••.
Page Sixty-four
THE JEWISH NEWS
From Carnpiuts
To Camp
Milers Program for Jewish Students in Uniform
By DR. A. L. SACHAR
through the Hillel Foundations
and their carefully developed
program. To these Jewish stu-
dent constituencies, Hillel sent
trained leaders, usually rabbis,
whose superb Jewish back-
ground, dynamic personalities,
and administrative skills, were
to be utilized to create a kind of
kehillah on the campus. For 20
years, the "normal" years be-
tween the wars, Hillel labored to
make Jewish cultural and re-
ligious values vital and relevant
for the college generations.
The transformation of the
campus into a military reserva-
tion brought . new and challeng-
ing opportunities for Hillel serv-
ice., The War Department and
NaVy Department both found it
inexpedient to . send military
. chaplains to the campus.
college communities. The sol-
diers, in their off-periods, wel-
come the respite to come to a
campus with its widened oppor-
tunity for companionship with
young people. The primary re-
sponsibility for the camp pro-
gram rests with the Jewish Wel-
fare Board. The Hillel Founda-
tions have gladly offered their
co-operation in this program.
At the University of Illinois,
for example, only 13 miles from
Chanute Field, v ■ There there are
often more than 1,000 Jewish
men in training as air me-
chanics, the Hillel building is
used as ancillary headquarters
by the Jewish Welfare Board.
The J. W. B. representative and
the Hillel director work out
joint plans to serve hundreds of
Chanute Field men each week.
Admirably Fitted
Areas of jurisdiction, were
quickly cleared with the Jewish
Welfare Board officials. A series
of conferences resulted. in a
gratifying co-operative arrange-
ment. It was - agreed that the
long •experience and the special-
ized facilities which the Hillel
Foundation possessed, admirably
fitted Hillel to assume the larg-
- est responsibility for the Jewish
trainees on the college campus.
At the present writing, 118 uni-
versities are in the Hillel orbit.
The Hillel program for the
trainees is a highly diversified
one. Of course, the young peo-
ple, under strict military disci.-;-
pline, have only a limited
amount of free time.
Regular religiods services are
available for those • who want
them. On some campuses, by
special arrangement with the
training.
commandant; it is possible to
_hold such services . on Friday
Rigid Discipline
evening. In most cases; such a
These youngsters, who will special service interferes too
number 150,000 by the end of
Much with the military routine,
1943, are all part of the armed
and therefore the religious exer
forces. They receive basic pay; , cises are, generally held on Sun-
they are under rigid military
day morning. The JeWish holi-
discipline: But they are back in
days are a very, welcome break
school for the concentrated
in routine, and Bnai Brith's Hil-
training that will weld them into
lel directors and their student
an indispensable part of the spe-
cabinets go to great lengths of
cialized staffs that are so desper- - resourcefulness to - devise attrac-
ately • needed in a war that has
tive techniques so that the
become largely technical.
day periods may be aesthetic
Jewish life on the American
and refreshing.
campus, inevitably, has been as
Always Available
raditally transformed. In pre- -
. The Hillel director is always
War days, there were more than
available for personal counsel-
105,000 Jewish students register-
ing. Trainees come more fre-
ed in American universities, ap-
quently than do boys in civilian
,proximately 11 per cent of the
life, because their new experi-
total registration. They com-
ence has rendered them infinite-
prised the most strategic area
ly more serious and there is re-
from which future. Jewish lead-
newed interest in religious and
ership could be drawn. To sus-
social problems. Besides, the di-
tain the Jewish loyalty of these
rector is a valuable link with
privileged young people and to
normalcy, and the boys welcome
train them for community re-
the period of informal conversa-
sponsibility, Bnai Brith, Amer-
tion and counsel. .
ica's oldest and largest Jewish
A great many of the Army
ser vice organization, provided
camps are in close proximity to
guidance and stimulation,
U. M. Foundation .
The Michigan Foundation is
similarly utilized by hundreds of
men who come in from Fort
Custer: They take advantage of
a program ' which is organiied
primarily for the many trainees
in the Judge Advocate General's
School for U. S. Army men, the
Japanese language contingent,
the Army meteorolOgists, the
Army medical corps, the engi-
neering cadets, and the young-
sters in many other branches.
Michigan has beautiful• physi-
cal facilities, created by the gen-
erosity of Michigan Bnai Brith
leaders. And these facilities have
proven a Godsend in the dove-
tailing of the Hillel civilian and
military program.
Little has • been said here of
the general participation of
Jewish students on the campus
in such war activities as the sale
of stamps and bonds, •the contri-
bution of blood; participation - in
civilian defense, Red CroSS, and
other projects which • are spon-
sored by._ every American com-
munity.. Hillel students have an
enviable record of war service on
every -campus.
In summary, then, it may be
noted, that ,Jewish life on the
college campus has definitely
not become a war casualty. . It
remains . Wholesome and _ vital.
The normal program continues
without any hiatus. For the reg-
istration of girls . has not Mate-
rially declined. There are sub-
stantial contingents of deferred
students, of youngsters under 18,
and of men who cannot pass
physical _examinations. All of
these participate in the regular
civilian program. Religious serv-
ices, cultural groups ; classes, fo-
rums, social welfare projects, in-
terfaith seminars, all flourish.
But the campus is now part of
the war effort, and Hillel, with
well-trained leadership, excellent
facilities, a tried technique, and
a respected tradition, has gladly
thrown its resources into the
military pool.
DR. A. L. SACHAR
:EDITOR'S NOTE—How the
Conversion of the American
college campus into training
camps for students in uniform
has altered Jewish life on•, the
campuses and how the Bnai
Brith, through its Hillel Foun-
dations and Counselorships is
serving the student trainees,
form the theme of this study by
Sachar, . national director
who developed the Hillel war-
time program, which is superim-
posed upon its normal fabric
of service.
FEW institutions have been
changed more radically by the
war than the American college.
Students are in the primary mil-
itary reservoir and consequently
all the physically fit have been
_Subject to call. At the cloSe of
the school year in the summer
of 1943, virtually all the able-
bodied men above 18 had been
siphoned out, and were scattered
through • the training camps of
America • and on the fighting
fronts of the world.
Yet the colleges themselves
were not permitted to lapse into
a wartime non-essential. Their
teaching staffs and their superb
technical facilities could be ad-
inirably integrated into the war
effort. Hence, it was planned to
Send back to the colleges tens of
thousands of young people, an
ideal quarry for officership ma-
terial and for technological
S/SGT. JACK SHIRAGA
Sgt. Shiraga, chairman . of the
Hillel Council's evaluation com-
mittee while at the University
Of Michigan, lost his life 'last
March in an • air crash at Har-
lingen Field, Tex., while serving
as a gunnery ,. school instructors
CAPT. GEORGE LAVEN
An alumnus of the University
of Texas Hillel Foundation, who
led the first U. S. air attack on
Japanese held Kiska Island, has
received the DSC, the DFC, the
Air Medal and Oak 'Leaf Cltis
ters for - outstanding duty.
•:kv,
LT. VICTOR KARPASS
The Distinguished Service
Cross was awarded posthumously
to Lt. Kai-pass for heroism in
North Africa, where_ he was
killed in action recently. • He was
a University of Illinois Hillel
alumnias.• •
Friday, .0ctober 4 1943
Franz Werfel
Sings A Song
Of Israel
By HELEN ZIGMOND
.
(Copyright. 1943. Jewish
• Telegraphic Agency).
THE OLD YEAR IS ENDING
the blackest year in all Jewish history.' The shofar calls in
the New Year. A page is turned—a clean page in the Book
of Time. Will it, too, be spattered with Jewish blood? What
of the Jew? Is there no hope?
One man, I thought, might have an answer.. He who sang
of Abraham and the Prophets; he who wrote of -Jeremiah
and ancient Palestine; he who himself but recently . escaped
the Hitler Hell. I would ask Franz Werfel. What of the
Jew? What of Germany? What of peace in the world?
I approached the door of his home -a bit
timidly. A mystic, say his reviewers. How
does one talk to a mystic? But the door
was standing open in welcome . the house
was smiling with sunshine. And when. he
came into the room one felt "all greatness is
unconscious."
The tragedy of the Jews, his escape from
death by the Nazis, his writing of -"Berna-
dette," and the rumor of his. conversion to
Werfel
Catholicism are all bound .up in One — as.
four knots on a single thread.
In the horror-filled days of 1940 Werfel was reported
slain - by the Nazis. He was missing . . . but he and - his wife
had escaped into France. There, in Lourdes, they hid from
the Gestapo. In the room next the Nazis had a supply. depot
and could be heard fetching things in and Out.
Cross Pyrenees On Foot
Week after week they waited for their exit visa, but , red-
tape delayed. Finally Werfel decided to try to cross into
Spain. They actually made the trip over the - Pyrenees on
foot!
Despite all this . . . in spite of the ghastly carnage in
Europe, he says, "Concerning the Jews, I am an opti-
mist! The Jew is a Chosen People! They may slaughter
him, scatter him, tear him to a thousand remnants, but
the continuity of the Jew will not be broken. For the
Jew has a mission—a divinely-appointed task." •
To him the spiritual task of the Jew is a hundred
more important than his need for a home.- Maybe fifteen or
twenty per cent of Europ&s•Jews will be wiped Out, - but the
-chain will not be severed. Like a stern prophet he exhorts
Israel to go on living. His passionate credo is,; ."We Will
Never Die!"
•
"The hatred and persecution
of the Jew is against all
moral conception. A spiritual rebirth is what 'the 'World
needs today. And therein lies -Judaism's present _link with
Christianity. They are inextricably bound up together. They
derive from a single root. The survival of Christianity is de-•-
pendent on the survival of Judaism. This is not a religious,
but a historiCal phenomenon. The Jews created a great
world religion. Frorn it sprang the .Christian religion. • To-
gether they must recleate mankind."
Werfel's efforts, climaxed by his recent book, have given
rise to the story that he has embraced Catholicism. The re-
port has had wide circulation without a shred of truth. "I
am a'Jew," he answers simply. "I am a Jew." Mrs. -Werfel,
with a twinkle confided, that when a gossiper-whispered the
rumor to Stephen Wise, the latter answered, "Franz Werfel
could . never become a Church, convert. Alma (Werfel's wife
and a Gentile) would never permit it!"
Through his works runs the theme. of Faith. I asked if he
has great faith in humanity. "It is rather a great pity for
human kind that I feel. I am keenly conscious of the weak-
ness of human nature. There are those who believe man's
troubleS are due to his economic conditions; that if condi-
tions change,. mankind will change. I believe the reverse is
true. Mankind creates his conditions, not they, him."
This Is a Tragic World
"As for peace in this world," he shOok his head. " P rob-
ably never—;for this is a tragic world. In the struggle of the
atoms thereiis no . peace. Perhaps we can overcome - this nat-
ural bellicosity . among men by human laws—but only to a
degree. Every generation since the beginning of history has
begun with the same problem.
What to do with Germany? First, very heaVy punishment
should be meted out to the guilty ones. Then Germany
should be dismembered, especially Priissia. Is it true that
the majority of Germans . are Nazis, anti-Semites? - "Yes, of
course," he declared. "Propaganda does it."
."Song of Bernadette" was a direct result of his flight
from the Nazis. He says, "It was a time of greatdread,;but
also a time of great significance: In Lourdes I became ac-
quainted with the _history of the girl, Bernadette Sodbirous.
I vowed that if I escaped I would put off all 'Other • -taSIKS and
sing the song of Bernadette as best I could."
So the story was reborn. He wrote it in Hollywood .
wrote it very fast . completed it in three months. It be-
came a best-seller. It has sold 800,000 copieS of the American
edition, and has also been printed in English, SWedish, Hun-
garian, French, and various South American editions. The
film version soon will be seen by millions. -
His career is sharply divided into three periods: . Poetry.,
Drama, and Fiction. Now in Hollywood he is beginning a
fourth—screen-writing. He is enthdsiastic about the filming
of "Bernadette." But this is not his first celluloid contact.
."Juarez and Maximilian" was cinematized several years ago.
"Forty. Days of Musa Dagh" was actually before the cameras
when the Turkish government intervened in the interest of
neutrality: His play, "Jacobowski and the Colonel," is soon to
appear in the films. Filmtown is proud - to have so eminent
a writer added to its ranks.