Columnist Finds Flourishing Jewish
Community in Tiny Iron River, Mich.

thodox pattern. Judaism remains
By ALFRED SEGAL
You'vd never heard of Iron strictly Orthodox here.
There was a long time when
River, Mich. (Population 4,000
and some). Well, I should tell the Iron River synagogue was in
you It's in the Upper Penninsula a hired hall but now it has a
of the State of Michigan, which neat house of its own,• all paid
means far up north. If you drive for ($8,0004. True, its ritual func-
up from Duluth you get sugges- . tion as practiced only on the
tions of -primitive life. You meet holidays and • on Yahrzeit occa-
numerous deer along• the way; or sions, but as the social center of
a porcupine scurries 'across in communal Jewish life it is con-
front of you.
tinuously a busy house. There
You could call Iron River a the Hadassah women, the Zion-
sequestered spot in the land ists and Bnai Brith have their
were it not that in these times meetings. There are some 30
the radio and the auto expose families . in the synagogue and
the most sequestered places to these are not all inhabitants of
the noisy traffic of the world. In Iron River. They are also of the
Iron River I get the same boogie- neighboring communities of
woogie by which the radio irri- Crystal Falls and Stambough.
tates me in my home-town some
Thirty families add up to about
800 miles away; the same wise- 150 people in all, who in mer-
crackers, th,_.same quiz shows.
chandising make modest livings
In Iron River I have beeh hav- for their decent lives. They
ing my vacation at the home of raised $12,000 for the United
relatives, Dr. and Mrs. Fred Jewish Appeal. I was told- that
Pious. You find all the appurten- this is a per capita record.
ances of today's life, including
They have been diligent for
the Jewish problem.
the good name of Israel in IrOn
Pretty soon you are exchang- River. Yes, said Mr. Pious, long
ing problems with one of the ago there was one member -of
girls of the numerous Pious kin the community who wasn't as
who is a Zionist.
zealous 'as he should have been
So you marvel at the vigor of ' for Israel's good name. The time
Jewish life which keeps flowing he was arrested all Iron River
so strong even so far away from Jewry felt devastated.
the main streams as Iron River.
"When the court was through
It's = Morris Pious who has the with him we bought him a one-
answers. He is the local Jewish way ticket to Chicago and that
patriarch, what with his six sons
was the end of him in Iron. Riv-
and daughters and his .10 grand-
er. The Jews have a respected
children.• He is a pioneer here,
name here and I should tell you
one of the first Jews to settle in
about Mr. Selin. He was mayor
Iron River, leader of the Jewish
here for 13 years, elected again
community, founder of the Iron
and again—that's how good he
River synagogue, one of the
was. Mr Selin was one of our
guardians of the good name of
people, an immigrant,' a store-
Israel hereabouts. He came here
50 years ago, an immigrant from keeper."
"Mr. Pious, how did you hap-
Europe.
-
• pen to come to Iron River?"
Morris Pious started as a ped-
"I had a brother-in-law, Ely
dler on the country-side. He now Miller, who was here ahead of
has the Chicago store of Iron . me and- here I came and settled
River. His fortune is modest. He and raised my family."
used to lead the prayers in the
(Copyright, 1948, Seven Arts Feature
Iron River synagogue in the Or- SynclIcate.)

THE JEWISH

Friday, July 23, IZS-5

Flag Over Israel

I

.

:

—International Photo

The ensign of Israel flies
over a high tower as Haganah
guards scan the rolling coun-
tryside around Tel Aviv and
Jaffa. The men are on the alert
for signs of Arab troop move-

ments.

kit, with tin helmets and camou-
flage netting hanging over their
faces, and carried mortars and
machine guns across their shoul-
ders.
Some 700 Arab 'prisoners were
taken at Ramleh. Most seem to
be irregulars whom the Arab
Legion threw in to cover its re-
treat. They were difficult to
identify since they had removed"
all insignia and uniform buttons.
But I found one Englishman, "a
native of Birmingham, who .serv-
ed in the Palestine Police for
three and a half years, married
an Arab woman, deserted from
the police just before the British
evacuation and joined the Arab
irregulars.
Considerable booty was taken,
including trucks, armored cars
and a great number of piat guns
of the latest type which, an Arab
prisoner told me, were flown in
from England only three weeks
ago — while the UN truce was in
force.
I met the Arab leaders of Ram-
leh who signed the uncondition-
al surrender. Ismail Nahas, a
member of the Municipal Coun-
cil, is a Cambridge - graduate.
Hurith Tajil is a local merchant.
Ossan Khoury, son of a former
mayor, also is a member of the
Council. The only: Christian Arab
of the group is Mubadda, who
complained bitterly of mistreat-
ment at the hands of the Arab
Legion because he is a Christian.
I learned later that Khoury was
a Mufti propagandist over the
Berlin radio during the war.
"We are fed up with war,"
Tajil said and that seems• to sum
up the feelings of all the Arabs
in this conquered town.

' Grants Export
Romania
Stay for 300 Polish Jews
BUCHAREST, (JTA) — An
agreement „was reached between
the • Polish consular officer here
and Abram Jampolsky, Jewish
Agency representative in Rou-
mana, calling for the withhold-
ing of an order which would ex-
pel some 300 Polish Jews n o w
living in this country until such
time as entry visas to Israel
could be issued to them.

Reuben Madoff; long recog-
nized as ore of Windsor's out-
standing Jewish leaders, was
elected president of the Jewish
Community Council of Windsor.
He succeeds Michael M. Sum-
mer, and will assume office on
Sept. 15.
Other officers are M. Levine,
J. Rash and L. M. Rosen, vice-
presidents; Mrs. J. Rash, secre-
tary; J. M. Cohen, treasurer;
members of the executive board;
W. Auerbach, A. D. Cherniak,
H. M. Cherniak, Miss Frances
Geller, Mrs. E. Glaser, A. F.
Goldberg, M. Meretsky, Mrs. B.
Minden, H. Novak, Dr. 0.- Pascal,
H. Rosenthal, M. M. Summer.
The following 10 governors-at-
large were chosen: H. M. Cher-
niak, B. Glaser, H. Gray, W.
Goldstein, R. Madoff, H. Novak,
Mrs. J. Rash, L. M. Rosen, H.
Rosenthal, M. M. Summer.
Mr. Madoff served the Windsor
Jewish community for many
years. He is - president of the I.
L. P _ eretz School, chairman of
the Aid-to-Israel campaign, an
ardent Zionist who has been in
the forefront of Zionist activities
for many years and one of the
ablest fund raisers.
On accepting the presidency,
Mr. Madoff praised the devotion
of his predecessor, Mr. Summer.
Three more orphans, rescued
by the Canadian Jewish Con-
gress, were settled recently in
Windsor. They are Isaac Koppel,
Rothanian, Isaac Jacubovitz and
Alexander Weinberger, Czecho-
slovakians. This brings the total

number of orphans settled in
Windsor to 19.
Announcement was made this
week that the Aid-to-Israel cam-
paign in Windsor is meeting with
success.
A consignment of baby cloth-
ing was sent to Israel this week
by the Windsor Hebrew Ladies'
Aid Society.
The Shaarey Zedek Ladies'
Auxiliary will have a picnic Sun--
day, July 25, at Memorial Park.

Frank Hook Urges
DP Bill Revision,
Support to Israel

Former Congressman Frank
Hook, Democratic candidate for
U. S. Senator, on Tuesday wired
President Truman urging him
to be on guard against the whit-
tling down of UN commitments
to the Israel Government and
urged that he make every effort
to fulfill the promises of the
United _States to the Jewish
State.
Mr. Hook also called on Presi-
dent Truman to include in his
program • for the special session
of Congress measures for the re-
vision of the anti-Semitic and
anti-Catholic DP bill and to de-
mand the adoption of fair legis-
lation for the admission of dis-
placed persons.
Copies of his wires also were
sent by Mr. Hook to his friends
in both Houses of Congress.

Oar First
Big Sale In
Six Years .

Arab Scorched Earth Policy Keeps
Israeli Army Repair Squads Busy

By RUTH GOLDSCIIMIDT
WITH ISRAELI FORCES IN
RAMLEH, (Palcor) Israeli
Army engineers and construc-
tion squads began repairing
broken water mains and ripped-.
down electric pilons, the result
of- the scorched earth policy prac-
ticed by the British-led Arab
Legion which fled. northeastward
toward Ramallah. Israeli repair
squads went into action at the
urgent request of local Arab
municipal officials and leaders.
Ramlah surrendered, to Major
Alex Tsur, 34-year-old native
born commander of a crack
Palmach outfit, who also accept-
ed the unconditiOnal surrender
of Jaffa last May. "I'm getting
plenty of experience with uncon-
ditional surrenders," he told me
with a grin when I met him out-
side Sarafand Camp. He showed
me the surrender document, ail
ordinary sheet of lined white
paper such as any school child
might carry in his notebook. On
it, in crisp Hebrew script, were
written the surrender terms. Un-
derneath were the signatures of
Major Tsur and of four Arab
notables of Ramleh.. Under the
terms all arms, ammunition and
war material in the town were
to be banded over intact to
Israeli forces. Civilians -not of
military age or unable .to bear
arms are permitted to leave Ram-
leh if they wish. The Israeli
Army guarantees the safety of
all inhabitants.
I rode in an Army staff • car
directly behind a jeep with Col-
onel Michael (Bully Beef) Ben-
•gal, burly 'area commander who
earned his nickname by reputed-
ly eating a seven pound tin of
bully beef after a full meal. He
is also known as "James," after
the Arabic "Jamuz" which means
water buffalo.
Parked alongside the Colonel's
jeep I , watched Israeli infantry
slog by along the dusty road.
They were Jews of every nation-
ality, from the four corners of
the world. They ranged in ap-
pearance from the fairest "Ary-
an" to the dark-skinned, wiry
Yemenites. They wore full battle

Windsor Community Council
Elects R. Madoff President

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