U. S. Jewry Faces Severe Test in Battle for Israel

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- THE DETROIT JEWISH

Showdown, Involving State's Ultimate
Survival, May Come in a Few Days

By BORIS SMOLAR

Inc.)
her ships may come and go
through the Red Sea without
being Subjected to Egyptian ar-
tillery fire . . . Israel cannot
afford to withdraw from these
islands unless she receives in-
ternational guarantees t h a t
Egyptian guns will not be
mounted there again, as in the
past . . . She may, therefore,
refuse to evacuate them uncon-
ditionally, as she may refuse to
withdraw from Gaza—which is
not Egyptian territory—uncon-
ditionally ... Refusal holds the
danger of serious political and
economic consequences for Is-
rael . . . And American Jews
may be called upon this time to

(Copyright, 1957, Jewish Telegraphic Agency,

American Jewish leadership
will undergo the greatest test
in its battle for Israel . . . This
time the fight will be not only
for the welfare of Israel, but
also for its security and perhaps
its ultimate survival . • The
next few weeks — and perhaps
days—hold a serious challenge
to Israel's existence . . All
indications point to the fact that
Israel will be under the strong-
est pressure to withdraw uncon-
ditionally from Gaza and the
two tiny islands at the lower
end of the Gulf of Aqaba which
she won during the Sinai cam-
paign . . . These islands, in
Israel's hands, guarantee that

as

give her not merely philan-
thropic aid but all the moral
support possible. -
/ In anticipation of a tense at-
mosphere with regard to Israel
at the United Nations and in
Washington, important leaders
of American Jewish organiza-
tions consider it of utmost im-
portance to keep a close watch
on developments in this country,
and not to go abroad during the
next two or three weeks . . .
Thus, the meetings of the Con-
ference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany, which
were to be held this month in
London, will be held in New
York instead . . This will en-
able such Jewish leaders as Dr.
Nahum Goldmann, Jacob Blau-
stein, Adolph Held and others
to remain in New York at this
critical time for Israel rather
than be away in London . . .
Should the situation require it,

Purely Commentary

Pierre van Paassen remains one of the great reporters of our
time. He is a master stylist, a remarkable observer as a student
of world affairs, fearless, ready to tread on ground that many
others would not dare trespass.
His latest book, "A _Pil-
grim's Vow," just published by
Dial Press, (461 4th, NY 16),
proves these points. He nar-
rates a fascinating story of his
trips through Palestine, his
experiences 1.vith Arabs and
Jews, his reactions to inter-
nationally - complicated situa-
tions.
Buried alive in a mine,
miraculously rescued, he vow-
ed to walk through the Holy
Land, on foot. It took time—
and availability of means to
travel—for him to begin his
journey. Having reached his
destination, he covered the
land and entered into Arab
areas. In his narrative, he
draws not only upon the ex-
periences of his first journey,
Pierre van Paassen
in 1926, but also on the one
after that, in the dark days of Arab pogroms on Jews in 1929,
and on those he took to Palestine later and to Israel in 1955. ,
Another great writer and poet, Edmond Fleg, similarly
vowed at one time to retrace the steps of Jesus in the Holy Land.
When he reached the Land of Israel, he found so much to write
about the Jewish efforts in the neglected land that he wrote an
entirely different book, "The Promised Land," one of the finest
evaluations of Zionist endeavors.
Similarly, van Paassen's story is not merely a retracing of
the religious ground but also a deeply moving description of the
events that transpired on holy ground that had been transformed
into a battleground.
Van Paassen's story is a recapitulation of history. It is a
splendid recounting of the Bible story. He draws upon the
"The Legends of the Jews" by Prof. Louis Ginzberg in his refer-
ences to King Solomon. He tells of halting "at Rachel's tomb,
a small whitewashed octagonal building which stands on the
right side of the road, two and a half miles from Jerusalem, and
then makes this comment:
"When I say that the Jews of Jerusalem used to come out
once a year to pray on Rachel's tomb, I am speaking of the
past. They do so no longer. They pray no more at the Wailing
Wall either, nor do they go to Hebron to visit the tombs of
'The Fathers,' Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All these sacred sites
now lie outside the Israeli Republic's territory. And so does
Bethlehem, the city of David! In 1948 the Jordanian Legion
seized all this area which historically and religiously is per-
haps the most intensely Jewish part of Palestine."
"A Pilgrim's Vow" renders an especially important service
in refuting the fantastic crucifixion stories. Calling attention to
an inscription on a door of an edifice on the Via Dolorosa which
reads: "At the arch (called) Ecce Homo where Pontius Pilate
handed Christ • over to • the Jews in order that he might be
crucified," van Paassen -declares:
"The New Testament nowhere says that Pilate handed Jesus
over to the Jews. Roman soldiers carried out the execution.
Crucifixion was not a -Jewish method of execution."
Legends, . transformed into lies, thus are exposed. Pilate
"knew nothing of Jesus," van Paassen admonishes his readers.
"The gospels make that abundantly clear. The life of one more
Jew or less did not weigh very heavily with the Procurator.
Galileans, such as Jesus, he held in particular detestation as
troublemakers, revolutionaries and contemners of the Roman"
power. "He had . shed - JeWish 'blood as copiously as any other
governor - before' or after him. Thousands of Jews were crucified
under Pilate's procuratorship."
Van Paassen adds an indictment of Christians in his reference
to the Crusades and to the synagogue "that stood on the site
of an earlier structure, 'near the western wall,' where, according
to tradition, the last handful of the Jews of Jerusalem assembled
when the Crusaders captured the city and were slaughtering all
they met." He quotes the statement by the French historian of
the Crusades, "They (the Jews) offered no resistance; they were
very old men and women; they-died murmuring their immemorial
prayers," and then makes these comments:,
"Some day I'd like to visit a European country, outside of
Holland, where Jews were not martyred at one time or other.
They have left behind a trail of blood in nearly every land
in Christendom.
"'What are they wailing about?' asked Dean Inge of

.

Jewish leaders from all over the
United States may be alerted
to convene in New York or
Washington for an emergency_
conference to back Israel's de-
mands for international secur-
ity guarantees.
*
Domestic Affairs
The American Jewish Com-
mittee is preparing to celebrate
its 50th anniversary on a grand
scale . . . When the organization
was formed 50 years ago, it con-
sisted of just fifty distinguished
American Jews, none of them
of East European origin . . . In
1936 it reorganized itself and
became a body not of a select
few, but of thousands of mem-
bers who shape its program .. .
Today the American Jewish
Committee -claims 26,000 mem-
bers from all walks of Jewish
life . . •. Its members are busi-
ness men, lawyers, rabbis, edu-

Great Reporter's Fascinating
• Narrative: Van Paassen's New
• Book, "A Pilgrim's Vow"

By Philip
Slomovitz

St. Paul's after casting one glance at the Jews praying before
the Wailing Wall. 'Why do they come here at all? Aren't they
well off in New York?'
"This was the only comment of the great neo-Platonist.
There are others who do not feel the slightest emotion when
looking at this moving scene. A group of tourists or pilgrims,
conducted by a tall man dressed in clerical garb, came down
the steps, took one look, and turned back. Their guide said
in French: 'There now, you've - seen how they carry on; it's
the most senseless show in the world. They have been coming
here for centuries to mourn. Against that wall the obstinate
prayers of generations of Jews have beaten like water against
a dike without making the slightest impression . . . And think
of it: this will go on till the end of time!'
"Till the end of time? I wanted to call him back and
ask him: 'How do you know? Have you ever seen water beat
against a dike? Don't you know that even a drop of water can
hollow out a stone, not by force, but by obstinately falling on
the same spot? The strongest dike sometimes tears apart like
a piece of rag paper, letting the sea through in waves mountain
high, engulfing everything in their path.'
"Isn't it possible that the obstinate prayers of the Jews will
some day beat a breach in that wall of stone? Isn't it a miracle
and a mystery both that they are still with us? They saw all
the _empires collapse, the thrones -of the mightiest of their
oppressors swept away like driftwood upon the stream of time.
They alone, the witness people, have survived all the cataclysms
of history !"
- In a brief, friendly dispute with young settlers in Kfar
Yeladim, the children's village in Israel, van Paassen reports
that, when they mentioned the Balfour Declaration to him, he
admonished them, "Why don't you celebrate the Bethel Declara-
tion instead?" He explained to them that he referred to the
pledge to Jacob by God: "The land whereon thou liest, to thee
I give 'it, and to thy seed."
Van Paassen knows Jewish history, he understands Jewish
traditions, he is acquainted with our legends. All this becomes
apparent in his narrative about the Baal Shem Tov and other
Jewish masters. He relates his experiences with Samaritans who
expounded hatred for Jews while claiming to be the only direct
lineal descendants of the ancient Hebrews. "When I visited
Nablus there were only 120 Samaritans left, 81 males and 39
females," van Paassen writes.
Also: van Paassen is acquainted with Flavius Josephus whom
he also quotes.
Another peculiar desire, among some Christians, to perpetuate
the Holy Land as a shrine, is demolished by van Paassen. He
refers to objections to Jewish colonization of Palestine by the
Rev. John R. Griffith, M.A., a member of the staff of the Anglican
bishOp in Jerusalem, who backed up his contention "with the
argument that it would despoil the looks of the country!" Van
Paassen continues at this point, with reference to the Rev.
Griffith: -
"He wanted to see the Holy Land preserved in its pristine
state, in a condition as near as possible to that of the days of
Our Lord. 'Modern roads, grain elevators, cement factories,
hydroelectric stations and all the rest of the paraphernalia of
agricultural and industrial advance,' he said, 'are apt to distract
the minds of men who should be seeing Jesus alone.'
"That was a novel argument to divert the Jewish people
from fulfilling their destiny in being regathered in their ancient
homeland! I was not in the mood to debate the question that
night. All ,I asked the chaplain was, did he think Jesus would
have approVed leaving his • country a desolate land, and the
Jewish masses, his brethren in Europe, pent up in vile ghettoes,
the victims of poverty and hatred until the end of time?"
, There is a great deal more about the Jesus myths in relation
to Jewry in van Paassen's book. Study and discussion of these
portions must be left to lecturers and to study groups.
One of the most important portions of this great book is the
account van Paassen gives of the Hebron massacre. of Jewish
theological students in 1929. That marked the end of the Jewish
community in that historic Jewish city and the end of progress
in that area. It is important that all who seek knowledge about
the Arab-Jewish struggles should read this portion and should
become reacquainted with the tragic manner in which Arabs have
molested, as they continue to molest, their Jewish cousins; how
a lack of understanding of human problems is causing a tragic
rift between two kindred peoples.
This reviewer is tempted to go on and on quoting from
van Paassen and reminiscing, with him, about events of the
past two decades. The space limitations compel an end to the
review with the recommendation to our readers to secure
van Paassen's "A Pilgrim's Vow," to place it in the hands of
their friends, to let. non-Jews read it. The fair-minded person
will learn from it anew that there is great justice to the Jewish
cause in Israel.

cators, and are drawn from
about 600 communities ..
Some of them are Reform in
their religious practice, others
are Conservative and s t ill
others Orthodox There are
many outspoken Zionists in the
ranks of the American Jewish
Committee, but the organization
as such is considered the spokes-
man of American non-Zionist
Jews in matters concerning Is-
rael . . . It shows a deep con-
cern for the State of Israel, but
for the most part this is a prag-
matic rather than an ideolog-
ical concern . . . It has 35 chap-
ters in major cities throughout
the country and its governing
body is a Board of Delegates
which may have up to 1,500
members . . . Its executive
board is composed of 200 mem-
bers and its administrative
board has 50 members . . . The
interesting thing abOut the
American Jewish Committee is
that during all the 50 years of
its existence it has had only
eight presidents . . . Outstand-
ing among them was Louis
Marshall, who served as presi-
dent from 1912 to 1929, when
he died at a meeting of the
Jewish Agency in Switzerland
. . . The president preceding
Mr. Marshall was Mayer Sulz-
berger, who was also the first
president of the organization
Succeeding presidents were Cy-
rus Adler, Sol M. Strook,
Maurice Wertheim, Joseph M.
Proskauer, Jacob Blaustein and
Irving M. Engel who is cur-
rently serving his second term.

Begin $75,000,000
Israel Bond Drive

NEW YORK, (JTA)—A rec-
ord total of $54,088,850 in State
of Israel bonds for the economic
development of the S t a t e of
Israel was sold during 1956, Dr.
Joseph J. Schwartz, vice presi-
dent of the Israel Bond Organ-
ization, reported at the two-day
meeting of the organization's
board of governors here, attend-
ed by more than 300 key Jewish
communal leaders. The board
decided to launch a campaign
to sell $75,000,000 in bonds in
1957.
The 1956 sum, the largest in
any one year since the inception
of the Israel bond drive, brings
the total since. May, 1951, when
the bond drive began, to $270,-
667,200, Dr. Schwartz said. The
1956 figure, he pointed out, con-
stitutes an increase of $11,787,-
400, or 28 percent, over the
1955 total of $42,301,450 in Israel
bond sales.
Abraham Feinberg, presi-
dent of the Israel Bond Organ-
ization, referred to the 1956 rec-
ord of Israel bond sales as a
"heartening demonstration that
the Jews of America are eager
to strengthen their partnership
with Israel in the most concrete
and helpful way."

Golda Meir Appeals for
Intensive Sale of Bonds in 1957
Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel's For-
eign Minister, addressing the
session, said that the suggestions
made by Israel for the elimina-
tion of the blockade of the Suez
Canal and the Straits of Tiran
and the prevention of a recur-
rence of fedayeen attacks from
Gaza and Sinai will lead to a
"de facto peace which would
pave the way for a permanent
peace settlement" in the Middle
East. At the same time, she
warned against the possibility
of a renewal of hostilities be-
tween Israel and the Arab
states, and said: "It is vital that
the outstanding problems be-
tween Israel and the Arab states
should not be handled in a way
that would involve us in a
gamble with or risk of n e w
hostitilities."
Urging a more intensive cam-
paign for Israel bonds in 1957,
Mrs. Meir declared: "I cannot
see any possibility of meeting
the pressing economic problems
arising from the present situa-
tion and our extraordinary im-
migration needs without a far
more intensive campaign for
Israel bonds this year."