Page Four
As the Editor
Views the News .
`Casual Street Rioters'
Mother Rachel: 'Welcome Home'
"The verdict finally arrived at by the
United Nations, after the most patient effort
of investigation and fair adjudication, repre-
sented a kind of rough balance of these rights
and wrongs. It represented, more profoundly,
a conviction that where only a rough balance
was possible at best, the issue had to be re-
turned to the actual political and social and
cultural forces involved upon the ground.
Except through their struggle and ultimate
adjustment, no stable settlement could ever
grow."
The admonition to the Arabs is advanced
in this editorial in the following significant
paragraph:
"Few can have deceived themselves that
this final arbitrament would be -easy. Even
with much greater bloodshed than has ac-
tually occurred, most were still prepared to
say that the UN could not have decided
otherwise and that its decision was still the
best available basis for final settlement.
Casual riot cannot overthrow the decision; it
can only reveal the weakness of those who re-
sort to it. There is no fundamental national or
political interest of the Arab peoples involved
in this quarrel; there is very little evidence
of solidarity among the several states whose
politicians are incitino. it or of deep popular
support drawn from the Arab masses for whom
they speak. The Arab powers as a whole
are not acting with the responsibility of a
strong, convinced and cohesive community on
the world stage; they are acting like casual
street rioters against what little degree of in-
ternational order the world has managed to
achieve. This is not an impressive showing.
It certainly adds nothing to the settlement of
the Palestine problem, and it can only damage
rather than further any genuine and legiti-
mate interest of the Arab community in grow-
ing to a place of power upon the great stage of
the world."
It is difficult to believe that the Arabs will
listen to reason, or that they will gracefully
mend their ways. By following the Mufti,
the Arab rulers have yielded to force and
to threats, as in the instance of King Abdul-
lah of Transjordania who started out as a sup-
porter of the partition scheme and who has
abandoned a policy of peace in deference to
the Mufti's threats. But attitudes like the
one just quoted from the Herald Tribune
should go a long way in influencing public
opinion and in upholding the hands of the
statesmen of the world — especially the
spokesmen for the United States—who have
adopted a policy of firmness and who thus
far have indicated that they will not be in-
timidated by hooliganism and looting to
swerve from the path of justice they have
paved for the Jewish people.
'Not by Might ....
Jerusalem's former Grand Mufti has made
it known that "when the sword speaks, every-
thing else must be silent."
His statement, made on the eve of the
Cairo conference of the Arab League, is typ-
ical of Arab extremist attitudes. It is in direct
contradiction of the sacred Jewish principle
which is based on the Scriptural assertion:
"Not by might, nor by power, but by My
spirit, saith the Lord."
Guided by this ideal, we have transformed
deserts into garden spots in Eretz Israel. Ad-
hering to faith, we are confident that the
Spirit will triumph over the Sword.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate. Religious
News Service, Palcor Agency; King Features, Central
Press Association.
Member American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers and Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., R.A. 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 per year.
Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6, 1942, at Post Of-
fice, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3. 1879,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maurice Aronsson
Philip Slomovitz
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sobeloff
Judge Theodore Levin Abraham Srere
Maurice H. Schwartz Henry Wineman
mum) SLOMOVITZ, Editor
DECEMBER 19, 1947
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the sixth day of Tebet, 5708, the
following Scriptural selections will be read in our
synagogues:
'Pentateuchal portion7--Gen. 41:1-44:17.
• Prophetical portion—I Kings 3:15-4:1.
Martyrdom and Survival
Heroism, Suffering Told
In Escape From the Pit'
The New York Herald Tribune, in an
editorial on "The Arabs' Answer," brands
the disturbers of the peace in Palestine as
"casual street rioters" and addresses an inter-
esting warning to the Arabs.
While it asserts that "there are no clean
hands in this Palestine business—Arabs, Jews,
British, Americans and others have all been
guilty of sins of ommision or commission," the
Herald Tribune declares:
VOL. XII—NO. 14
Friday, December 19, 1947
THE JEWISH NEWS
Beware of False Messiahs
Great responsibilities rest upon the Jewish communities
of America by virtue of the historic decision of the United
Nations in favor of the re-establishment of the Jewish state
and as a result of the action of the United Jewish Appeal in
setting the 1948 quota at $250,000,000.
One of our primary duties is to avoid being misled by
irresponsible groups. The Jewish Agency for Palestine is the
recognized spokesman for the Jewish people throughout the
world insofar as the Jewish state is concerned, and any effort
to undermine its authority must be considered as interfering
with progress in this historic period.
Attempts will be made by repudiated groups to organize
meetings and to present their leaders as "best informed men"
and as authorities on Palestine. It is our obligation, therefore,
to warn our people not to be misled by their appeals and their
advertising and to BEWARE OF FALSE MESSIAHS.
Good Will Spirit Marches On
Our perennial evaluation of the spirit of Good Will, in-
spired by the great Christian festival of Christmas and the
gift-giving traditions, is made easy by a most significant arti-
cle in the New York Post by the eminent theologian, Dr. Dan-
iel A. Poling.
We quote this article in full as a guide for action by ALL
Americans. The Rev. Dr. Poling did not write it for Christ-
mas. He was inspired to state his views, in his daily column
"Americans All," out of a passionate desire for justice. Dr.
Poling wrote:
Pardon me, but . for downright ignorance and bigotry
I have just read a letter that takes all the prizes. The writer
is violently indignant because Jewish rabbis "first forced them-
selves into the Army and Navy during World War II, and we
Christians had to pay their salaries. It was an awful thing and
as a good American, I protest. What will they do when their
international bankers get control of us? I shudder to think
of that."
Frank Mead, a great Christian editor, has written an
answer to that letter. It should appear in many other columns
than mine. Here are a few paragraphs:
"The lady really hasn't any reason to 'shudder.' Insofar
as Jewish chaplains in the armed forces are concerned, she is
quite wrong; a check informed us that Rabbi Joseph Frankel
of Philadelphia was a commissioned chaplain in the Army in
1862. Insofar as paying their salaries, the Jewish people in
this country contributed quite enough to pay the salaries of
all the chaplains."
"Insofar as those diabolical international bankers are con-
cerned, we'd like their names, please. That particular libel
has been made often, but we have yet to hear anyone actually
name the culprits. And we fail to see that there is anything
`awful' about Jewish chaplains providing for the spiritual
needs of Jewish soldiers.
"It seems to us that if those Jewish boys are good enough
to die, the least the country can do is to see that they may enjoy
the benefits of religious freedom before they die for it."
Frank Mead's editorial is restrained, but searching. It
should give every Christian a red face who has failed to hit,
and hit hard, bigoted intolerance in general, and anti-Semitism
in particular. The Jew, who is the victim, always has survived
and_always will; but the wrath of God is on the individual or
group that breaks His law of universal brotherhood.
Dr. Poling's views are basic principles in true American-
ism and genuine humanitarianism. His brief article is the
best sermon we have read on the subject of Good Will. It
should serve to inspire American leaders throughout the
country—Catholics, Jews and Protestants—who are prepar-
ing to observe American Brotherhood Week, Feb. 22-29.
If we can make Man feel that "the wrath of God is on the
individual or group that breaks His law of universal brother-
hood," we will have accomplished the purpose of spreading
"brotherhood on earth, good will among men."
One of the most stirring stories of survival from
the clutches of the Nazis and settlement in Pales-
tine is told by a 23-year-old girl who, at the age
of 15, was on her own in efforts to escape from the
Hitler brutes and now lives in Kibbutz Daphne to
tell the tale.
Renya Kulkielko's "Escape From the Pit,"
published by Sharon Books, 45 E. 17th St., New
York 3, at once emerges as a great human docu-
ment that will serve as evidence of the Jewish
will to live and to build a new life in Eretz Israel.
Ludwig Lewisohn, in a foreword to this im-
portant narrative, points out that Jewish literature
is full of stories of the martyrdom of Israel and
that Renya's story points to the rise of a new
literature of martyrdom. He writes about the
author of the touching story:
"She was fathoms deep in that pit; she is
now in the land of our redemption; she tells
of the unimaginable bridge between that pit
and that land."
"Escape From the Pit" reveals how young peo-
ple of the age of the author of this book derived
courage from the Zionist youth movement which
proved their salvation.
Born in 1924, in Jedrzejow, province of Kielce,
Renya, whose parents were devoted Zionists who
dreamed of settling in Palestine, went to work as
a typist at the age of 14 because she could not
enter high school due to anti-Semitism. The war
broke out when she was 15. Then began endless
wandering, days of horror and uncertainty.
Her father, two sisters and a brother were
murdered in 1942. Another sister, Sarah, who
figures prominently in the story, was caught
in the act of rescuing children from Bendzin
and was sent to an unknown destination. Of
seven children, only three survive—Renya and
two brothers who are in DP camps in Germany
awaiting settlement in Palestine.
Renya tells the story of the Bendzin Kibbutz,
her flight to Warsaw, the smuggling of arms and
forged passports which were to enable some Jews
to escape; her escape from Myslowice, where she
was a prisoner for four months, with the aid of her
sister, Sarah, her arrival in Hungary, a trip to Ro-
mania and her final arrival in Haifa in March, 1944.
Her story reveals the brutality of many Poles,
who declared themselves ."Volksdeutsche" and
robbed and betrayed the Jews. But she also tells
of the work of some honest and humanitarian Poles
who fought with them in the underground.
Renya reveals that the first days in the Kibbutz
were difficult but that she finally became used to
the climate and to the work in the collective. In
her book, which she wrote in 1946, she states:
"These last two years have taught me that
I was not wrong when I chose to go to the
kibbutz. Here is a place where one feels the -
pulse of building a homeland. Here is a home
for those who are still wandering, and whose
eyes are turning toward us to build their fu-
ture together with us."
Simply told, Renya's tale shows why Jews will
fight courageously to retain the fruits of the battle
before the UN and will refuse again to be sub-
jected to the indignities and humiliations which
resulted in the death of her family, who were
among the 6,000,000 victims of Nazism.
Facts You Should Know
Answers to Readers'
Questions . • •
What is the Haggai?
The First Jewish post-exile prophetic book. It
contains four addresses by Haggai to the returned
Hebrew exiles at Jerusalem between August and
December in 520 B.C.
* * •
What were the watchtowers referred to in
the Bible?
Stone structures built near a vineyard and from
which the sentries protected the vines from injury.
Which animals are Kosher and which are
not Kosher?
The distinction between Kosher animals and
non-Kosher animals is given in the Bible (Leviti-
cus 11:3), (Deuteronomy 14:5), where it is com-
manded that those animals whose "hoofs are
parted and are cloven-footed and chew the cud"
may be eaten. A list of animals of both categories
is found in these sections in the Bible as well as
in later Talmudic literature. The Bible in the afore-
mentioned sources declares that only water life
that possesses "fins and scales" is permissible for
human food consumption. In the Bible there seems
to be no descriptive categorical distinction by
which the birds are divided. Lists of both Kosher
and non-Kosher birds are given. The type of bird
that is listed as Kosher is usually the bird which
lives on grain whereas the type listed as non-
Kosher is usually the bird of prey.
* * *
Who was Hillel?
The most prominent Jewish teacher of the first
century. He is revered not only for his profound
scholarship, but also for his inspiring saintliness.
* * *
What is Mount Hareb?
Mt. Hareb is an alternative name in the. Old
Testament for Mt. Sinai.
* * *
What is "Yizkor?"
"Yizkor" is the colloquial name given to the
special memorial service for the dead that is
recited on the Day of Atonement, the second day
of Shevout (Pentecost), the last day of Passover
and the last day of the Sukkot holiday (Shemini
Atzeret). The name "Yizkor" literally means "re-
member" and is derived from the first word of the
liturgy for that service. Another name for it is
"Hazkoras Neshomos" (the- recollection of the
souls).
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