Page Thirty-two
THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October I, 1943
Musi
The War Chest Is Our Bond
With Suffering Humanity
By HERMAN M. PEKARSKY
A New Year Message
A
BOVE THE FURY OF
war in all parts of the world, through the
bitter sorrow of the prison chambers of
Nazi Europe, the somber and stately tones
of the ram's horn will proclaim the hope
of peace and freedom to the Jewish people.
By ABRAHAM SRERE
President, Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit;
Co-Chairman of Special Assignments Committee
of War Chest of Metropolitan Detroit
Throughout the world Jews will offer
a prayer on this New Year's Day, that
when next the shofar summons us to ush-•
er in another year, Hitlerism will have
been driven from the earth and democra-
cy and human freedom will prevail in
every corner of the globe. That is the
prayer that will be on the lips of Ameri-
can Jewry; that is the prayer that will be
uttered by Jewish men and women on the
far-flung battlefields of the world; that is
the prayer that will be silently intoned by
the remnants of Jewry in the Nazi con-
centration camps.
Jews in many parts of the world. The far- .
flung rescue programs carried on by the
Joint Distribution Committee, United Pal-
estine Appeal and National Refugee Serv-
ice—the agencies represented in the Uni-
ted. Jewish Appeal—have been instrumen-
tal in assuring the survival of large num-
bers of the victims of Hitlerism, not only
during the war, but throughout the past
decade of Nazi oppression and destruction.
Mindful though we are of our obliga-
tions to help our Jewish people in other
lands, we must not forget our local social
services. Services on the home front are
even now under greater pressures than
ever before.
W
E APRROACH the New
Year in the midst of war raging on the
far-flung battlefields all over' the world.
When we pray for victory and peace on
this Rosh Hashanah, we shall bear in mind
our sons and daughters at their military
stations; our brethren in Europe, and on
the highways and by-ways of the world—
driven from their homes, persecuted and
destroyed; humanity uprooted and de-
spoiled—waiting and hoping for a better
day.
The story of Jewish suffering, martyr-
dom and heroism, is one which we can .
never forget. It should serve as a reminder
of our obligations and responsibilities. We
who live under free skies, though we are
at war, cannot ,afford to lose sight of the
task before us now, and of the greater task
which will face us on the day after—when
peace settles over the world.
*
*
It is to the credit of the Jews of Ameri-
ea that during this period of greatest suf-
fering and tragedy, they responded nobly
to bring hope and life to large numbers
of the victims of Nazi sadism through the
various overseas agencies—the United
Jewish Appeal, ORT, HIAS, and others—
which have dedicated themselves to the
task of human salvage and rehabilitation.
During the critical years of the present
war, the United Jewish Appeal has been
the main channel through which Ameri-
can Jews have provided the means for
sustaining the life and hope of millions of
The Tragedy of War
The wanton destruction of the Jewish
people by Nazi hordes will form a black
arid sordid chapter in the history of civili-
zation. This tragic period in Jewish life
was brought sharply to our eyes and minds
by the suicide of Samuel Zygelboim, a
leader of the Polish-Jewish socialists and
a member of the Polish National Council.
Zygelboim, in despair, cried out: "I cannot
be silent and I cannot live while the rem-
nants of the Jewish people of Poland, of
whom I am a representative, are perish-
ing." He could not forget the message
which he received from the Warsaw ghetto
through the underground. He could not
forget the last cries for help. And the
same Jews of the Warsaw ghetto, who sent
a plea for the help which could not reach
them, refused to die resigned to their fate.
The last thirty thousand made a final
stand. They did not let themselves be led
to the slaughter. They knew what fate
awaited them and they died fighting.
Within the last year we have seen the
development of a new instrument of dem-
ocratic community life. The. Detroit Com-
munity Fund, the Allied Jewish Campaign,
the U. S. 0. and the various war relief
agencies formed a partnership—the War
Chest of Metropolitan Detroit,—a single,
united, community fund-raising instru-
ment for the needs of our social services
at home, for our armed forces and their
auxiliaries, and for the war-stricken pop-
ulations of our Allies in Europe and in
other parts of the world.
The War Chest is the affirmation of the
desire of the people of our community to
•
help those at. home who are in need, to
serve our fighting men and women, and to
provide immediate, concrete and practical
aid to the civilian populations abroad—to
keep them alive..
The War Chest is our -bond with the
suffering people of our Allies. It expresses
those warm human sympathies and those
philanthropic impulses which. mean so
Much in cementing the friendships of the
local community—and of the people of
the United Nations.
And . so we enter the New Year con-
scious of the greater responsibilities which
we must assume, aware of the tasks which
we must carry out, in our common strug-
gle for the building of -a better world and
a better community. It is our hope and
our wish that the New Year will bring an
end to the destruction of human life and
to the suffering of our people all over the
world. May it be a year of peace and hap-
piness—a year which will see the redemp-
tion of European Jewry from tyranny and
oppression—a year which will mark the
recognition by the nations of the earth of
the rights of Jewry in Palestine.
The Humanitarian Front
Anothc4 year of war, toil and sorrow
has now passed. Yet, in the midst of the
despair and anguish which the passing
year brought with it, there were rays of
hope and of courage, signs of reaffirmation
of the dignity of man.
The grim business of war is to take
life—with guns, tanks, bombers, battle-
ships. The humanitarian business of the
community is to save life and hope .. .
with food, clothing, medical supplies and
financial assistance. Paradoxically, under
cover of the greatest war the world has
ever known, the greatest salvage attempts
are being made by many forces for good,
organized into such agencies as the Na-
tional War Fund and the United Jewish
Appeal, on a national scale, and the War
Chest of Metropolitan Detroit, which in-
cludes the Allied Jewish Campaign — on
the local scene. And if we are to win the
peace, it is essential that we continue this
salvage of the victims of war, starvation,
dispossession, illness, confusion.
We have de,
help in terms o
the instrumenta
Appeal for Refu
Palestine,'and o
As President R
our support of t
is evidence of t
men that perse
racial discrimin
... The reconsti
extended throug
peal has been
spiritual bulwa
oppression."
JDC
The rescue al
ward. Aid to
neutral countrie
world is extend
tion Committee.
the transportati
gee children an
havens of free
refugees in Spai
gal; helps thos
occupation of N
gees in Soviet
the integration
in Latin Americ
The United
large-scale settl
estine and the
Jewish homelan
the promotion
for the continu
settlement progr
large numbers
thousands of
Europe, and for
development to
forces in the Mi
The National
on a systematic
guidance for n
States. This agei
to refugees in ne
war work; retr
short of skilled
with special p
provides faciliti
and adjustment
life.
The
There is a
front, too, affect'
own community
which were dif
peacetime, but
difficulties since
Edward R. Murr
mediate "war a
simple and direc
He has gone off,
to us. He, himsel
in the normal
the community;
hors in need; pr
leisure-time acti\
ing the depende
sick; helping th
entrusted this re
remain at home
the home front
Leaders Mobilized for 1944 War Chest of
FRANK D. EAMAN
;President of War Chest
GEORGE T. CHRISTOPHER
Chairman, 1944 .War Chest
FRED M. BUTZEL
Campaign Vice-Chairman
HENRY WINEMAN
. Chairman of Advance Gifts Unit .
IRVING
. Co-Chair