THE JEWISH NEWS
Jewish History's Greatest Gamble:
16
Uganda issue Rocked &xith
Zionist Congress ; Splits
Lessened on Eve of State
Religious Leaders
Put Thumbs Down
On Intermarriage
—
Friday, July 2'7, 1951
n ewish Grandmaw Tries Channel Swim
With the opening set for mid-August of the first World
NEW YORK (AJP) —Leading
Zionist Congress since the establishment of the state of Israel, religious leaders of the nation's
the American Jewish Press presents the second of a• series on three major faiths turn thumbs
the past, present and future of the Congress.
down on "mixed" marriages, a
leading professor writing on the
The Zionist movement created
its state-builders from a people
The next great issue before controversial subject told an
which had been without such succeeding Congresses was the audience of millions last week
question of admitting non-Zion- through the Media of a national
ists to the 'Jewish Agency for magazine.
Dr. David R. Mace, professor
Palestine. Dr. Chaim Weizmann,
who had been among those op- of Human Relations at Drew
posing the Uganda proposal, University, tackled the thorny
now was one of the leaders of topic in two pieces in the
the group favoring addition of "Woman's Home Companion."
non-Zionists to the Jewish Through interviews with lead-
Agency. The fourteenth Con- ing Jewish, Catholic, and Prot-
estant clergymen, Dr. Mace
gress was host • ,
found that for the most part the
to a new kind
men who perform the ceremo-
of Zionist group,
nies and invoke the traditional
the Revisionists.
blessings give intermarriage less
Led by Vladimir
than an even chance of "mak-
Jabotinsky, four
ing good."
delegates at-
Dr. Mace's findings were fol-
tended. The Re-
lowed up by the magazine with
visio - nist
a shorter piece on how one
opened a battle .
"mixed marriage" succeeded.
against w ha t
The partners, a Catholic and a
they considered
Protestant, were married de-
a too - concilia-
spite objections of parents, and
tory attitude :
slowly overcame religious prob-
against England ;
lems and were successful in es-
as the Manda-
tablishing a happy home.
tory power in
Love for a Jew by a non-
Palestine.
Jabotinsky
Jew is not the same thing as
The
sixteenth
Congress
settled
for Judaism, and it is for
DR. CHAIM WEIZM ANN
the Jewish Agency issue by ac- love
this reason that responsible
cepting
non-Zionist
representa-
experience for 19 centuries, and
rabbis refuse to perform con-
each instrument had to be cre- tion but the debate posed by versions in cases of intermar-
—American Jewish Press Photo
the Revisionists was to continue riage, Rabbi Solomon Wein-
ated without precedent.
MRS. BETTY COHEN, 51-year-old Jewish swimming grand-
virtually
until
the
state
was
es-
Such a framework guaranteed
berger states, writing on "Con- mother from Brooklyn who hopes to cross the English Channel
that almost every one of the 22 1 tablished. As the British ex- version for Marriage" in the next month, receives a warm sendoff from her two grandchildren
panded
•
a
policy
of
constant
Zionist Congresses held since the
current issue of Orthodox and son before departing for London. The 5'5" 164-lb. Mrs. Cohen,
first one in 1897 would be the whittling away of the rights of Jewish Life.
believed to be the first grandmother to make the Channel swim
Jews
in
Palestine,
the
Revision-
scenes of sharp internal contro-
As far as traditional Judaism attempt is shown holding her granddaughter, Zena, 4, while her
ists
grew
until
they
emerged
at
versy. Nevertheless the move- l
is concerned, there is "ample grandson, 7, and her son, Pvt. Bernard, 22, look on. Her son
ment proceeded on its historic! the seventeenth Congress as the evidence that conversion for was given a special furlough to see her off. Her husband, Dr.
third
largest
party.
Combining
destiny.
marriage has no validity in Jew- Harry Cohen, is her trainee and coach.
The first fundamental issue with other right-wing groups, ish life," the Babylon, N. Y.,
they
forced
Dr.
Weizmann
out
developed no later than the
rabbi declared.
second Congress in 1893. when of office. • The victory was a
"Deep-rooted spiritual convic-
brief
one,
however,
and
the
Re-
the Orthodox elements opened
tion, intellectual integrity and
visionists
took
part
for
the
last
their fight against the dominant
emotional sincerity" were listed
secular forces, a struggle which time in a Congress at the eight- as the only basis for any con-
eenth
gathering
in
Prague
in
was also a major aspect of the
version by Rabbi Weinberger,
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. calling on Egypt for immediate .,
third Congress in Vienna in 1899. 1937. It was another to be pre- who added that conversion
sented
with
one
of
the
great
de-
(JTA)—State
Department re- cessation of the Suez blockade.
By the time/the fifth Congress
where these elements are lack-
The British were anxious to
was held in Basle in 1901, an cisions of Zionist history— ing is a ludicrous and prepos- luctance to go along with Britain
Gfficial opposition had been or- whether to consider the British terous mockery of a . sacred and France on a strongly-word- have prior, American approval of
ed resolution calling on Egypt the draft so that it could be
ganized, the "Democratic-Zion- proposal for a partitioned state ideal."
to cease immediately its block- submitted jointly by the three
ist faction," which sought in Palestine. The twenty-first
ade of Israel-bound shipping western powers. The United
greater emphasis on the cultural Congress in Geneva in 1939 met Israel Seaman on Wildcat
through the Suez Canal was States, however, considered the
aspects of Zionism, more Hebrew under the shadow of war. The Strike Over Currency Squabble
held responsible for delay in ac- draft `-`too strong" and wanted it
culture and ' Jewish tradition, delegates bitterly protested the
tion by the United Nations Se- watered down in an apparent
more participation by youth and British policy - of barring Pales-
HAIFA,
(JTA)—Four
Israeli
more emphasis on immediate tine to Jews but realized that ships were crewless and idle in curity Council on the complaint attempt to avoid offense to the
was inevitable and Jewry would the Haifa port following a strike against Egypt made by the Is- Arab bloc. Informed sources
work.
be Britain's ally in the expected proclaimed by 250 seamen con- rael government:
here forecast that the Ameri-
The second significant issue struggle with Nazism.
The British, concerned over oil cans would succeed in softening
testing the owners' rights to cur-
developed at the sixth Congress
The twenty-second Congress tail foreign currency allocations supplies as a result of the Iran- up the draft resolution before
at Basle in 1903 and it was pre-
cipitated by Theodor Herzl
Herzl , un- met in 1946 to resume the strug- to the crew when the ships dock ian situation and angered by its submission to the Council.
In- Washington, Israel Ambas-
der the pressure of the Kishinoff gle with British imperialism and in foreign ports. The strike is Egyptian blockade action against
sador
Abba S. Eban had a con-
the
British
freighter
Empire
to
decide
that
it
would
negoti-
not
approved
by
the
Israel
Fed-
pogroms. Despairing of getting a
charter for Jewish colonization! ate with Britain on the proposal eration of Labor. The owners of Roach in the Gulf of Akaba, ference with Assistant Secretary
in Palestine, Herzl placed before ' for a "viable state" in Palestine. the ships refuse to start any circulated to all members of the of State George McGhee in
the Congress the British pro- It was the last Congress before negotiations until the strikers Security Council a draft resolu- charge of Middle East affairs
tion, approved by France, flatly and discussed the Suez Canal
return to work.
posal for a settlement in statehood.
situation.
Uganda.
Egypt plans to center - its argu-
The issue was settled at the
ment in the Security Council on
Seventh Congress, which Herzl
its right to conduct a blockade
did not live to see. A resolu-
at the Suez Canal on three doc-
tion rejecting permanently any
uments. According to an Egyp-
alternatives to Palestine. The
tian source, the documents are
occasion also marked the first
diplomatic notes addressed by
defection in the Zionist ranks
the. British Foreign Office to
when a group of delegates,
the
Egyptian Foreign Office in
headed by Israel Zangvvill,
:1936, 1942 and 1948, each up-
withdrew in protest and
holding in the British view,
founded the Jewish Territor-
Egypt's right to institute a ship-
ial Organization.
ping ban at the Canal.
The next three Congresses
In 1936, there was an exchange
were unique. While previous
of
clarifications of the Suez con-
gatherings had seldom failed to
vention of 1888, according to
produce heated clashes, they
this source, and in this ex-
had also developed the institu-
change Britain confirmed the
tions of Zionism. The eighth,
Egyptian right to control ship-
ninth, and tenth Congresses
ping through the Canal. In
marked a low point in achieve-
1942, the Egyptians were plan-•
ments as the "Political Zionists,"
ning to ban Axis shipping
who wanted a charter as a basis
through the Canal and Britain
for colonization, battled the
noted this with satisfaction. In
"Practical Zionists" who argued
1948, when Egypt started its
for immediate colonization with-
blockade
against Israel, a Brit-
out waiting for a charter. The
ish note, this source asserted;
"Practical Zionists" won at the
informed Cairo that the action
tenth Congress.
would not be disputed by Britain.
• Between the eleventh and
twelfth Congresses eight years
UJA National Chairman Talks
elapsed, marking the widespread
With Ben-Gurion on Campaign
disruption in World Zionism
JERUSALEM, (JTA) —William
created by the first World War.
Rosenwald, national chairman
But those years also brought the
;;, - 1
of the United Jewish Appeal,
Balfour Declaration, the first
was received by Premier David.
recognition by any modern
Island
in
1868,
Shlesinger,
then
a
youth
of
In this quaint old diary, just brought to
Ben-Gurion and discussed with
Great Power of the Jewish claim light by the American Jewish Archives of the
19, told how, as part of a band of 50, he him the country's needs and
to national rights in Palestine. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Re-
helped hold off a thousand warring Indians. UJA activities in the United
When the twelfth Congress
His diary, an important historical find, has States. Rosenwald also met- with
met in 1921 at liarlsbad, a ligion, SIGMUND SHLESINGER (above),
been added to the Archives collection of Jew- Finance Minister Eliezer Kap-
large American delegatP,ori, 1.ed Jewish scout from Cleveland, recorded how
ish Americana at the College-Institute in lan and with\ the leaders of the
by Louis Lipsky, was i at- he "scalot three Indians . . . killed a coyote
Jewish Agency executive.
Cincinnati.
and eat him ," during the battle of Belcher
tendance for the first -i,Cirne..
U.S. Seeks Softening of British
Suez Canal Blockade Resolution
Uncover Jewish Indian Fighter's Diary