Page Four DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE Friday, May 21, 1948 Detroit Jewish Chronicle Detroit's Pledge in Spotlight Published Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc., 548 Woodward, Detroit 26, Mich., CA. 1040 Wodd SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 Per Year, Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year &tend iu Second-class matte, March 3. 1916, at the Post Office at Detroit. Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879 SEYMOUR TILCHIN, President GEORGE WEISWASSEft, Editor-in-Chief Vol. 50, No. 18 Friday, May 21, 1948 (Iyar 12, 5708) •••• A new nation has been founded. Yes- terday in Israel was an historic date for th'e Jews of Palestine and of the entire world. It spelled victory for the hopes of generations of brave and determined men and womOn. The partition which they had won by their own struggle had already been an accomplished fact, but yesterday it was recorded for history in words which it will be impossible now to erase from men's minds. An auspicious week for all Israel will be brought to a close for Detroit Young Israel on Sunday with festivities celebrating 25 years of service-to Judaism and the Jewish community. Only because recent world events have been so overwhelming has Young Israel's Silver Jubilee failed to receive the honor it merits. We are sure, nevertheless, that despite the excitement and the drama of the refounding of the Jewish State, De- troit Jewry pauses with us to salute this magnificent group of young men and women whose devotion to Israel's traditions is of the kind that has made the events of re- cent days possible. Jewry has found strength and pride in the idealism and courage of the pioneeri and fighters who have moulded the State. It has found no less strength from the religious inspiration of youths who have never yielded in their adherence to the pre- cepts of faith and .who have combined their spiritual loyalties with a physical bravery that is evoked only out of love for one's land. These too are the heroes of reborn Is- rael, and American Young Israel has played no little part in providing them with inspi- ration, manpower and sustenance. As we honor Detroit Young Israel on its joyful 25th birthday, we honor all young men and women of Eretz Israel, builders of a new life and a new hope. • t' -1- 4.x.r4ORZI4x-r-Ir ■ ••. To Israel: Welcome Good Luck to Young Israel • 1 The proclamation of the State of Israel gives Jewry a new holiday. For the first time in our history, the month 'of Iyar will have a festival to be celebrated year after year and forever. Squeezed in between Nissen and its week's celebration of Passover and Sivan with its observance of Shavuoth, festival commemorating the giving of the .Law of Mt. Sinai, the month of lyar through the ages, has been unnoticed•and forlorn. It had to wait thousands of years for a festival of its own, a festival that, in great measure, has the spiritual and nationalistic validity of Pesach or of Chanukah. How the 5th of Iyar will be celebrated in years to come, the future alone will tell. But if the past is to be the judge, certainly the day in which Israel was reestablished and recognized by the United States will go down in Jewish lore as a day of days in which to give thanks to the Almighty, in which to offer tribute to the brave men and women of that day who carved out the State with their love and who watered the mortar of its structure with their sweat and with their blood. Detroit Jews can be proud of themselves for their splendid response at the Libera- tion Day rally Sunday at Roosevelt Field. They itteked the playground so tightly that there was no standing room left. There must have been at least 20,000 persons there and hundredS more were turned away. It was the largest gathering in Detroit Jewish history. The jubilation and delight were con- tagious. It was evident that those present came because of their exultation over the establishment of the State of Israel and out of their desire to voice their solidarity with their brethren. _ The demonstration' was doubly signifi- cant because it came on "I Am an American Day". Those principles of our government which we acclaimed that day, it was recog- nized, won a new triumph in the establish- ment of a free and democratic Jewish State in the despotic, dictator-ridden Middle East. We congratulate the Zionist Council and the Jewish Community Council committee on a job well done. We congratulate the community on this great outpouring to demonstrate its joy and its unity with Israel. .44-104, % t3c. . • • 'Zr-•••••••,su. s DETROIT 26, MICH. A New Festival—The 5th of lyar Detroiters Hail Israel NINA, 51.1.11TV:. • • • Detroit Jews Pledge Their Solidarity With II Israel This does not mean that the struggle is over in Israel. By force of arms the Haganah has built an independent state; by force of arms it will now have to de- fend it. • • • The long, tough, but necessary job of working out good relations with Israel's Arab neighbors is only beginning, and it be- gins unhappily in violence. But the Jews of Palestine have won the world's respect by their willingness to fight their own bat- tles, and to win them. They have held an older respect by never abandoning their conviction that in the long run they will win in peace, as well as in war. Random Thoughts 1111101111111111111111111141111111111111111141111111111111111111111N111 By Seymour Tile/fin I)ETROIT WITNESSED the the Shofar were probably the largest Jewish mass demon- most impressive events. stration in its nistory Sunday. As one reporter put it to me, A Jewish' national state in Palestine According to police estimates, As the Shofar was blowing, changes the map, and it changes the world. 20,000 persons jammed Roose- clouds gathered in the sky and lit- The Middle East holds more than strategic velt Field to participate in the tle droplets of rain came down, bases and oil, it is filled with people. long-prayed-for celebration. The and as I looked into the audi- police said that thousands of 2nce, tears streamed down their Whether Jews or Arabs, they 'stand to others were turned back because faces mingling with the droplets win by the great decision announced yes- of traffic congestion. of rain." • • • terday. For the new state means that a I take special pride in this window has been opened in the Middle East. meeting not only because I was NAME SON ISRAEL New ideas and new skills will pour through its chairman but because this EVERYBODY WHO was with- this window. They will raise the standard demonstration was different in in hearing distance was deeply many respects that it took moved and many gave vent to of life for millions of people whose poverty so on great significance and because their emotions by sending up and illiteracy have been a curse to them- it is rarely that we Jews can envelopes with money to the selves and a danger to the world. hold joyous demonstrations. In- platform although no solicitation •, • • stead of being a protest rally or of funds was made. Americans ; more than any other people r. rally to raise funds or to raise A woman whom I have known for the support of one for a long time came up to me greeting Israel today, know from the stories emotions cause or another, this was one and said, "Seymour, my (laugh- of their own fathers and grandfathers what of deep joy and religious devo- ter just gave birth to a son yes- it means to stir old roots with new rain, tion. terday, we shall name him Is- • • • to mix modern science and engineering with ael." STARTS PROMPTLY the oldest cultures in history. People everywhere were say- IT WAS unusual in many re- ing, "I wish my 'father or moth- This is why the greeting of the Ameri- spects. A program was distrib- er had lived to witness this can people to the new Israel preceded official uted to all those present. As day." As I stopped at my par- de facto recognition, and dwarfed it in im- the program indicated, the ents' house after the meeting, portance. Meeting was scheduled to start my father who seldom displays at 3:30 and to end at 5:30. It his emotion, put his arms around President Truman 'had divided counsel started promptly at 3:30 and me, kissed me and broke into on the diplomatic problems involved. Ile ended promptly at 5:30. tears. Even God was with us. He • • • had a railroad strike, a European Recovery Program and an election on his mind. This allowed rain to pour all week ISRAEL IN THE NEWS DID YOU NOTICE that dis- is a large country, committed to the large prior to the meeting, allowed the sun to shine all Sunday patches now arriving from Pal- and expensive process of balancing diver- morning and, at exactly 5:30, estine read, "Tel - Aviv, Israel"? gent forces and seeking solutions by agree- as Hatikvah was being sung at Have you sent your wire or ment. the end of the meeting, the letter to President Truman • • • rains fell again. thanking him for the immediate While this was a joyous occa- recognition of the Jewish State? In a democracy, patience is a solid vir- sion, the meeting was filled with I know there is a great deal of tue, and the people can often speak louder moments of throat-choking emo- than their diplomats. President Truman tion and of sadness. The parade hesitancy on the part of Jews has had patience for many months. Fri- of the flags and the blowing of to do so because of Truman's ((Continued on Page 14) day night he won high credit for the promptness with which he recognized the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of the American people. Most Americans have already spoken on the challenge which Israel presents to us, and there can be no mistaking what they say. For this is a challenge in our own tradition. It gives us a chance'to strength- en the United Nations. For if the United Nations fumbled the ball, it never dropped it, and the bounda- ries of the new state, like partition itself, rest firmly on United Nations acts. It gives us also, perhaps, a thread of hope in our tangled relations with the Soviet Union; the Russians have backed partition and in- dependence from the start. Finally, it gives us a chance to help a great and vig- orous people to build their nation. • Americans welcome a new nation to- day. We wish its people well, and we know that helping them will help ourselves: • ' PM, New York. Gives $250,000 to Campaign to Mark His Joy Over State NEW YORK—A $250,000 gift casion I am impelled to express to mark the establishment of my gratitude to God who has the Jewish State has been made brought us to this day and to to the United Jewish Appeal by our people who have been thus Abraham Mazer, New York rewarded." paper manufacturer and com- munal leader, it was announced Morgenthau, In announcing by Harry Morgenthau, Jr., gen- the gift, stressed the need for eral chairman. immediate cash contributions' to In a letter to Mbrgenthau, Ma- the United Jewish Appeal 'in zer wrote that "it is for me a light of the vast possibilities for source of the deepest personal mass immigration which have satisfaction that this great mo- been opened as a result of the ment has come within my own establishment of the Jewish lifetime. In this hour of great State. celebration, we are mindful of The mass exodus of Jews from the generations who have pre- Cyprus—where 25,000 have been ceded/us and who have labored interned—and from the DP and died to bring this dream to camps of Europe, which now reality. contain 250,000 homeless Jews, "On this occasion we pay trib- will require tremendous sums, ute-to the pioneers who even to- far exceeding the $250,000,000 day are building this State on goal of the United Jewish Ap- their own bodies. On this -oc- peal, Morgenthau pointed out.