THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Four

THE JEWISH NEWS

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Friday, August 14,

BRACING FOR THE STRIKE

j

The Weekl
Sermonett

ctt,\

The Precept of Cari
for the Stranger

Published every Friday by the Jewish News Publishing Co..
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tion subscription 50c.

By RABBI LEIZER LEVI
Teacher of Talmud C
United Hebrew Schools

Application for Second Class matter pending at Detroit, Mich.

Each precept of the Tora
for its basis some moral law.

On this Sabbath, the second day of Elul, the following selections
from the Scriptures will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal
portion, Deut. 16:18-21:9; Prophetical portion, Isaiah 51:12-52:12.

those precepts whose moral

.

MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ and PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Publishers

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maurice Aronsson
Philip Slomovitz
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sobeloff
Theodore Levin
Abraham Srere
Henry Wineman
Maurice H. Schwartz

son. A striking illustration •
precept of the "Eglah Ar

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor

VOL. 1—NO. 21

AUGUST 14, 1942

"Humanity Transcends Creed"

Reporting the significant declaration of Pope Pius XII
to the Vichy Government in opposition to the persecution
of Jews, The Detroit Free Press used the heading:
"Humanity Transcends Creed."
We adopt this line as the title for this leading edi-
torial out of gratitude for the latest occurrences which
sustain our faith that there will soon be an end to acts
of inhumanity of man to man, and that justice will soon
rule the earth.
Msgr. Valerio Valeri, papal nuncio in Vichy, told
Marshal Henri Philippe Petain that "the Holy Father
neither understands nor approves" the attitude of the
French chief of state, and declared, in opposition to the
inhuman acts of arresting and deporting Jewish refugees,
that "The Holy Father entreats you tO, put an end to these
inhuman arrests of defenseless people:"
It is clear that the cup of human suffering is full to
overflowing and that the voices of the world's spiritual
heads can not be silenced for long. For at first it is the
Jew who suffers, then it is the Catholic, then the Protes-
tant, and under Nazi rule the entire world must revert to
paganism and total brutality—unless Hitlerism is crushed.
There is increasing evidence that the Pope's attitude
is gaining approval. Several days prior to the Vatican
pronouncement against the persecution of Jews in France,
the editor of "News from Belgium," official organ of the
Belgian Information Center in New York, wrote an article
rn this bulletin under the heading "Spiritually We Are
Semites." This editorial is of sufficient importance to be
reprinted in full. It reads:

Once upon a time, a road company was performing "The
Merchant of Venice. At the crucial moment of the play, when
Shylock finds out he has been outsmarted by the Christians,
a man stood up in the audience and shouted indignantly, "It's
a scandal! That man is being cheated!"
This interruption must have come from a person with a
strong sense of justice, even if he did not appreciate the humor
of the situation. At the moment most of the Belgians look
at what the Nazis emphatically call "the Jewish problem" in
the same way that this anonymous defender of the sacred
right of contract did.
It would be exaggeration to say that there has never been
any anti-Semitic feeling in Belgium, but we are proud to say
that it has not existed since the XIVth Century. The chron-
icles of the time tell how in the early part of that century
some Jews were killed for reasons inspired by bigotry or by
piain rowdiness and how those Jews who survived sat in the
bor.lers of the Senne in Brussels chanting elegies for their
murdered friends. That was exactly six hundred years ago,
and since then nothing of the kind has happened again.
It is true that Philip II drove most of the Jews out of
Antwerp around 1560, but those engaged in the diamond trade
stayed on and ensured the future greatness of their home
country as a diamond-cutting, polishing and trading center.
Thus there was not even any basis for a Jewish question
in Belgium. When Ilitler came to power, Antwerp became
the haven of thousands of Jews, driven from Germany or
escaped from Nazi torture camps. It even happened that one
day German Jewish parents, in despair, shipped a couple of
hundred Jewish children to Belgium in a train, leaving these
waifs to the care of their co-religionists. This incident, to-
gether with the influx of adult Jewish refugees prompted the
Belgian Government to credit Jewish welfare organizations
with six million francs ($200,000) for the care of those who
had fled Hitler Germany. .
Pope Pius XI, that marvelous, formidable old man, re-
minded a group of Belgian pilgrims, who had come to pay
him homage one day in September 1938, of the position of the
Church with regard to anti-Semitism. Said the Pope: " 'Sae-
rifiicium Patriarchae nostri Abramae.' Mark well that Abra-
ham is called our Patriarch, our ancestor. Anti-Semitism is
incompatible with the thought and sublime reality expressed
in the text. It is an antipathetic movement. We Christians
can have nothing to do with it.
"Through Christ and in Christ we are of Abraham's
spiritual descent. No! It is impossible for Christians to take
part in anti-Semitism. True, we recognize man's right to de-
fend himself, to take whatever measures may be necessary
against any menace to his legitimate interests. But anti-
Semitism is intolerable. Spiritually we are Semites."
Following the invasion, the Nazis tried to apply to the
circa 65,000 Jews of Belgium the laws and regulations inspired
by their moronic racial theory. They met with little success,
but having more urgent matters to attend to, they did not
press the issue. When resistance became organized in Bel-
gium, they needed a scapegoat and their anti-Semitic actions
gradually increased. On June 20, an act of sabotage was com-
mitted. In reprisal, 70 Belgians, so-called Communists, 60
war prisoners who had been liberated and 1,000 Jews were
deported to Russia, according to the Brusseler Zeitung.
When the Nazis try to starve Jewish children to death
by refusing them rationing cards, the Belgian Red Cross steps
in and feeds them better than the other children. When Jews
are compelled to wear the Star of David, school teachers
explain to their classes that this mark, designed for infamy,

nificance is apparently s
what obscure reveal on-cl
amination a profound min-

is a token of distinction. Dozens of incidents of that kind
happen every day all over Belgium, for the brutes may be-
lieve that all evil comes from the members of one race, as
savages believe in taboos, but the Belgians, for the last six
centuries have known, that the enemy is within us all, and
that only those who succeed in subduing their passions belong
to a superior race, to a race of decent people. And it is they
"who will inherit the earth."

This is the voice of humanity protesting against in-
decency and brutality. It is a vital counterpart of the
Papal pronouncement, and it is being echoed today in
every land in Europe where the conscience of mankind is
being awakened to action against the Nazi-Facist terror.
Let these serve to encourage all of us in the hope
that the horrible nightmare created by Nazism can not
last forever and that we shall soon see the beginning
of days of peace and gladness for all mankind.

An Orchid to Franklin Hills

To Franklin Hills Country Club goes the bouquet of
the year.
The men who guide the destinies of this club are not
content with playing golf and enjoying the attractive
atmosphere of the clubhouse.
Last week Franklin Hills Country Club sponsored a
party, admission to which required the purchase of at least
one War Bond in excess of normal purchasing quotas.
The result—$365,000 of U.S. War Bonds sold—is a
tribute to the vision of the leaders and members of this
club.
It is estimated that if similar clubs were to follow
the example set by Franklin Hills Country Club that a half
billion dollars' worth of additional Bonds could be sold.
Let this precedent be honored by action.
The widespread praise for Franklin Hills Country
Club's commendable and patriotic action was earned by
the initiative displayed by Nate S. Shapero, the club's
president, his fellow officers and the entire membership.
Blessed be their act in behalf of ultimate victory of
the democracies over the Axis.

Basic Principle of Self-Respect

A Detroit family had reservations for a week-end's
stay at a hotel in Houghton Lake. When the head of the
family reached the desk to register, he found a prom-
inently displayed sign which read : "Gentile Reservations
Solicited." He promptly turned around and walked out,
settling in another resort which does not discriminate.
, This family did the proper and honorable thing by
refusing to stay where they are not wanted.
We must recognize that as long as there is a need
for educating people in the basic qualities of democratic
living, thinking and acting, there will be prejudice against
certain groups, with Jews as the main targets. Such evi-
dences of discrimination must be fought at every step.
But the major obligation resting upon Jews is to re-
fuse to go to places which discriminate and not to try to
crash through such doors. This is a matter of self-respect
and should be considered the first principle in reacting to
bigotry.

Pelley's Conviction

described in the Scriptura
lection which we read on
Sabbath: Deuteronomy 21:1
"If one b Jound slain i
land which! the Lord thy
giveth the , to possess it, ly•
the field, and it be not
who hath smitten him; the
elders and
judges
come forth,
they shall
sure unto
w hie
round about
that i s
And it shal
that the
which is ne
unto the
RABBI LEVIN man, even
elders of that city shall to
heifer of the herd, which ha
been wrought with, and
hath not drawn in the yoke.
the elders of that city shall
down the heifer unto a r
valley, which may neithe
plowed nor sown, and shall
the heifer's neck there in
valley. And all the elders of
city, who are nearest unto
slain man, shall wash their
over the heifer whose neck
broken in the valley. And
shall speak and say: Our
have not shed this blood, n
have eyes seen it. Forgiv
Lord, Thy people Israel, an
fer not innocent blood to r
in the midst of Thy
Israel."
RESPONSIBILITIES OF
ELDERS

The Rabbis remark: "H
ever occured to anybody to
the inocence of the elders o
city? But what the elders
ally say is that they, the e
did not even in the re
manner, cause the bloodsh
this man. They took care o
stranger, the wayfarer whi
their midst and Ifave also
ed him when he left them."
This is a remarkable inte
tation of the responsibility o
elders. It is their duty to pr
not only with his ordinary,
sities but also with full p
tion and safe conduct.
There is one more lb
which suggests itself while
ing this chapter of the Tor
is not without special signifi
that this chapter is insert
tween two chapters dealing
war. We are enjoined here a
the natural disregard of h
lives as one of the produc
war psychology.

A FAR-REACHING MITZV

It is not unnatural for
who read • our war casu
which tell you of the deat
thousands and ten of tho
to become mentally 'hard
callous and lose the sens

value of human lives. The
is, therefore, laying great e
sis on this precept, especial
war time.
This is a profound and
far reaching mitzvah which
not only applicable in those
when the Torah was given
but is equally pertinent to
our so-called modern, times.

William Dudley Pelley's conviction is an act of retri-
bution for a series of activities which served to divide the
American population and to stir up hatred against the
Administration, against the Jews, against anyone who did
not adhere to the ideas of the European bigots.
In summing up the case against Pelley, Oscar R. Ew-
ing, government counsel, stated : "A man can hate Roose-
velt, a man can hate great Britain, he can despise Church-
ill and admire Germany, but no man can be a loyal Amer- President Wilson's Dec
ican and preach all the themes of Axis propaganda."
tion in Speech in De
Here you have the complete case against this man
Moines in 1916
who has stirred up so much hatred during the past 15
years.
There is a price which i
Like all disturbers of the peace, he has been caught great to pay for peace, and
up with and is now an object lesson for all others in whose price can be put in one
hearts there may stir venonious feelings against their fel- One cannot pay the price of
respect.
low men.

Self-Respect