Feb. 12 Marks 70th Anniversary
of Theodor Herzl's 'Jewish State'

Labor's Role in Zionism Related in Schlossberg Story

By NATHAN ZIPRIN

(A Seven Arts Feature)

DR. THEODOR HERZL

Feb. 12 is an important landmark in Jewish and Zionist history.
It marks the 70th anniversary of the appearance of Dr. • Theodor
Herzl's "The Jewish State." This booklet occasioned the most im-
portant and far-reaching departure in the history of the Jewish
people since they lost statehood and went into exile. On its appear-
ance Herzl himself, the greatest of all • Jewish Seers throughout the
period of the Jewish dispersion, began his great activity for the
establishment of the Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael. His eight years
of activity (1896-1904) gave a new turn and direction to Jewish his-
tory. On his death, it could be said that the "Jewish State was
already on its way." The rise of. the State of Israel as a direct out- .
come of the appearance of this booklet and of Herzl's tireless work,
and the social structure of Medinat Yisrael and its main line of
development, bears the stamp of this great Seer.

One Killed, 64 Hurt in Worst Fire
of Tel Aviv History; Building Gutted

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Mayor
Mordechai Namir Sunday appointed
a special committee to investigate
what was described as the worst
fire in this city's history, in which
a 70-year-old man was killed and
64 persons were injured when the
five-story Zim Building in down-
town Tel Aviv was gutted by
flames last weekend. All of the
injured were discharged from the
hospital.
Only a skelton hulk remained of
the modern structure, with damage
estimated at 2,000,000-4,000,000
pounds ($667,000-$1,333,000). T h e
cause of the fire, which started on
he ground floor, is still unknown.
The flames spread quickly through
the interior of the building, which
Was lavishly decorated with wood
and asbestos.

setting fire to wood fiber paneling.
Another possible cause was seen in
a suspected faulty fuse box.

The complete history of the Jew-
ish labor movement in America
has not yet been written. When it
is, Joseph Scholsr
or!,,z.,:.,7 , . :n. ,.u-
tive figure of a
• •• ••• •
man who has be-
come a livin
legend in the
American labor
movement, w i 11
deserve a spe-
cial page not
alone for quali-
ties of labor
leadership, b u t
for having been
instrumental in
the creation with-
in the Jewish la-
bor movement of Schlossberg
a climate of acceptance of Pale-
stine, later Israel, and of the His-
tadrut, Israeli Federation of Labor.
Schlossberg, whose 90th birthday
was celebrated last November by
the National Committee for Labor
Israel, came to the United States in
1888 as a lad of 13 hopeful of tak-
ing advantage of the new land's
opportunities for learning. "My
ambition was to embark on a
course of formal education," he
told this writer almost wistfully,
as we talked at his home in a room
filled with books and memories,
"but I entered the sweatshop in-
stead out of sheer need and I had
to abandon hope of studying." How-
ever, the love of knowledge and
learning never abandoned him. In
fact, one of his most significant
moments came in 1935, when color-
ful Mayor LaGuardia of New York
City named him to the New York
City Board of Higher Education, a
post he held for 20 years under a
succession of mayors.
At 90, Joseph Schlossberg has
not abandoned any of his old in-
terests. He speaks with unbeliev-
able lucidity*44 Jewish labor
movement in America, its struggle
for survival, its impact on the
general labor movement and of the
growth of Jewish living in Amer-
ica. But his chief preoccupation
now, as it has been for many years,
is Israel and its labor movement
as it is symbolized by the Hista-
drut.
- --He was among the first Ameri-

I to the Jewish labor movement to
a number of causes, not the least
of which was absorption by the
Labor whose leadership, he said,
was dominated by "deutschtum,"
a word that challenges transla-
t i o n, but not identification.
Schlossberg also recalled that
when Grompers was once asked
why he did not preoccupy him-
self with Jewish affairs, he r
plied "I am the president of the
American Federation of Labor,"
with emphasis on the word
American.
I did not ask Schlossberg for his
key to longevity. If I had his an-
siver most likely would have been
"slialcmi," peace, for without it all
human values must perish.

I

ISRAEL-15 DAYS

Complete from Detroit

$799

Call

BOOK-COUIZENS

- He ascribed the hostility of the
American Federation of Labor

BR 2-2400

I Promise YOU the Finest Deal,
the Finest Service in the Area !

EARL ORR'S

HODGES DODGE, INC.

Oakland County's Largest Dodge Dealer

IRV KATZ

Sales Manager

23000 WOODWARD AVE., FERNDALE

2 Blks.No.
Of 9 Mile

LI 1-3032

can JeWish labor leaders to ex-
press solidarity .with Histadrut
when it was founded in Palestine
in 1920, and key founder of the
_National Committee for Labor
Israel in 1930, later becoming its
president. Schlossberg's interest
in Jewish national revival goes
back to his early days of labor
leadership when it was unfash-
ionable for Jewish union leaders
to identify themselves with that
cause.

"I have always loved Ertz Yis-
rael," he told me, as if in confes-
Swiss Jews Probing
sion, "and when a group of Poale
people approached me in
Anti-Semitic Volume Zion
1913 asking whether I would con-
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
sider joining in a plan to call a
to The Jewish News)
GENEVA—The Swiss Federa- Congress for Labor Palestine in
tion of Jewish Communities lodged New York, I said yes even though
a complaint with authorities Tues- I knew all the unions would be
day that a newly-published anti- against us."
He said it was providential for
Semitic book violated the Swiss
Civil Code and demanded that the Israel that the Jewish labor
book be banned.
masses, whose leadership had been
The 728-page book, "The Past, indifferent if not hostile to the
the Present and the Jewish Ques- idea of Jewish nationhood, had not
tion," by J. A. Mathez, was pub- listened to its leaders and be-
lished in Vevey. The book con-
tains liberal quotations from the
Protocols of the Elders of Zion Canadian Govt. Studies
and other classic anti-Semitic slan- Ratification of UN Pact
ders.
Israeli Air Force helicopters
MONTREAL (JTA) — Paul Mar-
The book also summarizes the
rescued 60 persons who were
tin, secretary of state for external
anti-Semitic charges made by
trapped on the roof and upper
affairs, in reply to a Canadian
the late Henry Ford but does
floors of the building, while some
Jewish Congress letter in which
not indicate that the auto mag-
500 persons made their way down
nate later publicly repudiated speedy ratification by Canada of
a ladder lifted to the roof by the
the International Convention on the
them. It also refers to Jewish
fire brigade. The single fatality
Elimination of All Forms of Racial
"ritual murder" and blames the
occurred when the elderly man
Jews for the outbreak of the Discrimination was urged, advised
attempted to climb down pipes
that officials of his department
two world wars.
-
outside the building after some
Other items in the book include have begun to • study the question
younger persons had escaped that the assertion that the established of signature and ratification by
way.
total of 6,000,000 as the number Canada.
He said the Canadian govern-
One theory relating to the cause of Jewish victims of the Nazi
ment
strongly supports the adop-
genocide
were
a
deliberate
falsi-
of the conflagration is that a
fluorescent light had exploded, fication and that Jews were guilty tion of this Convention by the
of dual loyalty. The Mathez volume United Nations and "regards it as
is the first anti-Semitic book pub- a very important document requir-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
lished in Switzerland in more than ing serious study by the govern-
8—Friday, February 11, 1966
20 years.
ment."

,411110--

come "instead a bastion of strength
for Israel, its working people and
the Histadrut."
Schlossberg is concerned about
the future of American Jewry, the
new trends in the American labor
movement, the uneven path of the
American youth as it faces an un-
certain world, the future of Amer-
ica and the fate of Israel, amidst
a hostile Arab enclave.
Schlossberg is an excellent story
teller, a master at recalling events,
and he was at his most delightful
best when he talked to me about the
early history of the Jewish labor
movement in America, when it en-
countered opposition not only from
the bosses or management, as it
is called in modern parlance, but
also from then the top-echelon
leadership of the general American
labor movement. Such was the hos-
tility, he said, that when the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of
America in 1918 contributed the
then unheard of sum of $100,000
to the American Federation of
Labor for the striking steel work-
ers, the gentlemen of the union,
including Samuel Gompers, did not
even deign to send an official
acknowledgement beyond a formal
receipt.

Ali

plant

a ree

IN ISRAEL

In honor of all occasions or in tribute to the memory of
a loved one.
Trees represent the rekindled strength and lifeblood o f
the land.

TREES
TREES
TREES
TREES

conserve the soil.
beautify the land.
reclaim the wasteland.
provide the employment for new immi-

grants.

TREES strengthen world Jewry's ties with Israel.

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

18414 WYOMING AVE., DETROIT, MICH. 48221

Phone: UN 4 2767

-