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THE DETROIT JEWI SH NEWS -- Friday, June 1, 1962 —
Purely Commentary
Ben-Gurion's Disservice to American Jewry
Miscegenation in
Erskine Novel . . . Sad
Plight of USSR Jews
By Philip
,„„,,
Sl omovitz
ist motherland. The Jewish clergy is especially assiduous in
Annual - Jewish
Press Week Set
by Publishers
representing religious rituals as national traditions of the
David Ben-Gurion is a great man. He has done more Jewish
people. The charter of the Jewish religion serves the
than any other living person to facilitate Israel's rebirth. political arms of the Zionists."
Special to The Jewish News
Yet he rendered a great disservice to Jewry and espe-
NEW YORK — The American
The first point made — that Jews inform on Judaism, re-
cially the Jews of America, by acting so temperament- sorting to incantations, etc. — serves to expose to suspicion the Jewish Press Association, at its
annual convention here last
ally and so unrealistically in his dispute with Dr. Nahum Soviet Embassy's latest apologetic statement.
Goldmann.
Would that the Russian denials of prejudice against Jews and weekend, held at the Overseas
Press Club, decided to make
Jewish Press Week an annual
observance preceding the asso-
ciation's annual conventions in
May.
In Erskine Caldwell's 'Close To Home'
Joseph Weisberg of Boston
Erskine Caldwell emerges to new heights with his new novel, was re-elected president of the
"Close to Home," published by Farrar, Straus & Cudahy. It is so association.
powerful a description of Southern prejudices, of the status of
The delegates were guests of
miscegenation, that is is certain to be added to the most significant
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
books dealing with the issue of race-mixture.
at a cocktail party at the JTA
A native of Georgia, he passes on to his readers his familiarity headquarters.
with the conditions that relate to the sex problem in the South.
A highlight of the convention
Indeed, "Close to Home" should serve to reduce the prejudices
that have embraced our South because of the simplicity with which was the celebration of the as-
sociation's 20th anniversary at a
the eminent author pictures the injustice of a condition under
luncheon Friday at which Philip
which Southern society has accepted as proper sex relations be- Slomovitz of Detroit, founding
tween white men and Negro women, but at the same time viewed president of the association, pre-
as criminal race mixing between colored men and white women. sided. Addresses were delivered
"Close to Home" is the story of a white man who married by Boris Smolar and Victor Bien-
a rich widow soon after her husband's death but was caught in his stein of the JTA; Raphael Levy
radio repair shop two days after the un-consummated marriage of the UJA; Nathan Ziprin of
with a mulatto girl — the widow's maid — with whom he had Seven Arts Feature Syndicate;
had relations for a long time.
Fred Shochet of Miami, a for-
Native Hunnicutt, the radio man, is a lucky fellow who always mer president of the association;
wins in all games, and he is considered a winner also with the Saul Carson, JTA's UN corre-
rich widow. He is a fellow who emerges with a sense of justice. spondent; Richard Jacobs, of the
Actually, his relations with the mulatto, Josene, border on a love Joseph Jacobs Advertising
affair. But Josene finally decided to marry one of her own — a Agency.
fine looking young Negro who industriously held on to his job and
The following have been re-
was honest and above reproach.,
elected with Weisberg to serve
The new Mrs. Maebelle Hunnicutt. seeking vengeance, wanted as officers:
her new husband and his Negro sweetheart arrested. That would
Vice-president: Leo Frisch of
have infuriated a community in which so many men resorted to the American Jewish World,
the same extra-marital practice with Negro women. But there was St. Paul-Minneapolis; Morris
nothing against arresting the girl by charging her with prostitution, Janoff of the Jewish Standard,
and a Negro-hating deputy sheriff set out to accomplish it. There- Jersey City, N.J.; and Al Go-
upon Native lured the girl away. The deputy sheriff, Clyde Hefflin, lomb of the American Jewish
not finding the girl but meeting up with her Negro fiance, began to Chronicle, Pittsburgh; Secre-
molest him and finally brutally murdered him.
tary, Jimmy Wisch of the Texas
It was this latter act that created resentment in the commu- Jewish Post, Dallas-Fort Worth;
nity and Hefflin himself was assassinated — on the day on which and Treasurer, Milton Pinsky
he was discharged from his post. The community sentiment, as of the Ohio Jewish Chronicle,
related in "Close to Home," points to a changing Southern attitude Columbus.
and to the emergence of a sense of justice in the Negro's behalf —
Elected to the executive
a sense of protest against brutality.
board were: Julius Miller of the
Of immediate interest in the story is Josene's attempt to Jewish Exponent, Philadelphia;
secure a lawyer to defend her. She finally is received by Dalton Joseph Cummins of the Bnai
Burrows. She knew he was her father, and he suspected it: there Brith Messenger, Los Angeles;
must have been a resemblance between her and his two white Eli Jacobs of the Buffalo Jew-
daughters. That is how it was among many in the community — ish Review, Buffalo; and Adolph
that Negroes who were shunned resembled the children of those Rosenberg of the Southern Is-
who rejected them. Josene felt that Dalton, who was seeking a raelite Newspaper and Maga-
Congressional seat, liked her, and she would not hurt his chances. zine, Atlanta.
He induced her to leave town, and Native returned to Maebelle.
As Dalton met with his daughter Josene he was thinking to
himself that a change was taking place, that Negroes were becom- Israel Cabinet Accepts
ing lighter. that: "You don't see many of the old-time pure blacks. Resignation of Minister
They are disappearing fast. Fifty years ago mulattoes were a
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — T h e
common sight, but quadroons and octoroons were as rare a sight as
Israel cabinet has accepted the
a white mule in a cow pasture. But not these days. It makes you resignation of Yitzhak Ben-
wonder what to expect in another fifty years from now."
Aharon of the Ahdut Avoda
From the keen study by Erskine Caldwell — with all its
injustices and the single act of brutality by the deputy sheriff — party as Minister of Transport.
The cabinet also approved
it is evident that conditions already are changing, that there are the appointment of Israel Bar-
improvements. The problem of miscegenation is not solved, and Yehuda to succeed Ben-Aharon
the South has not atoned for the race mixing it hates but which in the Transport Ministry port-
many of its white men have introduced. By making the problem folio. Bar-Yehuda, also of Ah-
known so skillfully, Erskine Caldwell has rendered a great service dut Avoda, had served as In-
with his "Close to Home." This reviewer will be greatly surprised terior Minister in a previous
if this novel does not, very soon. head the best seller list.
cabinet.
Either the Israel government seeks the help of Judaism in the USSR were true. But the denial is not corroborated
American Jews in establishing better relations with the by facts. The problem of Russian Jewry remains immense.
*
*
*
United States or we should be told to steer clear of any
entanglements involving our interest in happenings at Miscegenation Powerfully Described
the United Nations and in Washington. But since, as
public spirited human beings, we strive for justice, no
one should create a public scandal in a matter involving
a sincere effort to help Israel.
The entire Israel Cabinet is guilty in an act of
irrationality in its support of Ben-Gurion's hasty, impet-
uous and deplorable stand against the President of the
World Zionist Organization. We deplore it as an uncalled
for display of anger.
*
*
*
Are Some USSR Jews 'Informing' on Judaism?
Resort by the Soviet Embassy in Washington to the "power"
that might be exerted by the use of "Jewish names" in repudiating
the charges of anti-Semitism leveled at the Soviet Union poses
several interesting questions.
First of all, is it true that even the extremest of dictators
become very sensitive to criticism? It is generally conceded that
they do, and recognition of this fact provides libertarians with a
great defensive weapon; the protest through public media.
Then there is the question whether the Jews whose names
were appended to the letter denying anti-Semitism were acting
in the roles of informers in order to protect their own positions
within the dictatorial Communist orbit.
It is well to look at some of the basic facts relating to the
Russian Jewish problems.
Are the Jews as free to observe their faith as the Jewish
apologists for the Kremlin stated? In a recent report on his tour
of the Soviet Union, the New York Times correspondent, Harrison
Salisbury, told of the status of the only remaining synagogue
in Kiev and he reported the following dialogue:
"Is this the only synagogue in Kiev?" a recent visitor
asked in surprise.
"Oh, no, there are others," said the tough-visaged "ad-
ministrator" of the congregation, probably a nominee of the
state security apparatus.
A bearded ancient with a black skull cap shook his head
sadly and muttered: "That is not true."
The other synagogues, it finally developed, were two meeting
rooms — one on the second floor and the other to the rear
in a kind of storage building. Unfortuniately, the keys could not
be found so that these "beautiful rooms," as the administration
described them, could not be shown.
"Have any synagogues been closed recently?" the admin-
istrator was asked
He shrugged his shoulders and said he had not heard of any.
It might be true. Perhaps there were not enough people to
support a synagogue.
"We have complete freedom to worship or not to worship,"
be said belligerently. "Just as you have in America."
"How many members are there in the congregation?" he
was asked.
"We keep no statistics," was the reply.
"How many Jews are there in Kiev?"
"Ask the city council. That is not our business."
The old man with the beard and the skull cap shook his
head in resignation.
This hardly justifies the claim to religious freedom. There
is every indication that Jews have lesser freedom in their ob-
servances than other faiths in Russia, in spite of the generaliza-
tion that all faiths in Russia are subjected to the same restric-
tions.
There is the widespread anti-Semitism in the Russian press.
Jewish Minorities Research has made another study of the
numerous anti-Semitic attacks upon Jews and the translations
it has just provided of 16 articles in newspapers in the Ukraine,
White Russia and Central European Russia reveal a frightful
condition. The research bureau points out that the fact that
these articles appeared in the provincial press has these implica-
tions:. that they rarely come to the attention of Western journalists
in the Soviet Union; that they are meant for home consumption;
that they are intended to communicate the ugliest images of Jews;
UNITED NATIONS (JTA)-
that "the heavily disproportionate concentration in the press on
unfavorable Jewish stereotypes has been going on for several The United Nations has "very
years and this process continues unabated." The basic themes in high hopes" that genuine prog-
these articles are described by Moshe Decter, director of Jewish
ress toward the solution of the
Minorities Research, as follows:
touchy Arab refugee problem
"There is the very frequent use of Jews to denounce
fellow-Jews and Judaism. A number of the articles are signed by
may be reported to the next
Jews; others contain recantations, usually by older men, of their General Assembly, in Septem-
religious faith. It can not of course be excluded that this dis-
ber, by Dr. Joseph E. Johnson,
tasteful manifestation was not voluntary.
special emmissary of the UN
"Whether under the influence of liquor or not, the Jewish
Palestine Conciliation Commis
religious leaders are regularly portrayed as men who love a good
brawl.
sion, who returned this week
"The articles reveal the consistent practice of naming the
from the Middle East.
names of the religious mis-leaders of the Jewish communities.
Johnson spent five weeks dis-
Also named are practitioners of religious rites, those who have
their infant sons circumcised, who slaughter in the kosher tradi- cussing the Arab refugee prob-
lem with heads of the govern-
tion, who buy kosher meat, who participate in ritual ablutions.
"In view of the closure of many synagogues throughout ments of Israel, Egypt. Syria,
the Soviet Union, Jews have in many places taken to fore- Jordan and Lebanon. He is ex-
gathering in each other's homes for prayers. Such gatherings pected to report to the full
Palestine Conciliation Commis-
are frowned upon, indeed unauthorized, and have regularly
been dispersed where discovered. Those articles contain biting
sion next week. It was indi-
references to those who have the temerity to organize and
cated that he will continue his
attend such prayer services outside the authorized synagogues.
talks on the refugee issue with
"Perhaps the most sinister and ominous of all the themes
representatives of the Arab and
is the consistent portrayal of the tenets and practitioners of tra-
Israel governments here in the
tional Judaism as potentially or actually subversive. To quote:
next two months. He may also
The chauvinistic Passover slogans stand in contradiction to the
go back to the Middle East in
feelings of Soviet patriotism and boundless love to the social- August for further discussions.
UN Officicel Mopeful on. Progress Toweled
Solution of Problem of Arab Refugees
His report to the General As-
sembly will not be drafted until
September.
Addressing the annual con-
ference of representatives of
150 non-governmental organiza-
tions accredited to the United
Nations, Sherwood Moe, UN
staff aide to Johnson, indicated
that he and Johnson felt that
there was less hatred toward Is-
rael among the younger people
in the Arab refugee camps than
there is among the older genera-
tion. "Some do have hatred," he
said, "but most of them are in-
terested primarily in one objec-
tive—jobs. Those who receive
vocational training—and we do
have far from enough money
to provide enough of that train-
ing—go on into jobs."
Jewish Education Called Stepchild of U.S. Jewry
MIAMI. (JTA) — Dr. Isaac
Toubin of New York, executive
director of the American Asso-
ciation for Jewish Education,
asserted in an address here that
almost every cause but Jewish
education was attracting lavish
funds froth American Jews.
Speaking at the 21st annual
dinner of the Greater Miami
Bureau of Jewish Education,
Dr. Toubin said that vast sums
were being "spent for and by
Jewish community relations or-
ganizations," as against "the
pittance spent for Jewish edu-
cation" at a time "when anti-
Semitism has reached its lowest
ebb in the United States."
He cited data that while the
number of Jewish schools has
doubled since 1949, the per-
centage of allocations for Jew-
ish education remained un-
changed in 1962 compared with
13 years ago. He added that the
responsibility for this situation
was "not that of Federations
alone. Jews simply don't give
enough to their Federations nor
do they give enough to Jewish
education."