Purely Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Soviet Press. Blames Stalin's Policies
For Post War Executions, Anti-Semitism

NEW YORK, (JTA) — For
the first time since the death
We never believed, and we do not believe now, that a war is of Stalin, the Soviet press ad-
imminent in the Middle East.
mitted this week that anti-
It is crystal clear that the Arabs are afraid of Israel and Semitism had been practiced
. will not go beyond the murderous tactics for which Egypt has in the Soviet Union during the
tressed into action "fedayeen" who infiltrated unwillingly into post-war period when many
srael to do Nasser's dirty work.
Jewish intellectuals were an-
That is why it is so vitally necessary that Israel receive nihilated and the entire Jewish
defensive arms. A. strong Israel will not be attacked; if Israel cultural life was liquidated.
, is weak, there is greater danger of war.
Reports from Moscow quote
(Amazing, isn't it, that a man like Drew Pearson should Voprosi Istorri, leading Soviet
. have shown such a lack of knowledge on this issue and on the organ, as declaring that "seri-
problem of the Arab refugees in his answers to questions after ous errors in the leadership of
.
• his address here at Telnple Israel!)
the party" have been made
But there is another vital issue to be considered: The position during the • post-war period
of the United Nations and the world'S major democratic powers, with regard to national minor-
including our own government.
ities. The journal recalls Len-
What was needed was firmness: It was totally lacking. What in's rejection of anti-Semitism
the United States needed was a policy: Mr. Dulles proved in- and says that his views were
competent in forming it, and our President remains either un- "misinterpreted" in the country
informed or too weak in his position in demanding a positive, today.
realistic and humane outlook on the situation. The Republican
• administration has floundered—and it almost led the world into
U. S. to Send Local
another war.
What was needed in an hour of crisis was courage and fear-
lessness. Israel displayed it and staved off a war. Mr. Dulles is, Collector's Art on Tour
as charged by Mr. Ben-Gurion, either an avowed enemy of Israel Of Latin America •
or totally blind to the existing facts. (Mrs. Eugene Meyer, of
The art collection of Mr. and
Washington, believes golf's demands have robbed Mr. Eisenhower
Mrs. Lawrence Fleischman,
of time to deal with the foreign problem).
In the meantime, Russia has gained a foothold in the Middle 19480 Burlington, will in Au-
East and it is a safe bet: that she won't be budged from it. We gust-be sent on a 20-month tour
of Latin America, under auspi-
can thank Mr. Dulles' procrastination for that, too.
It doesn't take too much acumen to realize that political ces of the United States Infor-
honesty, leading to firmness in dealing with the Middle East's mation Agency.
crisis, could have averted most of the blunders.
This same Government agency
But our "statesmen" were too Busy looking for opportunities last slimmer sponsored Detroiter
to kow-tow to the Arab oil potentates and to censure Israel, Charles E. Feinberg's exhibition
• while remaining blind to every Arab act of aggression.
of Whitmania on a tour of Eng-
These so-called "statesmen" would have led us into a war land.
by this time, if it were not for Israel's determination never
There will be 60 paintings
again to be trampled in the dirt and to be subjected to humila- and five pieces of sculpture, all
tion. Israel's honor now is the world's honor.
the work of this country's ar-
tists, included in the Fleischman
Jets and Flowers
Defense and Peace
exhibit, which will be sent to
On Monday, while Israel—under compulsions resulting from Brazil, Argentina, Chili, Peru,
the•in-humanity of a senseless world's failure to give her proper Ecuador, Columbia, Uruguay,
protection—was mustering jet planes, two pretty Columbia Uni- Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico.
versity freshmen pinned flowers on passersby on a busy New
The Fleischman exhibit first
York street, attaching them to lapels with buttons reading "Israel attracted national attention last
Independence Day." It was on the corner of 57th Street and October when it was exhibited
Seventh .Avenue that we were greeted by these young ladies who at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
were acting as messengers of peace, distributing symbols of life
Mr. and Mrs. Fleischman will
as gifts to mark the great day in Israel's history.
travel to Rio de Janeiro in Au-
Thier voluntary act demonstrated the unity of Israel 7--,flowers gust to open the exhibition
linking kinsmen who parted by 6,000 miles of space.' These girls there. Fleisahman will - spend
were part of an army that acted for the American Zionist Council three weeks in each country, as
in sending forth not missiles of war, nor appeals to 'hatred, but the art works are 'forwarded.
4-living messages of courage to the defenders of Israel that we
won't abandon them to an uncertain fate.,
In Israel they must have jet planes. In this country, the Panush to Head
floral gift on Israel's Independence Day linked us in bonds of Body of Educators
loyalty as a symbol of life, the life we must protect in Israel. The
Bernard Panush was unani-
young volunteers on that busy New York corner, on Israel's In-
dependence Day, symbolized a weapon as important as jet planes mously elected chairman of the
—the weapon of kinship,. the 'symbol of loyalty to our fellow I - Directors' Council of Jewish
men, the determination not to fot sake embattled libertarians. Religious Schools of Metropoli-
The weapon is not secret: it is on display for all who wish to tan Detroit at its recent meet-
understand it: that as long as people have the will to live, they in g.
He succeeds Allen A. Warsen
will survive- all onslaughts. Israel wills it; her kinsmen will it;
who held the post for two suc-
therefore the people are indestructible.
*-
cessive terms.
Jewish - Anecdotology: Bennet Cerf's Joke Book
Other officers elected include
The mere linking of "humor" with the name of the authority Walter Farber, treasurer; Albert
on wit, Bennet Cerf, is certain to create a best seller. We predict Schiff, secretary; and Warsen,
such a result for Bennett Cerf's "Vest Pocket Book of Jokes for publicity chairman.
All Occasions," published in a 3-inch by a 51/2-inch (truly, vest-
The Council drafted a tele-
pocket) size, 320-page edition by Random House (of which the gram to Secretary of State
humorist is president).
Dulles demanding that defen-
There are stories about tailors, plumbers, politicians and sive arms, immediately be sent
pugilists, publishers and drinkers.
to Israel.
There are sections about cloaks and suits, tailors, -Miami
Other action of the Council
vacationists, and several "Jewish Jokes."
was the formation of commit-
Many of the more than 700 tales, and anecdotes are already tees on teacher certification and
well known stories, a great many will still put the reader and the 1956-57 Teachers Institute,
listener in stitches, but some are truly quite old.
to be chaired, respectively, by
Since we are primarily interested in the Jewish sections, Walter Farber and Leon Lucas.
and - in a study of -Jewish humor, let us review his Jewish stories.
Some of them are corny. Some belong to the stage-Jew era and
Jewish business man who
are really outmoded.
was bidding for Wanamaker's.
Some of his Jewish jokes are dialect stories—also a bit For several days he was shown
outmoded: you seldom hear heavy accents among Jews now,
through all floors of the great
the end to immigration also having banished the impure Eng- department store, but he was
lish speaker.
dissatisfied. Finally he :was
There is, of course, a specific Jewish humor, and we deplore asked what his objections were,
Mr. Cerf's having overlooked some of the best sources. We are and he commented, "but I can't
certain that he is acquainted with Nathan Ausubel's and other see the rooms in the back." This
similar collections. But he did not make use of them.
is a classic commentary on the
Of course, there are the vernacular stories—as contrasted early days of Jewish struggles
with the dialect,- tales. Such stories become juicy when Yid- for economic -existence in this
country, and there are many
- dishisms are used. Take, as an example, the old story—retold
more like them that make up
in the "Cloaks and Suits" section in Bennett Cerf's latest joke
book, about the ailing Mr. Berkowitz who could not sleep and Jewish anecdotology. We would
have liked to see some such
who was taken by his family to a psychiatrist who chanted to
him: "You are asleep! You are asleep!" Betkowitz closed his stories in Mr. Cerf's book, to
eyes and the family was gratified. When the psychiatrist the elimination of others.
But his book will be liked,
walked out of the room after being paid a handsome fee,
Berkowitz, the old version goes, opened one eye and said: nevertheless. Who can possibly
fail to be enchanted by Bennett
"Er is shain avek, der Meshugener?" In Bennett Cerf's story
Cerf? And his "Vest Pocket
it reads: "Is that lunatic gone yet?" That's a correct translation,
Book of Jokes for All - Occasions"
but it does not click as well as the Yiddishism.
Friend Cerf, in his next edition, should make use of such —if we may venture to predict
punchier lines. 'There is a good story, for instance,` - about the —is certain to be a best seller

Political Honesty Needed to Attain Peace

I

A report from Prague to the
New York Times says that
Czechoslovakian Premier Vil-
iam Siroky declared that "cer-
tain manifestations of anti-
Semitism" had been incorrectly
introduced into the trial of Ru-
dolf Slansky in November;
1952. He said that the prosecu-
tor "had erred" in bringing out
that most of the defendants
were Jewish and added that
there was still a difference be-
tween anti-Semitism and anti-
Zionism.
The Czechoslovak Premier
revealed that Mordecai Oren,
an Israeli who was tried se-,
cretly and sentenced to 15
years in prison, recently asked
for a pardon and that his case
was being reviewed. Slansky,
the former Secretary General
of the Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia, was executed
with 13 others after a trial in
which he . -Was found guilty' of
having engaged in a "Zionist
conspiracy" against the Czech-
oslovak government.
A request that the Soviet
government issue a public
statement explaining what has
actually happened to the lead-
ers of Jewish cultural life in
the USSR, was the subject of
an editorial in the Freiheit,'
pro-Communist Yiddish daily
newspaper published here.
American Communists were

Between You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

—

-

,

instructed by the Daily Work-
er, official organ of the Corn-
munist Party in the United
States, to call for an explana-
tion by Soviet leaders who
shared the responsibility . for
anti-Semitism practiced under
Stalin. •
The American Jewish Com-
mittee meanwhile declared. that
the current revelations in the
Communist press about past
excesses of Soviet anti-Semi-
tism can be regarded only 'as
"camouflage and propaganda
so long as tens of thousand's of
Jews still are held in Russian
prisons and slave labor camps
on charges publicly confirmed
now as completely and utterly
false."
The Jewish Labor Committee
announced that it is arranging
a "public trial" on April 30 . in
New York "to focus attention
on the incontrovertible tragedy
that Jewish schools are still
closed, Jewish newspapers • are
still not permitted to be pub-
lished, Jewish books are not
issued, and that the majority
of the Jewish writers and po-
ets are still kept in cultural
exile—if in fact they are alive."
Adolph Held, national chair-
man of the JLC, said that
names of "witnesses" for the
"public trial" will be made
available within the coming
week.

(Copyright, 1956, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Washington Views:

Secretary of State Dulles is operating closer to Moscow than
to _Britain and France on the Arab-Israel issue. . . . This opinion
prevails among foreign diplomats in Washington. . . . They note
that the American-British-French talks in Washington on the
Arab-Israel conflict have broken down. . . . It . is obvious that
the United States has embarked on a Middle East policy which
involves the concurrence of the Soviet Union in any future settle-
ment. . . . This is seen from the fact that Secretary Dulles insists
that the Arab-Israel question should be kept in the United Na-
tions and not be handled by the Western "Big Three". . . . The
general opinion in Washington now is that Mr. Dulles is no
longer trying to exclude Moscow from a share in the Middle
East settlement. . . . Otherwise, he would comply with the
British and French views on selling defensive arms for Israel to
balance the offensive arms which Moscow sends to the Arab
countries.

United Nations Moods:

Will United Nations Secretary General Hammarskjold suc-
ceed in his mission to pave the way for peace between the Arab
countries and Israel? ... This question is uppermost in the minds
of American representatives at the United Nations, since the
"peace mission" was actually forced upon Mr. Hammarskjold by
the United States. . . Persons close to the UN Secretary Gen-
eral indicate that his first step will be to arrange a buffer zone
between the Arab states and Israel. .. . From what is known now
in UN circles, Israel May accept the buffer zone idea under cer-
tain conditions, but Syria is opposed to it. . . . If armed personnel
were to be barred from a buffer zone two kilometers wide, it
might be necessary to evacuate whole villages and collective
settlements established near the border for defensive purposes.
. . . The residents of these villages are normally heavily armed
and alternate between plowing the soil and mounting guard
duty. . . . This is why Syria objects to the establishment of a
buffer zone, and this may also sour the buffer plan for Israel
especially since it would not prevent Arab commandos from in-
filtrating Israel territory.

The Zionist Congress:

It-can be predicted safely that Dr. Nahum Goldmann will be
elected president of the World Zionist Organization and of the
Jewish Agency at the Zionist Congress which starts on April 24.
. . . He will thus don the mantle worn by the late Dr. Chaim
Weizmann for many years until he became President of the State
of Israel. . . . Strong competition will develop at the Congress
for the post of chairman of the Jewish Agency executive which
will become vacant when Dr. Goldmann becomes president. . . .
The competitors for this vacancy will be: Mrs. Rose Halprin, Dr.
Emanuel Neumann and Dr. Israel Goldstein—all three are mem-
bers of the Jewish Agency executive, with Mrs. Halprin holding
the post of acting chairman when Dr. Goldmann is absent from
the United States. . . . The American delegation at the World
Zionist Congress is composed of 122 members, including .\34
delegates from the Zionist Organization of America, 34 from
Hadassah, 24 from Labor Zionists, 12 from Mizrachi and the re-
mainder from the smaller groups. . . . Altogther there yvill be
490 delegates, 208 of them from Israel. .. The American delega-
tion is the second largest, next to the Israel delegation. . . . How-
ever, it would have been the first, had the Israelis not been en-
titled to what is known as "the double shekel". . This means
that Israel can send twice as many delegates for the shekolim
sold as any country in the Diaspora. . . . Without this privilege,
the Israel delegation would have been composed of only 104
members. . . The question of abolishing this privilege will be
one of the major issues at the Congress.

2 — L - Detroit Jewish - News

Friday, .April 20, 1956