Page 28 DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE Events of Israel Spark Review of Year 5709 By A. GREEN O F ALL THE history-making events that crowded upon the republic of Israel during the first full calendar year of its existence, the future historian will probably select as the two most outstanding ones, the entry of a , quarter - million Jewish immi- and cultivating new agricultural grants into the little country, the greatest trek in Jewish history, lands, was the religious problem, and the establishment of a • tem- "church stale" relations. porary peace between Israel and While the government pro- all her Arab neighbors, of an claimed religious liberty for all armistice which gave Israel that the inhabitants, non-Jews as well chance to lay a firm foundation as Jews, orthodox Jews clamored for its future existence. for more and more official recog- The great return to their an- nition of their faith as the domi- cient land, of which Jews had nant religion of the State, for dreamt for centuries, the Kib- Sabbath observance and Kash- butz Galiuth, the "re-assembly of ruth in public places and institu- the exiles," was on in full blast tions, and so on. during 5709. As the new year begins the It brought the population of the conflict over the religious ques- new-born Jewish state close to a tion has not been resolved and • • million. It created problems, ter- much goodwill on all sides will DAVID BEN GURION rifle problems, problems of hous- be required if 5710 is to see a ing and employment particularly. solution. past year was the virtual liquida- • • • Jews all over the world, and in tion of the Jewish Displaced Per- America particularly, were called PROBLEM OF CAPITAL sons camps which had been set upon for assistance in this heroic CAPITAL = LABOR differences effort to re-establish the rem- in Israel also assumed spine im- up in 1945 after the war for those nants of martyred European Jew- portance during the past year. Vi- who had survived the wholesale ry in the new Jewish republic by tally needed capital investments German massacres. the Mediterranean, Nearly all of these displaced from abroad, it was said, were The problems and the heroic being held up because of lack of persons went to Israel. This great efforts that must be made to over- confidence on the part of profit- emigration of displaced persons come them will continue into the seeking capitalists in the inten- to Israel tended to greater nor- new year 5710. malization of the life of those tions of Ben Gurion's moderately • • • who remained in Western socialist government and because Jews Europe, JERUSALEM ISSUE of the grip on the economy of the In eastern Europe, however, THE ESTABLISHMENT of a country held by Histadrut, the Communist - dominated govern- temporary peace with the Arabs General Federation of Labor. ments curbed the desire of hun- also left many serious problems The extreme leftist labor party, of Jew-Arab relations unsolved, Mapam, on the other hand, re- dreds of thousands of Jews to set- • hief among them the return of sented the decree of the govern- tle in Israel, permitting only a trickle of emigration. Arab refugees to Israel and the ment reducing both wages and Eastern Europe, too, saw dur- future status of Jerusalem. But prices in an effort to curb infla- as the new year dawns it looks as lion, and unsuccessfully attempt- ing the year the beginning of per- if the first problem at least, that ed to call a general protest strike. secution of Zionism as a "reac- tionary bourgeois" ideal and the of the' Arab refugees, will soon As the mass-emigration from of Zionist leaders in Hun- be straightened out by the admis- Europe to Israel began to taper jailing gary. sion of 100,000 Arabs and that off by the end of the year, Israel Jewish cultural activities there, one important cause for tension began to look forward to a mass- ••■■ ••••••••• ■■ ••......... ■ ••• ■ •••.....• between Israel and the Arab emigration from North Africa ■■■••■• countries will be thereby elimi- and other Arab lands. That was nated, Greetings beginning to create another se- The year 5709 also saw the es- rious problem, that of integrat- tablishment of the first perma- ing masses of backward Oriental nent Jewish government in Is Jews into the life of the mod- rael, the election of the first Is- ern, western-minded Jewish corn- raeli parliament; and the inaugu- munity of Israel. ration of Chaim Weizmann as All in all, it can be said that first president of the republic, and the first full year of Israel's exis- the choice of David Ben Gurion knee, while filled with difficul- , as premier, by a coalition of mod- even erately socialist and religious fl ties, 11354 Dexter Blvd. ed g li ng more difficulties than a groups. state would normally It witnessed the admission of encounter, proved the stability of Alpert - TO 8-3590 Israel as member a mem the new nation, the strength of of the United FIMIN■ ■•• •••■••■•■■•■■ ..., Nations, its recognition as a sov- ereign State by nearly all the im- portant countries of the world and HAPPY HOLIDAY . . its declaration of neutrality as between the western and eastern blocs of nations. • • 9583 Grand River HOgarth 9545 FRIENDLY WORLD THE YEAR began with the shadows of the assassination of GREETINGS FROM .. • Count Bernadotte hovering over the new nation end threatening to isolate it from the world commu- nity. FIRE INSURANCE ADJUSTER FOR THE ASSURED As the year ended, however, 1420 DIME BLDG. the world community, realizing A. Mackey M. M. Mackey that Israel's intentions were of D. Gross the most peaceful sort and that it was willing to resolve its differ- ences with its Arab neighbors in ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS a spirit of compromise, took the young republic to its heart. Thus GEORGE KAY DRUGS even England, which had inflict- GEORGE J. KOLLENBERG ed so much suffering upon the 13141 DEXTER at TYLER new Jewish State, changed its HO. 9455 attitude, gave Israel recognition and promised to maintain friend- ly relations with it in the future. Of the internal problems of Is- rael, next in importance to the (gOSA KC/S/1011dt economic problem of abSorbing hundreds of thousands of new Jews, of creating new industries! , • its will to live and the respectful recognition of that will by the nations of the world. • • • DP ERA WANING THE BIGGEST EVENT in Eu- ropean Jewish history during the - • Meyer's Appetizers and Groceries le•NIIHNIN Thursday, September 22, 1949 including schools, were being greatly curtailed, if not altogeth- er abolished, by the governments of Romania and other countries under the influence of Soviet Russia. • • DECLINE IN RUSSIA AS TO RUSSIA itself, the last vestiges of Jewish culture—to say nothing of Zionism, which had been liquidated many years be- fore—seemed to be disappearing. The Jewish anti-Fascist com- mittee, which had been carrying on cultural activities of a sort, the one remaining Yiddish news- paper "Ainikeit," Yiddish schools, all were closed down. Yiddish writers of great reputation had disappeared from the scene and even their whereabouts were un- known as the year drew to a close. French Jewry seemed to be get- ting back on its feet again during the past year and Paris was be- coming more and more important as' a center of European Jewish culture. In England, despite increased 'anti-Semitism and economic ad- versity, Jews appeared to be maintaining their normal, well- organized communal activities. • NORMALCY IN U. S. IN THE UNITED STATES the five million Jews, about half the Jewish population of the world, continued to lead their normal, prosperous existence, undisturbed by anti-Semitism, which accord- ing to reports by responsible Jew- ish organizations showed less or- ganized activity during the past year than in previous ones. The big event in organized American Jewish life during 5709 was the controversy over the (Continued on Page 30) - - Happy New Year to All TEALK SCRAP IRON COMPANY 14750 WILDEMERE UN. 1-1917 Greetings EAST END LAUNDRY Complete Family Service 2559 IIILLGER VA. 2.2241 ■•••••■••• ■■ •••• ■•■••■ =1INIMIIM •••=11 Roth Hashonah Greeting s to All! ABE HERTZBERG 1401 Beaubien St. WO. 1-0301 Lafayette Steel Corp. Extends Its Heartiest Best Wishes for a Happy New Year 13501. Sanders VI. 2-4115 Sanford's Cleaners & Dyers THE MACKEY CO. creetillip — — ------- Greetings LELLIN INN 7618 Woodward TR. 2-9289 Shelby Photo - Engravers Company 513 Shelby WO. 2-1248 - W0.2-0978 • Oa .16110 NINON • • • 111 ••••••••••• ■■ DINO , The Officers and Members of The Hebrew Ladies Aid Society Wish a Happy, Prosperous and Peaceful Bl ew Year to the Community and to the People of Israel.