American Jewish Periodical 0

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

Page 4

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

Histadrut Carpentry School

Published Weekly by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
WOodward 1-1040
900 Lawyers' Building, Detroit 26, Michigan
SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 Per Year. Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at
Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879

SEYMOUR TILCIIIN
Publisher
GERHARDT NEUMANN
NORMAN KOLIN
Editor
Advertising Manager
Kislev 15, 5711
Friday, November 24, 1950

Histadrut-30 Years Old

A Guest Editorial
By MORRIS LIEBERMAN
Chairman, Detroit Israel Histadrut Campaign
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Histadrut----the
organization of Jewish workers and pioneers of Israel.
For three decades, from the founding of Ilistadrut in Haifa
in 1920, under the inspiration of such far-seeing men as Berl
Katznelson and David Ben Gurion, to the present period of mass
immigration of homeward-bound Jews from all corners of the
earth, Histadrut nas grown into a mighty organization of
330,000 men and women who are building the Jewish state as
a beacon of light and hope for the Jewish people and for all
nations of the world.
The physical and spiritual revival of the Jewish people in
Israel is one of the greatest phenomena in the annals of the
human race. Every day and in every way, the men and women
of Histadrut, lend their muscles, their minds and their hearts
to the task of building and rebuilding the Jewish state on
foundations of democracy and social justice.
On land and sea, in factories and on farms, in harbors and
airfields, in offices and schools, in hospitals and service estab-
lishments, the hundreds of thousands of Histadrut workers ring
out with songs of labor and human dignity, of social progress
and political freedom. We are particularly proud of the role of
Histadrut in welcoming the mass of Jewish immigrants with
open arms and open hearts.
The Histadrut cooperatives, factories and agricultural settle-
ments, vocational schools and cultural centers, hospitals and
sanatoriums are all dedicated to the task of integrating our
returning brethren and making of them healthy and productive
citizens of Israel.
The enormous tasks of Ilistadrut require millions of dollars
which must be contributed by the Jewish community of
America. This is more than a sacred duty. It is a rare privilege
to participate in this historic effort which will safeguard the
security and welfare of the Jewish people for generations to
come.
The 30th anniversary of Histadrut will be celebrated in
Detroit with a city-wide demonstration on Thursday evening,
November 30, at the Northwest Hebrew Congregation. It will
mark the formal opening of the 1951 Detroit Israel Histadrut
campaign.
Our anniversary demonstration will inspire the Jewish
community of Detroit to renewed solidarity with the pioneers
of Israel. The voice of Detroit Jewry shall, on this happy
occasion, lend encouragement to the etoneers of Histadrut, the
vanguard of Israel.
We salute Histadrut on its 30th anniversary and hail its
unique achievements in the reconstruction of the Jewish state.
We summon its friends in Detroit, from all ranks and classes,
to participate in this momentous celebration. Let us pledge our
wholehearted support, expressed in adequate moral and mate-
rial help, in the Histadrut campaign days to come, so that it will
be a source of strength and inspiration to Ilistadrut to carry
on until our ideals will be fully realized.

Israel Elects

The election results in Israel came only as a mild surprise
to political observers. The elections in cities and rural areas
showed a definite trend toward the center party of the General
Zionists but we doubt that the election result could be inter-
preted as a shift to the right, as some papers did.
Several things have to be taken into account when this
election is analyzed. First of all, it was an off-year election. Only
about 50 per cent of the eligible voters took part in the voting.
It is a general experience that in such elections the parties in
power usually do not fare as well as the opposition. The voters
use this opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with certain
policies and measures which affect their daily lives.
It can be assumed that many voters used this opportunity to
state their opposition to the government's austerity program
and many other things which make life for the Israeli citizen
rather difficult.
Due to the proportional representation system, which en-
courages the entry of a great number of parties, no party could
win a decisive majority. It is deplorable that Israel has adopted
the European system instead of the American method which,
despite some shortcomings, is superior in that it discourages
small parties and creates clear majorities.
The whole social structure of Israel is rapidly changing.
Until the end of the British mandate, there could be no doubt
about labor's overwhelming strength in the cities and settle-
ments. The middle class element was too weak to have any
political meaning.
However, after the establishment of the Jewish state and
the unrestricted influx of Jews from all parts of the world the
picture changed radically. The agricultural society—the original
dream of Zionism—never became a reality. Israel is on the way
to an industrial society.
The outcome of the Israeli election also may be of interesting
consequences for the Zionist Organization of America. If prop-
erly and skillfully exploited, it should strengthen the ranks and
prestige of the General Zionists who represent the majority of
Zionists in America.

Friday, November 24, 1950

Story of Young
hnmigrant Boy
Touches Heart

By HAROLD S. COHEN

ONE FOOT IN AMERICA by
Yuri Suhl (Macmillan Co., New
York, 252 pp., $2.75).
The recent tendency of Jewish
authors to turn hack to the roots
of their cultural heritage and to
examine the lives of their fathers
is brought one step forward with
"One Foot in America." For Yuri
Suhl has the rapidly disappear-
ing advantage of having, himself,
made the trip to the "golden
land."
To the pathos and strife of re-
Ilistadrut maintains a carpentry school at Ilatlera, which trains
50 boys in all phases of woodwork. The school fills a vital need in settlment, Suhl brings a warm
the training of specialists for Israel's industry. In Detroit, the sympathy, a rich humor and a
fine feeling for observation that
Histadrut campaign will be launched on Nov, 30. Its goal is
makes his work one of the most
$300,000.
enjoyable of its kind.
Although the author has an
excellent command of English,
one feels that he is most fully at
home in Yiddish and as a result
the language which is used has
many of the overtones associated
with Yiddish.
There is no weighty matter in
this book, even the struggle with
European and American anti-
This is the last in our series of articles by Jewish authors
Semitism is treated with the mel-
on
views
their
state
to
Jewish
Chronicle
by
the
who were asked
lower understanding that time
writers
the present situation in the Jewish book field. These
brings.
the
in
Jewish
"renaissance"
were asked whether they saw any
The book recounts the trials
amazingly high number of Jewish books now published in this
"Star
of
and
tribulation of a young boy
the
novel
author
of
the
country. Ann Birstein is
from Poland who immigrates to
Glass"; Joseph Gaer wrote "Hearts Upon the Rock." Both novels
America with his father shortly
were reviewed in this paper in recen t weeks.—Ed.
• • •
after the first World War. His
By ANN BIRSTEIN
hardly be h rebirth where there father, a pious widower, cannot
Thank you for asking my help has been no death. The numer- adjust to the commercial spirit
in interesting the public in Jew- ous books of which you speak of the new land and so his son
ish literary matters. Since I am are to me simply an obvious re- becomes a butcher's boy to help
not qualified to speak for any flection of an intensified con-
support himself.
large group, all I can offer is a sciousness of things Jewish.
His rise from a green imagina-
personal opinion, but I hope that
And, like most literature, they tive child to a self-supporting
it will be of some use.
come not from a solution but a Americanized young man is a
My answer to your question problem. The problem is the heart - warming tale. The charac-
on how I happened to pick need for a new evaluation of terization is round and skillful
the subject of my novel can be Jewishness which can be accept- and will touch the hearts of those
only that I thought the story of a ed by both Jews and Gentiles in who like to reminisce.
simple girl and her acceptance these unique times.
• • •
of a conviction worth telling. But
The books, therefore, are an
FREEDOM, POWER AND
underneath this concept of how exploration, an examination _of
DEMOCRATIC PLANNING by
a specific individual can belong, many facets of this new aware-
Karl !Mannheim (Oxford Uni-
there is a concern with a theme ness, an attempt to illuminate
versity Press, New York, 384
of broader scope and more gen- and to understand.
pp.,
•
•
eral importance which may be
Among
n$o5n)g. the sociologists of our
of interest to you.
By JOSEPH GAER
time, the late Karl Mannheim
I
regret
to
inform
you
that
In essence it is the problem
(who died at 53 in 1947) was the
of what the American-born Jew the "flood of literature" dealing outstanding thinker who was
can accept of his heritage and with Jewish topics which you most worried about the discrep-
assimilate into his being. His report has inundated Detroit, has ancies between sociological
needs are altogether unlike those not yet reached New York.
theory and real life. His thinking
In fact, I had hoped that the
of the generation before him
centered about the age-old ques-
which came from Europe to tragic extermination of fully tion: who is planning the plan-
one-third
of
our
people
by
Ha-
make a home here.
ners?
These Jews of the first genera- man, and the joyful creation of
For that the society of the fu-
tion, it seems to me, had to en- the state in Israel would have ture must be carefully planned,
gage in such a bitter struggle stirred American writers of Jew- of that he was convinced. A
to fit into a society in which ish extraction to put aside all planned economy has found its
they really did not feel they be- other labors and devote them- strongest foundation in Mann-
longed, that often they fought to selves to these themes (as Her- heim's "Utopia and Ideology"
reject their old background and sey was stirred by the tragedy
and other books. We wish we
with it even its positive and val- and the heroism of Warsaw).
Maybe they have done so. But had the space to go into his theo-
uable aspects.
ries at more detail. Instead, we
Their children and their grand- not enough has been published to
will have to refer the interested
children, therefore, more secure prove it.
To put it another way: consid- reader to the book itself. He will
in their position here, are left
find it rewarding reading, even
with the problem of either mak- ering the number of book read-
though it was not completed by
ing the same rejection or at- ers the Jews of America repre- Mannheim, who died before he
sent
and
considering
the
number
tempting the harder task of tak-
could put the finishing touches
ing from their tradition what of new titles published annually,
it.
they need and what can belong the number of books on Jewish to Ernest
K. Bramsted and Hans
to them. In this sense, "Star/of themes, or books devoted to the
Gerth have finished the task in
exploration
of
Jewish
life,
are
Glass" is the story of how a
convincing and satisfac-
young Jew of the second genera- few in number, as few as they arathweary.
tion is able to make such a have been for the past 25 years.
As for my own novel: I in- tory is interesting to note in this
choice.
tended
to call it a folklore novel, last work of Mannheim's a re-
As we know, there is in all
turn to religion which he for-
times of world sorrow a recog- and thereby suggest to the redder
merly excluded from his philoso-
nized universal tendency to turn that I was less concerned with
phy. Ile points to the fact that
toward religion for solace, and the story as with the theme: the
"the idea of a religious society
wall
of
fire
that
the
Jews
had
with the exception of some con-
with a fundamental belief in tol-
verts to other beliefs, it is nat- built around themselves so many
ural for the Jew to return, if centuries ago and that enabled erance is the paradoxical pattern
that has emerged from the his-
he has ever left it, to his own them to survive. The publisher
tory of the Anglo-Saxon coun-
thought
the
reader
would
be
per-
ancient faith.
Coupled with this spiritual ceptive enough to understand my tries."
Mannheim also acknowledges
trend, there is the historical fact purpose without additional un-
that
"certain unchanging aspects
derscoring.
that Jews have recently wit-
I don't know whether I've of the human mind seem to indi-
nessed a persecution of their
own people so barbarous that not answered your questions. They cate the need for transcendental
to identify with them in their are not easily answered. There religious foundation in society;
suffering was both impossible ought to be, what you call, "a and several factors make this
Jewish renaissance" and there need even more urgent in our
and inhuman.
Later, this national conscious- isn't. The Jews of America, are present situation." Seeing the
ness was intensified by the fight now the inheritors of Jewish- purposelessness in modern life,
to establish Israel, a battle so ness (which Is more than Juda- Mannheim considers religion as
n ie that can dispel
the en main
successful and heroic that it en- ism) outside of Israel.
But there is no sign yet that man's
abled Jews to unite this time
The manuscript breaks off just
they are fully aware of the
not in despair but in pride.
I doubt if it can be said that value of their inheritance, and where Mannheim intended to ex-
views of "progressive
we are witnessing a Jewish what must be done to preserve poundhsvi
renaissance, since there can it.

No Jewish Renaissance

Apparent, Writers Say

