4

February 25, 1944

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
eublished Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
JACOB H. SCHAKNE
Pres.-Gen. Mgr.
JACOB MARGOLIS
Editor
CHARLES TAUB
Advertising Mgr.

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Telephone: CAdillac 1040
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must reach this office by Tuesday evening of each week.
When mailing notices, kindly use one side of paper only.
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on sub-
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sibility for an endorsement of views expressed by its writers.

Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post-
office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Sabbath Reading, of the Law

Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 35 :1-27 :19 ; Num.
28:9-15.
Prophetical portion—Is. 66.

FEBRUARY 25. 1944

ADAR 1, 5704

Why Commonwealth Now?
The lack of unity among Jewish repre-
sentatives appearing at the hearings on
the Compton-Wright resolutions to press
for the conversion of the British Mandate
over Palestine into a Jewish Common-
wealth is regrettable.
The attitudes of the Arabs as repre-
sented by Ibn Saud, king of Saudi Arabia,
and that of Faris S. Malouf of Boston,
president of the Syrian and Lebanese
Federation of America, are dangerous
and alarming.
Mr. Malouf stated the Arab position
in language that leaves no doubt as to
how the Arabs feel about a Jewish Com-
monwealth when he said :

"No matter how many nations
band together to give somebody's
home to somebody else is contrary to
the elementary sense of justice."

Would it not have been better to have
avoided this kind of hostile expression
on the part of the Arabs at this time?
Is it not more important at this time to
reduce if not to eliminate Arab oppo-
sition to the opening of the doors of Pal-
estine, so that the homeless Jews of Eu-
rope would be able to migrate there?
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, Dr. Israel Gold-
stein and Emanuel Neumann stated that
before a Jewish Commonwealth could be
established there that the Jews would
have to have a majority, and Mr. Neu-
mann, in answer to the questions by Rep-
resentative James W. Wadsworth of New
York, "What is meant by Jewish Com-
monwealth?" answered :

the abrogation of the White Paper? Why
not press for unlimited immigration so
that if enough Jews who want to go to
Palestine are admitted, and the Jews have
a majority, then make demands upon
Britain to change the status of Palestine?
We hope that the Commonwealth will
not so obscure the picture so that the
present urgent need for the abrogation
of the White Paper will be forgotten or
neglected.

Terror in Palestine
A secret military organization that calls
itself Irgun Zvai Leumi assumes the re-
sponsibility for the terror that has gripped
Palestine. This organization stated that it
would continue its activities and acts of
terrorism until Palestine is opened to
free and unrestricted Jewish immigration.
Every responsible organization, as well
as the entire press of Palestine, has con-
demned the acts of terrorism committed
by these irresponsibles who are properly
called the lunatic fringe. Do these irre-
sponsibles and lunatic fringers really be-
lieve that they can compel a powerful
British government to change a policy
or program because a few buildings are
bombed and some officers slain? If they
do believe in the efficacy of terror and
hope thereby to achieve their aims, then
they are not irresponsibles or lunatic
fringers, but downright lunatics.
If only lunatics had to be dealt with
in these unhappy outbreaks the job would
not be over difficult. The lunatics eventu-
ally give themselves away and are quickly
and effectively silenced and disarmed. But
what of those who just wait for such
opportunities so that they may carry
out well planned acts of provocation? In
the melancholy history of terrorist move-
ments they have been more agents provo-
cateur than honest though misguided ir-
responsibles and even idealists who hoped
to gain their ends through terror.
The Palestinian situation is just the
kind that would suit those who would
like to discredit the Jews at this time.
This is a heaven-sent opportunity for
them.
We simply cannot bring ourselves to
believe that there are such foolhardy
zealots among the Jews of Palestine.
We cannot believe that even among the
most fanatical that there are those who
think they can intimidate Britain by acts
of terror.
A search for agents provocateur should
not be neglected. It would not be sur-
prising to find "gentlemen," whose profes-
sion is murder are behind these latest
shameful terrorist acts.

Refugee Board on the Job
The Refugee War Board is on the job.
Word comes from Ankara, Turkey, that
Ira A. Hirschmann, vice president of
Then why press for a resolution on Bloomingdales, has arrived there to take
Commonwealth now, since the Jews in up his duties as official representative of
Palestine number only 600,000 and the the newly-formed War Refugee Board.
Arabs number more than a million? The Mr. Hirschmann does not expect easy
reason given is that British immigration or smooth sailing for, as he indicated, the
policy will begin to be liberal if it is ex- task is complex and intricate, and a com-
plicit that Palestine is to be established plete mobilization of all resources' at his
as a Jewish Commonwealth just as soon command will be needed if any success is
as enough Jews are admitted to make up to be achieved.
majority.
Even though the Refugee Board does
May it rather not be the case that not accomplish all that may be expected
tish immigration policy will become from it, the fact that definite and com-
hepn worked out

"Jews will preponderate and lead
in deyeloping of the country without
dominating or oppressing the minor-
ity. "

Plain Talk... by Al Segal

•

Introducing Mr. Hillel

A

MR.

HILLEL—that's what
he chooses to call himself—
visits me to bring an appealing
proposal. Mr. Hillel is conscious
of the burden that is upon a
columnist who every week must
apply himself to some matter of
Jewish life with such a regular-
ity as must be painful at times.
He said that being Jewish gets
to be something of an aggrava-
tion at times, what with hoodlum
anti-Semites and what with the
strife that goes on within Israel
—and then to have to write
about it week after week, be-
sides!
Mr. Hillel had a humanitarian
idea: He should like to relieve
me from time to time, to be, in
other words, the guest conductor
of this column. In weeks when he
was guest conductor I could go
and seek the perfect beauty and
orderliness of nature where there
is no politics, none of the miser-
able controversies of human af-
fairs, none of the falsehood such
as makes anti-Semitism so de-
praved. Mr. Hillel's proposal was
quite attractive.
Yet his purpose was not en-
tirely unselfish. Mr. Hillel had
been bursting a long time with
an urge toward self-expression.
In the convocations of Israel he
has scarcely been able to get in
a word edge-wise. There are al-
ways more aggresssive people
than he claiming the floor and
when a meeting is over Mr. Hil-
lel hasn't been allowed to give
out a word.
There are many like him in
Israel — frustrated people who
should like to have a chance to
talk. He thought it would be only
fair to let him, as a sort of
spokesmen for all those who
aren't recognized at the meet-
ings, to take over this column
once in awhile to address the
public.
I couldn't say no to Mr. Hillel.
He had a sample column to try
out on the readers. Would I
please use it experimentally, you
might say? All right, I replied.
This is it:

Y

I

MAY call me just Mr.
Hillel. Perhaps. it is presump-
tuous in me to take the name of
so great a teacher as Hillel, but
then I have always liked him. He
is the one to whom a prospec-
tive convert said: "I will em-
brace Judaism if you can ex-
pound to me the entire Torah
while I am standing.on one foot."
Hillel promptly replied: "Do
not unto your neighbor what
you would not have him do unto
you; this is the whole law; the

OU

rest is commentary."
It seems to me that this is
the whole of being a good Jew.
It was Hillel, too, who said:
"Judge not your neighbor until
you have come into his place
. . . Be of the disciples of Aaron,
loving peace and pursuing peace.
loving thy fellow-creatures and
drawing them near the Torah."
It is not in presumption but
in reverence that I take the
name of this great and good
man.
Perhaps in my first colunin-
I hope there will be others—I
should introduce myself to the
Jewish public. I am a business
1111151. Lest I put myself in the
position of advertising my com-
mercial affairs, I shall say no
more than that I am a business
man.
My business is not of prime
importance to me, anyway. I re-
gard my business as not an end
in itself; it is only a necessary
means by which I earn a living
for myself and my family. Yet I
do not want anyone to think that
I consider myself a superior per-
son who despises business. I am
thankful to my business which
has enabled me to educate my
children to be good people in
the world.
What I mean to say is that
my business isn't everything to
me. I don't let it absorb my
heart and consume my waking
hours and my dreams at night.
In a business deal I would
rather that the other fellow put
it over on me than that I should
have advantage of him.

I

M

Y FRANK, open-hearted deal-
ing seldom has worked to
my disadvantage. Those with
whom I do business have learned
to respect me as one who deals
with them justly and they never
attempt sharp practice against
me. I have been fairly successful.
I write this in no spirit of
vain-glory but only by way of
frank introduction; so that you
may know me.
So much for my character as
a business man. Yet one may
not entirely separate his char-
acter as a business man from
his identity of being a Jew. He
is honorable as a business man
in proportion as he is us righteous
Jew who follows our ethical
teaching.
It seems to me that amid our
controversies we have lost sight
of what being a Jew really
means. There is so much confu-
sion as the brethren shout their

See SEGAL—Page

9

a yk#essAllok9

te

VAMILIES OF
SERVICEMEN
DISCHARGED FOR
DISABILITY MAY
OBTAIN FROM
THE RED CROSS
FINANCIAL ASSIST•
ANCI,NEEDED
DURING THE
TEMPORARY PERIOD
WHILE CLAIMS
fOR PENSIONS
ARE PENDING

IVERY WEEKDAY 600 VOLUNTIIRS IN
AMERICAN RED CROSS PACKING CENTER
MAKE FOOD PARCELS SENT
THROUGH INTERNATIONAL
RED CROSS TO AMERICAN-
AND ALLIED WAR
PRISONERS ALL #
OVER THE
WORLD

ONE VOLUNTEER RED CROSS NURSE
AIDE HAS GIVEN MORE THAN 4,000 HOURS
OF HOSPITAL SERVICE SINCE TAKING TRAINING:
25 HAVE GIVEN MORE THAN 2,000 A YEAR;

100,000 NOW GIVE AT LEAST 150 PER YEAR

