Breaking AU Records: This.. Issue Reaches Nearly Every Jewish Home in the Entire State of Michigan and the Border Cities E JEWISH NEWS A Weekly Review 1 Day Camp: Description of Important Agency at Work Page TO of Jewish Events 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Michigan, July 25, 1947 VOLUME XI—NO. 19 Jewish Center .. $3.00 ukiliPb. Per Year; Single Copy, 10c 34 Tisha bAb—Day of Sorrow Road to Freedom Blocked And Fight Against Empire Repulse of 'Exodus' Despairs Survivors, Inspires Resis nce PARIS. (JTA).—The French Foreign Office announced that the pas- sengers- on the "Exodus 1947" are being taken to the Riviera Port Ville France Sur Mer. The anouncement said that the refugees would be held in France un- til arrangements could be made to send them to Colombia, South America, for which they have visas. The French Ministry of the Interior told the JTA that a decision con- cerning the disposition of the immigrants would be made this week, and that the Receives Permit JDC French government is taking a "most seri- For Relief Operation ous" view of the situation. In Russian Territory THE WAILING WALL—A SAUL RASKIN LITHOGRAPH By DAVID SCHWARTZ I don't suppose any Congressman will ever propose to make Tisha b'Ab a national holiday. I suspect if you queried the whole lot of American historians, if there is any reason why it should be declared an American holiday, not one would volunteer any reason for such a commemoration. Nevertheless, there is a very good reason why it should take its place among the primary holidays of America. It was on Tisha b'Ab in 1492 that Columbus set sail from Spain. On .Oct: 12, America was discovered, but the voyage of Columbus began on Tisha b'Ab, the same day on which the Jews were expelled from Spain. Columbus makes mention of the fact in the first para- graph of the journal of his trip. On the same day in which the Jews were forced to quit the soil of Spain, he says, he set out to discover a new world. *t * * The order for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was issued on the same day on which the order came from the Spanish court to Columbus to get ready to undertake his voyage. Both orders were issued on April 30, 1492. The last thing the 300,000 Jews did before they left Spain was to arrange for Columbus to undertake this voyage of discovery. It is clear that all the main backers of the project were Jews and I cannot get over the feeling that Columbus himself was a Jew. * * Tisha b'Ab is a terribly sad day in the Jewish calendar, yet Jewish legend held that the Messiah would make his appearance on Tisha b'Ab. What a terribly sad day Tisha b'Ab has been other- wise! It is a three times sad day—the day of the destruc- tion of Jerusalem by Titus, the day also of the final defeat of the Jews in the Bar Kochba uprising and the day of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In Rome today you see the Arch of Titus erected by the Romans to memorialize the victory over the Jews. It seems strange that the great Roman Empire should glory over the defeat of such a small power as the Jews. It is a tribute to the terrific fight which the Jews put up. Graetz remarks that the Jews almost won, that but for conflicts among them- selves, added to the treachery of some Jews, they might have defeated the Romans. * Tacitus speaks of the Jews as being "contemptuous of life." He is all wrong. The Jews are the least contemptuous of life. Because they esteemed it so, they could not bear the galling yoke of Rome. Today a similar fight is taking place in Palestine against another Empire. Already the Jews of the Yishuv have shown that they are made of the same stern stuff. There is danger that we may be too heroic. We are a people who go in for David who slew giants. Mostly, alas, it is the giants who win. iCopyright, 1947, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.) NEW YORK—The Joint Distribution Committee has been granted permission by Soviet military authorities for limited operation in the Russian zone of Ger- many, it was recently reported here by Henry Levy, JDC representative in Ber- lin visiting world headquarters. Given the right to send in monthly food parcels to some 1,200 Jewish survivors in the Russian zone, JDC is the first voluntary organization to be allowed to provide relief assistance in the area. Levy reported that Soviet authorities in Berlin had also indicated a willing- ness to permit the JDC to visit Jewish communities in seven cities located in- side the Russian zone, to check on the effectiveness of the distribution of re- lief packages: These cities include Magdeburg, where there is a concentra- tion of Polish Jewish survivors, Dresden, Halle, Leipzig, Ehrfurt, Chemnitz and Schwerin. JDC food packages, which were first sent into the Russian zone in June, weighed eight to 10 pounds each and contain canned meat, cheese, fat, egg powder, powdered milk, fish, soap, cig- arettes and coffee. Levy estimated that at least half of the Jewish survivors in the Russian zone re- ceiving JDC food packages were 50 years of age, or older. (The British ship "Empire Lifeguard" which was used to transport Jewish deportees from Palestine was blown up by the Jewish underground off the coast of Palestine Wednesday) Dr. Brodetsky Protests Deportation to Colonial Office LONDON. (JTA).—The Colonial Of- fice confirmed the above announcement to Prof. Selig Brodetsky, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who pro- tested the secrecy surrounding the refugees' whereabouts. Dr. Brodetsky, voicing the Jewish Agency's protest against the deportation action, declared that it meant the return to despair of thousands of survivors from Nazi massacres. He also pointed out that it would heighten Palestine's tension. Sir Arthur Creech-Jones, Colonial Secretary, said that no information is available as to what is to be done with the refugees when they reach France. Later the Colonial Office announced that the refugees are being returned to France in ac- cordance with normal procedure of international law and in agreement with the French govern- ment." 40,000 Visaless Jews Warned CAIRO (JTA)—Two ships carrying 4,000 visa- less Jews, reported off the Egyptian coast, were warned by radio from patrol planes not to enter Egyptian waters. The ships, believed to be heading for Palestine, are diverting Egyptian waters in an attempt to evade British naval patrols. Motor Launch Escapes ROME (JTA) — Italian police naval patrols (Continued on Page 7) United Palestine Appeal T rains Pioneers Training schools throughout Palestine are converting unskilled Jewish immigrants into me- chanics, electricians, engineers, chemists and precision workers. Once jobless, untrained and home- less in Europe, these youths now are being prepared for productive work in Palestine's growing Jewish community. United Palestine Appeal agencies—primarily the Kereri Hayesod and the Keren Kayemeth (Jewish National Fund)—which secure their income through t h e $170,000,000 United Jewish Appeal, support vocational schools as part of their program of rehabilitating immigrants. MARCH 27, 1992 47