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Purely Commentary

Lack of Realism in Handling Middle East Issues

Developments in the Middle Eastern political arena are
assuming fantastic forms.
Lebanon is divided, but the Chamoun government has support
in the United Nations from the Western powers and from Iraq
and Jordan.
The United Arab Republic, under the leadership of Gamal
Abdel Nasser, spouts hatred against the United States and our
allies, yet the Western group is doing all it can to appease
Nasser and his cohorts.
Russia is siding with the UAR, but in spite of it the
appeasement of Nasser and the UAR goes on.
Israel alone is an oasis of peace in the entire Middle
East, nevertheless our Government, together with Great
Britain, is pursuing a new policy of sending jet planes to
Arab states —Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon — without taking
into consideration that even these three pro-VVest states are
propagating Israel's destruction, although they need a strong.
Israel for their own survival.
The United Nations Security Council has voted "to dispatch
an observation group to proceed to Lebanon so as to ensure
that there is no illegal infiltration of personnel or supply of
arms or other material across the Lebanese _borders." This
proposal, made by Sweden, came as a result of Lebanese
protests against invasions of Lebanon by pro-Nasser forces.
The hopelessly divided Lebanese were compelled to register
complaints against their own kinsmen—the Egyptians and the
Syrians—and only little Israel was able to apprehend some
of the infiltrators. But a world that has become blinded by oil
fumes and by fear of possible invasion of the Middle East by
Russia overlooks the fact that the only peaceful and secure
element in that entire area is the smallest of all the states
there—Israel
Peace between Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq could,
almost immediately, end all fears in the Middle East. It would
then surely end anti-Israel animosity in Egypt, Saudi Arabia
and Syria. -
If the great -powers were to devote themselves to such
a peace undertaking, it would. not be necessary for them to
play favorites by sending munitions to ISrael's enemies. But
the Western powers continue to act unrealistically. They are
blind to realities. Therefore, walking in blindness, they are
not so successful in efforts to clear up the war-clouded horizons.

David Ben-Gurion's Prophecy About U. S. Jewry

•

In his speech of acceptance of Hadassah's tenth annual
Henrietta Szold Humanitarian Award, in Jerusalem, last week,
Israel's Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion uttered prophecy:
that world Jewry, and especially American Jewry; will not be
, able to survive without an intimate link with Israel.
This ominous augury again elevates Israel's able leader
into a sphere of controversy. There is no doubt that *what he"
had to say at that HadaSsah-sponsored event in Jerusalem will
be a subject for debate—and rightly so .
There can be no doubt about the fact that Diaspora and
Israeli Jewries must continue indissoluble ties, for their mutual
best interests. But if either Jewry can not survive without the
other, then it may mean that either one is not creating sufficient
spiritual power to assure such indestructibility.
Ben-Gurion cited the decline of Yiddish in the United
States as proof for his contention. He insisted that religion
had not been a bond uniting and conciliating all Jews for
decades. He maintained that synagogue and temple allegiance
in the U.S. is chiefly formal; that assimilation has developed
to such an extent that 90 per cent of America's younger Jewish
generation does not know anything about Judaism; that: "Never
was such a great Jewish community in such danger of gentle
extinction as American Jewry today. If this great historic
miracle had not taken place in our time and the State of Israel
had not risen, the great majority of the Jews of the United
States would have been left without any bond to Judaism."
Ben-Gurion's gloomy view is, we are convinced, unrealis-
tic and lacks justification. We return to our original conten-
tion that if either American or Israeli Jewry is to survive,
both must create spiritual values for themselves. We are
convinced that both must survive jointly and that both must
produce high values based on their historic heritage. But
if American Jews can not form a strong cultural arsenal of
their own, no amount of influence from Israel will help them.
Similarly, no amount of material help from the United
States will do the Israelis any good unless they continue to build
universities, research laboratories, and yeshivot for those who
desire them.
There is no doubt about the difficulties that are now
encountered by American Jews in the struggle for survival as
a community. But we are not as pessimistic as the visionary
prophet in Jerusalem. We are confident that American Jewry
will contribute a great deal towards all Jewry's cultural and
spiritual needs. We are certain that American Jews are not
bereft of the will to live, as Jews as well as Americans; of the
desire to create high moral values for themselves, their kinsmen
and their neighbors.
Perhaps it would be well to take a glance also at Israel's
weakened position. Prof. Joseph Klausner, the venerable Hebrew
University scholar, recently lamented the fact that many Israelis
are frightfully ignorant about Jewish traditions; that the Israeli
youngsters often do not know what is a tans; that religion is
strange to many of them.
Yet, we would not say that Israeli Jewry cannot survive as
Jews. They have their language as their fortification in support
of their Hebraic traditions. But there are many who believe that
that is not enough.
There are weaknesses in the ranks of all Jewries, and all can
and must gather strength from one another. But we refuse to
believe that any one of the Jewries is in such a state that we
must prepare to sit shiva for it. We have greater faith in the
indestructibility of Israel—the People and the Land.
Ben-Gurion was too pessimistic. His admonitions undoubtedly
will bring good results—in the form of increased concern over
our status everywhere. But none of us—B-G included—has reason
ever to speak in terms of our people's possible disappearance.

•
•

Ben-Gurion's Contro-
versial Predictions
About U. S. J ewry

By Philip

47 Women Elect .

SiOMOVitZ

Two Male Nurs
to Sinai- Offices

Another Reference to Yiddish: Relating to Birobidjan

Another world personality recently referred to Yiddish, and
was contradicted on the subject. Nikita S. Khrushchev, the USSR
Premier, had made the comment that Jews had failed to show an
interest in Birobidjan and that all that was left in Yiddish in that
region were the railroad signs. To which Solomon Gurevitch,
who was identified as a foreman in a Birobidjan automobile plant,
replied in a broadcast by Radio Moscow beamed in English to
the North American continent and in Hungarian and Romanian
to Eastern European countries, that there is a thriving. Jewish
community in Birobidjan with an active Yiddish culture.
The JTA report, about this reply, stated that Gurevitch
spoke "his native tongue"; that he reported 60 per cent of the
Birobidjan population to be Jewish; that the two official lan-
guages there are Russian and Yiddisff; that there is a library
named for Sholem Aleichem, containing 2,000 Yiddish volumes.
The Khrushchev statements containing anti-Israeli and anti-
Jewish sentiments also included references to Yiddish. A group
of experts this week refuted his assertions. They pointed out
that in his statement the Soviet chief blamed the closing of the
Yiddish theaters in the USSR upon the war but made no refer-
ence to persecutions which resulted in the liquidation of hun-
dreds of Yiddish intellectuals; artists and writers.
JTA reports, in making public the statement of the experts
who replied to Khrushchev, that the Soviet Writers Association
and Communists outside Russia have been among those who
pleaded for the restoration of Yiddish publishing facilities in
the USSR, but Khrushchev ignored them. One of the experts is
quoted as saying: "It is shocking to read that the liquidation of
a culture has been justified on budgetary grounds by Khrushchev
whose statements confirm the fact that five years after Stalin's
death nothing has been done by the Soviet authorities to rectify
his horrendous wrongs against the Jews."
Thus Yiddish again is being discussed as a factor in Jewish
survival. Ben-Gurion referred to its decline in the United States.
Khrushchev's attitude is vitriolic. Regrettably, it is the negative
and the declining element of Yiddish that is talked about. Too
little is being said about the language's great literary values and
the important role it played in Jewry's existence.

U.S. Should Clarify
Israel, Turkey Policy,
Wallace Tells Parley

KIAMESHA LAKE, N. Y.
(JTA) The United States should
make clear to the Soviet Union
that it looks on Turkey and Is-
rael "as key points in the bal-
ance of the world," former Vice
:president Henry A. Wallace de-
clared at the 71st annual con-
vention of Brith Abraham.
delegates
More tha,
e national
from 300 loo
eased the
fraternal
presenta
Wallace
order's ann
"World Pea
Award."
Wallace's
statement that
Israel and
Turkey repre-
sented for the
United States
a fulcrum on
Wallace
which w o r l d
power was balanced came after
he called on the United States
to fight the USSR if the latter
attempted to move into Turkey.
"It is not the way to peace to
let Russia take over the Middle
East," he insisted.
Speaking of Israel's 'decade of
achievement, Wallace said the
Jewish State was the "most ex-
citing undertaking in the world
—for it is a spirit that comes
down from olden times, but it
is at the same time forward
looking." The merging in Israel
of peoples of many backgrounds,
the onetime Vice President said,
"is the most striking demon-
stration of the compelling pow-
er of an idea that the world has
seen. Here a new race and a
new spirit is being formed."

WSU Med School Grads
Honored for Excellence

Among the members of the
Wayne State University Medi-
cal School graduating class who
were honored for excellence in
separate branches of medical
studies were Murray L. Jano-
wer, 18237 Stansbury; Robert
L. Friedlander, 17367 Ken-
tucky; Rosalyn Weintraub, 3037
Monterey; and Richard Korn-
isaruk, 3700 Pasadena.
The awards were presented
at ceremonies marking the ad-
ministration of the Hippocratic
Oath to the new doctors.

.

The only two male students
in Sinai Hospital's Shapero
School of Nursing have been
elected class president and
treasurer.
Voted into office by their 47
women classmates were Ogle
(Bill) Williams, as president,
and Richard I. Peshinski, as
class treasurer. The two will
hold office through next April
when the year-long course in
practical nursing will be cli-
maxed at graduation cere-
monies.
One other man has previous-
ly been admitted to the Shapero
School. He * Rudolph Baran,
who graduated last September
in the first class of the two-
year-old school. He is now em-
ployed as a practical nurse at
Sinai Hospital.
Elected to office with Wil-
liams and Peshinski were Mrs.
Carmen Navarra, vice-president,
and Judith Betron, secretary.
At Sinai's Shapero School of
Nursing, the practical nurse is
trained to perform many of the
routine bedside duties usually
handled by the more highly-
trained registered nurse. Under
the program—the "team nursing
approach"—the registered nurse
is free to - attend to more tech-
nical duties that require her
professional:: training.

.,.....,....o.•.r••=o••oM04••••••••••••• ■ ••••■•• ■•••••••O■■•••Ml••

O.•MM.

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
and Me'
• •

•

(Copyright, 1958,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Solidarity Sentiments

A novel fund-raising drive for Israel is developing in the
United States . . . It is - the "Honor Roll" drive started by the
American Trade Union Council for the Histadrut campaign .. .
The drive provides for a nationwide collection of funds among
Jewish and non-Jewish members of trade unions — • in shop*
factories, offices and stores . . . The Honor Roll lists have space
for the names and addresses of 40 contributors and contain a
declaration of solidarity with the Histadrut adopted by the recent
AFL-CIO convention . . . Workers in shops and factories through-
out the country are being asked to sign this declaration and to
contribute any sum they wish as a token of their solidarity with
Israel's workers . . . More than '200 international unions, 900
state and city labor bodies, and more than 500 New York AFL-
CIO locals are expected to participate in the Honor Roll drive.
. . . Already some labor unions have requested 1,000 Honor Rolls
each . . . which means that they aye willing to solicit 40,0 00
contributions among their members . . . The man behind this
campaign is Dr. Dov Biegun, national secretary of the Histadrut
campaign.

.

Domestic Problems

Jewish communities in the Smith are caught in the present
squeeze between the White Citizens Council and the potential of
Negro anti-Semitism expressed economically ... . On the one
hand, the forces" in the South opposing desegregation produce
elements which indulge in bombing of synagogues in retaliation
for Jewish support of the desegregation decision of the U. S.
Supreme Court' . . . On the other hand, some of the Negro people
in the South consider their boycotting of Jewish stores as a
more or less acceptable form of aggression against the one vul-
nerable element within the white community . . . Out of, a popu-
lation of 43,500,000 in the South, Jews number approximately
225,000 . . . In the entire country there is one Jew amonfe‘2
Americans, in the South about one Jew in 166 residents.
Only four cities in the South have more than 10,000 Jews.
. . . These are: Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston . . . The
remainder are scattered in smaller Jewish communities, many
of which do not count even 100 Jews .. . In Alabama, there are
less than 10,000 Jews in the entire state . . . The largest number
of Jews there—about 4,000—can be found in Birmingham . .
The two other Jewish communities of importance are those in
Montgomery and Mobile, and each of them counts no more than
1,800 Jews . . . In Mississippi, where there is a total population
of about 2,200,000, there are less than 4,000 Jews in the entire
state . . . The Jews do not comprise there 0.2 percent of the
entire population .. . The largest Jewish community in Missis-
sippi is in Greenville, and it is composed of about 500 Jews .. .
In Tennessee, there are about 16,000 Jews and they constitute
less than one-half of one percent of the entire population .. .
About a half of all Jews in Tennessee i'side in Memphis, about
3,000 live in Nashville, where a synagogue was bombed recently,
and the third largest Jewish community is in Chattanooga, with
2,500 Jews . . In Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky and other
Southern states, the Jews similarly do not comprise even one-half
of one percent of the entire population . . . Only in Texas ' do
Jews reach about three-quarters of one percent; this includes
Dallas with its 16,000 Jews, Houston with 15,000 Jews and San
Antonio with 7,000 Jews.

