Another Scrap, of Paper?
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press -Association. National Editorial
As s ociation.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich.,
VE. 8-9364. Subscription $5 a year, Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the thirteenth day of Adar, 5716, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
portion
Pentateuchal portion, Tetzave, Zoeller, Ex. 27:20-30:10; Deut. 25:17-19. Prophetical
I Sam. 15:1-34.
Purim occurs on Sunday.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Feb. 24, 5:53 p.m.
Page Four
VOL. XXVIII. No. 25
February 24, 1956
'Consistency, Thou Art a Jewel'
In his reply to the Republican members
of Congress who pleaded with him to pro-
vide defensive arms for Israel, Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles stated:
"The. having in hand, by Israel, of
equal or superior arms is not the only
deterrent to aggression. Israel is a crea-
tion of, and a member of the United Na-
tions; the Arab states are also members
and all are solemnly bound by that charter
to refrain in their international relations
from the threat or use of force. The United
Nations Organization is capable of prg-
viding many forms of protection."
All of which is proper and Jogical. The
hope of all rational human beings is that
the world may learn to work through
the United Nations for peace and for
world tranquility. But there must be cer-
tain assurances that the place of the UN
in the crisis affecting the Middle. East
will not be merely' that of a debating
society.
*
*
*
There must be a consistent approach
to the problem, and consistency's pro-
verbial role as "a jewel" in human rela-
tions happened to be challenged during
the past week. In reply to the Russian
announcement. that tripartite interven-
tion in the Middle East would be viewed
. by the Soviet leaders as a "flagrant viola-
tion" of the United Nations Charter,
Lincoln White, speaking for our State De-
partment, declared that the United States
wanted to work through the United Na-
tions if it possibly could, "but should the
United Nations become paralyzed, as it
has in the past, due to Soviet (veto) ac-
tion, then there is no alternative to work-
ing outside the United Nations."
This creates added concern over Israel's
fragile position in the Middle East. If
outside intervention is eventually to be
used to resolve the crisis, what is to pre-
vent Russia from resorting to a- deus- ex
machiria approach to an issue in which
she now refuses to "remain indifferent?"
*
*
*
In a report on his study of the situation
Happy Purim!
In his illuminating book on Purim, Dr.
Theodor H. Gaster relates the legend in
which the rabbis' answer is quoted to the
query why Haman plotted to hang Morde-
cai rather than to destroy him in some
other way:
Haman's wife, Zeresh, the rabbis ex-
plained, "had pointed out to him that
Jews had always escaped other fates.
Hananiah, Michael and Azariah had been
thrown into a blazing furnace, but had
emerged unscathed. Joseph had been cast
into a pit, but had survived. Israel had
journeyed through a wilderness, but had
eventually reached the Promised Land.
Samson had been blinded, yet had
wreaked vengeance on his foes. All of
these forms of tribulation, therefore,
would not prove fatal; hanging was all
that was left."
Hanging, too, failed.
Yet, the Hamans throughout the ages
have failed to heed the warning of the
indestructibility of Israel.
We have had many Purims. We are on
the eve of another. This time, our cousins,
the Moslems, are conducting a worldwide
campaign against Israel, inciting to war
against the Jewish State, to pogroms
against Jews in Moslem countries, to eco-
nomic boycotts against Jews everywhere.
They fail to realize the futility of Haman-
ism!
As we celebrate another Purim, we
plead for peace, for good will among men.
in the Middle East, R. H. Crossman; Brit-
ish M. P., • outlined the causes of the war
crisis there as follows:
1. The dangers of actual war between
Israel and her neighbors increased rap-
idly throughout 1955 and is still increas-
ing. The Middle East has become the
Balkans of the 1950s, and Amnian or
Haifa could be the Sarajevo of World
War III.
2. The immediate causes of this war
crisis were (a) the sudden end of the
epoch'. during which the Western powers
exercised a monopoly control of the
whole area; (b) the emergence, as the
result of the British withdrawal from
Suez, of the Nasser regime as the domi-
nant Middle Eastern power, with a
vigorous and independent Arab policy,
backed by Russian arms.
3. The British "policy of strength" de-
signed to cope with the Russian inter-
vention and to preserve the peace, failed
so completely that it had the opposite
effect to that intended. It has played
into the hands of Russia: produced, par-
ticularly in Cyprus and Jordan, a dis-
astrous weakening of British prestige;
and aggravated Israeli-Egyptian tension.
The United States is a party to agree-
ments with the United Kingdom on the
Middle East situation, and these conclu-
sions therefore also apply to us.
Thus, Israel is the victim in a situation
that results from the western powers
having "played into the hands of Russia,"
and if it is logical for our Government,
in the face of a threatened Russian veto,
to act "outside the United Nations," it
is even more logical for this country to
provide Israel with weapons of self-de-
fense to avert a war which may turn into
a World War III.
*
*
There is inconsistency in the actions of
the world powers in this issue. It ap-
proaches immorality, in view 'of the fact
that all statesmen concede that there is
danger of war against Israel. There are
contradictions not only in the cross-pur-
poses of the nations involved but in the
manner in which the issue is faced on the
varying fronts. The world can ill afford
casual. and indifferent approaches.
As a first condition for a sound peace,
we must urge- the immediate granting of
Israel's request for defensive arms. That
must be followed by serious efforts to
eliminate tensions, to call for direct nego-
tiations between Israel and the Arab na-
tions in order to effect a lasting peace.
The entire world can benefit from such
a peace, and the first beneficiaries of it
would be Arabs as well as Jews. For these
purposes, we can not afford to counten-
ance inconsistency.
In the debate on the Arab-Israel con-
flict, in the British House of Lords, re-
cently, Lord Henderson made these
pointed comments:
"There can be no stability without
peace, no peace without agreement, no
agreement without negotiation, and no
negotiation without Israel. The State of
Israel is a political reality. It has come to
stay. It is the one factor in the search
for peace upon which there is no room
for compromise. The acceptance of a liv-
ing and viable Israel is an indispensable
base of any peace settlement."
Such an approach is vital to this situa-
tion. We renew our appeal to President
Eisenhower and to Secretary of State
Dulles to grant Israel the right to life,
through means for self-defense, and to
use all the power at the command of
statesmen, with the aid of other govern-
ments, to effect a speedy peace, in order
that there may never again be anothei ,
Sarajevo on this planet.
'A Half Century of Zionist History'
Odyssey of an American Zionist'
The best available 'personal history of intimate events in
American Zionism is now available. It is "The- Odyssey of an
American Zionist: A Half-Century of Zionist History," by Julius
Haber, published by Twayne (31 W. Union Sq., N. Y. -3).
While it is primarily the personal history of experiences of
an American Zionist, the author's devoted participation in the
movement, his share in world Zionist affairs—as an attendant
at World Zionist Congresses—gives his work a more. general
aspect. ,It is, in many respects, a volume of the most interesting
recollections of all Zionist happenings in the past 50 years.
In an introduction to this book, Louis Lipsky, the dean of
American Zionists, commends Mr. Haber for his work and calls
his book "a running narrative of the events that shaped modern
Jewish history, from the early World Zionist Congress and
Zionist conventions in America through the precarious and
crucial weeks and months when the fate of Israel hung in the
balance in the United Nations; from the early ideological
battles between the youth of 'Galicia and their elders through
Israel's brave and triumphant fight for independence against
Arab aggression . . ."
Mr. Haber begins with his experiences in his home town Of
Boiberke, in Galicia. He traces the early struggles of Zionism.
He writes about men and events. He tells of his experiences
with the distinguished leaders in the movement. His memoirs—
for this is what his book really is, a collection of memoirs—will
remind his readers about the great figures of Zionism, some of
them nearly forgotten; about the pioneers—great and small;
about occurrences that stirred internal struggles among Ameri-
can Jews.
He has been at every front, from the beginnings of this
century through the stirring times when Zionism was a matter
for discussion before the United Nations.
He relates. many intimate stories, recalls legends, tells fasci-
nating facts among the makers of the movement that led to
Israel's rebirth. He does not relate the complete story, and there
will be many criticisms for omissions, but as a memoir it is a
fine work.
"The Odyssey of an American Zionist" is indispensable read-
ing for Zionists. It will be read with relish and great interest
by all Jews who will find his book to be a valuable addendum
to existing histories of our people in the past half century.
Excellent Penological Study
Dr. Roscoe Pound, former dean of the Harvard Law School,
in an introduction to "Crime, Courts and Probation," by Charles
Lionel Chute and Marjorie Bell (published by Macmillan, 60 5th,
N. Y. 11), describes the progress that has been made in solving
problems of penal treatment and the promotion of programs
of improving "treatment of convicted offenders of which proba-
tion is an essential part."
Much progress, Dr. Pound points out, has been made in
the face of great difficulties in not more than a generation.
The efforts of John Augustus; the Boston shoemaker who
pioneered in the probation movement 100 years ago, are inter-
estingly sketched in this' volume. The two authors describe the
history of the treatment of convicted criminals.
In a concluding chapter to the book, Judge Louis Goldstein,
of Brooklyn, writing on "My Six Probationers," declares:
"Intelligently applied and skillfully executed, probation is
the most dramatic forward step that the community has ever
taken in relation to prevention and control of crime. It is not
merely an instrument whereby young offenders may be saved
from going to jail, as many people think. More important, it
is a means whereby the problems of these youngsters may be
adjusted, and in a most economical fashion, a means whereby
their latent skills may be developed and whereby they can
become productive units in a free, law-abiding community."
The two authors have developed a very important theme
With great skill and deep understanding. "Crime, Courts and
Probation" is an excellent addition to the studies of ipenology.