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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
PALESTINE'S AGRICULTURE IN WAR
A Joyous Pesach to All
Bernie Frant
MANSFIELD'S
By JULIAN L. MELTZER
Editor's Note: This vivid description by the Palestine correspondent
of the New York Times to the settlement Daphne contains an
interesting chapter in the epic of Palestine agriculture's con-
tribution to the struggle for freedom and recalls similar chap-
ters in the annals of Eretz Israel whenever the cause of free-
dom was at stake.
April 16, 1943
The chairman, Mr. Eric Mills,
C.B.E., declared that the large
demands made by the forces had
almost exhausted the manpower of
the country, and additional meth-
ods of increasing the labor poten-
tial would have to be considered.
"The existing difficulties were
increased by the shortage of
hands in agriculture when obvi-
ously the maintenance and stimu
lotion of agriculture production
were of the first importance,"
stated the official report of his
address to the committee.
The moral of the position out-
lined need not be elaborated. It
is obvious from the facts. And
the burden of hardship which
falls upon each individual man
and woman now harnessed to the
Yishub's husbandry of the na-
tional soil can be the more read-
ily understood. In their un-
grudging toil and effort is re-
flected the highest degree of
service to the Homeland, its
present and its future.
Some time ago, I was in Kvut-
"We had to decide between the
zath Daphne of Metzudoth Ussish- hemp and the tomatoes. The hemp
kin on Jewish National Fund won. It is needed more urgently
for the war effort," he explained.
soil in the northeastern corner of "But
it was impossible to do both
Palestine, alongside the spot where —to pick the tomatoes and cut
2nd Floor
the head-waters of the Jordan the hemp. We haven't enough
river come bubbling down the
for the job."
LAFAYETTE BLDG.
southern slopes of Lebanon and men
It then transpired that of the
swirl in many creeks and rivulets 300
men, women and children in
until they form the broader the village,
over a score had
stream farther down and join the joined the army and auxiliary
Sea of Merom.
territorial service. In "addition to
This is one of the loveliest spots growing food and contributing to
spots in a land which abounds in the war effort by tillage of its
A Joyous Pesach to All
lovely spots. Plentiful water, a
Kvutzath Daphne had vol-
rich soil, an equable climate, land,
unteered over twenty pairs of
earnest and diligent tillers—and, willing
for direct service
for their spiritual refreshment, with the hands
colors.
the sight of these eternal hills of
The crucial problem of the
Naphtali, the Hauran and Trans- Moshavim,
Kvutzoth and Kibbut-
A Joyous Pesach to All
jordan ; such are the objective zim
on Jewish National Fund land
Producers of
and subjective conditions govern-
ing the life of the new rural in these days is manpower. There
"GREAT LAKES BRAND"
Yishub which has settled, a grow- are not enough workers to carry
Qualit y Sausages and
ing outpost, on the national land on in farm and field, let alone
for the essential needs of expan-
Luncheon Meats
in that blessed region.
sion for the war granary and
Walking
round
with
our
guide,
2113 CARPENTER AVE.
12005 DEXTER
the Mukhtar of the commune , I larder. It is claimed for the
TO. 8-5389
(Corner Elmhurst)
TO. 8.6788 saw a field of golden tomatoes, rural Yishub that they have given
ripening lusciously in the sun- more men and women proportion-
NOrthlawn 9444
to the colors than other sec-
shine. Their saffron-golden hue ately
tions
of
the
Jewish
community.
shot back minute rays of pris-
I found this to be the case in
matic color. They were a joy to
behold. But even to an untrained other national settlements which
I visited at about the same time.
Sincerest Passover Greetings
observer they seemed to be clam- Take
Kfar Menahem, for in-
oring for picking.
A Joyous Pesach to All
stance. This young Kibbutz on the
"Aren't these ripe enough to be moorlands
overlooking
the
south-
gathered?" I asked the stalwart
ern plain of Palestine has ap-
East Side Machine
young settler accompanying us.
He laughed ruefully. "Too ripe. proximately a hundred men, wo-
Unless they can be picked in a men and children, of whom a
and Tool Co.
couple of days, they'll be spoiled third have come from the United
States and Canada. They are
and useless."
9729 KNODELL
Turning round, he pointed to a grappling with the difficult task
field about a hundred yards off in of fashioning a self-supporting
JACK ROSENBERG
which a number of men were busy community life; and the period
RALPH W. SMITH
among the tall, thick-stemmed of transition between the stock-
Mgr. Wyoming Yard
PLAZA 2014
hemp plants. From the stalks of ade-and-watchtower village and
the
food-from-broad-acres
settle-
the hemp, fibre and twine are now
HOgarth 2121
made by a factory near Tel Aviv ment in which they are now
working is the most exacting in
is demand for labor and the ut-
most devotion to the job in hand.
SINCERE PASSOVER GREETINGS
The total of the community is by
n o means excessive for the tasks
A Joyous Pesach to All
•hich they are undertaking; yet
hese men and women have sent
"Quality in Every Load"
n early a score of their members
ANDORIA HOTEL
f
or service with the colors, while
1971 THEODORE at G. T. R. R.
PHONE PLAZA 3817
S ome of them are engaged upon
A Little
0 ther vital national work outside
Hotel and Tea Room
K far Menahem.
There can be little doubt that
"Mid the Throb of the
t he spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice
World's Big Things"
is high among the cooperative,
PASSOVER GREETINGS
ommunal and collective villages
One Block from Fisher and
0 n Jewish National Fund soil. Im-
General • Motors Bldgs.
b ued by a profound appreciation
AND BEST WISHES TO
0 f the principles and purposes un-
6520 THIRD
MAdison 8700
erlying and guiding the Jewish
ational war effort in Eretz Is-
THE ENTIRE J EWISH
ael, these men and women have
olunteered willingly, even at the
ri sk of impairing the immediate
A Joyous Pesach to All!
COMMUNITY OF
p rogress of their chosen homes,
to serve personally in the struggle.
DETROIT!
T o many it has been a wrench to
le ave their families and comrades;
b ut they have gone in a genuine
de votion to the common cause.
U sually the group as a whole has
se lected the members to join up,
° ju st as other tasks are distributed WHOLESALE FRUITS AND
by cornMon consent, but in some
VEGETABLES
ca ses individuals have not waited
fo ✓ approval but have joined up
Exclusive Distributors of
on their own initiative.
HONOR BRAND FRESH
Recognition of the drain upon
FROSTED FOODS
th e country's manpower was ex-
pr essed at a meeting of the cen
EASTERN MARKET
tr al advisory committee of man-
1301 Winder St.
po wer held in Jerusalem recently.
CH. 6570
Great Lakes
Sausage Co.
DEXTER
AUTO WASH
RESTRICK
LUMBER
CO.
H. JACOBSON COAL COMPANY
City Fruit &
Produce Co.
•
FRANK
A Joyous Pesach to All
Eileen
Beauty Shoppe
HOgarth 1477
12019 DEXTER (upstairs)
Sincerest Passover Greetings
O'HARA - QUINLAN
LUMBER CO.
I
14811 MEYERS ROAD
HO. 5109
A Joyous Pesach to
All
Friendship Plasterers
8 Building Supplies
15101 LaSALLE BLVD.
UN. 2-0605
,4 Joyous Pesach to All
Briggs-Kessler Co.
Dental Supplies
509 STROH BLDG.
Passover Greetings!
HAUPERT
Plumbing Supply
LUMBER and PLUMBING
SUPPLIES
$
"The Greatest Values in
Detroit"
Furniture and Hardware
19409 JOHN R STREET
Townsend 8.4189
Sincerest Passover Greetings
DA UBERGER
SHIRTMAKER
154 W. LAFAYETTE
CADILLAC 5574
A Joyous Pesach to All
SEDER
SIMON KNOPPOW
PAINT and WALLPAPER
8736 12th St.
15019 Livernois
MA. 1756
UN. 2.8088
EAGLE
COAL
CO.
A Joyous Pesach to All
•
Detroit's Reliable Dealers in
A JOYOUS PASSOVER TO ALL
'ff•WHIOIMININoistaxwer,
COAL and COKE
Authorized Dealers
SEMET — SOLVAY
COKE
1843 ILLINOIS
Temple 2.5245
Bowl-O-Drome
12707 DEXTER BLVD.
HOGARTH 5550
SINCERE PASSOVER GREETINGS
E. J. KANTAR COMPANY
Interior Telephones and Apartment House Mail Boxes
5407 GRAND RIVER AVE.
TYLER 5-2600
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