THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Two
Heard in
The Lobbies
Vote With Your Eyes Open
By GEORGE S. KAUFMAN
Famous Playwright and Stage Director, Pulitzer Prize Winner
You are always being asked to do something or other these days, but
here is something that will take very little time.
It costs nothing.
"There is an election coming. Two powerful men will be running for
President, and all the talk will be of those two men. But a lot of other. men
(and women) will be running for Congress. There is a tendency to overlook
them in a Presidential year. They don't seem important.
They ARE important. If you think back over the past few years you
will realize that Congress is really more powerful than- the President. It
can refuse to pass bills that the President wants, and it can pass bills that
he doesn't want. And that is as it should be. IF the Congressmen know
what they're doing.
DON'T VOTE BLINDLY FOR A CONGRESSMAN OR SENATOR.
Find out about them. What do they think? How will they behave when
they get in? Write to them, go and call on them. The candidates will be
glad to answer, because they want your vote.
If a man is already in office, and up fer re-election, find out how he
voted on the many key bills of recent years. Was he one (e: those who
almost defeated the Selective Service Act? (You can imagine where THAT
would have left us!)
How does he feel about the days after the war? Does he want us to
retire into our shell and let the world go to hell, including us?
FIND OUT, and vote accordingly.
By ARNOLD LEVIN
(Copyright, 1944 Independent Jewish
Press Service. Inc.)
GOD'S MANY ACRES
The Society of the Bible in the Hands
of Its Creators, with Russian-Palestinan
cave-dweller Moses Guibbory as its god,
and radio commentator Boake Carter as
his prophet, has acquired a heaven (not
haven) . . It's Mr. Carter's home, do-
nated to the Society, assessed at $8,500
and located on Bluff Avenue, Hickory
Bluff (we like the alliteration), South
Norwalk, Connecticut. The non-ethereal
residents of the neighborhood objected
to having heaven so near, but to no
avail • . . No, the Society hasn't, as yet,
applied for tax exemption on the prop-.
erty.
RED YOSELE
You have seen in "Life" the picture of
Captain Joseph Feinberg of The Rangers
just returned with many of his comrades
from the most gruelling service over-
seas by any U. S. unit in this war . • .
To his comrades he was Red, to his Phil-
adelphia family he is Roiter Yosele . . .
He named his jeep, in which he rolled
through North Africa, Sicily and Italy—
"Matzoh Ball Kosher" (It rolled like a
matzoh ball, he explains), and this im-
mediately identified him as Jewish to
his fellow Americans and to the Jewish
civilians. Wherever Matzoh Ball Kosher
appeared, it was greeted by shouts of:
"Shalom Aleichem." And was Red Yossel
proud. He speaks Yiddish fluently. He
was not too happy about his leave having
been granted when it was . . . "Just when
we are turning the fork for Berlin," he
complained.
OIL
Standard Oil of California wants to
get rid of the Saudi Arabian pipeline
headache and is reported willing to pass
it off to Britain, at a good price of
course. But London wants the U. S. in
on the mess.
HATE FRONT
The hateists are now exploiting the
Samuel S. Leibowitz lie-detector case for
all it's worth. The Judge, famed as the
defense attorney in the Scottsboro Case,
recently dismissed a serious morals
charge against a man who had undergone
a lie-detector test which established his
innocence. The Judge then ordered the
person who had pressed, the charges
held for perjury. This person, in turn,
was vindicated by a jury. An interesting
case in itself. But it so happens that the
man who was cleared by the lie-detector
is of the Jewish faith, and the woman
whom Leibowitz had ordered tried for
perjury is not. The hateists grasped at
thiS and have put on a "whispering cam-
paign" • libeling the Jewish judge and
Jews in general. They are just waiting
for such cases. Anything to twist to their
advantage . . . They acted the same way
in a more famous case, the Hauptmann
trial. The hateists spread- the word that
Hauptmann was the victim of. planted
evidence, and that the real culprit-was a
Jew by the name of Fish.
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
BERGSON CAPTURES LIMELIGHT
Peter Bergson and his numerous over-
lapping organizations have won public
attention by means of an insistent pub-
licity campaign and by dint of a cour-
ageous effort to be recognized as the
true fighters for Jewish rights and for
their people's freedom.
Bergson—nephew of the late Chief
Rabbi Kook of Palestine—and his hand-
ful of associates are nbt worried by the
adverse publicity given them. They ig-
nore all the repudiations of their efforts
by the recognized leaders in American
Jewry. They continue their advertising
campaign, circularize Jews throughout
the land and do not hesitate to ask for
money and for signatures to petitions to
the President.
Every time an issue arises, affecting
Palestine or Hungary or any other Jew-
ish group, the Bergson group immediate-
ly issues statements, send cablegrams to
Churchill and telegrams to Roosevelt
and carries on a battle that ignores re-
bukes.
We adhere to the view that this group
is harming the Jewish position because
it acts independently of organized Jewish
bodies and confuses the minds of Jews
and non-Jews who must think in terms
of the Conference, the Committee, t h e
Congress and at the same "time of this
aggressive element in Jewish life which
is gaining in popularity.
a
*
*
*
WHO IS TO BLAME?
It has come to pass that many Jews are
now taking this group seriously. It
would be the height of foolishness for
anyone to ignore this fact, even while
we seek to repudiate them and to urge
Jews not to be misled by their propa-
ganda.
Who is to blame for the rise of this
gkoup that sees fit to speak in the name
of a "Hebrew Nation," that unfurls a
Jewish Flag from an "Embassy" in
Washington, that does not hesitate to
speak to Churchill and • Roosevelt as if
there were no other Jewish elements or
leaders in America?
It is clear that insofar as this group
is concerned, Jewish leadership in Amer-
ica has failed to find the way out of the
dilemna.
Thus, the press, including the N e w
York Times; have recently given more
space to Bergson's group than to any
other public effort on behalf of Jewish
liberation from Nazism.
If this continues, our leaders will have
to face a rebelling constituency which
may give ever-increasing support . to
Bergson and his small group which is
capturing the limelight, and to their
followers, the misled Jews and non-Jews.
* * *
NEED FOR CENTRAL AUTHORITY
There is need for a central authority
to deal with Jewish problems. The Amer-
ican Jewish Conference, appeared on the
scene to fulfill this role, but it has not
functioned properly. Its great meeting
in New York, in which the American
Jewish Committee participated, served a
purpose. But it was not enough.
The Christian pro-Zionist groups have
from time to time rendered services
which counteracted the propaganda of
the Bergson element. But they, too, did
not act often enough.
It is clear that the Jews of America
want consistent and courageous action.
If Bergson should lead many Jews into
believing that they act in accordance
with the wishes of the masses of our
people, then the Conference, the Zionist
Organization and the other existing Jew-
ish movements will. face -crises which
may put them out of business.
New Joan of Arc
Lion Feuchtwanger's "Simone
Emerges as a Symbolic Character
for Our Time
The trekking refugees of the year, in-
cluding those who are being aided in
France by • American troops, represent a
minute reproduction of the tragedy which
marked the devastation of traditional lib-
erties by Nazis upon the outbreak of the
war.
Lion Feuchtwanger's "Simone," a nov-
el of great power published by the Viking
Press, interestingly portrays the suffer-
ings of the refugees.
The story revolves around the charac-
ter of Simone, a young French orphan
of 15 who is given a home by her father's
half-brother and his mother. The latter
has made her the maid of the home. But
the uncle treated her rather kindly.
Then came the war. On 'the eve of the
arrival of the Nazis in their community,
the uncle is asked to destroy his trucks
and the accumulated gasoline. Slow in
following this order—which he had never
intended to carry out since he hoped for
trade with the enemy—Simone, inspired
by the life of Joan of Arc, puts the gar-
age and the gasoline on fire.
Simone is eventually sent to the re-
formatory, as a result of her uncle's be-
trayal. The latter had deals to conclude
with the Nazis. But the entire commun-
ity turned out to greet Simone, to give
her courage, to show her that they ap-
proved of her act and revered her for it.
Simone as the new Jeanne d'Arc is an
interesting and impressive character, and
at the hands of Feuchtwanger she emer-
ges as one of the symbols of anti-Nazism
in our time
•
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright. 1944, by Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate)
RELATIVELY SPEAKING . •
The publication of the new Einstein
biography recalls some characteristic
stories regarding the famed professor .. .
There's the one concerning the time
when Albert Einstein was introduced to
a beautiful movie star . . . As the news
cameras flashed and reporters recorded
this meeting between science and Holly-
wood, th lady exclaimed: "It's such a
thrill to think that I'm talking to the
one man who knows more about stars
than any other living person" . . . To
which Einstein, with a gallant smile, re-
torted: "Not quite . . . No one can predict
what a star will do to get her name in
the papers" . . . Another story tells of
a friend remarking to Einstein, during
his Hollywood visit: "Aren't you sur-
prised that nobody stops to stare at you?
. . . If Lana Turner were walking down
this same street every one would turn
to look—but nobody seems to notice you"
. . . And Einstein explained this phe-
nomenon: "Lana Turner has a great deal
more to show than I have"
Dr. Einstein is responsible for the re-
cord sales of war bonds under the auspi-
ces of the Book and Author rallies . . .
The ',only existing holographs of his
"Theory of Relativity" and "The Bi-Vec-
tor Field" brought a total of $11,500,000
into -Wide Sam's war coffers.
* *S *
SIDELIGHTS . . .
Two columns ago we predicted the
defeat of the Liberal Party in the Cana-
dian Province of Quebec . . . Now it has
happened . . The election results which
place the Union Nationale party in pow-
er, will create problems that Jewish
leadership in this French-Canadian pro-
vince will have to meet forcefully . . .
It is up,, to the U. S. Jewish leadership
not only to watch developments but to
cooperate as much as diplomatic conven-
tions permit.
Biro-Bidjan, which will be in the big
news before long, is larger than Holland
and Belgium combined .. . The climate
of this autonomous Jewish territory in
Siberia is approximately that of our
North Dakota.
* * *
THIS AND THAT . .
Tennessee Thrush. Dinah Shore is now
warbling for the boyS in England—by
special request.
Novelist Lion Feuchtwanger recently
met Patrick Hitler at a Hollywood party
• • • "And how did your mother feel
about your Uncle Adolf's theory on
Aryanism and non-Aryanism?" Feucht-
wanger asked Adolf's nephew . . . "My
mother," answered Patrick, "once played
in a German company presenting `Abie's
Irish Rose.' "
.If you want to listen to the Bible in-
stead of reading it, you may now do so
• • • The Library of Congress has just
completed a recording, comprising 169
disks, of the King James version.
From Palestine comes a reminder that
Dr. Simon Bernstein, director of the Pal-
estine Immigration Bureau of the Zionist
Organization of America, is an eminent
Hebrew scholar . . . The most prominent
writers of Eretz Israel have formed a
committee to celebrate Dr. Bernstein's
60th birthday . . . He passed that impor-
tant milestone this week.
Jewry can not cope with the Bergson
dilemna, or are unable to come to an
understanding with them whereby they
should become absorbed into existing
movements, then they should permit
others to undertake to accomplish this
job, before we become the laughing stock
U the present leaders in American of America.
Friday, August 18, 1944
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright. 1944, JTA, Inc.)
PREDICTIONS
The Soviet Jewish news agency which
supplies news to Hebrew newspaper in
Palestine directly from Moscow has dis-
continued its service to the Davar, largest
daily newspaper there and official organ
of the Histadruth.
We are afraid that it will take a long
time yet before American Jewish relief
organizations will be permitted to send
representatives to Russia to contact Jews
in need of relief there as well as in the
liberated parts of Poland and Romania
. . . This is true also with regard to such
organizations as the Jewish Council of
the Russian War Relief . . . It seems that
the Soviet government is determined not
to encourage any relief activities in the
U. S. S. R. on the basis of different na-
tionalities . . . Any relief sent from this
country to Russia will be accepted only
when intended for distribution among all
sections of the population.
We can predict that the resignation of
Dean Alfange, leader of the American
Liberal Party, from co-chairmanship of
Peter Bergson's Emergency Committee to
Save the Jewish- People of Europe, is only
the beginning of a series of resignations
which will soon follow from other lead-
ing members of this committee.
* * *
VARIETY
Publishers of the Anglo-Jewish publi-
cations in this country are moving fast
in building up their recently-created as-
sociation . . • A three-day conference of
these publishers will be held in New
York in the middle of November .. . Dr.
Joseph G. Brin, editor of the Boston Jew-
ish Advocate, and Irving Rhodes, pub-
lisher of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle,
have visited New York and made ar-
rangements for the conference . . . A
banquet in honor of the delegates will
be given by a leading Jewish national
organization.
Irving Berlin is very proud of the fact
that he was the first and only American
Jew to see the Pope and to thank him
in behalf of American Jews for the aid
he has given to the Jews of Italy during
the Nazi occupation of Rome and for his
intervention on behalf of the Jews in
Hungary . . . The noted American Jewish
composer certainly had a "scoop" over
any of the leaders of the Jewish political
organizations who would consider it a
great achievement to personally appear
before the Pope with thanks in behalf of
American Jewry . . . "This Is the Army"
will net $10,000,000 for Army Emergency
Relief.
An election campaign is now taking
place at Fort Ontario among the refugees
who arrived there last week for members
of a Refugee Advisory Board at the camp
which is to serve as advisory body to the
camp adMinistration . . . There are three
competing groups . . . The group of refu-
gees from Yugoslavia, numbering 350
members, is the largest . . . It is followed
by a group of refugees from East Eu-
ropean countries numbering 300 persons
. . . The third and smallest group is com-
posed of refugees from Germany and
Austria.
To Ben Hecht
By DR. S. MARGOSHES
(In the Jewish Daily Day)
"All right, Ben Hecht, you have got
what you granted. You have managed
to establish yourself as a Jewish voice
. . But listen, Ben Hecht, have a heart.
You are going too far. It's one thing to
call attention to yourself; it's another
to screech at other people and call them
names. You are doing both . . . You are
shouting at the top of your lungs . .
that the Jewish leadership is dirt and
dust that must be blown away . . . It's
dust, you say, that has gathered over
a lost cause . . . Who said • you had the
least right to impugn our Jewish leader-
ship when you yourself have never tak-
en the trouble to follow; let alone to lead
in a Jewish cause? And where were
you all these years when others . .
worked and slaved to stave off much
of the trouble all of us saw coming?
For you to have smeared and maligned
our top-flight Jewish leadership, not only
in a private message but in the Congres-
sional Record for all Jew-baiters in the
country to see and read, gloat over . . .
was to commit a crime against the Jew-
ish people, not dissimilar to the one you
perpetrated when, drawing on the venom
and vinegar sack, which seems to hang
nearest your heart, you spewed forth
the "Jew in Love," painting a Jewish
portrait fit for the halls of ill-fame and
calumny. Maybe our leadership is not
perfect . . . But it has worked and slaved
and served us well.