•

Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

COMMUNITY PLANNING

Planning of community programs has
become an art and a science. Best.resulta
usually are achieved where Ur leaders
know the actual statistical backgrounds
and the economic and cultural set-ups.
Canadian communities recently have
achieved 'marvelous results in surveys
aimed at arriving at all occupational. in-
dustrial and family facts and figures in
a miniber of communities.
One of the most impressive surveys
concluded by an American community was
conducted by a former Detroiter, William
I. Boxerman, who now is the director of
th JeWIS 11 Community Council of Jack-
son. ilk• Fla. His pamphlet, "Statistically
Speaking.'• is a _graphic study of the 3,095
J,•vv,; of Jacksonville. His statistics show
that there are, in his community, 106.6
ni.iles tor every 100 females; that there
• e 1:47 households and 946 family units;
that 7:i per cent of Jacksonville Jews were
born in the U. S.; that of the foreign-born
• pe: cent are naturalized citizens; that
6!) pc : cent are married, 26 per cent sin-
gle an.1 7 per cent widowed or divorced;
tii.it in one out of every 10 families there
is an intermarriage, and that in eight out
of every 10 intermarriages the wife is

1

Friday, March 28, 1947

THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Two

non-Jewish: that every other person is
gainfully employed; that in three out of

every - five families some member of each
f drtlily belongs to a synagogue: that

three out of every four children between
the ages of 6 and 16 do not attend Hebrew
School; and numerous other facts.

Boxerman's splendid study was possi-
bl• in a community like Jacksonville,
with a population of 3,095. In Detroit,
such an undertaking would have been
most difficult if not altogether impossible.
Here. the studies that were conducted
during the educational surveys were the
closest to accuracy that could possibly
have been attained in a city of nearly
100.000 Jews. These studies are most val-
uable assets in community planning pro-
grams.

•

•

•

Till ANTI-ZIONIST PATTERN

A chap. named Moses Miller came here
this week to speak on the "Crisis in Pal-

e,tine " It was not until we had perused
hi, pamphlet published under the same
name that we learned that he represents
th , • Morning Freiheit Association (Corn-
that his approach is anti-Zionist,
th at he follows a line which is antagon-
i,ti, to Jewi-ATI- Mpirations.
His pattern is typical of that group of
strange bed-fellows who have Vibbilized
to iinciermine Jewish hopes under the
guise of liberalism and of helping the

Arabs Capitalizing on a theme which has

captured the imagination of Jews every-
where. and of sympathetic Christians,
this group distorts the issues and seeks
a platform for a plan which can help

neither Jews nor Arabs.
It is 'unfortunate that the issue thus
is being muddled by men who, making
claims that they are concerned with
the plight of the Yishuv, instead make
capital for Communism.
In a sense. we should feel grateful
to Miller and his associates in the Frei-
heit who frankly assert that they are an-
ti-Zionist. They place themselves in the
same category with the Council for Ju-
daism. They certainly do not speak for

the Yishuv where only a handful has
at any time aligned itself with Com-
munists. Their new appearance on a
"Palestine platform" serves to recall the

sad experiences of 1929 and 1936 when
only the small group of Jewish Corn-

monists gave encouragement to the Arabs
who started riots against Jewigh col-
onists. For a short while, during World
War II, it appeared as if these Commun-
ists were atoning for past sins. Now they I

again appear in public in their true colors. 1
•
•
•
1
RUSSIA'S ANTI-ZIONISM
Fur those who have been entertaining
the false hope that salvation for Zionism
may come out of a word or two of en-
couragement from the USSR, the state-

ment made in Jerusalem last week by

two of the three members of the secre-
tariat of the Palestine Jewish Commun-
ist party finallly should put an end to such
wisht ul thinking.
Russia, the Jewish 'Communists assert-
ed. is opposed to Zionism which the Sov-
iet brands as "racial chauvinism." The
Communists. in their anxiety to get the
British out of Palestine, favor "an inde-
pendent state" even if it is to be domin-
ated by Arabs.
It is important, for the sake of avoiding
entertainment of false hopes (in which
we never joined), to know that Russia
is not a friend of Zionism. Russian perse-
cution• of ; Zionists and of the Hebrew
language is a matter of record. Let us.
therefore, stop thinking of Russia in

..•

The Niew Colossus

An Editorial in the New York Post

Our country in 1883, had a feeling of boldneas and strength and generosity.
Back in that year, France gave a statue, which w'e' set up at the entrance to New
York Harbor and proudly called "The Statue of Liberty."
_ People called it "The New Colossus,"- for it was the largest 'statue facing from
ed one of the seven wonders
a port since the Colossus of Rhodes, in its time count
of the world. A New Yorker born, Emma Lazartis; the. daughter of immigrants, saw
in it a symbol of generosity. She wrote -a poerri now on a tablet on- the second

Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

(Copyright. 1947,

Seven.

Arts)

-
EXODUS BY AIR
landing:
Recently
the
newspapers
have
been
del-
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
uged with full-page advertisements call-
With conquering limbs astride from land - to land,
ing the attention of subscribers to the
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shalt staid
plight of Jewish DPs, and offering to
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame- '
solve their problems if the reader will •
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
send his or her contribution 'to the or-
Mother of Exiles, from her beacon-hand
ganization in question . . . Among , the
more novel of such solutions is that pro- •
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
1
posed by the Non-Sectarian Political Ac-'
The air-bridged harbour that twin cities frame.
tion Committee for Palestine . . At an
"Keep, Ancient Lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
initial cost of ten million dollars this
With silent lips. "Give me your tired,, your poor,
group will be able to place their plan,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
"Exodus by Air," in operation . . . Ac-
The wreithed .refuse of your teeming shore, .
cording to the ads, "The operation will be
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
divided into two categories: (A) Planes
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
carrying women and children will be
directed to secretly designated make-
That is a strring poem but its author made at least one big error. She mis-
shift landing fields in Palestine; (B)
judged the quality cif those "yearning to breathe free."
Planes carrying able-bodied men• will be
They were human beings of more than average determination, courage and
unloaded by parachute" . . . We are fur-
potential strength. They had whatever quality it is that makes a man or a woman
refuse to submit to fyranny. They made wealth and jobs and customers not only
ther informed that ;One DC 4; with
or themselves but for the other Americans who got here first.
seventy or more passengers, is capable of
Whenever there's a parade of good Americans whose parents or grandparents
making four round triftls a day from a
came here from somewhere else, the people 'in "the grandstand and the people
certain port in Europe to Palestine. One
Patrick's
Day)
are
proud
of
a
number
of
things.
marching (as, for instance on St.
way in less than two hours" . . . We don't
And one of the things warranting pride is what they've done for our country.
know
whether the PAC for Palestine is
We think that these are points that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
kidding itself or trying to kid the public,
must have missed last week when it acted favorably upon a bill approving our
country's taking part in the International Refugee Organization and appropriating
but one thing should be clear 'by now .. .
$75 million for the purpose. The committee took the good out of its action by
It is that the problems of the DPs will not
deliberately saying that the United States was not committing itself to accepting I be solved by hairbrained schemes to out-
even one additional immigrants
wit the British army, navy and airforce
Perhaps the committee didn't mean to put a "Keep Out" sign in the upraised
. . People who ask for your money to
hand of the-Statue of-Liberty and intends to draft a bill to allow refugees to enter
send Europe's Jews on the many roads to
our country. If the members haven't such a plan, they'd better get one.
*
•
•
,Cyprus should be cold-shouldered . . .
At best, they are fools.
We believe a majority of Americans who have thought about the facts want us
•
•
•
to get our share of the 850,000 potentially good citizens now being supported in
camps in Europe, because they_would face political and religious persecution if they
ORCHIDS
went back to their former homes. There, they are a costly burden. Here, they would
To Lee Sabinson, producer of the musi-
be a dividend-paying investment.
cal hit "Finian's Rainbow" . . . At a pre-
The war that Hitler made deprived us of no less than 914,762 new citizens who
were expected to enter the country under the plans that Congress made soon after
miere of "The Chocolate Soldier" the
the first World War. Those casualties number more than all the refugees remaining
other night he arsuaded a felhow about
in camps in Europe.
twice his size to apologize for an anti-
•
•
•
Semitic crack . . . Lee reports bruised
Congress should amend the IRO approval to provide definitely for admission
knuckles on his "persuader."
of at least 400,000 immigrants to make up for what we lost through Hitler's inter-
Toronto's Board of Police Commission-
ference with our plans.
er's also rates a bouquet . .. They have
The spirit of charity of 1883 is just as right today as it was then. Now, in 1947,
instituted an afnendment to the licensing
we have the clear proof that such charity more than pays for itself.
laws to forbid discrimination against
members of the public on account of race,
creed or color . . . Action follows the
united, protest of 20 religious and civic
groups in that city .
•
•
POT 1POURRI
Slip of the tongue dept.: . .. Heard one
By ARNOLD LEVIN
By BORIS SMOLAR
of the best commentaries yet from radio
(Copyright. 1947, Independent Jewish
(Copyright. 1947. Jewish Telegraphic
Press Service, Inc.)
commentator Henry Cassidy . . . Reading
Agency, Inc.)
the news of the day on the News of the
ZIONIST TRENDS
UGANDA IRONY
World show, Cassidy referred to "Foreign
A reorganization of the American Monster Bevin" ... Thomas J. Shanahan,
History has a gift for ironic footnotes.
Many decades ago, when political Zion: branch of the Jewish Agency will take Chick Meehan and George Sparo, two
place soon after Dr. Abba Hillel Silver
ism was in its infancy, a near schism was returns from Palestine .. . He advocated Irishmen and a Scot, are heading the fund
caused in Zionist ranks by Dr. Herzl's such a reorganization at the plenary drive for a new Jewish Community Cen-
ter and Synagogue for the Garment Cen-
proposal for. a supplementary Jewish meeting of the Jewish Agency executive ter Congregation in New York . . . Man-
homeland in Uganda in view of the dif- in Jerusalem.
del Kraicer of Toronto, who 'acted as
The session of the Zionist Actions Com- HIAS director in the British zone of Ger-
ficulties he had run into in his effort to
mittee,
orgiaally
scheduled
to
take
place
many before his return to Canada last
obtain permission for large scale Jewish
in Jerusaleni this month, has been post- fall, will soon return to Europe for HIAS
settlement in Palestine. Even had the poned indefinitely ... The internal strug-
. . . William S. Gailmor, popular WHN

-

Heard in
The Lobbies

Between
You and Me

Zionists followed Herzl's advice, they
would today be in the same difficulties
with the British over Uganda as over
Palestine, because Uganda has been
mapped out as a British supplementary
homeland. No, this is no joke. British
strategists are seriously discussing large
scale evacuation of the British Isles in
the event of a third world war, knowing
that all Britain Would be wiped out by

gle over Dr. Weizmann's return to leader-
ship of the Zionist movement has much
to do with this postponement . . . More
than $10,000 was spent to send some of
the American members of the Actions
Committee to Jerusalem in anticipation
of the scheduled session.
A new policy regarding the ultimate
solution of the Palestine problem has
been decided upon by the American Zion-
ist leadership . . . It provides that no ne-
gotiations be held with the British govern-
ment on the long-range Zionist program
. This actually means that the question
of the establishment of a Jewish state in
Palestine is to remain open for the time
being, and that immigration will be the
main issue. -
Zionist leaders in America have reason
to believe that the Palestine issue will be
raised in the House and Senate foreign
affairs committee when the question of
U. S. support to Greece and Turkey is
discussed.
Rumor has it that the ZOA may foster
the formation of a women's Zionist or-
ganization in competition to Hadassah if
the latter continues to maintain a politi-
cal policy- contradictory to that of the
ZOA.
•
is
•

an atomic blitz. East and South Africa
have been designated by these state-
gists as the heart of the new strategic
area where the fleeing British Islers

could set up a supplementary homeland.
Friends, conflict with Britannia seems to
have been in the stars, and would have
come in Uganda as sure as it has come in

Palestine.

•

•

•

BOOKS

We recommend Goodwin Watson's "Ac-
tion for Unity," (Harper and Bros.), a
scholarly review of "what America is do-
ing to push back racial and religiousb ar-
riers." The author, professor of education
at Teachers College, Columbia University.
prepared this report on assignment from
the Commission on Community Interre-
lations of the American Jewish Congress.
'Here you have a sober discussion of the
organizations active in the field of fight-
ing bias and bettering inter-communal
relations, and of their methods, as well
as some cautious recommendations. Con-
trary to the customary approach in this
field, Prof. Watson approached his task
and makes his report with real modesty.

terms of an ally. Sinee we must devote
our energies to securing justice in Pales-
tine. let it be done on the single front
of dealing with the British—and with se-
curing American aid—without compli-
cating the issue. withw the illusion named
Russia.

commentator, refers to ceritain of his
brother newscasters as phoodnicks . .
That's a noodnick with a Ph. D., says Bill.
Leonard Bernstein, brilliant young

composer-conductor, will set out on a
European concert tour on April 9.
Crown Prince Ibn Saud of Saudi Ara-
bia returns home with lots of cloth pur-
'chased on New York's lower east side
. . . When he, or rather his retinue, get
around to unpacking, they'll find the fab-
rics have been wrapped in old issues of
the four New York Yiddish dailies: The

Forward, The Morning Journal, The Day
and The Freiheit.

•

+11

SPORTS NOTES
The Yankee stadium will play host to
the Hapoel soccer team of Palestine on
May 4 . . . They will meet an all-star
team made up of the best booters that the
four professional soccer teams of New
York can put forward . . . Hopoel ath-
letes should be a real treat for American
fans . If they're as good as the old Mac-
cabbees, who took our hooters by storm
some years ago, they'll give the local all-
stars a rough afternoon.

pacity . . . This year's convention of the
conference will take place in Washington
The American Jewish Conference • will in September, shortly before the open-
be included in the United Jewish Appeal ing of the United Nations General Assem-
in 1948 together with a number of smaller bly . . . A good piece of work has* been
Jewish organizations . . . The conference accomplished by the conference in pub-
will become a permanent body . . . A lishing a 600 page volume entitled "Nazi
decision to this effect was adopted at a Germany's War Against the Jews" . . .
full-day session of the Interim Committee The publication date was timed for the
in New York ... Organizations not yet in conference of foreign ministers in Mos-
the ranks of the American Jewish Confer- cow . . . Its primary' aim is to bring to the
ence will be approached soon to join it on attention of the leaders of the democratic
the basis of its new program which will powers, as forcibly as possible, the need
_include activity on the so-called "domestic for frank and outspOken recognition of
scene" where the conference intends to the German people's guilt for Germany's
act in an advisory and coordinating' ca- crimes against the 'Jews - .

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

-

