)1,1 - • THU iittlitilt1WISiliEWS' Purely Commentary The Ritual Murder Libel: The Shock That Reverberates When in an age of enlightenment, humans who share in the benefits of civilization give ear and heart to such non- sensical idiocies as the ritual murder, there is cause for endless amazement. How is this possible in an enlightened age? It was inconceivable that this could emanate from the Soviet Union, yet it is from Russia that the stupidity was circulated -in recent years. The Arabs picked it up, hook, line and sinker, and it served the cause of anti-Israelism among them. The haters of Israel reproduced the forgeries of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Arabic and the ritual murder lie was part of their propaganda against world Jewry as well as Israel. Some of their leaders even tried to inject it in diplomatic discussions. Renewed interest in the medieval libel is created by Dr. Saul S. Friedman, associate professor of Jewish and Near East history at Youngstown State University, Ohio, in "The Incident at Massena: Anti-Semitic Hysteria in a Typi- cal American Town" (Stein and Day), which shows that the spread of a bigoted lie and of hatred "did happen here." Dr. Friedman went into many details to describe what had occurred in Massena, N.Y., on the eve of Yom Kippur in 1928. A little girl got lost in the forest. When the search for her failed to locate her for many hours, the bigots had a heyday spreading the blood libel against the Jews of the town. The fact that a few ignorant firemen and their pals pur- sued the charge and enlisted aid in spreading the libel proved somewhat less disturbing than the fact that the mayor of Massena, W. Gilbert Hawes, had encouraged the libel-spreaders. There was even the audacity of calling upon the spiritual leader of Massena Jewry, Rabbi Berel Brennglass, to testify before Kol Nidre on the veracity of the charges. LOUIS MARSHALL STEPHEN WISE Rabbi Brennglass emerges as a hero in this story, as a man of courage who expressed his indignation and sense of outrage in no uncertain terms. As always happens, there is usually an ignoramus even in Jewish ranks who, admitting his lack of knowledge, may express doubt about the anti- Semitic charges. It is in this respect, the warning of the danger that stems from ignorance, that Dr. Friedman re- nders a service with advice for knowledgeability about Jewish traditions and awareness of the facts. It is in this respect that a similar admonition appeared on this page on Oct. 1, 1965. It will be reiterated in the interest of exposing the ritual murder libel again so that the gener- ations of Jews everywhere, at all times, since "it did happen here," may be able to confront every assault that comes from bigots and lunatic 'fringes. First, an account of Dr. Friedman's "The Incident at Massena." The author went into many details about many things, about shehita, Jewish abhorrence of blood, numer- ous historic events, communal reactions to anti-Semitism and much more. The story of the incident is given full coverage in this book. The reactions of the non-Jews are reported, the views of the Jews are indicated in this book, the fright as well as the indignaiton in Jewish ranks being part of the story. Presently there,is a desire for silence. This was part of the regrettable development in Massena. The lost little girl was found, the incident could have closed with, a sense of respect for truth. Instead, there emerged a bit of panic, some Jews having feared that the consequences, regardless of the medieval libel, threatened possible continued hatred from non-Jewish ranks. Instead of building on truth there are fears and they seem to be continuing and possibly multiplying. • Not only the ritual murder libel but the effects on Jewish leadership is what is important in the Friedman story. His book emphasizes a rift between the leaders of the American Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee, Dr. Stephen S. Wise and Louis Marshall. Boris Smolar, as editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, was advised by Marshall to go to Massena. He did and he performed a notable service by giving courage to the Jews of the town. But out of the tragedy emerged, as outlined in the Fried- man report on the Massena incident, a bit of scandal in Jewish ranks. There was a division of opinion regarding the strong apology that was issued by Mayor Hawes. Marshall was dissatisfied. He refused to consider the incident closed Massena Incident Inspires Documentary on Ritual Murder Libel and Recalls Boris Smolar's Role as Reporter, This Commentator's Similar Experience unless Hawes resigned, something the veteran mayor re- fused to do. Friedman accuses Marshall of hdving capitalized on the incident. He writes more favorably re- garding Stephen Wise. This is a deplorable factor shown in a full-length book which not only gives an account of the Massena incident but also of all related facts in Jewish life involving ceremonials and basic laws of kashrut, shehita and other matters, then dealing with communal rivalries and the alleged Wise-Marshall confrontation. Actually it was only the Marshall demand for Hawes' resignation which is accountable for what is presented as a conflict in leadership. That conflict did exist at the time, yet the Mas- sena results may be viewed merely as differences of opin- ion. The Massena story does not end here. Turning back the pages of The Jewish News, to Page 2 of Oct. 1, 1965, the ritual murder libel and the Massena occurrence receive attention compelling renewed interest and continuing con- cern. On that page appeared two articles on Massena and the blood libel: Boris Smo- lar's description of his Mas- sena experience and the entire incident, and your Commentator's account of a personal experience with a ritual murder charge which also proved that it could, as it did, "happen here." As indicated, Smolar, who already ranked among the leading Jewish jour- nalists, went to Massena at Marshall's request. His story gave a full account of what had occurred. It was a BORIS SMOLAR factual report and is part of the history of American Jewish experiences and will form a notable chapter in the next Boris Smolar book. Then there was this Commentator's recollection of an- Other incident, in Bayonne, N.J. Because of its admonitions to youth, the following from the 1965 issue merits repetition in relation to the Massena incident: It dates back to 1915. It was a month before Passover, spring had set in, and there was a booming business at the Slomovitz Department Store on Avenue C in Bayonne, N.J. As in sub- sequent years, when that store was transplanted first to Westminster Avenue and then to Oakland Avenue in Detroit, there were displays of dry goods remnants and women of all faiths and races were searching for colors and lengths of their preference for dresses for the approaching holi- days. Suddenly there wA a shout at my father: "Mur- derer, Jew, bloodsucker! You stole my child for Passover!" The shout was in Polish, with a sprink- ling of vituperative English. Before an hour had passed, at least a thousand Poles had gathered at the store, threatening, ready to kill, and the police had a difficult time holding the crowd back. Two hours later, the missing little girl was found about -a block away. She had been window shopping in neighborhood stores. The incident made front page copy, in all Yid- dish newspapers, the N.Y. Times, AP, UP, INS, and this Commentator, then in his teens, more By Philip Slomovitz than a year before he was to leave for Ann Arbor- to enter the Uof M, began to receive inquiries from many Slomovitzes throughout the country, in- cluding Prof. Slomovitz of the University of Wis- consin, asking whether we were related, whence we hailed, about our Russian background, etc. No, there were not too many incidents. We are fortunate: the stupidities of the Middle Ages have not invaded our land. Yet, more often, in years gone by, we had non-Jews ask: is it true that Jews must use blood in their matzot for Passover? Such has been the horrifying situation which had made possible to inflict tragic libels upon us. About a year ago, Flint residents were shocked to receive a mimeographed circular from an anti-Semitic organization that has its headquar- ters in New Jersey, reviving the ritual murder libel. Its circulation could not have been limited to a Michigan community. Resort to such medieval insanity is an indication that the fight against bigotry never ends. There were ritual murder charges in other areas of the Western Hemisphere. In 1946, DAIA, the central Jewish Argentinian organization, pro- tested to the government against such accusa- tions by Benjamin F. Zaccheo, professor of his- tory at Buenos Aires Normal School. Zaccheo had lauded the activities of the Spanish Inquisition. The scurrilous ritual murder charge against Jews also was made,.at a street corner meeting in Chicago, on Oct. 6, 1945, by three notorious anti- Semites, including Homer Maertz. The horrible Kielce pogrom in Poland in 1946 was marked by the blood accusation atrocity. . It was in the infamous Leopold Hilsner case in 1899 that the eminent liberal, Prof. Thomas Masaryk, who was later to become the first president of the reborn Czechoslovakian Repub- lic, after World War I. played a vital role as the defender of the accused Jew and as the advocate against the atrocious lie leveled at Jewry. But since then anti-Semites everywhere, espe- cially Germans under the leadership of the arch Nazi Julius Streicher, used the ritual murder lie as an instrument of attack against the Jewish people. And in our own time, our youth are totally un- aware of the historic incidents that resulted in pogroms, in the death of scores of thousands of Jews who were subjected to the blood-accusation and other libels. On March 5, 1937, Commonweal, the leading Catholic liberal periodical, published an article by this Commen- tator on "The Ritual Murder Libel." It dealt with a condem- nation of the blood lie by Cardinal Lorenzo Ganganelli, who just before he became Pope Clement XIV presented an encyclical branding the ritual murder libel as "infamous and false." The prominence given this article indicated that there are Christians who are ready to brand a lie when it is uttered. Notably, in an unusually important new book, "The Synagogue" (Macmillan), the eminent scholar, Brian deBreffny traces many historic events, including scores of incidents-that caused tragedies for Jewish communities in England, Germany and elsewhere as a result of the spread of the ritual murder libel. Th admonition retains its necessity: that unless the facts are known the unknowing among youth may be so perplexed as to be puzzled by the blood lie charges. Unless they know, how will they confront the maligners? Yiddish Theater Alive and Well in Poland By DAVID FRIEDMAN JTA, In.) NEW YORK — The Yid- dish theater is alive in Po- land today, although the country's Jewish population has been decimated, be- cause of the interest of an audience that is 90 percent non-Jewish and knows no Yiddish. Jacob Rotbaum, head of the Esther Rachel Kaminska Jewish State Theater in Warsaw, attrib- uted this to a "hunger" by young Poles, intellectuals and professionals, for all types of theater and a par- ticular interest by them in Jewish culture. "Some learn for the very first time what it is to be a Jew," he said. The audience is provided (Copyright 1978, Rotbaum is in New York with a translation over headphones in the theater to stage "The Inheritors," a named for the mother of the play he adapted from a famed Polish Jewish ac- Sholem Aleichem story, as tress, Ida Kaminska, who the opening production now lives in New York. Rot- Nov. 4 of one of these baum stressed that the groups, the Folksbiene, translation is not a synopsis which at 64 is the oldest but a line-by-line literal continuous Yiddish theatri- cal organization in the rendition. world. The group is now It is ironic that in Po- under the auspices of the land where there are now Workmen's Circle and the only 6,000 to 7,000 Jews, Labor Zionist Alliance. according to Rotbaum's The reason that the Yid- estimate, the Yiddish State Theater performs dish theater can exist in Po- three times a week land is because it receives a throughout the year. In healthy subsidy from the the Greater New York Polish government, Rot- area, with more than two baum explained. He said million Jews, there are the government's only re- only a few Yiddish quirement is that the thea- groups and none go ter be "creative and present performances on a "high ar- year-around. tistic level." Rotbaum said the theater performs all of the major Yiddish classics as well as major world classics trans- lated into Yiddish. He saia his non-Jewish audience highly interested in Jewish culture, especially folklore, and he tries to present this by inserting songs and dance in many of his prod- uctions. "We try to show Jews from the best side," Rot- baum noted. He said plays that present Jews in carica- ture or in a bad light are not presented. For this reason, he claimed, works like that of the new Nobel Prize -win- ner Isaac Bashevis Singer will probably not be seen in his native country.