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Friday, June 6, 1947
THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Two
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
A TRIBUTE TO A FRIEND
Your Commentator has lost one of his
staunchest and dearest friends in the
death of Simon Shetzer. His deep sense
of mourning is shared not by Detroit Jews
alone, but by the broader American
„Jewish community. No tribute, no matter
how extensive, can possibly do justice
to the brilliant young man who has gone
to the great beyond.
There is recompense in the knowledge
that his memory will live, that our gen-
eration of American Jews will not for-
get him, that the many good deeds
recorded to his credit in his brief span
of life will be engraved in inerasable
letters in the history of American Jewry.
• • •
JOVIAL AND DEVOTED
I shall always think of Simon Shetzer
as the jovial and hearty friend and as
the devoted and loyal Jew.
- Even in the days when he suffered
from illness, his sense of humor, his
hearty laugh, never left him.
In the most trying times for our
people, he was always in the forefront
of leadership, ever ready to offer his
services, always self-sacrificing in his
eagerness to serve our people.
The weakness with which he was
afflicted in childhood by polio did not
deter him from making trips to Wash-
ington to make the rounds of members
of Congress to plead our cause. We were
with him on occasions when it became
necessary to walk for miles through cor-
ridors of government buildings to see
Senators and Representatives. It was not
an easy task for stronger men. But he
was not deterred from fulfilling his ob-
ligations.
• • •
HIS STUDENT DAYS
He was popular before he assumed
his first important post—as this Com-
mentator's successor to the presidency
of the Zionist Organization of Detroit.
As an undergraduate student at the Uni-
versity of Michigan, he made a large
number of friends. Many of them,. now
practicing their professions throughout
the land, had been making pilgrimages
to Detroit to reconstruct their friend-
ships.
I first met him in Ann Arbor. It was
during the Passover week in 1918. The
Jewish saaparnunity of Ann Arbor was
small, and many of us were compelled
to bring the Passover food from Detroit
for the week. I had run out of Matzohs
on the last day, and advice given me, as a
stranger who had come from New Jer-
sey, was to see Si. There were enough
crumbs of Matzohs and nuts left for both
of us to end the festival in traditional
fashion. Thus, through these crumbs be-
gan a long friendship.
• •
FAMILY TRADITIONS
There is so much that could be said
about Si! One column would never suf-
fice!
A tribute to Si would be incomplete
without reference to his parents whose
heritage was a most important factor
in the life of our good friend.
Si followed in the footstep of a great
father and a saintly mother. From both,
he inherited his kindly spirit, his gen-
erosity, his Jewish loyalty.
The late Isaac Shetzer was proud of
his son who carried or a fine family tra-
dition. •
Si's motTic4, deeply religious, gave him
the faith. 'which led him. to leadership in
Israel. , • -
His wife. and sisters gave ?bim encour-
agement which Inspired hirii in his work.
-•-.; •
*
r,
BLESSED BE HIS MEMORY
Simon Shetzer's deeds_` have accumu-
lated into a powerful monument of
tribute to our friend.
In our time, he was outstanding among
Jewry's younger leaders.
His memory will live as a blessing in
the hearts of all of us who knew and
loved him for his sincerity, ability and
devotion.
-
• •
•
PHILIP ADLER AND IZRAIL KATZ
Other good friends have passed on dur-
ing the tragic Decoration Day week-end.
Philip Adler, one of America's most
brilliant foreign correspondents, died "in
line of duty." He was in the service of his
newspaper, the Detroit News, covering
conditions in China, when he boarded the
plane on the ill-fated trip. A good Zion-
ist—he first joined the labor movement
(Poale Zion) in Russia many years ago—
his leanings lately were towards -militant
action against England in search of jus-
The flight to Be Different
By THE REV. WILLIAI1/4+ C. KERNAN
Director, Institute for 4merican Democracy
-
Once upon a time—there was a beautiful world. It had everything that anyone
could possibly want. But ... a group of fair-skinned individuals had a meeting and
decided that the reason they didn't have more of everything was because the people
with freckles were taking more than their share.
And since there were more people without freckles it was a simple thing to wipe
out all the freckle-faced inhabitants from the earth.
But still they weren't satisfied. There was a general meeting of brunettes and
it was decided that all blondes be eradicated so that there would be more of every-
thing for the brunettes.
So the blondes were all killed.
Then the brown-eyed brunettes eliminated the grey and blue-eyed brunettes.
Then all the left-handed, brown-eyed brunettes were put to death .. .
Ridiculous?
Not if you see and understand the point. Not as- long as people are judged and
condemned simply for being different! For, what underlies the horrible massacres
in the concentration camps? . . . what made the sacrifices of our armies a dire ne-
cessity? ... what makes your help so important in your own town, today ... NOW?
Intolerance, narrow-mindedness, HATE!
Right here in our own country this divide-and-conquer plan is under way. Its
objective is power—and the elimination of all whose race, -Creed, or national origin
is not like that of its leaders. Its methods are cunning, sinister, sly-unholy.
Help all decent Americans maintain and fight for the recognition of that equality
of all men which our fathers promised us — Don't repeat slanderous rumors aimed
at any race, any religion. Don't judge a whole racial or religious group by the few
evil-doers who may belong to it.
Remember—all of us are "America"—Protestants, Catholics, Jews—men of all
races, colors and national origins. KEEP US THAT WAY!
Heard in
The Lobbies
By ARNOLD LEVIN
(Copyright. 1947, Independent Jewish
Press . Service. Inc.)
APPEAL TO JEWISH LEADERS:
Peace. It's wonderful. •
•
•
•
ARAB "UNITY"
The Waldrof Astoria and the Plaza
Hotels in New 'York City are teeming
with confabbing Arabs these days. Bri-
tain is allegedly behind Iraq's firm stand
for boycotting the UN Inquiry Commit-
tee to convince the UN that the Arabs
"mean business"—when Britain tells them
their business . . . Saudi Arabia, solaced
by American dough (five million dollars
is no peanuts), is disinclined to boycott
the commission . . . Azzam Pasha. Arab
League secretary, is in a quandary: the
League is a British creation and would
like to bide its master's voice, on the
other hand Britain is not going so well by
Egypt and it's his business to give HM
government the hotfoot. Going along with
Saudi Arabia would be giving Britain the
hotfoot, but it would expose him to the
charge that the league is anti-Hashem-
ite . . . We don't know how true these
assumptions and vagaries are, all we
know is that they are on lips of people
•who hang around the Plaza and Waldorf
Astoria lobbies. The situation changes
from day to day, and Britain may yet
change her mind on tactics.
•
•
•
BOOKS
Enterprising Schocken Books has pub-
lished an interesting volume, Royte Porn-
erantzen, ($3.00), a collection of Jewish
humor "gathered and edited by Imman-
uel Olsvanger." This volume has two
unique features: a) it isn't Tin Pan Al-
ley's version of Jewish humor, and b) it's
in Yiddish but printed in the Roman al-
phabet. Thus, it retains its original flavor
and makes easy reading for the many
who know spoken Yiddish, but cannot
read it. We sincerely believe that this
volume is a real contribution. It cer-
tainly will raise the humor-level of so
many after-dinner speakers who just love
to tell Jewish anecdotes. This book is a
source of the real undiluted Jewish
humor. -
David Schwartz has been contributing,
for many years now, an informal feuille-
ton column to the English-Jewish press,
and his best pieces make up his collection
"Bitter Herbs and Honey" (Silver Palm
Press, $3.00). It has reflections on the
American Jewish scene and contains
some good American horse sense. There
is a Jewish-flavored Will Rogers quality
about Schwartz's best pieces and a pro-
found understanding of human beings
which result in an occasional flashing
revelation as for instance in his pieces
on FDR, Henry Wallace, Louis Lipsky.
tice for Jewry. He was an authority on
the Jewish position in Russia and Poland,
was a daily reader of the Yiddish For :-
ward and a weekly reader of The Jewish
News, and did not let an opportunity go
by to write in gUpport of Jewish causes.
Izrail Katz was a pioneer Zionist. He
was among the early founders of Zion.-
ist groups, was associated with the great
leaders in the movement and was alWaVs
in the front lines of workers for and con=
tributors to the cause of Eretz Israel's re-
demption. • He was an able Hebraist and
was accorded the distinction of' being
named honorary president of Detroit's
Kvutzah Ivrith. We shall miss him very
much.
Blessed be their memories.
Between
You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright. 1947, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
U. N. ACTION
- By the time these lines are read, the
U.N. inquiry committee may be en route
to Palestine, after completing its meet-
ings in New York ... These sessions were
not all that they were expected to be
... In fact, UN Secretary-General Trygve
Lie, as well as the five members of the
eleven-man committee Were very much
embarrassed when the other six memberT
failed to appear when the meetings
opened . . . However, it is the end and
not the beginning of the work of the
committee that will count . . . When the
committee starts its hearings in Pales-
tine, it will be confused, at least initially.
by the multitude of opinions prevailing
among Jewish leaders with regard to the
ultimate solution of the Palestine prob-
lem.
• • •
THE REAL ISSUE
Whether the inquiry commitee will de-
cide to recommend the partitioning of
Palestine into a Jewish and Arab State,
or whether it will find bi-nationalism a
better solution, the real issue at the Gen-
eral Assembly in September will be the
question of a Palestine trusteeship . . .
It is obvious that a transitional period
rust ensue before Palestine becomes
either a Je-Wish state or a bi-national
state . . . This period May last three
years, five years, or even longer ... . In
this interim period—no matter what the
Assembly's decision will be — Palestine
will have to be placed under trustee-
ship . . . It is on this point that the Big
Three will clash after the inquiry com-
mittee submits its report . . . Britain,
of course, will attempt to secure sole
trusteeship over Palestine Soviet Rus-
sia will demand an international trus-
teeship, with herself as one of the trus-
tees . . . It will be up to the United
States to tip the scale .. • Small wonder
that American Zionist leaders are con-
vinced that the key to the Palestine
question is still in the hands of Washing-
ton, even though the eyes of the world'
are now directed toward the inquiry .
committee . Incidentally, leaders of
the American Zionist Emergency Council
are warning against attempts being made
to represent the U.N. inquiry committee
as leaning towards the Jews .. . They
emphasize that such predictions are not
only premature, but definitely. harmful.
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright, 1947, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)
THE CONGRESS EXPLAINS
Dr. David Petegorsky, executive direc-
tor of the American Jewish Congress, lets
us know that his organization is opposed
to the Buckley Bill against anti-Semit.
ism, H. R. 2848, for various reasons .
The reasons given are: 1, the bill is un-
constitutional . 2, it is too all-embrace
ing . .. 3, as drafted, the bill would bar
even the distribution of truthful state-
ments about any ethnic group . . . He
adds that AJC experts are at work draft•
ing abetter bill.
• •
•
ILLUMINATING
We're told that Rabbi Irving Miller,
addressing a recent Zionist meeting in
New York, reported that during an inter-
view during the war the then Deputy
Prime Minister Attlee made a comment
which may throw some light on his an-
tagonism to the Jewish position in Europe
and Palestine ... Miller was telling Att-
lee about the terrible tragedy that be..
fell the Jewish people as a result of Hit-
ler's march through Europe when Attlee
impatiently interrupted him, saying: "I'm_
sick of hearing of Jewish suffering . . .
Don't think that Jews have a monopoly.
on suffering."
•
•
41,
INTERESTING BUT NOT TRUE
William Zukerman's "The Silver Lin-
ing" in the June issue of the Ladies'
Home Journal makes good reading, but
we can't agree with its conclusion that
"the bulk of the non-Jewish population
outside Germany did not share the Nazi
brutality and hatred for the Jews" . . .
And then William Zukerman, a very good
reporter who should know better, goes
on to say: "In the midst of the greatest
upsurge of anti-Jewish persecution in
history, a strong pro-Jewish, even philo-,
Semitic movement sprang up in Europe
and countered the anti-Semitic horrors*
. . . Statistics contradict our friend Z1-1-!.
kerman . . . Hungary, Romania and Po-
land, to mention just three countries out-
side Germany, built up a terrifying rec.
ord of mass anti-Semitism during the
war.
•
•
•
WE DON'T AGREE
Sorry, but we can't join those who
heap superlatives on the author of "Gen-
tlemen's Agreement" . .. We know that .
Miss Hobson is a good friend of the
Jewish people and meant to serve the
cause of tolerance . . . but to deal with
minor social anti-Semitism in a day when
political anti-Semitism has murdered over
six million Jews seems to us a rather
futile gesture ... Who cares whethei this
or that Jewish snob is excluded from
a restricted golf club or hotel? . . . The
real problem in the fight against anti-
Semitism lies in educational spheres, big
business, Congress, churches, municipal
agencies and so forth . . . That's where
the battle should be fought ... And that's
why we recommend Bucklin Moon's re-
cent book, "The High Cost of Prejudice"`
. . Here is a book that Miss Hobson
should have read before tackling the Subs
ject of her best-seller.
• •
•
STATISTICS
The exact ?limber of Canadian Jews
who served in the armed forces is 16,883
. . . A few weeks ago the Rt. Hon. WM.,
Lyon Mackenzie -King, Prime Minister of
Canada,. paid public tribute to the Jewish
community of Canada for its war effOrt
. . . Jews in Palestine have the invention
bug . . . .556 new patents, including 200
new invention I, have been registered - in
Palestine so fr..: this year ... Most of the
•
•
•
inventions are for the building trades
and chemical industry . . . Believe it or
COMMUNITY NOTES
women's
'The United Nations is frequently -con- not Palestine sells shirting and
period
sulting the Jewish Consultative Com- dresses to Deninark . . . In the 6, 1946,
mittee, Israelite and Anglo-Jewish Asso- frdm February 21, 1945, to March
ciation . . . This body is among the or-
ganizations credited to the UN Social
and Economic Council. -
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was
instrumental in helping to trace the per-
son who sent through the mails postcards
bearing the rubber-stamped inscription
"Censored by the Jewish Press" .. . On
March 14 the JTA carried a cable from
London indicating that the Manchester
Guardian had received a postcard bear-
ing such a stamp . The cable said that
the postcard had been cancelled at the
Grand Central Post Office in New York
. . The story attracted the attention of
the Anti-Defamation League of the Bnai
Brith which immediately communicated
with the Board of Deputies of British.
Jews in London ... As a result, it subse-
quently received from London the post-
card which had been mailed to the Man-
chester Guardian
345 books were published in Palestine ...
296 in Hebrew, 17 in English, 15 in Ara-
bic and 17 in other languages . .. "Oedis
pus Rex" was produced by the Palestine
Habimah under the direction of Tyrone
Guthrie, the famous British producer,.
who came to the premiere in Tel Aviv in
an armored car.
• •
•
BEST STORY OF THE WEEK
One of the Mufti's henchmen, on the
for cash, entered the house of at
chalutz in a Palestine colony, but, after
having searched it thoroughly found
nothing worth stealing . . . As he `woe
leaving, the owner of the house woke.up'
and called after him: "I say, please cldse
the door as you go out" ... "I like that!"
exclaimed the thief ... "For all the great'
riches that I have taken from your house
you now want to exp101txne and make a
slave out of me." •