Page Four
THE JEWISH NEWS
As the Editor
Views the N e ws - -
Inquiry or Inquisition?
Elsewhere in this issue, our readers will
find a depressing report from Jerusalem,
wirelessed to us through JTA by the eminent
novelist, Meyer Levin, who brands some
of the members of the Anglo-American In-
quiry Committee as having turned the hear-
ing into "more of an inquisition than an
inquiry."
Mr. Levin's evaluation of the committee
is most disturbing, especially in view of the
fact that similar impressions of the commit-
tee's attitudes were gathered by corre-
spondents in Europe and Washington.
The spirit of heartlessness which has
marked many of the questions directed at
those who appeared before the committee
justifies the comparison of the inquiry com-
mittee's hearings with the Nuremberg trial
made by Mr. Levin.
*
* *
The testimony presented to the inquiry
committee by Jewish spokesmen emphatical-
ly asserted that the position of our people is
to live in harmony with the Arabs.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann and David Ben
Gurion reiterated their viewpoints in behalf
of Arab-Jewish cooperation.
The proposals for a bi-national state,
formulated by Dr. J. L. Magnes, Moshe
Smilansky and Prof. Martin Buber, were
even more emphatic in reasserting the pre-
dominating Jewish stand in behalf of a
cemented friendship between the two
kindred peoples.
The snubs which these proposals have
received from Arab politicians do not rep-
resent the attitude of Palestine's Arabs,
whose amicable relations with their Jewish
neighbors are at a high peak at this time.
Will the members of the inquiry commit-
tee listen to reason and will they act justly
in their decisions?
*
*
*
The inquiry committee members have an
historic opportunity to emerge as humani-
trians by acting promptly in support of the
minimum needs of the Jewish people, which
demand the immediate opening Of Palestine's
doors to at least 100,000 Jews. Dr. Magnes,
whose moderate views have received en-
dorsements from non-Zionists, anti-Zionists,
disinterested Christians and many Arabs,
was strong in demanding that such a course
be taken at once.
There is the problem of the tens of
thousands of Jewish children who must be
rescued. If Palestine's doors are not opened
to them, the inquiry committee will be
recorded as having been motivated by heart-
lessness rather than by a firm and deter-
mined desire to be helpful to our people.
We wonder: is it conceivable that in-
telligent men will fail to recognize the great
needs of the hour and deal with Palestine's
problem as inquisitors?
If the members of the inquiry committee
continue to act as if they are conducting a
trial, history will teach them that they thus
are placing themselves on trial by failing
to act justly with the Jewish people and
procrastinating in efforts to secure an open
door policy for Jews in Palestine.
These are crucial days for mankind, and
the severest sufferers of all—the Jewish
people—anxiously look to the inquiry com-
mittee for courage in solving the grave prob-
lern_of the million and a half survivors in
Europe.
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
RAnclolph 7956. Subscription rate $3 a year; foreign
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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. It. BRASCH, Advertising Counsel
VOL. 9—No. 1
MARCH 22, 1946
This Week's Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twentieth day of Adar
Sheni, 5706, the following selections will be
read in our synagogues:
19.
Pentateuchal portion—Lev. 6:1-8:36; Num.
Prophetical portion—Ezek. 36:16-38.
Candle-lighting time this .Friday is at 6:28 p.m.
Give Him the Bum's Rush!
Friday, March 22, 1946
Facts You Should Know
Answers to Readers
Questions About Jews
Can a Jewish husband divorce his wife
against her will according to Jewish law?
`Who Shall Live, and Who.Shall Die?'
In the Unsane Tokef of the High Holy Day prayers, the
most stirring passage is the reference to the destiny of the
worshipers for the year ahead, and one of the questions
asked is: "Who shall live, and who shall die?"
This query at this time challenges the conscience of
every Jew whose income
does not limit his ability to
feed himself and his family..
For the million and a quar-
ter surviving Jews in Europe,
the future is precarious un-
less we come to their aid
mediately.
If we, who have an abund-
ance of material means, do
not provide them with food
and shelter, and if we do not
assist them in finding 'perm-
anent homes—placing em-
phasis on Palestine as the
only Home that is declare_d
acceptable by 98 per cent of
the survivors from Nazism
then all hope will be gone
for those who have struggled
and suffered to live in spite
of the network of terrorism
that was built around them by Nazism.
The drawing illustrating this appeal, made by the New
York artist, Israel Levy, for the Joint Distribution Commit-
tee, depicts the heartrending tragedy of Israel at this time.
All of European Jewry is like this child, begging for
a slice of bread and a cup of soup. So that they may live,
the survivors must receive all the help that can possibly
be mustered for them by the Joint Distribution Committee,
with funds now being gathered in this country by the
United Jewish Appeal.
Fortunately, these survivors have learned once again
to hold their heads erect and to demand their just rights
to make their homes in Palestine. With funds of the United
Palestine Appeal, which also receives its allocations through
the United Jewish Appeal, we retain the hope that tens
of thousands of Jews will be settled in Palestine.
Our obligations are clear. The Detroit Allied Jewish
Campaign, whose 1946 quota of $2,000,000 will be used en-
tirely for the United Jewish Appeal, must be made a total
success. Each one of us must give the utmost of our means
and energies, in contributions and in labor, to help reach
the complete quota which is a minimum obligation. The
time to start working for this drive is NOW. The time
to begin giving is NOW.
The Children Come First
United Jewish Appeal leaders are emphatic in their
declarations that the children come first in rescue efforts and
that everything possible will be done to save the 150,000
surviving Jewish children. Judge Rifkind's report adds
tragic evidence to the story.
The appeal in behalf of the children should be sufficient
to arouse all the compassion necessary to guarantee the
success of the $100,000,000 national mercy drive of which
Detroit will contribute. $2,000,000.
It is inconceivable that any one should be so calloused
as not to be moved by, the tattoos on the arms of children
who have been rescued from Nazism, or by their emaciated
bodies, or by the tragedy that is reflected in their eyes
after having witnessed the murder of their families.
In most instances,. the surviving children are the only
ones left of large families which were descimated in, crem-
atoria and extermination camps. Our responsibility to these
children is so great that none of us has a right to touch
the next morsel of food before giving to the very limit
of his ability to the United Jewish Appeal.
This is the major plea for the approaching $2,000,000
Detroit Allied Jewish Campaign. But there are also the
adults; there are the surviving men and women to be helped;
the tens of thousands who must be settled in Palestine.
Is there any one in our midst who will dare say that
he will either refuse to contribute to or to work for the
Allied Jgwish Campaign?.
Originally a Jewish husband had the right to
divorce his wife without her consent. From the
wording in the Bible it is apparent that the entire
action centered upon the will of the husband. Even
then there were exceptions to this privilege, as
for example the case where the husband had ac-
cused his wife falsely of antenuptial incontin-
ence (Deut. XXII: 13-19) and other instances. In
the time of the Mishnah we find the "School of
Shammai" insisting that the husband present
adequate reasons for his action that had to do
with sexual immorality on the part of the wife.
In the eleventh century, this theoretical right of
the husband was formally declared at an end
when the famous Rabbi Gershom of Mayence de-
clared that ". . . as the man does not put away his
wife except at his own free will so shall the
woman not be put away except by her own con-
sent." There are instances when the Jewish court
can compel the husband to grant a divorce to his
iivife. It still stands, however, that the action is
centered around the husband and proceeds from
husband to wife and not vice-versa.—(S.J.F.)
* * *
What were the "Noachic Laws?"
They were laws which, according to Pharisaic
Judaism, were applied to the descendants of Noah
to establish civil righteousness. They forbade
idol worship, blasphemy, murder, sexual ir-
regularity, theft, and cruelty to animals.
FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE
Dear Boys and Girls:
Less than a month remains before PaSsover,
and we shall be thinking soon about the prepara-
tions for this great festival which marks the first
fight for freedom by an entire people in man-
kind's history.
Many of our boys and girls already are study-
ing the meaning of the holiday, its history and
background, and are preparing to ask the Four
Questions at the inspiring Seder ceremonies.
Schools and homes are getting ready for this
.
important event.
At least two of these columns will he devoted
to Passover.
.
As we think of Passover, we should bear in
mind the great needs of those of our people
who have nothing left in the world, who depend
upon us. for whatever supplies they are to.receive
to be able to celebrate the festival.
I sincerely -.hope that we shall choose, each
•one of us, to celebrate Passover by giving liberal-
ly to the relief causes of the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign—the United Palestine Appeal, the Joint
Distribution Coinmittee and the National Refugee
Service.
In this column I am happy once again to
welcome a fine poem by one of our contributors-
Herzl Shur.
I wish all of my readers a pleasant Sabbath.
UNCLE DANIEL.
The Aleph Bays
By HERZL SHUR
You'll find
It pays
To know
Your Aleph Bays.
They certainly
Stand solid-
Yes—the Gimmel
And the Doled.
If you want
To become a ROV
Be sure to practice
On your HAY and your VOV!
The day will come around
When you will say—YES
I know my ZAH-YIN
And I know my CHES!
As long as you're good
And in a fair mood
You'll master your TES
And alSo your YOOD.
If you are patient
And listen to the MELAMED
You'll know your KOF
And you'll know your LAMED
Look at your MEM
Look at your NUHN
If you can't get it now
You're bound to get it soon
The SAMECH and the AH-YIN
They're not hard to remember
If you can't grasp them in NOVEMBER
You'll know them in DECEMBER
It won't be long
And you'll shout HOORAY
It's as easy as pie
To say PAY and FAY!
Study your TZADIK
Study your KOF
If you study a little each day
It won't be so tough
Next we come
To the RAISE and the SHIN
Just perk yourself up
And lift up your chin
To
stop right here
Would be a terrible SIN
So let's say TOF and SOF •
Which is really quite enough!