As the Editor
Views the News .. .

W elcome, . Israel

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Growing Anti-Semitism

A new anti-Semitic German weekly, ap-
pearing in Salzburg, in the American accupa-
tion zone, under the name "Die Neue Front,'
makes the shocking declaration that the "de-
struction of several million Jews and Poles"
during World War II is far surpassed by the
anti-Germanism being practiced today in
the East and Southeast and in the Balkans."
This paper has stated brazenly that there
were pogroms in Europe before Hitler, that
there is no "aggressive" anti-Semitism in
Austria today and that the Austrian people
had "forgotten" the Nuernberg laws and
gone back to their "traditional views toward
the chosen people."
The subtlety with which this new peri-
odical propagates anti-Jewishness is too
clear to need elaboration. It now is generally
admitted that anti-Semitism is on the in-
crease • in Germany. Dr. Karl Scharnagle,
Mayor of Munich, one of 39 German munic-
ipal religious and trade union leaders who
arrived in the United States last week to ob-
serve democracy at work, emphasized that
anti-Semitism still exists. His admission, how-
ever, was made in typical German style,
by attributing German bias to the presence
in Germany of non-German Jews.- His state-
ment that "the Nazis persecuted Jews and
Christians alike, so we must all cooperate to
attain human dignity and rights" hardly
justified his observation, and his sanctimon-
Leonard Lyons' column "The Lyons Den" in the March 2
ious air in declaring that "it is our respon-
sibility to God" does not correct a charge issue of the New York Post carried an item which, more than
which at one time was made against Polish any other appeal, should stir American Jews to continued
liberal giving to the great cause of Israel's upbuilding. The
Jews by the Nazis.
Is it possible that Germans, who fail to item:
GIFT: Prof. Almira of the Institute of Mathematics at
admit guilt in the wholesale murder of mil-
the University of Jerusalem, is visiting in New York now.
lions of people, will properly observe de-
He tells of a New Yorker who heard Lord Balfour make a
mocracy at work? We are beginning to doubt
speech in the hills of Jerusalem, and was so touched that
it even in the instance of spokesmen for their
he asked: "What can I do to help?" He was told that
religious and .labor movements.

Most Worthwhile Thing in Life

Group Libel Bill

A Group Libel Bill, sponsored in the U. S.
House of Representatives by five members of
Congress, aims at stopping the distribution
of libelous material—including, of course,
vile anti-Semitic literature—on the grounds
that distribution of publications which de-
fame ethnic groups is harmful to public in-
terests and to the national welfare of this

$100,000 would build the Institute of Mathematics, and he
donated the money as an anonymous contribution ... The
man later lost his fortune in the 1929 stock crash. In 1938
Prof. Almira received a phone call from the man, at 2 a.m.
He was at the King David Hotel, and said: "I'd like to see
the institute I built, before I die. It's the only worthwhile
thing I've done in my life." At 3 a.m. he - was shown
through the building, and Almira never saw him again.

This interesting story has many important counterparts.
Noted Jews from many lands have said again and again that
what they did in Israel, to assure the success of the Jewish
country.
National Home, proved the greatest thing in their lives. Many.
Drafted with the help of the Commission Russian and British Jews, whose fortunes were wiped out dur-
on Law and Social Action of the American ing depressions, found satisfaction in the investments they
Jewish Congress, the proposed bill would pre- made in Eretz Israel.
vent defamatory literature from crossing
In the midst of the great United Jewish Appeal campaign,
state lines and would therefore freeze bigotry
American Jews would do well to study this item carefully.
in its tracks.
The bill makes it a federal crime for any Israel's Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan, prior to his return
person "with intent to create 'against to the Jewish State after negotiating with the United States
a racial or religious group" to mail, import or Government for issuance of the $100,000,000 loan and taking
distribute in interstate commerce any printed part in peace efforts in the UPA and UJA ranks, made -the
statement that the Jews of America have not yet grasped
or mimeographed material which exposes any
the significance of changes in Israel and in Jewish life else-
individual or group of individuals to hatred,
contempt, obloquy, aversion or injury be- where. .A good response to the UJA—in Detroit it is the Allied
cause of his or their race or religion. In Jewish Campaign—will prove that we are beginning to learn
order to eliminate threats to freedom of the importance of the great hour in which we live.
speech, the bill provides that truth or rea-
In Jerusalem last week, Dr. Israel Goldstein, treasurer of
sonable and honest belief in the truth of the the Jewish Agency, welcoming the UJA delegation, stated
statements circulated is an absolute defense. that $400,000,000 will be required in 1949 to finance the settle-
The bill also places upon the defendant "the ment and absorption of 250,000 Jewish immigrants from Eu-
burden of coming forward with evidence( rope and North Africa, and warned: "If the UJA does not
upon the issues of truth and lack - of intent to fulfill its $250,000,000 goal, we will have to tell the refugees
create ill-will," thus precluding the possibil-
to stay where they are."
ity that bigots escape penalty by merely con-
We shall have to recognize that even the $250,000,000 UJA
tending that they honestly believed the libels
fund—if
the entire amount is to be raised—will be insufficient
they had been spreading.
for the current needs. Mr. Kaplan indicated that Israel needs
Along with FEPC legislation, the fight $1,250,000,000 in capital, to be raised through international,
against racist immigration laws and the bat-
state and private loans, to carry on its construction program,
tle to end the quota systems in our colleges,
and it is rather ludicrous to hear that the first million thus
the Group Libel Bill occupies a place of ma-
far has been received as investment capital from this country.
jor importance on the calendar of fighters for
A call has been issued by UJA's general chairman,
freedom and justice. Libertarians must mo-
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.; for the immediate gathering of
bilize their forces in support of this measure
an advance fund of $50,000,000 to meet "critically urgent"
which would not only reduce to a minimum
needs.
Detroit leaders were among the 15,000 people in
the activities of anti-Semites but also would
150 communities who heard this plea in the nationwide
destroy the anti-Negro and other move-
telephone conference last week. Mr. Morgenthau's appeal
ments that cater to the basest elements in
was supplemented by a message from Berl Locker, chair-
our population. The American Jewish Con-
man of the Jerusalem executive of the Jewish agency,
gress has earned gratitude for its efforts in
who declared: "The Jews cannot merely be brought to
the fight against bigotry.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Seven Arts Fea-
hire Syndicate, King Features, Central Press Association,
Palcor News Agency.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
Co., 2114 Penobscot - Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich. WO. 5-1155.
Subscription $3 a year; foreign $4.
Entered as second class . matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor

VOL. XV—No. 1

Page 4

March 18, 1949

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighteenth day of Adar, 5709,
e following Scriptural selections will be read in
ur synagogues:
Pentaeuchal portions Ex. 30:11 34:35; Nub. 19

t h

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Prophetical portion—Ezek. 36:16-38.

the shores of Israel and dumped there. They must be
helped to earn their own living. They must be helped
quickly to stand on their own feet so that they may be
removed forever from the budget of Jewish fund-raising."
Each successful drive brings us closer to such an objective,
and the Jews of Detroit must offer their resources to pro-
vide the initial $50,000,000 fund and to assure success for
the $250,000,000 UJA campaign.

The responsibility that faces us is so great that it almost
staggers us. It is very urgent that Jews should realize that
miracles are not daily occurrences and that the issues must be
faced realistically in the best interests of Jewry's and Israel's
future. A successful UJA drive is the first obligation. Next
come the investment opportunities. By fulfilling both we shall
be continuing the tradition of doing the greatest things Jews
can hope for in their lives.

Blue and White Boxes:

Schwartz Reviews JNF's
Great Bibical Ideals

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright, 1949, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

I was struck by a remark made by Major
Abba Eban, Israeli representative to the United
Nations speaking at the recent- Jewish National
Fund conference. In Israel, he said, we already
find the system of free enterprise working side
by side and at peace with advanced forms of
socialism.
This, is a remark-
able thought. In Israel,
one finds collectives or
kibutzirn as" they are
called, more socialistic
even than Soviet
Russia. In Soviet
Russia, one may buy
things, one's clothes,
even one's house may
belong to the individ-
ual—but in some of
the kibutzim there is
absolutely no private
property at all. The
very shoes and shirt
you wear today may
be worn next month
by another. And yet
alongside these com-
munities, there exist
in perfect harmony
other groups operating
on more familiar in-
dividual lines. -
If in Israel this can be done, why can't it be
done in the world at large? Certainly, the world
will have to learn this lesson, or face catastrophe.
But there is another lesson which, Major Eban
might have , pointed out, Israel is teaching the
world. He might have pointed to the Jewish Na-
tional Fund as something which all nations might
emulate.
The ideal of the Jewish National Fund is
the implementation of the ancient Biblical
idea that the soil can never be private pro-
perty. "The earth is the Lord's," say the Scrip-
tures. "The land shall not be sold in perpetu-
ity." The words on our own American Lib-
erty Bell at Philadelphia: "Proclaim liberty
to all the land and all its inhabitants thereof,"
were not metaphors.
The liberty the Bible speaks of, was not some-
thing abstract. It means the liberty of access to
the land. That meant you had a chance to work..
You could build a home. You could till the soil
and raise crops. Liberty of the land therefore
meant freedom from unemployment, from hunger,
from high rents and high prices. It meant there
would be no tenant farmers in our sense, no share
croppers.
It was the same ideal as that of a modern Henry
George or of a Franz Oppenheimer, who went
even further than George in contending that the
abolition of land monopoly would end secondary
monopolies and also would result in the virtual
abolition of interest on capital.
I never look at those blue-and-white boxes
in which we drop nickles and dimes and
quarters as merely collection boxes. This blue-
and-white box seems to me rather something
like a mezzuza. I hope I am not being blas-
phemous when I say that perhaps we should
kiss it as we drop a coin in it, even as pious
Yews kiss the mezzuza. I cannot escape the
feeling that these blue-white boxes stand for
something much bigger than charity. They
stand for justice, for there can be no justice
as tong as the right of man's access to the
good earth is denied. They stand for the great
principle of the Jubilee proclaimed by the
Bible, the Jubilee of the earth for which all
humanity is striving.
More immediately, they will be the means of
providing for the absorption of the hundreds of
thous-ands of' Jewish immigrants now directing
their feet eastward, as formerly they directed
their prayers. Judge Rothenberg, president of the
JNF, has just presented a program for the ac-
quisition of one million dunams of land for the
coming year. That is a large amount, equal to
the total land acquisitions in the half century
of the existence of the Jewish National Fund.

(The Jewish News is pleased to announce
that its distinguished columnist, Mr. David
Schwartz, will deliver a series of addresses
in Detroit and other nearby communities.
Mr. Schwartz will address Arlazaroff Branch
of the Farband at the Labor Zionist Institute
on Wednesday, March 30; the Midrasha and
the faculty of the United Hebrew Schools on
Saturday night, Feb. 2; the Farband branches,
at a special joint gathering, on Sunday, Feb.
3; and the Bnai Brith of Flint on April 5.
Arrangements are being made for addresses
by Mr. Schwartz on March 31, April 1 and
April 4, details to be announced next week.)

Facts You Should Know .. .

What is a Chuppah?
The term Chuppah is the name given to the
bridal 'canopy under which bride and groom are
married according to Jewish tradition. The term
Chuppah supposedly comes from a Hebrew word
meaning to cover. Since the canopy is in reality
a cover of a sort, it is fittingly referred to as a
chuppah which literally means a cover. The sim-
plest reason for using the Chuppah at a traditional
wedding ceremony is that in Jewish life marriage
is regarded as a revered institution. Thus it is
claimed by many that the original connotation of
the term Chuppah indicated the room which bride
and groom had chosen to occupy.
* #*
Why do traditional Jews refrain from
having two brothers or sisters married on the
same day?
This is an ancient tradition going at least as
far back as the 13th century when we find ,in
the Testament of Rabbi Judah the Chasid, that a
man "shall not marry, off two of his children on

the same day."

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