Friday April 30 Purely Commentary By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ (Copyright, 1943, Independent Jewish Press Service) Quotation of the Week • 0 "In this hour of grim 'tragedy for the Jewish people, it is our fervent prayer that the great democratic nations whose conscience has been stirred even in the midst of a terrible war by the sufferings of the Jewish people in Europe, will seek to get to the root of the problem of European Jewry as it now manifests itself. It is a problem essentially of the homelessness of a people. Twenty-five years ago, also in the midst of a war, the first great promise of redemption by giving them back a home of their own was made. No greater con- tribution can be made to that problem at this time, than by doing everything possible to give practical effect to that historic promise." THE "CHILLY" BRITISHERS The British are known to be cold and calculating. They can be sweet as sugar in their coldness, especially when deal- ing with the Jews. "Betrayal" has become an ordinary —DR. CHAIM WEIZMANN, President of Jewish word in reference to British dealings Agency for Palestine, in Memorandum to` with Jews in Palestine. It is most un- Bermuda Refugee Conference. fortunate that this should be necessary in our direst hour of need. But the British remain calm and col- lected and their official utterances are full of diabetic expressions of sympathy. • Nevertheless, when necessary, they can be very harsh and oftimes brutal. Take the brilliant Sir Ronald Storrs, the first British Military Governor of Jerusalem as an example, and you will By PHINEAS J. BIRON By DAVID DEUTSCH know what we mean. (Copyright, 1943, Seven Arts Feature (Copyright, 1943, Independent HIS MUCH-WORN CLICHES Syndicate) Jewish Press Service) A column back this Commentator dis- WASHINGTON BLUES cussed Sir Ronald's views on the Jews IN MEMORIAM and his love for Hebrew. It is said that Mussolini, in the days Supreme Court Justice Felix Frank- Sir Ronald, as a subject in himself, is when he had but contempt for Hitler, furter keeps away from Jewish functions worth a volume as thick as his "Mem- was on most friendly terms with •Ittamar to avoid criticism. But the people who oirs." But his attitude on Palestine and Ben-Aviv, the Palestinian editor and criticize Jews can find their own pre- Zionism is certainly worth at least two leader who died at East Orange, N.J., ,last texts. As for example, Mississippi's John of our columns—for our own sakes, so week . . . Ittamar, a son of the. immortal E. Rankin who went out of his way to that we may understand him. Ben Jehuda, visited the Duce often and condemn "the confusing fulminations" of Sir Ronald has done a lot of talking reported to him on the progress of the the Justice in his address on Jefferson's about the "half-premised land" and the Jewish Homeland . . . II Duce, so Ittamar 200th anniversary. It was a swell speech "twice-promised land." These are cliches told • us some 'years ago; once confided to and everyone hailed it as such. that are undeserving of the eminence of him that if the Jews were willing he Can anybody explain where Attorney this brilliant statesman. Unfortunately,. would demand the Mandate • over Pal- General Biddle is these . days while scur- they represent British attitude. estine and then would decree a Jewish rilous anti-Semitic literature continues to A "LOVER" OF JERUSALEM state . . . At the time of his death Ben- flood the mails, while Postmaster Gen- We have mentioned his "Memoirs" and Avi was waiting for his . visa to go to eral Walker spends all his time suspend- we call the attention of our readers to Egypt and Palestine to help in the war ing magazines guilty of portraying un- the chapter on Palestine in which he ex- effort . . . A day after a heart attack draped maidens? Friends say that Biddle presses affection for Jerusalem. The page Struck him down, the visa was granted. feels the courts would not sustain Very moving was the intimate tribute charges against these hate sheets and so, on which he deals with Jerusalem is titled "If I Forget Thee, 0 Jerusalem .. " paid in the United Palestine Appeal Ex- in advance of trial, he lets the thing ride. He declares that "there can be no pro- ecutive Offices to the memory of the late motion after Jerusalem," and the best Brigadier General Frederick Kisch . . . ALBERT BASSERMAN—HERO explanation he offers for his love for the Dr. Weizmann told the gathered Zionist Contrary to popular belief, that great Holy City is contained in these words: leaders and workers about the difficul- old thespian, Albert Basserman, is not a "Persons of wider aesthetic experience ties the then Col. Kisch had to face when Jew. He's the fellow who dazzled the and more facile emotions have often he worked for the world Zionist Organi- cinema world with his brief but exciting come there to pray and gone away to zation . . . The Zionists looked upon him performance in "Magic Bullet" and who's mock. For me Jerusalem stood and stands as a "goyish" English officer, and his been getting hack jobs ever since. Bass- alone among the cities of the world.. former military colleagues pitied him for erman deserves praise from the Jews There are many positions of greater au- having "gone _native" . . . Brig. Kisch just because he's not a Jew—but his wife, thority and renown within and without was a lifelong friend of General Mont- Elsie, is. When Adolf came to power and the British Empire, but in a sense I can- gomery, 'Commander of the British. demanded that the price of Basserman's not explain there is no promotion after Eighth Army which drove Rommel from continuing to act was divorce of his wife, Jerusalem." Egypt to Tunisia . . . Kisch and MOnt- Basserman declined. He was 65 when he Wherein lies the, explanation? Is it pos- gomery Were neighbOfs when both lived left Germany, saying he had worked sible that Sir Ronald Storrs belongs to in Haifa . Kisch was in charge of with his wife all those years and wasn't those who love the ruins of Jerusalem transportation' and -. engineering in the going to desert her then. He left for and are unable to tolerate Jewish aspir- Eighth Army . . . He performed his duty Vienna, Switzerland, Paris and finally ations for a redeemed and speedily re- brilliantly, and was killed on • a most reached Hollywood. A few days ago his constructed Zion—including Jerusalem? hazardous mission. 75th birthday passed unnoticed. Too bad, THEY WANT A MUSEUM! for Albert Basserman is a great Christian THIS AND THAT Your Commentator fears that the rea- as well as a great actor. Everybody knows, of course, that Ar-. son for . the obstacles . and hindrances PERSONALITIES thur Szyk; the artist, has an eye for the placed in . the path of . Jewish aspirations in Palestine; the cause for restrictions on beautiful—yet everybody gasps with ad- You can send letters to David Stern, Jewish. immigrations; the reftiSal of the - rniration at the sight of Szyk's beautiful 3rd, son of the Philadelphia Record pub- British to cooperate—are- due to a desire. wife" . . . And when the lady proudly lisher, at Fort Dix. The 35-year-old pub- on the part of : our British "friends" to announces that she has been a grand- lisher of the Camden, N. J. Courier-Post, Mother- for lo, these Past seven months, enlisted in the army after trying to get see Palestine .perpetuated:as a museum. But Jews aim to make Palestine a she.finds it difficult:to make her listeners in for a year; he had to undergo an oper- thriving Commonwealth where men and believe her: .• ation to meet rigid medical standards. Judge Jonah J.1,Goldstein of New York women and Children . in untold numbers George Z. Medalie is one of the few will be able 'to -find a home. An uninter- says this city is hot a melting pot but a Jews in the country who has had an op- symphony orchestra playing one har- . rupted battle is -- On.between the two portunity to turn down an important monious melody . . . When about the viewpoints. judicial post—and actually did. Former There is no compromise between Christian Fronters, Judge? . . . They still "museum" and "home." What Israel insist on putting in their own cacophony. United States Attorney in New York, Mussolini, reports Harry Hershfield, re- Medalie was offered a place on the New needs is the scrapping of museums and the building of homes. When there is turned from his recent meeting with York Court of Appeals, highest bench in ample room for human beings, then we Adolf to tell his advisers what decisions the State, but he declined. Governor shall help create glass casings for "curi- had been reached . . . And to show the Thomas E. Dewey, who made the offer, Fascist chieftains that the decisions had osities." been arrived at after mature delibera- is a Medalie prcitege. Medalie, head of tion, Musso announced: "I listened things the New York Jewish Federation, lost over carefully with Hitler." out in his candidacy for. New York gov-. By EMANUEL G. FRANK LISTEN HERE ernor some years ago, largely because One of America's foremost labor lead- many Jews didn't know he was Jewish. I know the cold disdain within their hearts, ers, just back from a tour of Army That big splurge in Life on Fritz camps, is deeply worried . . . He was The veiled contempt, the hatred Kahn's "Man in Structure and Function" for my race. horrified by the anti-Jewish talk current I read the thoughts (they sting among soldiers .. . And he declares that must have made Dr. Kahn feel very this talk obviously is inspired by a single good, considering the fact that he's start- like angry darts) organized source, the same pattern be- ing life all over again. Dr. Kahn, a ref- That often lurk behind ing used in all parts of the country . . . some smiling face. As soon as a group of 10 or 12 gathers ugee from Germany, first published his A bitter cup—and I have together a voiee will be heard grumbling great work on the human anatomy in drained it all about the Jewish war and the fat Jewish Switzerland. Over 10,000 sets of the And yet I know the hatred jobs in Washington . . . When he report- 2-volume work were printed in the first and the scorn, ed this to us, the labor leader said that edition here. And all the blights that rear this it reminded him of a visit he paid to sullen wall Germany 10 years ago. Are but a spawn from night Chaim Bloch, of Vienna, compiled the and darkness born. ABOUT PEOPLE only truly original source book of Jewish Zionists are beginning to discuss the humor. He is now living on the verge So shall I turn and hopeless successor of Judge Louis Levinthal, pres- of starvation at 2050 Davidson Ave., bow my head ident of the Zionist Organization of And in secluded fastnesses abide America . . . It is said that Rabbi Abba Bronx, New York. Bloch, who has been Because of words expressed or Hillel Silver of Cleveland is Dr. Weiz- called in to provide Scholarly material left half said mann's choice . . . Rabbi Israel Goldstein to the Vatican, has published "Replies to So barbed and hurtful to my has the backing of the present admin- Inquiries from the Vatican," in Hebrew. heart and pride? istration . . . and a rather strong group Or walking with them, strive that insists that either Louis Lipsky or Dr. People who respect Bloch's contribution they may know Wise should be drafted for a term whiCh to scholarship can enable him to. keep The wrong they do—to judge will cover a most important period of his dignity by buying copies of a first- my people so? Zionist history. class defense of Jews against libels. Strictly Confidential Heard in The Lobbies . • Cross Roads 1943 ; Between You and Me By BORIS SMOLAR (Copyright, 1943, Jewish, Telegraphic Agency, Inc.) THE ZIONIST FRONT The Zionist Organization of America has adopted the tactics of other Jewish groups which plead the Palestine cause through full-page advertisements in the New York Times . . . We wonder whether Dr. Weizmann was consulted on the text of the ZOA advertisement .. . We have grounds to believe that he would have disapproved of its text in the form that it was published. We hear that the entire Palestine presS, with the exception of the labor paper Davar, . this week carries editorials ex- pressing amazement at the resignation of Emanuel Neumann from the Ameri- can Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs . . :The full text of Mr. Neu- mann's statement explaining the state of affairs in the Zionist Emergency Com- mittee which led to his resignation has just reached Palestine and has made quite an 'impression there . . . This can be seen from the articles in the Haaretz, Haboker, Hamashkif and other Palestine newspapers . . Disappointment with American Zionist leadership for accept- ing Mr. Neumann's resignation is ex- pressed in all these papers, especially in view of Neumar4s valuable activities in Washington . . . By the way, is anybody replacing Neumann on the Zionist Emer- gency Committee? * * * THE AGRICULTURAL FRONT Every Jew in America knows of the Jewish colonists in Palestine, Russia and even Argentina . . . But few Jews here know that there are 100,000 Jewish farm- ers in the United States . . Gabriel Davidson, executive head of the Jewish Agricultural Society,. has done a great; service for American Jewry by publish- ing this week a book "Our Jewish Farm- ers" in which he tells very eloquently the story of these 100,000 Jewish farmers . . . The book, published by the L. B. Fischer publishing house, is valuable, not only as a history of the development of Jewish farming in America, but also as a fine contribution to general Jewish his,, tory in this country. It is remarkably we]l written and makes .absorbing read- ing even for people who have no interest in the subject of Jewish agriculture . . . It reveals, by the way, that the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy is responsible for the establishment of the Jewish Farm School whkh now exists in Pennsylvania . . . Inspired by a talk concerning the Jews which he had with Tolstoy in 1894, . Dr. Joseph Krauskopf, the Philadelphia rabbi, returned- from his visit to Russia and lost no time in founding the first Jewish Agricultural School in America which is today recognized as one of the best in the country . . Mr. Davidson's book also contains many other interesting facts of this kind which are both of. his- toric and human interest . . . One learns from Mr. Davidson that Jewish farmers in America are engaged in practically all branches of farming, and that among other things they are the best breeders of turkeys, mink, chickens . . . Many of them are planting tobacco and cotton, while others have . large fields of sugar- beets, potatoes, tomatoes and other vege- tables which are so needed now both on the home front and on the battlefront. Latest Styles From Australia By BEN SAMUEL (Copyright, 1943, by Jewish Telegraphic Agency) Mrs. Stanley Levitt knew that her hus- band had learned to run • a sewing machine as part of his naval training, but she still didn't believe he could really sew. Then, from Australia, came a package for his wife in Kansas City from First Class Signalman Stanley Levitt. Enclosed was a suit for Mrs. Levitt made from an old set of navy blues by Signalman Levitt himself. "Look, the length is perfect!" Mrs. Levitt exclaimed. "The waist fit is per- fect! And aren't the• pockets darling?" * * * READY FOR SERVICE: Irving K. Cohen; of 'Brooklyn, N. Y., was serving overseas with the AEF. He wrote a letter to his brother Abe on September 23, 1918, in which he inquired after Abe's new-born son, Harold. "I sup- pose," he wrote, "that he is ready to shoulder a gun by now." This letter was found in a package of family heirlooms last week while rummaging through a bureau drawer. His son Harold, to whom his brother's letter referred, had just left for army service.