r Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Closing a Dangerous Gap and Avoiding Distorted Views
Dr. Jacob Lestchinsky, the eminent Jewish Congress leader
and noted economist, has written a thought-provoking essay on
the question Of closing dangerous gaps that have been created
between Israel and the Diaspora. His views raise important issues
affecting_ the attitudes of both communities and they deserve study
and evaluation.
Advocating harmony between Israel and the Jewish commun-
ities in the Diaspora, Dr. Lestschinsky outlines a two-fold problem:
that neither Israel -nor the Diaspora is to remain separate and
estranged one from the other. He is hopeful. He writes with
elation about the extension of Hebrew studies in the Diaspora and
the introduction of courses in the Hebrew language and literature
and Jewish history in American high schools and universities.
In his concern over the possible estrangement of Israel from
world Jewry, Dr. Lestschinsky pays tribute to Galuth Jewry and
declares that a "vibrant, tenacious and self-sacrificing part of it
is waging a furious fight against assimilation." He is encouraged
by advances made in the field of Jewish education and the respon-
sibility for it that is being taken by the local Kehillot. He sees
signs of organizing Jewish life everywhere on a sounder basis, but
recognizes that these factors are not known in Israel. At this
point, advocating the removal of disturbed views, he makes this
challenging statement:
Reading the Israel papers and magazines, one is filled witli
astonishment. They give the impression that the Jews of the
Diaspora have only two concerns: collecting money for Israel
and fear of anti-Semitism. Such a distorted view of the life of
88 per cent of the Jewish people may prove fatal to the State of
Israel. For Diaspora Jews are not merely a quantitative major-
ity but, at present, also a qualitative one. The roots of their
national future are weak, but they possess a great cultural
wealth. The cultural roots are undoubtedly stronger and more
secure in Israel. But there is a greater abundance of ready
fruit from the fruitful cultural trees of Eastern Europe in the
Diaspora. Israel is no doubt concerned to gain possession of the
cultural wealth of the Galuth, but not in the mechanical way of
draining the Diaspora, but in an organic way—which would
enable the Galuth also to benefit from the act of giving its cul-
tural treasures to Israel; that, in the process of transplanting
the Diaspora assets into the State of Israel, the Diaspora Jewish
communities themselves shall enjoy thereof and thrive, insofar
as this will be possible in the Galuth lands.
Israel must have a thorough knowledge of the Diaspora,
know its cultural assets, its struggles and prospects, and look
upon the Galuth Jew as a brother living in difficult conditions
and waging a hard fight for national assets of which both are in
need. and which grow only if jointly cultivated.
Israel must begin to see to it that its press does not tell only
about fund-raising and anti-Semitic attacks but also about the
daily concerns and activities of the 10 million Jews in the Dias-
pora.,,The more serious periodicals of Israel must devote space to
thorough studies of Jewish life in the Diaspora—of the many-
faceted Jewish life, economic, political, cultural and spiritual.
am convinced that this will vastly increase the cultural wealth
of the Jews of Israel and establish more bridges for cultural
interchange between the Jews of the Diaspora and those of Is-
rael.
This is a healthy viewpoint. So much has been said and con-
tinues to be said about the responsibility of world-Jewry to Israel
that it is time to reverse the medal and to say something aboUt
Israel's need to understand the Diaspora. Dr. Letschinsky outlines
the issues on which understanding is needed and the points
which need to be clarified. He renders a real service with his
evaluation and we urge a study of his ideas and their application
to our community planning.
Histadrut to Help
Cities in Michigan
Dispel 'Isolation'
Harold Berke. new resident
director of the Detroit Histadrut
Campaign. returned from a "get
acquainted" tour of Jewish com-
munities in Michigan and re-'
ports a satisfying awareness of
"things Jewish" on the part of
these outlying communities in
the local as well as Israeli
spheres. He noted that each
facet of Israel activity was al-
loted its fair share of commun-
ity endeavor and that neither
the UJA, Histadrut, Bonds, JNF,
plus a host of lesser projects
could truthfully lay claim to
At the office of Police Commissioner George F. Boos, Patrol-
men Capers Harper of the Youth Bureau and Irwin Lawler of the
Police Academy were awarded scholarships to attend the training
institute on "The Police and Racial Tensions," at the University
of - Chicago Law SchooL The presentation was made by the Jewish
Community Council of Detroit and the Probus Club. Left to right:
BORIS M. JOFFE, executive director of the Council; SIDNEY M.
SIIEVITZ, president of the Council; LEO BIGELMAN, president
of
Probus Club; Patrolman IRWIN LAWLER; Police Commissioner
neglect on their part.
HARPER; JOHN M.
Of interest is the realization GEORGE F. BOOS; Patrolman CAPERS of
Probus Club. Selec-
chairman of the project committee
by the community of Grand WISE,
Rapids that they have arrived tion of the officers was made by Senior inspector Sanford L
Shoults and a committee from the Council ad Probus Club.
at the - grown up" stage, and
under the chairmanship of Paul
Liebert plans are being formu-
lated for the creation of a Jew-
Between You and Me
ish Community Council and the
appointment of an executive
By BORIS SMOLAR
director to administer it.
Inc.)
(Copyright. 1952, Jewish Telegraphic A gene,.
Mr. Berke states it is the in-
tention of Histadrut to partici- Domestic Issues:
Will Israel's Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett succeed in bring-
pate in the cultural activities of
these cities next season by pro- ing about "peace" between the 'United Jewish Appeal and the
viding speakers and artists of Israel Bond drive? . . . This is the question which various inter-
note for their community events ested groups are asking as Mr. Share•t's visit to this country nears
and thereby help to dispel any an end ... At present the Foreign Minister is the hardest working
feeling of "isolation" which may person in the United States_ .. He is busy visiting the major Jew-
ish communities in America and delivering two, and often three,
exist.
speeches a day . ... However. he is not forgetting the fact that he
Floridian Editor Mindlin
Refutes AJP Story
As 'Failing Miserably'
Calling to task the American
Jewish Press for "failing miser-
ably to qualify my stand," Leo
Mindlin news editor of the Jew-
ish Floridian. insisted that he
had only "vigorously denied
`rumors' circulated by the Jew-
ish press that Russell's . support-
ers here had resorted to anti
Semitic whisperings _during his
recent Florida campaign again•
Tennessee Senator Estes Kefau-
ver."
The AJP had quoted from one
of Mindlin's columns in which
he attacked Jews in Florida and
Georgia who have allied them-
selves with Russell "I was spe-
cifically cautious in attributing
to the Georgia senator an 11-
Semitic leanings, "Mindlin
claims. "Although offended by
Jewish support of an anti-min-
ority candidate. I felt that th
illicit cry of anti-Semite could
Multiplicity of Drives — An Energy - Wearing Problem
be as damaging as it is meritori-
Time and again. it has been found necessary to deplore the ous when founded."
multiplicity of drives. It is riot a new problem, but it remains un-
Mindlin charges that the AJP
solved.
story reflected "my 'defense' of
The Jewish communities are not alone in this area of being Senator Russell. "although I had
plagued by numerous appeals for funds.
merely denied the existence of
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has found it necessary a few days Jewish slurs on the part of his
ago to publish an editorial under the heading "Too Many Cam- headquarters.' The issue, Mind-
paigns" in which it advanced these arguments:
lin states, was not the candi-
More than 40 fund-raising campaigns are scheduled to be
dates attitude toward• Jews spe-
conducted in St. Louis this year in addition to the Community
cifically, but toward minorities
Chest, according to a survey by the Metropolitan Chamber of
generally.
Commerce.
Many anti-Semitic accusa-
This multiplicity of drives is proving more and more wearing
tions are valid. he says, "but
on those who solicit and those who contribute as well. It was to
those without foundation only
stop just such waste and annoyance that the Community Chest
'was organized in the first place.
The time therefore seems opportune to consider the exam-
ples of Kansas City, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, and many
smaller communities, which have combined chest and non-chest
campaigns into one federated drive.
Federation of campaigns has been a growing trend in Ore-
gon and Michigan in the last few years. In Illinois the State .
Chamber of Commerce is studying its possibilities. The prepon-
derant indications are that it is a success where it has been
tried, and merits extension to other communities.
In the Detroit campaign every agency received more support
than it had obtained the previous year. One company reported
that only 60 to 76 per cent of its employes contributed in pre-
vious years but with adoption of the federated plan 90 per cent
were giving.
We believe the federated plan should be adopted for St.
= Louis.
Federation will be simply a further extension of the idea
which has proved so successful in the Chest.
Who will take the lead to bring it about?
The points made with regard to the general community are
applicable to the Jewish field. Too many campaigns are wearing
on nerves and energies and tend to encourage indifference to all
causes. Therefore, that which applies to Community Chests has a
bearing also on Jewish Federations.
Thus, in the main, most Jewish causes already have been
fused into a single whole in our welfare funds. But there remain
numerous other causes, many Zionist and other appeals, which
continue supplementary fund-raising efforts necessitating machin-
ery for drives, directorates, volunteer organizations,' etc. If some
way could be found to combine such appeals, single federated
drives would undoubtedly redound to the benefit of the entire
community and would, in the long run, prove helpful to the causes
seeking support.
2—THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 27, 1952
Patrolmen Awarded Scholarships
has been entrusted with the important mission of settling the
UJA-bond drive conflict . . . In every city which he visits he
makes it his business to discuss privately with local Jewish com-
munity leaders the UJA-bond drive discrepancies and to find out
what-is-what on the spot . in New York he conferred separate-
ly with leaders of the UJA bond drive and Council of Jewis.
Prior to his leaving the
Federations and Welfare Funds . .
United States, when the entire picture will be clear in his mind,
he will ask the leaders of all three groups to a joint conference
. . Whether this will lead to the establishment of an authori-
tative body to settle conflicts between the UJA and th ,
bond drive is a different question . . . It seems to me, how-
ever, that whatever arrangement Mr. Sharett succeeds in making
with regard to coordination of the two drives, this arrangemen
will go into effect only after this year's campaigns are over . .
There is talk now about inducing the conflicting groups to accep
the authority of a single arbitrator . . . But whether there is an
person in the United States acceptable to the UJA bond drive an.
the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds is a big
question.
•
Inside the Z. 0. A.
The convention of the Zionist Organization of America is over,
but not the internal fight within the ZOA ranks ... Those who le
the opposition against Rabbi Irving Miller still insist that the ne •
ZOA administration must remain politically unidentified with th -
General Zionists in Israel ... Otherwise. they threaten to split th•
organization and set up a separate party ... They claim that t -
resolution on identification. which carried Rabbi Miller to th -
presidency, contains "a highly qualfied" statement on the rela-
tionship with the General Zionists in Israel ... Since the opposi
tion is represented in the new ZOA executive, it says it will "watch
the behavior" of the executive to see whether the new president
"abides by letter and spirit of the resolution" as understood by th•
opposition ... Whether any group in the ZOA can afford to reall.
split the organization into two separate and competing groups is
different story . . The organization has been losing membershi
without being split . . . incidentally, in an attempt to increas ,.
membership, the ZOA employed a non-Jewish firm for direct ma
solicitation . . . This, too, brought few results . .. The new ZO
administration will, by all indicatons, have a good and activ ,
president in Rabbi Miller . His addresses at the ZOA conventio •
have proven him a good orator and a man who will, no doub
refresh the ZOA intellectually . . In his acceptance speech, li -
n-lade no secret of the fact that he lays much hope on receiving
active support in his work from Dr. Abba Hillel Silver . . . How-
succeed in debasing Jews as a ever, by his demonstrative absence from the ZOA convention, Dr
whole and in discrediting the Silver did a great disservice to himself
Many delegates wer -
existence of real Jewish slurs.
astonished to learn that Dr. Silver declined to come to the ZOA
convention . . . Their feeling was that the interest of the Zionist
movement should be above personal grievances.
U.S. Orthodox Jewry-
•
•
•
Criticized at Agudah
A resolution calling upon
Orthodox Jewry to adopt a more
forceful outspoken attitude in
"negating secular influences in
world Jewish affairs" was adopt-
ed by the Mid-Western Confer-
ence of Agudath Israel of Amer-
ica, held here.
Rabbi Morris Sherer, national
e x e c u t e vice-president of
Agudath 'Israel, blamed Ortho-
doxy's "spineless inferiority com-
plex and hush-hush policy for
permitting Reform Jews to gain
a "stranglehold over Jewish
communal life." Rabbi Sherer
also urged that a nation-wide
"alertness program" be launched
by Orthodoxy to "expose the in-
roads made by Conservative
J d aism upon -unsuspecting
Orthodox Jews attracted by Con-
servatism's alleged espousal of
traditionalism."
The conference, attended by
200 delegates, also adopted a
series of resolutions for Ortho-
dox educational activity in Is-
rael and the United States.
Behind the Scenes:
Non-Zionist groups in this country and in Europe are trying
to ascertain how seriously the Israel government feels about ex-
panding the Jewish Agency to include non-Zionists ... They con-
sider that the government's attitude is more important in this
respect, than the present Agency executive, since they assum
that the Agency is not interested in sharing its position with th
non-Zionists . This assumption does not seem to be justified
in the light of the statement made by Dr. Nahum Goldmann at the
ZOA convention, urging the development of the Jewish Ageficy as
a body in which Zionists and non-Zionists could carry joint re-
sponsibility for financial aid to Israel . . The opinion among
some 'non-Zionists is that if the Israel government really welcomes
the active participation of non-Zionist groups such bodies stand
to gain a great deal from actively entering the Israel scene . .
The influence which they could exert in Israel might well extend
even into the field of educating the new and raw population, help-
ing to shape and guide it toward good citizenship .. . However,
the question of non-Zionist participation in the Jewish Agency,
seems to depend largely on whether the bill on the status of the
Agency is passed by the Israel Parliament in its present form, or
whether it undergoes basic changes . . The bill envisages the
enlargement of the Agency as the most desirable aim of the Israel
Government .... But while the Israel government would sincerely,
' a-
welcome such expansion, leaders of - the World Zionist Organiz
tion have no similar desire.. .. It 'Must, therefore, be expected
that differences will occur between the - go.vernrnent and the WZO
with regard to the.impleinentation of provisions of the bill an the
nces. will iand expression
Agency's legal. status . . These differe
when the bill comes before the Israel Parliament. -