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LLOYD GEORGE AND THE BIBLE

, . Mrs. Edgar Dugdale, niece of Lord
Balfour, author of the historic Balfour ,.
Declaration,. writing in the Zionist Re-
view of London, quotes her famous uncle
as having told her, in connection with the
issuing of the British pledge to the Jews
that fortunately Mr. Lloyd George had
previously heard. of .Dan and Beersheba.
He told her that the then Prime Min,
ister's knowledge of the Bible was un-
doubtedly a great help to the friends of
the Zionists in the Cabinet.
There was a thoughtful twinkle when
Mr. Balfour said this, according to Mrs.
Dugdale. The twinkle should have been
taken for granted, as the British are great
students of the Bible; and their love of
the Old Testament is an important aspect
in their dealings with the Jews.
But—it will be recalled that James
Ramsay MacDonald also was a great stu-
dent of the Bible, which did not prevent
him from issuing the damaging White
Paper on the Palestine question.
Apparently, piety and religious feeling
is not always helpful to our cause.
* * *
CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE
Reference to the - Bible justifies repeat-
ed criticism of Jews who do not value the
Scriptures as they should. It is possible
that we are in no sense greater sinners
in neglecting the Great Book than our
Christian neighbors. But, as the people
'who gave the Book to the world, we
should have a larger percentage of Bible
students than other peoples. Booksellers
will tell you that Bible sales hardly war-
rant such a claim.

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A Christian source recently issued a
'statement claiming a very large current
circulation for the Bible. The reason,
however, became apparent with the an-
nouncement that hundreds of thousands
of copies of the Scriptures went to chap-
lains in the U. S. Army for distribution
among men in the service. At that rate,
we, too, could boost the Bible's circula-
tion. Apparently, it is free circulation
that is in the main responsible for the
Bible being a best-seller. Which, of
course,. is an unfortunate situation.

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* *

A CHALLENGING QUESTION
At a Jewish Book Week celebration,
an optimist's contention that Jews are
progressing culturally in this country be-
cause we have published and sold so .
many books was challenged with the
question: "But—do Jews read the books?"
If we are to judge by the number of
Jews who buy Bibles, or display an in-
terest in Jewish periodical literature,
then the answer is in the negative.
Again, it is true that we are in no
sense worse offenders than our neighbors,
but that hardly justifies exoneration or
self-satisfaction.

,

As the People of the Book, we are
guilty of having failed to honor a great
heritage.

Tickling the News

BY MARTIN PANZER

(Copyright, 1942, Independent
Jewish Press Service)

The Nazi press and radio have ridiculed
protests against the extermination of
Jews in Axis-occupied Europe. Ghouls
would be expected to have a peculiar
sense of humor.

*

* *

RUSSIAN, U. S. AMBASSADORS DIS-
CUSS JEWISH PLIGHT WITH EDEN—
Headline. From Eden to Eden, so to
speak. The saga of a people.

* *

The Vichy radio is protesting the "per-
`secution" of North African pro-Nazis.
When did elevation to high office become
persecution?
* * *

_ RACIAL EQUALITY STRESSED IN
'PROPOSED POLISH CONSTITUTION—
Headline. PLEDGES EQUAL TREAT-
MENT FOR JEWS IN POLAND—Head-
line. Whatsamatter? Self-conscious?

*

* *

Lehman has conferred with Hoover on
the feeding of the liberated peoples. We
hope nothing was said of apples.

* * *

JEWS MUST GIVE HALF OF POS-
SESSIONS TO BOMBED ITALIANS—
Headline. Well, the Fascists never were
very generous to the Italians.
* * *

EISENHOWER ORDERS ABOLITION
OF ANTI-JEWISH LAWS — Headline.
Fate is a cute cuss, picking a man named
Eisenhower to take a slice out of
Schiklgruber.

•

1NI S.1-1* 1\1 - -

Friaay :beternbee 8,-1942

litearill flint
Quotation of - the Week the Lobilpies

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

(Copyright, 1942, _ Independent.
Jewish Press Service) •

E

"Nazi anti-Semitism . . . culminates in the cry that there is no God but
Hitler and that there shall be no masters on this 'earth : but Germans. If there
could be a 'complete Nazi victory 'Japan and the Japanese 'Might be the Mgt
names on the.list of subject peoples, but Axis or no Axis, they would be there—
cold comfort to the - other peoples first enslaved. -

,By DAVID DEUTSCH

.(Copyright; 1942; Independene;
Jewish, Press Service)

PERSONS
Although Maurice Wertheim, famous
broker 'and art -Maecenas was listed as
president- of .the American. Jewish Com-
mittee in the delegation that called on
President Roosevelt last week, technical-
ly , he has not had:.that office.,for Several
months. The list:of his , prospectiye,suc7
cessors now 'includes. tall, good-looking;
Moderate Carl -Austrian ; pince-nezed, for.,
mer American Jewish' Congress .leader
George Z. Medalie and ,Utility Lawyer
Joseph Proskauer.

"The horror of the persecution of the Jews, viewed in this perspective,
covers all free humanity. What the Jews have suffered is a prediction of the
suffering that would be reserved for all who dare to stand against Hitlerthrxi;
or dare to be different from Hitler's Herrenvolk.

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"It is the Herrenvolk themselves who today are on the defensive. The day
of justice -draws perceptibly near. It is fitting for the United Nations to say
that they know neither Jew nor Gentile, but that they Mean to strike down the
:Nazi tyranny wherever it has blasted any human life; and that these Jewish
lives, taken by our enemies, shall . be accounted for at the end of the reckoning."

—Editorial, New. York Times, Dec. 2, 1942

Strictly
Confidential

Between
You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

(Copyright, 1942, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)

(Copyright, 1942, Seven Arts Feature
Syndicate)

COMMENT

WASHINGTON NOTES

You've no doubt noted that the pro-
posed Austrian military unit sanctioned
by the U. S. War Department in answer
to Otto of Hapsburg's offer is encounter-
ing stormy weather .. And truly Rich-
ard Schuller, Max Reinhardt, Wolfgang
Korngold, Baron Louis Rothschild, Bruno
Walter and Walter Goldschmid should
have known better than to affix their
signatures to the call of Otto's "Military
Committee for the Liberation of Austria."
. . • After all, Otto hardly symbolizes the
kind of Austria the people of that un-
happy country are entitled to after all
this bloodshed . .. All of which reminds
us that Stanley Walker, the famous
editor, has come out with the ironic sug-
gestion that the proposed Jewish Army
should have an Otto (H. Kahn) Battalion.

President Roosevelt's assurance to the
delegation of Jewish leaders that the
United States Government is prepared to
take steps to end the Nazi massacres of
Jews in Europe will be followed by sim-
ilar assurances from England and Sov-
iet Russia . . Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
may soon be approached by the. Hadassah
to take an active interest in saving Jew-.
ish children from Nazi massacres in Eu-
rope .. . At least that is what Miss Hen-
rietta Szold has suggested to Hadassah
. • . Miss Szold also urged that Zionist
groups in America press the American
Red Cross to send investigators to neutral
countries in Europe to establish the truth
of the 'merciless slaughter of Jews in
Nazi-held territories . . . The reparts of
such American investigators would leave
no doubt in the minds of Americans that
the seemingly unbelievable reports of
Nazi mass-extermination of Jews are un-
fortunately correct . . . In this connection
the personal reaction of Mrs. Roosevelt is
very interesting . . . She writes in her
syndicated column: `.`There was a small
item in the paper this morning which
filled me with horror . • . I , had noticed
yesterday that in many parts of the coun-
try work stopped for a few minutes while
people prayed for the Jewish victims of
Hitler's cruelty . . . This morning I saw
that in Poland it was reported that more
than two-thirds of the Jewish population
has been massacred . There - seems little
use in voicing a protest, but somehow one
cannot keep still when such horrors are
going on .. . One' can only pray that it
will dawn upon Hitler that the Lord is
not patient forever ... He who puts other
people to death by the sword, often - is
meted out the same .fate".

JOLSON REPORT

We interviewed- Al Jolson the other
day, and found him looking better than
ever . .. In recent months he's been all
over the map, entertaining soldiers, and
right now he's waiting to go to Australia
. . . "I'm over 50, and no longer afraid,"
he grins . . . "I've been in air - raids and
under artillery fire, and I don't mind it"
. . . Al has a heart of gold . . . After
reading Pierre van Paassen's open letter,
"To the Conscience of America," in the
New York Times recently, he immediate-
ly made arrangements to have it pub-
lished in a two-page ad in Variety . . .
And did you notice the drawing Arthur
Szyk made, for the Committee, for a Jew-
ish Army, showing a soldier of the Jew-
ish Army-to-be carrying an. old Jew, a
victim of Hitler's cruelty? . . . Al is using
it on his Christmas card, to remind the
Christian world that the Jew is still being
hounded mercilessly . • • Jolson, you re-
member, was in England during the High
Holy Days this year, and the day before
Yom Kippur a high English officer asked
him to visit a hospital of 500 men, eight
of them Jews . . . So he went there, and
sang Kol Nidre to the patients - in the in-
imitable Jolson manner . . . No man can
be more unaffected than Jolson . . . In
the middle of our conversation, while
speaking of a song, he suddenly said:
"Let me sing it for you"—and off he
went, giving us a .million-dollar per-
formance .. . Al Jolson still is tops . .
And while he makes a lot of money, that
isn't his ambition at all . . . "What I'd
like," he says, "would be to get a private
bomber and give a solo performance over
Nuremberg --- letting a high explosive
bomb drop after every stanza."

THIS AND THAT .

Max Hailparn, a refugee who fled Nazi-
land some years ago, is feeling better
now . . . It seems that somehow or other
Hitler committed the faux pas of issuing
a medal to him back in 1933 or 1934 .. .
Not that Max hadn't earned the medal,
for it was an award for service in the
first world war . . . But he hadn't wanted
to get it from the Fuehrer . . . Well, the
medal is on its way back to Hitler now
—for Max has donated it to the scrap pile
that will send bullets to the Axis bullies.

.

Latest story of the genesis of the Hitler
mustache has it that Adolf used to have
a mole on his upper lip, and, feeling that
it detracted from his manly beauty, had
it removed—only to find that the scar
made him look funnier than ever . . . So
he grew the foliage to camouflage the
blemish.

Have you seen the Jewish Family Al-
manac? . . . It's a - most interesting vol-
ume, revealing a number of facts hitherto
little known—such as that the second-in-
command to Yugoslavia's Chetnik Gen-
eral Mikhailovich is one Mika Levi, who
has turned out to be an outstanding
guerrillist.

Arthur Hays Stilzberger, who manages
to .get himself into the- `news despite his
modesty, must haVe .been terribly . em.,
barrassed to be championed on the floor
of Congress by Clare Hoffman of Mich-,
igan, who denounced PM for "calling
publishers like Arthur , Hays Sulzberger,
a distinguished Jew, anti-Semitic; because
lie printh what PM says are hate .adver-
tisements." Congressman Hoffman had
been simultaneously denouncing Special
Federal Grand Jury Attorney Maloney,
who secured the indictment of the. 28
for, conspiracy to undermine the morale
of the armed forces.

Isadore Lubin,. U. S. Commissioner of
Labor Statistics, has given up his resi-
dence at the White House, having gone
to London as temporary assistant to W.
Averell Harriman, Co-Ordinator of Am-
erican supplies to Great 'Britain.

Story is that the most disappointed
man at the national United Palestine
Appeal conference in New YOrk was the
guest of honor, Secretary Harold Ickes,,
whose dissatisfaction with his speech was
shown by _the listless way in which he
lead it. He is alleged to have said after-
ward that the 0. W. I. prevented him
from delivering the_ kind of fighting
speech he wanted to make, Ickes especial-
ly envying Zoinist Leader Louis Lipsky
for the vigorous attack he made on the
democracies for their silence about the
Jewish victims of the Nazis.

IT'S KOSHER
While some Orthodox organizations
have been known to be less - respectful
of tradition, the Central Conference of
American Rabbis is providing kosher
meals at the Hebrew. Union College for
those who will attend the Institirte on
Justice and Peace the week of Dec. 21
. . . By the way, the executive board of
the Union of American Hebrew Congre-
gations has called off its biennial conven-
tion schedtiled for 1943 ... The Union is
still looking for a successor to . Dr: Nel-
son Glueck, the famous archaeologist,
now engaged in some important work
away from his job in Cincinnati. Glueck
was supposed to succeed the late Rabbi
WAR NOTES
Edward Israel but the war came up and
The extent to which the war has affect-
brains we've got .. .
ed private Jewish charity is now revealed, demanded the best
Talking of successors, the 'Zionist Emer-
by Harris Perlstein, president of the Chi-
gency Committee, directed for several
cago Jewish Charities . . . JeWish institu-
years in New York by Emanuel Neu-
tions in America, whether their programs
mann, is looking for someone to replace
are local, national or international in
scope, can no longer depend on gifts by Neumann, who resigned to do some spe-
individuals, Perlstein establishes . . • The cial work with Industrialist-Philantropist
recent experience of some of the larger Frank Cohen.
funds has been that whereas they used to
receive 70 to 80 per cent of their gifts EVEN JEWS FASCISTS
Jewish George Seldes, whose father
from two per cent of the giVers, they now
receive about 50 per cent from that group joined with a lot of other Jews in estab-
of givers . . . The bulk of contributions lishing one of the first farming colonies
to Jewish funds now comes from people
in the middle-class . On the other hand, in New Jersey many decades ago, denies
Jewish federations and welfare funds are that Jews can't be Fascists. Seldes, who's
now confronted with the need of assum- been kicked out of most countries for his
ing additional war-time local, national truthful reporting, is now editing that
and overseas obligations . . . The General firebrand sheet, In Fact. He's the fellow
Assembly of the Council of Jewish Fed- who charges Reader's Digest's publisher
erations and Welfare Funds which will be with being Fascist. Paul Paulmer, new
held in the 'middle of January in Cleve- editor of the 6,000,000-circulation-month-
land will therefore be one of the most 17,T, he alleges to be Fascist. Some readers
interesting gatherings of Jewish com- pointed out to Seldes "that Palmer's wife
munity leaders in America . . . Delegates is Jewish. Says Seldes: "So what?" Add-
from 187 cities will assemble there for a ing that "Guiseppi Toeplitz ran the fi-
thorough 'discussion of the major prob- nances for Mussolini, that Baron von Op-
lems facing Jewish fund-raising institu- penheim worked with Hitler, and that
tions in America . . . Some Jewish lead- Clarence Dillon saved Mussolini from
ers fear that war economy and war taxa- collapse in. 1925 by lending him millions.
tion will diminish the resources, divert Big money does not smell and knows
the leadership and weaken Jewish com- no 'race,' color, religion; Big Money is
munity organization . . Others believe usually Fascist."
that the request of the President's War
Relief Control Board that private philan-
Seldes is the fellow who dug up the
thropic campaigns be limited to two an- records, to charge that Jan Valtin is "a
nual drives—the Red Cross and the War brutal anti-Semite." He quotes from the
Chests—may bring radical changes which hearing on Aug. 19, 1926, when Assistant
may also weaken Jewish organizations ... District Attorney Kenneth Thomas of
'But a /group of experienced workers in Los Angeles said that Valtin had taken
the field are of the opinion that these the stand and "testified that he struck
fears are gioundless . . All these views the victim because 'The Jew made me
will find expression at the Cleveland mad.' " The man brutally beaten was
gathering.
Morris Goldstein.

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