Page Four
THE JEWISH NEWS
As the Editor -
Views the News
David and Goliath: 1946 Version
.
THE JEWISH NEWS
2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich.
Member of Jewish' Telegraphic Agency, Independent
Jewish Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate.
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tures Syndicate, Central Press Service, International
Sound photos.
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papers and Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich. Telephone
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published every fourth -Friday of the month, to all
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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
JUDGE THEO. LEVIN
ABRAHAM SRERE
MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ
HENRY WINEMAN
FHrLIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
VOL 9—NO. 20
AUGUST 2, 1946
This Week's Scriptural Selections
Sabbath, the sixth day of Ab, 5706, the
following Scriptural selections will be read in our
synagOgues:
Pentateuchal portion—Deut. 1:1-3:22.
Prophetical portion—Is. 1:1,-27.
Scriptural Portions for Tisha b'Ab, Tuesday
Pentateuchal portions—Morning, Deut. 4:25-40;
afternoon, Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1-10.
Prophetical portions—Morning, Jer. 8:30-9:23;
afternoon, Is. 55:6-56:0.
This
'Thou Shalt Be A People If Thou Wilt'
—Theodor Herzl
By DR. NOAH E. ARONSTAM
Thou shalt be free if thou only wilt!
Thy will to live transcends the ages;
Thy will to survive speaks with a thousand tongueS
Through the pages of ancient lore.
There may be obstacles in thy path,—
Surmount them! Overcome them!
Yield not a single pace to thy detractors;
Let them rage and rave and roar; •
Let them tear asunder and destroy:
-For out of every ruin there arises
Doubly strong thy desire to live.
Build on, my people, then the Ship of State
That will lead the craft out of the threatening
waves
Of despair to a land of sunshine and of peace.
A people thou shalt be
If thou only wilt!
Cruelest Outrage of All
Great Britain has proposed to shat-
ter the remaining hopes of the Jewish
people for the creation of a center to
end the homelessness of the masses of
our dispossessed kinsmen in Europe.
Having degraded Palestine into a
police state, robbed our people there
of their elementary rights as human be-
ings and invoked anti-Semitism in
Eretz Israel, British authorities now
propose to divide Palestine into three
territories.
Great. Britain thinks of Britain first,
and apportions to herself 40 per cent
of the territory now known as Pales-
tine. To the Arabs she offers 45 per
cent of the land and to homeless Israel
she proposes to give 15 per cent.
Viewed in the light of earlier experi-
ences—the first partitioning which
took from Eretz Israel a major portion
of its territory — Ever HaYarden
(Transjordania)—the latest land grab
is the cruelest outrage in all history.
And the tragedy will become all the
worse if the United States government
becomes a party to such a disgraceful
act which, in effect, will mean the tear-
ing up as scraps of paper the Balfour
Declaration, the Mandate over the
Jewish National Home, 'the British-
American agreement on Palestine of
1924 and the Congressional Resolutions
favoring the Jewish National Home.
Our protest at the moment goes first
to President Truman and to our Con-
gress. If there was an iota of sincerity
in the Congressional Resolutions, in
President Truman's statements on Pal-
estine, in the declarations of the Re-
publican and Democratic political par-
ties, then our government should fight
to a finish to force adherence to pledges
made to our people.
The entire civilized world is a party
to the agreements that Palestine be set
up as the Jewish Homeland. All the
democratic nations either will join in
defending Jewish rights, proving that
they were moved by humanitarian con-
cern when they pledged aid in creating
a center where Jews would be masters
of their own destiny; or will emerge as
having been concerned merely with po-
litical expediency and with fostering
"oil deals."
We challenge our President and our
government to reject the proposed out-
rageous partition scheme, to insist up-
on the immediate admission of 100,000
Jews to Palestine and to demand the
withdrawal of British troops from Pal-
estine. The time for a showdown is
NOW.
Friday, August 2, 1946
Facts You Should Know
Answers to Readers'
uestions
GOLIATH: ". . and all I want you to do is take just
one step backwards . • .1"
'Wreckage' vs. Honest Solution
Osgood Caruthers, Associated Press correspondent in
Jerusalem, reporting on the King David Hotel outrage,
quotes a British officer as saying to him, on July 23:
"You see that wreckage? That's the wreckage of the
Jewish State."
Already deeply shocked by what has happened, state-
ments such as this at first cause desperation; after examining
the facts and the entire history of Jewish efforts in Palestine,
they must arouse disgust and a deep sense of hurt.
Generally admitted as the crime of an irresponsible
group of bandits and condemned as an act of MURDER by
Haganah, the recognized Jewish self-defense and resistance
movement, the King David Hotel bombinp. must not be pin-
bombing stated it must
ned, as High Commissioner Cunningham
be, upon the entire Jewish community of Palestine.
It is unfortunate that it is necessary to remind British
authorities and the world at large that_Palestine Jewry tradi-.
tionally has practiced Havlagah—self-restraint: a term that
has become a mark of honor for our people. Acts of terrorism
and destruction are very recent experiences, the result of
conditions which have reduced many Jews to despair and
hopelessness.
If the situation is to be dealt with honestly, those who
are in position to effect an honorable and speedy solution to
the problem must consider both sides. They must recognize
that Palestine's position can not be divorced from the occur-
rences in Poland. They must recognize the fact that thous-
ands of Jews are fleeing from Poland into Germany and
Austria, desperately clinging to the hope that eventually
they will find refuge in Palestine.
*
What constitutes a "leap year" on the Jew-
ish calendar? What is the reason for Jewish
leap years? Why is only the month of Adar
duplicated on "leap years"?
Rabbi Samuel J. Fox, writing for the Jew-.
Agency, replies:
A leap year, as the cm-rent years happens to
be, is constituted by adding an extra month after
the month of Adar and is called "Adar Sheini,"
meaning "The Second Adar." Thus we have thir-
teen months in this year's Jewish calendar.
Originally there were no wall calendars at
which the people could look upon and note the
dates. It was up to the Tribunal of Rabbi to
ascertain whether the year should be a leap year
or not. The Talmud states that there were three
principal reasons for which the rabbis would
make a certain year to be a "leap year" (Talmud
Babli, Tractate Rosh Hashonoh, 21a) i.e. if it was
felt that the grain harvest would not be ready
in time to bring the "Omer" (grain offering)
to the temple on Passover; if it was felt that the
'fruit-harvest would not be ready in time to bring
the "Bikurim" (offering of the first-fruits) to
the Temple on Pentecost; if it was felt that the
spring season on the calendar would consider-
ably precede the actual climatic seasonal change.
The latter condition would occasionally present
itself due to the fact that the Jewish calendar
is based upon the lunar year which follows the
revolutions of the moon. This type of year is
shorter than the Solar year which follows accord-
ing to the revolutions of the sun. Every two or
three years it thus became necessary to equalize
the solar and lunar years. Later on when the
Jewish calendar became fixed by astronomical
calculations as we know it today, it was so ar-
ranged that there are seven leap years in every
19 year cycle.
Accordinc, to the count of the months in
Biblical literature, Nisa.n. (the month during
which Passover occurs) is considered the first
of the months. Adar is thus considered the last
and twelfth month, being explicitly named the
"twelfth month" in the book of Esther (Esther
3:7). If any other month would have been dup-
licated, Adar would not come out to be the
twelfth month, as explicitly stated in the Bible.
Duplicating Adar, which is the last month of the
Jewish year, (according to the Bible) does not
disturb the relative numerical position of any
of the months including the month of Adar. Still
another reason is advanced by some of the Tal-
mudic Commentaries. The month of Adar was
always classically. regarded - as a month of mer-
riment, especiallly because of the fact that the
joyous holiday of Purim occurs in Adar. The
Talmud classically states "Meeshenichnos Adar
marbim Besimchah" which means "When the
month of Adar is ushered in merry making is
increased." It was thus considered more fitting
to duplicate a month of happiness such as Adar,
rather than other months, some of which are
marked with sad anniversaries.
The disgraceful destruction of life and property in
Palestine must not be linked with the trek of hapless Jews
in search of havens of security.
An entire people must not be condemned for the acts of
a few irresponsibles.
FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE
A responsible government must not be permitted to
arrogantly announce that it will resort to "wreckage" in
retaliation for "wreckage."
Boys and Girls:
On the contrary, those in authority must find a solution Dear
Next Monday night and Tuesday, Jews through-
to the problem-----a problem created by the British govern- out the world will read "The Book of Lamenta-
ment's deliberate procrastination, appeasement and failure tions" and will weep over the exile of Israel.
Tuesday will be Tisha b'Ab. Literally it means
to live up to its pledges.
the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Ab. But
since it commemorates the destruction of the
There is only one solution: implementation of pledges First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, in 586
for the establishment of the Jewish National Home and for BCE and 70 CE, it is a tragic day on our calendar.
No so long ago, when the Balfour Declaration
grantina to Jews the right to regulate Jewish immigration was
issued, we were given new hopes that Israel
into such
b a home.
would be redeemed in Eretz Israel. But even
It is unjust to speak of a Jewish Homeland and at the though 600,000 Jews settled in Palestine, things
. same time prevent Jews from coming into such a homeland did not fare well with our people.
This Tisha b'Ab we shall have more to weep
—when all other doors are closed to the handful who have
over than in previous years. The events in Poland,
survived Nazism.
where Jews have been killed by the score; the
If the world at large had expressed even an iota of re- uncertainties of the Jewish position in Germany
sentment over the Nazi murders of Jews, as now is shouted and in Austria; the sad happenings in Palestine
a small group of Jews have added to our
in protest against the destruction in Jerusalem, hundreds of where
troubles by resorting to violence, are evidences of
thousants of the six million dead Nazi victims would be an unhappy state of affairs.
among the living today.
But Jews never have given up hope, and Jews
never should abandon the one element upon which
*
we thrive: HOPE.
The time is here for an honest deal and for fair play.
We have overcome obstacles in the past, and
Fair play calls for immediate carrying out of the pledge we shall overcome them in the future.
In spite of all that is happening, Jews are com-
in its entirety to the Jewish people, not the creating of an-
ing to Palestine and are building a Homeland.
other ghetto for Israel in Zion.
are buying land and are settling upon.
Israel's mission is peace, and the Jewish community of the Jews
land.
Palestine is determined to enforce peace!
Therefore, we must resolve not to permit any-
But, please do not add insults to injuries and arouse thing to discourage us.
We must say with the courageous, the faithful
further sentiments of despair and humiliation among our
and the optimistic: a better day is coming, and
already too-deeply-hurt people!
much good must emerge for our people out of
Don't attempt to create new ghettos and concentration the present miseries.
As we read Lamentations, let us be comforted
camps in a divided Palestine!
that . the millions who have given up their lives
If a fair chance is not given the Jews in Palestine the have
not died in vain.
civilized world will be completing Hitler's job of exterminat-
A pleasant Sabbath to all.
ing the Jews.
UNCLE DANIEL.