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Page . Two

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Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

INTERNAL CONFLICTS
Even on the question of accepting that
portion of the Anglo-American Inquiry
Committee's report which calls for the
admission to Palestine, during 1946, of
100,000 Jews, there are differences of
opinion.
At a Zionist rally here, one man took the
stand that too many strings are attached
to this recommendation and that the re-
port, being a vicious document in its en-
tirety, should be rejected in its entirety
by Jews.
On the other hand, one small but in-
fluential group, the American. Council for
Judaism, has seen fit to approve all -
aspects of the report. The redeeming fea
ture in this approving stand is that the
Council for Judaism stands alone in its
total endorsement.

In the long run, these internal conflicts
should not have any marring effects upon
the humane aspedts of the report which
call for unconditional admission of 100,-
000 European survivors. •
The COuncil a for Judaism cannot hurt
the Jewish cause any more than it already
has; and the extremists' demand, that we
refrain from approving a single portion
of the report lest it be interpreted as an
endorsement of the entire document,
shows a lack of vision. The Jewish posi-
tion, clearly, is that we -want the im-
mediate admission of 100,000, and that we
adhere to the traditional stand that Pales-
tine MUST, eventually, become a _center
where Jews will have absolute control
over immigration and land laws.
*
*
PROGRESSIVE ANGLES
A certain amount of progress has been
achieved in the last few days, indicating
the possibility that obstacles will be re-
moved from the path of the homeless who
MUST settle in Palestine or face untold
calamities. Arab opposition has shrunk;
King Farouk of Egypt now apparently
approves the - recommendation for the
settlement of 100,000, and the monthly
quota of visas issued by the British gov-
ernment has been increased from 1,500
to 3,000.
True, King Farouk would like to or-
ganize the Arab states in support of all of
the inquiry committee's recommendation
—a plan that can never receive Jewish
endorsement. The mere fact, however,.
that the Arabs are adopting a less threat-
ening - attitude is encouraging. Pos-siblk
the Arab masses • of Palestine, whose in
terests are being misrepresented and who
desire and need Jewish guidance and co-
operation in Palestine, will yet be the
winners against the dozen Arab effendi
_families who seek to stifle progress in the
Land of Israel.
*
*
*
THE DESTRUCTIVE COUNCIL
A word must be said about the latest
statement of the Council for Judaism. In
a letter to President Truman, its presi-
dent, Lessing Rosenwald, -has seen fit to
declare: "Fundamentally we urge the
complete acceptance" Of the recommenda,
tions of the report as a whole, and we
look forward to. its implementation at the
earliest possible moment."-
This council, the only group' in world
Jewry to endorse the report in its en-
tirety, apparently is unconcerned with the
status of more than a million surviving
Jews in Europe who have no other place'
to turn to but Palestine. This council
would lead the uninformed to believe
that the settlement of 100,000 Jews in
Palestine will solve the tragic Jewish
problem. It misinterprets the' position of
Zionists by continuing to inject doubt as
to the loyalty of those who seek a secure
status for the Palestinian Jewish settle-
ment. Its statement definitely is destruc-
tive, and the Council for Judaism remains
on the side of the effendis, rather than of
the dispossessed Jews.

*

*

*

PLANNED ARAB-JEWISH PARLEY

Among the rumors regarding the future
action by the British government is the
report of a proposed round table discus-
sion between Jews and Arabs. Naturally,
we begin to question again whether the
British authorities are advancing this
proposal with tongue in••cheek, or with
a prearranged plan further to disrupt
Arab-Jewish amity in Palestine.
In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of
the war, Jewish leaders consented to con-
fer . with Arabs and British authorities.
The Arabs then chose to present their
own case separately, refusing to sit down
to a frank discussion with Jewish leaders.
Since then the British have been known
to sponsor the Arab League and the ac-
tivities of Arabs outside of Palestine who
interfered with the progress of the Jewish

CD

—THE :JEWISH

NEWS

Friday, May 24, 1946

Between
For Those Who Died for Us You and Me

In Memoriam

By REV. WILLIAM C. KERNAN

By BORIS SMOLAR

Director, Institute for American Democracy

(Copyright, 1946, Jewish Telegraphic

An American cemetery somewhere in Europe—filled with Crosses and Stars
of David. In the foreground, the grave of an American soldier. What was his
name? Adams? Kelly? Cohen?•
Certainly his face didn't look like much when they found him. But his "dog
tag" told who he was.
He was not an Unknown Soldier. And does it matter whether he was Protes-
tant, Catholic, or Jewish?
He fought American.
He died American. He
was American.
He makes you prouder
that you are American.
But what of his broth-
ers—by the million—
here at home . of
every blood, of every
color, of every creed?
Are they different be-
cause they're alive?
Is the only true democ-
racy in uniformed death?
On this Memorial Day let us put a stop to the prejudice and hate-mongering
—the whispering and rumor-spreading which can only divide and weaken
America by setting race against race, religion against religion, class against class.
Let us unify America—make America strong—by respecting our neighbors, by
defending their rights, by obeying the Biblical law of love.
Let us honor our heroic dead by living for the principles for which they died.
When you find anyone—yourself included—thinking, speaking, acting, with
racial or religious prejudice—STOP IT!
If Adams, Kelly, or Cohen was good enough to die for us, he's good enough
to live with us .
As an equal.

A Friend in Need

Memories of a Town

By ELMA EHRLICH LEVINGER

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

Rashi was a great Jewish scholar who
lived long agc. His teachings and writings
were known not only to his fellow Jews
in France but to Jews all over the- world.
Even to this day his works on the Bible
are studied by . his people.
Many stories are told of this good and
wise man; but perhaps the best known is
the tale of ethe grateful priest.
Rashi went from place to place, teach-
ing the Jewish people. One night when
he was staying at an inn, he heard that -a
priest in the next room had fallen ill and
was near death. • Rashi, like many Jews
of that time, knew a great deal about
medicine. He gave the sick priest a drink
made of herbs, and he nursed him until
he was well again.
"I wish I could pay you for all your
kindness," said the priest, "but I am very
poor."
"I am repaid to see you well again," an-
swered the rabbi_
*
*
*
Many years passed. Rashi visited the
great Jewish community of Prague. Ev-
ery Jew in the old Bohemian city came to
the synagogue to do honor to him and
to listen to his wise words. Suddenly a
young Jew rushed into the synagogue;
his clothes were torn and his face bruised
and bleeding.
"They are planning to attack the Jews;
I have. barely escaped with my life!" he
panted.
Even as he spoke, the frightened Jews
heard the tread of marching feet. A band
of soldiers entered the synagogue. They
seized the elders of the congregation and
Rashi_ with them and dragged them off to
prison where they remained many days.
The Jews had been charged with plotting
against the 'government; 'they were sure
they faced a dishonorable death. They did
not dare even to think of what might
happen to their helpless families.
*
*
*
One day the Bishop of the diocese came
to visit Rashi in his dungeon cell. He was
a great scholar and although a Christian,
wished to talk with the famous Jewish
teacher of whom he had heard- so. much.
But when he entered the cell he em-
braced the surprised Rashi!
"Don't you remember me?" cried the
Bishop. "I was the poor young priest
whoin wou nursed back to health many
years ago. I could not reward you then,
but now I am able to help you as you
helped me in my need."
He listened to the charges against the
Jews of Prague, declared them false and
ordered that the prisoners should be re-
leased at once. Then he invited Rashi 'to
his palace and treated him as his honored
guest. The Bishop promised his old friend
that he would see that no harm came to
the Jews of Prague.
Before Rashi left the city, he again
spoke at the synagogue. Now his brethren
praised him not only for his wisdom, but
thanked him for bringing them a friend
to save them from destruction.

(Copyright, 1946, JTA, Inc.)

The news that Dr. Ernest Chain, a No-
bel prize winner for his work on penicil-
lin, has left for Palestine to attend a sci-
entific congress called at the Weizmann
Institute in Rehovoth stirred some very
pleasant memories in this writer.
Of the smaller towns of i'alestine, Re-
hovoth was decidedly my favorite. It is
a sort of cultural center. It is the seat of
the Jewish Agricultural Experiment sta-
tion in Palestine and of the Sieff Scien-
tific Institute where Dr. Weizmann labors
at his chemical research, and around
which the Weizmann Institute is to be
built.

It was the home, after the. Nazis came
into power in Germany, of Prof. Franz
Oppenhemer, who was a university in
himself. Oppenheimer had been a pro-
fessor of economics at the University of
Berlin. His work, "The State" has become
a classic. His writings on economics have
been less known unfortunately, although
I regard them as more important than
"The State." When Oppenheimer later
came to America, I was very much
cheered to find that Prof. Einstein held
much the same view about Oppenhei-
mer's theories that I had.
*
*
*
I had become attached to Prof. Oppen-
heimer at Rehovoth. He was an old man
at the time, but there was a youthfulness
about him and the young liked' to gather
around. He bemoaned the fact that most
of his works had not been translated into
English. It was really something to won-
der at when we see how much fourth and
fifth rate stuff is turned out by publish-
ers, yet American publishers actually re-
fused to issue them, despite the 'fact that
even the enemies of Oppenheimer's theor-
ies conceded that he was one of the great
of the earth. "After my death, they will
read my books," Oppenheimer once said.
I held and still hold that view myself.
Some day I believe, Oppenheimer will be
rediscovered. Today, we know that Leon-
ardo da Vinci knew the secret of airplane
construction. Perhaps, some day we shall
learn that Franz Oppenheimer knew the
answer to the economic enigma of today.
Weizmann, of course, also lives in Re-
hovoth. I saw him only once at the Sieff
Scientific Institute. The tragedy of World
War II was still ahead and it was a much
happier Weizmann than today. I was told
at the scientific institute by a research
worker that his very presence seemed to
do something, seemed to contribute to the
solution of problems by the other workers.

*

*

*

I spent considerable time at the nearby
Jewish Agricultural Experiment station.
It is something to make a Jew proud. It
is only such station in the Near East
and directs itself, of course, primarily to
and
the problems of agriculture peculiar to
that part of the world, yet in a sense
Palestine is the whole world.
I recall one of the workers at the station
explaining to me how many different
kinds of soil were to be found in Pales-
tine. It is a kind of international soil as I
gathered. You can find samples of almost
every kind of soil on earth. I was told that
Homeland and the position of the Pales- this was one of the reasons why Palestine
tinian Arabs.
was a good wine country. The wine de-
No wonder Jewish leaders look with pends on the grapes and the grapes on the
suspicion upon the latest British plans. soil. Every different kind of soil produ-
Thers is always something delivish about ces a different flavored grape, and hence
Colonial Office politics.
different wine. That was. why, it was ex-

Agency, Inc.)

CONGRESS NOTES

The controversy over whether the World
Zionist Congress should be postponed took
a new turn following David Ben Gurion's
arrival in the United States. Ben Gurion
told the leaders of all Zionist grOups
here that it is imperative that the con-
gress take place under all circumstances,
and no place but Palestine . . . He advised
them not to harbor any illusions that the
congress will not open on Aug. 7, as
scheduled. Leaders of the U. S. Zionist
movement will, therefore, meet within
the next 10 days to decide on transporta-
tion facilities for the American delegates.
.. . About 300 delegates will have to be
elected . . . It is assumed that more than
100 of them will be Palestinians, a sim-
ilar number of delegates will come from
the United States, and the remainder
will come from European, Latin-Amer-
ican and African countries. . . . The
American delegates will, of course, in-
clude the Hadassah representatives . . .
Transportation of the American delegates
presents difficulties since Egypt does not
want to issue transit visas to American
Jews proceeding to Palestine on business,
or on political missions. . This is in
line with the decision of the Arab League
to boycott Jewish efforts in Palestine .. .
At present there are no ships travelling
between America and Palestine . . . Only
last month the Egyptian Government re-
fused to issue transit visas to 15 Amer-
ican Jewish industrialists and business
men who wanted to fly to Palestine to
study possibilities for investments there.
• • They had to change planes at Cairo,
and were, therefore, in need of Egyptian
visas. . . . Strong intervention by the
State Department, which invoked com-
mercial treaties, finally forced Egypt to
issue the visas.

* * *
WASHINGTON NOTES

Ben Gurion's visit to the U. S. is to im-
press upon Washington the possibility of

civil war in Palestine, if no immediate
action is taken to admit 100,000 Jews
from Europe. Ben Gurion and other mem-
bers of the Jewish Agency have a hard
job on their hands keeping the Yishuv's
temper under control. Any sabotage by
Britain of the recommendation of Anglo-
American inquiry committee for the ad-
mission of the 100,000 Jews, will leave the
Jewish Agency powerless. Action by the
Jewish resistance movement against the
British will then flare up to unpreced-
ented heights, Ben Gurion fears . . . The
State Department is reported to feel that
Jews and Arabs can still get together
on the recommendations of the inquiry .
committee . . . For this reason the De-
partment is supporting the British atti-
tude that no action on the recommenda-
tions be taken before Jews and Arabs
'are consulted . .. What many American
friends of the Jewish cause cannot under-
stand is why the State Department is
willing to go out of its way to consult
not only the Arabs of Palestine who are
directly involved, but all the Arab States.
Would the State Department agree that
all countries of the American continent
be consulted on a matter which concerns
the United States only? they ask . . . A
Zionist delegation will definitely be re-
ceived by_ President Truman and will hear
his views on this subject.

plained, almost any kind of wine pro-
duced anywhere on earth can be pro-
duced in. Palestine.
We remember that the first Jewish
settlers in Palestine busied themselves
with grape growing, but later they found
orange growing more lucrative. However,
there is still a good deal of grapes in the
country and every tourist samples 'some
of the wine in the famous Rothschild .
cellars.
Rehovoth has many other claims to at-
tention. Near it is one of the best known
of Jewish agricultural collectives. It was
there that the beautiful American soul,
Jessie Sampter lived. Badly crippled by
infantile paralysis, she made one forget
her disfigurement in the radiance of her
spirit.
She had gone through many a meta-
morphosis before going to Palestine. Her
parents had been Ethical Culturists. La-
ter, Jessie Sampter for a time took to
the Unitarian Church, but finally she
came of her own to the Jewish fold and
went to Palestine. Unmarried, she had
adopted a little dark Yemenite child. He
too was maimed.
When she decided to adopt a child, she
was urged to take a completely healthy
child, but she insisted on picking the
most unfortunate.
There was something to me about the
whole Zionist idea in Jessie Sampter,
proud citizen of Rehovoth.

