THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Fr iday, October 17, 1958-2

Purely Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Our Highest Possession—Natural Love of Learning

There is a statement in the apocrypha that man's highest
possession is "a natural love of learning."
Jewry's chief aspiration, and strongest instrument for sur-
vival, is the quest for learning.
Indeed, the. Biblical injunction, "Thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children" is the Jew's guide in life.
On the occasion of Education Month, we reassert this prin-
ciple—for our survival, and also for the making of better men,
better citizens and better Jews.

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Humor, Anti-Partition Sentiments,
In Briscoe Autobiography

We already have referred to the keen sense of humor and
the courage of Bob Briscoe, the former Lord Mayor of Dublin,
as revealed in his autobiography, "For the Life of Me," written
with Alden Hatch and published by Little, Brown and Co. There
are many other qualities—and a few faults—of the genial Irish
Jew to be found in his interesting narrative.
The stories he relates in his book will undoubtedly be re-
peated by book reviewers and public speakers. Much will be
said about Briscoe's escapades. He shared in underground arms
purchasing, in illegal gun-running, in extortion of funds from
Irish banks: all for the cause of freedom. He doesn't apologize
for some of the murders recorded during the Irish revolution:
neither did the British apologize for I.R.A. leaders killed.
Briscoe boasts of his membership in the I. R. A. He has
reason to be proud of his record, and if there were a few un-
ethical practices, they were for a great cause, and his defense
sounds logical. After all, in time of war, when a people fights
for freedom, you don't preach: you act. That's what Briscoe
did. In the course of his experiences, emanating from a great
loyalty for Ireland, he acquired a deep-rooted hatred for Eng-
land. It deepened when the British committed untold crimes
against the Jewish people during the few years preceding the
birth of Israel. But in the end Briscoe says many kind things
about the British. While he favored the neutrality of Ireland
during the last war, there was no question about his pro-British
sympathies. During the many years he spent in Germany pur-
chasing arms for the I. R. A., he was witness to the rise of
Hitlerism, and he hated it, and whenever possible battled against
it, with all his Irish-Jewish might.
A major meritorious element in the Briscoe story is his
description of the women in his family—his mother, his wife,
and later his daughter.
He tells a few good stories about them. His father especially
abhorred moneylenders, and his mother shared his feelings about
them. The subscription of one such moneylender to the Jewish
cemetery, of which Briscoe's father was a trustee, was never paid,
and upon his death relatives were forced to pay a large sum
to get him buried. They complained, and when Mrs. Briscoe
heard the argument she told the moneylender's relatives: "Those
good Jews who lie in the cemetery will rise when the Messiah
comes. But your uncle will be there forever. He's getting a
bargain."
Briscoe describes his wife's travels with him on perilous
journeys for the I. R. A. On one such trip, valuable messages
for revolutionary leaders were hidden in their baby daughter's
diaper. They remained safe that way: baby's diaper was the
only item that was not checked by British police.
One good story told by Briscoe is about a stop-over on one
of his dangerous missions at a farm house. The rebels were
having some fun in the evening, around a piano, played by the
farmer's daughter. In the rebel group was a transport officer,
Mr. Spratt, who "had a drop or more of poteen and felt like
singing . . . Spratt only knew one song, but he knew it well
—all 80 verses of it. Along about the fortieth verse," Briscoe
writes, "I'd decided to go to bed, but even there I could hear
Spratt roaring out increasingly indelicate adventures in 'The
Foggy Foggy Dew'—he pronounced it `djew.'
"The following morning Spratt came humbly up to beg my
forgiveness. 'If I had known last night that you were a Jew
I certainly would not have indulged in that song,' Spratt ex-
plained."

De Valera Opposed Partition
Briscoe was very loyal to Ireland's chief rebel and later
Prime Minister Eamon de Valera. The two traveled together to
Israel and both admired the Israelis' achievements.
In his life's story, Briscoe tells how Vladimir Jabotinsky con-
vinced de Valera of the merits of Zionism. De Valera had asked
how Jews can legitimately claim Palestine for themselves, having
left the country in the possession of the. Arabs nearly 2,000 years
ago. Jabotinsky replied by reminding de Valera that Ireland's
population dropped from eight million to four million due to
emigration as a result of the 1847-48 famine. "Supposing it had
been reduced to 50,000 and the country had been resettled
by the Welsh, Scots and English, would you then have given
up the claim of Ireland for the Irish?", Jabotinsky asked.
De Valera replied that "as long as one Irishman remained,
Ireland would still rightfully belong to the I•ish." Jabotinsky
then pointed out that there always were some Jews left in Pal-
estine and that it was then reassured them as a National Home
by Balfour for England and President Wilson for the United
States. Briscoe said he felt Jabotinsky had convinced de Valera
in the justice of his arguments.
Briscoe also tells about a visit to de Valera in 1937 by the
late Prof. Selig Brodetsky, who was the president of the Federa-
tion of British Zionists. It was during that meeting that de
Valera reminded the Zionist leader of the Solomonic story about
two women who claimed the same baby, and Solomon proposed
that it be divided into two parts, to be shared by the two
women. It was then that the rightful mother screamed that she
would rather protect the life of the baby than have half.
De Valera thereupon told Prof. Brodetsky, in his comment
on the question of partition which was then up for consideration:
"This is my answer to partition. The rightful owners of a country
will never agree to partition."
There is a lot more of quotable material in the Briscoe
book. It is well worth reading.

Israelis, Arabs Have Free Exchange
at Mediterranean Religious Parle

FLORENCE, Italy (JTA) —
The opinion that the Mediter-
ranean Conference of Chris-
tians, Moslems and Jews re-
siding in countries along the
Mediterranean shores holds a
promise of "reconciliation"
among the three civilizations,
was expressed here by Moulay
Hassan, Crown Prince of Mor-
occo, who presided at the par-
ley.
Addressing the closing ses-
sion, he said: "The three civili-
zations co-existing on the Medi-
terranean must find understand-
ing." He invited all participants
to a second Mediterranean Con-
ference to be held in Morocco.
Delegates from Israel were
among the principal speakers
at the conference, and Arabs
and Israeli participants mixed
freely during the session ex-
changing views. This was the
first time since the establish-
ment of Israel that Israelis and
Arabs met jointly to discuss
common problems.
Speaking in Arabic, Roustom
Bastoune, an Israel Arab and
member of the Mapam executive
committee, told a session at-
tended by all the Arab dele-
gates that Israel-Arab peace
was a necessary step "because
Israel is an integral part of the
Middle East and participates
with Jordan, which has been
transformed into a homeland
for the Palestine refugees, in
a common destiny."
He added that he was "proud"
of the Islamic cultural and
religious heritage while under-
standing Israel's return to "the
motherland with the goal of
reconstructing its national life."
"The Israeli Arabs," he con-
tinued, "symbolize the historical
necessity of cooperation be-
tween the Jewish progressive
national movement and the
A r a b liberation movement."
Within Israel, he said, Jews and
Arabs fight in a common move-
ment for equality and the aboli-
tion of all discrimination
against the Arab minority.
The speeches of the Arab
participants were moderate and
Israelis, attending in a non-
governmental c a p a c i t y, re-
frained from replying sharply
to what they considered objec-
tionable statements. Reuven
Barkatt, leader of the Israel
delegation said the Israel par-
ticipants were bringing a mes-
sage of peace to the confer-
ence.
Noting that Israel had con-
tributed to the place which the
Middle East "holds in human
civilization," Barkatt offered to
share with Israel's Arab neigh-
bors the social, economic and
cultural achievements of Israel
in a spirit of "equality and co-
operation."
Allal el Fassi, Morocco's
Istiqulal party president, said
the history of Morocco demon-
strated his country's belief in
the principle of equal right for
all without regard to color or
creed. The proof, he said, was
that in Morocco Jews were al-
lowed to "thrive" and in the
proclamation of equality of Jews
and Moslems after Morocco
achieved independence.
The Moroccan leader said
that there was also "the prob-
lem of occupation of countries,"
which he called "the central
problem." The Jewish people,
he said, had the right to estab-
lish a Jewish State but they
should not have sought "the
Arab homeland." Acknowledg-
ing "the ability and dynamism
of the Jews, who have always
been active elements in all civi-
lizations," he said Israel must
not forget the problem of the
Arab refugees.
Asking that Israel take back
all the Arab refugees, the Mor-
occan leader said discussion on

such issues "must take place
elsewhere." He concluded with
an expression of "faith and
determination" for the achieve-
ment of peace between Jews
and all the Arab countries.
Georges Henein, an Egyptian
poet and writer, called the 1948
Palestine partition a "physical
tragedy like vivisection." He
said: "Problems cannot be re-
solved by resuming the tradi-
tion of displaced persons."
Adel Sabet, Egyptian editor,
declared that Islam requires of
its followers that they respect
Christianity and Judaism.

However, he criticized the
creation of Israel "without con-
sideration of the rights and
justice due to the Arabs, caus-
ing more than 1,000,000 Arabs
to be forced out to make place
for the European refugees."
(Joesph Golan, World Jewish
Congress official in Italy who
attended the Mediterranean
Conference in Florence, was not
representing the Congress at
the Conference, Dr. Nahum
Goldmann, President of the
Congress, said in Jerusalem. Dr.
Goldmann said the WJC was not
invited to attend.

Second Case of School Segregation
Rouses Protests in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — A
new case of anti-Jewish dis-
crimination in Argentina's Cath-
olic-dominated school system
was exposed here on a television
program by news commentator
Dr. Augustin Cuzzani.
The telecaster revealed that
in School Number 16, a state
commercial high school in this
city, the principal, Mrs. Maria
Teresa Quiroga de Nocetti had
forced Jewish and Catholic
girls to sit in separate sections
in the classes. The school is
situated in the heart of a Jew.
ish residential district.
The entire parent member-
ship of the school's parent-
teacher committee resigned in
protest and both Catholic and
Jewish parents have urged their
children to stay away from
school until the principal re-
signs. The Jewish students have
voiced demands that the school
system be returned to lay con-
trol.
Parliament's action in approv-
ing a Catholic-controlled univer-
sity system aroused so much
opposition that the population
has been split and students pro-
testing the move have battled
police in bloody encounters.
Dr. Cuzzani, in reporting the

incident, the second case of
bias in the schools in recent
days, expressed the hope that
this was an isolated "Nazi-Fac-
ist" type outburst. Critics of
the religious controlled school
system noted that these inci-
dents clashed with President
Arturo Frondizi's pledges that
there would be no • racial or
religious discrimination in this
country.
Dr. Luis Mackay, the Argen-
tine Minister of Education, told
newspapermen this week that
his ministry was launching an
immediate investigation into
the action of the principal. A
Jewish deputy, member of the
Government party, announced
that he would raise the case
in Parliament.
The DAIA. the Jewish repre-
sentative organization, has not
yet intervened in the case, hav-
ing been asked by the parents
of pupils at the school to let
them fight out the issue.
The chairman of the parents'
committee said that he had doc-
umentary proof that Mrs. de
Nocetti, had ordered the seg-
regation. He expressed belief
that she would be removed
from her position as principal
of the school.

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me'

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

Hadassah Convention

The season of Jewish communal activities has been resumed
in full force after the quiet summer months . . . Within the
next four weeks, American Jewry will witness a number of
very important conferences and conventions which will lay the
basis for Jewish communal work for the entire year . . . Among
the interesting conventions this month is that of Hadassah, in
Miami Beach . . . The Hadassah is generally viewed as an
organization of American women working for the interests of
Israel . . . Actually, the Hadassah plays an extremely important
role in molding Jewish life within the United States itself . .
• • • I mean the influence which the 300,000 Hadassah members
have on educating their families in the Jewish way of life and
imbuing them with interest in things Jewish . . . In my opinion,
Hadassah does more indirectly for Jewish survival in the
United States than any other Jewish organization.

CJFWF Assembly
The most important conference will, of course, be the
Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare
Funds in Washington in the middle of next month . . Its
agenda will embrace all the problems with which American
Jewry will have to deal in the course of the year .. It truly
reflects developments in American Jewish communal life by
posing problems in which every Jewish institution in the United
States is interested . . . As the financial backbone of all the
philanthropic endeavors in this country, the federations and
welfare funds are today the source of existence for most of the
local and national Jewish institutions and organizations . .

ZOA Convention
The annual convention of the Zionist Organization of
America, which will take place in Miami Beach at the end of
this month, will apparently be less interesting than the other
gatherings . . . This is because the ZOA today has no real
issue to discuss. . . . Through no fault of its own, the ZOA has
lost a good deal of its strength since the establishment of the
Jewish state. . . . However, fields that are still open to the ZOA
are: the development of propaganda among its members for priv-
ate investments in Israel and the promoting of Hebrew education
among American Jewish youth . . . These two issues will
probably become the center of discussion at the ZOA convention.