Page Four
THE JEWISH NEWS
As the Editor
Views the News ...
Friday,
It's Your Duty to Carry On, Son
oire
awcz:zt.-
Next Thursday we will .observe another
Purim. We shall be stamping our feet and
the children will turn their Hania.n-graggers -
at the mention of the anti-Semite in. the Book
of Esther.
in the process of resorting to traditional
defiance of Jew-baiters- many of our people
will wonder whether the clock has not b _ een
turned back, whether the reactionary ele-
ments in the world again are leading man-
kind back to terror and destruction.
On all fronts,. in Nazi-dominated sections of
Europe, in the ranks of bigots in this country
and in England, in Palestine and other parts
of the world, our enemies again are raising
their ugly heads at a time when we had hoped
-for the arrival of an era of peace.
The faithful will not despair. We have had
more than one Purim in our history. We shall
have another.
Our Purim of 570a is enigmatic and con-
fusing but it can not deter the faithful from
the path that leads to justice..
As we go to our •synagogues„ therefore, on
Purim, let us proceed with confidence that
justice must triumph and that we shall see
the dawn of a better day in our own lifetime.
The venerable Dr. Edgar DeWitt Jones, in
his reminiscences of a trip to Cyprus in 1935,
in his daily article in the Detroit News, com-
mented upon it as the place to. which "se
many disappointed Jewish pilgrimrig to Pales-
tine have been turned back," and concluded
by saying: "On Cyprus many dark eyes gaze
wistfully toward the Palestinian coast day
after day—so near the Promised Land and yet
so far! I do not doubt these Pilgrims of this
new exodus are well cared for on Cyprus, but
at its best the waiting must tax the hope and
faith of multitudes?'
Dr. Jones undoubtedly finds it difficult to
believe that the British Can do wrong. He
therefore wrote an article in the spirit of a pil-
grimage to Cyprus in 1935, and unfortunate-
ly he continues to-bask in the sunshine of a
past era, when Cyprus was merely an island
of tombs. The best this fine Christian gentle-
man could do was to wonder what "these dis-
appointed Jews for the time detained on this
island" ..-. "do to while awy these long days
of waiting? How are they housed, and in
what condition is their health?"
Is it possible that Dr. Jones could be so
naive? The facts are at hand! British bru-
tality is a natter of record! If Dr. Jones will'
read the -reports on Cyprus by Ruth Gruber
in the New Republic, he will have all the
facts about present-day Cyprus.
Dr. Jones seems to be unaware that on Cy-
prus, today, more than 33,000 Jews —men,
women and children — live behind barbed
wires. He apparently has failed to acquaint
hirriself with the tragedies of people who have
been herded together in a large detention
camp under conditions that can be compared
only with Dachau and Buchenwald—the only
diffdrence beina that in the latter Nazis were
on guard to make miserable the lives of Jews,
but on Cyprus. Britain is in power.
We beg Dr. Jones to learn the truth and
then to cry out to the world—as a good
preacher of the word of God should—against
the iniquities of a mandatory government
which is making a mockery of justice and is
discarding into oblivion the hard-won victory
over the Nazis. If the entire world is not to
revert to Nazi-Fascist ideas, Dr. Jones should
wand of the British not to condone Nazi
tactics in an area over which they dominate.,
The Ostriches Are Out in Front
A French spokesman at Lake Success made the curi-
ous statement that "the Jews have a large capital 'of sym-
pathy abroad in the world due to their suffering under
tke Nazis, but this sympathy is being overdrawn."
In view of the shocking implications of such senti-
ments, it is no wonder that Jews in this country are begin-
ning to ask a question long posed by the survivors from
Nazism in displaced persons camps in Germany : whether
it is possible that no one cares about the status of our peo-
ple and whether we have any sincere governmental friends
Left in the entire world.
A decision was handed down to offer the Jews a
compromise in Palestine, in the form of partition. Even
this pledge is now begrudged our people. yet we are
told that the world's "sympathy is being overdrawn."
This sounds neither logical nor human, and it is no won-
der that in answer to such ideas the people of Palestine
are tightentin* their belts, joining defense forces and pre-
paring for a battle to a finish in order to hold on to hard-
won freedoms.
If it is' true that Secretary. of Commerce Harriman has
joined with Secretary of Defense Forrestal in an effort to
defeat Jewish hopes in. Palestine as embodied in the UN-
decision of last November, then the battlelines have spread
grimly to Washington. The Jews of America are charged
with the responsibility of defeating the outrageous cam-
paign of propaganda at the head of which are people like
Dr: Virginia S. Gildersleeve and her "Committee for Jus-
ticZ and Peace in the Holy Land." The fact that Miss
Gildersleeve's anti-Zionist mail includes copies of publica-
tions of ,Merwin K. Hart, the arch reactionary and sup-
porter of Franco, should help to open the eyes of misled
Americans who may fall for her biased attempt to destroy
Jewish hopes and to undermine Jewry's position in Pal-
estine. • Perhaps- it is not too much to expect that men like
Judge Jacob Panken of New York, old-time Bundist-anti-
Zionist who suddenly has emerged as a protagonist of the
Judah Magnes bi-national Palestine plan, will recognize
in the opposition not only an anti-Jewish effort but also an
anti-human campaign,. If Judge Panken, whose "Cloch-
mas" incorporated in his letter to the New York Times
sound as if he had just awakened from a 40-year-old anti-
Zionist dream, Rabbi Morris Lazaron, Lessing Rosenwald
and other dissenters persist in their destructive campaign,
it merely will serve as proof of the old Biblical adage that
"you can not change a leopard's spots" and that if it is
possible to have reactionaries and heartless people among
Christians; why not allow for them also in Jewish ranks?
Crocodile tears are being shed by the Gildersleeves
and the Roseswalds and the Lazarons over the fate of
the Jewish DPs in Europe. They do not seem to be moved
Member' Jewish tele,graphie Agency, independent Jewish in the least, however, by the whittling down of the. Senate
Press. Service, Seven- Arts. Feature Syndicate, Palcor
immigration measure to which N. Y. State Democratic
Agency, King Features, Central Press Association.
Member American, Association of .English-Jewish News- Chairman Paul E. Fitzpatrick referred as being nothing
papers and Michigan. Press. Association.
Published- every Friday by The Jewish News Publish- less than "deliberate- racism." Urging the NeW York
ing Co. 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., WO. 5-1155.
Subscription, $3 a year;, foreign, 84. Club subscription.. delegation in Congress and all Americans to back the bi-
every fourth Friday of the month. to all subscribers - to partisan effort of Senators Homer Ferguson-(R., Mich.)
Allied Jewish Campaign of Jewish Weltare Federation of
and J. Howard McGrath (D., R. I.) to defeat the Rever-
Detroit, 40 cents per year.
Entered as: second-class mutter Aug.. 6. 1042, at Post Of- comb bill and to adopt instead the provisions of the Strat-
fice. Detroit. Mick - under Act. of Marek.3, 1879.
ton bill for the admission ∎ of 400,000 DPs during the corn-
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ing years, Mr, Fitzpatrick said that "there can be no oth-
Philip Slomovitz
Maurice Aronson
er motive behind the Revercornb bill limiting immigrants
amore
Sobeloff
Fred M. Butzel
to
those in Germany, Austria,-;and Italy in December, 1945,
Abraham
Srere
Judge Theodore Levin
Henry Wineman
than to bar Jewish refugees from Poland in 1946." But
Maurice H. Schwartz
the Jewish ostriches and the non-Jewish bigots whose
sLomovrrz, Editor
forces they have joined out of sheer blindness sit com-
MARCH
19,
1948
VOL. XIH—No. 1
fortably in their homes and debate the "legality" and the
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
"right' of Jews to the limited freedom in. Palestine
This Sabbath, the ninth day of Adar H, 5708, The fal-
at best, would be a struggle for existence.
liwkick,.
lowing Scriptural selections will be read in our spate-
gogues:
The
battle lines are clearly drawn and the friends
Pentateuchal Portion—Ex. 38:21-40:38.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Prophetical Portion—I Kings, 7:51-8:21.
and enemies—within and without—are on record.
On Wednesday, the Fast of Esther, Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1 1.1)
1 1017:win know hew to judge those who stand m the
and Is. 55:6-56:8 will be read during morning services:
Purim will' be celebrated on Thursday. Ex. 17:8-16 of the fighters for justice in Palestine.
*nd the Book of Esther will be read.
-
19, 1948
'Inside Kasrilevke`
Famed Sholom Aleichem
Work Issued in English
Purim's Enigma
Truth About Cyprus
March
path
Sholorn Aleichem's "Inside Kasrilevke," off the
press March 19, in an English translation by Isidore
Goldstick, is one of the great contributions to the
Jewish book shelf by its eminent publishers,
Schocken Books, 342 Madison Ave., New York.
"Inside Kasrilevke" is laid in the mythical vil-
lage which - is the scene of Sholom Aleichem's
stories. One has only to read it to understand why
Shalom Aleichem is universally recognized as the
greatest portrayer of East European Jewish life.
To write for the people but not to write down
to them—that was the goal which Sholom Aleic-
hem set for himself and. achieved. Barn in Russia
in. 1859, he wrote first in Hebrew and Russifin be-
fore he found himself in Yiddish. Then regarded
by intellectuals as a popular jargon, identified
with the illiterate masses, Yiddish became with
Sholom Aleichen the medium of a great literature.
Both as writer and editor, Sholom Aleichem was
directly responsible for persuading many of his
Jewish contemporaries to write in Yiddish.
His enormous „success came quite quickly.
Leaving Russia after the Kiev pogrom of 1905 of
which he was a witness, he spent mueh of the next
nine years in extensive lecture tours of the United
States and Europe. In 2914 he emigrated with his
family to the new- world. When he died in 1916 in
New York City, 156,048 people attended his
-
funeral. •
He wrote five novels, 300 stories, many playa;
his works (in Yiddish) run to 28 volumes. His
work has been translated into a score of languages.
Over three million copies of his works were solid
in Russia between 1917 and 1942, where the ac-
claim of _Maxim Gorky and Leo Tolstoy early as-
sured him an eager audience.
When Sholom. Aleichem first came to New
York, Mark Twain met him. "I wanted to meet
you," he said, "because I understand that I am the
American Sholom Aleichem." In turn, long ago it
became- a cliche to call Shalom Aleichem the
Jewish Mark Twain. He has also and with per-
haps more justice been compared to Dickens, with ,
whom he shares the gift of characterization of odd
types.
The great Jewish humorist once said of him-
self: "I suffered—may Au not be afflicted with
it—from a childhood disease: I was constantly
moved to laughter." All accounts agree that
Sholom Aleichem's laughing disease is highly epi-
demic—his writings have infected young and old
alike all over the world.
"Inside Kasrilevke" is one of the first of
Sholom Aleichem's works to be published in Eng-
lish in bobk form. ("The Old Country" was pub-
lished in 1946). The reason why so few of his
books have been translated is undoubtedly the
difficulty confronting a translator. Rendering idio-
matic humor into another language is no easy
task. Schocken Booki' believes that Isidore Gold-
stick has caught in "Inside Kasrilevke" both the
zestful spirit and the rich flavor of a marvelous
story-teller.
Burden of Lebanon and Damascus
By DR. NOAH E ARONSTAM
Hearken ye sons of Ishmael,
Ye inhabitants of the slopes
And the mountain fastnesses
That lend forth even unto the gates of Damascust
In vain are your nets and traps
Set against the issue of Abraham, your brethren
List not to the false counsels
Of depraved rulers of the dominions of the North,
Whose only desire is the greed for gold
And power; whose honeyed utterances
Emit the hiss of the seroent
And the sting of the adder.
They are like unto a double-edged sword
That cuts foe and friend alike in twain,
To gain their wicked and baneful designs.
Sons of& Ishmael, children of Hagar,
Shake off the yoke of their deception!
Lo, how they froth from the mouth,
So as to intoxicate you with the venom of their
breath
And foul covenants and pledges of friendship:
You are unto them like withered grass
Awaiting the sickle.
And unto ye, dwellers of the hinterland
On the nether side of the Jordan:
Beware, lest the same fate be meted out to you
In your very midst!
.
Pacts Y ou -Should Know
Answers to Readers
Questions ...
What does "Purim" mean?
The Hebrew word is translated as "lots." This
was the name given to the commemorative festival
we celebrate because Haman had cast lots to ascer-
tain the day that would be auspicious for him to
carry into effect the bloody decree' which the king
had issued at his insistence against the Jews of
Persia. It was decided to make a festivity. out of
the date that turned fate in favor of the Jews
showing the divine protection that hovers above
Jewish destiny. Purim calls for frivolous celebra-
tions which included feasting and drinking. While
the Jewish religion looks unfavorably upon exces-
sive drinking, on Purim we find the Talmud saying
that one should drink until he can no longer dis-
tinguish between the terms "Cursed be Haman'
and "Blessed be Mordecai." This is generally the
custom so as to comply with the Biblical statement
that the day of Purim be a "Mishteh" (drinking
party). The "Miracle of Purim" seemed to center
around drinking parties. The original queen of
Persia (Vashti) sealed her doom at a drinking
party given by the king. The inauguration of Queen
Esther was feted by a great festival of feed and
drink ordered by the king. The. realization of
Haman's tyranny was shown to the king at a
drinking party ordered by Queen Esther. To COM.'
mernorate. this strange recurrence drinking was
ordained as the order of the day of. Purity).