Page Two
THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, joaa 23, 1144
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•• ■ ••••• ■■ •
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
BLUNDERING COPYREADERS
One of the local newspapers a few days
ago ran a story under the headline
'Jews Cause Polish Crisis."
There was nothing in the AP story to
cause alarni, or to justify this headline.
But the apparently well-Meaning copy-
reader blundered—and he blundered to
such a degree that he undoubtedly hurt
the cause of justice. for the Jewish
people.
If the copyreader wishes to quibble
about this matter, we could create an
alibi for him on the ground that the
Jews are the victims involved whose
case caused the crisis Within the Polish
cabinet. The cause of the crisis are aift
the Jews but those who subjected Jews
to humiliation.
But the crisis itself is the result of
demands by Socialist members of the
Polish cabinet that anti-Semites should
be removed from poSitions of authority.
When a headline-writer states that
"Jews Cause Polish crisis," he fails to
see that a battle for justice is raging on
the Polish front and, that a headline like
the one he has written fails to condemn
anti-Semitism, justifies the stand of the
anti-Semites and serves an evil purpose.
The newspaper that carried this head-
line is too fair in its handling of news to
be condemned for 'this blunder. But it
is hoped that its copyreaders' will not
repeat the error which compels such
lengthy comment in .th.is column.
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PROF. SLOSSON'S - ZIONISM
Rabbi Elmer Berger, Who has held
pulpits in Pontiac and Flint, and who is
now executive director• of the American-,
Council for Judaism, is . turning into a
clever public relations Man. He is not
content with propagandizing his anti-
Zionist views among Jews. He is now
circularizing menibers'of'American
Palestine Committee, the movement of
Christian friends the 'Zionist cause;
in order to wean them away from the
cause of a Jewish Palestine.
But Rabbi Berger's "cleverness" is not
altogether effective. He may get a few
responSes in which non-Jews, good peo-
ple that they are, will give him mild
encouragment. After all, there haVe been
instances of Jews who have joined both
the Zionist Organization and the Ameri-
can Council for Judaism. Why, then,
should not this happen also among non-
Jews?
When Rabbi Berger Meets with an in-
formative man like Prof, Preston SloS-
son of the history department of the
University of Michigan, he must fail,
even though he •does not recognize • the
failure. The former Pontiac-Flint rabbi
has published in the Council for Judaism
Bulletin a letter from Prof: Slosson, a
member of the Michigan and national
chapters of the American Palestine COm-
rnittee. What made this letter copy for
the anti-Zionist Bulletin? Persaps it was
the following opening paragraph:
"Of course, I quite agree with you
that the important thing is to get the
White Paper rescinded; not to quibble
about whether Palestine is a Jewish
`State' or merely : a Jekvish 'homeland'."
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? -
Actually, what does it mean? What
Zionists ask for, in the demand for the
abrogation of the White Paper—which
is already a dead letter—is that the
Balfour • Declaration pledge be honored.
Prof. Slosson has time and again indi-
cated that he believes that this pledge
should be adhered to The Balfour Dec-
laration calls for the establishment of a
"Jewish National Home." To Zionists, a
Commonwealth, or a State, or a Home-
land, means a "Jewish National Home."
The ZioniSts haVe no objections to
Dominion Status within the British Em-
pire provided that Jews have the right
to regulate immigration and land sales.
Add up these demands with the other
points made in Prof: Slosson's 'letter, and
you have a splendid evaluation of the
Zionist case and an excellent argument
for Zionism.
The Commentator is confident that
Zionists will thank Prof. Slosson for his
consistent
Quotation of the Week
"As for teaching non-sectarian religion inside the public schools,
Jewish educators do not share the faith of the advocates of this plan.
They find. difficulty with its formulation and doubt its practical ap-
plication. To win the confidence of representatives of all three faiths
in the teaching of non-sectarian religion, the advocates of this plan
must offer these representatives a definition or outline of 'non-sectar-
ian' religion together with syllabi and trained personnel acceptable
to them. Nay, the advocates of this plan will have to do more. They
will have to breathe confidence into the hearts of the representatives
of all three faiths that this non-sectarian religion they offer to the pub-
lic schools will not wean away children from their loyalties to and
faith in their own respective historic religions."
--DR. ISRAEL S. CHIPHIN, Associate Dire-dor Jewish
Education C o m m it t e e of New York, in article on
"Approach to the Problem of Religions Education and
the Public School" in Jewish Education.
Heard in
The Lobbies
Strictly
Confidential
By ARNOLD LEVIN
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright; 1944 Independent Jewish
Press Service. Inc.)
SIDELIGHT ON HEROES
Lt. (j.g.) Abraham Condiotti, the Sep-
hardic Brooklyn boy who led the first
wave of: assault boats on Europe's
beaches, has American roots that are
deeper than. those of the Mayflower
descendants. - He is a first generation
American, his parents having arrived
here from Turkey, but a member of his
family arrived here way back in 1492.
He was Luis De Torres, linguist, expert
in Hebrew, Chaldean and Arabit.
patched by Columbus to explore the in-
terior of Cuba, he later Settled there. He
is said, by some historians, to have been
the first European to hav-e discovered
the use of tobacco from the natives.
Other members of the family, including
Lt. (j.g.) Abraham Condiotti's g r e a t-
great-grandfather, left Spain 'for Thrkey
to escape -the InquiSition. That is where
Condiotti's parents were born: and raised.
Lt. Bob Halperin of Chicago, probably
the first American to scramble ashore in
France on D-Day, is - quite a booklover,
his taste encompassing the classics. and
the moderns. He volunteered for serv-
ice. His wife, a German-American, is
proud of her huSband's role in the war
against Hitler. Bob Halperin's older
brother, Bernard, is a i\raval doCtor, and
his younger brother, Daniel, is a flier.
* *
MYSTERY OF MISSING QUOTE
We are just nuts on quotes; and like to
check up on the source—reference of any
quote we run across in our reading. The
Information Bulletin (May 31) of the
American COuncil • for Judaism, gave
Rabbi Jung's ."Judaism in a Changing
World" (p. 186) as the source for the
following quote by Agudath Israel lead-
er Isaak Breuer: "Zionism is the most
formidable enemy that has ever risen
against the Jewish people." We checked
on the "p. 186" and found no such state,
ment. We had our office contact Rabbi
Jung, Who should know, and his • answer,
after thunibing through the entire book,
was that • he doesn't seem to find such a
- quote. We can't sleep nights with that
quote Unlocated. Lessing Rosenwald
should, perhaps, endow a Missing Quotes
Bureau.
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SEDITION TRIAL
Detroiter William R. Lyman, alleged
seditionist accused, by John Roy Carlsori
of having been connected with terrorist
groups in the automobile city, works.
Week-ends as a farmer.
Best one of the week is sedition de-
fense attorney Henry H. Klein's state-
ment that he was serving the interests of
the Jews by defending Col. Sanctuary
and the other Jew-baiters. Klein, you
know, is a Jew.
is thoroughly consistent in his stand as
an American P ales tine Committee
member.
Perhaps Rabbi Elmer Berger should
also be thanked for publishing this let-
ter. If he continues to cover the ground
as he has in the, past few months, he may
even get to the point of -inserting the
Magen David in the Masthead of his
(Copyright, 1944, by Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate)
WE BETCHA
We may be wrong, but we're willing
to wager . . . That the September session
of the American Jewish Conference;
scheduled for Chicago, will not be held
. . That before long heated debate con-
c
. erning- partition of Eretz Israel will
spring up in Zionist circles . • . That -a
well-known Hollywood figure will be
involved in a controversy with the Jew-
ish press . . . That if a certain organiza-
tion succeeds in buying one of the Yid-
dish papers it will convert that publica-
tion into an English-Jewish daily . . .
That at the Zionist convention Dr. Israel
Goldstein will be re-elected to the presi-
dency of the ZOA . . That an internal
issue will threaten to rip the Poale Zion
organization asunder . . That the Jew-
ish section of the International Workers'
Order will change its name to the Jew-
ish People's Order . . . That if the whole
story of recent anti-Jewish outrages in
the Boston area were told publicly,
American democracy would blush.
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BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Albert E. Kahn, co-author of "Sabo-
tage," will make the headlines on July
5, especially in the Jewish press.
Don't miss Marie- Syrkin's article on
Jim Crowism 'in the schools in the cur-
rent issue of Common Ground . . . It's' a
chapter from a forthcoming book by the
daughter of the Late Poale Zionist lead-
er Nahum Syrkin.
Maurice Samuel's latest book, "Har-
vest in the Desert," has just been pub-
lished, but has already sold 20,000 copies
• . You'll like it . . . In it there's an an,
ecdote so warmly human that we can't
resist telling it to you . . . It seems that
the late philosopher Ahad Ha'am, while
strolling with the Hebrew poet Bialik,
was lamenting that Hebrew was not
really alive in Palestine . . . A little boy
who happened to be passing by stopped
.to look at them, - and Ahad' _Ha'am sud-
- denly reached out and twesked the
youngster's ear . . . The boy let out a yell
of pain, ran across the street,- turned
around and, furiously, squealed: "Hamor
zaken"—which is good Hebrew, for "old
donkey" ... Whereupon the aged phil-
osopher beamed and, turning to Bialik,
said: "Now that's what we need!"
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TRUE STORY
Winchell reports. that Supreme Court
Justice Aaron J. Levy recently heard the
plea of a man who asked for permission
to change his name, which, • he said, had
been "a source of great erabarrassment"
to him . . "And what is youlr name?"
asked the Justice . . . "Levy," the man
told him ... "Rarely in the life of any
jurist," was the caustic retort, "comes
there a motion which he can grant with
such pleasure."
'We're all for William Gellermann's ex-
pose of Congressman Martin Dies .. . .
However, we are a little puzzled by the
tendency, in certain quarters, 'to stress
that the author is a Methodist . Could
it be that if Gellermann's German name
were taken for a "Jewish name"--which,
we hasten to point out, it isn't—the ef
fectiveness of his book might be dimin-
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR .
-
(Copyright, 1944, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
RESCUE TRENDS
Believe it or not, but David Stern, the
noted Palestine agronomist who has been
in charge of agricultural. development in
Palestine for many . years, is now en
route to the Dominican Republic to step
up the agricultural activities of the Jew-
ish refugees there .. . He travelled from
Palestine to the United - States in a con-
voy, and left here for San Domingo after
conferring with Dr. Maurice Hexter,
James Rosenberg and other leaders of
the. Agro-joint which is financing Jewish
colonization in the Dominican Republic.
Those- dissatisfied with President
Roosevelt's decision to admit only 1,000
refugees from Europe for temporary stay
here, may be interested to learn that
this quota applied only to the plan for
sheltering refugees in Fort Ontario . . .
Other plans may yet "come up . . . The
UNRRA estimates that 9,000 refugees are
now escaping from Nazi-held and Nazi-
dominated Balkan territories every
month . . . The majority of them are
Greeks, but there is no reason why Jews
from the Balkan countries • could not,
under certain conditions, be enabled to
reach freedom . . . In fact, of the six
"refugee camps" for those escaping from
the Balkans one is situated in Palestine.
SUMMER- NOTES
The summer season will _find central
Jewish organizations in America more
active than ever before . . . This will be
due to the fact that the Allied invasion
opens new possibilities for various ac-
tivities in connection with Jewish post-
war demands . . . We hear that the
World Jewish Congress is considering the
question of launching a campaign, for
relief funds in this country . . New
plans, hinging on the prospect of a
speedy victory over the Nazis, are also
under discussion at the American Jew-
ish Conference . . The American Zion-
ist Emergency Committee intends to
remain active during the summer as
result of new and favorable develop-
ments in London which may find an
echo in Washington - . . Other. central
Jewish bodies have similarly mapped
out summer programs of intensive ac-
tivity in connection with preparations
for a possible sudden breakdown. of the
Nazis.
We all remember the high praise given
by Vice-President Wallace to Dr. Chaim
Weizmann's suggestions concerning syn-
thetic rubber . .. But it seems that Dr.
Weizmann's suggestions were not uti-
lized in the United States . . . British
industrial enterprises working for the
war effort, however, have now placed
large orders for synthetic rubber pro-
duced under Dr. Weizmann's formula.
Now that Rome has been liberated by
the Allies, it can be disclosed that the
United States Government was aware of
the fact that Arabs in Palestine have
been receiving funds from Italian banks
for their anti-Jewish and anti-British
activities . . . In fact, Dr. Walter Lowder-
milk, assistant chief of the Soil Con-
servation Service of the United States,
brought the news . from Palestine' to
Washington some time ago . . . He. re-
potted that duirng his visit to Palestine
a British officer informed him that
checks from Italian banks were found on
the bodies of Arab terrorists killed in
the disturbances of 1939.
A British Vicar
Puts It Bluntly
1
The following, published in the "let-
ters to the editor" section of the NeW
York Herald Tribune is self-explanatory:
"It , is a crime to harbor a murderer,
but surely it is a greater crime to refuse
to harbor intended victims.
"Yet this is what our government has
been and is still doing in respect of the
Jews in occupied countries of Europe,
and through our government, ourselves.
Some may yet be saved, if the country
Msi.sts upon it."
S. CLAUDE TICKELL,
. :Vicar of Latton-cum-Eysey