in the fen and the forest area about Pinsk that I did'''.
my first missionary work, confining myself to the vil-
lages and townlets. I went about urging the Jews of
places like Motol to enroll in our Choveve Zion (Lovers
of Zion); to send delegates to the first Zionist Congress,
when that was called in 1897; to buy shares in the first
Zionist bank, the Jewish Colonial Trust, when that was
founded in 1898. Most of our Zionist meetings were held.
in the synagogues, and I, 'in case of a police raid, would
be "attending services" or "preaching." -

Autobiography of Chaim Weizmann

people constituted only 4 per cent of the Russian popu-
lation, this might not seem, at first sight, an unreason-
able arrangement. But there was a catch; there always
was in Czaristic legislation. The JeWish population was
few trees.
in, and legally confined to, the Jewish Pale
The timber trade was the mainstay of Motol. concentrated
which was only a very small fraction of
of Settlement, wh
My father, Oser, was a "transportierer." He cut
the Russian empire. Even within the limits of the Pale,
and hauled the timber and got it floated down
the Jews were confined to urban areas, and were eic-
to Danzig. In November, he would set out for the eluded from the country districts, so that within the
Pale the Jewish inhabitants of the town—i.e., the only
forest,twenty or twenty five miles away. We were, places
with schools—varied from 30 to 80 per cent of
never easy during father's absences, for there were the total. The result was that at the school entrance
wolves in the forests and occasionally robbers.
examinations comparatively few non-Jewish candidates
In those long years my mother, Rachel, was presented themselves, and it was 10 per cent of this
always pregnant or nursing an infant; so that she small number that was allotted to the Jews.

(Continued from Page 1)

land. chickens, ,two cows, a vegetable garden, a

.

.

The Coming of Herz!

-

-

Westward

had little stren gth left for her growing broo d. She
bore my father fifteen children, of which three
died. I was the third. child. Mother began to play
a greater role in our lives after we had settled in

.

When I was eighteen years old, a graduate of the
Real Gymnasium of Pinsk, I pondered my next step.
Was I to try to enroll in the University of Kiev, or of
Pinsk, and I was home only on occasion. During the Petrograd? I might pasS the difficult entrance examina-
vacations it was a pandemonium. Fellow-students were tions—Jewish students were given a special set of more
in and out at all hours; and they represented every difficult papers—but still fail to obtain the necessary
shade of opinion in a student world given. perhaps "residential rights."
excessively to opinions and to loud exposition of them.
So I went west. A friend of the family had a son
Amid this riot and clash of 'views mother. moved im- attending a Jewish boarding school in the village of
_perturbably. Most of the time she was in the kitchen. Pfungstadt, less than an hour away from the University
"They've got to be fed," she would say, "or they won't of Darmstadt in Germany. Learning that there was a
have the strength to shout." . vacancy on the staff for a junior teacher of Hebrew and
My father was a silent man, a scholarly spirit lost, Russian, he recommended me, and I was offered the
,its the -world of business, and fired with deep ambition position.
for his children. I remember him best as he stood before,
Anti-Semitism was eating deep into Germany in
the Ark in the synagogue, leading the congregation in those days; a heavy, solid, bookish anti-Semitism far
prayer. Many of the tunes, have remained with me till more deadly, in the long run, than the exploited mob
this day. They usually spring in my mind when :-I am \ anti-Semitism of Russian city hooligans. Between over
sad or solitary, and sometimes, a few familiar bars of a \ work, malnutrition and lonelinesS, I had rather a cheer-
synagogue melody will conjure up in my memory far-off tul time of it. I had to work late into the night, learning
pictures. German and trying to fill the gaps in my scientific and
general education. I stuck it out for two semesters and
• Pinsk
had something approaching a breakdown. My Pfung-
At the age of eleven, I left Motol and went out "into
stadt experience left a permanent mark on my health:
the World"—that is, to Pinsk—to enter a Russian sehool,
nearly fifty year§ later a doctor traced a lung hemor-
Something not done until that time by any Motolite.
rhage to the effects of my first eight months in' Germany.
Prom Motol to Pinsk was six Russian miles, or twenty•-;
The next year I returned to Pinsk, working in a
five.English miles, but in terms of intellectual-displace-
ment the distance was astronomical. For Pinsk was a' small chemical -factory. Then father's business took a
turn for the better. .I was to go to Berlin, and enroll in
real provincial metropolis, with 30,000 inhabitants, of
the Polytechnicum. I was to have a hundred marks ($25)
whom the" great majority were Jews.
a month, that would just about enable me to get along
I happened to belong to a "lucky" transitional gen-
after paying for my courses.
*ration. A few years after I entered the Real-Gymna-
Slum of Pinsk came the decree which limited the num,
But I was in Berlin only when the university was
ber of Jewish students in any Russian high school to
open. Each June until the autumn I was the militant
10 per cent of the gentile student body. Since the Jewish
Zionist in the land where Zionism was illegal. It was

,

:

.

Israel's Premier Appeals to Hadassah
For 'Manpower, Means, Skill, Devofion'

20—THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, February -25, 1949

.

I was in my second year in Berlin when, in 1896,
Theodor Herzl published his tract, now a classic of
Zionism, Der Judenstaat—"The Jewish State."
I first saw Herzl at the. Second Zionist Congress, in
Basle, in 1898. It' seemed to me almost from the, begin-
ning that he was undertaking a task of tremendous
magnitude without adequate preparation. He had great
gifts and he had connections. But these did not suffice.
His Zionism began as a sort of philanthropy.,As he
saw it, there were rich Jews and there were poor. Jews.
The rich Jews, who wanted to help the poor Jews, had
considerable influence in the councils of the nations.
And then there was the Sultan of Turkey, who • always
wanted money, and who was in possession of Palestine.
What was more logical, then; than to get the rich Jews
to give the Sultan money to allow the poor Jews to go
to Palestine?
Young as I was, and totally inexperienced in world-
ly matters, I considered the entire approach doomed to
failure. To me Zionism was something organic, which
had to grow like a plant, had to be watched, watered and
nursed, if it was to reach maturity.
Most profound in its effect on the Zionist movement
was Herzl's creation of the 'Zionist Congress. Having
failed with the Jewish notables and philanthropists, he
turned to the Jewish masses, and made contact with the
leaders of our Lovers of Zion. I • received a mandate to
the Congress from Pinsk, a 'mandate which, I remem-
ber with warm gratitude, was renewed for every Zionist
Congress that followed. Other Zionists of Pinsk had to
stand for election; about mine there was never any
doubt.
•
The Zionist Congresses, 'at first annual and then bi-
ennial, became the tribune and the focus of the move-
ment. It was Herzl's enduring contribution to Zionism
to have created one central, parliamentary authority for
Zionism. Against the just criticisms which must be
leveled at his leadership, this cardinal achieVement must
not be forgotten.
In next week's excerpts from his autobiography,
Chaim Weizmann tells of his achievements in chem..'
istry, and of the first of his many trips to Palestine.

-

This is a serialization of parts of "Trial and Error," by
Chaim Weizmann, which was published in book form by Harper
& Brothers. Copyright, 1949, by the Weizmann Foundation.

Off the Record

By NATHAN ZIPRIN
immigrants, to rebuild and de- 5 Moroccans Refute
In and About Israel
velop the Negev and Galilee and Pogrom Confessions
Israeli Premier David Ben Gurion is not only a great military
Jerusalem and to shape a pro-
strategist and statesman but also a great lover of books . . . He has
gressive, free .and democratic
one of the largest private Buddhistic libraries . . . Zionists from all
CASABLANCA, Morocco over the world send him their rare finds . . . His other intellectual
commonwealth true to the great
vision of our prophets on justice, (JTA)—Five defendants in the interests are the Greek classics and Jewish mysticism . . • Dr. Israel
peace and human brotherhood, mass trial before a military tri- Tabak, president of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America,
was recently quoted as saying that scholars in Israel have already
will require all the creative ener- bunal here of 86 persons accused begun new religious writings which may become "a third Bible,
gres of, our generation.
Of participating in last year's- po- ranking with the Old and New Testaments" . .. Frankly speaking
"American Jewry, as the big-
this writer, who is of orthodox background, cannot accept such
gest Jewish community all over groms at Audja and Djerada re- a thesis . . . What has been given from Sinai cannot be duplicated
the world, will have to make its pudiated their confessions of mur- by man, is the lesson he learned in the years he spent in an orthodox
school . . . We of course all' look forward to' the flourish-
contribution in m a n p owe r, dering the Oudja postmaster, M. rabbinical
ing in Israel of learning, Torah, the arts,, the sciences and, even as
means, skill and devotion, and I Amoros, which they said were ob- Dr. Tabak says, the creation of a religion of international morality
trust that Hadassah will not only tained under duress, and attempt- . . . But a "third Bible" is something else again ...
*
*
*
carry. on its specific tasks in
•
medical help and Youth Aliyah, ed to establish alibis for them- Orchids
The oldest Hebrew manuscripts in existence are now in the
but will also provide general selves. They became involved,
Zionism in America with the however, in a web of contradic- U. S. . . . They were brought here by the eminent Biblical archaeool-
gist
Professor Eleazar L. Sukenik, director of the Hebrew University
moral, unselfish and progressive tions.
in Jerusalem . . . He came to this country at the invitation of . the
leadership which it needs now so
Two witnesses said they saw American Friends of -the Hebrew University . . . Professor Sukenik
much, and that you will strength- the five accused men beating the is establishing' contact with photographic experts to help prepare
en the ties between American victim. Other defendants ac- the scrolls for publication . . The manuscripts .MaY throw a new
Jewry and Israel," the message cused .of murdering two Jewish light on the cultural status of the Jews in the centuries immediately
the
said
victims similarly denied their preceding the second destruction of the Temple as well as on in
a
Four medical projects designed guilt and alleged their confessions origins of the Hebrew script . . . They were found by Bedouins
cave in 1947 ... An 84-year-old Jew, Meichel Pressman, is' to make
to aid newly-arriving immigrants had been extorted. They asserted his artistic debut in the Carleback Gallery in New York on March
in Israel during 1949 were ap- that witnesses against them were 21 . . . The exhibit will end on April 2 and is expected to attract
proved.- They are a tuberculosis biased.
wide attention ... Pressman began painting only about eight months
of
Israel Food Comptroller hospital to be opened this month
One of the accused admitted ago . .. Art critics are raving about the wonderful uniqueness
in Gederah, a new general hos- hitting a 70-year-old Jew with a his primitives .. . Biblical themes and the seasons are his favorite
Advises Against Sending pital M. Jerusalem, the Hadas- cudgel. The descriptic:m of the subjects.
Charlotte Weber, JTA Washington correspondent is engaged to
Special Passover Parcels sah-Yassky Memorial Hospital in murder of the elderly victim the son of U. S. Supreme Court -Justice Black . . . Miss Weber,
Beersheba and the Hebrew Uni- made a deep impression on the who has covered Washington from the Jewish angle for several yearS,
Friends • and relatives of Israeli versity-HadaSsah Medical School. courtroom.
is not, herself a Jewess.
citizens who are sending parcels
of food to the Jewish state were
PRODUCED by NORMAN & SOL NOBEL
LIVES OF OUR TIMES
1 BY LAURA G. S 1-1 A R.ON
EDDIE JACOBSON
advised not to send special Pass-
over food packages by the food
WHEN WORLD WAR 1 CAME, THEY CLOSED
•- comptroller of the State of Israel,
LIFE-LONG FRIEND OF THE PRESIDENT OF
THEIR; BUSINESS AND TOGETHER ENTERED
THE UNITED STATES
it was announced by the Detroit
THE. ARMY. THEY REMAINED "BUDDIES"
- Zionist office.
' THROUGHOUT THEIR PERIOD. OF WAR SERVICE.
The following cable was re
- ceived by Service for Palestine,
for whom the Detroit Zion-
ist office has been accepting or-
ders for food parcels to Israel:
- "Food comptroller advised ab-
stain from sending any food gift
01'
HARRY TRUMAN S EDDIE JACOBSON
•-Packages containing matzot, mat-
WHEN THEY RETURNED TO KANSAS CITY
STARTED OUT IN BUSINESS TOGETHER
zo meal and kosher le Pesach
AFTER THE WAR ENDED,HARRY TRUMAN WENT
AS PARTNERS IN A HABERDASHERY IN
foods being sufficiently supplied
ONE WAY,S EDDIE JACOBSON ANOTHER.BUT
KANSAS CITY. •
THEIR FRIENDSHIP NEVER.SLACKENED.
in Israel. Food comptroller ad-
vised again concentrate all food
gift packages especially to meat,,
AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE JEW- •
EDDIE JACOBSON HAS BEEN A FREQUENT
194B,THE PRESIDENT ATTENDED A
butter, cheese, sugar, milk."
ISH . COMMUNITY,HE WAS INVITED BY
LUNCHEON IN KANSAS CITY TENDERED
VISITOR TO THE WHITE HOUSE SINCE ROMAN
Service for. Palestine recom-
THE PRESIDENT TO JOIN IN THE
IN HONOR OF EDDIE JACOBSON FOR HIS
BECAME THE OCCUPANT. HE HAS DISCUSSED JEW
WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY MARKING
mended that donors send the reg-
EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF MILITARY
ISH ISSUES WITH THE PRESIDENT.
THE GRANTING OF FULL U.S.RECOG -
ular packages, which can be used
HOSPITALS IN ISRAEL
NITION TO ISRAEL......
,before and after Passover, since
they are composed of meat, but-
ter, cheese, sugar and milk.

NEW YORK (JTA)—A call to
American Jews "as the ,bigge'st
community all over the world"
to make its contribution in "man-
power, means, skill and devo-
tion," to the Jewish state was
issued by David Ben Gurion,
Israeli Premier, in a message
cabled to the national board of
Hadassah.
Eliezer Kaplan, Israeli Finance
Minister, appealed for the mo-
bilization of funds to absorb
immigrants in Israel. The ses-
sion was also addessed by Berl
Locker, chairman of the Jewish
Agency executive in Jerusalem;
Dr. Israel Goldstein, treasurer of
the Jewish Agency; Israeli Con=
sul General Arthur Lourie and
Mrs. Samuel W. Halprin, na-
tional president of Hadassah.
"Our task after the establish-
ment of our state is only begin-
ning," Premier Ben Gurion said
in his message. "To bring over
and absorb economically, and so-
cially hundreds of thousands of

OPIC
ON
JACOO

.

.

First ORT Training School
Opened in Athens, Greece
ATHENS, (JTA) — The first
ORT vocational and technical
training school was opened here
with a large number of Greek
Jewish leaders in attendance.

IN 1946,HE CALLED ON THE PRESIDENT TO
LEARN HIS VIEWS .ON THE QUESTION OF
TRANSFERRING THOUSANDS OF HOMELESS JEW-

ISH DP'S TO PALESTINE..

6
OP1 5
JAC°13

--rair-kia,;memiamix,40Livr