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2000 Children On Cyprus
Prepare For Land of Hope

ByMAURICE PEARLMAN

(Copyright, 1 94 7 ,

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

XYLOTIMBOU, Cyprus—I am
writing this in the world's strang-
est village. It is set in one of the
most beautiful of the Mediter-
ranean isles whose colors make
it a painter's paradise. For this
is a village of refttgee youth in
the camps of Cyprus. This is a
village of orphans behind barbed
wire,
This youth community of 2,000,
ranging in age from 5 to 17, comes
from a dozen different countries.
Each has a different story.
One thing they have in com-
mon. All are young Jews who
have spent the war years in Eur-
ope. This means that most are
orphans.
They have traveled

a sense of responsibility. The
curriculum alone is out of their
hands. The pattern is formal
schooling for half the day and
work the other half. They re-
ceive four hours instruction a
day in Hebrew Palestine history,
geography and life of the people;
mathematics; musical and phys-
ical culture. The classroom is im-
provised. It may be a dormitory,
a tent, the canopied space be-
tween two Nissen huts, or a patch
of waste-ground near the barbed
fence.

Room for Only 30 Pupils

In theory the other half-day
should be given over to voca-
tional instruction in field and

Cyprus - 'Peaceful' Island

-

•

.

Europe's underground, crossed a
half-dozen frontiers and made
the Mediterranean voyage on a
Haganah ship in an effort to
reach Palestine. Intercepted by
the Royal Navy, they have been
brought to the Cyprus camps.
Within this prison compound
some attempt is being made to
fit these young people for a life
of pioneering in Palestine. The
community is called Kfar Han-
oar, Hebrew for Children's Vil-
lage.
It was an idea of the Youth
Aliyah Department of the Jew-
ish Agency for Palestine and the
Joint Distribution Committee that
gave the village birth early this
year. Children's groups from the
eight camps on the island were
brought together within one

workshop in addition to domestic
labor. But barbed wire restricts
the area of land available for ag-
ricultural instruction. So in prac-
tice there is room for only 30
pupils at a time. Lack of tools,
materials and workshop space
prevent more than 25 from re-
ceiving training in the smithy
and carpentry shop. The Jewish
Agency and J.D.C. have offered
to supply $40,000 for a scheme to
solve the problem of idleness in
the camps, which includes voca-
tional instruction for the young.
The offer is still being "consid-
ered" by the army authorities.
Some of the leisure hours at the
Children's Village are given over

to musical recitals, choir practice,

reading, dramatic rehearsals,
sports activities, and informal
camp.
lectures. At present, few of the
The Age Groups
Palestinian directors do any class
The community is a strange teaching during the formal school
group. Some 1,700 are aged from periods, though they will when
14 to 17; 250._ atm between the their numbers are augmented.
ag6s of 8 to 14; and there are Ten are still waiting in Palestine
some 50 aged between 5 and 8. for visas to enter Cyprus.
It is said that these children
They arrive lacking a common
language. Few have had any pre- should have to wait a year or
vious normal schooling.
two before reaching Palestine.
I traveled the Mediterranean They have already lost vital
with the "illegals" on the Hag- school years in Europe. ,Instead of
anah ship Theodore Herzl and being inadequately fed, walking
came to Cyprus with them. My about inadequately clad, thirsty,
fellow passengers included 800 sticky, they could be receiving
youngsters who have joined the proper instruction in Palestine,
Children's Village. Some were or- and breathe air of freedom after
phaned when they were still so much misery.
toddlers. Some spent the war
The Cyprus Children's Village
ye rs in a concentration camp. is a triumph of human ingenuity
Some spent months in caverns, and persistence in face of heavy
never seeing the sun from one odds. But it can offer the child
season to the next. Some were little compared with the educa-
brought up in Christian homes tional and child welfare service
and brought back by Jewish of Palestinian Jewry.
relief bodies after the war. This
is the human material which the
directors of the Children's Vil-
lage have to mold into normal
youth. Their purpose is to give
these youngsters new values, root
out the memory and fit them for
a life of pioneering in Palestine.
These youngsters quickly re-
pay care and instruction. They
are bright, and show much in-
itiative. They are already begin-
ning to feel that they belong,
that they are persons in their own
right. They are welded into a
homogeneous unit, with a com-
mon tongue, Hebrew, which they
pick up with amazing rapidity.
The children run much of the
village themselVes, and develop
- -

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DISPATCH HUDSON
LAUNDRY CO.

43 Cortland

TO. 8-4220

Frid lii, eSeplibrnbtorit,..r 9 474;-

IkItAttiS'4 ""

Author of the
Golden Rule

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

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

The well known author, Robert
Graves, in an article in the New
York Herald Tribune explaining
his rather sensationalistic novel
"King Jesus," remarks that Hillel
anticipated much which was to
be credited later to the founder
of Christianity.
For the most part Christian
students have :gnored Hillel.
Perhaps the most quoted sentence
in civilization is that embodying

Jewish Labor Committee,
ADL Co-ordinitte Efforts
NEW YORK (JTAj--An agree-
ment between the Jewish Labor
Committee and the Anti-Defam-
ation League of Bnai Brith to co-
ordinate their efforts with' or-
ganized labor in promoting bet-
ter group relations in fighting
racial and religious- bigotry was
outlined at a press conference at
ADL offices here.
The two agencies have hereto-
fore carried out independent pro-
grams through the trade union
movement and each has had the
cooperation of the AFL and CIO
and their affiliates.

the Golden Rule. The question is
who is entitled to the copyright
privileges and royalties for this.
The story the Talmud tells us
that a heathen came to Hillel and
asked him for a concise defini-
tion of Judaism, while he was
"standing on one foot."
Hillel replied, the Talmud tells
us, "What is hateful unto thee do
not unto thy neighbor. This is
the whole law. All the rest is
commentary."
The Jewish Encyclopedia says
that this answer of Hillel was
known in all Jerusalem and had
its effect on Christianity. There
can be little doubt that from it
stemmed the Golden Rule of the
New Testament. Hillel was the
original author.
The entire story of Hillel's life
and philosophy was a kind of
"commentary" to dais main rule.
Thus, it was Hillel who also said,
"Be of . the disciples of Aaron,
loving peace and pursuing peace,
loving your fellow men and
drawing them closer to the

Torah."
Hillel was a practical man. He
said: "If I am not for myself, who
is for me."
There is the famous story of
the two men who wagered that
they could cause Hillel to lose his
temper. They plied him with
questions designed to annoy him
and resorted to insults, but Hillel
remained as calm as a spring day.
Perhaps at bottom, this offers the
key to his entire personality and
teachings. He was at peace with
himself, and when one is at peace
with himself, he will be more
likely to be at peace with the
entire world. Something of this
helps to explain the anti-Semite.
A recent study by a psychologist
shows very definitely that the
rabid anti-Semites are always
frustrated people. They are really
anti-themselves.
One of the often quoted say-
ings of Hillel is "If not now,
when," which means to say,
"Brother, quit procrastinating."
Solomon Schechter once re-
marked on the similarity in the
characters of Hillel and Lincoln.
As a young man, Hillel was a
woodchopper, where Lincoln was
a rail splitter. Lincoln and Hillel
were both conspicuous for the
essential humanitarianism of their
philosophies, and both, I might .
add, seemed to like to express an
idea pithily.

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