Thursday, December 1, 1941
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
Page 3
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
Verdict Reversal Strikes Blow at Anti-Semitism
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
ILLINOIS APPELATE COURT has struck a
mighty blow for the prestige and honor of Ameri-
can justice. It did not content itself,
with merely unanimously reversing
the verdict in the case of Joseph Mc-
Williams et al. vs. the "Sentinel" but
flayed the court proceedings of the
original trial which took place two
years ago in the Superior Court of
Cook County presided over by Judge
Donald McKinley.
Lawrence Dennis, Joseph McWil-
liams, E. J. Parker Sage, George E.
Deatherage and other defendants in
the Washington sedition trial sued
The
for libel because the
Biron
Chicago Anglo-Jewish weekly had reprinted on Dec.
1944, a telegram urging the attorney general to
ntinue the trials, ended by mistrial because of• the
ath of the presiding judge.
• • •
•
Judge McKinley awarded the plaintiffs judgments
to the total amount of $24,100.
Now, Justice Scanlon of the Illinois Appelate Court
THE
i
,,
in reversing the verdict said:
"We found it difficult, at first, to believe that the
evidence and the arguments to which we have referred
form a part of the transcript of the record of a .trial
in an American court.
"The 'arguments' in behalf of plaintiffs are more
vicious, rabble-rousing appeals to religious and racial
passions and prejudices, and the harm done to de-
fendants by the appeals was greatly aggravated by
the fact that the court remained silent while they
were made, although the 'arguments' constituted a
grave affront to justice."
The ''Sentinel" and a small group of supporters
never lost confidence in the integrity of the American
court and made the necessary sacrifices to appeal the
case. They have been vindicated, and anti-Semitism
received an important setback.
• • •
"I READ YOUR STORY about the agreement be-
tween the American Jewish Committee and the Israeli
government about calling off the Chalutzim movement
in the United States. But somehow more recent re-
ports from Israel seem to contradict your report about
the new pact between the Zionists and non-Zionists
in this country.
"Recently the "New York Times" featured an
OFF THE RECORD
In Joint Recital
Italian Village Adopts
Judaism, Goes to Israel
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
THE TREK BEGUN toward
Judaism by 80 Italian Chris-
tians some 18 years ago has ended
for some of them in the realiza-
tion of a dream which is by far
more fantastic than their conver-
sion to the ancient faith.
San Micardo, the village they
hailed from, was no different
from the typical Italian village
with its song and wine loving
peasants. Its inhabitants had long
been rooted to soil and church.
Love of God was as real with the
villagers as love of country. At-
tachment to church, tradition,
priest and nun was honest and
simple. The men tipped their
hats when passing sanctuaries and
the women never missed making
the sign of the cross. The shadow
of religious doubt probably never
settled on the thresholds of the
villages. School and church were
one. Priest and nun were one
with child, family, community.
Life in the village moved in
wren tempo and it is question-
able whether the village chronic-
lers ever had occasion for blush-
ing when dipping quill in ink. If
the daily routine fell heavy on
the dwellers, no overt expression
of the unrest had ever been re-
corded.
• •
DREAM OF A MYSTIC
This went on, for centuries
perhaps, until the year 1931. And
then a man's dream fell on the
town, and it dented souls and
habits and a faith.
For years Dante Manozzo had
been the spiritual leader of San
Micardo. His word was not law
but his sagacity was never ques-
tioned. Poor and rich, the learned
the ignorant, the clergy and
aity, respected his word. For
years he had been an exemplary
Christian, never missing a mass
or other church service, catering
to the ill of body and spirit, read-
ing the sacred word to the illiter-
ate and the blind and spreading
the light of God as seen through
the eyes of Jesus.
But now he had a vision of
another faith. For months he had
been tormented by the thought of
t o
.
Speaker Likens
Zionists to Nazis
NASHVILLE. Tenn. — The
Nashville Jewish community, ac-
cording to a report in the Na-
tional Jewish Post, was thrown
into an uproar when Rabbi Irv-
ing Reichert, vice-president of
the American Council for Juda-
ism, likened in an address Zion-
ists to Nazis.
Rabbi Hertzberg of the West
End Synagogue demanded a re-
tvaction but Reichert refused.
becoming converted to Judaism.
These thoughts he kept to him-
self, holding on to the externals
of his inherited faith while strug-
gling fur synthesis between the
concept of monotheism and the
adoration of the holy trinity.
• • •
VILLAGE CONVERTED
HE FOUND NONE to his satis-
faction. And then Manozzo had
a dream. He was to become the
leader of a movement to convert
the inhabitants of Micardo to
Judaism. The faith of the San
Micardoites in Manozzo was great
and they fell under the gentle
persuasion of their leader. Eighty
villagers, almost the entire popu-
lation of San Micardo, became
Jews, the men entering the new
faith after undergoing the tradi-
tional Abrahamic rites. They shed
their Italian names and assumed
Jewish names.
Since 1931 they had been living
in a hostile world in more than
one sense. Rebels are rarely for-
given and religious rebels are
anathema to kith and kin. In
time they became forgotten men,
except to curiosity seekers. How
they managed to escape extermi-
nation in the days of Hitler domi-
nance over Italy is still an un-
written chapter. But when Israel
emerged their stilled voices join-
ed the chorus of the wanderers
who were returning to home and
hearth.
Now the first group of the San
Micardo Jews has settled in Israel
and the rest are to follow soon.
What will happen to the genera-
tions of the Micardoites is a story
for the future. For our purpose
it is interesting to record that
these Jews by conversion were
settled in a village near the an-
cient city of Safad, close to the
site of the grave of Simeon ben
Yehai, the great Jewish mystic
and author of the Kabbalah. It
was a mystic force that brought
them to Judaism and the pattern
that brings them close to that
great Kabbalist is as mystifying
as everything around us.
JULIUS C H A J E S, composer
and pianist, and Zinovi Bistrit-
sky, violinist and member of
the Detroit Symphony Orches-
tra, will be heard in a joint re-
cital on Monday evening, Dec.
12 at the Institute of Arts. The
program will include sonatas
by Mozart and Brahms, as well
as Chajes' own composition
"Sonata in A-Minor."
article by Gertrude Samuels in which she quoted
Premier Ben Gurion to this effect: "I believe we will
have some 3,000,000 Jews in this country (Israel).
And I would say that this is the primary objective of
the State, primary because only in this way would we
have real security."
• • •
"Could you tell me how Mr. Ben Gurion expects
to get three million Jews into Israel? According to
statistical data there are six million Jews in Anglo-
Saxon countries including the United States and close
to three million Jews in Eastern Europe including the
Soviet Union.
"Outside of Latin American which has 600,000 Jews
all the other countries including all Arab or oriental
countries have less than 1,400,000 Jews.
"Now, since Eastern European countries are said to
have stopped emigrants from going to Israel it would
seem that Ben Gurion expects approximately 1,500,000
Jews from England and America. Does he expect to
get more than a million Jews from the United States
without a campaign for Chalutzim?"
The letter is signed by a Jewish woman leader who
prefers to remain anonymous. We reserve our answer
for a forthcoming column.
Victims of Hitler Discover
Heirlooms at U.S. Auction
NEW YORK—(WNS)—A col-
lection including religious art
objects, candelabra, vases and an-
tiques confiscated by the Nazis
went on auction at the Plymouth
Galleries.
The German loot, recaptured
by the Allied force; and turned
over to the International Refugee
Organization, had been purchased
by the gallery for sale. When the
auction opened its pre-sale ex-
hibition, hundreds of people who
escaped Hitler's clutches came to
view the objects, among them the
wife of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum,
former Rabbi of Satner, Romania.
As she examined seine objects,
she recognized an antique snuff
box bearing a Hebrew inscription
of her husband's father. Encour-
aged by the find, Mrs. Teitelbaum
and Rabbi Joseph Ashkinazi, a
friend of her husband, began a
more thorough inspection and
found among the silverware ,a
tray and 14 silver cordial cup
holders of an original set of 18.
The heirlooms had been taken
from them by the Nazis in 1944
and they themselves were sent to
the Belsen concentration camps.
Rabbi Ashkinazi had lost his wife
and seven children in the death
camps.
The snuff box was also recog-
nized by a young man who had
studied under Rabbi Teitelbaum
and who shared a common fate
with his teacher as an inmate at
the Belsen camp.
The owners of the Plymouth
Galleries said they would return
any of the silverware, believed
to exceed one million dollars in
value when new, to rightful own-
ers without charge if they can
properly substantiate their claims.
1111119S1/1 S
Admiral Tells
Einstein: 'Go
Back to Hitler'
BOSTON—Rear Admiral James
Fife, commander of the submar-
ine force of the U. S. Atlantic
Fleet, was quoted by the Asso-
ciated Press as stating that if
Prof. Albert Einstein "does not
like Americanism or our nation-
alism, then he should go back
where he came from and try Mr.
Hitler again."
Speaking here, the admiral de-
clared:
"About three years ago I got a
form letter from Mr. Albert Ein-
stein. In it he referred to atomic
energy making nationalism obso-
lete or outmoded. As we all
know, he is a World Fede—list
or a One Worlder, or whatever
you want to call it."
The Jewish Chronicle news
deadline is noon on Mondays.
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