Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Theodor Herz! Year
On this, the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Theodor
Herzl, the name of the great leader, who founded the World Zion-
ist Organization, emerges anew as an inspiration to a generation
that knows about him and his creations only through history
books and through his diaries. Few are left who had met him
'
and knew him, but the recollections of
will stand historians in good stead
*In gathering data revealing the genius
"igof a dreamer who had a vision And was
'''''''' that it would become a reality.
IIsrael became a fact almost at the hour
'he predicted.
Perhaps the finest tribute to Herzl's
i iiii :memory was paid by Louis Lipsky, the
''brilliant Zionist leader, at the recent con-
gliivention of the Zionist Organization of
lAmerica. Mr. Lipsky spoke of him as the
"good reporter and commentator," as the
"writer of light and easy, entertainment
in the theater," who "found his way back
to his people through the provocations of
anti-Semitism." Referring to Herzl's pres-
ence at the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in. 1894,
Mr. Lipsky said: "He read anti-Semitic
periodicals and books with avid curiosity
and rising indignation, with contempt for
Theodor Herzl
the Jews for enduring their inferior status
He heard the cries of 'Down with the Jews' in the streets of
,
Faris. He was obsessed by an inner unrest. He fell into a mood
If restlesS agitation and uncertainty."
Out of this brooding he developed the theme which was in-
corporated in his historic pamphlet, "The Jewish State." • Mr. Lip-.
aky spoke of his "startling self-assurance" and made this inter-
*sting observation:
. "Here's distinction was that he gave the Jewish problem
form, dramatic content and passion. He provoked a general
international disc -ussion."
This is the root of Dr. Herzl's great contribution: he had pro-
voked discussion of the need for a solution of the aggravated
Jewish problem. Then he proceeded to found the organization
Which was responsible for the ultimate solution,Ahrough the cre-
•tion of Israel. Once again we quOte from Mr. Lipsky's tribute:
"All his unrevealed talents converged to provide the audacity
to become the first Jewish diploMat, the first to negotiate the
cause of re-establishing the Jewish State on practical, political
levels. The man of letters became a political strategist and
diplomat. He seemed to carry the credentials of an ancient
people who had regained old political manners and came
straight to the throne - Of public opinion, seeking not special
favors or mercy, but the righting of an ancient wrong. The
heart • of his plea was sovereignty, freedom, home. He was not
an economist.- He was not a financier. But he had the gift of
an extraordinary imagination and amazing resourcefulness.
He was able to find harmony in discord, unity in diversity.!
Herzl was personally an unhappy man. His wife "resented
She adventure, she was cold to its surprises, its passion. It was
estranging the father from the children. There were disagree-
ments and reconciliations. He gave too generously, to the move-
ment."
Protector of JNF—No Task Too Menial For Him
The reference to hi,s generosity forms another interesting
chapter in his life. We learn a great deal that is new about Herzl
from a communication' released by the information office of the
Keren Kayemeth Lelsrael (Jewish National Fund) in Jerusalem
over the signature of Dr. H. Freeden, who informs us:
"On the fiftieth anniversary of Theodor Herzl'sdeath, Herzl
Year—Shnat Herzl—is ceremoniously proclaimed in Jerusalem.
"I would like to draw your attention to just one side of
his Zionist activities which, strangely enough, has remained
unlcnown, namely his work as a 'practical' Zionist. For it has
almost entirely escaped public knowledge, that in the last three
years of his life, he held an office which resembles today that
of Chairman. of the Keren Kayemeth.
"Due to certain legal difficulties, the proposal for the estab-
lishment of the Jewish National Fund net at the fifth Zionist
Congress in 1901 with opposition. The father of the idea, Prof.
Hermann Schapira, was no longer alive, and it seemed as if
this plan should again be postponed. As a matter of fact, at the
first reading, while Herzl was absent from the hall, the proposal
fell through. When Here returned, he found a legal flaw in the
voting and requested the reopening of the discussion. During
the ensuing debate, he threw the entire weight of his personal
authority in favor of the resolution which was finally passed
unanimously—with one abstention.
"One year later, the sixth Zionist Congress allowed the
Fund to start with the practical work in Palestine and Herzl
personally took charge of the negotiations for land purchase.
After Eliahu Sapir and Yehoshua Hankin, two land experts, had
toured the country, he heard of the possibilities to buy the
tracts of Ben Shemen and Hulda. In a letter to . Mr. Levontin,
Director of the Anglo-Palestine Co., Herzl - stated: 'We are of
the opinion that these lands ought to be bought by the Keren
Kayemeth, if they are considered suitable for this purpose •
we have in mind a contiguous tract of land which should alto-
,gether contain 10,000 &imams, on which a model colony could
be - established according to Oppenheimer's system.' At the
same time, he instructed the Anglo-Palestine Co. to start nego-
tiations for the Kfar Hittin lands, situated above Tiberias.
"Yet another historical fact deserves special mention—Herzl
himself initiated the negotiations for the purchase of Emek
Jezreel. At that time, an unknown personage appeared in
Vienna, who turned out to be Sursuk, the largest landowner in
Palestine under the Turkish regime. He came with the inten-
tention of offering for sale the Jezreel lands. That Herzl recog-
nized at once the significance of this region is clear from the
prophetic description in his utopian novel `Old-New Land' in
which he portrays the Emek Jezreel as the fertile, prosperous;
flourishing valley it is today, 'the steep slopes terraced with
vines, pomegranates and fig trees.'
"All this shows that Herzl in fact directed the day-to-day
work of the Keren Kayemeth. He was not less interested in the
fund raising aspects of the new institution. When the Golden
Book was opened, Herzl contributed the first inscription, and
the importance which he attached to that Book of Honor was
so great that he signed all the Golden Book Certificates in his
Own hand. It is also said that he suggested the design for the
.
,
Workshop, Laboratory, Aimed at
Stimulating Employment Conditions;
Becomes 14th Agency of Federation
2—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, July 16, 1954
Calendar Reform
Proposal Opposed
Before UN Body
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — Rep-
resentatives of the League for
Safeguarding the Fixity of the
Sabbath, composed of represen-
tatives of 63 major Jewish or-
ganizations in the United States,
have called on the diplomatic
envoys of 10 nations. in Wash-
ington and at the United Na-
tions to present the views of the
Jews in opposition to a proposal
to change the calendar in such
fashion as to unfix the Sabbath,
it was announced here by Isaac
Rosengarten, secretary of the
League.
Rosengarten said that he had
visited the delegations of India,
China and Norway at the United
Nations and that representatives
of the League and of the Sev-
enth Day Adventists visited the
Embassies of Argentina, Czecho-
slovakia, Ecuador, Pakistan, Tur-
key, Venezuela and Israel to ex-
plain their crpposition to a pro-
posal placed by India before the
current session in Geneva of the
UN Economic and Social Coun-
cil for reforming the world cal-
endar through the device of a
"blank day."
The various diplomats showed
little awareness of the opposi-
tion point of view, Rosengarten
reported, and all promised to
forward the League's memoran-
dum and the Seventh Day Ad-
ventists' views to their govern-
ments for further study. Rosen-
garten asserted that few people
realized the danger of. the pro-
posals being adopted by the UN
body.
He also said that few people,
including foreign diplomats con-
cerned with the problem, real-
ized the economic and other .dis-
advantages which would accrue
to Jews in the United States if
they attempted to follow their
religion under the kind of cal-
endar proposed by India.
.
Welling
Cohen
The Community Workshop, a
recently developed sheltered
workshop facility, has been es-
tablished as an affiliated agen-
cy of the Jewish Welfare Feder-
ation, it is announced by Sam-
uel H. Rubiner, Federation
president. This new agency
brings to 14 the total of local
agencies now affiliated with
Federation.
After a year of trial operations,
action to establish the workshop
as an independent agency fol-
lowed consideration of a report
by a joint . study committee con-
sisting of representatives of the
operating committee of the
Workshop and the Jewish Voca-
tional Service, Rubiner stated.
Co-chairmen of the study com-
mittee were Samuel S. Green-
berg for the Workshop and
David M. Welling for JVS.
The Workshop will serve as a
work laboratory" to stimulate
actual employment conditions
for persons with certain compli-
cations interfering with place-
ment or adjustment in private
employment, Sub-contracts are
secured involving various light
assembly, packaging and sewing
machine operations, which are
perfprmed by the clients' at piece
rates equivalent to private in-
dustry.
In the protected setting of
cover of the first volume, a golden sun rising over Jerusalem's
Mt. Moriah.
"Herzl took every .opportunity of personally collecting funds
for the Keren Kayemeth. One of the delegates to the Congress
recalls a convivial gathering one evening in Basle, when no
meetings had been scheduled.-Herzl was immediately surround-
ed by dozens of delegates asking for his autograph, which he
gave willingly; when he finished, he suddenly took off his top
hat, and hat in hand s`arted collecting contributions for the
JNF. Then he poured the coins on the table, showed the entire
gathering his empty top hat, even turning out the inner hat-
band, and said: 'Gentlemen, you can see that I haven't con-
cealed anything'.
"It was, therefore, in Herzl's spirit that first attempts at
reafforestation in Eretz Israel were named in his honor. By now,
the `Herzl Forest' has become a battered woodland of which
Arab marauders took their toll throughout the decades. Zionists
the world over, no doubt, will wish to take Herzl Year as the
occasion to make the forest worthy of the name it bears and
transform it into a mighty symbol of green, extending from
Ben Shemen to Mod'in in ancient Hasmonean country, down to
the Tombs of the Maccabees. For in more than one meaning
have Herzl's words come true: The Maccabees will rise again."
This is the man about whom Mr. Lipsky said in his memorable
address that—
"He did not know that he had fired a revolution in Jewish
life and thought. He did not know that he had created the in-
strument of redemption which would live on long after his de-
parture, and would ultimately reach the goal he had missed. In
the first flush of revelation he had thought freedom would
come through the, contributions Of Jewish philanthropists,
through foreign influence bought and paid for. He organized
the Jewish Colonial Trust. He set in motion the Jewish National
Fund. He made the Congress the international voice of the
Jewish people. In the final hours of his life he knew that re-
demption would come from the struggle of his people., their sac-
rifices, their devotion, their belligerency, their passion.
"It was his historic privilege to set .the Jewish people on the
road that would bring them to the Promised Land—not any
land, not Argentina, not Uganda, but the land which finally
found a living place in his bruised heart, and in which every
tree and every bare rock bore witness to the Covenant.
"He said that the foundation of the Jewish State was laid
at the first Basle Congress. He foretold that 50 years later the
Jewish State would be a growing reality. The First Congress
was held in 1897. The Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.
The Jewish people proclaimed the State of Israel in May, 1948.
"In his last will, he asked that his remains be buried in the
Jewish Cemetery in Vienna near the grave of his father 'to re-
main there until the Jewish people take my body to Palestine."
When the Russians entered Vienna in 1948 it was 'blind that
the Nazis had overlooked the desecration of Herzl's grave. The
new State of Israel—the reality of all Herzl had striven for—
resolved to fulfill his wish. On Aug. 17, 1949, the dust of Herzl
was gathered together and brought from Vienna and interred
in one of the hills of the Holy City of Jerusalem where the
memory of his historic struggle will be an everlasting shrine."
We pay tribute to the memory of the great Prophet of our
century, the state-builder, the dreamer who, at great personal
sacrifice, laid the foundation for the Jewish State. His name is
indelibly written in world history, never to be erased.
Greenberg
the Workshop, an opportunity is
provided to develop work hab-
its and abilities which lead irk
many cases to successful place-
ment in private employment.
Rubiner announced the for-
mation of a committee which
will operate the new agency un-
til a board is selected. The cornp
mittee, headed by Greenberg,
will draft the agency's proposed
constitution and by-laws. Green-
berg, chairman of the former
temporary operating committee,
with Theodore Bargman as his
associate chairman, is a past
president of JVS.
Serving with Greenberg will be ,
Clarence L. Ascher, Bargman,
Morris Lewis, Mrs. Morton Net-
zorg, Fred E. Schwab and Bi-
win S. Simon.
Plans for the Workshop em-
phasize close coordination with
JVS. Only clients felt by JVS
to require the Workshop's serv-
ices will be accepted by the
Workshop. To assure consonance,
of the two programs, Rubiner .
stated, the executive director of
the JVS will serve also as execu-
tive director of the new - com-
munity Workshop agency.
Albert Cohen, executive dire&
for of JVS since 1945, has as-
sumed administration of the
Workshop. He is a special in
structor in the Graduate Faculty -
_of Wayne University, chairman'
of the agency evaluation.. com-
mittee of the American Per-
sonnel and Guidance Association
for the Detroit area, and a mem-
ber of the Technical Advisory
Committee of the Jewish Occu-
pational Council, national cen-
tral agency for Jewish National
Services.
Rubiner also announced the
appointment of Joseph L. Wein-
berg as director for the opera-
tions of the new. agency. Wein-
berg formerly was in charge of
the National Council of Jewish
Women-JVS of Detroit special
program for the placement of
the aged and handicapped and
had wide experience in working
with • the hard-to:-place at the
Jewish Vocational Service at
Newark.
The Workshop is located in the
Fred M. Butzel Memorial Build-
ing, 163 Madison at John R. The
offices of the Jewish Vocational
Service are in the same building.
Defeat Herut Proposal
To 'Capture Jerusalem'
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—The Is-
rael Parliament approved by
vote of 36 to 12 the stand taken
by the Israel government in the
Jerusalem "small war" which
raged for three days last week
and in which the Israel Army
was ordered to display restraint
and cooperate with United Na-
tions observers.
A proposal presented by the
extremist right-wing Herut dep-
uties suggesting that Israel cap-
ture the Jordan-held part of
Jerusalem in order to prevent
further Arab attacks on the Is-
rael section of the city was voted
down by 70 to 8. A resolution
introduced by the Communist
deputies demanding that UN ob-
servers be driven out of Israel
and rejection of the Western
Powers' security plan for the
Arab-Israel borders was defeated
by a vote of '73 to 3.
BORIS SMOLAR'S
"Between You and Me'
and NATHAN ZIPRIN'S
"On the 'Record"
Columns.;94...Page..Z4