since the
Congress can't even support it-
self.
The untimely death of Solo-
mon Loewenstein, executive head
of the New York Jewish Federa-
tion, has provoked an internal
war in that outfit, with Joseph
Witten, fund-raising guide of
Federation, and Dr. Maurice Hex-
ter, formerly of Boston social
service and the Palestine Execu-
tive and lately assistant to Low-
enstein, vying for the job.
How do those Chicago bigwigs
square it with their conscience to
give less this year to their wel-
fare fund drive? Is it because
they've heard a few New York
Jewish big shots are planning. to
do the same? One man's $50,000
cut last year was reported to
have snowballed into at least
$1,000,000 by the end of the sea-
son.
Somebody ought to arrange a
celebration for the Warner
Brothers, who have just finished
their 3,000th picture. It's called
"Shadow of their Wings." Their
first was "My Four Years in
Germany," appearing in 1918.
From 1st to 3,000th, the Warners
have rendered service to the en-
tertainment, the culture and the
defense of America.
wealthy non-Zionists . . . Gang-
ling Prof. William F. Albright of
Johns Hopkins University regis-
tered a hit with his confession
of having accepted political Zion-
ism. But there was a queer si-
lence in the conference room when
he said he still was opposed to
fascism, including that of the Re-
visionists.
LITE RATI
Watch out for more criticism
of Franz Werfel, when the nov-
elist's latest tale of a Catholic
character appears on the book-
shelves and screen. Werfel, now
helping Hollywood prepare the
script for the legend of St. Ber-
nadette, which is being made up
as one of the big pictures of
1942, has on previous occasions
been scored for religious mysti-
cism. But Werfel insists that his
chronicle of the holy maid of
Lourdes and her miracles doesn't
have anything to do with his
Jewishness.
If you can't get hold of Mar-
vin Lowenthal for lectures these
days, it's because his publishers
insisted they would stop his ad-
vances if he didn't stick to . his
work and finish his opus on Hen-
rietta Szold, due for the spring
list. The volume's made up of the
Hadassah founder's letters and
writings, intended to show her
rich personality and broad Jew-
ish background. As soon as the
last page is typed on this, Marvin
will start in earnest on his biog-
raphy of Victor Hugo.
That visit to Mexico City by
Prof. Irwin Edman of Columbia
University is at the request of
the State Department, which
wanted the professor and writer
to talk at the National University
of Mexico.
It will take the refugee, Stefan
Zweig, to explain to America how
it got its name. The book on
which he is now working is called
"Amerigo: a comedy of errors
in history," in which he does a
lot of detective work to show
CONFERENCE TALES
how the man who never claimed
At the United Palestine Ap- he discovered America neverthe-
peal conference in Cleveland Ma- less got the honor.
jority Leader Senator Barkley
revealed that he had been ad- SOUND WAVES
dressing so many Jewish meetings
If Bette Davis is making a hit
lately that a few days previ- on the air these days, give proper
ously Vice-President Wallace, in credit--as she does—to that
giving the Senator the floor, had undersized, thick-lensed fellow who
said: "Yes, Rabbi Barkley." The accompanies her without a hat
Senator felt the Conference was and coat, Arch Oboler. Arch is
so important that in order to one of radio's most sought-after
speak on Sunday night he asked boys, having introduced more new
the President to postpone a meet- techniques than any fellow yet,
ing. from Monday to Tuesday except for his confrere, Norman
that Barkley might reach Wash- Corwin. Now NBC is to run
ington. The President agreed. The a long series of patriotic plays by
story goes that American Zion- Oboler dedicated to the civilian
ists are making it so unpleasant morale of the Americas under the
for David ben Gurion that he is title of "This Precious Freedom."
planning to return to Palestine
Wonder what Spinoza thinks
soon by way of the Atlantic, in- now that his writings have be-
stead of retaining planned head- come the subject of a radio sym-
quarters at Washington. . . . The posium. The 17th century Jewish
Revisionists are experiencing a heretic and lens-maker of Hol-
new birth of life, with the old- land was the topic of last week's
line Zionists whispering tales of "Invitation to Learning." broad-
their prowess at Washington. cast—with Bertrand Russell, who
There are rumors that the Zion- has himself known excommuni-
ists have seen Litvinoff and that cation, among the three analysts
Churchill was interviewed during of the "Ethics". Strange how
his stay in the U. S. A. The Re- Columbia Broadcasting finds it
visionists, however, long ago end- OK to resurrect a Jewish radical
ed the clays of "secret diplomacy," of 1667 but turns thumbs down
which used to be frequent targets on some of our Jewish radicals of
f the Zionists when they attacked 1942.
Dr. Aronstam Reaches 70
Dr. Noah E. Aronstam will have the
good wishes of the Jewish community
and of the medical profession when he
observes his 70th birthday on Feb. 18.
An idealist, a good physician and an
expert in the dermatological field, a good
writer, a devoted Zionist, he has made his
mark in the community. His literary con-
tributions have been genuine gifts to Jew-
ish culture.
We congratttlate Dr. Aronstam on this
occasion and wish him many more years
of fruitful efforts in behalf of his profes-
sion and his people's causes.
0 The National Jelilsh Monthl),
MODERNIZING THE BIBLE
"He lighted on that place and tarried there, because
the sun had set." (Gen. 28:11)
It'rith