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Friday, September II, 1942

THE JEWISH NEWS

Peg. Ss

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

The Role of the Vital Jewish Agencies in the War and Reconstruction Periods

,

By DR. STEPHEN S. WISE, Honorary Chairman, United Jewish Appetl for Refugees, Overseas Needs and Palestine

On New Year's Day the blast pletely dased the stain of Nu-
from the ram's horn will be remberg from the minds of the
heard throughout this embattled free world? Without minimiz-
world. Above the fury of total ing the heroism of the Czech
war on the battlefields that ring people, it must, in all justice, be
the globe, through the bitter sor- said that it is but a sequel of
row of the prison chambers of Nuremberg. The span of years
Nazi - dominated Europe, and between Nuremberg and Lidice
above the clatter of men and encompasses the period of the
machines moving into position
for a fight to the death in defense
of the Jewish homeland in Pal-
estine, the sombre and stately
tones of the ram's horn will pro-
claim hope and victory to all the
people of Israel.
The Fourth Year
This is the fourth year that
the ram's horn will be sounded
amid the world's agonized tra-

vai7 of war. Throughout the
world the Jewish people will of-
fer a prayer on this New Year's
Day that when the next shofar
summons us to usher in another
year, the plague of Hitlerism will
be driven from the earth and
the banner of democracy and
human freedom will be firmly
planted in every corner of the
globe. This is the prayer that
will be on the lips of the mil-
lions of Jews in the many Euro-
pean lands which have been
made the arena for the cruel
annihilation of Jewish life. This
is the prayer that will be on the
lips of the Jewish pioneers of
Palestine who are determined

that no ghetto or concentration
camp shall ever besmirch the soil
of the ancient Jewish homeland.
That is the prayer that will be
on the lips of American Jewry,
whose sons face the foe on far-
flung battlefields.
Sequel of Nuremberg
The word "Lidice," has been
written in blood on the pages of

history as the epitome of Nazi
barbarism. But has Lidice corn-

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to enter this country in the face
of mounting war transportation
difficulties.
The Jews of Palestine are
faced with the most critical chal-
lenge in the 60 years of Jewish
colonization in Eretz Israel. The
Axis concentration on the Middle
Eastern theater has brought the
war to its front door. Palestine
is now called upon to make a su-
preme effort to hurl back the
Nazi invaders and all of its stra-
tegically important war worlfc
must be extended to prevent the
totalitarian war machine from
laying waste the colonies and the
cities which the intrepid modern
Jewish pioneers have built. In
this crucial hour Palestine has
dramatically proved its worth to
the democratic cause. Militarily,
economically and agriculturally it

has been a-tower of strength to
the Allied forces in the Mediter-
ranean sector. On the battlefield,
on the farm and in the factory,
the young men and women of
Palestine have given an excep-
tionally good account of them-
selves. If the Jewish homeland
has been enabled to serve as an
arsenal and workshop for the
DR. STEPHEN S. WISE
victory of the United Nations, it
is principally the result of the
greatest suffering of the Jewish development and defense activi-
people. If the world had acted ties supported by the United Pal-
with promptness and vigor im- estine Appeal, which corn-
mediately after Nuremberg, it prises the Palestine Founda-
would not today be mourning the tion Fund and the Jewish Na-
victims of Lidice.
tional Fund. By its response to
Needs More Pressing
the United Jewish Appeal for
Looking back we find that the Refugees, Overseas Needs and
progress of the war has not only Palestine, -Nmerican Jewry has
made more pressing the needs of sustained the hand and heart of
the pre-war period, but has cre- the Yishuv in its fight for free-
ated additional problems for mil- dom and peace for the Jewish
lions of Jews in Europe, for the people and for all mankind.
How the war and American
584,000 Jews in Palestine and for
the 200,000 refugees in the Unit- participation in it has affected
ed States and those who continue the work of the agencies in the

United Jewish Appeal is perhaps
best demonstrated by the new
tasks undertaken by the National
Refugee Service. As the agency
charged with the responsibility
of facilitating the integration of
the newcomers in the United
States, it has had to assume the
role of liaison agent between the
Federal Government and the
Jewish refugees in this country.
The National Refugee Service is
n o w engaged i n a program,
which, in addition to its normal
activities of relief, education, re-
training and resettlement, in-
cludes the interpretation of en-
emy alien regulations to the ref-
ugees and guidance to enable
them to make their contribution
to the nation's war effort. It is
not necessary to emphasize the
importance of this phase of ref-
ugee aid at this time, for it is
quite obvious that it is directly
linked to the resolution of the

entire Jewish community to give
without limit of itself for the
successful prosecution of the war.

A Vast Problem
In its reports to contributors

and to the Jewish community as
a whole the United Jewish Ap-

peal has provided detailed ac-
counts of expenditures in many
parts of the world. The record
of the achievements in three
years of war is an impressive
statement of positive, construc-
tive, remedial action to bind the
wounds of our people and re-
build its desolate and battered
house. Yet as I examine and
re-examine these records, I find
that they do not begin to con-
vey the vastness of the problem

with which the Jews of the Unit-
ed States have been confronted,
nor the full meaning for pos-
terity of the day-to-day work of
the agencies for which the United

Jewish Appeal raises the funds.
Just as Jewish history must
not be viewed through the veil
of tears of the past 10 years, but
weighed in the balance of almost
60 centuries, so the importance
of the United Jewish Appeal
must be appraised against the
background of the world Jewish
situation and the relationship of
its agencies to the destiny of the
Jewish people everywhere, rather
than on the basis of its semi-
annual expenditures. Those who
keep their noses too close to the
figures often overlook a fact of
tremendous significance for the
morale of the courageous Jews
of Palestine and the Jewish com-
munities in Nazi-controlled Eu-
tope and the refugees in all parts
of the world. The simple fact
is that throughout these three
years of brutal war, the rescue
work has been continued and
broadened, in the face of the
spread of the conflict to every
corner of the earth.
That fact alone has kept whole
the faith of our gravely threat-
ened people in the ultimate vic-
tory of democracy. That fact
alone has signified the recogni-
tion on the part of American
Jews that the fate of our people
everywhere, like the fate of free
men throughout the world. is in-
divisible. Days of great decisions
face American Jews in the very
near future. When victory comes
it will, in a great measure, be
our task and our responsibility
to lift the Jewish people out of
the status of degradation impos-
ed upon them by the Nazis. What-
ever our program, whatever the
magnitude of the problem, the
agencies of the United Jewish
Appeal must be in the forefront
of this extraordinary undertak-
ing.

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