Friday, August 9, 1946
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Page Four
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
¶1R BOX
end THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
'eblished Weekly by Jewish Chronicle eublishing Co., Inc., 525 Woodward Ave., Detroit 26, Mich., Tel. CAdillac 1040
FRANCK EXPLAINS STAND ON CHRONICLE EDITORIAL
Dear Editor:
SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 PER YEAR. SINGLE COPIES 10c. FOREIGN, $5.00 PER YEAR
Your front page editorial with reference to my resignation as
o tered as Secondclass matter March 3, 1916, at the Posrcifico at Detroit M■ ch., under the Act of March 3, 187" executive director of the Jewish Community Council impels me to
write you at this time. I realize that in writing your editorial you
Managing Editor, NATHAN J. KAUFMAN were animated by what is best for Detroit's Jewish community and
Publisher, CY AARON
editor-in-Chief, LOUIS W. ENFIELD
by a high regard for my services to this community.
Detroit 26, Michigan
FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1946 (Av 12, 5706)
Though I am gratified by your estimate of my value to the com-
Vol, 48, No. 32
munity, I feel, in all due modesty, that it is somewnat exaggerated.
your fear that my successor may not be of high caliber
Who is in control? Is it the : , .rmy? Is Furthermore,
is groundless. I should like to state officially, on behalf of the Com-
it the foreign office? The r o icy is as munity Council's Executive Board and on behalf of its Personnel
A priest in Poland who used his pul- Fascist as anything the Na:_i3 proposed Committee that there is no such danger. The Executive Directorship
pit last week to attack anti-Semitism!and although it is not yet put on any anti- of Detroit's Jewish Community Council is now a big and important
job. Only the best men are being interviewed, and only a man of the
denounce the Kielce pogrom in which 41 religious basis.
highest caliber will be selected.
Jews were brutally murdered has been
The problem of Palestine is now before
I must say that a few of the statements in your editorial carry
disciplined by Adam Cardinal Sapieha, the eyes of the whole world. Newspapers implications that were a little distasteful. My resignation has been
it was reported by the newspaper Ga- aro giving it reams of space. On the ra- presented to the Executive Board of the Jewish Community Council.
acceptance of the Executive Directorship of Brooklyn Jewish
dio, commentators are discussing it con- My
zetta Ludowa.
Community Council is a matter of record, and my commitment to that
The disciplinary action was in the form stantly. No doubt it will come up for set- community is clear and unequivocal. I agreed to stay on in Detroit
about two additional months in order to wind up some of the
of an edict by the Cardinal which strip- tlement before the great powers who are for
work, and also to assist in the search for my successor.
now
meeting
to
settle
the
problems
of
ped Father Wernyski of his post and re-
Under these circumstances, your statesment that "it is not yet
stricted his right of exercising many of the future. -
too late" and that it is still possible to have my decision changed is
The type of settlement of this problem a little out of order.
his ecclesiastical duties.
the second place, I feel a little resentful of the implication that
This simple news item shows how far will be a clear index of the guiding prin- my In
only or even my principal motivation for changing was that of a
ciples
which
will
govern
the
world
in
the
organized religion has departed from its
higher income. Nor is the difference in salaries exactly as you stated it.
I am in community work because of my deep interest in it, I
primary purpose of showing the people generations to come. If right and justice
prevail in this instance, then we may well have a deep faith in the Community Council Idea of Jewish Corn.
tie road to the good life.
munitics organized on a representative, democratic basis. I am not
In a time when the world has more look forward to a generation of peace leaving the Community Council movement. I am going to the world's
seed of religion than perhaps any other and happiness. If not, the trend will be largest Jewish community in order to help realize in it the Comma.
ie in history, a great church sets its toward one more great cataclysm. There nity Council Idea. It is going to be a difficult job, perhaps the most
difficult local community organization job in the country. I look
ice against all the dictates of common will be only one more.
forward with pleasure to its many satisfactions, and with determina-
In the face of all adversity, Jews must tion to the many obstacles which are inherent in it.
umanity and ordinary decency. Such an
I am glad to see the Chronicle interested in furthering the good
tion makes a mockery of everything a continue • to keep up their courage and
hopes. We have faith in our cause be- of the Council. Naturally, there are difficulties in every kind of work
thurch is supposed to stand for.
and certainly there have been difficulties here. However, the Council
cause our cause is in the right.
has grown in the scope of its work and in the progress toward its goal.
It is difficult to understand what goes
I forward to you the above corrections only because it would make
on in the mind of a cardinal who has
me exceedingly unhappy if my leaving were given misleading inter-
supposedly dedicated his life to the ser-
pretations.
Very sincerely yours,
vice of his Creator. Can he regard the po-
Although there exists a virtual state of
ISAAC FRANCK, Executive Director,
grom in any other light than that of plain
war in Palestine, it is quite notable that
Jewish Community Council of Detroit.
murder? . And will he object to a con-
Let Churches Act Now
Books—Not Weapons
demnation of murder?
Jewish leaders throughout the world
have sent urgent pleas to the Pope at
Rome to come out with a forthright con-
demnation of this pogrom. The pope, by
such a statement, can show that his
church officially disapproves of the kind
of brutality that the whole world must
abhor.
Now is the time for all organized reli-
gion to demand that the pope do this. If
the leaders of all Christian churches
throughout the world do not do this, then
they have forfeited their right to the mo-
ral leadership of the world.
Divide and Conquer
The "divide and conquer" technique so
effectively used by the Nazis in their pre-
war propaganda campaign is being tried
by the British with their army of occupa-
tion in Palestine. The division is to be
along race lines.
The fact that this technique was one of
the best methods of rousing the hatreds
necessary to throw peoples of the world
into catastrophic warfare does not bother
the British. They know only that it was
successful once and therefore might just
as well be used again.
This time, the division is to be between
the Tommies, ordinary Britiish soldiers
and the Jewish population in Palestine.
The danger that the dislike aroused will
continue and complicate future relation-
ships, long after the bombing of the King
David Hotel is a forgotten incident, is
totally ignored. How foolish! How dan-
gerous!
There is no reason to doubt that Eng-
land, in the pursuit of its imperialistic
aims, would hesitate to use any means to
gain its ends. The rugged virtues of fair
play and support of the underdog in a
battle are English qualities but they are
qualities of the English people and not
those of the English government.
The orders to the English troops in Pal-
estine are the same as the orders to Al-
lied troops in Germany. No fraterniza-
tion. The Jewish population, such a pow-
erful ally to the British in their hour of
mortal need, are now to be placed in a
sub-strata when the question of making
good on promises comes to the fore.
there are no names of Jewish soldier
leaders coming out of that country.
We know the names of leaders, schol-
ars, teachers and thinkers. We know that
there are fighting men who are perform-
ing doughty deeds that are ringing out
to the world.
Far from being strange, this is quite in
keeping with ancient' Jewish tradition. In
all Jewish history, our people never reck-
oned military geniuses as among their
great people.
In • the great rebellion against Rome,
Bar Kochba was the Jewish general. In
that desperate war, he withstood the en-
tire might of Rome for two long years.
Rome' was then the mistress of the world,
invincible, always victorious. Yet he de-
feated army after army that was sent
against him and it was only when starva-
tion and blockade had worked their ha-
voc that Rome was ultimately victorious.
Yet Jewish history does not even rec-
ord his first name. His achievements were
lost in legend. The scholar Akiba pro-
claimed him as the coming Messiah.
quoting from the Bible, "And a star shall
rise out of Jacob and shall smite the cor-
ners of Moab." Moab was Rome and the
name Bar Kochba, son of a star, was giv-
en to the warrior. Later, when he went
down in defeat, his name was bitterly
changed to Bar Kozba, son of falsehood.
His real name was never given to pos-
terity.
In the Chmielnitzki wars in the Poland
of 1648, there were notable examples of
Jewish military achievement. Yet we do
not have instances of the military ge-
niuses of the times. The only names on
record are those of the rabbis and schol-
ars of the time.
Throughout their history, the Jews
have been a people of the Book. They
have revered scholarship and learning.
When they had to fight, they did so
bravely and desperately. But they took no
pride in such achievements.
Who is doing all this? The present La-
bor g overnment, so-called, made prom-
ises about Palestine before they came
into power. Obviously they are helpless
to keep these promises. It seems plain to
everyone now that foreign policy in Great
Britain, particularly as regards Palestine,
is not being controlled at Number 10
I
Downing Street.
In the world of today, .ivhen science
and learning are of such paramount im-
portance, the atttitude of the Jew in re-
spect to learning and education ought to
be very welcome to civilization. People
everywhere ought to be more apprecia-
tive. They ought to offer every opportu-
nity for. Jewish education. Any intelli-
gent sort of selfishness should realize that
the ultimate benefactor is the world it-
self.
The Jewish ideal is an ancient one. In
time, the world will come to see that it
must be followed. In time the world will
accept it. And when that time comes, at
long last, the world will know peace.
MRS. ABRAHAM COHEN CONCURS
July 20, 1048.
Dear Sir:
I read your editorial regarding the resignation of Mr. Isaac Franck
as executive director of the Detroit Jewish Community Council and
the reasons thereof. I concur with your analysis of the Issue. I wish
to add that the salaries accorded to social workers in Jewish agencies
are generally so inadequate as to result in discouraging our young
people from entering into this vital work, to cause the experienced and
qualified Jewish Social work to turn to other fields and accounts for
the rapid turnover of personnel in Jewish social work agencies. The
effects of these results are evident and tragic to the integral life of
the Jewish Kohal. Thus a great disservice is rendered to the Jewish
community by the Jewish community—especially by those bodies who
are directly responsible for the financial support of our Jewish social
work agencies.
However, in your presentation, due perhaps by your overzealous-
ness to cut straight to the heart of the issue, you made a statement
that needs qualification.
You stated that Mr. Abraham Cohen, former internal relations
director of the Detroit Jewish Community Council, requested and was
denied the request for a just and small increase in salary. This is
true. However, and this I state unequivocally, Mr. Cohen accepted
his overseas assignment with the American Joint Distribution Com-
mittee because of his unselfish interest for the Jews of Europe and
motivated primarily by his desire to personally assist in their rehabili-
tation—NOT because of any lucrative remuneration. To intimate other-
wise is untrue and unfair to Mr. Cohen's motives and ideals.
Sincerely yours,
ETHEL S. COHEN (Mrs. Abraham Cohen)
A. C. LAPPIN AGREES
Every person who knows Isaac Franck personally or of his work
can but echo the sentiment in your recent editorial and join in the
hope that he will be persuaded to remain with us.
Yours very truly,
A. C. LAPPIN.
CAN THEY TAME THIS BEAST?