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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
JEW CONSCIOUSNESS
War Loan Photographic
Posters Originated
By Alex Schreiber
By ROBERT BINYON
July
Lt. L. L. Lewis Killed
In D-Day Landing
On Coast of France
EDITOR'S NOTE: — The Jewish youth of America, stimulated no
doubt by the rise of Hitlerism in Europe and the dissemination
During the recent Fifth War
Jewish youth groups of De-
of alien doctrines even in the democracies, has been displaying
a keen interest in things Jewish. In an effort to get the reac- Loan Drive, photographic post- troit this week were stunned by
tion of the Jewish youth here toward vital Jewish problems, ers of Detroit heroes, who lost the report of the death of Lt.
we invited several college students, most of them playing lead- their lives in action, were placed Leonard L. Lewis, son of Mr.
ing roles in their respective schools, to express themselves on
the subject.
The author of the following article, one of a series which
we expect to publish within the next few weeks, is a student
at one of New York's leading colleges and the editor-in-chief
of its literary publication. His views are totally his own, and
in publishing this article we neither accept them nor reject
them.
Much has already been written
on the subject of "Jew Con-
sciousness." The favorite theme
has, of course, been the aware-
ness of this peoples past. The
awakening of these same Jews,
in what certain authors choose
to call "a Gentile world," runs
a close second. As for the
prophets of the future, they
preach in alien camps and agree
on nothing. One would as soon
mask himself in the guise of a
modern Moses, asking for the
cherished homeland, while an-
other, witnessing the destruction
already come upon his people,
would just as soon drape his head
in the hood-cloth of a Savona-
rola and shriek "Because ye have
forgotten, ye suffer. This is
your due."
"Jew Consciousness" is a
term struggling for a singular
definition. Some argue merely
for a "consciousness of Jewish
Brotherhood" or for a "peoples
consciousness;" others pray for
a "national consciousness" and
still others for a "political con-
sciousness." Aside from the pos-
sible meaning such phrases may
have, the situation of the Jew
amidst all this whirlwind seems,
indeed, a precarious one. And
since it is to be wondered at
whether most people care to be
conscious at all, to demand it
especially of the Jew is an un-
dertaking not easily to be con-
quered. He is conscious of the
slaughters in Europe and of the
calumnies at home, but to be
conscious "politically," "nation-
ally," and "culturally" as well
is, amidst this conflagration and
riot, no mean task. If you stop
a man emerging from any Zion-
ist organization he may, were
you to confront him with the
problem, answer "what we need
is Palestine!" Stop a man in
the Garment Center, and he may
say, "They wouldn't let my son
to Columbia—he's got a Jew-
ish name;" and approach any
elderly gentleman on Canal St.
and one is sure to hear, "This
is God's world, he'll help us
yet!"
Politically? Nationally? Cul-
turally?—what?
Conscious—how?
"Jews all over the world" is
another pet phrase which usual-
ly manages to bubble up from
the lava. Jews all over the
world, indeed! Yet how con-
vincingly can the Jewish leader
in America speak for that vast
majority of Jews covering east-
ern Europe To deny a spiritual
tie exists would be a mistake,
but to proclaim it as a fact that
no boundary has ever had or
ever will have the power to alter
this tie, is a fallacy in under-
standing. The final truth con-
cerning this matter remains, and
will forever remain: That we
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can only understand man as man,
as an individual, as one who has
either succeeded in personal in-
tegrity or has failed in it, not
as a German, or as a French-
man, or as a Jew. All the post-
ers, movements and slogans in
the world can not make two
people love one another. But
since it is the purpose of inter-
national Jewish leadership to
create at best a homeland for
a minority of its people, it is
only befitting human intelligence
to approach this hope with a
sensitivity as will allow us to
comprehend that the American
Jew is not the reproduction of
his forefathers—forefathers who
still exist here, and in Europe.
The grandmother who arrived
here from Poland still believes
in burning one's nails when one
clips them. She has not over-
come the stagnation of medieval
superstitions. Should company
arrive at her home, excessively
praising her grandchild, she
trembles in her heart lest the
Evil One become jealous and
send sickness upon the baby in-
stead. Quickly she runs to her
little one and begs him to repeat
after her, chanting:
On one stone
Three women are sitting alone
The first one cries
"Upon him fallen are Evil
eyes!"
The second shrieks "No!"
The third warns
"Whither it came thither shall
it go!"
This she repeats three times
and the lad is saved!
She is the wife of men to
whom no measures of science
can serve as dilutent. And it is
this very orthodoxy—orthodoxy
of spirit—from which the Jews
suck their admirable vapors, and
remember their stature, as Jews.
It is from these elders essential-
ly that Jew consciousness is
gathered up. And it is these
elders who are spread over the
earth, and who sustain the here-
ditary culture and superstitions
of Judaism—which let us not
forget, is after all, a religion—
whom modern political Jewish
leadership forgets. It is their
existence which makes for Jew
consciousness and if this term,
and like terms, are ever going
to be put to the test of an exact
over-all definition, it will be for
the bent little old man in some
forgotten Polish village, as much
as for the gentlemen-graduates
of Yeshiva College, to say what
this consciousness really means.
Bronze Star Won
By Detroit Ensign
21, 1944
WAR BONDS
School
When our fighters fly at
400 mile
an hour with a
Jap Zero or a Hies.
serschmidt on their tails there isn't
much time for cogitation so the
Army and the Navy show as many
motion pictures of actual dog fights
and air battles as possible to our
student fliers.
ALEX SCHREIBER
on corners throughout the city
as a reminder to the civilian pop-
ulation that they must keep the
faith with our men in uniform.
Alex Schreiber, well-known com-
munal worker since 1919, was
the originator of the picture-
poster plan which made the drive
so graphic. He also was as-
signed the difficult task of book-
ing three shows a day in Bond
Square, a job that was very well
done as all who attended, at one
time or another, can testify.
With the help of the Variety
Club, an organization of theat-
Heal people in this area, the
number of shows presented on
Washington Blvd. was close to
100.
In addition to his work with
the War Bond Drives, Schreiber
is active for the Red Cross, the
War Chest, the March of Dimes,
and a number of charities. He
has also recently been working
with the USO on a special mo-
tion picture program.
Schreiber is anxious to see
the posters taken down again,
stating.
"We worked hard to get those
pictures up, but the real effort
must come to realize our quota
for E-Bonds, and show our boys
that they haven't been forgotten
by Detroit."
Though a man with a sharp
sword should cut one's body bit
by bit, let not an angry thought
. . . arise, let the mouth speak
no ill word.
—Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.
Pictures of trainer flights, boat.
ing flights and flights by fighters are
all a part of the routine for our sti,
LT. L. L. LEWIS
dent pilots and must be drilled into
and Mrs. Jacob B. Lewis of 20 them just as it is necessary for us
Wercester Pl. Lt. Lewis, who to remind ourselves daily of the ne-
was 30 years old last April, was cessity to buy an extra $100 Bond
killed on D-Day during landing
of assault troops in France.
Lt. Lewis, in the Navy since
Dec. 18, 1941, served in Chicago
for a brief spell before being
sent to Detroit to do Navy pub-
licity work until he was com-
missioned in April, 1943, whet,
he was assigned to Baltimore,
Md., then going to the Norfolk
Navy Yard. From there he was
sent overseas.
A past director of the Junior
Service Group of the Detroit
Welfare Federation, Lt. Lewis
worked on the Detroit News for
two years after receiving his
degree in 1938 at Michigan State
Normal College, Ypsilanti, fol-
lowing a year's study at Wayne
University. In April, 1940, he
joined the Kalamazoo Gazette,
and in the Fall he moved to the
Pontiac Daily Press. He left
Pontiac to enlist in the Navy a
year later.
In October, 1940, Lt. Lewis
was married to the former Esther
Berger.
Survivors are his wife and
their 11-month-old daughter,
Linda; his parents; a sister, Lil-
lian; five brothers, George K.,
a Navy Radioman third class,
now in the South Pacific; Philip
and Albert of Indianapolis and
Henry and Warren of Detroit.
in September,
w
U.
S. Treasury Department
Conquer your foe by force,
and you increase his enmity;
conquer by love, and you reap
no after-sorrow.
—Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.
The member of Buddha's order
. . . should not intentionally de.
stroy the life of any being, down
even to a worm or ass ant.
—Mishavagga.
MOO
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—Dhammapada.
KH:10-CFCH:141-0CHXHXHX8X10.0-04:40
____
—
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==.
Ensign Art hur Edelstein,
U.S.N.R., of 1530 Lee Pl., has --==
been awarded the Bronze Star
medal by Vice Adm. T. C. Kin-
caid, U.S.N., Commander of the
Seventh Fleet, it was announced
Friday.
Ensign Edelstein was cited for
a battle off Axaina, New Britain,
in which the tank landing craft E.E.
under his command shot down
11 Japanese planes and probably Ea
._
destroyed six more.
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