111.1111111.111111111111111111111.1111

Page Four

THE 'JEWISH NEWS

"atl e

THE JEWISH NEWS

Neast

111

Friday, December IT 1943

tights"

By BRESSLER

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 Newsphoto 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

(Based upon the 'ancient legends and
philosophy found in the Talmud and
folklore of the Jewish people.)

Be Punctual

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MAURICE ARONSSON
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
FRED M. BUTZEL
ISIDORE SOBELOFF
THEODORE LEVIN
ABRAHAM SRERE
MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ
HENRY WINEMAN

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor

VOL. 4—NO. 13

DECEMBER 17, 1943

As the Editor

Views the News - -

The Fight of the Modern Maccabees

Hanukah again stirs the imagination of Jews everywhere
and arouses hopes that the heroism of those who reject regi-
mentation and who fight for their existence and for their
rights as human beings will result in triumph for decency
and. justice everywhere.
An ancient story continues in our time without interrup-
tion. There is an attempt to destroy the Jewish way of life,
accompanied by the Nazi aspiration for the extermination of
all Jews. As in the days of Antiochus, the destructive ele-
ments are meeting their doom.
The modern Maccabees, fighting on all fronts, are the
symbols in our time of the determined will of our people to
survive. In the ghetto of Warsaw, heroic Jewish men and
women gave evidence that they belong to an undying people
and they will not submit to threats of extermination without
offering battle for life and honor. Their courage serves as a
signal to those who have survived the wholesale slaughter of
the Nazis to carry on the battle until complete triumph is reg-
istered for the cause of justice everywhere.
It is unfortunate that Jews must battle for the right to
survive even in free countries. In Palestine, our people are
fighting against an unjust administration which is abusing
traditions that have made the British a great nation.
In this country, too, the battle for light against darkness
is not over. The experiences in Boston and elsewhere point
to a continued struggle against bigotry. On the home front,
as on the battlefield, the Maccabean spirit is challenged and
those who fight for justice must carry on until total victory
is attained.
Then there is the battle against those within our own
ranks who, like the pro-Hellenists of old, betray their own
traditions and seek by imitation and mimicry to sacrifice
Jewish principles. They too, are doomed to defeat.
The spirit of Hanukah is in evidence today, as it will be
be for generations to come. The valor of the Maccabeans is
being repeated on many fronts. The fight for justice must
end in victory.

Dr. Hershman's Fascinating Book

In his introduction to Dr.• A. M. Hershman's highly scho-
larly work, "Rabbi Isaac Perfet and his Times," Prof. Alex-
ander Marx of the Jewish Theological Seminary states that
the Detroit Rabbi's researches, incorporated in this book, are
"a most valuable addition to the all too scanty English Jew-
ish historical literature."
The interest that the entire community should show in
Rabbi Hershman's book should find justification in this brief
statement. Dr. Hershman has devoted 12 years of effort to
the preparation of this fine book. He deals not only with the
life of one of the most interesting characters in Jewish his-
tory, but also presents an historical outline of the history of
the Jews in North Africa.
"Rabbi Isaac Perfet and his Times" has the merit of fas-
finating reading not only for the scholar but also for the
average lay reader.
The publication of this book deserves to be welcomed
by all Detroit Jews as a great contribution made by the man
who for 37 years has served well not only his own congrega-
tion—Shaarey Zedek—but the community at large.

A Chemical Center for Middle East

Dr. Ernst Bergmann's outline of the chemical research
work being carried on in the Daniel Sieff Research Institute
Rehovoth, Palestine, at a meeting of the Detroit commit-
tee that is seeking funds to finance this effort, was not only a
fascinating experience but was a revelation of available pos-
sibilities of future colonization efforts in Palestine.
The news that the Negev can be transformed into a thriv-
ing Palestinian settlement is significant, Since there is serious
talk of opening that territory for colonization.
As Dr. Bergmann indicated, there certainly can be no
talk of displacing anyone in the Negev which is today com-
pletely uninhabited.
Furthermore, the discoveries made by Jewish scientists
in Palestine and the contributions our chemists are making
towards the advancement of industry in the Middle East are
gifts to civilization which the world will not be able to for-
get. They should prove valuable advantages . in the justified
claims that our people have to the right to build
a homeland
b
in Palestine.
Dr. Bergmann rendered a real service with his presen-
tation of facts on the status of chemical research in Palestine,
and the picture he painted should help the Detroit commit-
tee raise its full quota for the support of the Sieff Institute.

Talmudic Tales

The JDC's Historic Task

A rabbi once sent for a young
man of his congregation arid ask-
ed that he call upon him at a
certain time, specifying the hour
of the day at which it would be
convenient to see him. The young
man, to be sure to be on time,
came several hours early, only
to find the rabbi very busy at
other duties and unable to see
him until the hour stated.
When the time permitted him
to see the young man, he said:
"Before we get down to the
matter that occasioned my call-
ing on you, let me give you a bit
of advice that you will find very
valuable as you go through life
and that is this: If a time is set
for a thing to be done, do so at
the time set and not earlier nor
later than the time set for an en-
gagement, not arriving much too
early nor too late."
There is a wealth of wisdom
in those words of the rabbi. A
business or professional man who
makes a definite appointment
usually plans his work so that
the time specified is the time best
suited to his convenience and to
arrive either earlier or later may
interfere. seriously with these
plans. So in the words of the rab-
bi may I again repeat: "If a time
is set for a thing to be done, do
so at the time set and not earlier
nor later than the time set for it."
(Copyright by David Morantz)

Several announcements of great significance were made
at the 29th annual meeting of the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee, held last week in New York.
All who are interested that the work of providing relief
for the millions of suffering Jews throughout the world—
and we take it for granted that not a single Jew would de-
For a handsome 195 page, auto-
sire to be counted out of such a classification—must greet graphed gift volume containing 128
of these tales and 500 Pearls of Wis-
with satisfaction the historic results of that meeting.
dom, send $1.50 to David Morantz,
of The Jewish News, or phone
In the first place, the information that relationships.for care
PLaza 1048.
dispensing relief in Russia have been resumed as a result of
arrangements made with the Soviet Union is of extreme sig-
nificance. Hundreds of thousands of refugees now in Russia A. P. Correspondent
and the million and a half Polish Jews who were fortunate
to find a haven in Soviet territories now will have a better Tells Moving Story
opportunity to receive the help they need so urgently.
Of Marine's Heroism
Furthermore, the announcement that the JDC is to make
a shipment of $500,000 worth of essential supplies for distri-
A cable from Pearl Harbor
bution by the Russian Red Cross "to all people in need in
such regions without regard to race or nationality" will be states that William Hippie, the
Associated Press correspondent;
welcomed as a great humanitarian act.

Similarly, American Jews will welcome with great satis-
faction the announcement that packages of food, clothing and
medicines are to be sent to evacuees from Eastern Europe,
now in Soviet Asia, at the rate of 5,000 parcels a month and
a cost that will exceed $750,000 by the end of this year.
Using Palestine and Teheran as supply bases, this new relief
effort should realize a need which was filled only partially
until now.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has
earned a place as the world's greatest humanitarian agency,
second only to the Red Cross, and it is important that it
should be given all the support it needs. Duplication of effort
which would interfere either with its direct efforts or with
its fund-raising activities should be avoided.
It is a tribute to the leadership of the JDC that its 29
years of activities should bring promise of results which will
bring the relief which millions of Jews expect from American
Jewry.

G.L.K. Smith's New Boast

Gerald L. K. Smith, leader of the America First Party
and a leader in the anti-Semitic movement in this country,
has issued a new boast. He told a meeting of his followers
here recently that in case of an attempt to deprive him and
his party of freedom of speech he will have "100 per cent
co-operation" of Roger Baldwin, director of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Which proves that the fascists of this country are not
fools. They know how to take advantage of all the benefits
afforded to people living in a democracy,
In Germany, too, before the complete regimentation of
the country by the Nazis, Hitler and his cohorts made use of
the right to freedom of speech and the press. Then, when they
acquired control, they knew how to deprive those who gave
them the right to speak of these same privileges.
Perhaps the Civil Liberties Union had better be a bit
more discriminating in the manner in which it opposes
measures to ban from the mail literature that stirs up race
and religious hatred, and the scrupulousness with which it is
ready to defend Nazis and rabble-rousers for the sake of pro-
tecting the "letter-of-the-law" in freedom of speech cases.
After all, we should be careful how we grant unlimited
rights to people who shout "fire" in crowded theaters.

This Week's Scriptural Selections:

This Sabbath, the twenty-first day of Kislev, 5704, the fol-
lowing Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Gen. 37:1-40:23.
Prophetical portion: Amos 2:6-3:8.
Scriptural selections for Hanukah: Wednesday, Num.
7:1-17; Thursday, Num. 7:18-29; Friday, Num.
7:24-35.

7.:

who has witnessed many touch-
ing battle scenes, upon his re-
turn from the battle of Tarawa
described an incident that is to
him the most touching he has
ever seen. Here is the incident
he described:
A young Jewish Marine private
was in a shell hole, badly in-
jured and in pain. A Navy hospi-
tal corpsman crawled over to
give him morphine to ease his
suffering. But the Marine pro-
tested. "Please don't give - me
morphine," he pleaded. "Please
don't give me morphine. I won't
be able to do any more fighting."
The corpsman finally held the
wounded Marine down and ad-
ministered the pain killer. His
muscles slowly relaxed, his eyes
closed and he lay back. But, Mr.
Hipple reports, the boy was still
grumbling because he was being
put out of action.

In Lighter Vein

The Week's Best Stories

THE HEARTS OF THE POOR
of those ironical shafts
of wit that emerge from class
distinctions appeared the other
day in the regular column of
"Davar", the Tel Aviv Hebrew
Labor daily.
Said Berl meeting Schmerl:
I have just read where it says
that Tel Aviv Municipality is go-
ing to start a Cardiac Research
Institute to examine the hearts
of the poor. Isn't that surprising'?
What about the hearts of the
rich?"
Replied Schmerl:
"My good friend, if the rich
had any hearts, then it would
not be necessary to examine the
hearts of the poor."

In the light of the proscription
Jn imitating the Menorah, the
Jews of old fashioned a lamp of
similar shape for the Hanukah
service by utilizing the Menorah
motif and adapting it to the needs
of an eight-day festival by means
of a lamp of four semi-circles
instead of three, with the central
shaft used for the Shammash.