Page Two
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1944, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
THE RESCUE FRONT
The sudden German occupation of
Hungary and the virtual occupation of
Rumania came as a blow to the rescue
plans on which the War Refugee Board
was working . . But many Jews can
still be saved from these countries
through Turkey, and the War Refugee
Board, working in co-operation with the
Joint Distribution Committee, is wide
awake . . . Little can be told of the
great efforts which the JDC is now mak-
ing to finance the rescue of Jews from
Europe . . . But it is sufficient to say
that more than $5,000,000 . have been al-
located by the JDC for this work during
the first three months of this year . . . A
detailed picture of what the JDC is ac-
complishing in these tragic days for the
remnants of European Jewry was given
to several hundred Jewish leaders who
attended the JDC mid-western confer-
ence in Chicago this week . . . The
shunning of publicity by the JDC at
present is due to the fear that anything
published in the press may prejudice the
chances of those who can still be rescued
from Nazi lands .. : It must be remem-
bered that premature publicity led to
Nazi pressure upon the Vichy Govern-
ment not to permit the departure from
France of 5,000 Jewish children who the
United States Government was willing to
admit . .
UNRRA has asked private relief
groups to supply 150 members for the
UNRRA staff and to pay their salaries
. • The JDC will send 10 social and
medical workers in the ranks of the
UNRRA in Europe.
ZIONIST SIDELIGHTS
Dr. Nahum Goldmann and Rabbi
Israel Goldstein who returned from Lon-
don this month are optimistic as to Zion-
ist political possibilities in England . . .
They came back with reports which
show that there is comparative clarity in,
London on the future of Palestine . .
They claim that there is more clarity in
London than in Washington . . . The fact
that the Palestine resolution was
shelved, for the time being, by the Con-
gressional committees did make an im-
pression in London, but only for a few
days . . . Further developments have
made it clear that even military authori_
ties in Washington may eventually
change their position with regard to the
Jewish claims on Palestine.
CHURCHILL'S MISTAKE
You' may not know of Isaiah Berlin,
the efficient and well-informed Jewish
member of the British Embassy staff in
Washington . . . But Prime Minister
Churchill knows of him from reading his
reports from the United States . . . This
is the story now reaching NeW York
from England . . . When Irving Berlin
visited London recently, he asked Brit-
ish officials whether he could not be re-
ceived by Prime Minister Churchill . .
One of the officials inquired of the
Prime Minister whether he would not
like to see Mr. Berlin "who just arrived
from the United States" . . Churchill's
reply was: "Of course I want to see him.
I want to hear all about the latest devel-
opments in America" . . . A few days
later Irving Berlin was sitting in
Churchill's" home, having lunch with the
Prime Minister and his wife .
Churchill kept on asking his guest one
question after another about the political
scene in America, but somehow the
answers were not exactly those of a
trained British diplomat . . . Finally Mrs.
Churchill posed_ a question on the non-
political subject of music in America . . .
Here Berlin found himself and the talk
suddenly assumed a lively character
"What is the matter with this fellow?"
Churchill asked his wife later, "He seems
to know all about music, but he knows
nothing about politics. And to think that
this man is one of the political observers
on the staff of our Embassy in Washing-
ton!" . . . "But he's not!" Mrs. Churchill
said. "He's Irving Berlin the musician!"
Polish Polka
Quite .a scandal at that Polish Gov-
ernment's reception for Arthur Rodzin-
sky, who is the pride of Poland and is
rumored to be a Jew. The reception took
place after Rodzinsky conducted the New
ork Philharmonic in a new work by
Tanzman, with Arthur Rubinstein as
soloist. Rubinstein and Tanzman, Polish
Jews, were also invited. They thought
that the reception included -them. But
when the official Government greeting
was read, their names were omitted. Re-
minded of Poland's prewar quotas and
ghetto-benches for Jewish students, the
two artists walked out and are the Poles'
tars red.
T H
JEWISH NEWS
A Prayer for Israel
By PIERRE VAN PAASSEN
(Published in Protestant Magazine, on eve of White Paper going into effect)
0 Lord, Master of the Universe, look down in mercy, we beseech Thee,
upon the Jewish people. For the waters have come •up to their- lips and there
is none that heedeth their call and there is nene that fighteth for them.
Yet they cannot die, for Thou, Eternal One, Thou canst not die, 'even if
a Christian world will not let them live.
Take Thou their cause in hand. Open Thou the door of their house, Eretz
Israel, and it shall be opened. Save Israel lest the Christians forget Thy Law!
We pray Thee to remember the people that is called by Thy Name. Show
, compassion on Zion and establish the vision spoken in Thy Name. Give re-
ward to them that wait for Thee, that Thy prophets may prove trustworthy.
Rekindle Thou the flame on Zion's hill, that Thy teaching and law may
go forth again and Thy word from Jerusalem as of old. The road ahead is
dark, Father, and we Thy children need Thy light .. .
Blot out of Thy sight our . .. guilt of two thousands years during which
the Jewish people found no place to lay their heads in our midst and their
footsteps left an imprint of blood . . .
Blessed be Thou, Eternal One, Watchman of Israel, Who rememberest the
pOor, the stranger and the orphan and Who leadeth the prisoners out of the
darkness of their prisonhouse.
Amen.
Heard in
The Lobbies
By ARNOLD LEVIN
(Copyright, 1944, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Inc.)
WRONG-WAY BERGSON
Peter H. Bergson, described in ads of
the Emergency Committee to Save the
. Jewish People ; as the "dynamic leader,"
acquired following and support among
Zionist rank-and-filers- by asserting that
he was for a policy of militancy and by
charging Jewish leadership in this coun-
try with being too prone to appeasement.
_Well, it now appears that Mr. Bergson,
despite his claims to militancy, out-ap-
peases any possible appeasers. He is re-
portedly behind the New York Post edi-
torials advising Zionists td drop all ref-
erences to a Jewish Commonwealth° in
the resolutions before Congress advocat-
ing an open door to Palestine. He is
furthermore reported to be negotiating
in Washington regarding a new resolu-
tion to replace the Jewish Common-
wealth resolution, one that would be ac-
ceptable to (let us say) the American
Council for Judaism. All this is report-
edly done by him in the interests of "ex-
pediency." This expediency is fast losing
him his .following here and is causing
him "loss of , face" with Irgun Zvai
Leumi which charges all the official na-
tional Jewish institutions of Palestine
with being too moderate and docile in
their relations with Britain.
• * ,
ON THE JEWISH CONFERENCE
Last week we queried what has hap-
pened to the Interim Committee of the
American Jewish Conference. Right aft-
er putting our query on record we set
out to obtain a reply. We hung around
in the lobbies until we finally picked up
the following "dope": The American
Jewish Conference would like to •go
ahead with its projected program, but
cannot because many of the organiza-
tions constituting it are jealous of their
own activities and just refuse to subordi-
nate their autonomous work to the cen-
tralized activities of the American Jew-
ish Conference. In whatever direction
the Conference seeks to move, it is
stumped by some of its affiliates.
*
*
*
CAPITAL RUMORS •
If it be true that the Republicans are
considering General Patrick J. Hurley as
a possible keynoter at their national con-
vention and as vice-presidential timber,
we think they should take into consider-
ation the fact that Hurley's travels in
Arabia, his good-will oil ambassadorship
and his activity against the Palestine
resolutions have made him unpopular
with large sections of Atherican voters.
We hope the rumors that Abe Fortas
was in on the Saudi Arabian negotia-
tionos are not true. Although the fact
that he was. scheduled to go to Saudi
Arabia tends to confirm this rumor.
In the Stettinius delegation to London
we find the name of Wallace Murray.
Should the Palestine question be brought
up at th,e conference' there, Wallace Mur-
ray, the State Department '"expert" on
the, Middle East, may prove to be a
stumbling block. He is one of the people
in the State Department who have yet to
understand the Jewish cause.
Novelist James Street will oppose the
t o p Congressional hatist, Ranken, in
the Mississippi primaries . . Max Gold-
berg, editor of the Intermountain Jewish
News, our Denver outlet, reports meet-
ing Senator Gillette and his charming
wife, the former Rose Freeman, a Jewish
girl, ' from Cherokee, Iowa.
*
'MEMO TO CONGRESSMAN DIES
Is there any connection between the
renewed political speechifying of Father
Coughlin and the wave of wildcat strikes
at the Ford plant? And Gerald L. K.
Smith's headquarters are in Detroit, too.
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright. 1944, by Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate)
MUSIC
NOTES
Carnegie Hall NiTas the scene of an un-
usual event last week when a famed
conductor celebrated his 50th anniver-
sary on the podium by conducting ,the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra . . .
The celebrator was none other than
Bruno Walter—and he made the occa-
sion • all the more memorable by con-
ducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
from memory.
Montreal music lovers had a unique
experience early this month when their
own Festivals Orchestra, under the baton
of the noted English conductor Sir
Thomas Beecham, presented a symphonic
poem, "The Oracle," composed by a
gifted young Montrealer, Alexander
Brott.
Just in time for the spring holiday
season comes the new Mischa Elman Red
Seal recording of Ernest Bloch's "Nigun,"
subtitled "No. 2 of Baal. Shem—Pictures
of Chassidic Life."
STAGE AND SCREEN
olf the plan to have John Garfield star
in a new war film goes through, you
may expect an. extraordinarily fine per-
formance .. . John has 7:r:en playing the
"foxhole circuit" in Italy, and keeping
his eyes and ears open.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who has
been in Hollywood for many years now
and has some of filmdom's finest mu-
sical arrangements to his credit, will be
coming East soon to conduct for "Helen
Goes to Troy," • scheduled to open this
spring.
Now they say that it's Greta Garbo
who will play the Divine Sarah Bern-
hardt in the projected film biography
of that illustrious actress.
Cecil B. De Mille is said to be thinking
of screening Thomas Mann's famous
trilogy on the Biblical Joseph.
* * *
ABOUT PEOPLE
Economist Robert Nathan—who, to
'make confusion__ worse confounded, has
just emulated poet Robert Nathan by
publishing a book (on the theme "Mobil-
izing for -Abundance," however)—will,
we hear, soon go • to Palestine to make
a survey of its economic possibilities.
Art lovers, particularly those with
Zionist leanings, are beating a path
through Central Park these days to
Maxa Nordau's parkside studio, where
she is holding a private showing of her
paintings and drawings of Palestine,
France and America.
New York City's rent director, Louis
H. Pink, informs us that rent control
dates back to the year 1231, when Henry
III of England instituted such regula-
tions . . . Come ncv, you Bible scholars
—can't you find something of that sort
in the Torah?
WEEKLY GIGGLE
Harry Hershfield likes to tell the story
of the lunatic asylum in Germany whose
director, .expecting a visit from the
Fuehrer, drilled all the inmates so that
their "heiling" and saluting would tes-
tify to the complete Nazification of that
institution . So Hitler came, and in
every padded cell and every less isolated
ward each and every man and woman
greeted-. him in true Nazi fashion . . ,
All, that is, but one man . . . Hitler
eyed him with indignation . . . "Why
don't you salute me?" he roared . . •
"Who, me?" exclaimed the man . . .
"I'm the keeper—I'm not crazy."
Friday, March 3!, 1944
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
CRUEL HOAX COMMITTEE
The so-called "Committee to Save the
Jewish People of Europe" was linked
with the "Committee for a Jewish Ar-
my" and was branded "a very cruel
hoax" last week, by Pierre Van Paassen.
"They are both sponsored by the same
Palestinian body through its delegation
here in America: the fascist, terrorist
Irgun," the eminent author of "Days of
Our Years" and "The Forgotten Ally"
stated in his indictment.
This is most interesting, since Mr.
Van Paassen was associated with the
Committee for a Jewish Army for a
brief period as national chairman, and he
more than any other man should know
the facts. Now, he informs us that he
had resigned because he "came to the
painful realization that the Committee's
directors, the four or five Palestinian
Irgunists, had not mended and showed
no intention to mend their ways in this
country."
Mr. Van Paasen states further, in an
article in the Protestant Magazine:
"In the Jewish field, the Committee
goes counter to and combats the inter-
nationally-legally established 'Jewish
Agency for Palestine' which is the body
that represents the national interests of
the Jewish people in the community of
civilized nations. All the Irgunist Com-
mittees; the Committee,to Save the Jews,
the League for a Free Palestine, etc.,
seek to disrupt established Jewish or-
ganizations, such as the Zionist Organ-
ization of America, by means of typical-
ly facile, fascist charges and accusations
of 'bureaucratic inefficiency,' ruling
cliques,' grand moguls,' etc. It is so
easy!"
Others, before him; had quit the Com-
mittee. Miss Babette Deutsch and sever-
al outstanding Christian leaders of Chi-
cago • refused to continue their associa-
tion with the Irgunists. But there are
others, among them Governors and
members of Congress, who fail to see
the truth in the above quoted paragraph.
It is high time that condemnation of ir-
responsibility were not limited to Mr.
Van Paassen!s statement, especially in
view of the mail campaign conducted
for "their propaganda work throughout
by the Irgunists who are soliciting funds
the land.
* * *
A STAR ON YIDDISH STAGE
Fol.- more than a year, the New York
Yiddish newspapers have made quite a
fuss over a new star in the Yiddish
theater—the attractive and intelligent
young actress Dina Halperin. It was not
until her first appearance outside of
New York, in Chicago recently, and now
in Detroit, at Littman's Yiddish People's
- Theater, that the lovers of theatrical art
in this part of the country have begun
to realize that a truly great actress is
enhancing the footlights. .
Miss Halperin will be here for only
a limited number of performances, and
your Commentator does not hesitate to
commend her as highly as his Yiddish
confreres had done.
Whatever her roles, Miss Halperin
-handles them most intelligently. She is
at home on the stage, and her flow of
speech is so natural that men and wom-
en who love Yiddish culture are certain
to be thrilled with her perforMances.
Her appearances here should give new
life to the Yiddish theater which has
not been supported well of late. Mr.
Abraham Littman, the local manager,
has struggled to inject spirit in the local
playhouse. Whenever he can locate a
new star, he makes. it a point to present
him or her to Detroiters. He deserves
support, and he seems to be getting
more of it as a result of the appearance
here of Dina Halperin. .
.
Palestine Calling
Quite amusing the way the Polish
government-in-exile has set up shop in
Palestine, according to information
reaching us. The Polish consular corps in
Palestine is larger than the - total of all
other ,governments. Tel Aviv swarms
with Polish officials. By the minute, li-
mousines sweep by with the Polish flag
topping their radiator caps and Polish
officials sprawled out inside. The ride
from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv takes only
an hour or so, and yet there are two
separate consulates, one in each of these
cities. The Polish Red Cross has two
headquarters, one in Tel Aviv and an-
other in Jerusalem. The Ministry of In-
formation has the largest staff. The va-
rious ministries have their own propa-
ganda machines fighting each other . „
Quite a species, Polish Government-in-
Exile diplomats.