Page Two

THE JEWISH NEWS

Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS:
A few words to some of our corre-
spondents, in the interest of clarifying
the truth regarding several Jewish issues.
To J. C. Goldman, 1012 Dime Bldg.:
You quote "an extremely liberal pro-
fessor of economics" as being "fully in
sympathy with the Zionist cause;" but
when he hears men like Rabbi Stephen
S. Wise speaking for an hour about Brit-
ish imperialism without mentioning any
other minority group he begins to think
that "Zionist spokesmen are extremely
narrow" and "that they show the tend-
ency of a certain brand of chauvinism."
Then you chide the policy of Jewish
leadership for forgetting the traditional
Jewish altruistic sympathy towards the
"nochry," the stranger, and you assert:
"We cannot and must not become chauv-
inistic, or racially egotistic . . . We must
protest and loudly resent any and all in-
justice and treachery committed by any
imperialistic group, be it against Greeks,
Indonesians, Indians, or even our ancient
oppressor, the Egyptians."
In a follow-up note you state that the
professor you referred to is Scott Near-
ing, "not a reactionary nor is he con-
taminated with any anti-Semitic ten-
dencies"—who, you state, made the re-
marks you quoted at Jericho Temple, De-
troit, on Feb. 20.
Which amazes us all the more.
What are the facts, which Prof. Near-
ing, more than any other man, should
know?
* * *
JEWS AND LIBERALISM
Is there a single cause of liberalism, or
any movement of libertarians, which is
not supported by Jews?
The truth is that the weight of evi-
dence is in OUR favor. Every battle for
decency has in its forefront Jewish lead-
ership.
There are very few causes, whether in
defense of the Negro or the Jew, or the
oppressed groups, that have not enlisted
the cooperation of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen
S. Wise. Specifically to refer to Rabbi
Wise in charging Jews with chauvinism
smacks of bias which has blinded Prof.
Nearing and his associates.
Why a Jewish follower of Prof. Near-
ing should have fallen for the "libel" he
quotes is beyond us.
The only explanation we can think of
is that Prof. Nearing may have heard
Dr. Wise pleading the Jewish cause in
Palestine, and Dr. Wise may have stuck
to the point in referring only to Zionism.
Had liberals, not even excluding Prof.
Nearing, acted consistently and had they
conducted the battle against Nazism be-
ginning with 1933, there would have been
a united force fighting for justice for
Jews and others and linking their des-
tinies. Perhaps a million or more Jews
would have been saved in Palestine dur-
ing the past 13 years. Neither Prof. Near-
ing nor his associates—Jews included—
did anything about it. The result: Dr.
Wise and other Zionist leaders have had
to follow the admonition: "Im ein ani
mi li?" "If I am not for myself, who will
be for me?" And so far, only a handful
of good Christians have joined our bat-
tle against the tyrannical onslaughts up-
on the Jewish people, or in defense of
efforts to reconstruct the Jewish National
Home in Palestine.
* * *
SABBATH OBSERVANCE
To Women's League for Sabbath Ob-
servance:
Only the name of your organization is
appended to your letter, but we assume
that you speak for your entire member-
ship, whose strength you claim to be
1,300 in two branches. You take excep-
tion to certain aspects of the discussion
of the Sabbath observance problem re-
cently in this column.
There is no need 'to dwell upon your
statement that "a reformed Rabbi who
discourages social events on Friday
nights is interested in Temple attendance
rather than in the true observance and
the sanctity of the Sabbath." Since the
Sabbath is sacred to all Israel it is unfair
to question anyone's sincerity of motive.
Then you proceed to tell us that you
have sponsored 42 radio programs, that
you have distributed 70,000 pieces of lit-
erature, that you had published news-
paper advertisements in behalf of Sab-
bath observance and had distributed
10,000 "reprints on beautiful cards." Also,
that you have the cooperation of the
Council of Orthodox Rabbis, the Michi-
gan Synagogue Conference and many
communal institutions; that you had ne-
gotiated with the Bakers' Union, the
Grocerymen's Assn. and the Bakers' Assn.

—

'Leon Blum

The business of making a loan to England is not even concluded
and already here is Leon Blum coming over to talk about a loan to
France.
We are writing this paragraph to welocme him to this country,
to say that we admire him, to wish him success in his mission and,
afterward, if we get a letter telling us that we should have written
about how Blum and his Popular Front led France to disaster, or a
letter telling us all about Blum's early book on marriage, or a letter
telling us that France was a nice country under Saint Louis but that
it has been a rotten country ever since the Revolution killed the other
Louis and that now, with Joan of Arc long dead and apparently no
longer effective, with the indispensable General no longer indispens-
able, it is a red country red as blood or the rose—these letters will
go into the ash can.

Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

Copyright, 1946, Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate, Inc.

ALBERT EINSTEIN SPEAKS
This week, the Black Book, which tells
the story of the Nazi crime against the
Jewish people appears . . . It is being is-
sued by the World Jewish Congress, the
Vaad Leumi of Palestine, the .Jewish
Anti-Fascist Committee of Moscow and
the Committee of Jewish Writers, Artists
and Scientists of America . . . The proj-
ect represents an important action for
unity on the part of World Jewish lead-
ership . . . We are fortunate to be able
to present to you an exclusive as the Hol-
lywood columnists say . • . So we are giv-
ing part of Albert Einstein's message on
the occasion of the appearance of the
Black Book.
"In the last decade the Germans have
systematically killed off about half the
Jewish people. We, the survivors, have
assembled the facts and methods of this
mass murder in a volume that is now be-
ing handed over to the world. This book
is intended as an indictment of the na-
tion that sank to such depths of bestiality.
"We stand before a mass grave. In this
book that is now presented the remnants
of our people have set up a monument to
the millions of victims; to the end that
their suffering and their death be saved
from oblivion to serve as a warning to the
survivors.
"We must fight, in ourselves and in
others, the senseless urge to power and
destruction. We must seriously study how
men can be protected, made innerly and
outwardly free and educated to unite in
effort.
"Let justice be done through the fulfill-
ment of the solemn pledges concerning
the furtherance of the upbuilding of Pal-
estine. .
"And may all national minorities be as-
sured—on a super-national basis—of that
'degree of protection which is indispens-
able for the preservation of peace."

and that 62 stores now are closed on the
Sabbath.
Which fails to disprove our contention
that only a minority observes the Sab-
bath. Certainly, we shall "keep on writ-
ing on the subject," as we are doing now,
and we are grateful for your organiza-
tion's thanks. But if we are not realistic
and if we fail to recognize that the Sab-
bath is, - in the main, desecrated, and
that only a handful of our people honor
this day, the chief purpose in pressing
for recognition of the sanctity of the
sacred day of rest will be lost.
* *
A SAN FRANCISCO OUTRAGE
Picketing of the British Consul Gen-
eral's office in San Francisco under the
direction of the Joint Zionist Council of
that city has resulted in an internal Jew-
ish scandal.
The Jewish Survey and Bnai Brith
Community Committee of that city saw
fit to write to British Consul General
Cyril Cane expressing "disapproval of
such picketing when engaged in for poli-
tical purposes."
It was natural for the combined Zionist
groups in San Francisco to question the
courage and dignity of Jewish leadership
which undertakes to create disunity by
giving comfort to the representative of
Great Britain against whom all Israel
has a serious grievance in the present
hour of crisis for our people. Even dif-
ferences over "political purposes" do not
justify the writing of a letter which
smacks of an informer's tone. In the
long run, the Jewish Survey and Bnai
Brith Community Committee of San
Francisco will be hurting itself more than
the Zionist cause, since the greatest harm
already has been done to Zionism by
British perfidy. What every Jew must
object to is that a group of dissenters
should have resorted to "mesirah." It was

a shameful thing to do.

f

•

1.4

;"14- 41..filkaanacial Vow.«

From an Editorial in Commonweal,
Liberal Catholic Weekly Review

1.4

••• • • -

The Jew's Role in
Creating Miracles

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright, 1946, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)

On the roof of a house in Jerusalem,
according to a JTA_ news dispatch, Dr.
Paul Soskin, Jewish agricultural expert
of Palestine, has planted a garden where
he will grow vegetables and richly per-
fumed flowers without soil.
Dr. Soskin is conducting the demon-
stration to convince the Palestine In-
quiry Commission that the desert land
of Palestine and the Near East can be
used to supply food. He points out that
the chemicals needed for "hydroponics"
—that is the name of the new science of
soiless agriculture—are to found in great
profusion in the Dead Sea.
In days of old, of course, the Jews wan-
dering in the desert were taken care of
otherwise. Manna fell from Heaven. It
was a wonderful food, which only a
miracle could produce. The Talmud says
that it tasted like whatever you wanted.
In the morning it tasted like scrambled
eggs, toast and coffee. In the evening
like steak. Whatever you wished it to
taste like, so it tasted.
It had another great advantage. It
couldn't be hoarded or monopolized.
* * *
Some scholars say that this manna was
actually an excretion, like honey, from
an insect called the tamarisk. Science
today demonstrates that it is possible to
take one food and make it taste just as
you wish it to taste. Let me quote a
story reported in the New- Republic. It
cites an address made by Dr. R. H. Mont-
gomery, economist, speaking before a
Texas lunch club. The caption is "Bob
Montgomery on Texas steaks." It reads:
"Just a few months ago, I had lunch-
eon with the then Secretary of Agri-
culture Wickard. • He served a filet
steak. After we finished he said, 'How
was the steak; like your Texas steaks'?
"I replied, 'Well, I never did raise
any that good, but my neighbors did.
Is it a Texas steak?' He said, 'Your
steak was made by the Monsanto
Chemical Company in St. Louis, out of
buttermilk and woodpulp'."
* * *
Now if you can make a steak out of
buttermilk and woodpulp, I say that
manna could have tasted like steak, too,
or like ice cream. Today science is doing
this kind of thing, making stockings out
of coal and glass out of green peas.
In fact, the greatest Zionist in the
world has been, perhaps, the world's
greatest leader in this phase of making
steaks out of buttermilk. If you will read
the sketch about Dr. Weizmann in the
Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, you will
find that this matter of making substi-
tute meats out of proteins has been one
of the things Dr.. Weizmann has been
most interested in and the phase of chem-
istry which he has, perhaps, advanced
above all others. In Palestine during the
war, at the Sieff Institute, which Weiz-
mann headed, they were making orange
peels into war materials of various sorts.
*
*
The Lowdermilk plan, which proposes
to make the desert bloom like the rose,
to turn hundreds of thousands of acres
of dry, useless land into land which can
support an additional population of be-
tween two and four millions people, is
another miracle.
The revival of the Dead Sea is another
Zionist miracle. The world is now great-
ly concerned over the oil in Saudi Ara-
bia. Perhaps all the sparring of Russia
and England and the United States is at
the bottom, in part, associated with these
oil reserves, yet it may very well be that
the wealth of the Dead Sea may some-
time be more prized.
It has been said that in mineral de-
posits, the Dead Sea is the richest treas-
ury on earth..; It 'simply needs develop-
ment. Some day, when this new science
of hydroponidS is , developed, the Dead

Friday, March 29, 1946

Between
You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1946, Jewish Telegraphic • .
Agency, Inc.)

ZIONIST TRENDS
Zionist leaders are making new efforts
to establish Moscow's attitude with re-
gard to the Palestine issue through
Czechoslovakian diplomats friendly to
the idea of establishing Palestine as a
Jewish State . . . The Iranian situation
brought Russia close to the Iraq frontier
. . Only a small Iraqian corridor, popu-
lated by Kurds who may rebel any day
in favor of a pro-Soviet Kurdish repub-
lic, now separates Soviet forces in Iran
from Syria . . . The revolt of the Kurds
in Iraq, expected at any moment, would
bring pro-Soviet forces to the doors of
Syria, Palestine's immediate neighbor.
The fight by Zionist economic experts
in America against the obstacles which
the Palestine government is placing in
the way of importing American goods to
Palestine is attracting the attention of
high officials in Washington . . . These
obstacles are chiefly currency restrictions,
which have been enforced by the Pales-
tine government since the outbreak of the
war . . The Palestine administration
does not have the slightest intention of
abolishing these restrictions, now that the
war is over, unless it is forced to do so
under the terms of the pending U. S.
loan to Britain . . . Manufacturers and
merchants in Palestine are prevented
from buying American machinery, equip-
ment and raw materials and capital..of
American citizens is still blocked • in
Palestine banks, and cannot be trans-
ferred to the U. S.
*
*
*
DOMESTIC NOTES
National Refugee Service and the. Na-
tional Council ,of Jewish Women are soon
to merge their activities for immigrants
. HIAS• was originally asked to join in
this merger, but declined to do so. •• • -
Interested offices in WashingtOn, are
keeping watch on the committees to
"feed Germany" which are sprouting like
mushrooms. in- many parts of the coun-
try ... There is suspicion concerning the
motives behind the work of these -com-
mittees . •. Especially because -of the
material with which these committees
are flooding members of Congress . . .
The tone of letters Congressmen receive
has too much of a pro-German political
connotation . . . Here is an example of
one of the propaganda tricks used 'in the
campaign to "feed Germany," expresSed
in an editorial in the Detroiter AbendpOst
... "It is quite clear," the editorial says,
"that if Germany becomes a hotbed of
starvation; the whole of Europe as well
as we (Americans) will suffer. Certainly,
one can admit that Mr. Morgenthau has
his particular reasons for his policy of
vengeance against Germany, but all
Americans are not Morgenthaus after all.
And if the story takes a bad turn as, no
dotibt it will, the Morgenthaus will hard-
ly -have much reason to be pleased about
it."
*
*
*
THE CULTURAL FRONT
The tragic record of the Nazi annihila-
tion of 6,000,000 Jews in Europe, "The
Black Book," will be published at the end
of this month . . . Prof. Albert Einstein
will make one of his rare public appear-
ances when he talks in New York at a
Madison Square Garden mass meeting
marking publication of the volume . . . It
took one and a half years to assemble
and prepare the material for `The Black
Book" . . . Thirty researchers examined
5,430 pages of reports and 2,670 photos
and documents . . . From these they dig-
tilled 600 pages of eye-witness accounts
of Nazi brutality . . . "The Black Book"
was, prepared jointly by' representatives
of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in
Moscow, the Jewish National Council of
Palestine, the World Jewish Congress and
the American Committee of Jewish
Writers, Artists and Scientists.
Congratulations to Herman Pekarsky
and to Max Weiner of Newark, N. J., for
the excellent job they have done on."The
Jewish News," a new weekly publication
issued by the local branch of the United
Jewish Appeal . . . Mr. Pekarsky is
executive director of the United Jewish
Appeal and Weiner is the editor of the
new paper . . . More and more people
in America are becoming interested in
Zionist literature.

of an enormous chemical industry which
will be able to sustain hundreds of thou-
sands of people alone.
The age of miracles has not passed--
and it seems to be the role of the Jew to
unfold. some of these new miracle.:, as
they .excelled in the production of. inira-

Sea with all its minerals may be the seat des, in olden days.
•
op ..13 !encl. al 9:1:1 10

