Page Four

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

Richards Waves the Flag

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

Published by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc:
2805 Barium Tower, Detroit 26, Michigan

Friday, March 4, 193

WOodward 1-1040

SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 Per Year, Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year
Entered as Second-class matte: March 3. 1916, at the Post Office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879

SEYMOUR TILCHIN, President

Friday, March 4, 1949

GEORGE WEISWASSER, Editor-in-Chief

(Adar 3, 5709)

In Brief . . .

Because of the uncompromising stand of
the Morgenthau-Montor faction in the con-
troversy over the United Jewish Appeal,
there is the gravest danger that there will
be two big campaigns in the country for
Israel, or worse still, none. The unholy com-
bination of millionaires plus the professional
welfare executives plus—and this is incred-
ible—the socialist labor party of Israel is
threatening the very existence of the 1949
campaign and dividing the Jews of America
into hostile forces who will not be united
again for a long time to come, now that
Israel is virtually at peace and the DP prob-
lem near solution. You can place this crim-
inal development at the door of those who
would destroy the American Jewish com-
munity for the sake of power and prestige.
Men of honor will not support those who
have just recently come into power but who
remained on the sidelines when they were
most needed. They will rally to the support
of Dr. Silver and Dr. Neumann who have
offered concession after concession and have
been contemptuously rebuffed. If Dr. Silver
and Dr. Neumann fail to restore peace, there
will be no good reason to contribute to a dis-
organized and undemocratic United Jewish
Appeal.

- * * * .
JWV Honors Its Hero Dead

Plaques and statues in memory of our
soldier dead are a senseless waste of money.
But memorials which help bring peaqe and
joy to the living provide a true tribute to the
dead because they are not cold pieces of
metal or stone, but rather are warm and
friendly. Even in death, the soldier heroes
give life and vigor to those they left behind.
Such a memorial is that of the Detroit Jew-
ish War Veterans which will be built to-
gether with the Jewish Community Center
branch at Davison and Holmur. The build-
ing and the playground adjoining will pro-
vide a meeting place for JWV and other
groups. It will provide recreation for thou-
sands in the Dexter area. Its Memorial Room
will name the Jewish war dead and com-
memorate their gallantry and loyalty to
their country. Just as the Aaron DeRoy
Memorial building on Woodward recalls con-
stantly to mind the name of the late com-
munal leader, so this Memorial Home of the
JWV will recall the memories of•the Jewish
boys from Detroit and outstate who gave
up their lives for their country along with
the men of all creeds and races and faiths.
Veterans can begin paying honor to those
who died with a contribution to the JWV
Memorial Home. Send it to your post or
auxiliary commander or president.

* * *
Group Libel Bill

One of the greatest obstacles to prosecu-
tion of hate-mongers who villify a gioup in
the United States is the.,absence of a group
libel law. If there is a \ything difficult to
change, it is a concept f' the English com-
mon law deified by t e centuries and the
casuistries of jurisprudence. It is more
difficult to get a tribunal to modify a rule
of common law than it is to get an orthodox
Rabbi to modify a rule of the Shulchan
Aruch, we assure you. That is why we hail
with some emotion the introduction into
Congress of a bill which would legalize
prosecution for a group libel. That means
that if the bill becomes a law and is upheld
by the Supreme Court, which is none too
certain, a Coughlin can be prosecuted for
maligning the whole Jewish people and ex-
posing them to ridicule, hatred and the at-
tacks of the mob. This bill, strongly sup-
ported by the American Jewish Congress, is
the first step towards the amelioration of
an unjust situation. The fight will not be
easy. We hope that the Congress of the
United States and the nation's tribunals will
have advanced enough in their conception of
civil rights to indorse this bill.

DETROIT 26, Mich.

Peace in Middle East

Peace in the Middle East is no longer a
mere hope, but a reality. An armistice agree-
ment between Israel and Egypt was signed
and similar agreements are expected to
follow with Transjordan and the other Arab
states. The significance of the event is great-
er than can be evaluated at the moment. It
means net only peace in Palestine, but in the
whole of the Middle East and it means also
the emergence of Israel as a big power in
that area of the world. The agreement leaves
Israel in possession of the entire Negev as
well as the whole territory in northern
Galilee which was occupied by the Israeli
forces during the big advance last fall.
Egypt surrenders all territory in Palestine
except the city Gaza which was awarded by
the United Nations partition decision to
Arab Palestine. Beersheba, the much con-
tested city which was the chief obstacle to
peace, also goes to Israel. 'Transjordan, which
has been eager for peace and has been car-
rying on secret negotiations with Israel for
months, started official negotiations this
week and there is no doubt that an early
settlement will be reached on the basis of a
division of the city of Jerusalem between
the two nations. The other Arab nations will
then follow suit and one may now safely
By WILLIAM ZUKERMAN
expect peace in the entire Middle East in
(Jewish World News Service)
the near future and with Israel as one of the
NEW YORK—Since the proclamation of the Jewish State there
dominant powers.
have been many rumors and reports about the place of the Jewish

Israeli Rabbis List
Religious Objectives

* * *
Truman and Editors

There was much significance to the inter-
view of President Truman by a group of
leading English-Jewish newspapers who
came to pay their respects to him on the
occasion of the convention in Washington
commemorating the hundredth anniversary
of that press in the United States. One of
the editors who took part in the collective
interview said that the group was more im-
pressed by the atmosphere of friendship and
goodwill that prevailed throughout the talk
and by the profound sympathy for, and
knowledge of, the outstanding Jewish prob-
lems revealed by the President, than by any-
thing that was said by him specifically. The
President's sympathetic attitude to Jewish
and non-Jewish DP's and his numerous ef-
forts to solve that painful postwar problem
were a matter of common knowledge, but
what pleasantly surprised and even moved
the Jewish editors was the revelation that
the President was well-versed in the intrica-
cies of other Jewish problems,in Israel and
outside it, with which only experts are ac-
quainted. The general impression left on the
editors by the President's talk was that he
was a true humanitarian, kind-hearted
American and a sincere friend of the Jews.
The editors came to thank Mr. Truman for
what he had done for the implementation of
the Jewish State, but they left with a feel-
ing of gratitude also for his sympathetic
interest on other problems affecting Jews
outside Israel.
*, * *

Menacheni Boraisha

The poetry of Menachem Boraisha who
died suddenly two weeks ago at the age of 61,
is of the type that is recognized and appreci-
ated most with the passing of time. Like a
mountain, it 'is seen best from a distance.
In the opinion of Dr. Stephen Wise, Borai-
sha's personal friend, Boraisha's poetry will
be remembered long after the writing of
many other Yiddish poets of his time will be
forgotten. For Boraisha was a profound
seeker of the truth and in his search, went
deeper than the surface. His famous poem
"Der Geyer," (The Pilgrim) was a spiritual
autobiography of a sensitive man of a trou-
bled generation, but it was more than that—
it was a search for eternal verities which
transcend time and period. Boraisha be-
longed to the same type of writers as the
late Lamed Shapiro and Peretz Hirschbein
who also died recently. He was, as Dr.
Stephen Wise truthfully said, the very in-
carnation of spiritual honesty and childish
simplicity. Jewish social and cultural life in
New York will become much drabber with
the passing of his clear personality.

religion in Israel. It has been claimed on numerous occasions that
the Jewish cickial parties in Is-.■>
rael, recently organized in a Re- no status in the Jewish commun-
ligious bloc, were attempting to
ity and cannot even intermarry
force the new Parliament to pass with other Jews.
laws making certain orthodox re-
Both Rabbi Werfel and Rabbi
ligious rites compulsory for cit-
izens of Israel whether they are Shragai, explained that there ex-
ists a difference of opinion on the
orthodox or not.
It has been difficult to obtain question of State interference in
confirthation or denial of these the family life of the Israeli cit-
reports because most leaders of izen, between the Agudas Israel
Israel, in or outside the govern- (the non-political orthodox
ment, were reluctant to speak on party), and the Mizrachi (the po-
litical Zionist orthodox party).
this delicate subject.
• • •
The former advocates a view
EXPLAIN POSITION
that the observance of the Jew-
LAST WEEK TWO leaders of ish religion is a private matter
the strongest clericalist party of for the individual (between God
Israel, the Mizrachi, men in re- and man). The State should
sponsible positions in Israel, dis- therefore not interfere into the
cussed the problem with a group privacy of the individual's life
of-Jewish journalists in what was and force upon him religious ob-
probably the first semi-official servances (except in the public
observance of the Sabbath and
talk on the subject.
The leaders in question were Holy Days, and of dietary laws in
Rabbi Isaac Werfel, leader of the public places).
Labor Mizrachi party and head of
But the Mizrachi party holds
the immigration section of the the view that the Jewish religion
Jewish Agency which selects and puts a collective responsibility
directs Jewish immigration from upon the individual Jew and
all parts of the world into Israel, therefore it has to be enforced
and Rabbi S. Z. Shragai, a leader collectively by the State.
of the same party and a member
Asked whether banning of
of the Jewish Agency for Pales-
mixed marriages by the State
tine.
does not smack somewhat of the
The Israeli Rabbis were asked
to state how they envisaged the Nazi principle of the "pure" racial
role of Jewish religion, (or of marriages and would not lead to
the same tragic results as in
orthodoxy, for no other Jewish
Nazi Germany, Rabbi Shragai
religion is recognized in Israel) in
vehemently repudiated the
the Jewish State. Both Rabbi charge.
Werfel and Rabbi Shragai replied
. • • •
in similar terms, that the aim
APPROVAL IN DOUBT
and object of Jewish orthodoxy
ASKED WHETHER the pres-
is to introduce constitutional laws
in Israel according to which not ent Israeli government would
only "Kashruth" (dietary law) consent to such laws, both Rabbis
and. Sabbath observance would replied that they were certain
be enforced, but also that all that it would have to do so, for
matters pertaining to family life the orthodox Jews now form a
in Israel, such as marriages and vast majority of the State of
divorces, should be under the Israel; firstly because of the
jurisdiction of the orthodox Rab- awakening of religion among
Jews of Europe of late and sec-
bis and of the religious courts.
• • •
ondly because of the great influx
of Jews from Arab countries,
BAR CIVIL MARRIAGE
THE RABBIS stressed the fact such as Yemen and the North-
that civilian marriages, which are African countries where the na-
recognized in this country and in tive Jews are strictly orthodox
every other western country, and will not stand for the earlier
could not be recognized in Israel lAxity in religious matters in Is-
because it would tend to divide rael.
Jews into religious and non-re-
However, both Rabbis admit-
ligious which, according to Rab- ted that there can be no certainty
binical law, are almost two dis- about the State enforcing such
tinct people who cannot inter- laws before the Israeli constitu-
mingle.
tion is adopted and both admitted
Therefore, said Rabbi Werfel, that there is a long fight ahead
children born of a marriage out- for the Religious bloc in Israel
side the Synagogue, would be and abroad before this will be-
treated as illegitimate, who have come the law of the land.

