Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Sale of Two Submarines by Britian to
Israel Called 'First Drop' in -World's
Irresponsibility in Arming Egyptians'
THE DETROIT JEWISH NE
Blintzes for Rockefeller in Glorious America!
Non-Jews are known to love "gefilte fish", "kosher corned
beef" and other so-called Jewish delicacies.
Why not? It has been said that if anti-Semites were given
a taste of "knishes" they might transport good will from stomach
to head.
This week, "blintzes" came into their own: thanks to a
visit to the East Side of New York by vote-seeking Republican
candidate for Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.
It was a grand day for the East Side. Rockefeller and his
associates ate blintzes with sour .cream, and corned beef
sandwiches with mustard. Since the blintzes are first in the
report of that momentous visit, we assume that the candidate
did not mix "milchig" with "fleishig". Rockefeller also bought
a five-pound salami roll for $3, and Weitzman's Kosher Delica-
tessen offered to extend him credit, but he paid in cash for the
bargain: the regular price, Weitzman said, is $5. Which, in turn,
was resented by the regular customers who said the "gvir" (rich
man) has "mazel" and gets things cheaper.
And so, politics is advancing the art of Jewish cookery,
and not only is man's heart reached by way of the stomach, but
also his vote may be attained Via food.
All jokes aside, Rockefeller has been on Jewish social
service platforms numerous times - and his taste of Jewish food
during election time may not be a novelty.
The point to remember is that his opponent Governor Averell
Harriman, is (like our own Governor Williams) an old hand at
wearing a yarmulke, partaking of Jewish food, saluting his
audiences with "lechayim" and "shalom" and being a hearty
good fellow.
At least, it gives a flavor to electioneering.
Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News
believed they were favorable to
Israel. The sale was considered
a direct consequence of the
clearcut change in British
policy which followed the revo-
lutionary upheaval in Iraq last
July. It was known that some
British leaders felt that the
need to equip Israel with sub-
marines was urger t for the sec-
urity not only of the Middle
East but also for that of all the
NATO countries.
However, it was also pointed
out that among those British
sources which contended that
the sale did not represent a
major shift in British policy it
was believed that the sale was
made in acordance with the
1950 Tripartite Declaration
which favors a balance of mili-
tary power in the Middle East.
It. was understood that the
United States and France, the
other signatories to the Tri-
partite Declaration, were in-
formed in advance of the sale.
The balance was considered
to have been upset by the Rus-
sian sale of six and possibly 10
submersibles to the United
Arab Republic. The UAR sub-
marines currently use combined
crews of Egyptians, Poles and
Russians, but their efficiency is
expected to drop sharply when
they are manned entirely by
Egyptians.
Russians Build Bases
The Russians were reported
to have built submarine bases
near Alexandria at the Hurg-
hada oil port on the Red Sea
south of Aqaba, and to be build-
LONDON — The first of two
submarines sold by Britain to
Israel was turned over to Israel
officials Thursday in impressive
ceremonies. The sale of the two
715-ton submersibles marked a
major turning point in British-
Israel relations.
The Springer became the
Tanin — Hebrew for whale —
in the ceremonies. The other
subersible, the Sanguine will
be transferred to Israel before
the end of the year. It will be
renamed Rahay. Both of the 13-
year-old vessels were extensive-
ly overhauled before the sale.
Shimon Peress, director gen-
eral of the Israel Defense Min-
istry, was among the Israel of-
ficials at the transfer ceremony
when the British flag was haul-
ed down and the Israel banner
raised on the first submarine.
The vessels normally carry a
crew of six officers and 50 en-
listed men. They can remain
submerged for three weeks with
use of their snorkels- and for 24
hours without the snorkels.
A British naval officer said
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that normally two years of
training are needed by crews
'Degenesis t
Under this heading, The Nation last week carried this but that "the Israelis can prob-
ably manage in six to nine
editorial:
months."
Favorable Terms for Israel
"And the Lord said unto Adam(s), 'Behold thou bast
thou
eaten of the tree. whereof I commanded thee that
Financial terms of the sale
shouldest not eat. Cursed is the ground. for thy sake; in
were not disclosed, but it was
sorrow shalt thou eat of it. Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return:"
Therefore the Lord sent Adarn(s) forth from the Garden
Ed.en.—Genesis
III; 17, 19, 23.
of
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
With due apologies to Shakespeare, who had one of his
Although there is no inclina-
characters say "the devil quoth Scripture for his purpose", we
must say about the above: damn clever, this editorial writer. tion. among leaders of the Zion-
ist Organization of America to
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speak about it, this writer has
The Inter-Faith 'Fish Story'
it on highest authority that a
Remember the old and rather crude Catholic fish-for- move will be made to reconcile
Friday story which ends with "chicken you're a fish".? And do the disparate forces in the Zion-
you recall the numerous puns on that score and on kashrut? ist movement in the country.
There is a clever editorial in the liberal Catholic weekly, Com-
And if there is a peace maker,
monweal, where we read under the heading "Fish Story":
it will be Rabbi Irving Miller,
president of the American
We're troubled by an item we feel is important but which
Zionist Council, who was widely
simply defies classification. Should we file it under Journal-
applauded when he recently
ism, Catholic? Observance, religious? Or maybe Technology,
told a ZOA strategy meeting
food? Does it belong under L for letter or S for spirit?
that Lipsky and others who
We're referring to a news story, in one of the diocesan
broke away belong in the ZOA.
papers, on the scientific breakthrough which will enable us How to bridge the ideological
to eat fish products that taste just like meat. Along with the
difference between the ZOA and
news story, as might be expected, is an ad saying: "NOW . . .
the so-called dissidents is a .dif-
for the first time ... YOU CAN EAT HOT DOGS ON FRIDAY!"
ficult question, but there is a
school of thought which holds
that the solution rests in ab-
Even Karl Marx Had the Russians' Number
Back in 1860, Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism, had this sorbing the American Jewish
League for Israel as an institute
to say about Russian imperialism:
of the ZOA. Whether such unity
"As regards Russia's antipathy to an aggrandizement, I will be attained is any one's
quote the following facts from the history of Russia's acquisi-
guess. This columnist wouldn't
tion of territory since Peter the Great: the Russian frontier care to make a bet one way or
has been shifted, — in the direction of Dresden, Berlin and another, since the modus viven-
Vienna by 700 miles, in the direction of Stockholm by 630 di must be predicated on a syn-
miles, in the direction of Teheran by 1,000 miles. Russia's thesis of apparently irreconcil-
policy is unchangeable. Her methods, tactics and manoeuvres
able concepts of Zionism in the
may - change, but the lodestar of-her policy, world dominion, is age . of fulfillment. History, it
a fixed star!"
seems, has a way of mocking
The picture hasn't changed. The Czarist imperialist policies its makers.
are being copied by the Soviets. Under the guise of offering
autonomy to several nationality groups, the Communists seek to Bnai Brith's Medal
swallow up everything in sight. That accounts for the greed dis-
played by the USSR in the Middle and Far Eastern areas. What for Bernard Baruch
would Karl Marx say if he were alive today to judge the actions
Bnai Brith will honor elder
of his Russian pupils?
statesman Bernard M. Baruch
at its 115th annual meeting in
A Correspondent's Fantasy
New York next month.
North American Newspaper Alliance recently released a
The 88-yew-old financier and
most fantastic story about plans to transfer to Israel the Jewish philanthropist will be cited for
corpses from an entire cemetery in Tunisia. The NANA report — "his imprint on future genera-
curiously enough it was dated from Jerusalem — even went so tions" at a Bnai Brith banquet
far as to state that 20,000 Jewish graves were involved.
saluting American youth Nov.
Whoever had dreamed up such a fanciful story must have 17 at the Waldorf Astoria.
a unique imagination. It was evident on the face of it that the Baruch will receive the Bnai
story is a hoax. But we nevertheless checked it with Israel gov- Brith President's Medal from
ernment officials in this country, and they repudiated it. We Philip M. Klutznick, head of
checked the fancy tale with our confrere, Boris Smolar, editor the 400,000-member organiza-
of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and he not only nailed the tion.
report as a hoax, but reminded us of another ridiculous NANA
report about "mass emigration" of Jews' from Japan. "Mass Blaustein, Dag Talk on ME
emigration", indeed, when there are not more than 2,000 Jews
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y.
in all of Japan.
(JTA)—Jacob Blaustein, Amer-
A JTA report from Tunis a couple of weeks ago about the ican Jewish leader, conferred
halting by Tunisia of exhumation work in the Tunis Jewish cem- with United Nations Secretary
etery in preparation for the conversion of the cemetery into a General Dag Hammarskjold for
two hours. They reviewed vari-
public park may have inspired the fantasy from Jerusalem.
In any event, this is another instance of a journalistic dream ous UN problems, including the
Middle East.
turning into fancy.
-
On the Record
ing another base at Hodeida in
the Yemen.
The British sale will neutral-
ize the Egyptians' threat to the
growing Israel merchant fleet,
in the opinion of British ex-
perts, and give Israel the cap-
acity to attack the substantial
Egyptian navy to impose a
blockade against Egyptian-
bound shipping or to cut com-
munications between Egypt and
Syria.
Deterrent to Egypt
Although the Egyptian sub-
mersibles are much larger,
more modern and better armed
and equipped than the two
British undersea craft, the ef-
ficiency of the Egyptian sub-
marines was expected to drop
sharply when all Egyptian
crews take over. Israel naval
experts were understood to be
convinced that the presence of
the Israel submarines would
act as an effective deterrent to
Egyptian attacks on Israel sur-
face ships.
While the range of the Brit-
ish submarines is limited they
were considered adequate for
Israel's purely defensive needs.
Among those who thanked
the transfer Thursday at Ports-
mouth were Aluf T-ankus, Israel
navy commander Zeev Shek,
Charge d'Affaires of the Israel
Embassy in London and Col.
Ishar Pen, chief of the Israel
purchasing mission in Britain.
An Israel naval expert called
the sale "the first drop" in
"world irresponsibility in arm-
ing Egypt."
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
... and Me'
(Copyright, 1958,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
School Season
The Jewish school season opened throughout the United
States with approximately 500,000 pupils enrolled in Jewish
schools of all types—Sunday schools, week-day schools and all-
day schools. . . . This represents a gain of about 100,000 school
children over two years ago and double the number of pupils
enrolled in Jewish schools ten years ago. . . . Does this indicate
that - Jewish parents are taking greater interest in giving their
children a Jewish education? . . . In some cities this may per-
haps be the case, but apparently not in New York. . . . One-third
of the 500.000 children enrolled come from families in New York
and its suburbs. . . . But there are about 500,000 Jewish children
of school age in the New York area alone . . . This would
mean about two-thirds of these children receive no Jewish edu-
cation. . . . MoSt interesting is the fact that 26,000 New York
children attend all-day Jewish schools. . . • Last. year the cost of
operating the Jewish all-day schools in New York exceeded
$9,000,000, which is more than half of the $18,000,000 spent
during the year on all Jewish schools in New York City. . . .
The balance was spent on the education of about 97,000 other
children in the Sunday and week-day Jewish schools. . . . It
is anticipated that this year the cost of maintaining the Jewish
school system throughout the United States will reach
$60,000,000. . . The greatest problem for the Jewish schools
this year will be not so much the cost, but the shortage of
teachers. . . . The number of Jewish teachers engaged in the
week-day schools alone is estimated to be 5,300. . . But at least
800 teachers withdraw annually from the field of Jewish teach-
ing, mostly because they enter other occupations. . . . The
Jewish teachers' colleges do not graduate 800 students a year.
. . . The maximum graduates from all the Jewish teachers' col-
leges and institutes is about 120 a year, and of them only about
60 percent enter the teachers' profession—the rest go into the
rabbinate and social work. . .. Thus, the Jewish school system
faces each year an increasing shortage of qualified teachers.
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Women's Philanthropy
Don't underestimate the cash contributions which American
Jewish women are making to Jewish communal causes. . . .
There are at least 250,000 women who make direct contributions
to local Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, in addition to
the pledges made by their husbands. . . . Their cash contribu-
tions reach about $20,000,000 a 'year. . . . This, in addition to
what Jewish women contribute to the women's division of the
United Jewish Appeal, Hadassah, Pioneer Women, Women's
ORT Organization and other women groups. . . Hadassah alone
raises more than $8,000,000 a year; Pioneer Women raise
$1,000,000 among its members; National Council of Jewish
Women raises close to $700,000 a year; the Women's ORT has
an income from its members of about half a million dollars a
year. . . . In New York, there are 73,000 women contributors
to the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies .. . In Detroit close
to 12,000 Jewish women contributed $630,000 last year to the
' local campaign for Jewish charities.