Page Twenty One
THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, May 25, 1945
The 'Fat' of the Land
crowded streets* and are enjoying
the fruits of Mother Earth.
* * *
Jewry's Trek to West Coast
Sized Up by the Editor
Los Angeles, Once Boasting a Jewish Population of 10,000,
Now Has 140,000 Taking in the California Air; Venice
Beach An Overcrowded Ghetto; Other Observations
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
(Editor, The Jewish News)
Leaders in community affairs should be required to
other cities to become acquainted with the thinking of
and women elsewhere. It will do them. and their
munities much good.
They will come back with new
experiences, and in the main
they will learn that their own
city is not so bad, that their
own institutions are doing fair-
ly well. In fact, they may re-
turn with greater respect for
themselves and the causes they
champion.
They especially will learn that
human _nature is alike every-
where and that there is no com-
plaining about quest for glory
and competitive labors for com-
munity good.
Most Difficnit Task
The most difficult task every-
where is to interest people in
causes, to induce them to cease
being indifferent, to inspire them
to labor for the advancement of
their fellow men.
* * *
OUR PEOPLE, like their
neighbors, are drunk with the
vigorous air of the state of Cal-
ifornia and many Jews are
flocking westward.
Los Angeles has grown from
less than 10,000 Jews 40 years
ago to its present size of 140,000.
Dr. Israel Shapiro, retired
chief of the Jewish division of
the Library of Congress, now
making his home in Los Angeles,
predicts that Los Angeles soon
will outstrip all American Jew-
ish communities in population
and will be second to New York.
He gives as the reason the fact
that the. Pacific is now assum-
ing a position of major economic
importance in the world.
visit
men
COM-
Haym Salomon Day is observed
and the celebration is utilized for.
the sale of war bonds.
Beautiful Decorations
The new Temples throughout
the land are replete with works
of art, with beautiful mural
decorations.
Our trouble is our universal
illness: that we keep on moving,
that we do not stay put.
Venice, on the beach near Los
Angeles, is an overcrowded
ghetto. The East side of L. A.
and the Hollenbeck Park district
are less crowded and have an
attraction. But Jews do move.
They strive for the hills of
Hollywood and they reach the
heights, nearly touching the
clouds. Will they topple_ down
when there is no higher altitude
to ascend to?
.
* * *
WHAT IS CIVILIZATION?
DR. HENRY - ATKINSON, one
of the national leaders of the
American Palestine Committee
and the Christian Council on
Palestine, an official consultant
at UNCIO, speaks with pride of
San Francisco and calls it the
only really great civilized 'city
because it is a blending of so
many nationality and racial
groups.
How about New York? No,
New York does not have a Chi-
nese telephone exchange. The
San Francisco telephone direct- ,
ory even has a Chinese section.
We challenged his statement
and Dr. Atkinson asked for a
telephone directory only to dis-
cover that the Chinese portion
had been removed 40 years ago.
* * *
THE PLANTING season is on, CARRY ON, ISRAEL!
Buy War Bonds!
'Rusalka', A Stirring Love Tale,
At Masonic Temple This Sunday
Anton Dvorak's opera, based
on an old Czech folk tale, will
be given in English for the first
time Sunday evening at 8:30
p. m. in Scottish Rite Cathedral.
Only recently has it been trans-
Ideal Civilization
But Dr. Atkinson, the former
San Franciscan, the very splen-
did gentleman, the loyal suport-
er of the Zionist cause, insists
that the city of the Golden Gate
represents the true blending of
elements that make for an ideal
civilization.
We suggest as a substitute:
Home. Give us Home, in peace
and in security, amidst friendly
neighbors, and we have the
formula for civilizatiOn. There
is no' place like Home. Therein
lies the pressing need of making
Zionism a reality.
JEWS AS FARMERS
and it is good to the. ear to hear
Jews speak of their Victory Gar-
dens, of their beautiful lawns,
of the trees they had planted
that are now bearing fruit.
When it is a labor of love, it
is a healthy sign.
We have less than 100,000 Jew-
ish farmers in America. But we
have many "small scale farm-
ers" who, rooted in American
living and thinking, henceforth
may refuse to tolerate little
ghettos where a blade of grass is
at a premium.
Heretofore . the Jewish farm-
ing communities were mainly to
be found in Connecticut and in
That California Air
Dr. Shapiro may or may not New Jersey. The early Michigan
be right in his augury. It is Jewish farming communities
true that people are clamoring have. declined.
New Trek Westward
for California air, but it is doubt-
Today - there is a new trek
ful whether hundreds of thou-
sands of -people will sacrifice di- westward. Jews on the Pacific
versity of opportunity in vast Coast take pride in their orange
stretches of our great land to put groves, and among the newcom-
ers in that area are several who
all our dreams in one area.
There is one major trouble have established small chicken
about the lure of the Golden farms.
Individual homes boast about
Gate: .the gold that so often leads
to destruction. It is a matter of their fruit trees. It was thrilling
historic experience that the to find that the very small yard
sweat of pioneers, when trans- of the former Detroiter, Sam
formed . into excessive prosperity, Gach, publisher of the California
leads to human stagnation and to Jewish Voice, has orange, tan-
gerine, avocado, lemon and fig
rapid demoralization.
The prosperity of some of our trees.
The lemon and fig we took
communities is frightening. It
is doubtful whether the sons and along as souvenirs gave joy
daughters of the newly-rich will to a hurried but pleasant visit
have the stamina of those whose in a community where people
fathers sweated in tailor shops are shaking off the dust of over-
and in mines and in factories;
whether those whose education
is acquired. in rich dormitories
will be able to command the
same respect as those who se-
cured their knowledge in night
schools out of sheer love for
learning, the inspiration having
come, indeed, from the parental
training grounds—the Talmud
Torah and the .Yeshivah.
In other words, are we creat-
ing snobs who, lacking vision,
must perish, Or are we secure
even in the intoxicating mist of
great prosperity?
The next generation will have
an interesting answer to these
and many more questions raised
by the evolution of American
-
UTAH, NEVADA, Arizona,
New Mexico and other territor-
ies with desert lands may well
be compared with the Negev—
the southern portion of Pales-
tine.
People might laugh if they
were to be offered homelands in
the desert. Yet, in Palestine,
even the Negev is forbidden ter-
ritory in what was promised to.
become the Jewish National
Home. And -insofar as the Jews,
are concerned, even the Negev .
would be welcomed, just so Icing ,
as we would be given a chance'to
make dead ground become fertile
again.
The Negev is not all or the
best we want. But our pioneers
have wrought miracles in the
Emek which the Arabs shunned
as poisoned ground, and we
have faith that we can make
other areas live again.
Wrought Miracles.
What we ask for is the chance
to build and to create. What we
resent is the denial of that
chance.
Within our own ranks, we ask
Jews should retain faith and
should be confident that even
the impossible is possible, that
even an era of OIL can be trans-
formed into an era of justice,
that just as we have created
miracles through land transfor-
mation in Palestine we may be
responsible for another miracle
by giving the world a substitute
for oil.
To achieve the best that is
within us, we need the strength
that comes from deep-rooted
but warns her that "AlI human
beings are sinful" and points to
the happiness of her sisters, the
dancing and singing water and
forest nymphs.
Disregarding the warning,
Rusalka consults the witch, who
agrees to give her a human soul,
explaining to her that she will
have to remain mute. The Prince
appears, falls in love with Rusal-
ka and takes her to his castle.
In the second act, preparations
for the wedding are under way.
A • foreign princess, played by
Harriett Toomey, appears among
the guests. She has but one de-
sire: to interfere in the happiness
of the Prince and Rusalka. Using
all her feminine charm she
achieves her goal. Rushlka soon
afterward witnesses a love scene
between them. She flees, heart-
broken and disappointed and dis-
illusioned, and seeks help from
the Waterman. He advises her to
consult the Witch.
In the third act the Witch tells
Rusalka that the only way to be
restored to her mortal form is
to kill the Prince but as Rusalka
still loves him she refuses. The
Prince, deserted by the Princess,
his mind distraught, finds Rusal-
ka. She appears and while she
embraces him he sinks lifeless
in her arms. -Rusalka then re-
turns to her water realm.
Tickets for Rusalka are on sale
at Grinnell's, 1515 Woodward
avenue.
.
HARRIETT TOOMEY
lated—by Ruth and Thomas
Martin—from the Czech original
into English. As the opera may
not be familiar to many, a brief
explanation is given by Julius
Chajes, artistic director of the
show for Detroit Friends of
Opera, Inc.
Rusalka, a water nymph, is
longing to become a human be-
ing, to have a soul and be able
"to love as all Mortals .do." The
Waterman tells her that Jezi-
baba the powerful Wood-witch,
could change her into a mortal,
faith in ourselves and in our
cause.
A Baptist minister recently
made an interesting comment.
He s said that he always had been
given the impression that Jews
are arrogant, but he had learned
that Jewish possession of arro-
gance is limited to cloaks and
suits.
It is an awful impression!
But we can easily correct it.
What we need to do is to revive
our courage, to fight on to the
end that justice is done our
cause, to carry on a battle for
the rejuvenation of the Jewish
spirit so that we should cease be-
ing a people that is denied a
place where we can create new
values for the world.
Carry on, Israel!
Buy War Bonds!
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All Michigan is Talking about Thi
NEW MICHIGAN HISTORY
Jewry.
* * *
UNIVERSAL ILLNESS
MANY AND VARIED are' the
spots of particular interest to
Jews in communities throughout
the land.
San Francisco has its Adolph
Sutro Library, built in honor of
the former Jewish mayor of the
City of the Golden Gate.
Los Angeles boasts having the
Haym Salomon Statue which was
erected in Hollenbeck Park
(Boyel Heights) as a result of the
efforts of a committee headed by
Dr. Monte Salvin, president of
the Hollywood Zionist District.
The statue is the creation of
Robert Payne, descendant of
Thomas Payne. Every
year, a
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