Allied=Vith Periodical &ter

Friday, February 1, 1946

CLIPTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, OHIO

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Personal Problems

By W.

A. GOLDBERG, Ph.D.

Director, Counselling Service

Copyrighted, 1946, by W. A. Goldberg, Ph.D.
All rights reserved

..r questons in personal problems will be answered
mail as far as possible or in these columrs. Send

a question and a stamped, self-addressed envel•
to Dr. W. A. Goldberg, 1314 Eaton Tower, De-
,t 26, Mich. or to the Detroit Jewish Chron-

,, 525 Woodward Avenue, Detroit 26, Mich.

Is This Love?

Several weeks ago, a
correspondent's question, "Can I Still
Marry?" was answered in
these columns. Apparently, she fol-
lowed our advice. She now gives us her experiences.
"As a result of your suggestions, I met a discharged serviceman.
We were introduced at the home of a mutual friend. This fellow is
educated. He immediately gave me the rush act. We went out the very
next night and for some nights thereafter. He took me only to the
best places in town. By that I mean the most exclusive and expensive
places. We never got in before three in the morning. We did have a
good time as he talks well and is a good dancer.
"He is considerably older than I am but I thought he was old
enough to be settled. He had gone with another girl, not of our faith.
I got the impression that she gave him the run-around and he spent
all his money on her. He didn't see her during his five years of service.
1 have no way of proving any of his statements and most of them I
must accept as truth.

'The second night he proposed to me, asking that we get married
at once. I told him I didn't know him well enough to give serious con-
sideration to his proposal. The third night he wanted a date but I was
busy. He flared up in anger, saying all my time was his. I didn't argue
but I don't feel that way about it. I am going out with as many young
men as I can, with anyone who might be interesting. I am following
your ideas, Dr. Goldberg, in making a wide acquaintance.
"He made a date for the fifth night, to call for me at seven. He
didn't show up and didn't call. On the eighth day he called and was
angry that I hadn't telephoned him, to find out what was wrong. He
did have a cold when I met him and he said he had been in bed. I
have a hunch that he was broke and didn't want to change my im•
pression of him as a "big-shot" in the money. I don't think he knew
how to spend an evening at home, without going out.
"On the ninth night we again made the rounds of the night clubs,
at his suggestion. He tries to make me think he is important. But I
wonder how much money he has or can- spend. He wanted a date for
every night of next week but I wouldn't commit myself. He didn't keep
the next date and again didn't call for two days. When he called, his
excuse was that he had been sick.
"He says he was wounded and in a hospital for seven months. My
impression is that he was in a mental hospital. He talks intelligently
and doesn't seem queer but something about him doesn't ring true. He
may be four-flushing. At times, I am sorry for him because people
haven't treated him well.
"He hasn't called for several days. I won't tell him I am serious
because I am not sure about him. I haven't been able to tell what kind
of a fellow he is. I think there is something wrong with him. If he
hasn't straightened out at his age (over thirty), I am afraid he never
will.

"Dr. Goldberg, what would you advise me to do?"
Many girls may face similar situations. For that reason, we are
asking our readers to tell us what they would say to this girl. The
most suitable and original letters will be printed soon, with our answer.

liour9[ERD

•

Eox

Likes Editorial On Shylock

Dear Editor:

I am a new subscriber to your paper and was pleased to read the
article, "The Truth About Shylock," in the CHRONICLE. It is the
kind of information every Jew ought to have. Many years ago, I was
a reader of a Hungarian Jewish weekly edited by the late Miksa Sza-
bolesi. In vain have I searched in the English-written Jewish press for
anything comparable in value to that Jewish paper, written in Hun-
garian. What made that publication so excellent was that every issue
contained many articles of the type of "The Truth About Shylock."
Indeed, we are in great need of the "truth." When you spread the
truth, you spread knowledge and you arm us with weapons, because
truth and knowledge are our only weapons. If the Jew will know the
falsification of the story of Shylock, he can leave it to the Christian
to be ashamed for the distortion, and patiently enlighten his Christian
brother. Because it is not only the ignorance of the Christian that
snakes us such an easy prey, but also the ignorance of the average
Jew that make our position so defenseless.
Your paper contains 16 pages. May I humbly suggest that you
devote more space to such educational articles and less to society
and other idle chatter.
The article, "Jewish War Vet Charges Convict Christian Fronters,"
states that these anti-Semites were convicted. It would be interesting
tc know just what punishment was given for spreading the poison of
the ritual murder charges. I should like to know the verdict of the
trial.
Sincerely yours,
ANTON STEIN, 1096 Waterman.
( Editor's note: The three anti-Semites were not immediately sen-
tenced. They were out on bond pending sentence.)

Congratulations From Correspondent

Bay City, Mich.
Dear Editor:
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you upon entering
Your thirty-first year of existence, and also wish to state that the many
new features in the CHRONICLE show the progress you have made
under the recent management.
May I at this time also point out to you that your predecessor, The
Jewish American, was first published in the early nineties by Mr. Sal
Goldsmith, a former Bay Cityan, who was also its owner. Throughout
these years, I have been the local correspondent.
Wishing you much success and prosperity in your enterprise, I am
Yours very truly,
(MRS. H. F.) ELLA R. ANTHONY.

MAN CF THE %VELE

So They Tell Me---

By LOUIS W. ENFIELD

Many tales tales are told about
the furious hand to hand and
house to house fighting that oc-
curred in the battle of Munich
shortly before the close of the war
in Europe. Squads of soldiers, led
by intrepid sergeants, fought their
way from place to place until the
city was taken. One entered a
house with caution, never sure
who or what he might find in it.
A Jewish sergeant named Neil
was moving along with his squad.
At the end of the block they were
traversing was a stone house, ap-
parently deserted.
"I'm going in that house," said
Neil. "It looks as if there's no
one there. You men wait here for
me. If I'm not out in half an hour,
come in after me."
The men waited according to or-
der and Neil walked up to the
house. Everything was silent. No
life appeared. He walked up to
the door and listened. Not a sound.
Making up his mind, he pushed
open the door and walked in, di-
rectly into the upraised pistols of
four Nazi soldiers.
Neil was nothing if not quick-
witted.
"You've got me, boys," he said
in excellent German. "I know you
have to shoot me just as I would
shoot you if the tables were turn-
ed. But after all, you're soldiers
and I'm a soldier and we don't
hate each other. I see you have
some bottles on the table. Let's all
have a drink first and then you
can shoot me."
After some hesitation, the Nazis
agreed and the five of them had
a drink. And another. And still
another.
At the end of the half hour,
Neil's squad came in. As they ap-
proached, they heard men's voices
raised in song. When they entered
the house, they found five drunken
soldiers singing at the tops of
their voices the Horst Wessel
song, "Wenn Judisch blut vom
Messer spritzt," (When Jewish
blood spurts from the German
knife). Loudest of all was Serg-
enat Neil.
The four Nazis were quickly dis-
patched and the squad led their
drunken sergeant out of the house
still roaring at the top of his
voice, "Wenn Judisch blut vom
Messer spritzt."

Page Five

This week the CHRONICLE salutes Joseph Bernstein, managing
editor of the Jewish Daily Forward as the MAN OF THE WEEK.
Bernstein was born in Slonim in the province of Grodnov, near the
Curzon line. His father wanted him to be an orthodox rabbi so he
attended two yeshivas and acquired a thorough knowledge of rab-
binic lore.

The desire for secular knowledge, however, burned within him
and unknown to his father, he began to study Russian. This opened
a vast field of forbidden literature to him and soon he was a member
of the Bund. More and more he began to engage in revolutionary
activities and, before he was twenty, his agitation brought him threats
of exile into Siberia.
"The sufferings of our brethren in concentration camps is very
meaningful to me," he said, thinking of his childhood. "My whole early
lie is a story of misery. Many is the time I had to stay home when
I was a boy because I had no shoes. We would pawn our furniture
and clothing in order to get enough
bread to subsist on."

r

When he was twenty, Bern-
stein fled the country just one
jump ahead of the police. He
came to London, England, and
there he found work in a dress
shop where he was taught a trade.
He had a ticket to go to the
United States but he needed seven
dollars in cash to show the au-
thorities that he would not be a
public charge. It took five weeks
of work to save the required sum.
At the end of this time, he set
sail for New York, Here he work-
ed again at the skirt making
trade. He was lucky enough to
get a good job there. He had to
walk up eight flights of stairs
every day to his work and he had
to work fourteen hours a day, but
the wages were adequate for the
times, four dollars a week.
In 1903, Bernstein married a
childhood sweetheart whom he had
JOSEPH BERNSTEIN
taught Yiddish and Hebrew when
he was a boy in Russia. She had lived in a nearby village and, when
Bernstein sent for her, her father refused to permit her to set out on
such a long journey alone. He imprisoned her in her room until she
should change her mind.

In desperation, Bernstein appealed to his own father for aid. The
aid came, in decidedly romantic fashion. In the dead of the night,
Bernstein senior waited outside the girl's house and helped her escape
through a window. The two filed to the nearest city, Grodno. Her
father pursued them and discovered them in the city. There was a
stormy scene between father and daughter but the girl stood her
ground and finally the father promised her permission to go to this
country if she would return home first. Both promises were kept and
the lady became Mrs. Bernstein.

For ten long years, the Bernsteins remained in New York, They
lived in the East Side slums. Then they moved to Harlem. Times were
so difficult that they barely managed to exist. Poverty was a constant
companion. He remembers once borrowing five dollars from a loan
shark. One dollar and a quarter was deducted as interest in advance.
The five dollars had to be repaid within five weeks at a dollar a week.
Nor was hard work any stranger. For three years he worked
A socially inclined college man seven days a week from five a.m. all the way to one a.m. Wages rose
with a good deal of know how but ever so slowly. Five, seven, nine, twelve and fifteen dollars were his
very little aptitude for work found weekly stipend. At long last, he became an expert operator and finally
himself with a paper due to be he was earning seventy-five dollars a week.
handed in to his history professor
In 1911, Bernstein moved to Detroit where he opened a cleaning
and no research done at all. In shop on Forest Ave. Then he opened a book store on Hastings St.,
desperation, he went over to his where he sold Hebrew and Yiddish books. A year and a half later, he
fraternity house. Papers were kept pursuaded the Forward to let him sell the paper and, after a half year
there which had been written in of urging, to solicit advertising on commission.
years back and served as guides
One thing led to another and he finally became the manaing
for the frat brothers in their
editor of the Detroit branch, a position he holds to this day. He gai g
studies.
ned
In desperation, he picked ono his newspaper experience the hard way, through practical work.
All
his
life,
Bernstein
has
been
a
socialist,
a
right
winger.
In
1936,
that had been written twenty
years ago, retyped it and handed he left the party because he disagreed with their policies. He still be-
it in as his own. The strategy lieves in socialism, however.
was spectacularly successful. The
"The greatest problem facing this country," he said reflectively, "is
paper was returned to him with a economic. I believe in a planned economy of production and distribu-
grade of "A."
tion. Without plans, there can be no equality. There cannot even be
At the bottom of the paper, in any prosperity."
small print, the professor wrote a
Because he believes in planned communities, Bernstein is very
little note.
much interested in the Jewish Community Council on which he is a
"I wrote this paper myself
member of the executive board. In fact, he was one of the first organ-
twenty years ago," he read. "It
was worth an 'A' then and I'll be izers of the Council, having been on the original constitutional com-
darned if it has lost any of its mittee. Until a year ago, he was the vice-president of the Council.
"I think the Council has a great future as the coming organization
worth since then."
of Jews in every city of the United States," he said enthusiastically.
A well-known judge in this city "I am as yet undecided as to whether the Council should have its own
was famous for his humorous fund-raising medium. But as a representative of Jewish opinion in th"
twists on things that came up dur- city it certainly has an extremely useful function."
ing the trials. Once a suit for
Bernstein's greatest efforts are devoted to the Workman's Circle.
eviction was being tried against He is chairman of the Circle Educational Center and is very proud of
a chicken slaughterer who, the the many and varied activities there, especially the Yiddish school. At
neighbors claimed, was operating one time, he was chairman of organization work in Jewish organiza-
a nuisance on the premises.
tions and synagogues for the Allied Jewish Campaign.
The judge wanted to know what
For two terms he was on the Board of Governors of the Detroit
business the witness was in.
"I'm a chicken slaughterer," was Jewish Welfare Board. He was also instrumental in starting the Home
for the Aged and was one of the strongest agitators for a new build-
the reply.
"Oh, a cutthroat, huh?" said the ing for the home. He has been on the board of the home since its
opening and is at present on the admissions committee.
kindly old judge.
"You just tell your neighbors to
He is a member of the Service Group which Is the fund-raising
be careful. Case dismissed."
arm of the Jewish Federation, now faced with the gigantic task of
raising two million dollars as Detroit's quota of the one hundred mil-
Leonard's wife knew how to lion dollars to be raised by the United Jewish Appeal.
spend money. When she went to
Questioned as to his views on the future of Jews in the United
a hotel she was lavish with her States, Bernstein replied quickly, as this is a subject to which he has
tips and everybody was at her given much thought.
beck and call. Not so her husband.
Anti-Semitism will undoubtedly increase in this country," he said.
He was careful with his pennies.
So, when the doctor ordered him "particularly if economic conditions become worse. The situation will
to a resort for the baths, he went be determined largely by the forces which control the opinions of the
and stayed at a hotel where he returning veterans who will play an increasingly important role in
was so lonesome, he didn't know determining the policies of this country. As usual, when a scapegoat
is to be found, the Jew, as a helpless minority, will be made use of
what to do.
Finally, on a particularly dismal in this capacity.
day, he called in a bell boy. The
"The salvation of the Jew is continued prosperity in the country.
boy arrived and inquired his wish. People do not bother to hate when they have enough to eat. But
"I don't want a thing," said learn only by experience," he continued sadly. "I myself know people
what
Leonard. "I'll pay you for the anti-Semitism is because I have seen it in action. The majority of our
time you spend here. I just want people in this country do not really understand it because there never
you to sit on the chair and listen has been any saintl outburst of anti-Semitism here. And Heaven grant,
so I'll have someone to talk to."
that there may never be."

,/

