DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE end The Legal Chronicle

12

PALESTINE

"FORTITUDE"

(Continued from Page 1)

By MIRIAM SLOB1N

population was concentrated in
Jerusalem, most of them poverty-
stricken dependents on chalukah.
Tel-Aviv had a population of
some 2,300, concentrated on a few
blocks of Herzl Street, Rothschild
Boulevard and a few houses on
Allenby Street, while to reach the
sea, one had to negotiate the
empty sands in a toilsome walk
of a half hour or more. Jewish
Haifa and Hadar Hacarmel was
only a "city of the future," as it
was quaintly advertised.
When I returned to London in
September, I reported to Justice
Brandeis that we had to begin
from the very foundations in
Eretz Israel—which, however, was
securely laid by the preceding
generation of Palestine pioneers
—relying upon two factors of
overwhelming importance: (1) the
dire need of Jews of the world
for a physical and spiritual
"house of refuge," as illustrated
by the plight of the Jews of Cen-
tral and Eastern Europe, and
(2) the adaptability of the Jew
and his ability to overcome all
obstacles in his struggle for ex-
istence.
The score of years between the
world wars has proven sufficient-
ly that these two prime factors
will continue to operate and de-
feat the opponents of a "Jewish
Commonwealth in Zion."
Let me cite but a few exam-
ples of individual Jewish enter-
prise serving the grand purpose
of a National Home in Palestine.
One Russian Jew, educated in
Italy, where he had learned the
importance of the utilization of
wate•-power, decides to harness
the Jordan River, and as a re-
sult wehave the Rutenberg Con-
cession, which, for the first time
in history, gives Palestine elec-
tric lighting, and the necessary
power for intensve agriculture,
as well as the establishment of
infant industries. Another Rus-
sian Jew, in far off Siberia,
dreams of the possible mineral
resources of the Dead Sea—dead
since the days of Sodom and
Gemorah, with the pillar of sale
to symbolize the futility of any
attempt at resurrection; and yet,
under the skilful hands of No-
vemejsky, the Palestine Potash
Company is organized, largely
with the help of American Jew-
. ish capital, and the Dead Sea
springs to life, its mineral re-
sources furnishing strategic ele-
ments in the present great war
effort, with enormous sums, inci-
dentally, flowing into the British
Treasury as an income tax. An-
other Russian Jew, after losing
the bulk of his fortune under
the Bolshevik regime, comes to
Palestine as a "non-Zionist," and,
in the early twenties, Michal Pol-
lak establishes, in a suburb of
Haifa, the largest Portland
cement factory in the whole Near
East, furnishing labor for hun-
dreds of Arabs and Jews alike.
An American Jew, from Philadel-
phia. establishes in Tel-Aviv a
branch of his tooth factory, mak-
ing that town the important cen-
ter for a new industry in the
Mediterranean basin. A New
York Jew establishes a silk fac-
tory on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv,
and a group of American and
South African investors unite to
buy out an Arab concession of
Hot Springs in Tiberias, and are
now converting that ancient es-
tablishment into a first-class
health resort.
All these enterprises and many
others have literally created op-
portunities for labor, so that it
is true to assert that Jewish
brains, added to proper finance,
are constantly increasing the eco-
nomic absorptive capacity of Pal-
estine. It is utterly absurd to
assume that when 100 Jews come
to Palestine the economic absorp-
tive capacity is thereby reduced
by that number. On the contrary,
a Rutenberg, Novemejsky, Bloom,
Pollak or a Sachs have added lit-
erally thousands to the absorp-
tive capacity of the country. It
is the failure to recognize the
simple truth that the Jews, com-
ing to Palestine (like Napoleon's
soldiers who carried the proverbial
marshal's baton in their knap-
sacks) carries economic absorp-
tive capacity in his pocket when
he enters Palestine. The German
refugees, fleeing from Hitler's
persecution, by their brains and
the remnants of their fortune, do
not deplete the economic absorp-
tive capacity of the country but,
on the contrary, actually increase
that capacity by opening up op-
portunities for labor to both Jews
And Arabs—as the statistics of

Storms rolled over man,
In the wilderness he was lost
Through centuries progress came
Yet again, he is ocean tossed.
How can he guide Life's bark
Crushed by evils cruel and crude?
He can only stem the tide,
With reserves of Fortitude.
•
Enemies forever fought
To snatch man's liberties
Democracies were born
To set a world's slaves free.
How can we shelter now
Our Liberties great and good?
We can only keep them safe
With reserves of Fortitude.

the Palestine Government itself
must amply demonstrate. In
short, while Simpson's' report in
1931 offered some theoretical proof
that there was but little room
for Jewish immigration, the prac-
tical answer came the very next
year, with a Jewish immigration
of over 10,000. In 1933, over 20,-
000 immigrated, and were eco-
nomically absorbed in Palestine
without any disturbance to its
economy; while in 1934 over 40,-
000 Jews entered Palestine—and
Palestine remained the only ex-
ception to the world-wide depres-
sion. Finally, in 1935, over 60,000
Jews entered the country, which
thereafter actually had less un-
employment than in the days of
the meager immigration during
the preceding decade. But unfor-
tunately we were not to see the
full benefits of Jewish immigra-
tion, for in 1936 came govern-
ment restriction of immigration
(the word 'economic" was drop-
ped by the High Commissioner
in his talks about "absorptive
capacity"), since the Arabs might
object to undue Jewish immigra-
tion, and of course the Arab
"disturbances" followed such a
false policy of appeasement,
which was the prelude in Pales-
tine for the Munich surrender
two years later.
Nor are we Jews entirely
blameless in this failure to coun-
teract the argument that Pales-
tine is a "little country" with lim-
ited absorptive capacity. We re-
peat by rote the worn out phrase
that Palestine is about the size
of Vermont (simply because, for-
sooth, Palestine west of the Jor-
dan is an area slightly in excess
of 10,000 square miles, while Ver-
mont has an area slightly less
than that), utterly oblivious of
the fact that to the casual reader
such a comparison necessarily
calls attention to the fact that
Vermont has a population of less
than a half million. It should.
however, be our business to indi-
cate that the proper comparison
is with industrialized states of
New England, instead of the
"playgrounds" of our northeast-
ern states—just as one doesn't
think of Staten Island when New
York City is mentioned.
Now, Palestine is larger than
the states of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island combined; it is larg-
er than two Connecticuts, and
again, it is larger than New Jer-
sey and two Rhode Islands. On
the basis of such a comparison,
there is room for at least 3,000,-
000 additional inhabitants in Pal-
estine, even exclusive of Trans-
Jordan, which, in turn, has an
area three times that of Pales-
tine west of the Jordan.
It is our bounden duty not only
to prove that the economic ab-
sorptive capacity of Palestine far
exceeds the figures presented in
the reports of misguided experts,
but also to increase the absorp-
tiv capacity by affirmative means,
in order to prepare for days of
increased Jewish immigration af-
ter the war.
I have mentioned that the eco-
nomic efforts of individual Jews
have tended to increase the ab-
sorptive capacity of Palestine, but
it must ever be borne in mind
that this was made possible in
the initial stages largely by finan-
cial help rendered through public
funds—and primarily the Keren
Hayesod—which contributed the
first half million dollars for the
investigation work necessary for
the Rutenberg Concession, and
large sums invested in the Dead
Sea Concession, besides numerous
other advances for agricultural
and industrial enterprise. In
short, while individual initiative
and private capital have played
a major role in the development
of Palestine, the pioneer capital,
in many cases, had to come from
the public funds of the Keren
Hayesod.
Similarly, the Jewish National
Fund has been the pioneer in land

purchase for colonization pur-
poses, particularly where private
capital would hesitate to invest
because of early meager returns
upon the- capital ventured. But
the Jewish National Fund can
afford to take a long view, for
the land becomes the permanent
property of the whole Jewish peo-
ple, controlled by trustees, who
merely lease the land to coopera-
tive groups for farming pur-
poses.
There are now over 260 Jew-
ish farming colonies in Palestine,
in which about 1,200,000 people
earn their daily bread. Largely
through the efforts of the Keren
Hayesod (besides the fine work
of the Palestine Economic Cor-
poration, operating with Amer-
ican Jewish capital), irrigation
has become an important factor
in every colonization effort, and
the land thus irrigated is gener-
ally sufficient to support a family
on five acres or less, instead of
the usual 20 acres or more.
It is because we are constant-
ly increasing the economic ab-
sorptive capacity of Palestine that
this small country is so out-
standing in its contribution to
the problem of Jewish immigra-
tion from Europe. In the last
decade "little" Palestine has ab-
sorbed 50 per cent more Jewish
immigrants from Europe than
the whole of the United States.
It is a vital factor in any possible
attempt, at the Peace Conference
or later, to meet the problem of
Jewish homelessness.
But Palestine has a significance
for the Jews of the world far
beyond any mere charitable ap-
peal on behalf of the 3,000,000
European refugees that may sur-
vive the Hitler era of unprece-
dented persecution, That little
country is rapidly becoming the
Jewish cultural center, based upon
the Hebrew of the Bible as a
living tongue, and as a place for
Judaism to continue its develop-
ment as a living faith. Sixty
thousand Jewish children are
taught in the Hebrew schools,
supported in part by the Keren
Hayesod. Hebrew newspapers,
magazines and books have a wide
circulation—as may be expected
among the "people of the Book."
The whole educational system is
capped by Hebrew University on
Mt. Scopus, with its majestic
setting on the Hills overlooking
Jerusalem, with a panoramic view
to the Dead Sea-4,000 feet be-
low, on the East, 23 miles east-
ward.
The Palestine Symphony Or-
chestra has attracted world wide

September 25 1942

Convention to Stress
Role of U. S. Zionists
In America's War Effort

WASHINGTON, D. C.—The
extent to which American Zion-
ists are taking part in America's
war effort will be stressed at the
forthcoming Annual Convention

Zionists . in all-out effort to wi n
the
I n conjunctionwith the Z.O.A.

Conve ntion, which will meet con.

curren tly with the national con.

vention of Hadassah, there w in
be held in the Hotel New porker
an Exhibit illustrating graphically
the progress recorded by
the
Zionist movement in the past
year. The Exhibit will also feat-
ure an honor roll of Zionist lead.
crs and workers who are serving
in the United States army and
navy a S commissioned

of the Zionist Organization of
America, which w ill be held Oct.
14-18 in New York City, when
the amounts of War Bonds pur-
While the war and problem s
chased by the more than five
hundred Zionist Districts and growing out of the war will don.
their members since Pearl Harbor Mate most of the Conventio n d e.
will be made public from the liberations, a special session w ill
be devoted to problems of Zionist
Convention platform.
The participation in this vital edu cation and enlightenmert. An
effort by the fifty thousand mem- Institute on Zionist Edification
hers of the Zionist Organization will highlight the second part of
of America and their families will the first session on Thursday
represent an impressive contribu- afternoon, October 15, which will
tion to the United States war he presided over by Dr. Samuel

treasury, according to a state-
ment by the national headquart-
ers of the Z.O.A. The ever grow-
ing list of Zionist members who
are serving in all branches of the

M. Blumenfield of Chicago, Dean

of the College of Jewish Studies.
The symposium which will be led
by outstanding educators includ-
ing Dr. Simon Greenberg and
United States armed forces, both Solomon Grayzel, will have for its
here and overseas, further em- theme "What to Teach, Whom to
phasizes the role of American Teach, and How to Teach Zion-
ism."

attention, when leading conduct-
ors including Toscanini came
from thousands of miles to prove
their deep interest in the enter-
prise. As in the arts, so in
science, the Hebrew Technical In-
stitute in Haifa turns out engi-
neers and architects whose stu-
dents have spread its fame
throughout the countries of the
Near East. Both the Hebrew
University and the Haifa Tech-
nical Institute receive subventions
from the Keren Hayesod, so that
it may truthfully be said that
the Keren Hayesod and the Jew-
ish National Fund—which share
equally in the receipts from the
United Palestine Appeal—.are twin
sisters in working for the redemp-
tion of the Holy Land and the
renaissance of the descendants of

the ancient Hebrews.

The first business session of
Convention will be formally
called to order by Rabbi Isadore
Breslau, chairman of the Pro.
gram Committee. The session will
hear a report on Administration
by Simon Shetzer, Executive Di-
rector of the Z.O.A. A survey of
the Zionist and general Jewish
scene, with particular reference
to the war situation in Palestine,
will be given by Judge Louis E.
Levinthal, president of the Or-
ganization, in his presidential ad-
dress opening the second session

on Thursday evening.

Army-bound is Harold Clurma]

of the Group Theater and Holly-
wood, though they do say that
before he dons the khaki he'll
take time out to make Stella
Adler his Mrs. . . ,

Season's Greetings and Best Wishes to All

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