THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, September 21, 1979 93 So Proudly She Waved Zion Flag .Takes Rightful Place at Fair By DR. DAVID GEFFEN (Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.) (Editor's Note: Dr. David Geffen is the foreign coordinator of the Historical Society of Israel, and is doing work on the history of Ameri- can Jewish tourists in Is- rael before the estab- lishment of the state. He made aliya with his fam- ily two years ago, and JIMP-- 7 are living in ..usalem.) ✓ New Year Greetings CADILLAC FENCE & SUPPLY CO. • 13675 Plymouth WE 3-8755 -J Greetings Crown Cloak Co., Inc.. 1425 Broadway Manufacturing Contemporary Ready to Wear R. Schwartz' • Cy Lisnow • • Season's Greetings FISHER PROVISION CO. 1515 Division Happy New Year Lastar ELECTRIC CO. Electrical Contractors 31681 Dequindre Madison Heights, Mich Best Wishes for the New Year MERRILL PHARMACY 5500 Puritan BR 3-3390 (Corner Greenfield) FREE DELIVERY New Year Greetings MICHIGAN BAKERY Ei = - :77- SUPPLY CO. 3261 Bellevue 571-3300 1 JERUSALEM — Rosh Hashana 5665-1904 was an important milestone in the history of American Jewry. On that day 75 years ago the blue and white "Zionist- Jewish" flag flew for the first time side by side with the flags of all the nations at the World's Fair in St. Louis. In an editorial the Yid- dishe Tageblatt noted: "Alongside the banner of Zion the flags of the other nations were more brilliant. It is," the paper continued, "a modest blue and white with a six-cornered star in the center, but it means much more to civilization, means much more to hu- manity than many another of the flaunting banners which have been crowded a bit to make room for the strange newcomer." The story of how this "strange newcomer" came to fly so proudly at St. Louis marks one of the early triumphs of the fledgling Zionist movement in the United States. In particu- lar, this event was an his- toric turning point marking the acceptance by the non- Jewish community of the flag as the symbol of the land of Zion waiting to be reborn. The summer of 1904 was a sad one throughout the Jewish communities of the world. On July 3 Theodor Herzl died, and the • widespread mourn- ing for this visionary reached unprecedented dimensions. In the United States, in addition to memorial mass meetings held by the Zionist organ- izations, there were even elements of the anti- Zionist Reform sector who, for the first time, spoke in glowing terms about Herzl's accom- plishments. Mammoth fund-raising To Our Friends & Customers NEW YORK — The American Jewish Commit- tee has urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to re- fuse to confirm any appoin- tee to the federal bench who belongs to a discriminatory social club. In a letter to committee chairman Edward M. Ken- nedy, Richard Davimos, chairman of the AJCommit- tee's national committee on social discrimination, and Seymour Samet, director of its domestic affairs depart- ment, pointed out that judges who belong to clubs which discriminate on the basis of race, religion or ethnic origin are reflecting a "tacit acceptance of bigotry." JOEY'S SMOKE & s ), GIFT SHOP Joe & Sharon Katz Marty, Lynn & Paula Best tl ishes to the Community on the Vele Year Makers of "Perfect Sleeper" SMOOTH-TOP AND QUILTED TOP 11.11 1 THESSES you sleep ON it . . . not IN it! •11■111■11 • 101 when the flag would ini- tially be unfurled. When Stiffelman first saw it, the evening before Rosh Hashana, he wrote: "And there she flutters — as if Zion was already the home of the persecuted and not the dream of the forsa- ken people — now hanging simply beside the flag pole, like those who proclaim that Zionism is not thesolu- tion of the Jewish problem — a light breeze stirs it from its moorings — and now a gust of wind sends the blue and white waving in the breezes — my heart with rapture thrills, beating fas- ter - and faster, my eyes moisten and my frame quivers with emotion at the thought of the success of our movement. The assurance of Dr. Herzl's state." The fair lasted for sev- eral months, and Ameri- cans came from all over the country to visit the fair. The Jews came not only to see the exhibits at the fair but also to see the Jewish flag. One of those visitors was George Tunkle of Augusta, Ga. Tunkle, a member of the national executive commit- tee of the Federation of American Zionists, had attended the Fourth World Zionist Congress in London in 1900 as an American delegate. After the holidays in 1904 he took the train from Atlanta to St. Louis, as he wrote, to see the "Zion flag." By the time he arrived in the middle of October, the one original flag had multi- plied. Hence, when Stiffel- man took him around the fair grounds, he proudly pointed out to Tunkle blue and white flags on the machinery, varied indus- tries, manufacturers, elec- tricity, education, agricul- ture and liberal arts build- ings. From one, seven had sprung forth, and the sight `Block Naming of Judges Belonging to Biased Clubs' A HAPPY NEW YEAR e01111111 drives were held in memory of the great leader. These complemented the poignant drawings and manifold editorials which expressed the grief of American Jewry. The Zionist chapter in Pittsburgh decided that it wanted to- memorialize Herzl in a special way. Since the World's Fair in St. Louis was about to open, the Pittsburgh Zionists felt that this would be a most appro- priate locale in which to indicate the positive steps being taken for the return to the Jewish homeland. What better way, the members thought, than with a flag of Zion. There- fore, the chapter had a white and blue flag, six by nine feet, with a star in the middle made up and sent it to the press committee of the fair requesting that this flag of the Jewish nation be hung over the "All-Nations Building." As soon as word of the flag's arrival in St. Louis got out, tremendous op- position arose. In par- ticular, the columns of the American Israelite of Cincinnati and the Re- form Jewish Advocate of Chicago were filled with criticism of this Jewish nationalistic trick. "This is a bit of hutzpa," the Is- raelite opined, "which cannot be tolerated." When the executive committee of the fair re- ceived the flag, there was a heated debate as to what to do with it. A local Zionist enthusiast, Michael Stif- felman, spent long hours persuading the officials of the fair that the flag did re- present a nation, the Jewish nation, and thus it should be displayed with the flags of all the other nations of the world. Ultimately, he was suc- cessful, and Rosh Hashana 5665 was selected as the day 11=111111M11, Davimos and Samet pointed out that the Ameri- can Jewish Committee, in conjunction with other civil rights organizations, had long been active in the fight against discrimination. There has been a good deal of progress, they said, in lowering the barriers in employment, housing and education. HoWever, they added, there has not been significant achievement in the domain of private city and country clubs. Orthodox Unit Happy Over Bilingual Rule NEW YORK — Yeshivot may continue to participate in government-funded Yid- dish bilingual education r programs, even if such a program is not available to public school students, ac- cording to a ruling by the U.S. Office of Education. The ruling came at the re- quest of Agudath Israel of America, which urged the New York Board of Educa- tion to continue its coopera- tive arrangement with yeshivot to provide Yiddish bilingual education pro- grams. I- left its impact on Tunkle. "I stood and gazed chained to the spot," he noted, "scarcely believing and my own eyes hardly realizing that the flag of Zion is a reality, floating over the grounds of the world's greatest fair, saying as it were, to the inhabi- tants of all the earth, To, the Jews are a nation and this is the nation's symbol. Let skeptics and doubter cease to doubt -- Zionism is a living reality!' " What a thrilling sight it was 75 years ago on Rosh Hashana when the blue and white flag with a Magen David joined the ranks of the flags of the nations at the St. Louis World's Fair. That flag represented then as it does now "the strangest and greatest manifesta- tion of idealism and self- sacrifice the world has ever known." On the diamond jubilee of that event it is the hope of Jews around the world on this New Year of 5740 that our flag will wave forever in peace among all the nations of the world. r - Best Wishes to OUr Many Friends and Customers for a Happy New Year Sid and Lou Fishman OLYMPIC Sporting Goods Co. 19129 Livernois Orchard Mall 6393 Orchard Lake Rd. W. Bloomfield J. L GREETINGS PASTOR COMPANY "Michigan's Most Complete Cleaners" — Free Estimates 19971 JAS. CQUZENS 342-4300 New Year Greetings PIEDMONT AUTO ELECTRIC SERVICE Motor Tune-Up Specialists Trurks and Passenger Cars E. E. 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