Nig• Two -

•

Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

IMPORTANT MEMORANDA
Reference already has been made to the
memorandum in support of a Jewish•
State in Palestine submitted to the United
Nations by Nathan Associates.
It is reasonable to believe that this
ably compiled and annotated analysis of
the Palestine problem went a long way
in influencing delegates to the UN.
A great deal of credit also is due Na-
tion Associates for the documentary rec-
ord it submitted to the UN on "The Arab
Higher Committee: Its Origins, Personnel
and Purposes."
The New York Post, in an editorial
"Justice for Palestine," made the inter-
esting comment:
"World opinion, obviously, has rejected
the theory that there can be no end to
Arab appeasement, or, more accurately,
appeasement of the Arab spokesmen who
take their orders from the Grand Mufti
of Jerusalem and who defended his activ-
ities as a Nazi during the war. The Arabs
must know it by now."
It is reasonable to believe that the mag-
nificently irrefutable documentation pre-
pared by Nation Associates was respon-
sible in the main for the removal of the
mask from the haughty Arab delegation
which had so arrogantly hailed the po-
grom-organizing Mufti as a martyr.
To Lillie Shultz, able secretary of Na-
tion Associates, goes much of the credit
for this important expose.
•
•
•
JEWISH AGENCY'S CASE
The memorandum and the documen-
tary evidence presented to the UN are
the most impressive compilation on the
Jewish Palestine ever gathered. Abraham
Tulin did a good job in the selection of
material, and we have no doubt that it
must have impressed the UN delegates.
But without the personal presentations
made by Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, Moshe
Shertok and David Ben-Gurion, the effect
of these memoranda would have been
reduced considerably. Mr. Shertok's fac-
tual presentation was especially good.
•
•
•
-
WRONG-TRACK `LIBERALS'
Commonweal, liberal Catholic weekly
magazine, usually is on the right track.
Lately, however, its editor, C. G. Pauld-
ing, has gone off on a tangent with his
articles on Zionism and Palestine.
No one has been as firm in his opposi-
tion to- extremism in the ranks of the
Palestine resistance movement. as this
Commentator. That does not mean, how-
ever, endorsement or rabid charges that
the "terrorists" are gangsters or crimin-
als. They are super-patriots who have
been deluded by visions which, in our
opinion, has led them to the wrong paths
in their actions which have harmed the
Jewish cause. There is not a single au-
thoritative report- to substantiate the
claims of Mr. Paulding that the Irgunists
"murdered women and children." When
British subjects were forced by their gov-
ernment to evacuate Palestine, they were
the first to' assert that women and chil-
dren never were molested, indicating
that only British officials who are directly
involved in interfering with Jewish as-
pirations were the sufferers.
Unfortunately, Mr. Paulding has em-
barked on an anti-Zionist campaign,
thereby vitiating all previous good stan-
dards of his splendid magazine.
Similarly unfori.onate statements have
been made in the Christian Science Mon-
itor by R. H. Markham.
These gentlemen have not helped the
cause of justice either by misinterpreting
the issues or by injecting issues which
tend to introduce doubts into the minds
of Americans regarding the loyalty of
Jewish citizens.
• • •
EINSTEIN'S PRAGMATISM
We are indebted to the Boston Globe
for one of the best stories of the year,
anent Dr. Albert Einstein and the "next
war." It reads:
Prof. Albert Einstein may be re-
garded as omniscient on the subject
of the atom bomb, since his initial re-
search made it possible. But he does
not regard himself as all-knowing.
The other evening he was asked by
friends what new weapons might be
employed in World War HI. He shook
his head, and after several minutes of
meditation, said, "I don't know what
weapons might be used in World
War III. But there isn't any doubt -
what weapons will be used in World
War IV."
"And what are those?" a guest asked.
"Stone spears," said Einstein..
If this could only be a lesson to the
war-mongers, it would be worth the tell-
ings—and re-telling.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, May 30. 1947

Between
YOU and Me

The Jew and His Humor

Provoking a People's Laughter

By IMMANUEL OLSVANGER

By BORIS SMOLAR

Editor's Note: At last, we are In position to recommend an exceptionally good bOok of
Jewish jokes. It is: "Royte Pomerantsen: Jewish Humor Gathered and Edited by Immanuel
Olsvanger," to be published on May 31 by Schocken Books, Inc.. 342 Madison Ave., New York.
∎ The stories are told in Yiddish idiom, but the book Is published in Latin characters, so
that anyone who understands Yiddish can read it and get a thousand slaughs out of the -stories
related by the author who Is a world authority on folklore. The introduction to the book.
however, is in English. From the introduction we have taken the following excerpts, so that
our readers may get an Idea of the treasures contained In the Olsvanger volume, a review
of which will appear In an early issue of The Jewish News.

Allow me to illustrate the role of the superclimax by recalling to your mind
the story of a religious disputation between Jews and Christians ordered by the
governor of a town on condition that representatives of both religions ask one an-
other, coram publico, the meaning of Hebrew words, and that the first to confess
his ignorance pay on the spot with his head. An ignorant Jewish drayman offers
to represent the Jews; his opponent is a Christian priest.. When the disputation
starts, the Jew asks the priest: "What does `eyneni yodea' mean?" The priest cor-
rectly replies, " 'I don't know.'" The executioner, ready at hand, takes these words
of the priest as a confession of ignorance, and without fprther ado cuts off the lat-
ter's head. The Jews, thus saved from the severe punishment that would have be-
fallen them if their representative had lost the disputation, ether in their syna-
gogue to fete their deliverer, and ask him how such a clever question had entered
his head. He replies: "As a child I once asked my rabbi what `eyneni yodea' means.
and he said: 'I don't know'; and what my learned rabbi did not know, how .on
earth could that Christian priest know?" Our (somewha+ envious) admiration for
the cleverness of the drayman is aroused at the pseudo-climax; at the superclimax
we are relieved to discover that it was not his superior cleverness that won him the
victory after all.
You know the old talmudic saying: "By three things can is man be known:
by his purse, by his drinking cup, and by his temper; and some say: even - by his
laughter." This dictum holds true for the single individual, and for the entire nation
as well. What provokes a people's laughter and the way in which a people laughs
at its own misfortunes and weaknesses afford us a glimpse into its inner char-
acter.
The Jew finds his humor in all his surroundings: man, nature, and even God
himself; he can hardly conduct any conversation without telling a ioke or two.
Even the teacher in school or the preacher in the pulpit will try to liven his talk
with a few humorous parables (cf., the - medieval Gesta Romanorum). It always
pains the Jew to repress a story that has just occurred to him. "Eyzehu Giber?
Hakoyvesh a playthvertl!" ("Who is a, hero? He who represses a joke!") says the
Jew, parodying the talmudic saying: "Eyzehu giber? Hakovesh es yitsro!" ("Who
is a hero? He who represses his passion!") One can hear stories bjting told in pri-
vate houses, in synagogues, and on all possible occasions; a "good one" is always
appreciated and rewarded with laughter.

Heard in
The Lobbies

By ARNOLD LEVIN

(Copyright, 1947, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Inc.)

BOOKS
Speaking of books—two splendid pic-
ture books recently published shall oc-
cupy a permanent place on our shelves.
They are Paris, photographs by Fritz
Henle and text by Elliot Paul, (published
by Ziff-Davies), and Palestine Picture
Book by Jakob Rosner (Shocken). The
Paris book is entirely subjective-impres-
sionistic; it does not give you pictures of
Paris, but glimpses of Parisian faces and
living. It is a series of images, rather
than a comprehensive picture book of
the city. In its own way, though, it has
a charm of its own, and will have a
strong appeal to persons who would ra-
ther get a few lyrical close-ups of cor-
ners of the city, than a glossy bird's eye
view of. the entire city.
The Palestine Picture Book, published
by that excellent new firm, Schocken
Books, is a comprehensive book of the
whole country, yet it is so edited that it
retains a lyrical quality, and is so well
organized that it might well replace most
worded guidebooks on Palestine. The
few explanatory lines at the bottom of
each picture-page give you an amazing
degree of guidance. The first two sections,
The -Land and the Jordan, acquaint you
with the topography of the country; Ru-
ral Settlement familiarizes you with the
new patterns of living evolved by Jewish
Palestine, and the faces of its pioneers,
their children and grandchildren; Two
Cities contain pictures of Haifa and Tel
Aviv. The Haifa section is rather disap-
pointing, it contains only some three' or
four photographs of Haifa, two of them
bird's eye views and one a close-up of a
freighter in the harbor, and nothing of
Hadar Hacarmel, residential center of
some of Palestine's elite, its musicians,
its refugee-writers like Max Brod and
Arnold Zweig, and of the side-by-side
work of Jewish and Arab labor. The
Jerusalem section contains better titan
usual photographs of the old city and
the new residential quarters, and the
Yemenite section features a magnificent
spread of character-portraiture.

Violence Will Not Help

"Utterances 'made by leaders and news-
papers in Palestine, some of that dating
back a year, that the terrorists are en-
dangering the entire Zionist effort, seem
at last to be striking home. In the past,
some opponents of terrorism nevertheless
felt a sneaking sympathy with the cam-
paign of violence; perhaps i,t would help
Now it has become clear, not only that
violence did not bring help, but that -it
may hinder and, indeed,' bring ruin in its
train."—Israel Scher, Jerusalem cor-
respondent of the London Zionist Review.

Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BI.RON

.

(Copyright, 1947, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency. Inc.)

VIEWS -ON PALESTINE

With the United Nations inquiry com-
mission scheduled to start its work next
week, it can be predicted safely that it
will not present a unified renort to the
Septerriker session of the General As-
sembly . . . There will probably be a
majority and a minority - renort . . . Zion-
ist leaders, though elated over Gromy-
ko's declaration on the rights of the Jews
to a state of their owii. are nevertheless
inclined to believe that the key to the
solution of the Palestine nroblem lies in
the hands of the United States . . . Some
of the leaders of the Jewish Agency con-
sider Gromyko's statement too vague .. .
"Of course, he came out for a bi-national
state," they argue, "but he was not spe-
cific as to the right of Jews to immigrate
without restrictions into such a state" .. .
"Yes. he also favored partition, but what
kind of partition?"• .. With these ques-
tions in mind, some of the Zionist leaders
feel tts$t the voice of the United States at
the UN session in September will count
more than any other factor ... This opin-
ion is especially strong. among American
Zionist leaders .. . At the same time, the
American members of the Jewish Agency
consider Gromyko's statement as being of
"tremendous political sictoiticance" quite
apart from the fact that it constitutes a
reversal of the Russian .policv on the
Palestine question . . . They claim that
Gromyko knocked the nrops out from
under the argument usually advanced by
the British government and by officials
of our own State Department that any
pro-Jewish stand by the U. S. govern-
ment would drive the Arab states into
Russia's arms . . . After Gromyko's
sneech they point out, it is no longer pos-
sible for Mr. Bevin and some of the
members of the State Department to con-
jure up the Russian bogey in order to
frighten public -opinion, which is clam-
oring for action on Palestine.
•
•
•
-
DOMESTIC ISSUES
Responsible Jewish organizations in
the United States are being asked to
clarify their attitude towards fund-rais-
ing "ads" which are being placed by
groups who claim to support Jewish ex-
tremists in Palestine.... It is known that
some of these "ads" have resulted in a
flood of protests on the part of non-
Jewish readers to the editors of the
American newspapers in which they
were published . . .2 And these protests
constitute no asset to the Jews of the
United States . . . while the State De-
partment is refraining from taking action
which the British ambassador has urged
against the organizations responsible for
the "ads," a joint statement on the part
of Zionist and non-Zionist groups, speak-
ing in behalf of Kmerican Jewry, is ex-

I

•

(Copyright, 1947, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)

CONFIRMATION
The declaration by Soviet representa-
tive Gromyko on Palestine at the UN
special session has taken many Zionist
leaders and journalists by surprise . . .
Gromyko, in a way, confirms the report
that Stalin, in private conversations, has
expressed himself in favor of a just solu-
tion of the Jewish problem in Palestine
. . . When Prof. Solomon Michoels.
Soviet Jewish leader, was here a few
years ago he told Dr. Weizmarm the
Soviet Union is in no way opposed to
a Jewish state . . The late Reuben
Brainin almost 20 years ago maintained
Stalin's government would stand by the
Zionists when the supreme crisis would
come .. .

• • •

INFORMATION
Several members of the Congressional
Committee on Un-American activities
are determined to -use the Hollywood
probe for anti-Semitic purposes . . . We
came across an interesting item in "The
Committee Reporter" of the American
Jewish Committee .. . It seems 95.7 per 1
cent of this country's 8,000,000 Metho-1
dists are opposed to anti-Semitism, ac-
cording to sociologist Murray H. Leiffer
. . . The Bureau of Social Research at
Northwestern University made a two-
year survey on the question: "How
acceptable will a minister be in your
church if he is Outspoken against the
Jews as a class?" 95.7 per cent answered
condemning anti-Semitism . . . This is
some record. and the Protestant church
cah be proud of this amazing result . .
Is there organized anti-Semitism in edu-
cation, in industry, in police forces, in
Congress and in some churches? . . .
You will find- an answer in Bucklin
Moon's "The High Cost of Prejudice,"
just out . . .
• • S.
REAL CHRISTIANITY
The other day we met Josephine
Bush-Smith, a collateral descendant of
Napoleon Bonaparte, who lives in Con-
necticut . . . Josephine wants all child-
less couples who own hpuses to bequeathe
them to poor European refugees who
find their way to this country . . "That
would be a way of atoning for the wrongs
done to Jews by so many Christians
under Hitler," she explains . .
a
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Vladimir Jabotinsky fought the Jew-
ish Agency for many years ... But a few
months ago the Jewish Agency helped
to establish, in Palestine, a cooperative
village named "Nachlat Jabotinsky."
The Tel Aviv municipal budget for the
fiscal year 1947 is about $10,000,000.
There was practically no pubilicity
about the sitdown strike against the
Iraq Petroleum Company in Haifa ... .
In this strike Arab and Jewish workers
collaborated and formed a united front.

■

pected.

•

There is a heavy betting among the
members of the Zionist Organization of
America. as to who is going to be its next
president .. . And the majority consider
Dr. Emanuel Neumann the best bet . .
Especially since Dr. Abbe Hillel Silver is
campaigning for Him.-
It seems that there is not much love
lost between the Hadassah leaders and
the leaders of the ZOA . . . This can be
gathered from the behind-the-scene ma-
nipulations of some of the Hadassah
leaders to prevent Dr. Silver from being
the principal speaker at the United Na-
tions last month . . . Other indications to
this effect can be seen in a report by
Mrs. Halperin to the Hadassah executive,
whom she represents at the Jewish
Agency.
•
•
•

MEN AND DEEDS

Congratulations to Samuel Marke-
witch, a former assistant district attor-
ney and one of the leaders of the United
Jewish Appeal in New York, on the ap-
pointment of his son, Art/wr, to a judge-
ship . . . Like his father, Arthur also held
the post of Assistant District Attorney of
New York for some time prior to his be-
coming a judge ... Always active in the
Zionist movement, father and son have
an outstanding record in helping the
Jewish labor unions.
Our congratulations go also to the
Jewish Publication Society which is en-
tering its 16th year
David Schwartz, JTA's columnist, has
done it . . . He finally surrendered to
the pleas of many of his readers and
friends to publish some of his columns of
ever-lasting interest in book form ... The
volume, entitled "Bitter Herbs and
Honey," will be off the press, this
' week. -
Anyone interested. In the Jewish resis-
tance movement in Palestine, should read

"Palestine Undergroune by J. Borisov,
just published by the Judea PuhlishinS
Co. in NeW York

