''Red Ribbon on a White Horse'
As the Editor
Illew41 ibe News ...
Anzia Yezierska Writ
Remarkable Life Story
ONE Community
It is generally agreed that Detroit should
have ONE centrally-functioning Jewish com-
munity, in order to eliminate overlappinc, of
activities which inevitably creates added ex-
pense and unduly taxes our energies.
Spokesmen for the Jewish Welfare Fed-
eration and the Jewish Community Coun-
cil have asserted their readiness to strive
for the formation of a unified community.
The sooner this is effected, the better.
There is duplication of effort on many
fronts. Council, Federation and our schools
have issued separate appeals—during Edu-
cation Months—for enrollment of pupils in
our educational systems. In a unified com-
munity this effort could be coordinated.
Speakers program services are being du-
plicated. Is there any reason why Federa-
tion, Council and Center can not coordinate
such efforts in the interests of economy?
The road to unity is not an easy one. The
pent-up-feelings which were in evidence at
the Jewish Community Council delegates'
meeting last week indicated that it will take
a great deal of statesmanship and more than
the ordinary amount of patience to bring all
elements together.
Some fine points have been raised. Coun-
cil spokesmen have drawn the line between
a kehillah or a community parliament and
the imposition of paternalistic influences
upon the present delegates' assembly, which,
they maintain, would make of the Council .a
mere advisory body. By means of rhetoric, it
is possible to distort viewpoints and to
arouse unnecessary hatreds and suspicions.
This must be avoided at all costs.
In considering the possibility of unifying
the community, it is essential that the fund-
raising responsibilities should be not be ig-
nored. If we had unlimited funds, there would
be less tension. But the trials and tribula-
tions that accompany the gatherinc, of means
for the support of overseas as well as local
causes often entail surgical operations in the
consideration of budgets, and this, in turn,
creates ideological conflicts.
For these reasons, it is all the more neces-
sary that there should be less heat and more
light in the consideration of the issue in-
volving the creation of ONE community.
In any event, the sooner unification is ef-
fected, the healthier and the wiser for all
concerned and for the causes that are at
stake.
Zionist Values
Too many people have forgotten that the
establishment of Israel is traceable to the
Zionist movement—to the political struggle
that was inaugurated by Dr. Theodor Herzl
for international recognition of Jewish rights
to nationhood.
Dr. Herzl set forth ideals which called for
Zionist effort not only in behalf of statehood
but also for the perpetuation and strengthen-
ing of Jewish spiritual values after the ideal
inherent in Zionism became a reality.
Shortly before his death, in 11904, Dr.
Herzl stated: "Zionism will still remain an
ideal, even after Palestine has been restored
!, us. Then Zionism, as I understand it, aims
not only at a legally guaranteed home, but
also seeks ethical and spiritual perfection for
the Jewish people."
This is a basic principle in the movement
whose large membership labored to lay the
foundation for the Jewish state. The Zionist
movement retains a very important place in
Jewish life. It should be strengthened and
kept functioning. The Zionist Organization
of Detroit, as the local arm in the effort for
"ethical and spiritual perfection" in Jewish
community life, currently again seeks -the
support of all Detroit Jews for the annual
Balfour Ball, to be held Nov. 4. There is a
job to be done through the Detroit Zionist
organization and it should be given whole-
hearted support in its effort to raise the
funds necessary for the movement's uninter-
rupted activities.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member: American Association of English-Jewish News.
ps,pers. Michigan' Press Association.
•
Publisher' every Friday by the Jewish News Publishing
Co. 708-10 David Stcitt 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 8. 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVIT2.. Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertising Manager
Vol. XVIII—No. 7
Page 4
October 27, 1950
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the seventeenth day of
Heshvan, 5711, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Gen, 18:1-22:24.
Prophetical portion-11 Kings 4:1-37.
Anzia Yezierska's father, from whom she was
estranged but from whom she finally learned the
wisdom of basic living, had said: ' - Poverty be-
comes a Jew like a red ribbon on a white horse."
This gave rise to the title of her new book. "Red
Ribbon on a White Horse," just published by
Charles Scribner's Sons (597 Fifth Ave., New
York 17). It also guided her in writing one of
her finest creations.
This is her best work since she wrote "Hungry
Hearts." In a sense it grabbed_off higher honors
even from her earliest works which gained fame
for the immigrant girl who, in her first years
in this country, told the Hester Street fish
peddler, Zalmon Shlomoh, "it wills itself in me
to be a writer." And she became a' writer.
Thanks to an editorial by Frank Crane com-
mending her "Hungry Hearts," she was called to
Hollywood and suddenly was in high society,
mingling with the best known writers and scen-
arists, acquiring fame wherever she went.
Then came the depression and a new chapter
in the life of our country and our heroine. She
gained employment at $23 a week with the WPA
—the Writers' Project. Her story of this era is
as fascinating as her own story. Her "Red Rib-
bon on a White Horse" emerges as a powerful
autobiographical sketch which will enchant those
An interesting situation has developed as a direct result who remember the old days of immigrant strug-
of the Israel Cabinet crisis. In every instance, Jewish leaders, gles, those who recall how ambitious persons like
speaking for the American and the Israel communities, are Anzia Yezierska reached their goal, how this free
emphasizing that the crisis "is a normal event in the life of a land provided them with the great opportunities .
young nation coming of age,"—to use a direct quotation to reach the goals they aspired to.
from the address delivered at the convention of Mizrachi
Miss Yezierska has written a splendid book.
Women of America at Atlantic City by Israel Foreign, Mini- W. H. Auden has written a most interesting in-
ster Moshe Sharett. All the speakers at the orthodox wom- troduction in which he points out that this auto-
en's convention were emphatic in their declarations that the biography is "the story of an early 20th-century.
crisis must not be permitted to impede the humanitarian and immigrant, but it has a deeper and more general
welfare activities in behalf of the Jewish state and that it significance today when, figuratively, the immi-
grant is coming more and more to stand as the -
must be taken in stride by Jews everywhere.
These are not mere rhetorical statements to bolster symbol for Everyman, for the natural and un-
faith in a great idea which is symbolized by the functions of conscious community of tradition is rapidly dis-
the impressive democratic Middle Eastern community known appearing from the earth."
Israel's Unaltered Basic Needs
as Israel. They echo the conv.ictions that even a Cabinet
crisis must not be viewed with alarm; that a young nation
which has defeated numerous enemies possesses sufficient
strength to conquer an internal problem ; that there are more
serious and more vital issues with which the supporters of
Israel must concern themselves.
Thus, upon his return from Israel, Henry J. Morgenthau,
Jr., general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, declared
that "the resignation of Israel's government cannot alter the
basic democratic policies of the Jewish state, and particularly
the all-important open-door policy for immigrants." Mr. Mor-
genthau added that Israel's "open door policy has the over-
whelming support of the great majority of the people of
Israel, regardless of party affiliation. The government crisis
is fundamentally a problem of party differences within the
coalition, and cannot change the unalterable fact that Israel
is dedicated to the freedom of the individual and to the prin-
ciples of deinocracy as we Americans practice them."
Mizrachi leaders in this country, in Great Britian and in
Israel have made similar comments on the situation. A point
of particular significance is the assertion by authoritative
orthodox leaders in Jerusalem that the religious bloc will join
a new Cabinet only if it is headed by David Ben-Gurion as
Premier. Before this issue reaches our readers, the crisis may
be solved and the Israel government may be reconstituted.
It stands to reason, therefore, that those who are concerned
about Israel's status should strive to solve the basic prob-
lems, thereby assuring the elimination, of major threats to
the young state.
What are these threats ? They begin and end with the
problem of unlimited immigration. Since Israel's doors MUST
remain open—as a matter of humanitarian idealism and in
the interests of the primary policies of rescuing oppressed
Jews by providing homes- for them in the Jewish state—the
difficulties encountered at the present time will. continue.
They are mainly financial. Israel carries the brunt of re-
sponsibility for the settlement of tens of thousands of Jews
every month. She can not continue to do so without damage
to her economy, and as long as this problem remains, the
Jewish state will be in trouble.
A JTA story from Washington throws light on the situation.
We learn that the Office of Internal Trade of the U. S. Depart-
ment of Commerce has informed American manufacturers that
economic conditions in Israel have become worse in recent
months; that "Less favorable economic conditions in Israel were
indicated by the steady decline of the Israel pound in the free
markets, increase of black market activities, rise in gold quota-
tions on the Tel Aviv exchange and the rationing of textiles and
shoes."
A solution to these problems will solve many other
problems : the country's economic security, the lack of homes
and food for newcomers, the constant threat to the nation's
security.
The appeals of leaders who are fully acquainted with the
situation should be heeded : there should be no exaggera-
tions with regard to the Israel crisis and every effort should
be made to increase United Jewish Appeal funds, to encour-
age private investments in Israel and support of the pro-
posed bond issue.
All indications are that David Ben-Gurion will be recalled
to the Premiership of Israel. In the struggle he and his gov-
ernment will wage for the defense of this democratic bastion
in the Middle East, he must be given the wholehearted sup-
port of American Jewry. There is an opportunity to give
Israel that assurance at the conference in Washington this
week-end and thereafter through strong support of the con-
ference decisions by all Jewish communities in this country.
Historicity of Jesus, Jewish
Messiahship Attitude, Viewed
In Dr. Morris. Goldstein's Book
Jewish references in the Tannaitic, Ambrale•
and post-Talmudic • periods are utilized..by. Dr.
Morris• GOldstein, San Francisco rabbi„ in his
new book,."Jesus in the Jewish Tradition;" (Mac-
millan).
This book is especially interesting from the
point of view of its discussion of the historicity
of Jesus. Dr. Goldstein shows that one Tannaitie
passage, at about 95 C. E., refers to Jesus, and
that "on the basis of possibility we were able to
date another passage at 73 C. E., which is the
approximate date of the earliest Canonical Ges - -
pel.".
Rabbi Goldstein asserts: "We sought an an-
swer as to why Judaism did not assent to the
Messiahship of Jesus. We found that it was
because Jewish tradition did not- regard the
quired messianic conditions as fulfilled with his
coming. Judaism, therefore, adhered to the hope
that in days ahead God would bring redemption
. .. But there was no unanimous opinion as to
when the Messiah would come and what his
exact role would be."
A great deal of research is evident in Dr.
Goldstein's book. He traces the evolution of •
rabbinic tradition, the challenge of Karaism, the
formulation . of dogma in Judaism, the Biblical
and Talmudic exegesis and the codification of:
Jewish law. He emphasizes that there is a coin
mon denominator which unites Christian and •
Jew, that "Jewish tradition held in esteem the-
superb parables of 'Jesus • and his ventures - by •
word and example to lead men to God and the
good life," and adds:
"This degree -of .agreement does not imply
relinquishment. It does not suggest that the
time has come for. the Jew to give up his Juda-
ism or the Christian his Christianity. Both
great traditions; besides this extent of agree?
ment, possess distinctive viewpoints which. are
uniquely their own and of enduring value."
Christians and - Jews will find Rabbi Gold-
stein's book most enlightening.
EDITORIAL,
Unique Habon-im Parties
Social funetiOns do not ordinarily rate an
editorial, but the Habonim expansion parties
to -be held this Sunday at four community
centers are different. ThiS important youth
movement is deterrriined that Detroit's Jew-
ish youth should have the full benefits of its
services, that the thousands of unaffiliated
young people should find a place in Habct:.
nim's ranks. The parties on Sunday—liste.d
elsewhere—offer an excellent opportunity
for the integration of the youth into the
labor Zionist movement. Detroit youth
should respond to the call of Habonim. They,
will benefit—and the movement will be
strengthened.