Friday, May 16, 1947

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Striedv Confidential

Contest Rallies Pastors
to Fight Anti - Semitism

100,000 Clergymen. Invited to Offer
,'anions on Combating Intolerance

By PIIINEAS J. B1RON

MOST EFFECTIVE job against discrimination is being done by The
Sermon of The Year project of The Churchman. The plan is not
merely a contest or competition to obtain sermons against discrimina-
tion. It is a nationwide crusade to mobilize the Christian pulpit in a
direct assault on the evils of intolerance, bigotry and anti-Semitism,
and to fight the good tight within the Church itself.
The drive is headed by Dr. Guy
Emery Shipler, editor of the tic. One hundred thousand clergy-
Churchman, America's oldest re- men have been invited to submit
ligious publica-
sermons, which (mark you) must
t ion. But be-
be preached before a congrega-
hind the execu-
tion in order to be eligible.
five desk, coor-
The chairman of the Church-
dinating this
man National Sermon Committee
tremendous en-
is none other than Bishop G.
terprise, is Rev.
Bromley Oxnam. We take our hat
Richard E. Ev-
off to the Churchman and to the
ans, t h e flying
Shinier and Evans team for the
parson. the dy-
masterly job done on an unprece‘
namic speaker
dented scale .. .
and master pro-
• • s•
moter.
7,0A PREDICTION
It is Dick who
NOW THAT THE 50th annual
got the partic- P. J. Biron
convention of the Zionist Or-
!potion in the weekly radio program
of the Churchman of Mayor Wit- ganization of America has been
set
for July 3, we predict that
Meier
ham O'Dwyer, Justice
Steinbrink, Hon. Herbert H. Leh- notwithstanding all the talk about
man. Hon. Fiorello La Guardia, Dr. Emanuel Neuman's candidacy,
Frederic March. Miss Florence it will b. Dr. Abba Hillel Silver
Eldridge. Ralph Bellamy, Barney who will be drafted for a third
Ross. Raymond Massey, Arthur term as president.
The constitutional regulation
Kennedy, Harold L. Ickes, Eric
Johnston, Norman Corwin, Justice limiting the presidency to two
Owen' J. Roberta and Cheater term will be lifted because of the
political emergency and the un-
Bowles.
(Continued on page 11)
The scope of the plan is gigan-

Capital Letter

President, State Dept.
Take Weak Stand on Zion

Don't Want to Do Anything, See
Anybody, Say Anything' Truman

By WILL SHERMAN'
ASHINGTON -Late last month a rather feeble gesture at forcing
the hand of the State Department on the Palestine issue was
made by a group of 30 Republican congressmen.
Secretary of State Marshall and UN Representative Warren Aus-
tin were asked to notify Congress what proposals Britain made to
the United States which induced the United States to agree to a
preliminary session of the UN
General Assembly on Palestine, seeking Acheson's aid toward at
whether the U. S. will insist upon least partial soluticin of the des-
being considered a party directly perate situation of Central Euro-
concerned in Palestine and wheth- pean Jews.
The closing of the borders of
er U. S. policy on the whole ques-
the American zone to further im-
tion has yet been formulated.
Among the signers were Javits migration of eastern European
of New York, Bender of Ohio, Jews, he said, made "mandatory"
Herter of Massachusetts, Fulton the opening of Palestine as well
of Pennsylvania, Marrow of New as a concerted American drive to
Hampshire, Mrs. Katharine St. get Jews to leave displaced per-
George, (former Rep.. Ham Fish's sons camps.
But if Acheson was unwilling
protegee) of New York, William
Stratton of Illinois, Ralph Gwinn to implement the President's
of New York and Donald Jackson proposal, be is hardly to be
blamed in view of the new evi-
of California.
dence that the President was
• • •
merely making a campaign
JAVITS TIlE LEADER
statement. late last month the
PRIME MOVER WAS Rep. Ja- President himself turned thumbs
vits, who has long been inter- down on any move to carry out
ested in Palestine and anxious to his October pledge.
do anmething to help in the so-
Gael Sullivan, executive director
lution of the problems of his peo- of the Democratic National Com-
ple.
mittee: and Ed Flynn, Bronx po-
Hie original plan was to Intro- litical boss, had both urged the
duce legislation calling upon the chief executive to issue a state-
Export-Import Bank to finance a ment calling upon the General
Jordan Valley Authority patterned Assembly to support his October
after the American Tennessee Val- position.
ley Authority. The uncertainty of
• • •
the Palestine future rules this out, PLAN FALLS THROUGH
however. for the present.
BUT HARRY TRUMAN was
Thus far there has been no
having none of it. Not only
public reaction from the Stale did he refuse to issue the state-
Department but this correspond- ment, but he also refused to dis-
ent has learned that only a day cuss the matter With a delegation
after the letter was received of leading Jews incladIng
Judge
Undersecretary Dean Acheson Proskauer of the American Jew-
told a caller the State Depart- ish Committee, Rabbi
Abba Hillel
ment is still unwilling to sup- Silver of the Zionist Organization
port any proposal for what he and the late Henry Monsky of the
described as a "short-term solu- American Jewish Conference.
tion."
This trio. sought an ap-
In other words-, Acheson Is un-
pointment through Sullivan, who
willing to implement President
tried for three days to win Tru-
Truman's proposal of last October
man's agreement to see them.
for immediate immigration of
The plan fell through, however,
100,000 Jewish displaced persona
when Sullivan received from the
from Europe to Palestine.
White House the telegram from
• • •
the Proskauer-Monsky-Silver trio
BERNSTEIN MAKES' PLEA
seeking the appointment. On it,
EGNIFICANTLY, the caller was pencilled by the President was a
Rabbi Philip Bernstein, adviser comment, reading, in effect, "I
on Jewish affairs to European still don't want to do anything,
Theater Commander Gen. Lucius see anybody, or say anything on
D. Gay. Rabbi Bernstein was Liam matter."

W

•

50 Years of
Service
Forward Marks

By EMANUEL ABRAHAM

1N THESE TROUBLED days of
the aftermath to the greatest
upheaval in the life and history
of the Jewish people, it is heart-
ening to find that the largest Jew-
ish newspaper in America and the
world is celebrating half a cen-
tury of its useful and colorful life.
The Jewish Forward, serving
faithfully and vigorously the larg-
est number of Yiddish-speaking
Jews in the world, has a proud
record of varied achievements. Its
position is unique, not alone be-
cause it is the largest Yiddish
daily but also because . it is the
oldest newspaper among the 300
English labor publications appear-
ing in the United States.
As an organization it is singu-
lar among all American newspa-
pers because it is owned and con-
trolled by a dues-paying, non-
profit sharing association.

• • •

AIDED IMMIGRANTS
SINCE THE FORWARD came
to life in 1897, it has been one of
the chief instruments of opinion
among millions of Jews now inte-
grated with American life.
It reached a peak of 250,000 cir-
culation, it served the masses as
guide and educator, it led the way
to Americanism and conscious
citizenship, and gave way two and
one-half million dollars to various
labor, charitable and social
causes.
The Forward is published daily
in New York and Chicago, with
branch offices In Newark, Phila-
delphia, Boston, Baltimore, Cleve-
land,. Detroit, Los Angeles and
other cities.
• •

VOICE OF THE MASSES
ITS STORY IS ALSO the story
of the teeming masses of Jews,
w'w began arriving in this coun-
try early in the 1880's from Rus-
sia, Poland and Austria. Until that
time the Jewish population in the
United States consisted mainly of
Spanish-Portuguese Jews, who be-
gan arriving on these shores wtill
the very earliest settlers during
the 16th and 17th centuries, and
of those who by the middle of the
19th came front Germany.
A guest of honor at the half
century celebration on May 25 at
Madison Square Garden will be its
87-year-old editor-in-chief, Abra-
ham Callan.
Th:s grand old man of the Yid-
dish press in the United States,
who in his younger days gained
literary distinction as an Ameri-
can writer through his short
stories and famous novels, "Yekl"
and "The Rise of David Levin-
sky." made the Forward his life's
work and through it made a great
contribution to Jewish life in
America.
• • •

HELPED WRITERS
THE FORWARD CONTRIB-
UTED in very large measure to-
ward the furtherance and dissemi-
nation of the best works In Yid-
dish literature. Great Yiddish
writers first published their works
- novels, stories and poetry in its
pages.
Shaken Asch, up to recent years
with the Forward for many dec-
ades, published virtually all his
important novels and stories in
the Forward.
Abraham Reisen, oldest living
and famous poet and short story
writer is one of its permanent
contributors. The now famous
novels of I. J. Singer, "Yoshe
Kalb," "The Brothers Ashkenazi,"
"East of Eden," that have been
translated into many languages,
including the Scandinavian, were
first published in this newspaper.

• •

•

KAHN IS MANAGER
ALEXANDER KAHN. general
manager of the Forward, a prom-
inent lawyer, is high in the coun-
cils of some of the most impor-
tant Jewish organizations in Jew-
ish life. He is a vice-chairman of
the American Joint Distribution
Committee and holds positions of
prominence in similar organiza-
tions.
The president of the Forward
Publishing Association is Adolph
Held, national chairman of the
Jewish
Labor Committee,
(or
many years president of the
Amalgamated Bank and now di-
rector of the health department
of the International Ladies Gar-
ment Workers Union.

Page Three

Personal Problems

Average Student Is 0. K.
If He Tries His Hardest

Majority Is 'Ordinary' but Stable;
Parents Advised Against Pressure

By DR. W. A. GOLDBERG
PERIODICALLY, THE young adults in my lecture group ask me
me revealing questions, like this one: "What's wrong with being.
an ordinary person? Has the world gained so much from geniuses?
. Many parents demand that all their children bring home report
cards with all "A's." If they don't, there's the devil to pay around
the house . . ."
I am definitely in agreement
with the implication this young worthwhile causes, vote, run their
man makes, that there is nothing government, have the usual fac-
tory, office and store positions.
wrong with be-
Scientifically, the distribution of
ing an ordinary,
any large number of persons must
usual, stable,
fall into the same pattern. The
quiet person, a
majority is neither exceptionally
youngster w h o
good nor exceptionally bad. At
brings home the
the extremes we find the unusual
best marks pos-
persons, the extraordinarily suc-
sible.
cessful and the extraordinary
I cannot agree
failure.
that all chil-
• • •
dren must de-
liver all "A"
WORK AT CAPACITY
cards because
SO TOO WITH THE students.
it is a physical
Dr. Goldberg
Most students have average
impossibility. A parent demanding ability. A few are
low and a few
this standard merely gives way to very high.
his own frustrations and is not
It is vastly more important
looking at life sensibly. The par- that a student work at his high-
ent who demands more than a est capacity, even
if he is ordi-
child can do is creating misery nary, than to require him to
for both of them.
meet an artificial standard of
• • •
his parents' expectations.
MAJORITY 'ORDINARr
Success is not attained by a stu-
HE WORLD IS COMPOSED dent on the basis of his parents'
of a majority of people who demands (if those demands exceed
are just "ordinary," those who his ability). A student reaches his
have decent jobs, raise their own level by working at his best
families uprightly, contribute to
(Continued on page 5)

T

Plain Talk

Jewish Parochial School
Seen Fostering Discord

We Should Not Set Selves Apart
From Our Neighbors. Writer Avers

By ALFRED i SEGAL
JEWISH COMMUNITY of our town has been in the throes of
another Jewish problem ever since it was announced, lately, that
a Jewish parochial school is to be started among us in the autumn.
In Jewish life there is never any rest from problems and you think
you have escaped it all in a rummy game until somebody around the
table asks, "What do you think of a Jewish parochial school?"
In regard to this question, I --
think of myself as a grandfather, can life which is the public
one of whose grandchildren, El- school?
"Why run away from that? You
len, already is
and I, all the Jews of our genera-
of school age,
tion, grew up In the public schools
and two others,
and aren't the less Jewish on that
Jan and Paul,
account. I grew up on the idea
soon will be.
that to be a Jew was to employ
Now, as
my Jewish teaching toward the
grandfat h e r, I
good of the common life about
ask myself: Do
me; I wasn't somebody separate
you want your
in the American scene.
grandchll dren
• • •
to attend a
POINTS
UP
DIFFERENCES
paro-
Jewish
chial school?
4WHAT YOU WOULD have me
And why, or
do to Ellen was what
why not?
Hitler did with all the Jewish
Ellens
in Germany as soon as he
Let's, for example, consider El-
len. Ellen now is in the first grade took over. He ordered that Jewish
of a public school and doing all children must be set apart In sep-
right. In the public school she is arate schools, to have no share in
in the ideal situation of a human German life.
"Later he deprived them also
being who is not conscious of any
important difference between her- of Jewish life by killing most of
self and other human beings in them. We resented bitterly what
her classroom: No difference of Hitler did to us. Why, now, do
wealth, or social station, or race we do it to ourselves?
"No, my friend, 1 must tell
or religion.
In her class there Is the co
corn-, you I shall do nothing to have
plete fulfillment of democracy. Ellen . enrolled in the Jewish
Bad behavior is the only distinc- parochial school. Suppose she
At
tion that can separate one indi- were put in tour school.
once she would be made aware
vidual from another.
that she was homebody apart
Ellen herself is conacioloi of
from the run of the girls; she
no harrier in the fact that she
was somebody different
and
is Jewish; it's nothing to ob-
must carry her difference to

THE

r

sess her young mind. Being
Jewish is a way of having to do
with God, and connotes nothing

separate corner.

a

"I want Ellen to be educated to
understand that she belongs to
of separation from other kids. American life and is nobody spe-
• • •
cial. She is not a ghetto child to
WHY AT THIS TIME?
be guarded from contact with
SUPPOSE, NOW THAT in au- other children of other
faiths and
tumn the director of the Jewish race.
parochial school calls on me: "Mr.
"She is Jewish but he- being
Segal, I am asking you to use Jewish is no identity that se-
whatever influence you have to questers her from those who are
enroll your granddaughter in our Christians. Al a Jew I am not
parochial school." separating myself or any of my
I reply that I've been thinking kinspeople from the brotherhood
about the parochial school .
of man.
" But, sir, why a parochial school
• • •
at this late date of American NOT LIKE CATHOLICS
Jewish life? Why this sudden "TRUE, later in her school life
project of an escape for our chil-
Ellen may become conscious
dren front the palladium of Ameri-
(Continued on page