As. the Editor
Views the News
FEP Before Voters
Michigan voters will decide on April 7
whether or not this state is -to emulate the
examples set in New York, Massachusetts
and New Jersey in adopting Fair Employ-
ment Practice laws.
The Michigan FEP propOsal,. which goes to
the voters as a result of appeals submitted to
the State Legislature by 200,000 citizens of
all creeds and races, would make it illegal
for employers to discriminate against appli-
cants for jobs on the grOvids of race or re-
ligion. The Michigan bill would impose a
fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment
for not more than six months upon violators
of the proposed principle if it is adopted at
the April election.
All wl-ro are interested in fair play and in
the perpetuation of the highest principles of
Americanisw should make it a point not only
to support the proposal but to work during
the coming five weeks for its adoption.
The Gladness of Purim
Next Thursday, world Jewry will inter-
rupt its anxieties to celebrate the joyous day
of Purim. In our homes and synagogues, in
Palestine and in the Diaspora, in the free
environments of democratic countries as well
as in the displaced persons camps in Europe,
our people will feast on this traditional day
of gladness in celebration of the defeat of
Hamanism of old.
Nevertheless, Jews will not forget the les-
_ son of the festival. The famous warning of
Mordecai to his niece, Queen Esther—"Think
not that thou shalt escape more than all the
Jews; for if thou holdest thy peace at this
time. then will relief and deliverance arise
to the Jews from another place, but thou and
thy father's house will perish."—holds true
today as it did in the days of Ahasuerus,
Haman, Mordecai and Esther. It is a warning
to Jews not to relent in the battle for justice,
to refuse to be silent in an hour of need and
to be united in the struggle against anti-
Semitism.
In his "Book of Jewish Thoughts," the late
Chief Rabbi of England, Dr. Joseph Hertz,
quoted Dean Stanley's opinion of the Book of
Esther: "Within it burn a lofty independence
and a genuine patriotism. When Esther
nerved_herself to enter, at the risk of her
life, the presence of Ahasuerus (I will go in
unto the King, and if I perish I perish), when
her patriotic feeling vented itself in that
noble cry, 'How can I endure to see the evil
that shall come unto my people? or how can
I endure to see the destruction of my kin-
dred?' she expressed, although she never
named the name of God, a religious devo-
tion as acceptable to him as that of Moses
and David."
This tribute to Esther is applicable to all
who are keenly concerned that tyranny and
injustice shall be uprooted and that justice
shall rule on earth. This is the lesson of
Purim. Many will pause during the festivities
on this joyous holiday to re-dedicate them-
selves anew that the Nazism of our time,
which is an inheritance of Hamanism of old,
shall not go on unchallenged, and that no one
with a sense of dignity and self-respect
should sit idly by when bigotry raises its
ugly head.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
Pre,., Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate. Religious
News Service, Palcor Agency, World News Services.
Member American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers and Michigan Press Association.
Publisned every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26. Mich., RA. 7956.
Subscription, $3 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 pen year.
Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6, 1942. at Post Of-
fice. Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 18'79.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Philip Slomovitz
Maurice Aronson
Isidore Sobeloff
Fred M. Butzel
Judge Theodore Levin Abraham Srere
Henry Wineman
Maurice H. Schwartz
Friday, February 28, 1947
THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Four
Little Jack Horner's Purim
Facts You Should Know
Answers to Readers'_
Questions .About Jews .
What is the earliest recorded song?
The Song of Moses and the Children of Israel '
after the passage of the Red Sea. This was
answered by Miriam and her maidens with song
s ;
and dance. (Exodus .15, 1-23)
•
What is the Heaapla?
The Hexapla, or "six-fold Bible," is an edition. of
LrrnE lAtIC 44010M.
CORNER -
EA'riM A . tiotbsewrAgti
SAT 41 VSE
1
.
fie
STUCK 114 HIS 1140M1111,
#4 11) PULLED
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the Holy Scriptures containing six 'versions in
parallel columns; especially, a eollectiqn of- go--
-
brew and Greek versions of the Old Testam.ent
thus arranged, compiled by Origen in the third
century.
• •
What is an "Ayen Hors?" Is the holding of
fingers crossed a Jewish concept?
•
"Literally translated the expression means an
"evil eye." This expression has grown colloquially
in the circles of many religions. However, its part
in Jewish religion is not to be overlooked. One
who looked upon his neighbor's possessions or
good fortunes with jealousy •was considered as
displaying an "evil eye." even the Bible forbids
the individual to entertain malicious envy over
one's neighbor's good fortune. It is not surprising
to hear the common Jewish expression "Kein
AND SAID
Ayen Hors" used when describing a friend's good
T4soo4t1T
fortune, as assurance that the praise is not meant
6tt 400
;4A‘ 'MON' INSIbE re
in envy.-
Wfteld Wes Servica
It was not uncommon to find that many circles
..molx1)5 4.- PicruiteS BY a...ft"...
attached certain visible symbols to ward off jeal-
•
ousies and hates. Crossing the fingers is just one
of many manifestations of this, as is "knocking
on wood," etc. The crossing of the fingers is men-
tioned both in Jewish as well as in Christian, and
Ernest
Bevin,
having
pro-
Britain's Foreign Secretary
Hachasidim,"
sources. ("Sefer
even pagan.
of
European
sur-
"Dante's Inferno," etc.)
nounced sentence upo'n tens of thousands
Bevin's 'Protraction and Delay'
vivors by announcing that entrance of Jews in Palestine will
be limited to 1,500 a month—no more arid no less—was
annoyed when Winston Churchill accused him of "protraction
and delay" in the Palestine issue.
Mr. Bevin will have a great deal of explaining to do for
dragging out the problem. Having admitted, in the course of
his announcement in the House of Commons that the issue is
being referred to the United Nations, that a solution will be
delayed another year, Mr. Bevin must assume guilt for pro-
longing the suffering and despairof the 1,500,000 Jewish
survivors in Europe, especially the 250,000 who must be taken
out of displaced persons camps if they are to be restored to
dignity and to self-supporting status as human beings.
The attack upon President Truman in Mr. Bevin's latest
report is another indication that the British leader has spoken
out` of anger rather than mature deliberation, and his sensa-
tional outburst is certain to prove a boomerang.
•
Apparently the "careful hearing" Mr. Bevin is reported
have given Rabbi Philip M. Bernstein, adviser on Jewish
a rairs to the U. S. army in Germany, "in the plea for the
immediate admission of DPs to Palestine, was just another
"courtesy" act. Rabbi Bernstein 'acted • with the approval of
Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, American commander in GermanY,
who two weeks earlier told former President Herbert Hoover,
in Frankfort, that only the speedy admission of 150,000 to 200,-
000 Jews into Palestine can possibly' solve the DP problem.
But the Bevin policies apparently do not run in the direction
of humanitarian action, if we are to judge by his blunt state-
ment that "I do not think this government have done so badly
since the end of the war, with 29,000 Jews transported." Not
'a word about the difficulties that were encountered in getting
Jews to Palestine! Not a word about s crifices made by Jews
throughout the world to carry on the work for Palestine's
reconstruction!
But the British Foreign Secretary suddenly assumes the
role of prophet and seer with his statement, in defense of his
"protraction," that "after 2,000 years of conflict, another 12
months will not be considered a long delay." What a pity that
one must be out of office—as in the instance of . Winston
Churchill—to challenge the inhumanity of protraction and
delay! How greater the pity when men in office assume the
right to delay action in rescuing the survivors from Nazism!
a
The charges now leveled by Mr. Bevin at American
Zionists whom he accuses of having interfered with the
progress of proposals which, he maintains, would have guar-
anteed peace in Zion for 20 years, is another indication of an
•effort to smear those who seek solution of the Jewish problem
not for five or for 20 years, but for all time. Similarly, the
recurring threaks of martial law in Palestine are grossly
unfair to the entire Palestinian population, Jews and Arabs
alike. The manner in which Jews and Arabs have banded
together to repudiate British policies are indications of the
true reactions of the people of Palestine.
The facts there were three Jewish proposals for a
solution to the Palestine problem, that all were rejected and
that none was mentioned in Mr. Bevin's latest "White Paper,"
indicate a prejudical attitude which colored the present Brit-
ish government's view in advance.
FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE
Dear Boys and Girls:
Next Thursday will be Purism
The story of Purim is as important today as
it ever was. Although Haman was defeated nearly
2,400 years ago, new enemies of our people have
arisen time and time again.
While the latest Haman—the Nazi Hitler—also
has been defeated, other anti-Semites appear to
plague us.
Therefore we should study the story anew to
learn its lesson, and I am pleased to publish it in
this column.
I am glad also to publish an interesting poem
that was written by a very young boy of 11.
I wish all of you a very pleasant Sabbath and a
happy Purim.
UNCLE DANIEL.
The Story of Purim
The story recounted in Megillat Esther (Scroll
of Esther) took place during the reign of King
Ahasuerus of Persia (485-464 B.C.E.). When Queen
Vashti refused to obey the order of the king to
display her beauty before his noblemen gathered
at an elaborate banquet, he deposed her. After a
long search for a queen, the king chose Esther,
the beautiful cousin of Mordecai, a Jew, to replace
Vashti. It happened that Mordecai, who sat in the
king's courtyard to learn of the well-being of
Esther, heard of a plot to kill Ahasuerus. He re-
vealed this to Esther, who informed the king. This
event was recorded in the royal book of chronicles.
Shortly thereafter, Haman, the favorite minister
of Ahasuerus, sought to annihilate the Jews in
the kingdom in revenge against Mordedai, who
because of religious scruples refused to bow down
before him. To select the day for destroying the
Jews, Haman cast lots (purim) which _fell on the
thirteenth day of Adar. Hence the name of the
festival is Purim.
Haman approached Ahasuerus with the plea:
"There is a certain people scattered abroad and
dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces
of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from
those of every people; neither keep they the king's
laws; therefore it profiteth not the king to suffer
them. If it please the king, let it be written that
they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand
talents of silver into the hands of those that havet
charge of the king's business, to bring it into the
king's treasuries." (Esther 3:8-9)
Neither Haman nor Ahasuerus knew of the rela-
tionship- of Esther and Mordecai, and so the king
readily granted the request for the extermination
of the Jews. Orders were published to execute
this sinister design on the thirteenth day of Adar.
Mordecai sent a message to Esther asking her
to implore Ahasuerus to spare her people. Al-
though it was forbidden for anyone, even the
queen, to appear before the king unless sum-
moned, Esther went to him. She implored him to
spare the Jewish population and pointed out that
she, too, must die if the edict were carried out.
Shocked by this revelation, Ahasuerus reversed
the decree and ordered Haman to be hung on the
very gallows which Haman had prepared for
Mordecai. The latter now became the Prime Min-
ister. The King caused letters to be sent through-
out the land that the Jews should prepare to
defend themselves on the appointed day. So ably
did the Jews protect themselves on the thirteenth
of Adar, that the following day was "a day of
feasting and gladness."
•
•
•
One thing is certain: the United States government has
a serious responsibility in the matter. Secretary of State
George C. Marshall already has indiqated that our govern-
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ. Editor
ment has asked Great Britain to clarift her intentions_regard-
FEBRUARY 28, 1947
VOL. 10—NO. 24
ing aspects of the plan on Palestine fo be submitted to the
Open the Doors to Palestine
United Nations. The American people and their official
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
By SYLVAN JOEL ZAFT
spokesmen,
therefore,
must
be
kept
fully
informed
on
the
This Sabbath, the ninth day of Adar, 5707, the
Eleven years old; son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Zaft,
situation
so
that
justice
should
be
assured
in
the
ultimate
following Scriptural selections will be read in
18623 Greenlawn
our synagogues:
results.
Open the doors to Palestine!
'The work of establishing strong Jewish centers in Pales-
Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 32:11-14-34:1-10.
And we will march in record time.
Prophetical portion—I Sam. 15:2-34.
tine will, of course, continue, and Jews will be settled there
The British oppressors we will defeat
Esther,
the
following
your will
On Wednesday, Fast of
uninterruptedly. In the long run, justice must triumph. - The oppressing Arabs will run as is every
hill.
Scriptural selections will be read during morning
.And
from the enemy we will take
Changes in administration will be marked by changes in the
No more shall we wait and wait .
services:
:34
:
-
-10.
fortunes
of
the
settlers,
and
we
must
retain
hope
that
the
right
32:11-14
To rescue Palestine from those who hate.
Pentateuchal portion—Ex..
Prophetical portion—Is. 55:6-56:8.
Oh, Lord, open the doors to Palestine!
view eventually will be arrived at by all elements concerned,
On Thursday, Purim, Ex. 17:8-16 will be the including the British.
And we will march in record time.
-
Scriptural selection.