PURELY COMMENTARY PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Anniversaries Unlimited Anniversaries are multiple on the calendar of events. They are especially numerous currently, with the Jewish Welfare Federation dominating the limelight; the Jewish Community Coun- cil's 50th approaching, and many others. As anniversaries go, there should be no ignoring such as the Jewish National Fund Council of Detroit. Federation an- niversary celebrants will do well to re- member and recognize such elders. On the national and world scales it requires the knowledge of Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, the American Jewish Archives' chief, to provide a complete or nearly complete record of events of importance and personalities who have enriched them. "Jake" Marcus has been doing just that for our readers annually for many years. He will hopefully continue that task in his archival capacity. There is one anniversary he is un- aware of. It is mine and Purely Com- mentary's. An exact count is very difficult; yet; it is possible that this column, or one approximating it, is the 3,500th. It com- menced in 1920 and has been uninter- rupted these 66 years, except for the two weeks I sat shivah for my parents. Then Psalms were substituted for continuing contents. Purely Commentary commenced during my editorship of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, continuing in The De- troit Jewish News, with many years of syndication. Does Number 3,500 or its approxi- mation merit a newspaper column being rated among acknowledged anniver- saries? In this Jewish Welfare Federation year of jubilation there can be no ignor- ing the fact that Purely Commentary is six years older than Federation. It has chronicled the major events in Federa- tion programming. It has differed on many issues and has also been, hopefully continuing in that role, the inspiration for the best there is in communal creativity. They were dramatic years, filled with tensions and tragedies. There was a measure of triumph. The challenges were immense, some of the failures ag- gravating in retrospect. On the home front, mostly Federation-wife, progress was being made step-by-step. Sinai Hospital emerged into the present great medical facility. The Hebrew Hospital Associa- tion with which I was associated, becom- ing a life member of its board of direc- tors, created the public endorsing senti- ment that erased the opposition from most of the leadership. It was a triumph of the craving of the masses over the op- position of the classes. The Home for the Aged was moved from the old Edmond Place shabbiness into its present im- mense image. Many other needs were and are being fulfilled, with an emphasis on support for Israel. An atmosphere that was partially antagonistic to the movement has become favorable to the Zionist ideal. Supplementing the services of the operating Federation agencies is the so- cial service and Jewish Community Cen- ter encouragement given to a very im- portant movement that has gained com- munal acclaim — that of the Jewish Association for Retarded Citizens — JARC. This important dignity-providing cause can boast of leadership that has fulfilled a great need by acquiring the necessary finances without depending on the dominant Federation. The coopera- 2 Friday, September 12, 1986 And One Editorially Personalized tion in the social service function is nevertheless commendable. In another sphere, the ecumenical, Federation lends a cooperative hand. It does not finance the needs of the Detroit Round Table but is always encouraging it. It had a share in its start, which is worth recalling. Dr. Everett Clinchy, the organizing executive director of the Na- tional Conference of Christians and Jews, came to me as the then editor of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, some six decades ago, and asked that I intercede for financial aid. I went to Federation and secured a $100 allocation. Dr. Clin- chy proceeded to form the Detroit Round Table of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. • Such were beginnings that in their continuity assured Federated action that leads to communal maturity. It is on the national and world fronts that the past seven decades have recorded an historiography that is surely reflected on commentaries that had to be affected by the events that challenged the world and therefore have their evi- dences in these columns. Chaim Weizmann's autobiography was entitled Trial and Error. Because there may have been as many failures as there were successes, this is a title that could apply to the historiography. The chronicles of the decades are marked by the glory of Israel's rebirth. They are marked by the horrors that were perpetrated by the Germans. There were the years preceding both when tyranny ruled for Jews in Poland and Romania, when anti-Semitism often emerged in its ugliness. The bigotry of Henry Ford II was only one example of hate, much of which has now fortunately been erased. Much still remains to be ob- literated. The Ford matter will be treated here a bit later. In the years under consideration, there were important collaborations of Jews and Christians in support of the Zionist ideal. With very few exceptions the Michigan Congressional Delegation supported the U.S. endorsement of Zionist aspirations for restored statehood in Palestine. Congressman John D. Dingell played an important part in these tasks. Senators Arthur H. Van- denberg, James Couzens, Homer Fergu- son were in the forefront with encouragement. Symbolic in these tasks was this telegraphic cheer from Senator Vanden- berg, reproduced on these pages. Frank Murphy, who rose from the mayoralty of Detroit to the governorship of Michigan and on to the U.S. Supreme Court, was always responsible, both in support of Congressional actions as. well as the protests against British failures to adhere to the principles embodied in the Balfour Declaration and subsequent pledges to Jewry. One of the most effec- tive demonstrations that assumed na- tional importance in demands that Brit- ain honor the responsibilities to world Jewry and its historic aims in the Jewish National Home was the overflow rally he addressed in the then Detroit Opera House on Lafayette. Support from some important Jews was more difficult to secure than from non-Jews. It was a difficult struggle. The dedicated Zionist forces were unyielding and the struggle continued. The urgency to assure the rescue of Jews from the Nazi threats created a double duty: the continuing duty to st- rive for an open door to Palestine by Britain and the battle against Nazism and the search for other havens of refuge for the victims of Hitlerism. The priority THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS COPY OF TELEGRAM TO MR. SLOMOVITZ Washington, D.C. May 19, 1939 5.16 P.M. Philip Slomovitz, Detroit, Mich. I BELIEVE TODAY MORE THAN EVER IN THE ZIONIST HOME IN PALESTINE. AS A MEMBER OF THE ORIGINAL CHRISTIAN PROP- ALESTINE COMMITTEE I THOUGHT I SAW A GREAT VISION. IT IS CLEARER THAN EVER TODAY AND THE INHUMANITY OF MAN MAKES IT MORE LOGICAL AND MORE ESSENTIAL THAN EVER. I EMPHATICALLY FAVOR EVERY COOPERATION THAT AMERICA CAN GIVE TO THE PROMISED CULMINATION OF THIS PROMISED JEWISH HOMELAND. THE BALFOUR ASSURANCES SHOULD NOT DEFAULT. THE JEWS OF THE WORLD TOOK THEM IN GOOD FAITH AND HAVE INVESTED HEART AND FORTUNE IN THEM. THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO EVERY INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN BEHALF OF THIS JEWISH HOMELAND. COUNT UPON MY INTEREST TO THE LIMIT. SENATOR A. H. VANDENBERG. demanded by the Zionist forces for Pales- tine created some disharmony. Now there is the frequent charge that insuffi- cient demands had been made for other escape routes. Nevertheless, it was the defiance of the British and the determi- nation of the battlers for free access to Palestine that at least assured escape for the many thousands who secured homes in Palestine under means the British called "illegal." Under wide discussion now is "the guilt" in failures fully to facilitate what- ever could be done to carry on rescue ac- tivities and to prevent the information about the concentration and death camps from reaching public knowledge. The guilt was so widespread that it is appalling to recall it. When the press of the free world was informed about the mass murder it treated it as "atrocity stories." The U.S. Consular Corps have a criminal record for their treatment of applicants for visas from the hell created by Hitler. The White House and State Department share in the guilt. And the Jewish communities and especially the Jews of America? We awoke to the danger but it got to be too late. Too many of us slumbered. Too many were not even sufficiently helpful in the Zionist tasks to secure the dillapi- dated boats to take escapees from the Nazis to Palestine, in the heroic tasks to evade the British authorities who tried to stop the "illegal traffic." Too many panicked when they were taunted in their loyalties to our nation when the inhumane consular actions were chal- lenged. There was an awakening and all of us must admit possessing a share in the guilt. The compensation was in the rebirth of Israel, and in that realization there was a great measure of unity. Should these recollections be judged as confessionals? In any event, they are part of an anniversary chronicle that confronts my family of loyal readers of this page every Friday. It is my Shabbat Shalom to the community. Nota Bene Columnists who write regularly for their newspapers often assume the lib- erty to reveal matters of a personal na- ture and experience, such as being hos- pitalized, differing with relatives and friends and intimacies the readers often enjoy. Why can't I have a bit of such freedom? Let me relate it by recalling a ditty from sophomore days in Ann Arbor. What we hummed included these lines: In these days of indigestion .. . Some little bug is gonna get you, Some little bug will creep behind you . . . A "little bug" must have started in my direction from then on, from '19 to '86, catching up with me on Sinai Hospi- tal's Fifth Floor. The medical term given the culprit is "Positive Culture in the Blood." The "little bug" was stopped in its tracks by compassionate healers, Dr. A. Martin Lerner and Dr. Raphael Kiel, who worked together with Dr. Henry Green and Dr. Robert Bloom and their staffs: with the cooperation on Sinai Hospital's Fifth Floor with Dr. Mark Selitsky and a' friendly, cooperative and responsive bevy of nurses. The "little bug" has earned this notoriety because it is responsible for this Commentary column, and the two previous ones (issue of Aug. 29 and Sept. 5) having been produced in hospital garb on Sinai's fifth. This legendary "little germ" also is an accomplisher: it caused my resurrecting, for use after a lapse of some 24 years, of the portable typewriter I used in the Jerusalem press room to report on the Adolf Eichmann trial for myself (Detroit Jewish News) and the De- troit Free Press. Is this too much "I"—ing for one who tried to avert the personal "I" and most of his life used mainly the editorial "We"? Would that I could blame every- thing challenging on the "little bug." Now let's try to get to the editorial "We!" Many thanks to the numerous well-wishers who provided cheers for me and Anna with their heartening mes- sages and contributions to worthy causes during our hospitalizations.