THE JEWISH NEWS

His Last Progress Report

Incorporating the ' Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July .20. 1952

Member American association of En glish-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35. Mich., VE. 8-9384
Nvbstription $4. a year. foreign $5.
entered as second class matter Aug. C 1942, at Post Office. Detroit. Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879

SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

Page 4

VOL. XXIV, No. 14

FRANK SIMONS
City Editor

December 11, 1953

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the sixth, day of Tebet. 5714, the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Fast of Tebet Readings of the Law, Wednesday
Pentateuchal portion. E 32:11-14; 34:140.
Pentateuchal portion, Es. 32:11-14; 34:1-10.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Dec. 11, 4:31 p. m.

The Plain Truth About the Arab Refugees

In an address delivered recently before
the Royal Institute of International Affairs,
Miss Elizabeth Monroe, an expert on the
Middle East, painted a sad picture of the
tragic conditions imposed on Israel by the
Arab incursions and the refusal of the Mos-
lem states to cooperate in solving the prob-
lems of the Arab refugees.
Asserting that "the records of the Unit-
ed Nations Mixed Armistice Commission,
which is responsible for order on the fron-
tier . .. show that there are far more Arab
incursions than Jewish incursions," Miss
Monroe described the hunger that some-
times motivates murder and pointed out:

"A settler cannot leaVe his tools about or
they get stolen; Jezvish mothers grow anxious
when their children do not come in from play;
the amount of hard manual labOr involved
in establishing a farm is multiplied by the
need for bringing in all implements, all wa-
ter-pipes, and all animals every night. Your
Arab sees newcomers endowed with plenty of
tools and cattle and seed and water-pipes. and,
hungry and destitute, he crosses the border to
snatch what he can. SOmetimes he goes over
as a smuggler, carrying with him the • rice or
the meat which is unobtain-able in Israel. If
during these smuggling or burgling expedi-
tions, he is frightened, he, may well commit a
•
.
murder."

Charging that "the :other Arab states

"For some years, the refugees listened to
such talk; today they are more skeptical of
it and many of th-enz, particularly the hope-
less people close to the frontier, would be glad
of a chance to settle elsewhere. Yet the Arab
governments other than that of Jordan still
urge them to refuse to cooperate in TiNRWA
efforts to settle them
"The real victims of the quarrel—the refu-
gees, the Jordanians, the Israelis—are power-
less because other Arab governments can and
are prepared to balk any move toward settle-
ment: Only if they can be cajoled or jolted
out of this mood is - there any prospect of pro-
ducing a situation different from that which
now prevails. So far, cajolery has failed. Syria,
for instance, is the nearest state which, if
aided and developed, would need and could
attract labor; yet, so far, she has not consent-
ed to accept Western aid for any such
schemes . . . largely because acceptance of
foreign aid reduces the Arab claim on the con-
science of the _West to remedy the Palestine
injustice. Such ideas have to be removed if
Syria or Iraq is to budge. . .
"A priMe requirement for improving the at-
mosphere is to get the refugees moving from
the frontier; those refugees cannot move or
be moved until a demand for labor is stimu-
lated elsewhere; it has proved impossible, so
far, to stimulate this demand because the
Arab :statesbelieve that by sticking it out they
can maintain a hold over the West."

'Jews in Soviet Literature':
The Domination of Communism

"The laconic statement that appeared during Soviet polemics
over the State of Israel may well apply to the presentation of Jews
in literature: 'The Soviet Union has no pro-Jewish position and
no pro-Arab position. The Soviet State has a Leninist-Stalinist
position.' "
This assertion, which concludes the essay on "JeWs in Soviet
Literature" by Bernard J. Choseed in "Through the Glass of Soviet
Literature: Views of Russian Society," edited by Ernest J. Simmons,
also summarizes the position of Jewish writers in Russia : their at-
titude is strictly motivated by Stalinist-Leninist influences.
"Through the Glass of Soviet Literature," published by Co-
lumbia University Press (2960 B'way, N.Y. 27), as part of Colum-
bia's Russian Institute projects, contains five essays by authori-
ties in their fields, in addition to the introduction.Jv Editor Sim-
mons. Louise E. Luke, Gene Sosin, Rebecca A. Domar and Robert
M. Hankin are authors of essays on the Marxian Woman, the
Soviet Children's Theater, the Tragedy of a Soviet Satirist and
Postwar Soviet Scholarship.
The author of the essay on "Jews in Soviet Literature," Ber-.
nard J. Choseed, is instructor in Russian at the University a
Michigan.

Unquestionably, the balking of Israel is
are
about
the Israel,"•
ruin of Jordan
so in back of the entire issue which is used as
long uncaring
as they are
balking
Miss Mon-
a club
over Israel's
head the
and
as a tool
roe stated With reference to the attitude of
"maintain
a hold over
West."
But to
it
the Moslem states:
definitely need not be so, if. the Western
"They are able, without cost to•themselves,
states will adopt a strong attitude in oppo-
to urge the refugees to accept nothing less
than return to Israel; to press them not to - sition to such interference with efforts for
build themselves shelters, houses, or lives of
peace.
any permanence, since to do so lessens the
The solution was offered by Israel's Am-
chances of return, and to refuse all interna-
bassador Abba Eban. The UN remains sil-
tional offers short of readoption of the criss-
ent on this request for an Israel-Jordan
cross demarcation line that was Proposed by
meeting to talk peace. Will the Western
the United Nations in 1948; they turn a blind
powers, and especially our own Government,
eye to the fact that the prerequisite for this
*
4,
•
remain silent, in view of • the war clouds
line was an economic union."
Mr.
Choseed
traces
references
to
Jews
Russian literature to
that the
are entire
hovering
not East?
only over
Israel but the eras long before Communism. "Gogol's in Zhid
Her dispassionate address proceeded to over
Middle
.
Iankel in `Tams
outline the refugees' position, as follows:
Bulba' and Isai Fomich Bumshtein in Dostoyevsky's 'House of the

The Priority That Is Due Education in Jewish Life

Recognition of a decline in anti-Semitism Tice-holders refuse to .accept .top leadership
-
and of the need for strengthening the inner responsibilities.
With leadership- having "arrived - at. cross-
spiritual values among Jews have raised the
question Whether the time has not arrived for roads," the United SynagOgUe report reach-
the granting of priority to Jewish educa- es the following conclusiOns:
'1. The synagogue leadership must under-
tional needs above the emphasis that has
go "a profound and vigorous" change or, con-
been given for so many years to the civic
g-regational life—in the foreseeable: future at
protective efforts of American Jewry.
least--will .continue to struggle ..for its.„.Very
No one desires to end anti defamation
existence against the tremendous odds of a
activities. American Jewry undoubtedly will
general apathy.
vote in favor of continuing the efforts of
2. The Conservative movement, in spite Of
the major organizations in their battles
its rapid expansion in recent years, is not suf-
ficiently rooted in the public consciousness of
against bigotry. But in order to conduct such
Conservative congregations. Organizational af-
work effectively, it is of the utmost impor-
filiations must be matched by an affiliation in
tance that while aiming to educate non-
spirit.
Jews in sifting untruths from the rumors
3. The problem of synagogue leadership
that frequently are spread about Jews and
reaches far beyond congregational confines.
others who are selected for attacks there also
It revolves around the general leadership crisis
should be a thorough _training of Jews them-
in the Jewish community at large. It is a
selves who must begin anew to know their
community problem.
history, the Bible, their background as a re-
Proposing to sponsor a national drive
ligious community.
for leadership building and development, the
The questions involving our internal United Synagogue report, while dealing pri-
needs are raised anew by the reported results manly with congregational leadership, in-
of a survey conducted by the United Syna- spires concern over the general educational
gogue of America in cooperation with the needs in our communities.
Bureau of Applied Socialresearch of Colum-
Even if the decline in concern over anti-
bia University. The survey indicates that Semitism were not as rapid as has been in-
concern over anti-Semitism as an incentive dicated, the time for emphasis on educational
for participation in Jewish affairs has been needs is long past due. The large sums spent
relegated to a minority position. It also is on civic-protective efforts, in comparison
reported to indicate that three-fourths of with the struggles of our educational agen-
the synagogue leaders in the United States cies, call for a re-appraisal of our fund-
and Canada believe the synagogue' to be the raising anc•:the allocations we make for cul-
center of Jewish life. It establishes a growing aural needsa:
awareness of the need for basic knowledge-
It may not be easy to arrive at new eval-
of spiritual Jewish concepts as indispensible nations of our communal needs. But the
prerequisites for leadership.
Unitekt.Synagogue report already is a step
It is especially interesting to: note that in the direction of indicating the necessity
the survey re.yeals. -,a deafth in leadership for emphasis on spiritual values, on well-
material; that those now serving c-ongrega- informed direction of Jewish affairs in order
tons are being pressed into a variety of that a leadership with knowledge may pass
other activities and that half of the present on such knowledge to the constituents.
congregational leaders believe synagogue
This is a real challenge to American.
leadership to be undemocratically elected. Jewry. Will this generation be able to meet
Furthermore; 70 per cent of the present of- it?

-

-

Dead' combined the qualities of clown and vulture." From here
on we are introduced to the facts regarding the present Russian
attitudes.
In his description of Jewish conditions in Russia, Mr. Choseed
shows how the Jews rushed into the turmoil of the new society
with the defeat of Czarism. By 1939 40 per cent of the Jews lived
in areas outside the former Pale of Settlement, and although they
were 1.7 per cent of the population they were 10 per cent of the
intelligentzia, 17 per cent of the doctors, 10 per cent of students
Of higher education. They also gained an important place in the
field of literature.
The tragedy of the middle class Jew is reflected in some of
the novels reviewed in this essay. There also is the tragedy of
• the writers themselves. Babel, for instance, one of the better known
Jewish writers, was 'attacked for displaying petty-bourgeois ideas.
The language question frequently enters into the conflict between
the old and the new in Russia., as reflected in the new literature.
Perets Markish's Yiddish play touches on anti-semitic manifes-
tations, while in a Yiddish novel young Jews are portrayed as ac-
cepting the challenge of the non-Jews who placed this note on
the beds of the Jewish workers: "Can Jews do anything? If they
try to weld, their eyes smart! If they start drilling, their ears
hurt!"

The air of confusion that dominates many of the works de-
scribed can best be analyzed by Mr. Choseed's statement that "the
raison d'etre of a national culture within Soviet society was based
not on. altruism, but on the practical need 'to educate the masses
in the spirit of internationalism and consolidate the dictatorship, of
the proletariat.' "
Equally interesting is the ,following:
"There was no compulsion to make Russian the language of
the Jews. The right to speak Yiddish was secured and enforced
with tangible material aid in the form of schools, publishing fa-
cilities, and the like. At the same time, the slightest manifesta-
tion of any drive to work for the Yiddish rather than the social
goal, that is, the intimation that Yiddish should be spoken, was
quickly eliminated. When the writer Kipnis wrote a story in which
he speaks of meeting several Soviet Jews, and then adds whimsi-
cally that he wishes 'they would speak to me in Yiddish,' the im-
mediate rebuttal from Yiddish higher quarters was: 'And suppose
they do speak Russian? Are they no longer kosher, no longer
Jews? And when the Ukrainian or 'Belorussian speaks Russian,
does he become a non-Ukrainian or a non-Belorussian?' "
Mr.*Choseed's very illuminating article, written factually, with-
out bias, nevertheless reveals that those who spoke of a Russian
paradise for Jews were referring to a mirage. The concluding
statement in his essay—the opening quotation in this review—
offers explanation to all questions that may arise with relation to
Russia: Only the Leninist-Stalinist idea matters, and any for-
eignism—whether it is Zionism or Jewish culture or Yiddish-136-
comes taboo. And the Jewish writers in.. Russia were themselves
victims of domination of Communism over their thoughts.

