Page Four

THE JEWISH NEWS

As the Editor
Views the News...

Which Way Will the Dreidel Fall?

Tongue-in-Cheek Politics

I. F. Stone, Washington correspondent for

PM, insists that the order issued by the De-

partment of Justice for the deportation of
1,800 refugees stands, that it was postponed
only until Feb. 15 and that Attorney General
Tom Clark is privately opposed to President
Truman's desire to see the enactment of legis-
lation to provide for the admission of Euro-
pean survivors from Nazism to this country.
If these allegations are proven to be true,
we shall have additional evidence that vari-
ous departments in Washington are working
against each other and that important officials
are responsible for delays in providing for
the admission of DPs to the U. S.
It is an unfortunate situation that will call
for a speedy showdown, unless some govern-
ment leaders desire it to be recorded that
there is a hypocritical tongue-in-cheek atti-
tude whenever there is talk of efforts to fa-
cilitate immigration to this country, or to fight
for the admission of 100,000 Jews to Palestine.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
Press Seivice, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate. Religious
News Service, PaIcor Agency. World News Services.
Member American Association of English-Jewish Neon-
papers and Michigan Press Association.
Publisned every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co.. 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., RA. 7956.
Subscription. S:1 a year: foreign, ;4. Club subscription.
every fourth Friday of the month. to all subscribers to
Allied Jewish Campaign of Jewish Welfare Federation of
Detroit. 40 cents pe,
Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6, 1942. at Post Of-
fice. Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maurice Aronsson
Philip Slomovits
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sebeloff
Judge Theodore Levin Abraham Srere
Maurice H. Schwartz
Henry Wineman

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor

VOL. 10—NO. 13

DECEMBER 13, 1946

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the twenty-first day of Kislev,
5707 the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Gen. 37:1-40:23.
Prophetical portion—Amos 2:6-3:8.
The following Scriptural selections will be read
during the week of Hanukah: Wednesday, Num.
7:1-17: Thursday, Num. 7.18-29; Friday, Num.
7:24-35.

The Light That Shalt Never Fail

to kindle the lights of Hanukah"
by DR. NOAH F. ARONSTAM

. .

Mr. Meader and the DPs

George Meader, counsel for the U. S. Senate
War Investigating Committee, is reported to
have ambitions to gain a seat in Congress, on
the Republican ticket, in Michigan, and his
AMG probe, branded as anti-Semitic and
anti-Negro, is being condemned as having
been compiled on the strength of unsuported
hearsay evidence.
Mr. Meader's scandalous charges that or-
ganizations like the Joint Distribution Com-
mittee are deliberately sponsoring immigra-
tion of Jews from Poland into the American
zone of occupation; that "pressure groups" in
the U. S. blocked army plans to treat occu-
pants of DP camps merely as Germans and
that ther,g_ is doubt that Jews are persecuted
in Poland or elsewhere, apparently stem from
prejudices which make him unqualified to
deal with the problem at hand.
The problem is not, as the Detroit News
put it, merely one of sorting dirty linen on
the front porch, in probing the status of
AMG. The issue goes much deeper. There is
the serious humanitarian responsibility of
caring for the survivors from Nazism, as jus-
tification for the battle won over Nazism; else,
the victorious democracies will be accused, in
the judgment of history, of hypocrisy.
Maj. George F. Eliot, writing in the New
York Herald Tribune, charged that the posi-
tion of the displaced Jews, as presented by
Mr. Meader, is "distorted into an ugly pic-
ture," and every informed person and com-
mentator has joined in condemning the ir-
responsible "investigator's" attitude of heart-
lessness.
It is useless, of course, to argue with a man,
who denies the existence of anti-Semitism in
Poland, about the motivating forces which
compel persecuted Jews to leave their birth-
places which prove to be not homelands but
centers of torture. JDC or the Jewish Agency
does not have to encourage such emigration.
It gathers momentum as a matter of course—
as human reaction on the part of people who
are anxious to save their lives and to find
havens of rescue. The U. S. zones of occu-
pation have been and must remain the
most blessed territories for the oppressed in
Europe, leading eventually to their settlement
in permanent, free homes. The sooner men
like Mr. Meader learn this, the better for the
reputation and the glory of America and
.Americans.

Friday, December 13, 1946

The light shall never fail!
The light that was a torch
Upon the pilgrim's pathless course
Shall neither dim nor wane!

Throughout our hoary past
It came to us and shone,
A beam to light the way
To our goal—our home.

In memory we kindle thus
The lights, and dedicate once more
Our fealty and our trust
In this beacon light of yore.

Shine on, bright lights, shine on—
Eight candles as ONE flame;
And though our task be arduous,
We'll reach our journey's aim!
Shine on!

Shine on!

FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE I

How to be at Peace With Ourselves

Staggered by the immense goal of $170,000,000 set by the
United Jewish Appeal conference in Atlantic City, Jewish
leaders from hundreds of American communities were, for a

time, in a daze. Adopted by an overwhelming vote of the
delegates, a minority was inclined to question the wisdom of
seeking so large a sum in a year which is marked by some
doubts as to our ability to raise it.
Even the doubtful ones, however, now are compelled to
admit that as long as the -need exists—and the estimated
requirements for the coming year for the Joint Distribution
Committee, the United Palestine Appeal and the United
Service for New Americans total $215,000,000—American Jews
must exert themselves to strive to secure the maximum for
relief and reconstruction of the 1,500,000 survivors in Europe.
The most convincing arguments in support of the largest
possible goal were advanced at the conference by Dr. Joseph
J. Schwartz, chairman of the European JDC Council. Dr.
Schwartz related the following interesting story in his great
address:

One of -the workers of the JDC went to a DP camp in Ger-
many, and on his uniform, which all workers in an occupied zone
must wear, he had the flash: "AJDC." A recently arrived DP from
Poland, with a long white beard. said to him: "Young man, come
here. Do you know what these initials mean?"
He said, "Yes; I do."
The old man said, "What do they mean?"
The young worker said, "American Joint Distribution Com-
mittee."
The old man said, "You are wrong. What it means is `Alle
Juden Darfen Certilikaten.' "—"All Jews Need Certificates."

Dr. Schwartz did not limit himself to a description of the
work of JDC. He told of the need to place emphasis on resettle-
ment and of .the importance of opening Palestine's doors to
the survivors. He declared that—

You and I—we cannot rest, we cannot be at peace with our-
selves, we cannot sit back and enjoy the good things of life as
long as we know that there are these people who are wandering
across the face of Europe, homeless, without permanent roots
anywhere in the world.

The challenge is clear: either we remain at peace with
ourselves and we do our utmost for the survivors, or we will
have failed in the major responsibility toward our fellow men
that has ever faced the Jews of America. Thus, even the
record total of $105,000,000, which will be raised by the end
of 1946, must be surpassed in 1947. If we recognize these facts.
as we should, we will stop debating as to the wisdom of
accepting a national UJA $170,000,000 goal and will proceed
to organize to raise it in our respective communities.

The Maccabaean Spirit in 5707

This year's observance of Hanukah, commencing with
next Tuesday evening, will provide opportunity for compari-
son of events in the crucial year 5707 with that of the Macca-
baean victory 2111 years ago.
The Maccabaean revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes

was marked by glory on the battlefields and by a struggle for
existence in which Jewish heroes emerged victorious against
a much stronger adversary. Defilement of the Sanctuary was
not to be condoned by those who, concerned over the religious-
political threats to the Jews of that time, were determined
that our ancestors remain free on their own soil and that the
faith of Israel should survive Hellenistic idol-worship.
Today, the fighters for justice are pointing to the Has-
monean Minute Men as symbolic of a modern struggle for
existence. The Jews of Palestine, supported by Jewish com-
munities throughout the world, are fighting for the right to
provide settlement opportunities for hundreds of thousands
of our kinsmen who must look to Eretz Israel as their final
place of refuge.
There are some unfortunate elements in the present
struggle. Terrorism is decried everywhere, and especially by
the vast majority of the Jews of Palestine who, unanimously
backlit-1g the Haganah, oppose the Irgunists' activities.
The lighting of the Hanukah candles this year not only
will remind Jews of the victories of the Maccabees. They also
will be the symbols that will summon all Jews to encourage
those who are leading in the great effort to assure the opening
of Palestine's doors to the large numbers of homeless Jews
for whom Eretz Israel means life while the DP camps repre-,
sent the perpetuation of misery. Only by winning this struggle
will the Maccabaean spirit be vindicated.

Dear Boys and Girls:
The joyous manner in which Hanukah is cele-
brated by Jews throughout the world has its
thrills for young And old. House parties, the light-
iiig of the candles and other customs make the
Feast of Dedication, or the Feast
of Lights, as it is also known,
stand out among the most inspir-
ing periods in the Jewish year.
Hanukah, observance of which
will begin next Tuesday night, is
the one period in the year on
which Jews make an exception
of card playing and other games
involving something of the gam-
bling spirit. Games have been in-
vented to beautify the Hanukah The Trendel
observance, and in playing this game the Hanukah
Trendel is used.
This spinning top is made in square fashion,
bearing the four Hebrew letters, Nun, Gimmel,
Heh and Shin, which stand for the sentence; "Nes
Godol Hoyo Shorn" ("A great miracle was per-
formed"). Whichever letter the top falls on after
spinning indi-
cates the amount
won or lost. In
most insances
the Nun meaning
"nichts," nothing,
winning none of
the pot: the Gim-
mel "ganz." all,
winning the en-
tire pot; Heh,
"halb," half, win-
ning
half the
pot: and Shin,
calling for a loss
of the amount of
the pot.
The Menorah
• — Hanukah we
use the eight-
branched candle-
stock — is the
important sym-
bol for this great
festival.
One of the
most interesting
artistic Menorahs
is an 18th
tury Russian cre-
ation which can
be seen at the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, in New York.
This Menorah, a photograph of which I am re-
producing here. is five feet high. If you should
be in New York, I advise you to visit the great
Theological Seminary Museum and ask to be
shown this Menorah.
I wish you all a very pleasant Hanukah.

•

•

•

UNCLE DANIEL.

THE STORY OF-THE MACCABEES

By MORRIS JOSEPH

It is good for Jewish lads to include warriors of
their own race in their gallery of heroes, to be

able to say "My people has produced its brave

men equally with the Greeks and the 'Romans."
But still better it is for them to feel that these
brave men drew their courage from the purest of
all sources, from a passionate love for their re-
ligion, from a veneration for the good land, the

true and the morally beautiful. The Maccabees
boldly faced overwhelming odds, not for their
own selfish ends, but in a spirit of self-sacrificing
fidelity to the holiest of all causes. They threw
themselves upon the enemy in the temper that
takes the martyr to the stake; they did it not for
gam or glory, but solely for conscience' sake. They
felt that God was calling them, and they could
not hold back. Theirs was a unique effort. Others
had, it is true,. displayed an equally noble courage
on the battlefield. But what they had fought for
was their fatherland and their mother tongue,
their hearths and homes. To fight for religion was
a new thing.
The little Maccabean band was like a rock in
the midst of:a-surging sea. Standing almost alone
in their day, the heroes beat back the forces that
threatened to involve all mankind in a common
demoralization. They kept a corner of the world
sweet in an impure age. They held aloft the torch
of true religion at a time when thick darkness
was covering the nations.

