THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Twenty

Friday, May 21, 1943

What's Happening in Detroit

D

ETROIT'S Jewish organizations should mo-
bilize their forces at once in preparation for
the forthcoming elections for the American Jew-
ish Assembly. The machinery has been set up here
for the election sessions and it is important that
all local groups should study the issues involved
in calling this Conference.
The Jewish News devotes much space in this
issue to an outline of the rules for the Conference
and the regulations required for the local elec-
tions, as well as to editorial comment on the Con-
ference. Study these rules! Be prepared to help in
all action in defense of Jewish rights!

Confirmations, Consecrations, Graduations

Confirmations and Consecrations, as well as
Graduations; are still the . order- of the, day-even
so many of our young men and women are
entering the service of OUT country long before
scheduled graduations.
But the younger element must consecrate itself
to the faith of our people so that they may better
be prepared to serve their country. • -
Those who are graduating from Jewish schools
as well as from public schools, those who are be-
ing confirmed and Consecrated, have our go -od
wishes. May they be prepared for the future fac-
ing them, their people and their country.

Our Religious Consciousness

The Synagogue Council of America is pursu-
ing a program aimed at strengthening the faith
of American Jews. The work of the Synagogue
Council has already left a deep impression upon
the religious consciousness of America.
The Synagogue Council has prepared two
prayers. One calls for a moment of silence and
meditation at every public meeting or group
gathering. The second prayer is suggested for
home use. "Penitential Fasts" are called for, the
cost of the saved meals to be dedicated to the res-
cue of the lives of those who can still be saved.

The Prayer of Intercession

The prayer of intercession to be used at meet-
ings folloWs:
"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me?
"Why hidest ThoU Thyself in times of trouble?
"Oh my God, I call by day, but Thou answer-
est not.; and at night, but _. I find norelief,
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"Oh Lord God of Israel, turn' from:Tliy -Wrath.;
and hold back this evil against Thy people.
"Have compassion on us, Oh Lord, in Thine
abundant mercy, and deliver us not into 'the
poWer of _the tyrants.
"Arise, oh God, plead Thine own cause; for
Thy sake are we killed all the day; are we treated_
as sheep at the slaughter.
"For lo, 'Thine enemies are in an uproar, and
they that hate Thee have. lifted up their head.
They have called, 'Come, let us, blot out their ex-
istence, that the name of Israel may be no more.'
"As a father hath compaision upon his children,
so have Thou compassion for us, oh Lord.
"Our anguish is =locked up within us, and we
are silent. In our hearts we sanctify the memory
of the slain who are silenced foreVer. May Our
silence be felt to the ends of the earth. May it stir
the souls of men, and reach up to Thee, 0 God of
Mercy: Amen."

.

Twenty .Years Ago.,This Week

Compiled From the Records of the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

JERUSALEM—An appeal,. to Great Britain to
assist the Arabs in forming a federation of Arab
states was issued here by King Hussein of the Hed-
. jaz. Hussein stated that "under the new treaty be-
tween Britain and Iraq, the British' Government has
recognized our rights to an Arab alliance, and, more-
over is obliged to help us . . . Sir Herbert Samuel,
High ' Commissioner for Palestine, has. assured a
delegation of the Jewish National .Council that any
. agreements between Palestine • and the proposed.
Arab federation would be purely economic and re-
iterated that Britain contemplated no change in its
Palestine .policy.
MUNICH—The central committee arranging the
13th German Athletic Festival in Munich this year -
has issued. a statement affirming that : Jews will not
be barred from participating in the 'meet. There has
been a great deal of agitation by anti-Semitic Ger-
man and Austrian athletic aroUps which tried to
force the committee to bar Jews. -
BUDAPEST—Excavations conducted under the
supervision of Dr. Julius Gabor, sec r etary of • the•
Budapest Kehilla, indicate that . there 'have been
Jewish Settlements in Hungary 'since the third cen-
tury. Dr. Gabor reveals that graveStones, Memorial.
'tabletS and candelabra of definitely Jewish origin
and dating back to the third century haVe been
:found.

The Home Prayer

The home prayer to be recited daily after the
main meal follows:
"0 Lord our 'God, source of all blessing, we
thank Thee for the nourishment that sustains us.
"But how can we enjoy our food while we
know that our brothers perish by famine and
sword in the ravaged lands of the tyrant. Create
in us, 0 God, a new heart responsive to the agony
of our people, the suffering remnants of Israel:
May we know no rest 'til we have stretched out
our hands to them in help.
"Father of mercy, create in us a spirit of com-
passion and loving kindness, to share our bread
with the starving and to seek rescue for those who

can be saved, that they may live because of us.
"Look down, 0 Lord, upon Thy children, have
mercy upon them and save them for Thy name's
sake, and remove from them the scourge and the
evil decreeS, for their hope is in Thee."

Zionist Town Hall Meeting June 1

The Zionist Town Hall Meetings, the series of
cultural gatherings initiated by the Zionist Com-
mittee on Speakers and Organizers, under the
chairmanship of Walter L. Field, is gaining many
followers.
The next in this series of meetings will be held
at the Shaarey Zedek on Tuesday evening, June I.
Rabbi Leon Fram will speak on the subject of the
American Jewish Conference. Spokesmen for the
Jewish Congress and the Bnai Brith
will present their views and there will be late
news flashes of happenings in Palestine.
The factual material following Rabbi Fram's
address will be presented by Leon Kay, president
of -4he Detroit Chapter of the American Jewish
CoO.gfetS,...and . Harry Yudkoff, president of the
Greater -Detroit Bnai Brith Council.
The news flashes, to be Presented by Mrs.
Morris Adler, will be given on the main thesis:
"What's Happening to Our Children-The Latest
and Most Authoritative Information on a Rescue
Program for. Children."
- These meetings are free to the public and are
followed by social hours for discussion of Zionist
problems.

Coming Events

May 22-23—Annual conference arranged - by
Zionist Youth Council, at Rose Sittig Cohen Bldg.
May 23—Concert of Freiheit Gesangs Farein, with
Alexander Kipnis as guest soloist, at 3 p. m:, at the
Masonic Temple.
May 23—Annual meeting of Temple Beth El. Re-
ports by Joseph M. Welt, president, and Dr. B. Bene-
dict Glazer, Rabbi.
May 28—Temple Beth El Religious School- gradu-
ation.
May 30—Annual Memorial Day services. at Clover
Hill Park Cemetery, at 2:30 p. m.
May 31--Celebration of first anniversary of Folks
Committee of Russian War Relief, at Detroit Art
Institute.
June 1—Zionist Town Hall Meeting, at Shaarey
Zedek. Speaker, Rabbi Leon Fram.
June 4—Temple Israel High School graduation.
June 6--Consecration services at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek:
June 6—Confirmation services at Temple Beth
El.
June 8—Confirmation services at 'l'erople Israel.
June - 22—Annual meeting of Jewish Community
Council of Detroit. -

From City Pavements to Farmer's Plows

By DR. LEO . M. FRANkLIN in the farm shacks, Mr. Wodic only through the constanf .inter-

trudged each Morning a distance
of. four miles to the farm and in
the evening back again: to the
village. Let it . be remembered
that at this time he was i6 years
of age. But he had a rugged body
and a sturdy will. -

(Continued from Page 6)

. As a result of Mr. Wodic's re-
port of the conditions which he
found, a special meeting of the
Beth El Relief Society was called
and a fund of $1,200 was raised
and given to Mr. Wodic to use as
his judgment dictated. His first
step was to buy a cow for each
farmer. Be , also,. procured oxen,
plows and other mechanical
equipMent together with seeds for
sowing. Each family was supplied
with groceries. But his real. work
was to teach these pioneers how
to farm, how to sow their seed,
and later to harvest their • crop.
He .constantly . supervised the
clearing of more land.' He 'in:
stalled a temporary saw mill to
cut the burned logs and to be
used in the construction of new
shacks. Moreover, he became not
Only the teacher of agriculture to
these people but, as it were, their
community head.
-
Provide for Religious Needs .
Almost from the start he ar-
ranged that religious services
should be held each Sabbath
morning and so far as it was pos-
Sible no labor should be done on
the Sabbath - day. In due time he
saw a crude synagogue building*
erected. Sometime later, a scho-
chet was brought from Saginaw
and for a short period in 1892, a
Cantor and religious teacher, Rev-
- erend Charles Goodwin, came. to
Bad. Axe without compensation to
supervise the religious_ activities
. of the community.. Still later. a
very modest Talmud Torah build-
ing was erected.

vention of Mr. Butzel, that the
coloniSts escaped eviction from
their lands.. because of their in-
ability to pay their interest to
the bankers who held their prom-
isory notes.

. The story of their struggles is
too long and too involved to be
Under the inspiration
.
. Qf told in the short space at our dis-
Mr. Wodic's guidance. these posal, but it-tells an epic .tale not
Jewish colonises worked so as; only of the heroism of the colt) .-
fists striving . to eke out an hon-
• siduously and with such re.
living from the soil but also
sults that. on SUccoth, 1892, est
of.that splendid man, Martin But-
'there was held in Temple
whO was . their friend_ and
Beth El, Detroit. the first:ex- sponsor in good times. and in
hibit in this country of- agri- bad. But even his efforts were ul-
, cultural , Products produced timately futile. At the • turn of
solely - by the work -of.. ):,wish the century only.• eight of the
farmers. It was an achiele- original colonists. -remained. on
ment not to be lightly es- the farms. Except three parcels,
all of the land - had reverted to
teemed.
those froin whom it had been
By this time several more fam- purchased and it' was later sold
ilies had joined the Colony and to a colony of German .immi-
the project had attracted wide- grants.
spread attention, so, -that, to quote
the book—"Bad Axe became a
pioneers Scattered
veritable mecca for Jewish farm
enthusiasts."
By 1900, the experiment had
However, this period of corn- worn itself- Out and these few
parative prosperity was not des- brave pioneers had been scat-
tined to continue very • long. In tered to take up again their tasks
1893 and 1894 the potato . crops as peddlers and what-not.. But in
failed' as a result of which the this instance, .failure was not 'a
colonists were unable to meet mark of disgrace. The effort to
their interest payments on their build up a decent life had been
land contracts. Again Mc. Butzel honestly Made but conditions
came to. their aid -and in the fol- were too hard to. Spell success.
lowing year they earned enough, Inexperience, - lack of money and
as a result of their work, to. make equipment, a barren soil,- crop
partial payments to defray their failures, and similar disasters
interest charges. But the peak of were too much even for the most
disaster came to them in 1895. ardent souls to overcome.

Exhibit Products ,

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Bad to Worse
Living in Bad Axe itself, be-
From that time 'on, things went
cause there was no room.. for him from bad to worse and it was

But though the undertak-
ing did not succeed, two
names should be remembered

in connection with this Mich-
igan experiment with honor
and with gratitude. One is
_ .Martin Butzel whose zeal and
enthusiasm and self-sacrifice
are not often equalled; the
other, Emanuel Wodic, a
great Jew and a great Ameri-
can and in every sense of the
word, a great soul.

The•Sunrise Colony

Perhaps in dealing with this
early.- attempt to: create a Jewish
agricultural colony in Michigan,
mention .should :be made of -an:-
other experiment . in this state,
larger in area but' equally un-
successful. This took place in the
year .1933 'When some 97 Jewish
families 'purchased 9,000 acres of
land with' 80 buildings near the
-city of SaginaW and founded.
what was known as the Sunrise
Co-Operative Comthunity. The
colonY was conceived as a strictly
collectivistic enterprise "with the
land and all personal property
belonging to the Community and
all farm operations conducted for
its . collective: benefits." After
three years of hard going the
colony came to an end. In • 1936
the Resettlement Administration
purchased the property thus
making it possible for the colony
to pay its debts and to make some
refunds to its members. •

In bringing the story .of these
pioneer agricultural projects to
the attention of his _readers, Mr.
Davidson has rendered a distinct
service 'to the Jews of this state
and, incidentally, has made possi-
ble a permanent record of a chap-
ter in our history that might
otherwise have been forgotten.

Local Serve-A-Camp
Project Organized

Detroit
Adopts
Hawaii
Camps Through Jewish
Welfare Board

The Serve-A-Camp .Project of
the National Jewish Welfare
Board, organized here several
weeks ago, has begun to function.
Detroit's group has adopted the
Hawaii Camp as its project, and
Will supply the men there with
extra necessities.
The number of Jewish families
in Hawaii is small and - it -is im-
p6ssible for the Jewish group- in
the community to provide the all-
extra kindnesses' and expressionS -
of generoSity so necessary to the
well being of the men in the
armed forces, making it necessary
for other communities to assist.
The Jewish Welfare Board has
workers in various ' communities
to see that -these and other pro-
jects are executed: It is the pur-
pose of the Detroit Committee
to provide the small amount of
money necessary to carry out
this project. An appeal is made
to the 75 Jewish women's Organ ,
izations in Detroit to make con-
tributions either in cash or in
kind. Items acceptable include
toilet articles, mirrors, nail -files,
shaving cream, tooth • brushes,
tooth paste, foot powder, candy,
pocket size books, harmonicas,
battery radios, ping pong bails,
game boards,. magazines, • hand
victrolas, records; musical instru-
ments, classical records.
Any organization :or any in-
dividual who wishes to contribute
may call the chairman, Mrs.
Henry Meyers, To. 8-1339, or one
of the following officers: Mrs. A.
Harry Brodie and Mrs. Max
Frank, 'vice-chairmen; Mrs. I. B.
Dworman, secretary; Mrs. M.
Lupiloff treasurer.

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