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THE :JEWISH , NEWS
As the Editor
Views the News -
Nearing a Showdown
1111
Jewish issues are nearing a showdown.
We are nearer a solution of the Palestine
problem than we have ever been before,
and we are on the eve of great events which
must lead to the improvement of the status
of the survivors of our people in Europe.
The Anglo-American Inquiry Commission
on Palestine may not bring the kind of re-
port we desire. But the public hearings con-
ducted by the commission, the airing of the
issue so that all who read newspapers and
all who listen to the radio may know the
facts, and the keen interest taken in Pales-
tine by non-Jews, are certain to force a sym-
pathetic attitude. on the question.
*
*
*
The appearance in Detroit next Wednes-
day, at a dinner meeting of the American
Christian Palestine Committee, of U. S.
Senator Owen Brewster of Maine, and the
showing of an effective Palestinian film to
that audience, is part of a program sponsored
by the Christians of Michigan, under the
chairmanship of Judge Frank A. Picard, in
the interest of truth and justice.
Similar gatherings throughout the land
serve to mould public opinion in favor of a
Jewish Palestine, • and there is excellent
reason for believing that there will be no
betrayal of trust on the Palestine issue on
the American front, now that both Houses
of Congress have gone on record in favor of
Jewish rights in Palestine.
*
* *
We are nearing a showdown also on the
relief front.
After V-E Day there was disappointment
in many quarters. Relief workers were slow
arriving. It was difficult to ship food and
clothing for the survivors. There was in-
terference from the army; suffering in-
creased rather than decreased.
Then came the Harrison report, the ex-
poses of conditions by American correspond-
ents in Europe and the more rapid flow of
supplies and relief workers.
*
* *
Today, it is safer to state that the J. D. C.
is better prepared to provide the necessary
relief, that the field is being fully covered,
that the needed food and clothing are being
rushed to the needy.
As soon as provisions are made for the
resettlement of the tens of thousands of
homeless and the moment the British pledges
to facilitate the establishment of the Jewish
National Home become realities rather than
mockeries, we shall witness as nearly a com-
plete solution to the many Jewish problems
as it is possible to conceive.
*
* *
These showdowns are due to the determ-
ination of Jews everywhere td force rapid
solution of painful Issues which were creat-
ed by the cruelty of a decade of events
resulting from the barbarism of the Europ-
ean powers and the failure of the decent
peoples to stop terrorism the moment it
became evident.
They are the result of the firm stand
taken by the survivors themselves who re-
fuse to return to the countries which be-
came graveyards for six million Jews, who
insist on the security offered by a Jewish-
redeemed Palestine.
Our part in the struggle for redemption
is to dedicate all of our efforts towards
the United Jewish Appeal, which will pro-
liide the means for total Jewish redemption
and for most effective relief of suffering.
THE JEWISH NEWS
2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich.
Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent
Jewish Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate,
Religious News Service, Palcor News Agency, Wide World
Photo Service, 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. 18
JANUARY 18, 1946
The Week's Scriptural Selection s
This Sabbath, the seventeenth day of Shevat,
5706, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 13 :17-17 :16.
Prophetical portion—Judges 4:4-5:31.
Candle-lighting time this Friday is at 4:58 p.m.
1- 5n 57323
1 .(nulnyn
Friday January :1 & 1948
Air Guns for Immigrants?
177m motn
Facts You Should Know
Answers to Readers'
Questions About Jews
rtrin'ro . nr3x
13) 433 Iv: t3ID3t .rag
Has the Bible ever been translated by a
woman?
Miss Julia E. Smith, of Glastonbury, Conn., in
1876 made a translation of the Bible from the
originals.
*
*
•
What is the Shetar?
Shetar means "Deed". This Hebrew word was
Latinized into "Star." Because the arbitrary
English court met in the chamber in which the
Shetarot of the pre-expulsion Jews were deposit-
ed, it was named the Star Court; and Star Cham-
ber proceedings became a by-word in describing
high-handed, arbitrary and secret trials.
*
*
*
Who was Marcel Schwob?
- Marcel Schwob was a French editor. He was
born in Chaville, France, in 1867, and died in
Paris in 1905. His father was editor of "Phare de
la Loir." Marcel became editor of a number of
Parisian dailies. As a writer he was respon
sible for recreating the vogue of the French • poet
Villon whose life and adventures he described in
1890 in "Jargon de Coquillards en 1455."
:rum rem rrN3 1313.0713 rx !pi* 1V ;1%0 bnitntin
Children's Corner
"Officer, you can remove those guns on top . . . our immigrants
don't arrive here by air."—Cartoon in the Jerusalem Hebrew Daily
Haaretz.
Needed: Understanding of Our Case
In an article syndicated by the New York Times, Maj.
George Fielding Eliot expresses the view that the censure
of Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan 'by Jewish leaders is
threatening the efficiency of the work of UNRRA..
Maj. Eliot went into • great length to present both sides
of the question. He quoted the attacks upon Gen. Morgan
by a number of leaders and newspapers and the defense of
Gen. Morgan's sincerity—not of his charge—by foreign cor-
respondents, among them Jewish newspapermen, and by
Jacob L. Trobe of the J.D.C. In every instance, Gen. Morgan's
charge of a Jewish "conspi,pcy" is condemned, but those who
defend him say he is sincere even if he speaks in ignorance
of the true facts.
Maj. Eliot then arrives at this conclusion:
"I am not so much concerned about Gen. Morgan himself,
for he has a distinguished record as a soldier and, no doubt, an
equally distinguished future before him in his chosen profes-
sion. I am concerned about UNRRA, on which so many lives
now depend. How can UNRRA find first class administrators if
they are to be attacked in this fashion for every unguarded
word? I am concerned about the suffering people whom it is
UNRRA's duty to rescue. Must their lives be at the mercy of
bumbling mediocrity because men of substance will hesitate
to risk Sir Frederick's fate?
"Or is it possible to combine warm hearts with cool heads
until this great and necessary work has been done?"
*
* *
Maj. Eliot's words must be measured calmly and with-
out passion. His advice undoubtedly is sound, considering
the difficulty movements like UNRRA and JDC experience
in securing, the ablest possible men for the great humani-
tarian tasks they are to perform.'
But this advice must be accepted with a certain amount
of reserve.
If the needs of the sufferers are to be' cared for adequate-
ly, their position must be understood.
It is true that warm hearts must be combined with cool
heads—but not to the exclusion of criticism whenever an
official blunders. It is the responsibility of leaders in all
walks of life, non-Jews and Jews, to set men like Sir Fred-
erick straight, to excoriate him whenever he blunders, to
demand that he should not make rash statements which
,
may affect the future of the survivors in Europe and all
Jewry everywhere against whom the most dastardly charges
.
Dear Boys and Girls:
Our people are so frequently called upon to
provide relief for the needy, that it often be-
comes necessary to delve into history and learn
the interpretatiohs of our great Rabbis of the
true meaning of Charity.
This is especially necessary now, when we
are preparing for such great task to help our
unfortunate kinsmen in Europe.
The most important viewpoints on Charity
were expressed by the great Jewish philosopher
and physician, 'Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben
Maimon), who was born in Cordova, Spain, in
1135. Maimondes' famous interpretation is known
as the Golden Ladder of Charity, and it reads
as follows:
The first and lowest degree is to give, but with
reluctance or regret. This is the gift of the hand,
but not of the heart.
The second . is, to give cheerfully, but not pro-
portionately to the distress of the sufferer.
The third is, to give cheerfully and proportion-
ately, but not until solicited.
The fourth is, to give cheerfully, proportionate-
ly, and even unsolicited, but to put it in the poor
man's hand, thereby exciting in him the painful
emotion of shame.
The fifth is, to give charity in such a way that
the distressed may receive the bounty, and know
their benefactor, without their being known to
him. Such was the conduct of some of our ances-
tors, who used to tie up money in the corners of
their cloaks, so that the poor might take it un-
perceived.
The sixth, which rises still higher, is to know
the objects of our bounty but remain unknown to
them. Such was the conduct of those of our ances-
tors who used to convey their charitable gifts into
poor people's dwellings, taking care that their
own persons and names should remain unknown.
The seventh is still more meritorious, namely,
to bestow charity in such a way that the bene-
factor may not know the relieved persons, nor
they the names of their benefactors, as was done •
by our charitable forefathers during the existence,
of the temple. For there was in that holy building
a place called the Chamber of the Silent, wherein
the good deposited secretly whatever their gener-
ous hearts suggested, and from which the poor
were maintained with equal secrecy.
Lastly, the eighth, and the most meritorious of
all, is to anticipate charity by preventing poverty;
namely, to assist the reduced fellow-man, either
by a considerable gift or a sum of money, or by
teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the
way of business, so that he may earn *an honest
livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful al-
ternative of holding out his hand for charity.***
This is the highest step and the summit of
charity's golden ladder. •
I hope all of you will study this ideal code
of guidance for being charitable. We must be
fully prepared to provide all the help that is need-
ed when the great call comes, and I feel con-
fident that our young people will be as helpful
as their parents when the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign starts its great drive for $2,000,000.
Best wishes to all of you fo; a very pleasant
Sabbath.
UNCLE DANIEL.
*
*
*
TREES IN JEWISH LITERATURE
"When you shall come into the Land and
shall have planted all manner of trees . . ."
(Leviticus 19, 23)
"How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob,
Thy dwellings, 0 Israel:
As .gardens by the river-side;
As aloes planted by the Lord,
As cedars beside the water;"
(Numbers 24, 5.6)
"When thou shalt besiege a city
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof
by wielding an axe against them;
for thou mayest eat of them
•
but thou shalt not cut them down."
(Deuteronomy 20, 19).
When iron was mined, the trees began to
tremble. It was said to them: "Let none of you
combine your wood with iron, and you will not
be hewn down." (Bereshit Rabbah, 5).
The grapes pray for leaves, for without leaves
there are no grapes. (Hullin, 92).
The thin roots of the wheat-stocks bore deep
into the ground. The soft roots of a fig tree split
have been that they are engaged in a "world conspiracy."
*
* *
What we need is a thorough understanding of the Jewish
position and of the needs of the European survivors. Relief
officials, especially those in the UNRRA, are obligated to
acquire such an understanding.
We must have complete understanding of the Jewish
position by Jews. The masses of our people must not be
misled by rash statements and by conflicting controversies.
Jewish readers, confronted with the varying statements
by those who condemn and those who defend Gen. Morgan,
may be beWildered. At best, the average reader, or radio
listener, receives only the barest quotations from statements.
He must be provided with facts, with actual data, with dis-
passionate interpretation of Jewish issues.
*
* *
To reach the required understanding, we strongly ad-
vocate a program of adult education which should include
such discussions of Jewish issues.
We urge the United Hebrew Schools, the Jewish Corn-
munity Center, the Yiddish schools and the Yeshivoth, to
introduce discussion groups through which our people may
reach unbiased understanding of our problems.
There has been mud-slinging within Jewish ranks which
calls for an airing of actual conditions. And there have been
complicated controversies which have not benefited the
Jewish cause.
We plead for understanding, for fair approaches to is-
sues, for a study by competent leaders of issues like those
raised by Gen. Morgan.
Only a complete understanding of Jewish conditions
will lead to the solution of Jewish problems.
the rock. (Y. Berakot, 9,2).