THE DETROIT JEWISH N E WS — Friday, Fe bru ary 22, 1963
N
Purely Commentary
Col. Malcolm Hay
—
Forgotten Philo Semite
-
By Philip Hebrew Union
Siomovitz College Opens
Against Anti-Semitism
an English publisher!" So far Malcolm Hay's book has been Campus in Israel
Forgotten Record of
Catholic Campaigner
. published in the United States—but not over here."
During the week of March
During the trying .days of the Zionists' struggles to assure
When Hay's book appeared, one of the first to congratulate 24-31 the board of governors of
an open door into Palestine for the hundreds of thousands—nay, and to
commend him was Dr. Albert Einstein, who wrote to him, Hebrew Union College-Jewish
millions! — of Jewish sufferers under Nazism for whom the under date of Nov. 2, 1950:
Institute of Religion will meet
Jewish National Home was the only hope for survival, there were
in Israel to mark the comple-
I
received
your
book
"The
Foot
of
Pride"
through
the
a number of non-Jews who literally stuck their necks out in courtesy of the American Unitarian Association. I have read tion
of its Biblical and Archaeo-
defense of just rights for the oppressed of our people.
a good deal of it and admire very much your upright character logical School in Jerusalem.
Sir Wyndham Deedes, who was the Civil Secretary and
of the
The new school will repre-
we and your energy in bringing together the essential documen-
British Mandatory Power in Palestine, was one of them,-
of tart' material. There are few historians of standing willing to sent its fourth campus, the
always suspected that his resignation from the civil service
three others being Cincinnati,
work on such an unpopular subject as this. May I congratulate
his government was in protest against the vile anti-Jewish policies you and express to you my sincere gratitude for what you New York and Los Angeles.
of the British in the Holy Land.
An American institution, the
have done.
Lord Russell, who has consistently protested against the Nazi
The Library Journal, - on Sept. 1, 1950, commended Hay's Hebrew Union College Biblical
and Archaeological School in
tactics (whose book on the Eichmann case, The Record", pub- work by saying:
Jerusalem is a post-Ph.D. grad-
lished by Knopf, this Commentator reviewed in the J. issue
This is an excellent history of the doctrine of "anti
of Jan. 18), remains to this day one of the staunchest supporters Semitism" from the earliest preachings of St. John Chrysostom uate research center serving,
of Israel and of the Jewish people's quest for justice in the down to the time of the setting up of the State of Israel. American and other universi-
The author brings out clearly all the details of this most ties, seminaries and museums
Middle East.
Dr. James Parkes (whose "A History of the Jewish People," flagrant example of man's wilful inhumanity to man. Much as a base for advanced Biblical
published by Quadrangle Press, this Commentator also reviewed has been written on different facets of this cancerous doctrine, and related studies and archae-
last month) is one of the leaders in the battle for justice for but little has been done until now to show the earliest begin- ological investigation in Israel.
It provides the resources for
nings of anti-semitism and the repetitive appearance of the
Jewry and Israel.
Others have earned the right to be listed among the liber- falsehoods which made the Jews a harassed people in all the scholarly exchange and com-
tarians, Trevor-Roper. members of both Houses of the U. S. Con- lands of the world. Mr. Hay points out all the techniques used munication in the fields of
and documents the reasons in each case. With the problem Bible, Biblical, and post-Biblical
gress, members of the British House of Commons, and note
of world unity ever before us, this is a needed volume in archaeology and cognate fields.
clergymen.
Among the outstanding philo-Semites was Col. Malcolm Hay every library if only as a . reminder to show how the people It is open to scholars of all
faiths. It is the headquarters
who passed away a few weeks ago. His death was practically can be misled into needless cruelty.
Whatever recognition. is being given to the name of Col. for professors sent by the . He-
unnoticed in the press, and it would be most deplorable if he
Malcolm Hay is an atonement for his having been ignored in brew Union College-Jewish In-
were to he forgotten.
Those who have kept abreast of world affairs will recall some quarters, including perhaps the Jewish, and for the sad stitute of Religion each year to
Col. Hay's "Foot of Pride," which was a heroic appeal in behalf forgetfulness of his many contributions to libertarianism. He was Israel to coordinate the work
of Zionists, a strong condemnation of anti-Semitism and a defiance a genuine philo-Semite. He was ekhad m'hassidei umot ha-olam- of those of its students who
spend a year of study in Israel.
of his own Catholic fellow churchmen_ who were , admonished by one of the saints among the nations of the world.
him not to condone prejudice against Jewry. •
■
■ ■
■
■
■ ■
One - of American Jewry's most distinguished scholars and
—.!
men of research, Bernard G. Richards, the director of the Jewish Appeal to Soviet
Boris Smolar's
i
i
Information Bureau of New York, is one of the few who have to Allow Matzos for
taken note of Col. Hay's death and who appeals for pleas that
1
his memory should not be forgotten. We join with him in this Jews on Passover
LONDQN, (JTA) — Sir Bar-
appeal.
What a pity that Hay's name has been forgotten, that except nett Janner, president of the
for two Jewish periodicals in England there was little mention Board of Deputies of British !
(Copyright, 1963,
of his passing, that non-Jewish papers should have treated his Jews, appealed to the author- I
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
ities of the Soviet Union to per- i
name miserably.
Of special interest is the following item that appeared in mit Russian Jews this year to 'Blue Laws' Battle:
Campaigns for an intensification of the enforcement of Sun-
the Jewish Observer and Middle East Review of London, England, have matzoth baked in govern-
ment bakeries for Passover, or , day closing laws are now being stepped up in a number of states,
under the title " 'The Times' and Malcolm Hay":
A- number of people have drawn my attention to the shabby . to allow the import of matzoth resulting in police action against Sabbath observing Jews who
obituary notice which appeared in last Friday's Times following from abroad. He made the keep their establishment closed on Saturdays but open on Sun-
the death at the age of 81 of Malcolm Hay. It pictured Malcolm statement on behalf of the days. •. . In some parts of the country pressure is now being
Hay as a bigoted Catholic who had no other major preoccupa- Board after the regular month- exerted upon legislators to enact new and stronger ordinances
tion. Yet Malcolm Hay was one of the staunchest friends of the ly meeting of the body here prohibiting work and business on Sundays. . . . Support for such
I legislation generally comes from church groups, from city mer-
Jewish people when they had most need of friends and when Sunday.
In general, Sir Barnett said, chants and from unions of retail clerks and salespeople. . . .
they were hardest to come by, in the hard days of the Struma
affair when he tried to enlighten Scottish opinion and discovered criticism regarding the situa- Opposition generally comes from highway merchants, Jewish
that the Scotsman and. Glasgow Herald, which had never refused tion of the Jewish population organizations and other . Seventh-day Sabbatarians. . . . The
to print a letter from him, drew the line when he began to in the USSR centers mainly on American Jewish Congress is now trying to secure exemption
express support for the unpopular Zionists. It merely served the "virtual impracticability of from the Sunday closing law for Sabbath observers in New York,
to strengthen his convictions. When the Mandatory authorities Jews leading a communal, reli- Massachusetts and Maryland. . . . Such exemptions exist in Con-
necticut, Indiana, North Dakota, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Michi-
in 1947 ordered him to leave Palestine with other British gious and cultural life."
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — A gan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia
civilians, he ostentatiously stayed behind so as to learn Hebrew
suggestion that Russian stores and Wisconsin. . . . About two-thirds of all states have laws
and express his solidarity with the Yishuv.
He had been working for many years on a book showing carry matzoth that would be regulating Sunday commerce and others have delegated this
the roots of anti-Semitism in the teachings of the Christian purchasable by Russian 'Jews authority to local governments. . . . The city merchant and
Church, including his own. When he had finished "Foot of get t i n g gift vouchers from church groups seeking tougher police action against violators of
Pride," he tried to get Victor Gollancz and some other leading abroad was made here by the the Sunday closing laws have been greatly helped by a 1961
British firms to publish it. One after another turned it down, Israeli agent for Intourist, the U. S. Supreme Court decision that Sunday statutes in three states
did not violate the Constitution and were not religious laws. . . .
but what hurt him most was Gollancz's refusal. He could not Soviet tourist agency.
The suggestion was made in The Supreme Court in effect said that a state legislature. in the
understand it. In the end he had it published by the Beacon
Press in Boston, U.S.A. He had many friends in Israel and connection with an announce- exercise of its police power, has the right to define which activi-
innumerable ones in Scotland. They now mourn the passing of ment that Israelis will soon be ties will be permitted and which prohibited on Sundays. . . . The -
a unique character and of an exemplary friend—one of the able to send gift vouchers from Court also said that Sunday laws, despite their clear religious
this country to relatives and origin—and despite the admitted fact that they favor the holy
best the Jewish people ever had.
Turning back to the years when "The Foot of Pride" at- friends in the Soviet Union. day observed by the majority—are secular . . . The Court also
tracted a small measure of the attention it deserved, we are Such vouchers are redeemable held that Sunday laws do not violate the Constitution because
indebted to Mr. Richards for the text of an article that appeared at Soviet shops permitted to ac- they fail to exempt from their strictures the activities of those
in the London Jewish Observer and Middle East Review on Jan. cept foreign currencies. Similar who observe a day other than Sunday as their day of rest. . . .
21, 1955. Under the heading "Albert Schweitzer Accuses the arrangements for gift vouchers Such a ruling of the Supreme Court has, naturally, stimulated
supporters of the "blue laws" to seek stronger enforcement
Church," the article in the London paper stated: are already in operation in the the
of
these
laws.. . . In New York, the Jewish corner groceries
"I have before me a letter which Albert Schweitzer has United States and in European
have mostly
. become now the target of police action in the en-
written to Malcolm Hay, that remarkable old man from Aber- countries.
forcement of the Sunday closing law. . . The American Jewish
deen. I can think of no greater tribute to Schweitzer's humanity
Congress, in arguments against this action, points out that if the
than to print it as it stands. This is what he wrote:
Bring New Charges
law is to be enforced, it should be enforced not only against the
Lambarene
corner grocery but against all enterprises that operate on Sunday
Against
Nazi
Just
French Equatorial Africa
in clear violation of the statute. . . . This would include radio
Freed from Sentence and TV stations that broadcast on Sunday newspapers whose
"Dear Mr. Malcolm Hay,
"I have had sent to me by Mr. Elliott your book "The
SCHLESWIG, (JTA)—A war- editorial and mechanical staffs work on Sunday; drug stores that
Foot of Pride." I should like to have written you about it long rant for the re-arrest of Martin sell cosmetics, toys and similar items on Sunday; churches that
ago, but in my difficult situation I did not manage to do so. Fellenz, a former SS major sen- conduct bingo games on Sunday; newsstands that sell books on
You have the great merit of having gathered the documents tenced last month in Flensburg Sunday, etc. . . . The American Jewish Committee similarly finds
regarding the relation of Christendom to Jewry and laid them to four years at hard labor for the Sunday closing laws archaic and unreasonable in our modern
complicity in the Nazi murder industrial society.
before us. The result is startling, and it ought to be so:
"I have myself been a witness of much of the ugly state of 40,000 Jews in Poland in The Shehita Issue:
Jewish organizations are anticipating that a number of hu-
of affairs in recent times. I took account of French anti-Semitism 1942, was issued in Schleswig.
The 53-year-old businessman mane slaughter bills will be introduced in state legislatures
long before the Dreyfus affair. I witnessed the baiting under
Drumont, the baiting in 1897 in Berlin, in Vienna I came to was released immediately after during 1963 sessions. . . . Humane societies are believed to be
know the power of lies, which was really the worst of all. sentencing Jan. 12 on grounds preparing to submit legislative proposals that may affect Shehita,
"Then a pause on account of the First World War, but he had "served" 30 months in the religiously prescribed Jewish method of slaughtering animals.
afterwards • the revival of anti-Semitism under Hitler's peoples pre-trial detention. The.remain- . . . In this connection, it is worth noting that kosher meat
. . . and the Churches did nothing. It was disgraceful that they der of the 'sentence is being packers in this country have begun installation of a recently
perfected pen to hold large animals in position for slaughter in
kept silent. But the Church Fathers with their theory that God served on probation.
A spokesman for the Schles- accordance with the requirements of Shehita. . The new pen—
would punish the people of Israel for the crucifixion of Jesus
wig — Holstein provincial gov- developed by a Philadelphia firm—has been given Halachic sanc-
had set the fashion.
But in all that I witnessed I had the impression that -the ernment said the warrant had tion, has been approved by the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
masses participated not out of wickedness but out of thought- been issued at the request of and has been endorsed by major humane societies. . . . It is
lessness. Now it is good that through your records of the guilt - the public prosecutor at Flens- suitable only for beef animals; research is proceeding on re-
that has persisted through the centuries are disclosed and ex- burg: It w_ as indicated that new straining devices for calves, sheep and lambs. . . . The Synagogue
posed. I believe that it will make an impression. I appreciate material had been found plac- Council of America and the National Community Relations
particularly that the book produces the proofs in such quantity. ing Fellenz under suspicion in Advisory Council are especially watching the introduction of
Now difficult it must have been to discover them all and to the deportation of Jews in Kra- humane slaughter legislation in the states and their consultative
kow in Nazi-occupied Poland services are available in connection with all such proposed legis-
collect them."
lation.
Schweitzer might have added, "and how difficult to find during the war.
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