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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE

Published Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
JACOB H. SCHAKNE
Pres.-Gen. Mgr.
JACOB MARGOLIS
Editor
CHARLES TAUB
Advertising Mgr.

General Offices and Publication Bldg., 525 Woodward Ave.
Telephone: CAdillac 1040
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To insure publication, all correspondence and news matter
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When mailing notices, kindly use one side of paper only.
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on sub-
jects of interest to the Jewish people, but disclaims respon-
sibility for en 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—Lev. 16:1-20:27.
Prophetical portion—Amos 9:7-15 or Ezek 22:1-19
(or 16).

May 12, 1944

IYAR 19, 5704

Changing Soviets

It is news when a Catholic priest meets
with Joseph Stalin, and it is sensational
news when he meets the leader of the
Soviets more than once. Such things just
do not happen in the Soviet Union. They
are profoundly significant and the reper-
cussions caused by these meetings will be
felt throughout Russia. It would not be
surprisng that a genuine rapprochement
between the Soviets and the Vatican will
result.

authority should be given to it.
When men and women are picked up
at sea after a shipwreck, do we ask
whether there is specific authority to
land them at the first port reached by
the rescue ship? Is there any real differ-
ence between the refugees and ship-
wrecked victims? We think the difference
is inconsequential.

It may be argued that the victims of a
shipwreck remain at the port of debarka-
tion for only a short time, and the refu-
gees may have to wait for months and
possibly years. This may be so, but in
both cases it is a matter of rescue and
not a matter of how long they remain in
the city of refuge.

The anti-immigrationists should be sat-
isfied with this sort of an arrangement
because there is no intention of permitting
the refugees to remain after the war is
over and they are able to return to their
native lands, or to lands that will re-
ceive them.

It is indeed a sad commentary upon our
common humanity that there should be
any hesitation about giving asylum to
the tortured and harassed multitudes that
are seeking to escape with their lives
from the Nazi hordes.

The "open port" plan gives us an op-
portunity to live up to our expansive talk.
Let us not miss the opportunity.

In Defense of American Jewish
Committee

Since the American Jewish Committee
Obviously the Russians have learned
withdrew from the American Jewish Con-
that the state cannot control the religious
ference, it has been subjected to many
beliefs of the people.
scurrilous and indefensible attacks.
It should be remembered in this con-
Among those who have made the most
nection that large sections of the Socialist vitriolic and bitter attacks was the "Prot-
movement held to the theory that religion
is a private matter, and not subject to estant," a monthly periodical edited by
the control of the party. The Bolshevik Kenneth Leslie.
section of the Socialist movement decided
The "Protestant" has done yeoman
that "religion was the opium of the peo- service by constantly combatting anti-
ple" and proceeded to uproot every ves- Semitism, and especially in its fight to
tige of the Greek Orthodox Church and purge school books used in Sunday and
the other faiths in Russia. The grim ac- parochial schools of all anti-Semitic
tivities of the Jewish section of the God- references.
less in Russia were not too pretty.
All these services do not entitle it to
It would appear that at long last the the privilege of besmirching the American
Soviets have learned what Western coun- Jewish Committee.
tries have learned long ago : that you
The "Jewish Frontier" takes up the
cannot make a man a believer or a non-
cudgels on behalf of the Committee and
believer by legislation.
voices its disapproval in no uncertain
This broader and more tolerant atti- terms. In the May issue it carries an an
tude toward the Roman Catholic Church article attacking the "Protestant" for an
is bound to affect the Jewish religious editorial in which it stated that the
community in Russia. It would not be sur- "American Jewish Committee and its
prising if the seminaries and yeshivas National Conference of Christians and
will again flourish.
Jews have their real source in the Chris-
We should not expect the Soviets to tian Front, which is the American form
legalize the Zionist movement as long of clerical Fascism, a front for anti-demo-
as they adhere to the theory of but one cratic Fascist forces in all three faiths".
party. Zionism in Russia is not classed as
Declaring that the editorial "is the cul-
a cultural or religious activity but as po- mination of a series of articles by Joseph
litical, and consequently it will be banned Brainin and editorial remarks by Kenneth
just as the Menashevik, Trotskists, So- Leslie in which the attack against the
cial Revolutionaire or any other party is American Jewish Committee has fre
quently been made in terms only flimsily
banned.
by the evidence offered," Ben
The Russian leaders are realistic and supported
Halpern, managing editor of the "Jewish
logical men, and if they realize that the
one-party system does not work satisfac- Frontier," said :
torily we may expect a change even in
"One need not be a partisan of the
American Jewish Committee to read these
this, at present, basic principle.
with as much amazement as
There is no logic like the logic of insinuations
disgust. What is the 'Protestant' saying?
events.
That the American Jewish Committee,
ostensibly organized for the defense of
Jewish
interests, is actually a 'front' for
The "Open Port" Plan
the anti-Semitic Christian Front; that its
The establishing of "free ports" on the purpose is to prevent the American public
Atlantic seaboard, for refugees, under from understanding the menace of anti-
consideration by the War Refugee Board, Semitism . . . What evidence is offered in
should be encouraged and hastened, if proof of these shocking allegations? Noth-
any of the refugees who can now be ing. Not a word ; not a single tangible
removed are to benefit from the plan. fact. There has not been a lower display
It seems to us that such a plan would of demagoguery since Martin Dies' reply
not only facilitate the rescue of innocent to Walter Winchell . . . The 'Protestant'
refugees, but would silence those who protests that it is a friend of the Jews.
But it is clear that its editor understands
are always insisting that the neutrals us very little. We Jews have suffered
cannot be expected to burden themselves countless years because of lies and cal-
with refugees while we express our sym- umnies which were accepted by our neigh-
pathies but do nothing about it.
bors without examination and without
We do not know whether the War questioning . . . We cannot regard anyone
Board has the authority to bring as a true friend who is an irresponsible
Refugee
refugees to the open ports, but if it does adversary, who yields to his hatred, who
under the does not hold justice and truth near to
not have the specific authority
directive that created it, then such specific his heart."

May 12, r944

Plain Talk. . . by Al Segal

•

INDIAN JEWS

a pamphlet from
OR AWHILE Jews lived in
I RECEIVED
the American Friends of F peace and freedom; then the

Mexican Indian Jews, and at first
glance I wise-cracked: "Well,
well, here is something else to
worry about. Isn't there enough
already?"
But Indian Jews! What are
Indian Jews? A second glance
showed the American Friends of
Mexican Indian Jews had a board
of directors that contained sonic
of America's most distinguished
rabbis: Rabbi Felix A. Levy of
Chicago, president; Rabbi David
Lefkowitz of Dallas, vice presi-
dent; Rabbi James G. Heller of
Cincinnati, vice president; Rabbi
Ira E. Sanders of Little Rock,
treasurer; Dr. Julian Morgen-
stern, president, of the Hebrew
Union College; Rabbi Stephen
Wise and Rabbi Jonah Wise of
New York; Rabbi Maurice Eisen-
drath of the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations; Rabbi
Solomon Freehoff of Pittsburgh;
Rabbi Henry Cohen of Galveston;
Rabbi David (le Sola Pool of New
York.
So these seemed to be respec-
table Indians. Though you abhor
being snobbish, you do like to
have your Indians socially well-
recommended.
Yes, these Indians looked all
right, but how do Indians get to
be Jews? Or how do Jews get to
be Indians? The Indians I knew
most intimately were those who
had been found buried in my
home-county with their arrows
all ready for the happy hunting
grounds.
I opened the pamphlet and
found the amazing story of the
Indian Jews of Mexico. They
seem to have started out as
Marranos who kept the faith
against cruel persecution; they
intermarried among the Indians
and their children kept the faith
even after the biological process
had made them predominantly
Indian. Then, too, there were
many Indians who far back were
converted to Judaism. You might
say they were the bravest of all
Indians, since there was a time
in Mexico when it was pious re-
ligious practice to burn at the
stake people of the Jewish faith.
It all goes back to the middle of
the 15th century when some 500
Jews landed in Tampico, Mexico,
with Governor Don Luis Carvajal
who is said to have been the
founder of the city of Monterey.
Though the Spanish king, Charles
IV, had prohibited Jews from
setting foot in Mexico, then
called New Spain, Governor Car-
vajal had obtained special per-
mission for these Jews to settle
in the domain over which he
ruled. Reading the further his-
tory of this governor and his
family, one may well suspect
that Don Luis' soul was haunted
by Jewish ancestors.

Inquisition came to Mexico and
Governor Carjaval himself was
denounced to the Holy Office as
a Judaizer, though he was a pious
Christian in his practices. lie was
tortured, tried and found guilty,
and eventually (lied in prison.
The inquisitors felt, though,
that his death was not testimony
enough of their piety before the
Heavenly Throne. On Dec. 9,
1596, his nephew, Don Luis, the
younger, and seven other meni-
hers of the family were burned
at the stake. Asked if he had
anything to say before he died,
he replied: "I (lie for Jehovah,
the Lord of Hosts; I enter the
Kingdom of Heaven with a clear
conscience."
As the flames arose the vic-
tims shouted the Sh'ma Yisroel
in chorus.
The inquisition went on until
1821; there were other burnings.
In April, 1649, 109 persons per-
ished that way. Jews went into
hiding as Marranos. Outwardly
Christian, they practiced Juda-
ism secretly in their houses, in-
termarried, handed their secret
faith down to their children who
were Indians, though at moments
a nuance of something Jewish
might be seen on their faces.
"Even to this day," the pam-
phlet says, "there are a great
many Mexicans who live, so to
speak, a double life; they dis-
play a Mogen David in their
lapels while their bedroom walls
are ornamented with huge
crosses."
The writer of the pamphlet
visited these Indian Jews on a
Sabbath morning in their syna-
gogue, Beth Elohim, in Vallejo,
a suburb of Mexico . . . "An
old tumble-down shack, almost
invisible for the flowers and vines
that covered its walls, without a
sign or emblem of Jewish value
except a wreath made of red
roses in the shape of a Mogen
David suspended over the en-
trance."

I

I

I

T'H E congregation numbered

A about 100 ... "seated on crude
wooden benches on the earthen
floor . . . No Aron Kodesh, nor
Menorahs, nor Ten Command-
ments. On the wall in the rear
the Sh'ma Yisroel was written in
large gilt letters . . . A black-
board on which was still clearly
visible the Hebrew lesson the
children were taught that morn-
ing prior to the service."
The Indian Shammos came up
with a prayer book of the ortho-
dox ritual in Hebrew and Span-
ish. He served with pay—"pare
la gloria de Dios," as he put it.
The spiritual leader was Licen-
ciado Laureano Ramirez, a law-
yer of Mexico City, Sounder of

See SEGAL—Page 9

Ready for the Air War in Europe

Army Signal Corps phot

o

Muzzle to muzzle these fierce, quick-firing anti-aircraft guns stand
wheel to wheel, somewhere in England waiting for D Day. Your
War Bond dollars bought them and will supply the ammunition to
t keep their ack-ack flying into the skies against Nazi planes when
Idle invasion comes.

From U. S. Treason