National Organizations Commend High Coll rt
Action on Paroehiatid: Refuted by Orthodox

Nine national Jewish organiza-
tions, including national synagogal
and rabbinic as well as civic or-
ganizations,. joined in welcoming
the recent I...S. Supreme Court
ruling that state aid to parochial
schools is unconstitutional.
They said they would oppose
efforts "to find other means than
those declared unconstitutional" to

get public funds for parochial
schools.
The Supreme Court, in the
Lemon and DiCenso cases, de-
cided on June 28, ruled against
supplemental state payments to
teachers in parochial schools in
Rhode Island and similar pay-
ments in Pennsylvania in the form
of "purchase" of secular services

The American Jew and China

By JACOB R. MARCUS
Director, American Jewish
Archives
Now that President Nixon has
announced his plan to visit China.
the American Jewish Archives, on
the Cincinnati campus of the He-
brew Union College-Jewish Insti-
tute of Religion. is receiving in-
quiries concerning the relation-
ships of American Jewry to China.
In the 1790s. a distinguished
American Jewish businessman,
Solomon Simson, attempted to
reach the Chinese Jews at Kai
Feng Fu in order to carry on a
correspondence with thc..n.
The Simsons were a remarkable
early American Jewish family, the
first member of which, Nathan Sim-
son, came to these shores around
the year 1700. After he made a
fortune, he went back to London
to live in style. Having no sons of
his own, Nathan brought his nep-
hew Joseph to America.
Joseph began life modestly as a
beadle, or shammas, in the New
York synagogue, but he ended up
as its president. This sounds like
a typical Horatio Alger success
story—from rags to riches. Ac-
tually, the chances are that Joseph
got ahead because of the success
of his two wonderful sons: Samp-
son Simson, the older. was one of
the first members of the New
York City Chamber of Commerce
and a daring privateer speculator
during the French and Indian
War; the other son, Solomon, was
equally brilliant and successful.
The Simson family was very
patriotic. During the Revolution
they went into exile to Connecti-
cut rather than live under the
British in New York. When Jo-
seph packed and moved, he was
already 90 years of age.

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During the war, Solomon Sim-
son was in the lead mining busi-
ness: lead was important for the
making of- bullets. He was also an
important public utility industrial-
ist. in the lighting business. manu-
facturing candles made of whale
oil. In politics lie was a Jeffer-
sonian Democrat and he became
one of the heads of the local
Democratic Society. a very liberal
organization. His political oppo-
nents. Federalists and old-line
Tories, attempted to smear him
by calling him Shylock. He was an
active Mason. Despite his many
activities. he found time to serve
the local Jewish congregation as
president, and was elected and
reelected for five terms.
In the late 1780s he carried on
a correspondence with a Jewish
merchant in India and in the same
decade began to engage in the
China trade. In 1785. the first
American ship to make the trip
to China returned after a success-
ful voyage. Four years later the
enterprising Simson sent his ves-
sel, the "Sampson. - to Canton.
The ship was named in memory
of his brother who had died before
the Revolution. The "Sampson' .
took the eastern route around the
Cape of Good Hope and the Indian
Ocean.
Sometime before 1795 Solomon
read in a book on China that there
was a substantial Jewish colony
there. What he probably did not
know was that those Jews had
been in China for centuries, ever
since the Middle Ages, and through
intermarriage were typically Chi-
nese in appearance.
In 1795, with the aict of a
German Jew who wrote Hebrew,
the international Jewish lan-
guage, Simson sent a Hebrew
letter to China by the hand of
Captain Howell, the master who
had previously sailed the "Samp-
sen" into Cantoa Harbor in 1789.
The American Jewish Archives
has a copy of the Simson letter.
In this letter he asked his fellow-
Jews a number of questions, for
he Nvanted to know all about them.
How long have you been in China?
How many are you? What type of
Judaism do you practice? From
what tribe do you. stem? (He
thought certainly that they w2re
one of the Lost Ten Tribes.) What
sort of Hebrew books do you pos-
sess? Do the Chinese treat you
well? What's your line of business?
Here in America we have it good,
some of us are elected to im-
pontant political offices.
Unfortunately Captain Howell
could find no Jews and reported
the failure of his mission. Had
Solomon Simson in his day had
access to the resources of the
Hebrew Union College Library in
Cincinnati, he would have found
the answers to some of his ques-
tions. The Library possesses the
largest collection of Chinese He-
brew manuscripts in the United
States.

The way to be safe is never too
secure.
—Benjamin Franklin.

8—Friday, August 13, 1971

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Israel May Support China Admission to UN

JERUSALEM—Israel

will vote sembly according to the well-in-

for the admission of mainland formed "Periscope" column of
from parochial schools.
China to the UN at the General As- "Hatsofe," weekly supplement here.
While holding "a sound and of
fective system of Jewish educatioi
indispensable to the creative sur
vival of American Jewry," th e
nine Jewish organizations said th e
Jewish community is capable o f
and has sole responsibility fo r
supporting such a system.
The organizations joining in th e
statement were: American Jewish
Committee, American Jewish Con
gress. Bnai Brith Anti-Defamatio n
League, Central Conference o f
American Rabbis,
Labor
Committee, Jewish War Veterans
of the U.S.A. National Council of
Jewish Women, Union of American
Hebrew Congregations and United
Synagogue of America.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations took sharp issue
with these organizations. accusing
them of having contributed to the
victory of the anti-aid forces. Call-
ing
Jewish Day School "the
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