2 Friday, January 14, 1983 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary A Newspaper Tragedy Transformation of a great daily newspaper into a weekly may represent the ebbing of important media due to the economic stress. In. the American Jewish community it can only be viewed as a great tragedy. The Jewish Daily Forward — the Forvertz — served the great purpose as an _inspiration to many tens of thousands of immigrant Jews. It was their Bible as the newspaper that linked them with the world they stemmed from and the new one they helped to invigorate with their devotions as Jews and as Americans. It was a great Americanizing instrument, in the Yiddish language that was revered by the readers. For several years -it had already been reduced to a four-day-a-week newspaper, from the seven-day original. In February it becomes a weekly. This is cause for deep regret, for deploring the fate that has struck a great language and is now reflected in the abandon- ment of the Yiddish daily press in this country. In Canada this had already been the fate of the Yiddish daily press for many years. Only half a century ago, sociological and etymological studies showed that 90 percent of Canadian Jewry considered Yiddish their mother tongue. The number commenced to drop so rapidly that at present it is minimal. Else there would have been a revival of the Yiddish daily newspaper as a symbol of.-Jewish cultural strength. The Yiddish newspaper, and therefore the Yiddish language, were great powers in this country. In 1914, when the Jewish population in the United States was perhaps 2.4 million, less than half the present population, there were 10 daily Yiddish newspapers in this country. Their total sworn circulation, as reported in Editor and Publisher maga- zine, was 762,910. (See Commentary, Jewish News, March 17, 1967). The number of readers dropped to less than 100,000 in 1967. In the early years there were daily Yiddish newspapers in Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago as well as New York. Many eminent writers gained their fame in the Yiddish press. The late Detroit in Need and a Reminder of a Neighboring Occurrence, With David Croll as Leader The sad' conditions which necessitated handouts in food to the impoverished serves as a recollection of the dedicated labors that were recorded under similar situa- tions in the neighboring Canadian city of Windsor, David Croll was the mayor during those horrible early 1930s. David Croll personally supervised the soup kitchens and the bread lines. It was an ordinary feat for him to be up at 6 in the morning to assure proper aid for the needy. In the fascinating series of stories headlined "Why Windsor?", edited by Alan Abrams, in the chapter entitled "Godfather in Kilts" (referring to the Essex Scottish Regi- ment in which Mayor Croll enlisted at the beginning of World War II), there is this very brief account of the Windsor City Father who won the affections of his con- stituents with his devoted services to the needy: The first thing I did when I was mayor was establish a wel- fare department. The Great Depression had just come upon the country and the gov- ernments had made little provision for the people who were thrown out of work. We in Windsor were particularly hard hit because the Ameri- cans closed the border on 10,000 Windsorites DAVID CROLL who crossed over everyday to work in Detroit. They were left on the doors of the city and.the Americans said "Well, go to Croll. He'll have to feed you." And Croll did feed them. It broke our city, we couldn't pay our debts at the time, but we repaid them in later years. But we made provision, to the best of our ability, for everyone who was in need. Food, clothing and -shelter were our Number One priorities. What we did in Windsor was picked up in various parts of the country and that gave me the opportunity when I was elected as a provincial member to establish a provincial department of welfare. It was the first of its kind in Canada, and we built the beginning of the welfare state on that basis. Is it any wonder that David Croll should have become the unbeatable politician who had the affections of the voters, who rose high in Canadian government affairs, who served in his country's national cabinet and was the first Jew to be named a Senator in Canada? He still is active, in his eighties, as a Senator, as an admired diplomat, as a Jewish leader, as an ardent Zionist. Israel to the Rescue? In the comment last week on Detroit's economic plight, this columnist resorted to a bit of irony by recalling (with tongue in cheek, no doubt) that during an economic decline some years back there was a facetious proposal for the establishment of an Israeli United Jewish Appeal as a provider of relief for American Jews. Ironically, indeed, the facts relating to the serious problems affecting the Jewish community of Winnipeg, Manitoba, contained such a serious consideration of Cana- A Great Tragedy Has Struck the Jewish People in the Decline of the Only Surviving Daily Into a Weekly, Thus Challenging Jewry to Assure Cultural Aspirations By Philip Slornovitz ° Gershon Agronsky_(Agron), who later became editor of the Palestine Post, which was renamed the Jerusalem Post upon the rebirth of Israel, and who was the first Jewish Mayor of Jerusalem, was a reporter on the Yiddish daily in Philadelphia. Woe unto the present conditions and what has happened to the entire Yiddish press! The Forward tragedy has other painful reactions. It was the last surviving Yiddish daily on this entire continent. Now areas with Yiddish dailies are limited to Israel and France. Another element of sorrow is that a newspaper should have had to resort to fund raising to survive. The Forward conducted appeals for funds and raised some $1,300,000 for its purposes. The newspaper's management had hopes that the $540,000 raised in the past two years would provide the required sustenance. Philanthropy failed as an asset to journalism. • Much interest is now being shown in Yiddish as a language and as a literary treasure. It will have to be admitted that such an interest exists mostly in the transla- tions of great works written in Yiddish and popularized in translations. The announcement of the reduction of the Jewish Daily Forward into a weekly has its tragic immensity in the number of readers to which that great newspaper has been reduced. The announcement that its circulation now is 20,000 is the most shocking element in a sad occurrence. The decline of Yiddish is attributed to Nazism. A large measure of the Hitlerite barbarism is in its having struck at the roots of Jewish culture. If it was among the triumphs of Nazism in spite of the crushing defeat it suffered militarily and politically, it represents one of the most pressing challenges to world Jewry: to rebuild where possible, provide new life to a language that has enriched its readership linguistically and culturally, to strive for new strength in Jewish ranks that will keep the culture of Jewry alive. dian Jews becoming dependent upon Israeli agencies. The Jewish Post of Winnipeg, reporting in a front page story under the headline "Jewish Community Here in Financial Crisis," contained in its review of possible relief from the impending troubles the following: "The Winnipeg Jewish Community Council has also approached the United Irael Appeal for help in paying the interest on our debt. We will also be meeting with the leadership of Israeli-based institutions to elicit their coop- eration in supporting our institutions." 0 tempora! 0 mores! = Oh times! Oh customs! What doesn't time do to frail humanity? Yet, there is another aspect to this surprising de- velopment, which may well be judged as a puzzling de- velopment. It doesn't indicate that Jews in need apply to and depend upon fellow Jews. What a glorious definition for andut, unity! Soviet proxy on the other. Chinese-PLO relations are best exemplified by each party's reaction to the death of President Sadat. Yasir Arafat was in Peking the day of the Sadat assassination. On Oct. 8 he attended a ban- quet in the Great Hall of the People hosted by Vice Premier Zhao Ziyang, who called on Israel to withdraw to 1967 borders and give up East Jerusalem and the West Bank. He also expressed grief at the death of Sadat and declared that China would continue to support Eygptian. policy — meaning recognition of Israel. Arafat in contrast, was jubilant over Sadat's death, and demanded the return of all Israel. Ziyang was so infuriated by Arafat's gloating that he stormed out of the hall. China's poverty and distance from the Middle Israel and China: The Dilemma East leave it mainly with rhetoric and ideology as of a Lukewarm Dispute a means of influence. That rhetoric is intensely anti-Soviet and pro-Arab. - Israel needs and seeks the friendships of all nations. It The Chinese display a schizophrenic attitude does not exclude the 20 Arab states whose potentates keep toward Israel, however. In 1979, they supported repeating destructive threats, with Israelis and their Camp David and the Egyptian-Israeli peace friends clamoring for peace. treaty. However, they also felt a need to echo the There are problems in the Third World spheres and rejectionism of the other Arab states. Unable to Russia and China present problems in their associations retreat from their previous pro-treaty stand, they with Israel's bitterest enemies. launched an anti-Israeli propaganda blitz, thus China offers an interesting study in the relationships hoping to curry favor with the rejectionist Ara bs. with Israel. Animosities date back to the era of the found- In the wake of Brezhnev's death there have ing of the United Nations. At San Francisco in 1945 there been Soviet-Chinese feelers but, even so, it will was already an antagonism that enrolled the Chinese in take some time for these to heal Soviet-Chinese the anti-Zionist alliances. rifts. The Chinese attitudes toward Israel and Zionism are In the Middle East, the Chinese will continue traced in an important outline of transpired events in the to favor the Arab side — but not blindly — and Near East Report published by the American Israel Public Egypt will remain the focus of their policy. They Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Here are the outlined historic will generally follow the line of the Arab majority facts: in their rhetoric. They would prefer to see Israel Before coming to Washington, King Hussein, behind 1967 boundries, but they do not call for its along with other Arab leaders, stopped in Peking destruction. to sell the Fez plan to the People's Republic of And as King Hussein was probably told by his China. Chinese hosts, support for the PLO and courtship They were well received. The Chinese leader- of the Soviet Union are losing games in Chinese ship and media went through ritual denuncia- eyes. tions of Israel, imperialism and the war in Leba- As the most thorough account of the Chinese role vis- non — but Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, also a-vis Israel, this item serves to keep the interested parties reported that Hu Yaobang, a high Communist fully informed on this angle in the serious issues affecting Party official, said that the Israeli people's right the Middle East. The necessity and opportunity to retain to a peaceful existence should be recognized. the facts in matters involving the peace of a major area in The moderate tone of the announcement the world and therefore of the entire universe is most wel- made some headlines in the United States. But the come. fact is that China has long been treading a cau- tious course in the Middle East, one more moti- vated by opposition to the Soviet Union than Cheer From Sen. Percy enmity toward Israel. It isn't all gloomy in Washington. U.S. Senator Charles Both the People's Republic of China and the Percy, who is on record as a severe critic of Israel, had state of Israel were established at about the same cheerful words this week for good relations with Lebanon time: Israel in 1948, China in 1949. The Israeli gov- when he stated: ernment had intended to vote for China's admis- In my judgment there is justification for the sion to the United Nations but was deterred by Israeli position that businesslike relations with American pressure. Lebanon must be a priority. While one can under- Chinese-Israeli relations remained cordial, if stand the Lebanese desire to avoid antagonizing unofficial, until the Bandung Conference of 1957 uncooperative or cautious elements in their coun- at which Nasser of Egypt, Nehru of India and try, nevertheless Lebanon should — in her own Chou En Lai of China founded the Non-Aligned interest — be willing to take significant steps Movement. toward normalizing relations with Israel. Israeli When the Chinese broke with the Soviets in withdrawal would be a key element in the with- the early 1960s they began opposing Soviet de- drawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. signs in the Middle East. This policy makes them Israel needs friends and always welcomes the positive, ambivalent toward the PLO, which they regard as especially from the chairman of the Senate Foreign Rela- a liberation movement on the one hand and a tions Committee.