Challenge of Newspaper (Sub)Merger
Spiritual Transition Period
Tests U. S. • Jewry's Strength
By PHILIP SLOMOV I TZ
NEW YORK—A newspaper merger, resulting in the
disappearance of the only orthodox Yiddish newspaper from
the Jewish scene, is causing many responsible leaders to
ask pertinent questions regarding American Jewry's spirit-
ual future.
On Jan. 26, the Jewish Morning Journal went out of business
and merged with the Jewish Daily Day—Der Tog. The temporary
rescue of the Morning Journal, more than a year ago, with funds
that were raised after the Journal had lapsed publishing for
several months, came to an end. Funds would have kept it
going even now. But more than funds are involved.
From the hour of the merger, which in reality is a submerger,
the fused daily newspaper will be known as The Day-Morning
Journal. But—
There is an old. saying that where there is a "but" trouble
is brewing. The Morning Journal nominally was a Sabbath
and holiday observer—no issues having been dated on tradi-
tional Sabbath and holy days. The Day publishes on ALL
days except Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,
As a concession to the orthodox element, whose newspaper
has been merged with a non-observant organ, the new paper
will be known as The Day-Jewish Morning Journal on all days
of the year except those proscribed for publishing, and on the
Sabbaths- and holidays it will appear merely as The Day. This
is called concession, and it raises the issue of consistency and
the involvement of spiritual entanglement.
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It is clear that more than money—the basic ingredient for
publishing—is involved in the new development in Jewish life.
There is a radical change in the make-up of the American
Jewish community which has reduced the existing daily. news-
papers to two—the new Day-Morning Journal and the vastly
more secure Jewish Daily Forward.
A word about the latter: the Forward, originally a Socialist
-- newspaper, more recently a convert to New and Fair Deal poli-
ties, has a large reserve fund to work with.
It derives security from its radio station—WEVD—named in
-tribute to the late Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs. Else, even
the Forward's future would be most insecure. It now 'functions
only from New York, its Chicago plant was abandoned more than
a year ago, and its reader-strength has declined to a minimum.
Its one-time 200,000 circulation has shrunk to a third its orig-
inal size—serving all Yiddish readers in this country. Even the
very large community of New York, with a Jewish population of
2,000,000—to this day the largest Yiddish-speaking center in the
world—is unable to contribute more than 50,000 Yiddish readers
to the one-time powerful Socialist organ.
International Body
To Aid Movement
Of Jews to Israel
GENEVA, (JTA)—The Inter-
governmental Commit tee for
European Migration — successor
organization ec) the Internation-
al Refugee Organization an-
nounced a new agreement with
the Israel government to assist
in the movement of Jewish ref-
ugees from Europe to Israel.
The agreement sets up two
categories of Jewish refugees
eligible for assistance: those.
who have left their country of
citizenship in Europe on or after
January 1, 1953, and have _ ar-
rived in France or Italy en route
to Israel; and refugees whose
establishment in Europe "has
been found impossible" and
who now wish to be moved to
Israel for permanent resettle-
ment there.
The accord will cover the
movement of 2,000 Jewish refu-
gees to Israel. It makes provi-
sion, however, "should circum-
stances warrant it," for a new
agreement prior to the termina-
tion of the present one.
Mapam Decides to Expel
Communist Dr. Moshe Sneh
TEL AVIV, (JTA) — The ex-
pulsion of Dr. Moshe Sneh and
his associates from the, leftist
Mapam Party because of their
extreme pro-Soviet orientation
was decided upon at a meeting
of the party's steering commit-
tee. It is expected to be ap-
proved by the party council,
which has the last word on
party affairs.
Two members of the Com-
munist Party in Israel were
ousted from the board of the
Association of Immigrants from
Bulgaria on the ground that
"they are not Zionists."
And so—except' for the discredited Communist organ the
Freiheit—the third Yiddish daily in America—whose circula- Spellman Calls Soviet
tion is far below the 10,000 number,.there is one other Yiddish
daily, whose CLAIMED circulation is 45,000 for the Morning Anti-Semitism 'Appalling'
Journal and 55,000 for the Day, with a future merged figure
ROME, (JTA) — Francis Car-
totally in the ,unpredictable class.
What future is there for Yiddish? The Yiddish theater is
dead. The Yiddish newspaper is dying. Only a few optimists
remain in the Yiddishists' ranks. The language that once pro-
vided strength for Jewish causes and for cultural movements is
disappearing so rapidly that even its shadow is unrecognizable.
On top of it, Hebrew, the foundation for Jewish spiritual
living, is not progressing and its press is limited to a weekly with
a limited circulation and a monthly that reaches very few homes.
The medium for Jewish cultural and spiritual developments
/6, clearly, the English language. - Fortunately, the English-Jew-
WI weeklies are progressing. They are reaching the children of
the former Yiddish readers and the majority of the Yiddishists
themselves.
Yet, there is concern over the future developments in Jewish
life because of the uncertainty of the transition period. In the
pre-transition era, Jewish leadership derived inspiration from
memories that . stemmed from the Old World and from Sacred
lore. Both sources have dried up and young American Jewry
must create its own reservoir of strength for self-development.
What shape will' it assume? Will it gather strength to be able
to labor without regard of the influence of old forces?
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While only time can provide the answer, the loyalists to
Jewish traditions and the yearners for Jewish survival are
worried over the future. Some openly fear deterioration.
Many believe that we are facing an era of total assimilation.
The rise in intermarriage is an additional mounting danger.
Another cause for fear is the bad taste that is left in the
systems of young Jews by the emphasis on fund-raising in
Jewish life. All our activities have centered for some time in
the gathering of money for relief. When there was the dream-
ideal of . Israel, it was much easier to reach the hearts of young
American Jewry.
The mere money appeal has now lost its force. Now, new
methods must be found of retaining Jewish loyalties, and of
building devotion that has declined with the smashing of the
chains that previously kept the older generation linked to the
destroyed European Jewish Communities.
There are very real dangers also on the fund-raising front.
Many are worried that the continuing reduction of income for
the major fund—the UJA—may reach a new low in the event
that too many people will insist upon unloading Israel bonds as
payments for the UJA gifts. If that happens—so fear the observ-
ers—there will be calamity both for bonds and .UJA.
Our concern may have been couched in overly-gloomy
terms. Surely the optimist retains a place in Jewish life—
and the optimist says there are enough loyalists to defy the cal-
loused and the indifferent.
dinal Spellman, prior to - his de-
parture for the United States,
told the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency here that the Soviet ac-
cusations against the Jewish
doctors in Moscow were - "ap-
palling."
Russians Ship Jewish Officers
To Moscow in Sealed Trains
LONDON, (JTA) — Some 50
Jewish officers serving with the
Soviet forces in Germany have
been sent back to Moscow in
sealed trains, it was reported
from Berlin. Orders to "elimi-
nate" Jewish doctors in the
Soviet Union and in Eastern
Europe have been traced to Mar-
shal Stalin, the London Daily
Sketch reported.
Yeshiva to Ordain 100 Rabbis
Semicha, the highest degree in Jewish theological learning,
will be conferred upon some 100 rabbis—graduates of Yeshiva Uni-
versity's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, the oldest of
its kind in the country—March 8. The exercises are held once
every three years on the yahrzeit of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan -(left)
revered as the greatest rabbi of the 19th century in whose honor
the School was named upon its establishment in 1897.
Dr. Bernard Revel (center), first president of the school, spear-
headed a broad academic expansion program that saw the addition
to the Seminary of an academic high school, Teachers Institute
and the first College of Arts and Sciences in the world under Jew-
ish auspices.
Dr. Samuel Belkin (right) became president in 1943.
Dramatic Religious Documents
Stirring Disputations Between
Jews and Christian Accusers
An American Jewish Press Feature
Disputations between Christians and Jews in public assem-
blies in the 13th and 15th centuries echoed the tragedies of the
days when it was possible for Christian accusers and their co-
horts—Jews who had abandoned their faith—to challenge Jewish
leaders to debates in an effort to place Judaism in disrepute, or
to formulate charges that Jews were maligning the religion of
the majority, and in the process to attempt to force mass con
version upon Jews. -
While the recorded disputations are a matter of record, they.
have not been easily available to the English reader, until the
appearance this month of Dr. Morris Braude's "Conscience on
Trial," published by Rxposition Press (386 4th, N.Y. 16). The
author, a Chicago physician, whose previous works dealt with
psychiatric questions, incorporated in his book, in addition to the
scholarly introduction, the texts of three public religious disputa-
tions. The arguments formulated in them on matters involving
basic christological issues, especially with reference to Jesus and
the Jewish viewpoint on the Messiah, are valuable for all time.
In areas where religious bigotry still raises its ugly head and
where charges smacking of medievalism are repeated against
Jews, these documents are as enlightening today, and as truth-
revealing, as they were 400 and 500 years ago.
Tortosa, Paris and Barcelona are the scenes of the disputa-
tions. In English translation, the texts are like parchments pluck.
ed from fire • and rescued for all generations to read and to be
witnesses to the immense dramas of past centuries.
The wise Queen Blanche, mother of St. Louis, King,of France;
the King of Aragon and Antipope Benedict XIII are among the
Christian -characters in the dramatis personae. Geronimo de Santa
Fe, Nicolas Donin and- Pablo Christiani are the apostate Jews who
attempted to revile and defame the Talmud.
Moses Nachmanides, Rabbi Yechiel of Paris and Yom-Tov
Lipmann Muhlhausen were the chief Jewish characters. They pre-
sented a powerful defense and, while it was hopeless to expect
perpetual peace even after their splendid analyses of the truth,
their disputations go down on record as among the greatest con-
tributions to Jewish apologetics.
Dr. Braude, who formerly taught psychiatry in the Univer-
sity of Illinois College of Medicine and now is in private practice
in Chicago, has rendered great service with his English transla-
tion of the disputations. His publication of the famous Wagen-
seil texts of the debates, and the commentaries upon them, en-
rich our knowledge through an important addition to English
Judaica.
On the Record
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
(Copyright 1952, Seven Ails Feature Syndicate)
On the Anti-Semitic Front
Approximately 300 reactionaries representing seven European
countries met early in January at a secret meeting in Paris where
they planned formation of a new anti-Semitic international coali-
tion with offices in France, Sweden, Italy, West Germany, Belgium,
England and Spain. The bloc intends using the anti-Semitic
motif as a drawing card in its campaign to rid Europe of what it
calls American "domination and enslavement." This information
was revealed by Zachariah Shuster, European director of the
American Jewish Committee, and it serves to throw much light
on the myStery- behind Moscow's reversion to Hitlerism. The un-
scrupulous Kremlin bosses have now found new friends and allies
in their cold war against the United States and it was but inevita-
ble that with such bed-fellows Moscow and its satellites should
sacrifice Jews to the Neo-Nazi wolves. Expediency is the key
behind Moscow policy. When expediency dictated it the Kremlin
made a covenant with Hitler which was later brazenly dedicated
by Molotov as a tie of blood. Now that there is a resurgence of
anti-Semitism in Germany, Soviet Russia and its satellites are not
naturally averse to linking hands with the neo-Nazis. Since the
Kremlin has taken the deliberate risk of world censure and alien-
ation of fringe liberal elements, it must be assumed that the forces
it has chosen to placate are more powerful than it seems on the
surface.
But the questions posed--,by the disappearance of the
Yiddish newspapers (at one time there were Yiddish dailies in
Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit—in addition to FOUR
in New York City!), the decline in educational standards, the
reduction in incoming campaign funds, the increase in asshn-
llatory tendencies, the indifference to traditional practices— Potpourri
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are real challenges to American Jewry.
The forthcoming ZOA dinner in celebration of Dr. Abba Hillel
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Where is our transition leading us? must we depend only
CM time to provide the answer to the question?'
The American scene offers many opportunities for real serv-
ice by the new type of Ameridan Jew—the English-speaking de-
fender of a great heritage, But to attain a constructive status, our
leaders, if they are to retain their leadership, must find new ways
of strengthening a position that is changing. The old order is
deteriorating. The new one •must he more sound.. Who will lead
us in the right direction.?
Israel Rabbinate Pleads
Against Raising of Pigs
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—The Is-
arel Chief Rabbinate issued a
new appeal against the raising
and selling of pigs in Israel.
Posters have been plastered up
in various parts of the country
to "cast out" hog raising: Ben-
jamin Mintz, Poale. Agudah de-
puty, introduced a motion in
Parliament to ban hog raising.
(Inn - South Africa, the Trans-
vaal Federation af Synagogues
adopted a resolution protesting
the unrestricted sale of pork in
Israel.)
Israel Painting 'Jerusalem
To Be in Truman Museum
INDEPENDENCE, Mo., (JTA)
—A painting "The Holy - City of
Jerusalem" by the Israeli paint-
er Myron Sima will be placed in
the Truman Museum - here. The
painting. was presented :to Mr.
Truman in Washington a day
before he left the White House
in behalf of a committee of
prominent American art .lovers
and friends of Israel interested_
in cementing cultural relations
Silver's 60th birthday may prove a turning point for the organ-
ization. People close to the ZOA say Rabbi Silver will deliver not
only one of the Most dynamic addresses in his life but a plan he
hopes will restore unity within the movement ... To the best of
my knowledge, the American Council of Judaism so far has failed between the United States and
to register any protest , against the anti-Semitic manifestations in Israel.
Russia and the satellite states. The Council conceivably is on the
horns of a dilemma. But is its bitterness against Zionism so sleep ZO — THE JEWISH NEWS
iFriclay, January 30, 1953
that it cannot distinguish between the wolf and the sheep?
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