7 Page Two
Heard in
The Lobbies
\ By ARNOLD LEVIN
(Copyright, 1944. Independent Jewish
Press Service, Inc.)
RANDOM HARVEST
It sounds fantastic, but we have it on
the authority of a much-traveled, sober,
reliable source. Out in Lincoln, Ne-
braska, a new congregation has been
formed. It is called The American
Church of Reformed Judaism, to differ-
entiate it from a synagogue or a temple.
It has exactly a minyan membership,
eight of whom have wives of other
faiths. The other two are bachelors.
We hear that Rabbi Schachtel is none
too happy in his post with Congregation
- Beth Israel of Houston, Texas. After all
the trouble he's gone to, some of his di-
rectors feel that even he is "too nation-
alistic." There was the amusing incident
during his inauguration into his . - new
pulpit. After he said the first prayer, we
are told by one in the know, one of the
directors bent over and whispered in his
ear that he was surprised at the "foreign
accent" of the rabbi's Hebrew. It seems
that Schachtel, for a moment, pro-
nounced a word or two as his father, an
Orthodox Jew, would have pronounced
them. His directors are extremely sensi-
tive to "Orthodox accents."
Perhaps this belongs to Variety, the
theatrical magazine: We hear that a new
trio is touring the country—Lessing Ro-
senwald, Rabbis Woolsey and Berger.
They are holding revival meetings
against Zionism and "nationalism." Un-
like other revival meetings, their's are
not held in a tent, but in the "best"
clubs. The guests are carefully chosen,
to avoid people who might ask embar-
rassing questions. By the way, does Mr.
Rosenwald know the rumor most cur-
rent, i. e., that some of the people can-
vassing members tell prospects that the
American Council for Judaism has been
formed to rescue the Jews of Europe?
We're passing this on to the Council
leaders hoping that they'll investigate
. And we pass it on to our readers, so
that they do not confuse the American
Council for Judaism with the United
Jewish Appeal.
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CAPITAL LINE
Postmaster General Walker would
have you believe that in him is vested
all authority to decide on whether a
magazine should go through the U. S.
mails. He boasts that the courts cannot
overrule him. The Postmaster General,
you will recall, banned Esquire from the
mails, but opposed the Lynch bill which
would ban hate-literature from the
chutes. We are still waiting for a reason-
able. explanation from the Postmaster
for his stand.
Is it true that Henry Morgenthau Jr.,
plans retirement? We hope not. What
makes us suspicious of these rumors is
the fact that their source is one of Col.
McCormick's favorite calumnyists.
Anti-Semitism
In England
By DR. ISRAEL GOLDSTEIN
A survey conducted recently by Mass
Observation Report the British Gallup
Poll, indicates an improvement, as com-
pared with a year ago, in the general
attitude towa.' Jews.
Mass Observation interviewed a small
number of Londoners, too small for the
results to be conclusive, although they
indicate fairly well which opinions are
endorsed by the many and which are
held by only a few. The verbatim com-
ments quoted by the report convey the
lines of people's thinking on this sub-
ject, and suggest the direction for fur-
ther investigation. A comparative table
of sentiment this year and last year
showed:
Attitude to the Jews %today %yr. ago
Strong Favor
13
2
Slight Favor
20
21
Half and Half
11
28
Slight Disfavor
18
15
Strong Disfavor
15
12
No Opinion
18
17
Jews Queried
5
5
The state of anti-Semitism in England
may be summarized as follows: On the
surface it does not appear to be a serious
problem; it is not being projected in
any prominent degree upon the arena
of public opinion, and the situation gen-
erally seems to have improved in the
past year. However, as a potential men-
ace, it is not to be underestimated. The
postwar period, with its inevitable eco-
nomic and social strains, may provide
an atmosphere in which hate mongering
may thrive. Therefore a policy of vigi-
lance is called for.
(Copyright, 1944, by Independent Jewig1a, press
Service, Inc.),
THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, May 12, 1944
Quotation of the Week
"The average German will obey only if he feels that he is being
dealt with firmly .. .
"Anti-Semitism is Hitler's greatest international weapon, but he
was not its creator. Anti-Semitism has long been implanted in Europe.
It was fostered to some extent by the continuous Jewish migrations,
which in turn were due to persecutions.
"It was a vicious circle. Jews were regarded as strangers wherever
they came, eyed with fear and suspicion. Anti-Semitism can be best
cured by giving the Jewish people a normal way of life.
"By a normal way of life I mean that Jews must take roots as a
nation. Palestine is the only logical home for the Jews. Any other
place would merely be another temporary stop off.
"It's pure nonsense to think that a Jewish commonwealth in Pal-
estine would hurt the rights of Jews in other countries. Greek and
Irish and Italians in America never feel any embarrassment because
they descend from an 'alien' national group. Why should American
Jews feel otherwise? On the contrary, the achievement of the Jews
in Palestine has reflected most favorably on Jews in other parts of
the world."
,
.
DR. MANFRED GEORGE, Editor of Aufbau of New
York and Veteran German-Jewish Journalist
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright, 1844, by Seven A'ts
Feature Syndicate)
STRANGE BUT TRUE . . .
A certain OWI staff member, at the
time stationed in, Spain, made some vig-
orous and frank statements against the
Franco regime, calling attention to a
number of disgraceful acts committed
against Jewish refugees . . The Franco
government complained to the American
Ambassador . . . The Ambassador asked
the OWI man whether he was Jewish .. .
That gentleman, who has a very Irish-
sounding name, told our Ambassador
that he was half-Jewish . . . Whereupon
the Ambassador—whom, as you know,
many liberals in this country criticize
for his friendly relations with Franco—
advised the Washington office of the
OWI not to send Jews to Spain as its
representatives in- the future . . The
irony of the incident lies in the fact
that the OWI gentleman with the Irish
name is not even one-sixteenth Jewish,
but a full-fledged Aryan according to the
strictest Hitlerite code . . . He merely
wanted to test the quality of American
democracy.
*
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WE'RE TELLING YOU . • .
The recent established Free German
Committee, of which the distinguished
theological scholar Dr. Paul Tillich is
chairman, is meeting up with stromy
weather . . . Dr. Tillich, an American
citizen now, and a true liberal, , will be
attacked for bad timing . . It's bad
strategy to plead for a soft peace for
Germany on the eve of the opening of a
second front.
A commercial air line between Odes-
sa and Tel Aviv is planned for right
after the war . . . Huge 100-passenger
planes of the Maxim Gorki type will be
used, we are told.
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THIS AND THAT . .
Army officers stationed at Fort Dix
are enjoying some enviable rations now-
adays . . . Mess steward in charge of the
meals is Pvt. Paul Grossinger, whose
mamma, Jennie, of the Catskill "Gross-
inger's", has trained him well in the
art of providing fare for hundreds.
Note to housewives remiss in the salv-
age of waste fats: In Naziland a prize
of a cake of soap is being offered to
- housewives who bring in 11 pounds of
bones.
The only thing that bothers us about
that news concerning the 70-year-old
Rudolf Messerschmidt of Jerusalem who
now wants to change his name to Spitfire
is the question of why it took him so
long to get around to it.
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THEATER WORLD . • .
Bandleader Ray Sinatra (cousin of
Frank, if you want to know) claims to be
"the only kid that ever received an
honorary Bar Mitzvah, .for work done
for a Boston synagogue," Harry Hersh-
field confides.
Did you know that when Charlie Chap-
lin first went to Hollywood, way back
when, he dreamed of playing great dra-
matic roles such as Romeo? . . So we
gather, at least, from Lewis Jacobs' "The
Rise of the American Film."
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LITERARY DEPARTMENT . . .
Pierre Van Paassen's "The Forgotten
Ally," has now passed the 100,000 mark—
the best proof you can want that there is
tremendous interest in Jewish Palestine.
There's a new author a-budding in
playwright Edward ("Decision") - Chod-
orov's house . . . Maintaining his family's
literary tradition, Edward's young son,
aged nine, has just completed the bio-
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
"FIGHTING FOR AMERICA"
"Fighting for America" is the title of
the impressive brochure issured by the
National Jewish Welfare Board contain-
ing "an account of Jewish men in the
armed forces—from Pearl Harbor to the
Italian campaign."
More than 2,500 names are listed in
this book. They are names of men who
have been cited for valor, who have
been wounded or killed in active service.
The striking fact about this record is
that it is incomplete. Take Michigan as
an example. Fourteen names from this
state are listed as having distinguished
themselves in service, as having received
honors and awards. But the fact is that
there are more than a hundred Michi-
gan Jewish men whose names are to be
found in the casualty list of who have
in other ways gained distinction in ser-
vice.
It would be well for the National
Jewish Welfare Board to follow the
method pursued by the Bnai Brithto
scan the pages • of The Jewish News for
the Honor Roll of Servicemen and tt
make the record complete.
In time, the record WILL be complete.
The Army and Navy Committees a r e
making a strenuous effort to that end.
They can not accomplish this task, how-
ever, without the help of relatives and
friends of servicemen. It is a community
duty to help complete the record.
* * *
EMBARRASSING—NOT TO MONTY
Ted,. Lurie, the Jerusalem correspon-
dent of the Zionist Record of Johannes-
burg, South Africa, recently sent his
paper the following interesting story:
Cpl. Kurt Levy (son of the manager
of the Kallia Hotel at the Dead Sea),
who is now serving in Italy with the
Royal Engineers, recently had an em-
barrassing experience.
Levy was ordered to throw a camou-
flage netting over a military staff car
as soon' as it arrived at a certain spot.
As the net fell over the car the head
of a man popped out and was struck
by a wooden weight attached to the
edge of the netting. It was the head of
General Montgomery.
The corporal's heart sank when he
recognized the distinguished- passenger.
General Montgomery, however, stepped
out of the car and asked Levy who he
was.
When Levy replied: "I am a Jew
from Palestine," Monty slapped him on
the back saying: "You've done well,
you're the only man who has ever hit
me."
Apparently what. is embarrassing to a
Jewish corporal need not be disturbing
to an English general with a sense of
humor.
The late Brigadier Wingate, one of the
best friends the Jewish people ever had
among the Christians, was that type of
man.
Anyway, the Palestinian Jews are not
in hiding. They are in action on vital:
fronts—and their - contributions towards
victory must bear fruit.
graphies of Hitler and Tojo .
He
calls them tragi-comedies.
We don't know anything specific about
the library of Benjamin (department
store) Gimbel Jr., but apparently it
must be something . . . It seems that
the Gimbel Home at Germantown, Pa.,
was visited by housebreakers not long
ago . . . but instead of stealing anything,
they merely left an explanatory note:
"All we wanted to do was read your
books . .".
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
'Copyright, 1944, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ine.1
POST-WAR CLAIMS
With the complete defeat of Germany
looming on the horizon, the problem of
reparations for Jews is coming to the
forefront . . Various studies are now
being made to meet this problem by pre-
paring a legal basis for Jewish claims
against Germany . . . One of these
studies, perhaps the most important one,
has been prepared by Dr. Hugo Marx, a
former judge in Germany who is now in
this country . . . With remarkable thor-
oughness, Judge Marx analyses the ex-
isting international laws to support-his
program for the indemnification of Jews
in and from Germany .. He establishes
that under these laws; the United :Na-
tions have the right to press claims for
the damage inflicted upon Jews in Ger-
many . . . Reparations for damages
caused to Jewish communities, institu-
tions, organizations, or societies of - re-
ligious, charitable or cultural character -
can easily be collected, he says . • . As to
individual claims, Judge Marx recom-
mends the establishment of a system of
pensions, rents and annuities for Jewish
refugees from Germany who will be -re-
settled within Germany . . This indem-
nification, he believes, should be super-
vised by arbitration commissions set up
within the framework of a Commission
for Jews . . . A lump sum should be al-
lotted to this Commission in order to en-
able it to operate in its task of reorgan-
izing Jewish life in Germany . . . Per-
sonal and real property—as far as it is-
still in existence — appropriated from
"liquidated" Jewish communities and in-
stitutions should be placed at the free
disposal, of the Commission without con-
sideration as to whether the present
owners acquired it in good or bad faith
. . . Judge Marx also urges that the
United Nations establish a special agency
to collect reparations for damage caused
to Jews from Germany who will prefer
not to return to Germany ... The sums
thus collected should' be assigned to Jew-
ish organizations active in Jewish re-
settlement, he suggests.
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INSIDE DOINGS
Jews throughout the country are won-
dering why the American Jewish Con-
ference, the World Jewish Congress and
the American Jewish Congress have re-
frained from protesting against anti-
Semitism in the Polish Army . . . In this
respect the American Jewish Committee
and the Jewish Labor Committee, as
well as the Board of Jewish Deputies.in
England, established a better record for
themselves.
- -
Recent developments in Jewish life
brought about by the war situation will
be among the major subjects at the joint
convention of the National Conference- of
Jewish Social Welfare, National Associa-
tion of Jewish Center Workers, and Na-
tional Council for Jewish Education
which will be held in Cleveland next
week . . • The subjects for discussion will
be related to economic changes resulting
from the . War, vocational adjustments,
community relations, group work, post-
war problems, and youth delinquency.
Jewish Teaching
On World Peace
Dr. Wald's Study of the Subject of
Peace Is an Outstanding Book
One of the most interesting and most
timely volumes, • just off the press of
Bloch Publishing Co., New York, is
"'Jewish Teaching on Peace," by Dr. M.
Wald, Rabbi of the Jewish Community
of East London, South Africa.
Divided into five parts—Conditions
Constituting, the State of Peace, Forces
Making for Peace, Peace as Taught by
Jewish Mysticism, the part dealing with
Ten Peace Doctrines and Biblical CiVil-
ization in the Present World Struggle
and. a List of Extracts and References
-2-this book should prove of great value
to scholars and rabbis and to laymen
seeking consolation in a period of crisis.
Faith in God, Prayer as a force for
peace, mystic idealism are among the
subjects discussed. The author also deals
with the forces reacting against peace,
and he includes among them anti-Semit-
ism, hatred, strife and war.
The lengthy section of extracts and
references is of great value. It is - a
magnificent collection of wisdom and
these quotations alone make the volume
a worthy addition to any library...