Friday, April 16, 1943
THE JEWISH NEWS
Dr. Schwartz Relates JDC's
Passover Aid in Europe
European Head of Joint Distribution Committee Tells
of Getting Visas to Refugees, Matzoths to Those
Who Live in Hope
By DR. JOSEPH J. SCHWARTZ
European Chairman, Joint Distribution Committee
Several weeks before Passover last year I received a
call in the European headquarters of the J. D. C. in Lisbon.
The call was from San Sebastian, Spain. The caller was
a refugee who had just got out of France with his family.
He was quite excited.
"Dr. Schwartz, please, please, get me a visa for Portugal.
My family and I have just come
from France, and it is urgent
that we get to Lisbon immediate-
ly. How soon can we have the
visa?"
In Europe Jews believe that the
J. D. C. or the "Joint," as they
call it, is a veritable deus ex ma-
china, that no matter what the
emergency or the problem, the
J. D. C. can solve it immediately.
So I explained to the refugee
that the J. D. C. does not issue
visas, but uses its experience and
contacts to help obtain the is-
suance of necessary documents. I
asked what urgency vas impel-
ling him to come to Lisbon im-
mediately.
No Synagogues
"If I don't get to Lisbon, how
can I attend the Passover services
and how can I go to a seder?"
he said. "I don't have to tell you
that there are no synagogues in
Spain."
There are no synagogues in
Spain. I promised him to do what
I could, and after I had hung up
I wondered at my hesitation in
telling him what had been on the
tip of my tongue; That with so
many lives to be rescued and so
much relief to be extended for
the alleviation of human suffer-
ing, his own. particular problem
would have to wait.
In my heart I knew that at-
tending holiday services was pro-
bably just as important to him
and his family as personal safety.
So I did not delay meeting his re-
quest—and several hours before
the seder of the refugee commun-
ity of Lisbon began he and his
family arrived.
Deporting Jews
I was to be reminded of this
refugee months later. In August
of the following summer—that is,
the summer of 1942—I arrived in
Marseille, unoccupied France, on
the very day that the Laval gov-
ernment began to deport Jews to
the Nazi East.
One hot afternoon, when the
deportations were at their height,
an aged rabbi—he was past 80—
came panting into the office. I
knew him from Paris, where he
had been living for years. He got
right to the point: A yeshiva in
which he was interested needed
funds to continue to function.
I explained that the deporta-
tions and the attendant emergen-
.
cies were taxing the J. D. C.'s re-
sources.
"What have the deportations
got to do with an allotment?" he
said. His eyes, with their con-
spicuously thin blue veins, look-
ed at me with inquiring naivete.
A Fighting Question
But he was far from being
naive. His question was a fighting
one. What it really said was:
"Do you think that because the
Jews are being hounded we
should stop all our traditional
work of bringing up our young
the way they should be brought
up? As a matter of fact, now is
the time to increase and intensify
any activity that insures our sur-
vival. If Jews are romanticists
and idealists, they are also real-
ists. Remember that."
I didn't have to remember—
I knew.
I knew it when I watched men,
women and children, far from
their lost homes, sit down to the
seder in Caldas da Rainha, that
little resort town 60 miles from
Lisbon, where refugees live in
"assigned residence."
On Correct Path
But you can get lost along this
road of hope if you don't meet
markers every so often to remind
you that you're on the correct
path. Passover is one of those
markers for Jews all over the
world today.
There are more ways than one
of giving relief .After more than
28 years of ministering to the
needs of destitute Jews all over
the map the J. D. C. knows the
value of little things, under-
stands thoroughly the precept
that man does not live by bread
alone. That is why the J. D. C.
has spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars for special Passover
relief alone since it was founded.
During the past few months,
boats strung out like beads, cau-
tiously wove through the icy At-
lantic while warships hovered
about them like so many brood-
ing hens. They were cargo boats
in a convoy.
Today thousands of destitute
Polish Jews scattered from the
Arctic Circle to the Persian bor-
der are eating the matzoth which
made up this cargo.
Last year the J. D .C. shipped
60 tons of matzoth to the Polish
refugees in Russia. The refugees
stood in silent, unbelieving awe
as the matzoth were unpacked in
the villages and hamlets. True,
they had been 1-,:ceiving all kinds
of medicines, from boric acid to
sulfanilamide, and all kinds of
hospital and surgical tools from
the J. D. C.. But matzoth—they
couldn't believe it.
I knew a refugee in Lisbon—
he is now in a Latin American
country—who waited a long time
before he got his visa. His wife
was killed when he fled France.
His son fell in the Forest of Ar-
dennes when the Nazi panzer di-
visions broke through.
All he had left in the world
was a small daughter. It was
for her that he lived. And each
seder night in Lisbon he would
break off a piece of matzoth,
wrap it in a handkerchief and
put it away, in his pocket. Months
later when I had to tell him that
he would have to continue to
wait for that visa he took out
the wrapped piece of matzoth
and said:
"My own private afikomen. If
anything goes wrong I remember
it and take heart.
"I kept it all last year, too," he
added somewhat abashed.
In their own way Jews all over
the world are putting away their
private afikomens this Passover.
We in America may well feel
humbly proud that we have made
it possible.
The First Hebrew Book
Printed in Europe
The first Hebrew book printed
in Europe was Rashi's commen-
tary on the Pentateuch, which
was set up at Reggio, Italy, in
1475.
Page Seven
J.P.S. to Publish
6 Jewish Books
In English in '43
Publication Society To Print
Twice As Many Volumes
As In Past Years
PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—J. Solis-
Cohen, Jr., president of The
Jewish Publication Society of
America, in announcing the pro-
gram for 1943, emphasizes the
determination of the society to
under the old program. The pub-
lication program for 1943 is:
"M emoirs of My People
Through a Thousand Years," by
Leo W. Schwarz.
"In the Steps of Moses," by
Louis Golding.
"History of the Jews in Vilna,"
by Israel Cohen.
"American Jewish Year Book,"
Volume 45, . edited by Harry
Schneiderman.
"Sabbath, the Day of Rest,"
compiled and edited by Abraham
E. Millgram.
"A Century of Jewish Life," by
Ismar Elbogen.
Membership in The Jewish
Publication Society of America
costs as little as $5 per year, for
which members receive a yearly
quota of any three cloth-bound
books published by the society.
Members paying $10 per year
receive their choice of any six
cloth-bound books published by
the society. Full details on the
work of the society are available
by writing to the executive direc-
tor, Maurice Jacobs, 320 Lewis
Tower Building, Philadelphia, Pa.
Chaim Zhitiowsky
To Speak Wednesday
J. SOLIS-COHEN, JR.
consistently increase its publica-
tion program in order to answer
the demand for more Jewish
books in English. The society
will publish six volumes during
1943, instead of the three books
which were formerly published
Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky, well
known Jewish author and phil-
osopher, will speak on "Reac-
tion and Progress in Our Time,"
next Wednesday evening, at the
Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Detroit branch of Y. C.
U. F. (Yiddish Kultur Farband)
and the Jewish section of the
International Workers' Order are
sponsoring the lecture.
THE FORUM OF JEWISH AFFAIRS
of the
JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, JEWISH WELFARE FEDERATION
AND THEIR AFFILIATED AGENCIES
The Third of a Series of Lectures and Discussions
On The Theme
The American Jew Looks At
The World of Today and Tomorrow
Thursday, April 22., at 8:30 P. M.
At the Jewish Community Center
Speaker:
DR. JAMES G. HELLER
Rabbi, Isaac M. Wise Temple, Cincinnati;
President, Central Conference of American Rabbis
On the Subject:
"The American Jew and Palestine"
VEGETABL S
for
FLOWERS
To4
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Whether landscaping for beauty or planning
a "Victory Garden," come to Rayl's. Our
Gardener, Mr. II. J. Glowniak, B.S., will be
pleased to answer any questions you may
have, or help you plan. Our Garden De-
partment is complete with the tools and
equipment you need. We invite you.
GRISWOLD
con STATE
• ..-
"..;
SUNDAY, MAY 2, of 8:30 P. M.
— Symp osium
—
The American Jews and The Post-War World
Speakers:
DR. JACOB ROBINSON
Director Inst. of Jewish Affairs, American Jewish Congress
CHARLES B. SHERMAN
Field Director Jewish Labor Committee
DR. MAX GOTTSCHALK
Director Research Institute on Peace American Jewish Committee
You And Your Friends Are Invited To Participate In The Entire Series. Admission Free
ALL PROGRAMS AT THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER