1
2 Friday, January 19, 1919
T
T
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
By Philip
Slomovitz
Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training
Spells Fulfillment of Human Needs 'by Preparing
The Unskilled for Dignified Life Under the Label of ORT
100th Anniversary of ORT an Occasion for Worldwide Jewish Celebration
Obschestvo Remesle'novo Zemledeicheskovo Truda is the Russian name which
translates into Organization for Rehabilitation through Training and has gained world
recognition under the initials ORT.
It has a Russian name because it was organized in Russia 100 years ago.
In its century of services ORT has become the symbol for human dignity. The
movement was organized by Jews, to raise the standards of living for Jews who had been
denied the right to creative pursuits. It became another Jewish gift to humanity in its
programmatic approach to the masses who were denied the right to be productive
workers, on farms and in factories, and thereby to rise to new heights as human beings.
Because the ORT training centers, its schools, its vocational training courses, were
so effective, many governments turned to ORT for guidance and to ORT for inspiration.
In its first 20 years, ORT trained 11,869 for productive pursuits in various trades and
365 as farmers. It was a Russian Jewish movement. Then it began to spread universally.
It hurdled many obstacles and it developed into a movement which led Jews to crave for
its benefits.
To be a Jew ceased to be an abomination for those benefiting from the movement.
Jews became mechanics, farmers, trained and highly skilled workers in many endeavors.
It all began in Russia, it spread worldwide, and today the massive program is in
Israel.
The universal ORT image today is summarized officially, indicating this extensive
world presence:
Far-reaching changes took place in Jewish life between 1948 and 1950.
By 1970, almost four out of five ORT students were enrolled in institutions
outside of Europe. Of youth in the regular ORT vocational high schools,
only one in 10 was studying in a European ORT school. In 1949, the largest
program was in Germany; by 1970 it was in Israel. 1949 was the last year of
work in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and in Poland for
almost a decade. In their place there appeared on the ORT map Algeria,
Iran, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and India. ORT operations spanned five
continents.
In its nearly 100 years, ORT has served 1,500,000 men, women and
young people. Its annual student body today stands at 88,000. The number
of countries of operation is 27. It has come a long way from its early trade
training beginnings in cdrpentry and agriculture to aeronautics, computer
technology, and nucleonic engineering to where it stands today as the
largest private agency of its kind in the world.
The extent of the ORT services to world Jewry can best be evaluated with the
accompanying charts. There are 3,200 staff members in ORT installations in Israel, and
the accomplishments there are so vast that they can only be described by stating that, in
their massive forms, they match the creative efforts of Israel's universities. The figures
should be studied for a full appreciation of what was created 100 years ago and how much
more productive it is now.
The many countries served, the special role in Israel, the dedication. of the affiliated
groups and the support of the communities that make this great effort workable are part
of a notable chapter in Jewish history. It is much more than philanthropy: it is a creative
and productive labor to be justly proud of.
On a global scale ORT began to serve communities in scores of countries when World
ORT was formed in Berlin in 1921.
In the 1940s, the University of Michigan's Prof. William Haber became a leading
Harry Bennett, Henry Ford's
Strong Arm Man Who Also
Served as His Apologist
Harry Bennett was Henry Ford's strong arm man. The
auto magnate leaned on him more than on any other man.
In his later years he even became like a son to Ford. Prof.
David Lewis, in his biography, "The Public Image of Henry
Ford" (Wayne State University Press), made this comment:
In Bennett, the magnate found many of the
hard-nosed traits and attitudes he had vainly
tried to implant in Edsel, and in time he gave the
cocky ex-sailor a scope he had denied his urbane,
sensitive son. Indeed, during the late 1930s and
early 1940s, when the service chief and Ford were
together almost every day, Bennett became, in
addition to lieutenant and crony, something of a
substitute son to the industrialist.
Dr. Lewis' biography now gains added significance not
only for its chief character, the man who revolutionized
industry and also glorified anti-Semitism, but also for the
diagnosis of E.G. Liebold, Harry Bennett and many others
who related to the Ford dynasty.
Harry Bennett's death brings back memories of nota-
ble experiences. Ford had apologized for his anti-Semitism
when he was sued for libel by Aaron Sapiro. Despite his
having signed the apology that was written by Louis Mar-
shall, under the date of July 7, 1927, he was held responsi-
ble for republication of the notorious fabrications, the
"Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which were published in
Ford's Dearborn Independent and began appearing in
many lands, especially in Latin America. (Now they also
are being distributed again in Russia and Arab countries).
Apparently irritated by the renewed charges of anti-
Semitism for which he apologized, Henry Ford Senior
asked Harry Bennett to deny the charges to this columnist.
Bennett arranged a luncheon meeting in Henry Ford's pri-
vate dining room. There were several Ford officials present,
in addition to two Jewish automobile salesmen and Ben-
nett and this writer. Bennett kept singing the glories of his
boss and, denying that he was an anti-Semite, he com-
mented: "So he gave Elizabeth Dilling $5,000, so what?"
Elizabeth Dilling then was a notorious source of anti-
factor in ORT. He has served as president of World ORT and continues to this day to be
the guide and inspirer of ORT everywhere.
It was not all smooth sailing for ORT. There is cause here for a confessional for this
reporter. The Russian Jewish leaders who founded ORT were not Zionists. They were
viewed as assimilationists. That should not have reduced admiration for a great ideal
which, even if it was not the motivation of the ORT founders, was rooted in Jewish
tradition: that every man must have a trade and must earn his bread by the sweat of his
brow or the skill of his brain. Therefore there were disputes.
This commentator often disputed with the ORT founders over their attitudes toward
Zionism. It developed into a rather bitter argument. Now time acts in defense of the ORT
creators and commends for them more than respect: it calls for gratitude for the
emergence of one of the very great movements in Jewish life and as a leading human
factor for mankind.
Therefore, the 100th anniversary of ORT is a time for commemoration, for appla.
for a great cause and and for pledging unswerving aid for it.
COUNTRY
Argentina
Teaching
Staff
Enrollment
Training
Units
Vocational
and Technical
Schools
In
Community
Schools
4,690
112
20
1,083
3,547
Brazil
1,005
44
16
269
660
Chile
931
90
2
931
6,966
281
134
2,985
650
26
9
325
316
148
Colombia
' France
India
Iran
Israel
Italy
140
1,198
72
22
1,020
2,248
386
35,987
75
42
543
Morocco
941
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay
U.S.A.
Venezuela
Switzerland
Central
Institute
TOTAL
,
8,080
335
76
3,079
9
30
5,484
1,429
14,032
6,108
335
36
15
187
516
97
97
450
1,309
74
21
349
17
3
1,178
6
3
146
60
902
450
83,968
.
Adult
Services
140
55,5,03
Mexico
Apprenticeship
12 .
•
3,093
173
404
65
905
349
1,178
3
108
676
44,171
38
8,487
6,559
24,751
This chart is based on 1977 figures. To this listing should be added scholarship pro-
grams for Jewish youth in Greece, scholarship and guidance programs for South African
Jewish youth, and technical assistance programs in Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Niger,
Nigeria, Upper Volta, Zaire and other countries.
Jewish hatred.
This writer recalls going through a veritable shooting
gallery before reaching the dining room. In front of the
building on that sunny day in 1937 were some 20 huskies.
"Who are the men in front of the building?" this writer
asked Bennett. "Oh," he replied, "they are my salesmen."
Was he personally an anti-Semite? This cannot be pro-
ven. He was loyal to Ford and he protested Ford's signing of
the 1927 apology. It was too strong.
The following is worth quoting from Prof. Lewis' biog-
raphy of Ford:
In any event, details of a retraction were
worked out by two of Ford's friends, Joseph A.
Palma and Earl J. Davis, and two prominent
Jews, Louis Marshall and former Congressman
Nathan D. Perlman. Marshall wrote the retrac-
tion, which, he hoped, would not only serve as an
apology to Jews, but would also make the indus-
trialist appear ridiculous. "If I had his money,"
the Jewish leader wrote a former law partner, "I
would not (make) such a humiliating statement
for $100 million." To Marshall's astonishment, the
industrialist signed the retraction without chang-
ing a letter. Ford was, in fact, willing to sign any
statement to make peace with the Jews. "I don't
care how bad (the apology) is," he told a protest-
ing Bennett, "just settle this thing up . . . the worse
they make it, the better." The retraction, said by
the American Hebrew to be the first public recan-
tation of anti-Semitism in history, was issued at
Ford's request through Brisbane.
In "Who Financed Hitler?" (Dial Press), James Pool
exposes some of the elements of the Bennett-Ford story and
quotes Bennett as saying that he signed Ford's name to the
apology to the Jews. Bennett maintained that he could
duplicate the Ford signature perfectly. This_is in essence a
confirmation of the David Lewis contention that Bennett
protested Ford's apologizing to Aaron Sapiro and the Jews.
Harry Bennett was a power in one of the world's
greatest industrial enterprises as the adviser to the control-
ling head of the Ford Motor Co. He was Ford's protector.
Was he personally an anti-Semite? This may be doubted,
but he certainly upheld the hands of one of the world's most
notorious Jew-baiters. He even apologized for him and pro-
tected him. His background was as a prize fighter. He
developed into sort of a diplomat for a mechanical genius
who permitted bigotry to drive his name into the ranks of
the most biased on earth.
New Sholem Aleichem Book Discusses Need for Isra.
TEL AVIV (JTA) — "Why
do Jews Need a Land?" (Off
voss darfen Yidden a land)
is the name of a book con-
taining articles by Sholem
Aleichem (1859-1916) con-
cerning Zionism, "Lovers of
Zion" (Hibat Zion) and
Eretz Yisrael.
A, reception held in honor
of the publication of the
408-page book attracted
hundreds of Yiddish
writers, Zionist leaders
headed by Jewish Agency
and World Zionist Organ-
pared by Abraham Liss, the
director of Sholem
Aleichem House here, con-
tains, in addition to the ar-
ticles on Eretz Yisrael and
Zionism, his letters on these
subjects that were recently
found. Dulzin said that had
this book been issued in the
beginning of the century, it
_
is very possible that many
- -An,/
SHOLEM ALEICHEM
Jews would have escaped
ization Executive chairman the Holocaust.
Critic Getzl Kresel said
Leon Dulzin, and many
Sholem Aleichem readers. That Sholein Aleichem ac-
The book, edited and pre- tually saved Yiddish lit-
erature from an anti-
Zionist attitude. Even
Isaac Leib Peretz (1852-
1915) and Mendele
Mocher Sephorim (1836-
1917) were in those early
stages of the Zionist
movement not very fond
of the spirit of Zionism.
The book was published
in honor of 30 years of the
state of Israel. Sholem
Aleichem's granddaughter,
Tamar Kahana, thanked
the audience and the pub-
lishers for the family.