Mobilize for House-to-House Campaign Canvas
Women's Division Readies
es or
G-Day Solicitations April 29
At the "Gifts and Dolls" luncheon, April 11, left to right,
seated: Mrs. Samuel S. Aaron, special gifts chairman, and her
vice-chairman, Mrs. Milton M. Alexander; standing, Mrs. Milton
K. Mahler and Mrs. Ben Mossman.
Allied Jewish Campaign Worn-
ed the opening luncheon at the
en's Division workers are pre- Book April 11 and pledged a
paring for their next big proj- record total for a women's meet-
ect, G.-Day, Sunday, April 29, ing — $202,500 — representing a
when general solicitation work- 15% increase over their gifts of
er.:1 will see their prospects on a last year.
"Great Day for Giving." Mrs. John C. Hopp, Women's
More than 400 women attend- Division campaign chairman,
announced the results of the James Laker, co-chairmen of
Mrs. Altman Cancels
meeting and praised Mrs. Harry - the Bnai Brith motor corps
Becker, chairman of pre-cam- committee, are receiving cars
Broadcasts on Pesach
paign, and Mrs. Samuel S. Aar- and drivers from the 19 lodges
on chairman of special gifts, who of Bnai Brith Council.
Mrs. Hyman Altman an-
with luncheon chairmen Mrs.
Patrons of leading Jewish del-
nounced this week that in
Abraham Srere and Mrs. Melville icatessens are being offered a accordance with a tradition
S. Welt, helped to secure the G-Day special—"The Most for
established by herself and
affair's success. Mrs. Harry L. Your Money"—during the weeks her late husband her Jewish
Jones was in charge of arrange- preceding April 29. Cooperating
Radio Hours will not be
ments.
restaurateurs include Albert broadcast on Passover, this
Highlights of G-Day, which is Miller*, Al Miller's; Lou Boren-
Saturday night and Sunday
under the overall chairmanship stein and Sam Horen, Brothers;
noon.
of Mrs. Sidney J. Karbel, gen- Hyman Horenstein, Horenstein's;
Broadcasts will be resumed
eral solicitation chairman, in- Joseph M. Lefkofsky, Lefkof-
on Saturday night and Sun-
clude a breakfast rally of work- sky's; Murray 7. and Simon Li-
day, April 28 and 29, Mrs.
Altman stated.
ers at 9 a.m., Sunday, April 29, berman, Liberman's; Harry Mil-
at the Agriculture Building of ler, Harry Miller's; Isadore E.
the State Fair Grounds, when Atler and Joseph Mosten, Nate's;
Golda Myerson, Israel's top- Herman Herskowitz, Peacock; Yale Faculty Backs
ranking woman diplomat, min- and Hyman Zieman, Whitey's.
Conn. Anti-Bias Bill
ister of Labor and Reconstruc-
Women with special assign-
tion in the Israel Cabinet, will ments for G - Day include Mrs.
HARTFORD (AJP)—Approval
speak.
Charles Briskman, program of of proposed legislation intended
More than 2,000 workers are the day; Mrs. Daniel E. Krouse, to eliminate discrimination in
expected to gather at the break- emergency squad, and Mrs. Sey-
fast, pick up their slips and go mour J. Frank and Mrs. Wil- the selection of students to be
forth in a one-day drive to call liam B. Isenberg, general coordi- admitted to Connecticut c o 1 -
leges and universities was urged
upon 14,500 prospects for their nators.
by 18 members of the faculty of
gifts to the Allied Jewish Cam-
the Yale University Law School.
Dedicate
Health
Center
paign—in support of the up-
The letter by the faculty mem-
building Israel, the Jews of Eu- To Jewish Labor Leader
bers addressed to the Connecti-
rope, new Americans, national
NEW YORK, (AJP) — A new cut General Assembly followed
cultural, health and welfare and
health
center established in the by three weeks a legislative
community relations agencies
memory
• of Jewish labor leader hearing at which representatives
and local Jewish social services.
of all private Connecticut col-
Workers without cars will Sidney Hillman was dedicated leges and universities, including
by
,
garment
workers
and
union
have available a motor corps,
Yale, denied there was any dis-
supplied through the cooper- officials. Formerly a YWCA, the crimination. They urged defeat
building
was
remodeled
into
a
ation of the greater Detroit clinic and health center costing of the proposed anti-bias legis-
Bnai Brith Council. Mrs. Ger- $400,000. More than 60,000 union lation,
ald Goldberg is mobile corps members will be treated without
co-ordinator of the Women's charge for eye, nose and throat 2 THE JEWISH NEWS
Division. I r v L n g Davis and ailments.
Friday, April 20, 1951
—
Purely Commentary
Freedom from Want—and from FEAR
Passover has an important message. It teaches
us the meaning of freedom. It also admonishes
us and mankind not to be jittery, to refuse to
yield to panic, to abandon fear.
Yet we always become victims of fears. Some
of our people have become panicky over the trag-
edy of treason. Half a dozen Jews out of five
million turned traitors and too many in our midst
yielded to fear.
Perhaps Passover comes just in. time—to teach
people not to be afraid, to recognize that you must
face realities when a handful of sinners besmirch
the great heritage of America and of the Hebrew
Prophets. •
Passover also should guide us against com-
placency. In an area and an era of prosperity we
run into the danger of becoming indifferent to
realities. The Feast of Liberation should inspire
us with spirit in support of recently-liberated
Israel. Yet some of us are letting the little state
down.
On Passover it is well to remind our people
again that Israel is a bulwark for democracy,
that without Israel the cause of freedom is en-
dangered in the Middle East, that it is to the
best interests of this country that Israel should
triumph.
May the lesson of Passover triumph over fear,
and to the elimination of complacency and indif-
ference.
Public Officials and the Judaism Council
If the messages sent by public officials to the
convention of the American Council for Judaism
weren't so funny they would be tragic.
President Truman, who prides himself on being
Israel's first friend—having recognized the infant
state a few minutes after Israel's proclamation of in-
dependence—wrote to Lessing J. Rosenwald that "the
Council deserves high credit for its program dedi-
cated to the increasing national, civic, cultural and
social integration of Americans of Jewish faith and
for its belief that nationality and religion are sep-
arate and distinct."
So that's the "program" of the Council which has
been branded as being neither American nor Jewish?
Since when is separation of church and state the sole
objective of Lessing Rosenwald's organization? All
American Jews, without distinction as to party lines
or affiliations, have been fighting for this principle
as true Americans. The Council's new objective is
funny!
Better still: President Truman concludes his mes-
sage with an expression of hope that "the success
which so far has crowned the efforts of the Council
will continue." Now, now, Mr. President! If the Coun-
cil had actually succeeded, you would have been de-
prived of the historic privilege of recognizing Israel!
Your name would not have been inscribed indelibly
in world history! For, there would not have been an
Israel if this Council had its way!
It isn't surprising that Dorothy Thompson has
turned against Israel and was one of the speakers _
at the Council's annual convention in Chicago.
last week-end. Nor are we shocked by the anti-
Zionist position of the disillusioned Socialist Norman
Passover Admonishes Us to Abandon
By Philip
Slomovitz
Fears and Not to Become Complacent
Thomas. But when we learn that Fannie Hurst has
been misled into greeting this disruptive Council
(don't you have a better platform, Fannie?) ; that the
co-sponsor of the Israel Grant-in-Aid measure in the
Ti. S. Senate and one of Zionism's staunchest friends,
Senator Robert A. Taft, has commended the Council
"for its efforts to maintain the basic principles of
American tradition by founding its activities on in-
dividual rights," we are puzzled. Senator, OH!, Sena-
tor, since when do those whom the Council is fighting
lack individual rights? That's just what you are
propagating when supporting the Israel Cause which
the "individual rights" (sic!) Council seeks to destroy
in Zionism!
Funny, isn't it? Or, have our friends put on masks?
Remember what William Makepeace Thackery said?:
"Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one
can wear in society."
Is this another lesson from the Passover story:
that people should acquire freedom from a nasty
tongue-in-cheek habit?
*
*
The Confused Councilites
There may be a few Doubting Thomases left who
will differ with our attitude towards the Judaism
Council. If they desire proof of the Council's destruc-
tive policies, let them study the speeches that were
delivered last week-end at the Chicago convention.
Dorothy Thompson made an impassioned appeal
for the rejection of what she said is Zionism's at-
tempt to make all Jews a part of the "Jewish People
or Nation." This is an outright misinterpretation of
the Zionist cause and of the objectives of those who
aspire to aid Israel. It is as misrepresentative of fact
as her charge that there is discrimination against mi-
norities in Israel. Dorothy Thompson, the former Zion-
ist propagandist, knows better. Something has gone
wrong with her attitude, else she would not be so
viciously antagonistic to Israel.
Then there was a speech typical of the Council's
obstructionist tactics by Lessing J. Rosenwald. He
not only attacked the Israel bond issue but selected
the Joint Distribution Committee for attack. He as-
serted that the merger of JDC with Zionist fund-
raising "has built a tremendous machine to lobby
for Israel." He rose to unusual heights in his repri-
mand of Israel for failing to restrict immigration.
You may ask: Where would Thompson and Rosen-
wald put the persecuted? They were asked the same
question when it was not a matter of rescuing a quar-
ter of million Jews from Moslem countries but of.
saving the lives of a million Jewish survivors from
Nazism. If it did not matter then, why should they
be concerned now?
And the Council calls itself Jewish and American!
Rosenwald, Thompson and their ilk have forgotten
their heritages—the principles of justice, freedom and
equality which they surely claim for themselves. Those
who help Israel, also want the freedom they enjoy for
others. That's the crime of Zionism that they cannot
condone.
*
*
*
Tactlessness of Propagators fora Cause
The Rev. Charles A. Hill, chairman of the Emer-
gency Citizens Committee Against Police Brutality,
has committed an inexcusable blunder. In his appeal
for aid in defense of the two Negroes, Charles Gordy
and his son, in a letter which was circularized among
large number of Jews, the Rev. Hill saw fit to write:
"While Jews were not directly involved, the parallel
is too clear and the danger too close to allow us the
luxury of non-concern . . . No Jew is safe in an at-
mosphere of racial violence, especially when the bias
appears to have official sanction. Jewishness, and the
freedom to keep it are in peril in a city that will tol-
erate such a pattern of police brutality . . . It is the
immediate concern of the Jewish people that Ne-
groes be protected from beatings, illegal arrests, un-
authorized searches. It is for the protection of the
Jewish people that the city officials be forced to alter
the brutal race-policy of the police department. And
it is in the interest of the Jewish people to make their
protest known now."
We quote the Rev. Hill's appeals to Jews as Jews
in full in order that there should be a clear under-
standing that tactlessness never accomplishes any-
thing and does not help good causes. Mr. Hill's ap-
peal is in behalf of the two Negroes who became in-
volved in a police fracas. Mr. Hill asserts: "The police
entered his (Gordy's) house and dragged off his son
on suspicion—no warrant, no forewarning, just 'sus-
picion.' Then, after verbally abusing him, a shot rang
out. He grabbed his gun and returned the fire and
killed a policeman, wounded another."
There is a charge of prejudice, of "race policy of
the police department." It is a serious charge and
must be fought in the courts—the American way. And
the responsibility is that of all Americans—not by
fanning race hatred or by issuing infiamatory calls
on the strength of "minority problems."
This can't work Mr. Hill. American issues must
be fought the American way—through the courts.
There are higher courts, and the United States- Su-
preme Court proved only a few days ago, in the case
of two Florida Negroes whom the Justice rescued
from the chair, that justice can and must triumph
in this great land. That was the American way. We
are ashamed of the people who provided the Rev,.
Hill with the mailing list, thus becoming partners in
a policy of tactlessness.
Perhaps this, too, points to. a Passover lesson : the
need for acquisition of freedom from tactlessness.
*
*
*
Ernest Bevin is Dead
Ernie Bevin is dead.
We would be hypocritical if we said we mourned
his passing. We are saddened by Death and we do
not wish any one ill. But in he case of Bevin we
are doubly saddened by pity and regret.
Bevin, as a labor leader out of power, was a strong
defender of the Zionist cause. That was in the days
when even our staunchest friends thought Zionism.
was an impossible dream, and it is so easy to propa-
gate the impossible.
But Bevin the Foreign Secretary of the great
British Empire became a bitter enemy not only of
Zionism but of the Jewish people when the fighters
for liberation of Israel were victorious.
The pity of it is that Bevin's name could have been
engraved in golden letters in Jewish and world his-
tories as a consistent adherent to the cause he once
espoused. Instead, he chose to become abusive and
to be responsible for violence and for implied anti-
Semitism.
The Bevin who made an about-face when he as-
sumed political power we pitied. He died with a
blemish that will be remembered longer than any-
thing else he did in his lifetime,
Yet, we owe a debt of gratitude to Bevin. If he
had consented to President Truman's plan to admit:
100,000 refugees to Palestine there would have been:
no Israel. He opposed the plan, the Jews had to fight•
for independence—and won!