age our

w
- wl-

As the Editor
Views the News

LET'S GET TOGETHER FOR THE REAL FIGHT

IIM

`Humor' Limitations

- Assaults on Jews in the Cheetham Hill
section of Manchester, England, the Lan-
cashine textile center, resulting from the re-
vival of the fascist movement in England,
have brought forth protests demanding
action from the government. Whereupon,
Home Secretary James C. *Ede declared in
the House of Commons:
"We have a very ancient democracy,
with a great 'sense of humor, and. I am quite
certain that we shall put the proper valua-
tion on any of the claims and statements
that have been made."
Our readers will recognize similar view-
points in the attitudes of leaders in our own
country whenever we witnessed evidences of
the rise of anti-Seinitism.
In a great measure, we agree with those
who maintain thlt resort. to "a sense of
humor" can be helpful in fighting off the
menace of bigotry, fascism and anti-Semit-
ism. But we must be on guard lest we de-
pend solely upon "humor" in fighting dis-
crimination and attacks upon Jews.
.a limit tVtn Mahof, and if we permit
anti-Semites to interpret their actions as be-
ing "humorous" it will become too difficult
to stave off the renewed appearances of
fascist trends.
There is room for ridicule in dealing with
the crack-pots, but there is a limit to humor,
especially in governmental circles which
should be expected to take strong action
whenever anti-Semitism becomes evident
anywhere, otherwise Nazism will triumph
anew.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent
Jewish Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate,'
Religious News Service, Palcor News Agency, Wide World
Photo Seiviee, •Acme Newsphoto Service, King Features
Syndicate, Central Press Service.
Member American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers and Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich. Telephone
RAndolph 7956. Subscription rate $3 a year: foreign
$4 a year. Club subscription of one issue a month,
published every fourth Friday of 'the month, to all
subscribers to Allied Jewish Campaign of the Jewish
Welfare Federation of Detroit at 40 cents a club sub-
scription per year.
Entered as second-class matter August 6, 1942 at the.
Post Office.. at Detroit. Michigan, under the Act of
March 3, 1879.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MAURICE ARONSSON
• PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
FRED M. BUTZEL
ISIDORE SOBELOFF
THEODORE LEVIN
ABRAHAM SRERE
MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ HENRY WINEMAN

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
A. R. BRASCH, Advertising Counsel

VOL. 8—No. 17

JANUARY .11; 1946

The Week's Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the tenth day of Shevat, 5706,
•the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Pentatetichal .portion—Ex. 10:1-13:16.
Prophetical por
tion----Jer. 46:13-28.

Candle lighting time this Friday is at 4:55 p.m.

-

44311 Nil

tIAMITillint III *reel*eeri

110,04 PM

1, 1946

Facts You Should Know

Answers to Readers
Questions About Jews

The Call for Help

The stirring. call to the Jews of Detroit
to come forth with all the help at our com-
mand for the rescue of the surviving Jews
of Europe is not an ordinary appeal.
It is a challenge to our sense of justice
and our sense of proportions.
Coming, as it does, from Joseph Rozen-
zaft, the chairman of the Central Committee
representing all Jews in the British zone
of occupation in Germany, the call to Detroit
Jewry carries with it unquestioned au-
thority.
It is a. message from the survivors them-
selves, from the men, women and children
who know whence they can expect assist-
ance for improvement of their lot and for
rehabilitation in the land they can call Home.
Joseph Rozenzaft's message for help to
the Jews of Detroit is addressed "in despair."
Our is the responsibility to reply "with
hope, with dignity, with a sense of justice."
In more than one sense, this call from
the survivors heralds the beginning of the
greatest fund-raising campaign about to . be
launched by the Jews of America.
Detroit's share of $2,000,000 likewise will
represent the largest goal ever assigned to us
for relief purposes.
Jews must recognize that the United
Jewish Appeal, in whose behalf Mr. Rozen-
zaft speaks as the representative of the sur-
viving. Jews of Europe, is the one great,
over-all, all-inclusive relief drive which in-
elides its make-up not only the domestic
task of caring for newcomers to the U. S.
(through the National Refugee Service), or
the overseas relief job (through the Joint
Distribution Committee), but also the great
rehabilitation work in Palestine (through
the United Palestine Appeal).

Friday, January 1

•

Why is Hamisha Asar referred to as the
New Year for Trees?
Hamisha Asar, the 15th day in the Hebrew
-month of Shevat, occurring this year on Jan. 17,
is also referred to as the New Year of the Trees.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia offers the fOl-
lowing explanation:
•"In addition to the first of Nisan and the first
of Tishri, the rabbis of the Talmud mentioned
other New Years. One of these was the New
Year for Tyees, which, according to Beth Sham-
m.ai, was to be celebrated on the first Shevat,
but which, according to Hillel, was to be observed
on the 15th of Shevat (A.H.1:1). The latter date
was subsequently fixed as the New Year for
Trees, hence the popular name Hamisha Asar
b'Shevat. No special liturgy or festivity is pre=
scribed for the day, and its observance consists
merely in the omission of the Tahnun prayer from
the daily service and in the eating of many species
of fruits, especially such as grow in Palestine.
The Cabalists, however, add mystical interpreta-
tions and observances.

Fruits in Proverbs

RA CAL

e-71

SY? 0A0131-ES tt.
C,,o4, v-a Courtesy Appreciate America. Inc.

Will V. S. Thwart the Conspiracy?

Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick - E. Morgan's recent charge that
Jews are formulating an organized secret movement for a
mass exodus from Europe to Palestine was one of a series of
shocking occurrences which are disgraceful to the post-
war pedee efforts to rehabilitate the stkryiyors, from Nazism.
Gen. Morgan,' serving as UNRRA chief in Germany, had
undertaken to whitewash those who. are being charged by
reputable observers and newspapermen with responsibility
for a continuation of a policy that SniaekS Of Nazism. His
statement is reminiscent of the frightful libel that was- utter-
ed by Maj. Thomas C. Winewood, British defense attorney-
for the Nazi war criminal Josef Kramer, the "Beast of Bel-
sen" who recently was executed, that "the concentration
camps contained undesirable elements from the dregs of the
ghettos of Europe." Lord Halifax, British ambassador to
the United States, and other British officials, apologized for
this insult. Now they have another responsibility to apolo-
gize for Gen. Morgan.
His accusations. were of so grave a nature that it is no
wonder that he has been relieved of his post.
*
*
*
When Gen: Morgan spoke of the thousands who are in-
filtrating into American and British zones as well-fed, well-
dressed men and women, he gambled on the free peoples
of the world being naive.
Surely, pioneer correspondents like Philip A. Adler- of
the Detroit News, who has described the tragedy of the Jews
in Poland, know.whereof they speak; whereas Gen. Morgan
was able to judge through biased eyes, from a swivel chair.
Jewish and non-Jewish observers, including Mr. Adler,
as well as the unhappy Jews who have escaped from Poland
have indicated that the Polish government is not to blame
for the existing situation and that gangS of Poles who have
been poisoned by Nazism are guilty of fomenting trouble.

Polish government spokesmen in Warsaw have admitted
that pogroms have occurred in Poland.
And the Polish ambassador to the
S , 71E3 pi - dui

has Hol only - admitted the outrages but asserted that
Jews are not to be blamed for refusing to live in the country
that had beCome the graveyard for millions of our people.

Latige,

To prevent further outrages in Poland, the Polish gov-
ernment had ordered the death penalty for those charged
with fomehting pogroms.
*
*
*
This latest outrage seemed to indicate that there is an
organized conspiracy to choke Jewish efforts to rescue the
surviving Jews of Europe who insist upon settling in Pal-
estine in order permanently to put an end to their wander-
ings and to their life of despair and hopelessness.
The announcement that was made simultaneously with
the Morgan statement that no more visas would be issued
to Jewish settlers in Palestine Until the Anglo-American
Inquiry Commission will have completed its work appears
to prove that the conspiracy against Jewish aspirations in
Palestine is complete and aThembracing. It is another pledge-
breaking manifestation, in view of British Foreign Secre-
tary Bevin's assertion, at the time of the naming of the
inquiry commission, that his government would continue to
issue visas at the rate Of 1,500 a month. Even this small
number is now to be deprived of asylum, and only those
who will be brought into Palestine through the efforts of the
Haganah, in defiance of patrol boats and land troops, may
now hope to find a home in Palestine.

Our own government will have much explaining to do,
in justification of British policy. The latest action of the
British authorities, in Germany and in London, vindicate
the view of those who had advocated a policy of non-coopera-
tion with the inquiry commission.
It is to be hOped that the American members of the
inquiry commission will protest against the complete closing
of Palestine's doors to Jewish immigration. But the least
we can hope for is that President Truman will express our
government's resentment over such heartless policy.
A serious obligation rests upon our government to
thwart the conspiracy concocted against the Jewish peOple
in Palestine.

IC/111*, 041414ti***1'.!111111141 VI , I

lactru.s..raci...re4

Talmudic Quotations
On Plants and. Trees

Excerpts from the Talmudic Anthology by
Louis I. Newman and Samuel Spitz (pub-
lished by Behrman), on the occasion of
Hamisha Asar b'Shevat, to be observed next
Thursday. Trees are traditionally planted
in Palestine on Hamisha Asar through the
Jewish National Fund.

A olden vine was stationed outside the gates
of The SaffetilliT. Rabbi Alia said that whea,
Solomon built the Temple, he Tashioned and
designed within the sacred walls all types Of
trees. As soon as the golden_ vine outside the
gates brought forth its fruit, the trees within the
Temple walls produced their beautiful fruit.
(Y. Yoma, 4,4.)
•
*
*
They say to fruit-bearing trees: "Why do you
not make any noise?" The tree reply: "Our fruits
are sufficient advertisement for us." (Bereshit
Rabbah, 4,9).
*
*
*
People say: "The quality of the fruit may be
recognized by its bloom." (Berakot, 48).
*
*
*
If you reap wheat-stalks before the proper
time, even the hay is not good. (Shir ha-Shirim
Rabbah).
*
*
*
A good tree bring good fruit. (Shir ha-
Shirim Rabbah, 7).

,

Children's Corner

Dear Boys and Girls:
Be sure to make a real holiday of Hamisha
Asar next Thursday.
It is a minor festival orf our calendar, but a
very interesting one.
This is the day which ,marks the sprouting
forth of plants and trees in Palestine, and is
therefore known as the New Year of the Trees— .
Rosh Hashanah Le-Ilanoth.
ptv: -sacra' 'unit 3701111 -Parents s
ca a fes
and figs and raisins and the fruits of the carob
'ree (bokser)'. That's the tradition in Jewish
observance of Hamisha Asar—the Jewish Arbor
Day. ,
I hope you will have a pleasant festival. Be
sure to read, in this column, the quotations from
the Talmud regarding trees and plants,. and the
explanation of the festival's meaning in the
Answers to Readers' Questions.
A pleasant Sabbath and a happy Hamisha Asar
to all.
UNCLE DANIEL.

*

*

*

HAMISHA ASAR b'SHEVAT

By HERZL SHUR

Hamisha Asar b'Shevat
Means planting time is here
'Tis planting time in Palestine
And that-we hold very dear .

'Tis the New Year of the Trees
A tree is the symbol of life
'Tis also the syrribol of peace
In a. world without bloodshed or strife.

When you plant a tree
In one's memory,
Or in honor of some one loyal,
You are really implanting within you
A love for Eretz Yis-rah-el

Though we may not live in Palestine
We may taste the fruit of the. land,
By partaking of. boksor and oranges'
Of the famous Palestinian brand

Let's reclaim the . soil
By planting more trees .
For they'll , drain out the swamps •
And wipe out disease

Let's keep Palestine healthy
. For the day 'that must come. to pass
When Jews froni war torn Europe
Will come there en-masse.

And so Hamisha Asar b'Shevat.
Has' come to mean a great. deal
And our efforts in tree planting
Must be .courageous and real!

