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e' Djapit- Jetvisit-- Chronicle- commencing With Issue
of July 20, 1951
ati
' +Wis
. .471cYrigan*- Preng Association, National E'ditprial_Assael
alien . Palmated
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• PHILIP SLOMOYITZ
Editor and Publisher
•
_ _ ,
.
. CARJAI M. - SLOMOYITZ
. SissinesiManager ,
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
This Sabliath; The 25th day of Adar, 5732, the following scriptural selections ,
Will be -read in our synagogues:
Pentateuclzal portions, grod, 35:1-40:38, 12:1-20. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel
45:10-46:18.
Torah reading for Rosh Hodesh Nisan, Thursday, Hunt. 28:1-15.
VOL. LX. No. 26
Candle lighting, Friday, March 10, 6:15 p.m.
Page Four
March 10, 1972
Jewish Press: Distortions and Realities
Millions of readers are enlightened by ante with existing conditions, the exaggera-
evaluative articles in national magazines. tions alluded to would.have been impossible.
Millions are often misled by sensationalism.
Unless such ignoranCe is wiped out and
A typical example of misrepresentation basic knowledge introduced in Jewish ranks,
is provided, by Time magazine in an article our position as an entity will be greatly
on "The New Jewish Press" (sic). The mere harmed. With the all-too-rapid decline of the
claim that 50 youth-edited publications have Yiddish press there remains the English-Jew-
a circulation of. 400,000 immediately exposed ish newspaper to fill a great need. It is served
this claim to notoriety as sheer nonsense. by a recognized force in Jewish life, the Jew-
Would that the Jewish Student Press ish Telegraphic Agency which is the only Jew-
Service had really reached a large audience, ish news gathering service in the world. These
or that, even, as stated, if "precariously," the must be strengthened,- and diversions that
so-called Student Press Service truly was may harm them must not be permitted to
A,
budgeting a "wire service." But it possesses prosper.
other o the claimed qualities, the services
neither
The ignorance evidenced by the new
that are essential to good newspaper publish- claims to journalistic glory is not limited t 'The House on Henry Street,'
ing are provided by the only Jewish news ser- the United States. It is applicable to Israel
vice—the Jewish Telegraphic Agency—and During the world
ewis of jaur
the exaggerations mcorporated in the pub- nalists held in Israel in January, many
the Lillian Wald's Classic Story
licity piece that Time swallowed hook, line sessions having been turned into mournin
From • the point of view of historical analysis and as
g-
and sinker merely expose a lack of under- periods - over the death of th e
about the old East Side of New York, "The House a nostalgic
g rgen. document
on Henry
Street"Li llian
standing of real Jewish needs for American Journal in New York, it t name
apparent
Wald, first printed by Holt and Rinehart
Jewry.
, in
1915, was a classic.
that little was known about a rapidly growing
It is needless to go into details about the Jewish press in the Diaspora. Few seemed
Now, as a paperback produced by DOver Publications, Miss Wald's
r
Time article, other than to clarify a condition to know much about the Jewish periodicals autobiograph-retains
its value as a "major account of the_struggles
that calls for understanding of an urgent published in the English* language in- the of immigrants, the emergence of a dedicated
order of social workers and
the
reform
movements
that were aimed at eliminating the tragic
need for proper communications *media for -United States, England, Canada, South Africa,
Jewish communities: , When the student press Australia, New Zealand.
conditions that had led to so much misery.
representatives speak in terms of becoming
Because of the selection of the name of Lillian D. Wald only •
Worse than the lack of knowledge about
about three months ago for Inclusion in the Hall of Fame for
"better journalists," we commend them, with such an important factor in the cultural life
Great
-
the reservation that they must first become of the Jewish
at New York University, there should be a
renewed Americans
people was the ignorance that
newspapermen. We have a lack of qual- was displayed officially.
interest in the life work of this- great lady and the
The. funereal spirit
ood news writers and an y step taken in_ the over the demise of the Yiddish
Dover paperback serves the important purpose \ of drawing atten-
press seemed
tion anew to an important era in American history and to the
direction
self-sacrificing labors of women like Miss Wald, with emphasis
e. of improving our press will be to have forced Israeli officialdom as weu
on her leadership.
visiting
journalists
into..a
weeping
that
pre-
The fact is that all the claims of pioneer-
It was as a nursing student that Miss Wald became aware of the
ing into a "New Jewish Press" scheme, as vented them from rejoicing over the existence conditions
be
on the East Side of New York. From Ellis
a sound and creative press. Even the head
the Time article entitles the described intel- of
Island, hordes of
of
the
World
Zionist
Organization's
organ-
immigrants
were
flocking
to
the
tenements
of
the
Lower East Side.
lectual chimera, are distortions of facts. There ization and information department, Avra- They acquired means of a livelihood in the sweatshops.
They needed
is an established Jewish press and it covers ham
permitted his name to ba linked medical care, guidance, education. The labor movements began to
all the needs for which the student press with Shenker,
demand action in alleviating their needs out of which had grown
news
releases
that
failed
_truly
to
evalu-
claims credit. There are established weekly, ate existing communications conditions. Thus, much suffering.
monthly and quarterly periodicals which pro- World
Congress Press Bulletin Num-
That was a generation that turned to the synagogue, that observed
vide the news, analyze Jewish occurrences, ber 7, Zionist
Shenker's views about infor- Jewish traditions, whose children became enamored with Socialism.
provide platforms for discussions, differ- mation quoting
Miss Wahl, who had planned to- shidy medigine began..hur
media, contained this paragraph:
ences of opinion, testing of new methods for
task
"In the discussion which followed, youth of solving the huge problem of the East Side immigrants by providing
developing Jewish community services.
Israel delegates demanded that a weekly news- a social center for them. Out of her labors there developed the pro-
Of course, youth must have a voice, and
paper similar to the 'Jewish Chronicle' of London grams that were conducted in what had become famous in social work
the student press, mostly circulated on univer-
be started in the United States."
for all time—the Henry Street Settlement,
sity campuses, has a place in American Jew-
It is not only the story of this settlement house that is told in
When a world congress information de-
ish journalism. But not with exaggerations partment permits such nonsense to infiltrate "The House
on Henry Street," but the life of the Jews in an era of
and false claims, and distortions by a national in its news releases, perpetuating the impres- want and of aspiration
for social advancement in the 1920s that is
magazine must be condemned.
sion that Jewry in the United States is pov- splendidly recorded in an eminent lady's memoirs.
There is need for such condemnation be- erty-stricken intellectually and' does not pos-
Miss Wald, granddaughter of a German-Jewish immigrant, under-
cause, coupled with the sensationalized ar- sess a proper press, renders a greater dis- stood the Jewish customs. She gained confidence from the people in
ticle about a discovered new- Jewish press, service than any of it
the other 'occurrences whose behalf her life was dedicated.
the readers are misled into believing that an
which had drawn silly comments in the press
Her "House on Henry Street" deals not with Jews alone but
eight-page "offset sheet" called Shma, edited and left misunderstanding about the World Chinese,
Russians and others as well.
by Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, is "the best new Zionist Congress itself.
Her
book is a defense of the •
. who had become the
Jewish journal on the market today " It's
It is not the distortion in a national mag- subject of witch-hunts when bars were 'gran
put up by Congress; when
undoubtedly the best for Rabbi Borowitz, azine that compels this invitation to a proper three Presidents vetoed anti-immigration bilis. She especially
noted
but it doesn't begin to serve many Jewish analysis of our communications needs. These the veto message of President Wilson, and in her own tribute to the
needs, it merely adds to discussions of seri- needs themselves
emselves necessitate a review of a immigrants who helped build America she wrote:
ous problems which already are very fully situation that calls for greater interest
"The Immigrant brings in a steady stream of new • life and
in
covered by the established press, and its our press and demands that delusions should
new blood to the nation. The unskilled have made- possible the
construction
claims add to nonsensical sensationalism not be tolerated. 'We have enough hallucina-
of great engineering works, have 'helped is -band
bridges and roadways above and under ground. The number of
about a new Jewish press. What Rabbi Boro- bons: without permitting additional ones that
Wiled artisans - and craftsmen among -inunigrante and the eon-
witz does is neither new, nor "better," nor are so remote from true Conditions.
does it render a community service to pro- -
tribution they make to the cultural aide of our national- life are
World Jewry, especially'English:speall-
vide basic communications needs for Ameri- communities,
too rarely emphashed. Alas for our educational system: we must
are dependent for their kno d w ng
sill look abroad for the expert -
can Jewry. But it did,' indeed, gain a spot edge of their people
cabinet-Maker or stone-carver,
and their identification
the weaver of tapestry, - or the artistic
worker in metals, precious
in misrepresentation by Tune magazine. The with thehr
or base."
everywhere
upon
proper
disseminated
igno
community.
prance
helps
neither
the
stu-
news
media.
permit distortions to. disrupt
dents, nor the rabbis, and certainly not the such a unity Willbe
We have here an echo of the critical attitudes on the needs of
an injustice to a genera- newcomers
on which America was dependent
in earlier yearn.
tion that is so :urgently in need :Of
* s
Miss Wald7e: stra7 -is. replete with names of the distinguished
rather than sensationalism. It:is incum- Americans who played a variety of roles in the country's upbuild-
There is one truth that does emerge from bent upon responsible leadership tit .ascertain ing and in the reactions towards "aliens."
the Time article: that there is a preValence of that neither students nor rabbis nor- national
paperback issued by Dover is filled with photographs
ignorance in many Jewish ranks, and the stu- magazines in search of sensations should be the The
original
nal hard cover. They too, the etchings and drawings from
by
dent press claims emphasize it. If there were permitted to undermine the basic needs which ti Abraham Phillips, add value to an important .' A 1971 introduc-
understanding and knowledge and acquaint; must be based on truth.
on by .Helen Hall adds definitive notes -about Miss Wald and her
g
,
'
-
ork which will be among the treasured -paperbacks of the past
year.