THEJ EWI.SH N E

...Page Two

Strictly
Confidential

Quotation of the Week

By . PHENEAS J. BIRON

(C4yrigi.tt, 1943, Seven Arts Feature •
-
Syndicate)

;EWISH NEWS .,
The new executive director of the
American Jewish Conference is Jacob
Pearistein, son.4n-law of Morris D. Wald-
man, executive vice president of the
American Jewish Committee . . (Pearl.
stein at one time served as educational
director of the Jewish Community Cen-
ter of Detroit).
"The Forgotten Ally," Pierre van
Paassen's new book, is now selling faster
than the publiShers can print it . . Latest
reports are that it is selling at the rate
of 1,500 copies .a. . day, or 9,000 a week.
Featured at the New York Public
Library this week is an .unusual exhibit
showing how: the, Jewish Social Service
Organization does, its work . . . An imL
*portant part of the exhibit, which- marks
the 70th -anniversary of the organization
is a number of 'sprightly cartoons.
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•
ODDITIES
,2
•
Preparations ' are under way for a most
intensive campaign in behalf of a large
and free POSt-war' Poland . The sup-
port of the Jews, who still are the target
of Polish-Government-in ,-Exile anti - Se- -
mitism, is being wooed ... . And, strange
to say, many of them are - joining the
movement. .
"The Hitler Gang"? is a film that prom-
ises to give audiences the inside dope on
the Nazi chieftains . . . It takes the Nazi
movement • back to its very beginnings,
and special pains have been taken by
large technical staff to make every detail
authentic . . . One authentic detail, how-
ever, will be missing—and that is the
Horst Wessel tong, the Nazi :naticirial .
.hymn ... Because what with the war and
all, the producers can't clear the Nazi-
held copyright on the song and they
don't want - to take a chance on being
sued for copyright infringement after the

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war. _

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VESTAPO GESTURES
I Latest 'act of mercy" of the Nazis is
lepOrted from Holland, where 25,000
Jews were sterilized in a single week
by German military doctors in compli-
ance with a new Gestapo edict . • The
victims . were all husbands or wives of
non-Jews, and since their sterilization
have been relieved of the obligation to
wear the Mogen David • • • Did you
know, incidentally, that Dutch eTeArs pos-
sessing Palestine immigration certificates
aren't sent to Poland, but to special in-
ternrnent camps in Germany? . These
presumably must be better than the Po-
lish camps, since nothing can be worse:
Walter Winchell is very proud of :the -
Gestapo's decree that any German.caught
reading his columns is to be shot sum-
-manly . . In case you've been wonder-
ing how any German ever has a chance
to commit this heinous crime, here's the
:news that the anti-Nazi underground
smuggles the columns into Germany, and
that they're passed from hand to hand
under the Gestapo's very nose . • We
.hope a few columns eventually find their
way into the hands of Goebbels and
. Goering.

Where Moses Stood

Few Rabbis have had the rare experi-
ence of Chaplain . Joseph H. Freedman
who conducted holyday services at the
very spot where Moses split , the. Red
Sea and brought the Children of Israel
safely on to dry land.
• Chaplain Freedman, assistant to the
Chief of Chaplains of the U. S. Army
Forces in the Middle East, - regularly.
covers the route over which the Twelve
_Tribes trekked to the Promised Land.
But where the Tribes of Israel wandered
for 40 years, Chaplain Freedman now
'covers the same territory by plane in
less than an hour.
There are American.. soldiers encamped
all - over the area, and Chaplain Freed-
man stops at each camp to conduct serv-
ices. One of the Army camps lies in the
shadows of the Great Pyramids. Chap-
lain Freedman's most inspiring services
are probably those he conducts in - the
little chapel erected by the soldiers in
this camp only a few hundred yards
from the ancient Sphinx.
Here in the shadows of the pyramids,
built with the flesh and bone of the Is-
raelite slaves under the whip-lashes of
Pharaoh's overseers, an American rabbi
now leads young fighting Americans in
prayers for a speedy victory over the
modern slave master. The richness of
associations are not lost on the soldier
congregations, Chaplain Freedman re-

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ports.

Feiday, -Decemtier:17,-1943

:'-44The innocent blood of millions.of our brothers and sisters, men and
women, young and old, children, babes : and sucklings, tortured in infer--
nal fashion, shot in cold blood, slaughtered like sheep, gassed en masse,
drowned, burnt and buried alive, cries unto you from all Europe's sin-
laden sbil, groaning under the unbearable load of Nazi inhuman crime,
bidding you in God's name to Salvage the remnant. of Israel palpitating
between life and death: •

"Pray recall the immense debt mankind owes to the Jewish People,
the lofty teachings and messages of whose prophets consciously or un-
consciously inspire the United Nations in sacrificing the flower of their
youth for liberty, justice and humanity in the titanic struggle with the rn
still formidable ' forces of darkness. We refuse to believe that nothing
can be done. In the multittide of counsel there is salvation. Men and
women of the United States whose glorious civilization rests upon
religious ethical foundations! Bestir yourselves with all heart and soul
to save lives, and Providence will grant you counsel and strength."

—DR. ISAAC HERZOG, Chief Rabbi of ialestine, in
radiogram to U. S. Senator Edward C. John:son, ap-
pealing in behalf of resolution pending in Congress
. to provide for, the rescue of European Jewry.

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Purely
Commentary

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By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Heard in
The Lobbies

...

Py 'ARNOLD

LEVIN-

Between
You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright,' 1943. J.T.A.; Ise.)

THE PALESTINE FRONT
Big dOingS regarding Palestine are now
brewing in London . . And they, are re-
flected in Washington . . . It would be
premature to mention any. names here,.
but it can be disclosed that Dr. Weizmann
is more optimistic. than ever after seeing
a few of the most - important men in Eng-
land . . • He has summoned three mem-
bers of the Zionist executive from jerii-
salem and three Zionist leaders from the
United States to come to London . .
Though the campaign against the White
Paper will not cease, Zionist leaders are
now less worried about this document .
In fact, they consider -it practically aban-
doned after the statement made ,bY Col-
onial Minister Stanley in Parliament that
approximately 30,000 .Jews will be per-
mitted to enter Palestine even after the
expiration of the term of the White Paper
next March'. They figure that lu that
time the last of these 30,000 Jews reach
Palestine,, the status of the country-may
have undergone a - -substantial change
-which- will -automatically. nullify -the
White Paper . Zionist leaders-in . Loh-
don are now concentrating their -efforts
on securing such a change . . . 'And the
change will not mean partition to which
the Zionist leaders are now saying - "no"
quite • definitely. •
Did you hear . of ,t1-ie report Senator
Mead . brought back. to Washington- from
his trip-to the Middle East? . -. All Arab
leaders . with whom the Senator spoke
presented to him yarious., demandS, but
none of them mentioned the Arab-Jewish
question in Palestine • . - "What about
the Jewish claims for Palestine?" the
Senator could not resist asking some of
the Arab notables . . "Well," was the
reply, "we'll find a way to get along with
the Jews" . The only people who con-
sistently injected the Arab-Jewish issue
in their talks with the Senator were
British. officials. •
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*
*
THE RUSSIAN FRONT
Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovak Foreign
Minister who Is nowin the United States,
has cabled to President Benes in Moscow
reminding him to take up with Stalin the
Palestine question . . Dr. Benes some-
time ago. promised Zionist leaders to do
so, and even accepted from them a mem-
orandum to this effect . . He is now in
Moscow discussing with Stalin the post-
war relations between the Soviet Union
and _ a liberated Czechoslovakia . . . A
prominent American who just returned
from various parts of Europe and Africa
believes that if the Jews ever get what
they want in Palestine, it will be due to
the United States and Russia . • . He dis-
counts Britain . . . He came to these con-
clusions on the basis of talks which he
had with Soviet, American and British
diplomats in the countries he visited.
TFIE HOME FRONT

AN ARAB PROTAGONIST
(Copyright 1943, Independent
Jewish -Press Service)
... John Van Ess, missionary of the Re
formed Church in America among th. e FAREWELL TO DEUTSCH
Arabs, has written an epistle which may .. Hey, Deutsch, won't you say good-by
well be termed one .of ,the most forceful, to your readers? Don't you want to hear
paeans of . raise of the Arabs that has the applause for you that is tearing down
yet'appeared in the English langizage.In t he
rafters? What is that you said—you
his. " "Meet the Arab," published by John li ke' applause, but if it comes with some
Day' Co.,' he introduces the reader . not 'Scallion thrown into the bargain, you're
only to the Arab sheiks and mullahs, -ef- willing to get along without it? . .
fendi 6
- ; and scholars, but he also gives an Well, I see, I see . • . Off you run and
interesting interpretation of. the Arabic leave me the double task of offering
language and the Mohammedan religion. apologies for you and of introducing my-
- He defends the Arabic. position Pal- self and perhaps having scallions thrown
estine in a spirit which must meet with prematurely at me.
opposition from Jewish ranks. While he
Well, ladies and gentlemen, my name
presents himself as friend of Arab and is - Arnold Levin. David Deutsch ; founder
Jew alike, there is something about this and fondler of this column has retired on
book which leaves the Jewish reader with a pension of praise and knocks, wearing
a feeling; sadness that Dr. Ess shOuld the Purple Heart, for not a single col-.
have failed to grasp the importance of umnist worth his salt can come un-
the , Jewish position in Zion.
scarred out of these pen battles. He has
.*
*
*
left me his space, his audience and the
THE "COMPLIMENT' TO THE JEWS
title of his column, "Heard' in the Lob-
There are a few compliments to the bies," gave me a single misery,Pat on
Jews. "The story of Tel Aviv alone reads the back and said, in snobbish Oxford
like fiction, and: "For sheer dogged per- fashion: 'Carry on, carry on, my boy."
sistence and astonishing imagination: and So that's me, Arnold Levin, successor to
downright ability, I take my hat . off to David Deutsch, attempting to fill his
the Jews, in view of what they have done boots.
* * *
in Palestine. You cannot deny it, and you
m-ust see it to appreciate it. It WoUld -. LONDON CALLING
_take volumes to describe it all, and such . This is London . . . Dr. Chaim Weiz-
volumes are available to anyone who mann has at last 'seen Churchill. There
wants to find out."
were rumors that the Prime Minister
But the book in its entirety destroys felt embarraSsed about meeting the Zion-
the- Effect of these compliments paid us ist and JeWish Agency chief, feeling as
as Passing thoughts..
he did and does that Weizrnann's - case is
At the end of the book there is a three- airtight . Rumor further has it that the
page bibliography of literature available Prime Minister, on this as on other oc-
on Arabs and the Arab problem. On the casions, said after meeting Weizmann:
question of "Palestine - and Zionism," how-
"This man Weizmann has a strange
ever, the author writes: "The - literature effect on me. I see him for an hour and
on the subject is so extensive that the I can't sleep a 'night. He sets me think-
Have you heard the latest question?
reader would do well to consult the de- ing about his people." The meeting was . The declaration demanding Palestine
tailed list published by the East and West arranged by South African Prime Min-
as a Jewish commonwealth is called "The
Association, 40 E. 49th St, New York istet Marshal Smuts. Smuts is now, as
Biltmore Declaration" because it was is-
City. An able and well balanced presenta-_ always, a faithful friend of the cause of sued by a Zionist conference held at the
tion of the Jewish case is Revusky, A., the Jewish State.
Biltmore Hotel in New York . . . Why, it
"The Jews in Palestine," New York, Van-
The Palestine High Commissioner may is asked, did the Zionists not hold their
guard Press, 1936."
very soon be packing his suitcases. Many . conference at the Roosevelt Hotel in New
In other words, you are given advice feel that he may have been passable in
York? .. They would have had a chance
on Arab literature, but insofar as the the days of Munich, but these- days, my
to name their demand for a Jewish corn-
Jewish position is concerned, literature. God—take him away . . . The anti-Zion- monwealth • "The. Roosevelt Declaration.
is "available to anyone who wants to ists who still feel that there is a future
find out." Only Revusky is mentioned. In in• Europe . for the uprooted masses of
the meanwhile the mind of the reader is Jewry should take the advice of one of
poisoned against the Zionist position.
the real champions of democracy and
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one of the best friends our people have.
CONTRADICTIONS GALORE
In a frank discussion Smuts said that
There are contradictions. galore in the even in- his country there might be dif-
With Russia one of the most important
entire book. Also, there is repetition of ficult3r as regards repatriating the Jews factors in the fight for 'world freedom,
such stories as a little girl pushing an and returning the property to -them. He Russian literature and the humor of the
Arab patriarch—stories that have no basis will do all he can, but then - there are Russian people becomes a subject of gen-
in fact, and which should not be given few statesmen alive today who are pro- eral .interest at this time.
credence if such occurrences did take foundly sympathetic to our people's woes
Therefore, John Cournos' collection, "A
as he is.
place in isolated instances.
Treasury of Russian Life and Humor,"
*
*
There is emphasis on religious angles
published by Coward-McCann, Inc., 55
with hints of disrespect to religion among PERSONAL. NOTES
Fifth Ave., New York, assumes real im-
Senator Robert "Der Tag" Reynolds is portance at this time.
Jewish colonists. If Dr. Ess spent as
much time as he says among the Jewish scheduled to make some personal appear-
Mr. Cournos is not only the editor of
settlers, he should have learned some- ances with that other great master of this fine volume: he is also the translator
political
-
thing of the dignity of Jewish life there
vaudeville, Gerald L. K. Smith, of several of the selections included in
that impressed distinguished Christian who invited him to be the presidential the anthology.
leaders from all nations.
candidate of the native fascist America
Not since Leo Wiener's "Anthology of
There is inconsistency in his references First Party. •
Russian Literature," published 40 years
Boston
officials
are
more
shocked
by
to the labor movement. He does not speak
ago, has anything as fine as Mr. Cournos'
well of the Histadruth (Histadroth he what, they view as off-color quips than book appeared in English.
calls it), yet he admits that. Arab stand- by outright Nazi propaganda.
In addition to the great masters—Tur-
ards are being raised by the Jewish labor
genev; Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tols-
movement.
sentation of the case if he were to stick toy, Chekhov, Gorky, Lermontov—the
While .denying it, "the author of "Meet to a discussion of Arabism and would Cournos volume contains many modern
the Arab" actually proposes a, "partition" let politics and economics alone.
selections by the younger, present-day
scheme. Emphasizing religious needs, he
Even his approval of the repudiated eminent writers. The works of Ivan
insists that he must deal with the Jewish activities of Dr. Judah L. Magnes do not Bunin, Isaac Babel and Alexander Polia-
problem as it is affected by political is- help his case any.
kov are especially noteworthy.
sues, and he assumes an authoratitve air
What a 'pity that an able missionary
"A Treasury of Russian Life and
on economic questions. It is clear that the should have hurt the Jewish cause in a Humor" is a great work and should have
book would be a much more fair pre- book on the Arabs.
a very large circulation.

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Russia's Humor
and Literature