liks the Editor
Views the News
Her Contribution
Eliakum Zunser's Life
Brilliantly Portrayed
Sense vs. Party Strife
Dr. Peretez Bernstein, leader of the Gen-
eral Zionist Party in Israel, made a very
important statement in Tel Aviv last week.
Pledging his party's support to the present
government of Israel, despite its (*position
to the government's economic policies, Dr.
Bernstein said that the General Zionists will
continue to "struggle for attainment of their
objectives, without precipitating the govern-
ment's resignation." And he added that "the
present economic crisis—which culminated
in the unplanned clothing rationing ordi-
nance—is due chiefly to a shortage of fore-
ign capital investments, for which urgent
corrective action is necessary."
In the main, Dr. Bernstein's statement
makes sense. His party is fully justified in
striving to advance' its oconomic theories-
although.his statement appears to refute his
criticism of the "unplanned" rationino. ordi-
nance. If corrective action is needed, because
of the shortage of foreign investments, the
Israeli authorities may have been right in
their action.
On the other hand, there is evidence of a
rather mean approach, based on party am-
bitions, from other quarters. The Mapam
has proven to be a menace to Israel's status.
And the Herut Party, composed of former
members of Irgun Zvai Leumi, has issued a
call to its membership to be ready "to take
over the country's administration."
Any legally organized group has a right
to take over responsibility for ruling the
country it owes allegiance to, provided it is
done by majority rule. But Herut is a minor-
ity. So is Mapam. Nevertheless, Herut's lead-
er, Menachem Beigin, in an invitation to
other minority parties in Israel "to rally
around the Herut for planning the prepara-
tion of a new regime" in Israel, stated: "The
Herut will extend its hand to all bodies and
parties concerned with the welfare of Israel,
in order to bring about the liberation of the
country from the present regime." This,
clearly, is a charge that the ruling majority
is oppressive. It is a call to rebellion and we
doubt whether the sensible people in Israel,
who do form an overwhelming majority,
will pay attention to such appeals to strife.
Herut would have done better . if it, could
have proven that the ruling party in Israel
is not fulfilling its obligations to the people
and the state. Its statement is / not helpful
in a time when, acting in behalf of the joint
coordinating committee of the Israel gov-
ernment and the Jewish Agency, Itzhak
Raphael, the Agency's immigration chief,
submitted a comprehensive three-year plan
which calls for the transfer to Israel of 650,-
000 Jews now living in 58 different countries.
The sum of $100 will be needed to transport
each Jew. Iraq and Iran are the two main
countries involved in the transfer plan.
To carry out such a program, a certain
measure of unity is necessary, and neither
Herut nor Mapam have offered it. Joshua
Shye, director-general of the Israel Ministry
of Immigration, has indicated that Israel's
growth from a population of 650,000 when
the state was established to its present 1,-
125,000 has changed the country's complex-
ion ; that 60 per cent of the new settlers come
from Aden and North Africa, with the result
that "Oriental communities in Israel now
number 31 per cent of the population, com-
pared with 20 per cent in 1943," that since
the Orientals are "more prolific" than the
westerners, 60 per cent of the citizens under
17 belong to the Oriental community.
This is one of many problems facing the
new state. The existing issues are stagger-
ing, but the present government has proven
its ability to weather many storms. An in-
crease in party strife will harm Israel. The
General Zionists should be commended for
their willingness to be helpful. Herut and
Mapam have earned condemnation for creat-
ing party bitterness and internal strife.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers. Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
Co. 708-10 David Stott 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
SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertising Manager
RUTH L. CASSEL. City Editor
Vol. XVII—No. 25
Page 4 September 1, 1950
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twentieth day of Elul,
5710, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Dent. 26:1-29:8.
Prophetical portion—Is. 60.
Bard of the Jewish People
Prof. Sol Liptzin's "Eliakum Zunser: Poet of
His People" (published by Behrman House, 1261
Broadway, New York 1) is a remarkable story
about a remarkable man and about an import-
ant era in Jewish history.
Dr. Liptzin, professor of literature at the Col-
lege of the City of New York, revives interest
in the man who was his people's Bard, who made
an art of being a Badchen, "a career which was
not then in the best repute because of the un-
savory character of its practitioners. but which
he was able to ennoble by his high idealism and
superior artistry."
He was his people's poet and his songs,
which became an important part of Jewish folk-
lore, were sung by millions everywhere. His
fame spread from Russia to the United States,
and when he came here he at once was accepted
as hero and idealist, as inspirer of faith.
The author succeeds in many ways in his
biography of Zunser. The book reads like a
Flouting Public Opinion
A short time ago, a group of Chicago Jewish leaders
accepted an apology from the Chicago Tribune—for publi-
cation in the Jewish press only—for an article in which
Senator Herbert H. Lehman, Supreme Court Justice Felix
Frankfurter and Henry Morgenthau, Jr. were charged with
being the heads of the "secret governthentP that is dominat-
ing policy in the United States.
The countrywide criticism that has been leveled at the
Chicago leaders for accepting such a vague apology, which
the Tribune refused to publish in its own columns, proves
justified by subsequent articles which indicate that the Tri-
bune's offensive policies have not been changed by an iota.
A few days ago, the Tribune published another article
by 'Walter Trohan, under the heading "Foreign Born Hold
Many High Federal Posts," listing many names of disting-
uished people in the service of our country who happened to
be born overseas. Some were infants when they came here.
For instance, Ugo Carusi, who heads the displaced persons
commission of the department of justice, "was brought to
this country shortly after his birth" in Italy.
The point of the article is clear: to arouse prejudice
against foreign-born who happen to be in this country's
service in President Truman's administration. Referring
again to Mr. Justice Frankfurter; the Tribune writer makes
sure that he informs his readers that he was born in Austria
and was brought to this country at the age of 13 ; that he
is a close friend of Secretary of State Dean Acheson; that
Alger Hiss was his protege. And of Mr. Acheson the Tribune
writes that he "was born in Connecticut within four years
after his parents came to this country."
There is a sprinkling of Jewish names in the Tribune
list. But the important point to be noted is that an issue is
made of foreign-born—no matter how loyal and devoted
they may be—and that an old policy of arousing prejudice
is resorted to by the Tribune writer. His article—sub-headed
"Acheson, Douglas First Generation- Americans"—clearly
was not intended to prove that newcomers to these shores
make great contributions to America, but rather to resort
to innuendos, to tie in again the names of Hiss and Harold
Laski with officials the Tribune dislikes, to generaliie in
accusations against an entire group, under the guise of fight-
ing Communism. And from these spreaders of hate mis-
guided leaders saw fit to accept a tongue-in-cheek apology!
U.S.-Israel Diplomatic Relations
Dr. James G. McDonald, lifelong friend of the Zionist
movement and the sympathetic first United States Ambas-
sador to Israel, is in Washington for a discussion of his dip-
lomatic status with State Department officials. It is assumed
that he will not return. to Israel and that he will become
active in this country in behalf of the United Jewish Appeal
and Brandeis University.
Why did Dr:sMcDonald resign from his Ambassadorial
post? The most lOgical explanation appears in Kenneth W.
Bilby's faScinating • story Of his experiences in Israel, "New
Star in the Near East" (Doubleday). Listing a number of
cleavages between Israel and the U. S., Bilby Writes:
"Lumped together, these varied conflicts still do not rep-
resent an abandonment of America's traditional pro-Israeli
policy. Out approach to the Jewish state remained hesitantly
friendly; but in my opinion relations could be much improved
by a change of diplomatic representation with a career diplo-
mat guiding the American Embassy. If our ambassador were a
man of not unsympathetic approach to the new state, but one
who could convince the Israelis themselves that he had the con-
fidence of the State Department and accurately reflected its
views, friendly or hostile, then you would note a change for
the better. More than one influential Israeli has confided to me
his belief that reports from our Tel Aviv embassy, pertaining
to the attitude of the local government or the mood of the popu-
lace, were discounted in Washington because of Ambassador
McDonald's known pro-Zionist sentiments. There was a spread-
ing conviction in Tel Aviv when I departed that the time for
emotionalism in diplomacy had passed, that American-Israeli
relationships should be fixed on a more realistic plane. Ex-
perienced, unbiased diplomatic representation was the answer."
On the strength of this viewpoint—which may be tinged
with some bias against the retiring U. S. Ambassador— it is
doubtful whether any one like Bartley C. Crum has the re-
motest chance of being chosen to succeed Dr. McDonald.
The Editor has heard comments like Mr. Bilby's about
Dr. McDonald while in Israel. The trend, apparently, is to-
wards the selection of a career diplomat as the next U. S.
Ambassador to Israel
romance in its discriptions of the hero's
struggles and the difficulties that were en-
countered by Jews in Russia under the Czars.
He proves that Zunser was a pioneer Zionist
who was convinced that only the end of Jew-
ish homelessness will solve the Jewish problem.
But the story of Eliakum Zunser is more than
a biography it is a chapter of Jewish history,
describing the era of the Cantonists—the Jewish
lads who were taken from their homes to serve
for 25 years in the Russian army under Nicholas
I (Nikolayevskiye soldati). It is the story of men
and women who withstood persecution.
Zunser learned the art of braiding to earn a. •
livelihood, but later turned to composing songs,
to singing them to Jewish audiences who craved . .
for spiritual encouragement in their hours of
suffering. In this country, he operated a printing
shop to which flocked the outstanding leaders
in America Jewry.
The reader will meet some of the greatest
men of the past: two generations in the pages
of Dr. Liptzan's book. For instance : "Among his
(Zunser's) playmates in Kochel's Hoif,a Vilna
courtyard, the youngest and brightest was Motke,
the innkeeper's Son, - who was later to win re-
nown as Mark AntokolSky, the favorite sculptor .
of Czar Alexander II." Interesting facts are re - •
lated here about Antokolsky.
Zunser was a pioneer in popularizing Yid-
dish. Until his day it was looked upon as a, •,
"jargon"and those who used it in print ap-
pologized for it. "Hebrew was the normal med.. •,`::
ium for dignified abstract poetry." But Zunser
aimed to reach the masses and his creative.
works helped to encourage the wider use of
Yiddish by -writers, publicists. and Jewish lead-
ers.
The story of the Cantonists is one of the most
moving portions of the entire book. Zunser'S
brother -was. "caught"- for service in Nicholasr
army and later he, too, became a victim of the
horrible system. But he was freed in the nick
of time, . when it was abolished by Alexander II.-
The man who was responsible for Zunser's forced
enlistment came in for severe punishment and
on this occasion, as on every one throughout his
life, Zunser composed a song to sing a paean of
joy—or sorrow, as the case may have been—to
commemorate the event. And the Jewish people
sang his songs with him. .
He didn't have an easy life. Ten children of
his first marriage died tragic deaths and his
wife, too, was called to the great beyond. The
second marriage was lasting, happier, and his
children shared his joys with him.
Even as Badchen he didn't have an easy time.
His competitors caused him misery, but he sur.?
vived all difficulties.
Zunser's advocacy of Zionism is one of the
strong points in his career. He learned to know
that there is no hope for Jews under the rule of
oppressors and he became American Jewry's
staunchest of the early proponents of Jewish
statehood.
Dr. Liptzin has rendered an excellent service
with his fine biography:: He has brought to light
forgotten chapters of Jewish history and has
given proper status to a great Bard.
Facts. You Should Know .
What are "Selichoth"?
"Selichoth" is the term used to refer to a
traditional body of penitential prayers which'
are recited in the. synagogue on various ocea.
sions, especially before Rosh Hashanah, either •
beginning on the Sunday before the holiday, or,
if the holiday falls on Monday or Tuesday, then
on the Sunday previous to the Sunday before
the holiday. The term "Selichoth" comes from
a Hebrew word which means forgiveness. The
prayers are therefore prayers which seek for-
giveness.
Tradition required these Selichoth to be re-
cited after the individual had gone through the
relaxation and spiritual uplift of the Holy Sab-
bath so that he starts the week off in penitence,
and in purity and is in the proper mood for the
prayers. Starting on a week day, one's mind is
usually preoccupied with mundane affairs.
Since it is forbidden to say the penitential
prayers on the Sabbath, because the latter was
to be spent in luxury and relaxation, and the
spirit of the Sabbath is usually stretched until
the midnight hour on Saturday, the Selichoth
are traditionally recited juSt as the atmosphere
of the Sabbath leads into the beg
inning of the
week.