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THE JEWISH NEWS
THE JEWISH NEWS
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.
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. 24
MARCH 3, 1944
As the Editor
Views the News
MI MO ON
The Message of Purim
Purim, to be observed next Thursday, carries with it a
more important message in our time than in any other
period in our history. -
Involving as it does Jewish responsibilities in the fight
on bigotry and the reactions of non-Jews, the celebration of
this festival should inspire serious study of historic experi-
ences.
Adolf Hitler has already predicted "another Purim."
Naturally, he referred to the festival in the form of a warn-
ing a to his people. But while he injected the term "destructive"
in his augury of a Jewish triumph he has, apparently inad-
vertently, acted as the prophet of the coming of the day when
the bigots of the world will be defeated.
*
*
Purim will unquestionably raise the question: why are
Jews hated? The Book of Esther is believed to sum up the
entire question in the words of Haman to King Ahasuerus:
"There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed
among the peoples in all the provinces of the kingdom; and their
laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they
the king's laws; therefore it profiteth not the king to suffer
them. If it please the king, let it be written that they be de-
stroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the
hands of those that have charge of the king's business, to bring
it into the king's treasures."
THE
HAMAN
OF TODAY
Friday, March 3, 1944
by BRESSLER
By DAVID MORANTZ
(Based upon the ancient legends and
philosophy found in the Talmud and
folklore of the Jewish Iteople.)
The Two Jewels
Two of Rabbi Meier's sons
died while he was away from
home.
The good wife greeted him up-
on his return, hiding her grief.
She welcomed him, made him
comfortable and then said:
"My dear husband, two jewels
of inestimable value were plac-
ed with me for safe keeping
some time ago. Today, he who
left them with me, called for
them and I returned them to
him."
"That was the right thing to
do," said the Rabbi. "That
which is left in our care must
always be returned cheerfully
and faithfully."
"And how fare my sons?" he
asked of the good woman.
Taking him by the hand she
led him to the room where they
lay.
As he gazed upn his sons, he
realized the truth and wept bit-
terly.
"My beloved husband, weep
not," said his noble wife, "did
thou not say we must cheerfully
return that which has been
placed in our care when 'tis
called for? God left these jewels
with us for a time. Now that
he calls for them, we should not
The blessings of the entire Jewish community accompany complain."
Mr. Herman M. Pekarsky to his new post as managing
"If a person weeps and mourns
director of the Council of Social Agencies of Detroit.
excessively for a lost relative,"
Mr. Pekarsky's experiences in the realm of social serv- says the Talmud, "his grief be-
comes a murmur -against the will
ice, in the non-Jewish as well as the Jewish field, are given of God. We should justify the
recognition in his selection for this important community will of God, and exclaim with
post. The fact that he has -teen chosen to serve the needs of Job, 'The Lord gave and the
all social agencies, representing all faiths, is a tribute to his Lord hath taken; blessed be the
name of the Lord'."
ability as a leader and organizer.
Mr. Pekarsky's Promotion
The return of Mr. Isidore Sobeloff to his post of execu-
tive director of the Jewish Welfare Federation will similarly
evoke great satisfaction in the community. Acknowledged as
Here you have the chief reason for hatred: xenophobia,
one of the country's outstanding directors in the field of so-
dislike of the unlike. Jews are "different," therefore they are
cial
service, Mr. Sobeloff's return to this city should serve as
the objects of hatred.
assurance
that Detroit will continue to set high standards in
It is a poor argument in a civilized society, as Americans
all humanitarian efforts.
have reason to know, and as other civilized peoples should
have learned by now.
But those who do the misleading resort to lies, and it
becomes necessary for Jews to clarify their status.
Senator Charles J. McNary was the co-chairman of the
Today, as in the days of Haman, there are people who American Palestine Committee, and he ranked among the
charge that Jews do not keep the "king's laws." It is, of sincerest Christian friends of the r cause of a Jewish Palestine.
course, a libel. .In free countries it is not necessary for us to
His death comes as a distinct shock to all who knew him,
prove it. But it is necessary that the fact be stated: that ac-
cording to Jewish law our people are obligated, nay, they and to all JeWs who have reason to cherish his memory for
are commanded, to observe the law of the land. Dina d'Mal- his staunch friendship and his deep-rooted devotion to a great
kuta diva, the law of the land is your law, is the way this humanitarian ideal.
command reads.
Christians and Jews were inspired by Senator McNary's
It may not help with anti-Semites to explain this fact. address at the American Palestine Committee dinner in 1942.
Nevertheless, it is an obligation upon Jews to know the He will be missed at the sessions in Washington next Thurs-
truth and to relate it wherever and whenever necessary.
day.
The Late Senator McNary
The message of Purim is one Of responsibility and faith.
It is the responsibility of every one of us to battle against
untruth, in order that anti-Semitism may be uprooted.
And it is our added responsibility to retain faith and to
inject confidence among ourselves and our neighbors at all
times. •
The experiences in Persia are repetitive. Every Haman
meets his doom on the gallows. Justice must triumph, as it
will again, in our own time.
The Midrashic comment—"Kingdoms arise and kingdoms
pass away; but Israel endureth forever"--should serve as
warning to the enemies of our people not to resort to bar-
barism. And it should inspire our people in the faith that
justice endureth and that Israel, remaining faithful in ad-
herence to principles of righteousness, endureth forever.
The Nazi Steal
A report received by the United Press from Basle,
Switzerland, states that:
"A printing shop specializing in publication of Jewish
prayer books was unable to obtain any new fonts of Hebraic
type in Switzerland. The order was sent to a Berlin type
foundry, which supplied it promptly."
Well, what's so surprising about this? The. Nazis have
appropriated everything they could lay their hands on. The
best Jewish type foundries were always to be found in Ber-
lin and Warsaw—and the main Jewish possessions in Poland
and Germany are now in Nazi hands.
The Basle story merely proves that the Nazi inter-
national steal is complete.
This Week's Scriptural Selections:
This Sabbath, the ninth day of Adar, 5704, the follow-
ing scriptural selections -will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Ex. 27:20-30:10; Deut. 25:17-19.
Prophetical portion: I Sam. 15-2:34.
Scriptural Selections for Fast of Esther, Wednesday:
Pentateuchal portion: Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1-10.
Prophetical portion: Is. 55:6-56:8.
Scriptural selection for Purim, Thursday: Ex. 17:8-16
and Book of Esther.
Talmudic Tales
Nyassa Passengers in the Army
Less than a week elapsed after the arrival in Palestine
of the Nyassa, the - first neutral liner to arrive in Haifa since
1940, with 754 Jewish refugees aboard, and 12 of the rescued
men volunteered for service with the Jewish units in the
British armed forces. From the immigration reception center
at Atlith, they left for a military camp.
In this bit of news is incorporated the most serious re-
buke to the anti-Zionist elements in the British Colonial
Office and the Palestine Administration. The Jews of Pales-
tine and pioneers planning settlement there are the most
loyal supporters of the cause of justice in this war, but they
are being repaid with injustice in the threat to close Pales-
tine's doors. It is a situation that must change at once, in
the interests of the principles for which the United Nations
are fighting.
Havlagah and the Arabs
become
the distinguishing characteristic of the Jews of Palestine.
After the worst outburst of brutality on the part of
Arabs in the Holy Land, Jews resorted to Havlagah and re-
fused to retaliate even when they had opportunities to
avenge the wrongs done to the Jewish pioneers.
The Arabs, unfortunately; failed to learn the lesson of
Jewish restraint, and their kinsmen in this country appear
to be encouraging them in acts of destruction and murder.
The New York Arabic daily As-Sameer in an attack on
the fight waged by American Jews agains
t the Palestine
White Paper, proposes that "England should leave Arabs
and Jews to settle the question by themselves alone without
outside interference. If the Zionists can take Palestine by
force and by the sword let it be theirs, but if they fail and
the Arabs win, then Palestine will be the Arabs', not as the
Zionists desire."
Here you have a contrast in civilizations. The Jews
propose that restraint, decency and justice should rule Pales-
tine, but the Arabs desire to fight it out. The latter is an
aspiration of the Middle Ages, and surely will be rejected
Havlagah—meaning restraint in Hebrew—has
by the democratic peoples of the world.
(Copyright by David Morantz)
For a handsome 195 page, auto-
graphed gift volume containing 128
of these tales and 500 Pearls of Wis-
dom. send $1.50 to David Morantz,
care of The Jewish News, or phone
"'Laza 1048.
In Lighter Vein
The Week's Best Stories
77 Versus 90
Two . elderly Jews met.
"I hear," said one, "that you
have just turned 77. Mazeltov!
How is your health?"
"Bad," replied the other. "I
feel I shall die this year."
"Nonsense, with God's help
you can live to 90."
"If He can have me at 77, why
should He take me at 90?"
* * *
German "Responsibility"
In pre-war days, at the German
Embassy, a few English journal-
ists met a Gauleiter in Reich
journalism. The German claimed
with pride that no article could
now be published in a German
newspaper unless the author held
a card from the National Asso-
ciation of the German Press.
"There must be a guarantee
that the work is not that of a
Jew."•
Ruminated one hard boiled
Fleet Streeter: "Suppose I were
certified pure Aryan. My boy
friend alas! is a clever Jew. I
get a card and send in something
good of his under my name. Even
the holy pages of the "Angriff"
might be soiled by Jewish
work?"
"Not at all," replied the Ger-
man hotly. "Responsibility rests
on the editor. Obviously if he re-
ceived something unusually in-
telligent, he would see the need
for making a special investiga-
tion."
Mrs. Roosevelt
Urges Support
Of Jewish Appeal
Asserting that Americans have
a duty to help their brothers
throughout the world as well as
at home, Mrs. Franklin D. Roose-
velt called for "patience, courage
and sacrifice" in urging the wid-
est support of t h e $32,000,000
nationwide campaign of t h e
United Jewish Appeal for Refu-
cfees 2 Overseas Needs and Pales-
tine in an address in New York.