The Menacing Hand

THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating mite Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20. 1951

Member: American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co.. 708-10 David Stott Bldg., Detroit 26. Mich., WO. 5-1155.
year, foreign $5.
Subscription $4
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.

ac

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

Vol. XXII—No. 20

SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager

FRANK SIMONS
City Editor

January 23, 1953

Page 4

Sabbati Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighth day of Shvat, 5713, the following Scriptural selections will be read
kt our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Ex. 10:1-13:16; Prophetical portion, Jer. 46:1-13:28.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Jan. 23, 5:18 p.m.

Anti-Semitic Russia: its Spreading Evil Roots

Soviet Russia's repeated demdnstrations
of antagonism to Jews prove without a
shadow of a doubt that the Communist
rulers are anti-Semites.
The fantastic charge of espionage against
Jewish doctors and the attack launched last
week upon the Joint Distribution Commit-
tee, whose leaders have been most careful
not to become involved in political matters—
even those that could have involved the res-
cue efforts in Palestine before the establish-
ment of the Jewish state—point to the insane
deviations from reason in the USSR and its
satellite countries.
A tense anti-Jewish atmosphere was
sensed in Russia by Israeli sailors who un-
loaded a cargo of citrus fruits in Odessa. The
flight of 2,000 survivors from the Soviet
German zone and the mass interrogation of
Jews in Communist countries provide addi-
tional evidence of an extensive anti-Semitic
campaign in the Soviet areas.
Yet, the defenders of Russia would have
us believe that Russia is not anti-Semitic! It
is time they stopped fooling themselves. The
sooner we recognize reality, the better will
we be prepared to face the dangers that
emanate from Communist zones—if ever it
will be possible to tackle this new horror
which threatens the extinction of the Jews
who remain—helpless—in lands dominated
by -Soviet rulers.
It is not, however, the anti-Semitism
within Russia alone that matters in our time.
We must concern ourselves with the evil
roots which, as they sprout from Russia, tend
to spread to other lands. There is danger
that the seeds of hatred may be blown to
our shores. In an era of suspicion there is
the danger that the stupidities emanating.
from Russia, no matter how fantastic they
may be, will find fertile soil even in the anti-
Communist atmospheres where the libels of
Russia should be evident on their face values.
And there is the danger of a linking of
the Communist purges with occurrences in
this country. Thus, the Detroit Free Press
suggested 'a "New Job for Pickets" in this
editorial:
"Moscow radio has reported that a group of
Jewish doctors have been arrested for plotting
to kill top Russian leaders by harmful treat-
ment and incorrect diagnoses.
"The Communists charge that a wrong di-
agnosis hastened the death in 1948 of Andrei
44. Zhdanov of the Politburo. The fact that a
half dozen other leaders, who were attended
by the accused Jewish doctors, still are alive

is just one indication of how ,fantastic the •
charges are. If the doctors really were bent on
murder, they would have prescribed the wrong
pills or given lethal injections long before this.
"Anti-Semiltism is the real reason behind
these ridiculous charges. It first broke out in
Czechoslovakia where the Communist boss, Ru-
dolph Slan-sky, was executed along with 10
colleagues. Anti-Semitism then spread to East
Germany and has now broken out in Russia
itself.

Intermarriage Danger

A JTA. report from Montreal quotes the
result of a poll on mixed marriages, con;
ducted by the Canadian Institute of Public
Opinion, as indicating approval • of intermar-
riage by Canadians.
The question posed was: "Do you think
Jewish and non-Jewish people could have
a happy life together or not?" The answer
of 48% was in the affirmative, 35% in the
negative, 11% without opinions and 6% who
qualified their opinions.
The danger to the identity of Jews and
their adherence to their traditions lies in
the manner in which the question has been
posed. There are, of course, other issues in-
herent in intermarriage — issues which in-
evitably would affect happiness in,
marriages. But when the "people" af
ected
are asked merely for comment on "happi-
ness," the basic issues are veiled.
There has been widespread evidence of
an increase in mixed marriages between
Jews and non-Jews, and the Canadian poll
points to a real danger.

"The Soviets' full-scale purge of Jews should
give those pickets., who are stomping . around
the White House in protest against the ex-
pected execution of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Ro-
senberg, new ideas.
"If they firmly believe the Rosenbergs are
victims of American anti-Semitism andif they
are not part of a Communist conspiracy to
save the Rosenbergs ivho gave atom secrets to
Russia, then they will picket the Russian Em-
bassy. We don't think they mill."

The mere fact that we quote this edi-
torial in full should be accepted as ample
proof that we do not seek an argument with
our confreres in the daily newspaper field.
In truth, we, too, took the few—very few,
thank God!—vociferous pro-Communist Jews
to task for condoning the Prague trials while
seeking clemency for the Communist Rosen-
berg pair. While we share the view of the
eminent Christian scientist, Dr. Harold Urey,
that as long as an iota of doubt exists as to
the complete guilt of the Rosenbergs, and in
deference also to the views of those who
share our abhorrence of capital punishment,
that clemency should be considered for the.
Rosenbergs, . we nevertheless are compelled
to call a basic fact to the attention of the
Free Press. editorial writers: that the Jewish
community has repudiated any claim of anti-
Semitism in the Rosenberg case and that, in
justice to the position of the nearly 5,000,000
Jews in this country who are united in their
condeinnation of the attitudes of the pos-
sibly few hundred Communist Jews—we be-
lieve there are less than 1,000 • Jews in this
country who sympathize with the Soviet
ideology—Jews should not be linked as Jews
with the Rosenberg case. In justice to the
position Jewry now is placed in, of fighting
anti-Semitism anew on many fronts, it is our
contention that it is wrong for American
newspapers, while exposing the new lies that
stem from Russia, even to suggest that any
considerable number of Jews is guilty of the
charge that anti-Semitism played a part in
an American trials in which all parties----the
accused, the judge, the prosecuting attorney
—happened to be Jews.
But in a larger sense, on the wider front
of judicial justice, we concur in the view that
those who are overly critical of the American
system of justice should look to their laurels
in the Prague and Moscow ptirges and in the
revival of anti-Semitism now brutally fo-
mented by the Soviet rulers.

Angoff's 'In the Morning Light'

Second Portion of Great Trilogy

Charles Angoff's trilogy now is two-thirds completed. His
first novel, "Journey to the Dawn," now has its second companion
volume, "In the Morning Light," and the third volume will follow
soon.
Each work • (published by Beechhurst Press, 11 E. 36th, NY 16)
is independent and can be read without the other, although it
leads to a better understanding of the characters and locales to
know the entire collection.
"In the Morning Light" is a long novel. In 736 pages, Angoff
describes the life of the Polonskys—Mottel, Moshe, Aaron, Yankee;
all their relatives; Moshe's son David, who plays a major role in
the story; their neighbors.
' orld, of trans-
It is a magnificent story of life in the Old W
formations in America, of struggles and triumphs.
Boston is the setting of "In the Morning Light's" American
portion of the book. Interwoven with the life of the Jewish faniily
are incidents in world and American history, most of them told
quite accurately. There naturally are comments on Jewish occur-.
rences, on interests in which Jews were concerned, such as social-
ism and Zionism.
The sensitive David is perhaps the most interesting of all the
characters because he represents the rising American youth who
devotes himself entirely to American interests, and whose Jewish
loyalties are visibly diminishing. But his elders' concerns at all
times remain linked with their Jewishness.
As a study in a family's transformations, "In the Morning
Light" is significant unto itself. It gains in importance as a
result of its human delineations, its evaluations of characters who
are thrown into a new world out of the deprivations of the old.
Among the interesting elements recounted in the book are
the Christian-Jewish relations. In the old and in this world, the
Polonskys naturally come into intimate contact with their non-
Jewish neighbors. Yankel's amours and David's friendships pro-
vide interesting material for the study of such relations.
Many Yiddishisms are used in the book, most of them cor-
rectly translated. We take exception to some of his terms. When
he used the term "goyish" negatively and translates it as "Chris-
tian," we maintain he is wrong. Also, when "a kiog tzu Columbus"
becomes "a curse on Columbus for discovering America," we say
he has taken , undue liberties with a Yiddish phrase that has a
humorous rather than the grave connotation he gives it. Fortun-
ately, there are not many such blunders in Angoff's "In the
Congressional halls have been blessed for Morning Light" which must be rated as a very good novel.

New Congress Trends?

a while with a refrain from attacks upon
Jews which were frequent in the days of
Rankin, Bilbo and their ilk. Once again,
however, a remark that is being interepretecl
as "anti-Jewish" has been made note of. It
is the statement of Rep. Francis E. Walter,
Pennsylvania Democrat, co-author of the
McCarran-Walter Immigration Act whose
provisions were subjected to attack by Presi-
dent Eisenhower and ex-President Truman,
that "professional Jews" are "shedding croc-
odile tears" over the new law.
This gratuitous remark did not; could not
and„will not pass unanswered. Perhaps we
pay too much attention to such outbursts by
a man who isas misguided in his criticism
of Jews as he was in sponsoring his unfair
immigration bill. But it is incumbent upon
us to call his attention to a basic rule: that
the right to criticize is an American freedom
and does not turn the critic into a "profes-
sional" of any kind or creed.
The question inspired by Rep. Walter's
remark is whether he is introducing a trend
of bigotry in the new Congress. While we
are 'heartened by the responses to his ill-
tempered remark, we are primarily con-
cerned that we should be spared the indig-
nity of hearing a repetition of the anti-Se-
mitic speeches that were heard in Congress
in days we would like to see relegated to a
repudiated past. Perhaps Rep. Walter him-
self will assist in the future in such banish-
ment of ill temper from American parlia-
mentary procedure.

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H I STOR I ETTE

Origins of Jewish Population of Libya

The first Jewish community in. Tripoli was established under
the Fatamite dynasty of Egypt, sometime between the 10th and
8th centuries before the Christian Era, by 800 Jews from the oasis
of Pessato in the Sahara desert. No mention is found of the
community, however, among the records left by travelers in the
12th Century of the present era; the community had apparently
disappeared. In 1549 only a few Jews were living there. Since
Tripoli was at that time a part of Spain, the Jews exiled from
Spain in 1492, seeking new sanctuary, avoided Tripoli until 1551,
when the territory was conquered by Turkey.
By 1850, about 1,000 Jewish families were living in Tripoli. By
1905 the number of Jews had increased to 12,000 (out of a total
population of 40,000).
In addition to Tripoli, ancient Jewish communities existed in
the three other principal cities of Tripolitania, the western part
"of Libya, Sabratha, Oea, and Leptis Magna. The Jews came there
at the time of persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes (ca. 170 B.C.).
Other Jewish communities were established by prisoners of war
brought there by Titus.
Under Italian rule, until the years just before war broke out,
all Jews who were natives of Libya enjoyed the same rights as
other Libyan citizens, but in 1938, the Italian racial laws were
introduced in Libya. In the winter of 1942-43, all Jewish. men in
Tripoli between the ages of 17 and 42 were confined in concen-
tration camps in the desert. -
In November, 1945, a pogrom took place in Tripolitania, which.
was at that time occupied by the British; 130 Jews were killed, and
about 190 were wounded.
On June 12, 1948, the Jewish quarter in Tripoli was attacked.
Tunisian Arab volunteers en route to the Palestine war front were
mainly responsible.
The only hope left ice!' the remaining Jews there today is
flight to Israel.

