As the Editor
Views the News .. .

Today and Tomorrow

The Day of the
Lord Bath Come

By DR. NOAH E. ARONSTAM

All ye peoples clap your hands, shout unto
God with at voice of triumph. —Psalm 47:2.

A Happy New Year

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More than ever before, we have cause for
rejoicing and thanksgiving as we welcome
the year 5710.
(4
Jewry has witnessed the realization of
what has been considered an unrealizable
dream in the establishment of Israel.
The displaced persons camps are being li-
quidated.
Bigotry is being fought more effectively
than ever before.
The democratic ideal is appreciated more
keenly than ever before.
As Americans, we can take pride in the
economic and political advancement that has
been made in recent years and in the free-
dom that has been attained by those who
battle for justice and equality for all men.
There are, as we shall find it necessary
to point out, negative angles in the picture
we have just painted so rosily. Anti-Semitism
exists and in some areas is increasing. The
buildino- of Israel is a slow process, consider-
a
ably handicapped
by an indifference that
has swept Jewish ranks. The battle for liber-
ty and justice still must be waged vigilantly.
In the main, however, we have progressed.
There is a better chance for the under-dog.
Prejudice can be met with strong weapons, fourtely Institute for American Democracy, Inc.
and in some instances through existing fair
practices legislation. This country still is
the strongest champion of justice, and
American Jews can feel proud of their privi-
leges.
Irving Pflaum, reporting from Warsaw on the present
In 5710 we shall surely see the extension
of the ideals which make America great. We tragic position of Polish Jewry, makes this important evalu-
shall witness new achievements in Israel, ation:
and we pray that Jewry should live up fully
Blind hatred for Jews is not new to Poland's countryside
to its oblicfations toward Israel and in de- where anti-semitism flared into murderous pogroms even under
fense of the highest American principles.
the Communists' "Peoples' Republic." It's my painful duty to
May 5710 prove a year of glory for all report that though nearly all of Poland's Jews are dead or ex-
mankind.
iled, anti-semitism flourishes. Perhaps this was to be expected.
A Happy New Year to all Israel.
The Nazis planted their anti-sex/111k fury everywhere, even in

Mreq coca
ays a----

Relial

Polish Jewry's Tragedies

Quality of Divine Mercy

S. Y. Agnon's "Days of Awe," published
by Schocken, contains the following quota-
tion on "The Quality of Mercy" from Hayye
Av2aham, a commentary on the Shulhan
A: ukh by Abraham Kalfon, published in Li-
voi.lo in 1826, which in turn quoted from the
agii - dic homilies "Parashat Derakhim" by
Juc Rosanes of Constantinople (1729) :

There is another reason why the Holy One,
bI2ssed be He, set the Day of Judgment in the
manth -of Tishri, and not in another month.
It is for Israel's good that the Day of Judg-
ment was set in the month immediately pre-
ceded by the harvest season when the poor are
given the gleanings, the forgotten sheaves,
and the corners of the fields—so that, when
the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to sit in
judgment on the world, He may judge Israel
not with the quality of divine justice, but with
the quality of divine mercy. For great is the
efficacy of charity that turns the quality of
strictness into the quality of mercy.

:

martyred Poland. Such treatment as they gave the Jews in
Poland. (and Jews from everywhere in Europe died in Poland)
surely must have encouraged the Poles in their senseless hatred.
As in almost every situation of racial and religious persecu-
tion, the persecuted peoples on a slightly higher grade often
join in the perseclition of those below.
But another factor has been added. A number of Poland's
leading Communists are of Jewish origin. They are not Jewish
in a religious sense, for their religion is Marxism-Leninism. But
they are Jewish in Hitler's sense, and the Poles (and many other
people) adopt Hitler's racial theory.
Today in parts of rural Poland you can see a couplet in
Polish written on Communist party and government posters by
a peasant hand. Translated it reads : "Stalin take back your
Jewish swine and give back to us our little pigs." (The peasants
have fewer hogs than they had before the war and believe the
Russians have taken them, though there's no evidence that they
have done so).
As in all situations of this kind, Poles ignore the fact that
many of their Communist leaders are NOT Jews, and some of
them profess to be Catholics. None of the true Communists is
either Jew or Catholic, but the people of Poland aren't prepared
to draw this distinction.. And they see only the Communists
they call Jews.
' This of course binds into the Communist party with even
deeper loyalty the Poles called Jews who are Communists. For
they realize that their lives depend on the party and the state
it has created.
If the Polish people ever rise in violence against their new
regime, the Polish members of it they consider to be Jewish will
suffer first.
And that will be a sorry sign for any new Poland that may
arise.

. This is one of the pearls from the rich
philosophic Jewish commentaries on charity
and justice. It offers one of the most im-
portant lessons needed for our time: for the
continuation of the most sacred practices
that lead to Mercy and for striving to end
human misery. This quotation should in-
spire our people, in the sacred days we are
now ushering in, to carry on the great work
of mercy for Israel—especially through the
United Jewish Appeal—and to live up fully
to our obligations. Perhaps it will help fill
the gaps in the funds that are so sorely
needed to assure mercy for the downtrodden
We are quoting his report in full because it is an emi-
in Israel.
nently fair description of . conditions in Poland and because
it points out that anti-Semitism in Poland continues to flour-
ish in spite of the fact that "nearly all of Poland's Jews are
Member: American Association of English-Jewish .News-
dead
or exiled."
papers. Michigan Press Association.
Services: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Seven Arts Feature
Our readers need not become disturbed over the report
Syndicate, King Features, Central Press Association, Palcor
that some of the leading Polish Communists are Jews. The
News Agency.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing frantic appeals of Polish Jewry to be taken out of that coun-
Co. 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit :16, Mich., WO. 6-1155.
Subscription $3 a year; foreign $4.
try and to be provided with means of settling in Israel is
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
proof that the small number of surviving Polish Jews—less
Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
than 70,000 of Poland's pre-war Jewish population of
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
3,700,000 remain there—is not concerned with Comrritinism.
SIDNEY SHMARAK. Advertising Manager
Mr. Pflaum's disturbing report serves as a warning to
VOL. XVI—No. 22 Page 4 September 23, 1949
Jews everywhere to use every available means to take their
kinsmen out of Poland and to settle them in Israel. Unfor-
Rosh Hashanah Scriptural Selections
tunately, the American quota for Polish Jews is filled for
Pentateuchial portion—First day, Saturday: many years to come, and Israel remains Polish Jewry's only
Gen. 21
29:1-6; Second day, Sunday: Gen. hope of escape.
This is one of the post-war tragedies : that anti-Semitism
22, Num. 29:1-16.
is not dead ; that it flourishes in Germany, that it continues
Prophetical portions—First day, I Sam. 1:1- to exist as a danger to democratic ideals and as a threat to
2:10: Second day, Jer. 31:2-30.
Jewish existence in Poland.
There are less Jews to be rescued than ever before—
Scriptural Selections for Fast of Gedaliah,
because
hundreds of thousands are being settled in Israel
Monday.
and because millions were murdered by the Nazis. But the
Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 32:11-14: 34:1-10. few who remain are our concern and we n;iust .make every
effort to rescue them. The serious work of rescue and re-
Prophetical portion—Is. 55:6-56:8.
habilitation will continue fora number of years to come.

THE JEWISH NEWS

:

Clap your hands!
Raise your voice with a song of triumph,
For the day of the Lord hath come.
The bleak and threatening clouds are rent
asunder,
And the sun rises once again
Upon a year of Hope and Aspiration :
Hope that never left our hearts,
With Aspiration to achieve the task
That history has entrusted us with
For the fulfillment of a glorious future.
Slacken not thy efforts, oh my people;
Gird thyself with greater strength,
And raise thy voice with a song
Of thanks and triumph and of joy:
For the Day of the Lord hath come.

Aid to the Fleeing

Wischnitzer's Book Tells
About Jewish Migration

TO DWELL IN SAFETY, the story of 'Jewish Migration
since 1800. By Mark Wischnitzer, with a • Preface by
James G. McDonald. Philadelphia, Pa.. The Jewish Publi-
cation Society of America, 1948, xxv+368 pages. 15 pages
of illustrations. $4.00.

Flight from Europe is an ultra-modern phrase.
Actually, such a flight has been going . on for at
least a century and a half and has left its mark
on every continent and on many lands. Scores
of millions of every nation and religious tradi-
tion left the countries of their birth, during the
past century, and wandered across land and sea
to seek new homes. What motivated this vast
exodus? Economic and political causes account-
ed for- most of it among Jews as well as among
Christians. The more than four million Jews,
however, who were involved in it combined all
the motives into a single one—the desire to find
safety: from oppressive and sometimes murder-
ous enemies, from strangling economic restric-
tions, from .stepmother-lands which denied them.
the dignity of human beings. All of this Dr.
Wischnitzer sums up in the eloquent title of his
book, "To Dwell in Safety," a title which he
drew from a messianic vision in the Bible (Jere-
miah 23.6).
Beginning with Jewish migrations from
western and central Europe from 1800 to 1880,
Dr. Wischnitzer carries his story forward to
the flight from Russia and other East Euro-
pean countries after 1881 and through the
forced migrations before, during and follow-
ing World War II. While he discusses migra!-
tion to every land of new settlement, he gives
chief attention to migration to the United
States. The final chapters, dealing with the
attempts to save . Jews from Nazi exermination
and with the heroic efforts of the few sur-
vivors -to enter the land of Israel, afford an .
excellent summary of what all of us have -
read in the daily press but all too many tend
to forget.
Interest, aboVe all, centers on those hereu-,
lean but little known efforts repeatedly made
by the Jews of Europe and America to aid the
migrants. Other ethnic and religious groups
saw millions of their fellows take up the wan-
derer's staff, yet none felt any need to come to
the aid of the poverty-stricken and the home-
less, until the most recent Nazi terrors moved
the liberal-minded of all faiths. Only the Jews
responded. There were, to be sure, not only
sacrifices and achievements, but also much pet-
tiness and many failures. But on the whole, _
this volume offers irrefutable proof of the spirit
of philanthropy, the genius of organization and
the sense of comradeship which have charac-
terized the Jews during the past one hundred
and fifty years. The problem nevertheless proved
too vast for the Jews of Europe and America,
and Dr. Wischnitzer tells us why. From many
points of view, this boOk, while discussing a
basically tragic movement in Jewish history,
yet gives plenty of occasion for Jewish self-
respect.
The volume contains 15 pages of intereaing
illustrations. The statistics given in the text are
supplemented by a number of tables in an
appendix. There is also an appendix listing
the numerous organizations in every part of
the world which functioned throughout a cen-
tury and a half in aiding emigration and immi-
gration. The book is provided with useful foot-
notes and an adequate index.
.Dr. Wischnitzer was professor of medieval
economic history, Institute of Higher Jewish
Studies, St. Petersburg, 1909-1912. He was editor,
Department of History, Jewish Encyclopedia in
Russian, St. Petersburg, 1908-1913; editor, His-
tory of the Jewish People, Moscow, 1914; editor,
departments of history and sociology, Encyclo-
paedia Judaica, Berlin, 1924-1932; professor,
Yeshiva University, School of Education and
Community AdMinistration, New York; secre-
tary-general, Hilfsverein der. Deutschen Juden,
Berlin, 1921-1937; research associate, European
Office, Joint Distribution Committee, Paris, 1938-
1940; research associate, Institute on Overseas
Studies, Council of Jewish Federations and Wel-
fare Funds, New York; author of a large number
of books and essays on Jewish history, particu-
larly in Poland, Lithuania and Russia, and so-
ciology, including Die Juden in der Welt (1935),
the history and recent development of Jewish
communities all. over the world.