Page Four THE JEWISH NEWS THE JEWISH NEWS His Biggest Booster Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, Religious News Service, Palcor News Agency, Bressler Cartoon Service, Wide World Photo Service, Acme Nei,vsphoto Service. Published every Friday by Jewish News Publishing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit, 26, Mich. Telephone, RAndolph 7956. Sub- scription rate, $3 a year; foreign, $4 a year. Club subscription of one issue a month, published every fourth Friday in the month, to all subscribers to Allied Jewish Campaign of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit, at 40 cents a club subscription per year. Entered as second-class matter August 6, 1942, at the Post Office at Detroit, Michigan, under the Act of March 3, 1879. By DAVID MORANTZ Where Alexander Found Wisdorril PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor As the Editor Views the News - DECEMBER 3, 1943 IM Truth Triumphs in Boston Jacob Hodus and Harvey Blaustein are the two Jewish boys who were convicted in the Dorchester, Mass., District Court last month on charge of "participating in an affray" re- sulting from the Boston anti-Semitic outrages. A few days ago, the case was quashed by the Massachu- setts Attorney General, Robert T. Bushnell, who now re- veals that there is "evidence of unprovoked and brutal as- sault" upon these boys by a police sergeant. Thus, truth is beginning to triumph in Boston. The Massachusetts Attorney General now informs the public that the disturbances in which the boys were accused of participating were the result of "acts of lawlessness be- longing in the classification of anti-Semitic." Explaining the reasons for nolprossing the case, the At- torney General states that the two Jewish boys, whose experi- ences served as a challenge to injustice and intolerance, were not brought into criminal court a result of a - fair and honest attempt on the part of the Boston police authorities to enforce law impartially." Did this aspiration for fairness and honesty exist when the attacks upon Jewish men, women and children in Dor- chester were at their height, and before they were exposed by PM? It would be interesting to get an answer to this question from all concerned. In the meantime, however, it is encouraging to know that truth is sprouting forth in Boston.. The Leo Frank Case Would that Louis Marshall were alive today to know that he was fighting for a just cause when he appealed to the United States Supreme Court in behalf of Leo Frank, the innocently-convicted young Jew who was later lynched by a Georgia mob for a crime he did not commit. Would that Oliver Wendell Holmes were alive today to learn that he is now being vindicated for having written a minority opinion in which Charles Evans Hughes concurred, urging a re-trial in the famous case that stirred up feelings of hatred and passion between the North and the South— simply because a young Jew from New York happened to be the scapegoat in a wave of passion that resulted from the murder of a young girl in his uncle's pencil factory in Atlanta, Ga., back in 1913. Only Leo Frank's surviving relatives are here to know that this young man was an innocent victim in a tragic mis- carriage of justice. If only those who know the case will be able to apply its lessons to the future—so that the mistakes of the past may never again be repeated! The Synagogue Desecrators In Mineola, Long Island, the Hebrew Congregation was desecrated for the fourth time in as many months. Anti- Semitic and obscene writings and crude swastikas were found on the building, and Rabbi Moritz Speier has decided to leave the markings on the building "so that the residents of Nassau County can see for themselves how evil these people are." The perpetrators of these obscenities were undoubtedly those who are now generally referred to as "juvenile de- linquents." But in Germany, too, the young Storm Troopers began as juvenile delinquents—and they never outgrew their delinquency. Desecrations of synagogues and cemeteries and other abuses have been all too frequent in many American com- munities to warrant silence. Too many elements are involved here for the issue to be ignored. The home, the school, the police—all are to blame for laxity which makes a situation akin to Nazism possible in this country. This Week's Scriptural Selections: This Sabbath, the seventh day of Kislev, 5704, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion: Gen. 28:10-32:3. Prophetical portion: Hos. 12:13-14; 10 or 11:7-12; 12; or 11:7-14:10. Talmudic Tales' (Based upon the ancient legends and philosophy found in the Talmud and folklore of the Jewish people.) BOARD OF DIRECTORS PHILIP SLOMOVITZ MAURICE ARONSSON FRED M. BUTZEL ISIDORE SOBELOFF ABRAHAM SRERE THEODORE LEVIN HENRY WINEMAN MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ VOL. 4—NO. 11 Friday, December 3, 1943 The Right to Self-Defense Palestine Jewry's right to self-defense is the major issue involved in the current difficulties our people are experi- encing in Eretz Israel. The declarations made by David Ben Gurion and Moshe Shertok that Jews will not give up their right to defense against those who seek to uproot what they had built, will undoubtedly be supported by public opinion every where. But there are other angles which involve threats to the freedom of our people in Zion. Ten newspapers were sus- pended because they had dared to publish the truth with regard to the incidents in Ramat Hakovesh. Now, the British administration in Palestine announces that the newspapers will be permitted to reappear on a stagger system. Again, in a spirit of self-respect, the Jews of Palestine rejected the government's offer, and the newspapers have let it be known that they will all reappear simultaneously on the day the last ban is lifted, as a demonstration in defense of freedom of the press. A third issue involved in the Palestinian troubles must not be ignored. The "incident" at Ramat Hakovesh, which resulted in the death of one settler, Shmuel Molinietz, injury to a score of others and the arrests of 35 colonists, began when the British troops instituted a search for Jews who had "deserted" from the Polish army. Now it has become known that Polish Jews are demanding transfer to other United Nations forces because they are unable to endure the "vicious anti-Semitism" of the Polish troops. Here you have a combination of thfee principles for which the Jews of Palestine, with the help of Jews every- where, must fight to a finish: the right to self-defense, the freedom of the press and the opportunity to live in an environment that should be completely free from bigoted anti-Semitism. A justified demand has been made by the Amefican Zionist Emergency Council that the officials responsible for the trouble in Palestine and for the murder of the Jewish colonist Shmuel Molinietz be removed from office. The sooner the British administration corrects the terrible blunders it is committing in Palestine, the better for all concerned. The Need for Frank Discussion Attorney General Francis Biddle's important address at the annual dinner of the Jewish Theological Seminary, in New York, last week, in which he called for organized action on a national scale for education as an antidote to growing racial prejudices in this country, was significant from many points of view. In the first place, as the Man who directs that part of our Government's functions which will have to deal with some of the subversive forces responsible for the growing tensions in America, we hope that Mr.. Biddle's assertions may be interpreted as indicating government action against the dis- seminators of hatred. Equally as important, also, is Attorney General Biddle's assertion that frank and intelligent discussion of the problem is necessary as a prerequisite to effective action if the evils of the situation are to be eradicated. Groups engaged in the fight against intolerance should take this to heart. Prejudice cannot be fought behind closed doors, or by encouraging secrecy. The situation in Boston might have been remedied had Jews and -non-Jews spoken sooner in condemnation of the anti-Semitic outrages. In- stead, , community leaders and the press waited until PM, the Christian Science Monitor and other liberal periodicals ex- posed the existing menace. They waited until boys were seriously hurt before acting. Our Attorney General is right. Frank and intelligent discussion is necessary if the evils are to be eradicated. But if our Attorney General means to limit action to discussion of the issues by Jews and others affected by preju- dice, and if our government is to remain inactive in stamping out bigotry, then the basic principles of American democracy are in danger of being destroyed. In commending our Attorney General, we also plead with him to throw into the fight all the resources at the command of our government, so that there may be an end to discrimina- tion in America. On one of his expeditions Alexander the Great approachee, a city that was entirely governed, by women. As he was marchir4 upon the city to attack it, th( gates of the city opened and tall stately woman of noble ap J pearance came forward. "What bringeth thou to ou ] land and what desireth thou?' she asked. "I am Alexander the Great,'' he replied, "Alexander, the Cori. queror, and I have come to ta -k( thy city." "Are the men all dead," she re al turned, "that thou hast come t( 1 battle with women? Thou mayesi find it more difficult than tholJ, thinkest to vanquish us but ever shouldst thou • be victorious,' wouldst thou have it that th( great Alexander was a conquero r of women? Suppose that wc should be the victors, how colosl sal would be thy disgrace to hay( it known that the mighty host. of Alexander the Great had beer vanquished by an army of worn en. Go from our country an conquer foes more worthy of th3 valor." Alexander was so entrances With the charm of her bearini and impressed with the magniff cence of her courage that he ex claimed: "Thy charm and thy braver: have impressed me greatly. Ma: there be only peace and friend ship between us." Ordering his army to turf ' back, he, before riding away drove up to the gates of the citi and inscribed thereon: "I, Alexander the Great, afte having conquered so many court tries, have come to this land, an learned wisdom from a woman.' (Copyright by David Morantz) For a handsome 195 page, auto, graphed gift volume containing 12 of these tales and 500 Pearls of Wis dom, send $1.50 to David Morantz care of The Jewish News, or phon Plaza 1048. Zionist Head Flays Houston Temple for Barring Observers WASHINGTON, D. C.—Thi action taken by the reform con gregation Beth Israel of Hous ton, Texas, in voting, approval o a "statement •of principles' without precedent in the annal of American Jewish congrega tions barring from voting mem bership all believers in "th Rabbinical and Mosaic law which regulate diet" and in the precepts of traditional Judaism was branded as a "callous of frontery" toward the concepts o Judaism and an act of intoler ante, in a statement issued her by Dr. Israel Goldstein, presi dent of the Zionist Organizatiol of America. The "statement of principles' adopted by the Congregation which is headed by Rabbi H. Schachtel, one of the leading figures in the anti-Zionist "Am erican Council for Judaism," ob ligates each voting member t( "reject the Rabbinical and Mo saic laws which regulate diet priestly purity, dress and similai laws which originated in age:, and under influences of idea:, and conditions which today aryl entirely unsuited, unnecessa, and foreign to the beliefs and observances of progressive Ju daism in modern America . . . The pledge required from eacl member also repudiates the Hel brew language as "unintelligibl to the vast majority of our co religionists; therefore, it muss make way, as is advisable uncle] existing circumstances, to intel! ligible language in prayer which if not understood, is a soulless form." Terming the action of th( 1 Houston Congregation as "ar amazing phenomenon in Ameri!, can Jewish life," Dr. Israel Gold! stein, in his statement, assert: that in voting approval of th( pledge the congregation reveal ed "an inner- demoralizat.ior which makes them not only in) ferior Jews, but inferior Ameri cans."