Israel to Swap Citrus for Crude Oil
As Soviets Accept Trade Agreement
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—An-
nouncement was made here of
the signing in Moscow of a Sov-
iet-Israeli trade agreement un-
der which the Soviet government
will purchase citrus friut from
Israel valued at $2,700,000 and
bananas valued at $200,000 while
Israel buys 100,000 tons of crude
oil from the Soviet Union.
The announcement was made
as the new Soviet Minister, Alex-
ander Abramov, journeyed to this
city from Tel Aviv to present his
credentials to President Itzhak
Ben Zvi.
Considerable significance was
attributed here to the fact that
the Soviet diplomat thus recog-
nized Jerusalem as the capital
of the Jewish State although the
Western Powers, including the
United States, refuse to acknowl-
edge Israel's right to have its
capital here.
Premier-designate Moshe Sha-
rett was present as Abramov
handed his credentials to Presi-
dent Ben-Zvi and, speaking in
Russian, expressed his govern-
ment's satisfaction at the re-
sumption of Soviet-Israeli diplo-
matic relations and its hope for
a Soviet - Israel rapprochement
that would strengthen interna-
tional peace.
In acknowledging Abramov's
pledge to "assist in the develop-
ment of economic and cultural
ties between the Soviet Union
and Israel for the benefit of
both countries," Ben Zvi noted
that the Soviet Union had sup-
ported the United Nations reso-
lution recognizing the rights of
the Jewish people for indepen-
dent status as a state within its
homeland.
He expressed the hope that
"the Soviet Union will also show
a friendly understanding for our
efforts to build up this land and
bring in the scattered remnants
of the Jewish people who aspire
to settlement."
Refugees Bound for Israel
GENEVA, (JTA) —A plane
bearing 46 refugees from Corn-
munist China to Turkey and
Israel has left Hong Kong, the
IntergoVernmental Committee
for European Migration an-
nounced here.
2—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 11, 1953
Knesset Approves
Sharett's Policy
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
JERUSALEM, (J T A) — The
foreign policy of the Israel gov-
ernment was approved Monday
night by the Parliament by a
vote of 58 to 22 supporting the
views expressed by Foreign Min-
ister Moshe Sharett with regard
to the Kibya incident, the Syri-
an complaint to the United
Nations against Israel's hydro-
electric project on the Jordan
River and the American-Israel
relations.
Mr. Sharett, who is now Act-
ing Premier, emphasized that
Israel's considerations with re-
gard to the country's borders or
to the question of re-admitting
Arab refugees or to the develop-
ment of Jordan River waters
"must primarily be built on Is-
ra.el's sovereignty to decide its
affairs and aspirations as seen
fit for our needs."
Referring specifically to Isra-
el-American relations he point-
ed out that there had been "ups
and downs" in the United States
policy toward Israel from Presi-
dent Roosevelt through Truman
to Eisenhower. But even while
there were "downs" in that poli-
cy, he stressed, there were also
expressions of sympathy and fi-
nancial and political aid.
There can be clashes and dif-
ferences between the two coun-
tries, he declared, but they must
be , settled in "good spirit and
good faith." When the State De-
partment halted economic aid to
Israel earlier this year, "we
were not alarmed," Mr. Sharett
asserted, "we won't be alarmed
if it is halted again."
.
Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
The Handful of Jews in 'E Pluribus 300'
Saturday ,Review lists "E Pluribus 300" — the "300 notable
Americans taken from the Encyclopedia of American History."
We combed the list for notable Jewish names. Among them
are Louis D. Brandeis and Benjamin N. Cardozo, in the jurists
and lawyers selections; George Gershwin among musicians and
composers; Abraham Flexner, in the educators' list; Samuel Gom-
pers, in the list of social reformers and labor leaders; Adolph Ochs
and Joseph Pulitzer, among the journalists, editors and publishers;
Daniel Guggenheim is one of the business leaders and I. I. Rabi,
Albert A. Michelson and Edwin J. Cohn won places among the
scientists.
The fewness of the Jewish names is only one of the amazing
results of this selection. We have been accused of controlling the
banks, the industries, the press—the entire country! Yet, only one
Jewish name is listed among business leaders, only two "are in-
cluded among editors and publishers—and one of the two (Pulit-
zer) was a convert to Christianity. The shock that resulted from
a study of "E Pluribus 300" was the • inclusion of only one Jew
among the scientists, only one among song-writers, only one
among educators and not a single Jew among religious leaders!
Is it possible that not a single religious Jewish teacher rated
listing in this group? Wern't Solomon Schechter, Stephen S. Wise
and Isaac M. Wise powerful enough to. leave an imprint on Ameri-
can history?
Furthermore: weren't there many Jews among the song-
writers in this country?
. And: conceding that Albert Einstein wasn't selected because
he may have been rated as "a new American"having been
naturalized only recently—weren't there other scientists—Charles
Steinmetz, for example—who should have been included in that
grouping?
Perhaps we are just coming of age. The question whether or
not American Jewry has reached maturity has become a subject
for debate, and it is possible that the ineffective place we hold in
the selection among the many may account for the fewness of
Jewish names we have selected from the Saturday Review list.
Hebrew as a College Admission Course: Our Own Duties
More than 1,400 colleges and universities in this country ac-
cept Hebrew as one of the subjects for admission.
This is a most interesting development for Hebrew as an
accepted language by schools for higher learning.
Michigan Jewry will especially be interested to know that 34
schools in our state accept Hebrew. In addition to the University
of Michigan, there are five schools in Detroit that accept Hebrew
from applicants for admission—Detroit Institute of Technology,
Sacred Heart Seminary, University of Detroit and Wayne Uni-
versity.
The other Michigan schools which recognize Hebrew are:_
Adrian College, Albion College, Alma College, Bay City Junior. Col-
lege, Benton Harboor Junior College, Central Michigan College of
Education, Mount Pleasant; Dearborn Junior College, Emmanuel
Missionary College, Berrien Springs; Ferris Institute, Big Rapids;
Flint Junior College, General Motors Institute, Flint; Gogebic
Junior College, Ironwood, Grand Rapids Junior College, Highland
Park Junior College, Hillsdale College, Hope College, Holland;
Jackson Junior College Kalamazoo College, Michigan College of
Mining and Technology, Houghton; Michigan State College, East
Lansing; Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti; Muskegon
Junior College, Northern Michigan College of Education, Mar- .
quette; Olivet College, Port Huron Junior College, Spring Harbor
Junior College, Suomi College and Theological Seminary, Han-
cock; Western Michigan College of Education, Kalamazoo.
A directory of colleges and universities accepting Hebrew for
admission has been prepared by Judah Lapson and was published
by the Hebrew Culture Service Committee.
The point to remember about this list is that the colleges and
universities merely recognize Hebrew as an admission course. Only
the University of Michigan and Wayne University are known to
be offering courses in Hebrew. The former has a Semitic Depart-
ment; at Wayne the Hebrew courses continue thanks to the ideal-
ism of the instructor whose personal. sacrifices assure non-inter-
uption Of the limited number of classes.
To the Jewish community, the list of schools giving, recogni-
tion to Hebrew is a challenge to encourage increased enrollment
of students in schools which have adequate curricula to teach
the language both as the tongue of the Bible and as the lang-
uage of the new state of. Israel. If an insufficient number of Jews
will be recorded as having even, the most meager . knowledge of
the language, it will be an indictment of our community as hay-
ing failed in its cultural efforts.
Simmer Heads Israel
Bond 'Big Day' Dec. 20
An intensive effort will be
made to collect cash and sell
bonds in an Israel Bond "BIG
Day," Sunday, Dec. 20. Samuel
S. Simmer was selected "BIG
Day" Marshal by the 'local bond
steering committee.
With Holiday Manor as head-
quarter s, the
one -`day cam-
paign will begin
'at 9:30 a.m. and
. ..'continue until
final reports are
.brought in late
in the after-
noon. Groups of
volunteers w i 11
go out to 'cover
?assignments
and contact
.:prospects in
Simmer the ir homes,
while a telephone squad will
operate continually from head-
quarters to call in still other
commitments and sales.
Assisting Simmer will be Mrs.
Milton Mahler and Mrs. Joseph
Katchke, who will be in charge
of coordination of the women's
groups for the Mina Bargman
Testimonial, slated for Jan. 14.
Goldstein Is Cited
By Bnai Brith for
Israel Bond Work
Peter S. Goldstein was hon-
ored with a testimonial plaque
for his leadership in the Israel
bond drive. The
award' was pre-
sented to Gold-
stein at Work-
men's . Circle by
L o u is Marshall
Lodge - of Bnai
Brith.
T.h e plaque,
which was pre-
sented by Lodge
President Albert
Goldstein
Farber, pointed up Goldstein's
contributions to the bond cam-
paign as City Marshal, cash col-
lections chairman, and member
of the. national board of gover-
nors.
Tel Aviv University Opens
The first school of Tel Aviv
University opened here in tem-
. porarY buildings provided
by
the city. .
Wayne Lebanese Student Branded
Traitor for Shaking Jewish Girl's Hand
By MARVIN DIAMOND
A Lebanese student attending
Wayne University has been lab-
eled a "shameless traitor" by the
Lebanese newspaper El Hayat
apparently because he shook
hands with a Jewish classmate.
The university paper, The
Wayne Collegian, printed the El
Hayat editorial, in Arabic and
English translation, with an ex-
. planation of the circumstances
that led to the editorial and
comment on the whole incident
by David Gottlieb, a. graduate
student in sociology and an ex-
perienced member of the Col-
legian staff, who was familiar
with the incident.
The Lebanese student. Maurice
Zakhem, presented a discussion
of Lebanon in Dr. Edward Jan-
dy's "Sociology of the Middle
East" class. In this class, which
attracts many foreign students
from the Middle East, it is cus-
tomary for these students to
present an interpretation of
their countries before the class.
According to Gottlieb, who
the Ministry of Education in
Lebanon which declared her
doubts as to the accuracy of
Zakhem's words and also ques
tioned his loyalty by mentioning
the fact that following his talk
he shook hands with a Jewish
girl in the class.
The recipient of the letter took
it to one of her country's lead-
ing newspapers and the editor-
ial calling Zakhem a "shame-
less traitor" resulted.
Gottlieb says, because of the
letter written by his classmate
Zakhem "has been labeled a
traitor to his country. Both he
and his family are now in a
position of danger. Further-
more, other Arab students who
are in the class have also been
drawn into the situation by the
now infamous guilt by associa-
tion method. An innocent ac-
tion can be misconstrued and
distorted to the extent that a
man's very future may hang in -
the balance."
In its editorial, El Hayat
was present in class, Zakhem
spoke of his country with na-
tionalistic pride like a loyal
citizen of any nation. Zakhem
spoke, also, of Israel and the
feelings of the Arabs in re-
gard to the new nation. Zak-
hem said, according to Gott-
lieb, that feelings ran high
among his people that' there
would be a "second round"
with the Israelis. He made
clear that he was not anti-
Jewish. His disapproval was
with Israel.
quotes Zakhem as saying, "The
Lebanese sympathize with Is-
rael and see that her existence
is necessary for the necessity
to the progress and civilization
of the Middle East," and, that
the "Lebanese government op-
poses Israel apparently, but in
reality it depends in her com-
merce policy on Israel."
The paper said when Zak-
hem finished, he shook hands
with a Jewish girl who was
sitting beside him and asked
all his fellow-Arab classmates
to follow the pattern.
Following Zakhem's talk which'
took several class sessions, and
before the class could go on to
the next area of study, the class
was' made aware that a fellow
student, an American born girl
of Lebanese origin, had written
a letter to a friend working with
El Hayat also said the letter
they read accused Zakhem of
contributing to Zionist propa-
ganda by calling the hanging
by the Lebanese government of
'200 Lebanese accused of • coop-
erating with Israel an act of
barbarism.
,
Between You
and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1953,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Domestic Developments
Plans for floating the new Israel bond issue in this' country,
now being completed, include technical preparation of material
required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with
whom the bond issues are filed . . . The present Israel bond issue
which expires on May 1, has netted Israel about 110 million dollars
... Altogether about $160,000,000 has been Subscribed of which a
total of nearly $130,000,000 has been in cash . Abotit 600,000 Jews
and Christians in the Western Hemisphere have purchased the
Israel Bonds ... This action necessitated a large administratiVe and
promotional staff ... According to Henry Montor, leader of the bond
campaign, a staff of 560 members is employed by his organization.
... The combined total of expenditures in promoting the bond sales
is about $23,000,000 ... This, Mr. Molitor points out, - must be pro;
rated over the 10-15 year maturity period of the bonds in order
to obtain an accurate evaluation of the expenses ... On such a basis,
the sum amounts to two percent, which is 'to be amortized over the
full period ... This figure, plus the legal interest rate of 3 1/2 percent,
makes a total cost of 5 1/2 percent to the government of Israel ...
The figure is being compared by Mr. Montor with the 8-15 percent
Israel must pay on short term loans ... No fear exists among the
leaders of the bond drive that the bonds may be "dumped" after'
May, when they may be traded freely ... Mr. Montor considers such
a possibility very remote since it would be contrary to the spirit in
which the bonds were purchased ...He compares this fear, ' ex-
pressed by Israel journals, with the original fear that the bonds
would be given as UJA donations, in place of cash ... To date only
$3,000,000 worth of bonds have been contributed to the UJA, bte
revealed.
Views on Immigrants
In this season of Jewish awards to President Eisenhower, ex-
President Truman and others for furthering American democracy,
it was highly interesting to attend a luncheon of a selected group
of people—mostly Jewish—at which an award was presented to
Carl Sandburg, America's famous poet . . . The award was given
to Mr. Sandburg for his autobiography "Always the Young Strang-
ers" in which he speaks of the immigrants of our generation with
great warmth ...It was presented to him by the Tamiment Insti-
tute which supports the ideals of free culture and resists and ex-
poses totalitarianism in all its aspects ... Presided over by Adolph
Held, leader of the American Jewish labor movement, the affair
was especially impressive because of the views expressed by Carl
Sandburg in acknowledging the award ... As in his book, he spoke
with affection of the immigrant who absorbed the American ideal
of democracy and became part and parcel of this country ...How .-
ever, he also reminded the 300 guests at the Waldorf Astoria lunch-
eon that even in his lifetime there were jurists who sought wrongly
to interpret the phrase "all men are created equal" contained in
the Declaration of Independence ... To them this phrase meant
all "white" men are created equal and they argued this pOint by
claiming that when the Declaration of Independence was issued,
it could not have possibly referred to other than "white" men
This racial "argument" is no longer effective today, but there are
still plenty of elements in this country who seek to advance their
own interests by promoting racialism, bigotry and anti-Semitisin
... The Tamiment Institute, of which Ben Josephson is managing
director, made the right choice by selecting Sandburg's ".Always
the Young Strangers" for its annual award for the best autobi-
ography ...The appearance of more such autobiographies Will
lessen the chances for bigots to misinterpret the basic American
ideal of equal rights for all persons regardless of race. 'color er