Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 July 1936 — Page 2

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Tine Jewish Post A Journal for Indiana Jewry Published every Friday by The Spokesman Co., 2101 B. Washington St., Indianapolis, Subscription rate, $1.00 a year. For advertising rates apply at office. Entered as second class matter October 17, 1935, at the post office at Louisville, Ky, under the a-?t of March 3, 1879. Editorial office, 2101 East Washington Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Telephone CH 4385. Changes of address should be sent direct to the Circulation Department. Unless receive! two weeks in ad. ance, The Jewish Post cannot assume responsibility for issues missed. Please include old address.

Friday, July 10, 1936

HEBREW CALENDAR 5696-1936 *Rosh Chodesh Tammuz..June 21 Shiba Asar B'Tammuz July 7 *Uosh Hodesh Ab July 20 Tisha B’Ab July'28 .Rosh Hodesh Elul August 19 Rosh Hashonah ....September 17 Yom Klppur September 26 Sukkot (1st day) October 1 Simhat Torah October 9 .Rosh Hodesh Heshvan.,. .Oct. 17 Rosh Hodesh Kislev Nov. 15 Hanukah (1st day) Dec. S •Rosh Hodesh Tebet Dec. 15 •Rosh Chodesh also observed previous day.

The Editor’s Chair Even, the youngest of us can remember the day when books and novels of Jewish interest were so "iiausual that their publication was an event In the Jewish community. “The Island Within’’ created more of a ruffle on the waters of Jewish existence than a small-sized pogrom in Rumania. That day. however, is past. If anything at present the Jewish reader is beleaguered w i t h a plethora of titles, all on Jewish subjects. The Jewish problem is discussed from every angle, his torical and present, even so much so that Nathan attacked the question for the future in his “Road of Ages.’’ For this fall, hook publishers are almsot racing to bring out the first Jewish novel. Knopf’s translation of Singer’s “The Brothers Ashkenazi" brings to the American Jewish scene a new' author, but the old standbys like Feuchtwanger, Asch and others will all be in the struggle for the Jewish reading market. This race indicates a renaissance in Jewish literature. Which indicates a renaissance in things Jewish. Which indicates a wideawake interest in the problems and affairs and lives of Jews. * * * Jewish people of the U. S. can support the Olympics financially, spiritually and by active participation in the contests. Rabbi Louis I. Newman hopes that “the American team will have a large per centage of Jews.” He also expresses the inanity that each athlete should decide for himself. The athletes have. To a man they have decided to participate. American Jewry, and their rabbis can either support the Olympics, or not, but they can’t for the integrity of their own self respect fight the Olympics and at the same time hope that the more virile and vigorous of American Jewish youth will take part.

p . S

Increases In United Drives

Unnoticed on a national scale, a move has been going forward which ultimately will lead to that unification in the American Jewish oommuni ty which to the execrable leaders of present-day Jewish affairs in this nation is still so far in the future that they have not even arrived at the point of devoting their energies to obtaining control over it. This move is the uniting of drives in more than fifty cities by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Although a united drive in a city like Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, or Los Angeles can by no means be said to constitute a united Jewry in that community, it certainly la the first step towards that desired goal. If organizations in a community pool their efforts in one major objective. they have already passed their first and greatest barrier towards unity. Leading from united drives, experience shows, are united conferences, and from united conferences, permanent organizations for the effectual unity in the community are but a natural outgrowth. According to the most recent figures released by the Council, the number of cities conducting united drives has increased from 18 in 1934 to fifty-four this year. Last year thirty-four cities conducted united drives. In that time the mone.> raised increased from $1,019,601 to an estimated

Uniting American Jewry $3,250,000 this year. The announcement leads the innocent reader to believe that this increase is a normal evolution. Admittedly there was a tendency in this direction, but w-ithout the aid and leadership of the Council, whose announcement is one of the most modest, if not the most modest, ever released by a Jewish organization, this amazing growth could not have been possible. The Council^since 1934 has employed a paid representative to visit cities throughout the United States with a view to forming united fund-raising drives. United Jew'ry in this nation is not and never was the problem of the Council of Jewish Federations. What it sought to accomplish w r as a union of effort leading to an elimination of expense in the many drives held by individual groups throughout the year. One drive, the Council has contended, would result not only in a more equitable distribution of the funds from any one community, but would also drive out the fraudulent and spurious organizations wiio perennially flood every city with agents and mashulochim. No less should be the credit then to the Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare Funds for if in doing its own specific task of uniting funds, it achieves the almost unachievable ta.sk of uniting United States Jewry.

Freedom of the Press Denies He intends To Resign To the Editor: Your issue of June 19 oontains an item marked “Cincinnati, O. (Spl.)" anouncing that B’nai B’rith offices will be removed before the end of 1936 to Washington, D. C. and that 1 contemplate resigning as president of B'oai B'rith. Both statements are erroneous and purporting to have emanated from Cincinnati, are apt to cause regrettable confusion. If the report was actually sent from Cincinnati, it was completely unauthorized and without the slightest foundation. Sincerely yours, ALFRED M. COHEN, Fresident. Cincinnati, O.

Editor’s Note: The article said the two points mentioned “are definitely expected by those iu close touch w’ith affairs of the lodge." This paper is glad to make the correction.

President Cohen’s Letter Should Have Salutary Effect

President Alfred M. Cohen's letter to this paper denying that he “contemplates resigning’’ should have a salutary effect in cleaning up the general confusion in connection with leadership in the B'nai B'rith, the largest Jewish organization in the United States. Probably unbeknown to Senator Cohen, the feeling has been general among B'nai B’rith lodges that he intends to relinquish his position at the expiration of his present term. Likewise, it was understood that Judge I. M. Golden, of San Francisco, w-ould succeed him. Never has it been intimated that President Cohen w’ould be replaced, but it has been felt as almost a certainty

that Judge Cohen would not he a candidate for reelection. At the last convention of District No. 2 in Cincinnati, no attempt was made to hide the fact that Judge Cohen would be succeeded by Judge Golden. Rather it was a matter of common conversation. Now that Senator Cohen denies that he contemplates resigning, although he does not specifically say that he will be a candidate for another term, an end to the talk about his successor should be made. In due time President Cohen will make his wishes known, and then and only then should the “machers” in the lodge begin choosing his successor.

Anti-Semitism Now In Its Third Historical Wave “Anti-Semitism Yesterday and Tomorrow” by Rabbi Levinger Lauded by Christian; Hailed a s Admirable Survey of Problem

By HENRY SMITH LEI PER Probably nobody needs to be told that we are now in an era of anti Semitism almost worldw ide. Not so many recognize the fact that this is the third great wave since the destruction of Jerusalem, the first having occurred in the eleventh century and the second in the fifteenth. Since these three ages possess certain common features. Rabbi Lee .1. Levinger begins by telling the story from the Biblical period down to the triumph of Adolph Hitler and the abortive presidential boom of the American Jew-baiter, McFadden. His survey, “Anti-Semitism Yesterday and Tomorrow," is extraordinarily full and detailed, yet marked by literary skill and an admirable economy of words. Even so, it occupied exactly onehalf of the book. This is not by accident, however, as the author aims to present a general survey of the entire problem for the general reader, both Jewish and non-Jewish. He does not pretend to be impartial. He writes frankly as a Jew. Nevertheless, he does succeed in maintaining an admirable objectivity and in shedding light without too much heat. The second half of the hook is devoted to an analysis of the causes of that discrimination and persecution which have so often been the lot of the Jews. Beginning with religious causes, the author traces the problem through its economic aspects, its political complications, its racial theorizings and its environmental angles. This brings him to the sociological treatment of antiSemitism. With sound good sense, he recognizes that the modern sociological diagnosis is the only ultimately reliable method for handling such a problem. The chief fact concerning the Jews is that they are, from a general viewpoint, “an eternal minority," visible to the eye, conspicuous from the point of view of social organization and international by compulsion, if not by choice. The final chapters deal with the results of anti-Semit ism and possible remedies. I find it difficult not to use superlatives in describing this book. It is an exhibition of admirable scholarship and sound common sense such as one does not strike very frequently in volumes

devoted to such explosive themes. Having myself read a good many testimonies of the subject from the pens cf both Christians and Jews, I am impressed w r ith the number of new' ideas which are to be found in this study—likewise with the number of little-known hut decidedly relevant facts which the author has unearthed. Among a mass of material which is to say the least discouraging to the lover of justice and humiliating to the follower of Christ, it is cheering to come upon reminders of those long periods in history when there has been little or no active anti-Semitism despite the presence of approximately the same percentage of Jews among numerous populations throughout the world. It is definitely true that chiefly in times of rapid transition, of great intellectual or physical ferment, during economic depression, wars and religious upheavals, prejudice against minorities becomes api>arent and vehement. But, fortunately for those who are the* victims of intolerance, in the lonk sweep of history transition periods and economic depressions are not without end. Probably the American reader will find the most thought-provoking parts of the book devoted to the study of anti-Semitism in: this country. Rabbi Levinger does not share the optimism of tiie authors of the Fortune article of recent months which brushes aside the idea that antiSemitic movements in this country can be of any serious consequence. He points out that within the last fifty years over two and a half million Jews, mostly from southern European countries with economic and cultural standards far differ ent from those of America’s majority groups, settled in the United States. He reminds us that it was not until 1877 that laws discriminating against Jews and preventing them from acquiring legal residence were removed from the statute books even in New Hampshire! He points to the open advocacy of political anti-Semitism in the United States by ex-Oon-gressman McFadden who in 1935 sought nomination for the presidency on the Republican ticket with the platform, “Christianity instead of Jadaism; Americanism against Communism; National-

JEWISH CALENDAR The Jewsih calendar is based on lunar reckonings. The circling of the moon around the earth constitutes a month. Twelve lunar months constitute a year. The Jewish names of the months are: Tishre, Cheswan, Kislev, Tebeth. Shebat, Adar, Nissan, lyyar, Siwan, Tam muz, Ah, Elul. The circling of the moon around the earth takes 29 days. 12 hours, 44 minutes. In order to use round figures the five months Tishre, Shebat, Nissan, Slwan, Ab. were arranged with 30 and the five months Tebeth, Adar, lyyar, Tammuz and Elul with 29 days. The months Cheswan and Kis lev have sometimes 29 and sometimes 30 days, the number being determined by the adjustment of the calendar, resulting from the fixing of the Day eff Atonement (which, according to the Law. must never occur on a Friday or a Sunday) and of Hashana Rabba (which must never fall on Saturday). The twelve months total 354 days, 8 hours, 4s minutes and 36 seconds as against 365 days, 6 hours and 48 seconds of the solar year (according to the Jewish sages).

ism against Internationalism; and Individualism instead f Collectivism." However, it is not the political anti-Semitism of such absurd and discredited gentlemen as Mr. McFadden and his blood brother, Pelley, late of the Silver Shirts, that really matters in the United States, it is rather economic discrimination which even more than religious or social prejudice now confronts the American Jew. In spite of all the difficulties, no defeatist attitude need be assumed, for “as the causes of antiSemitism, and of all race hatred, lie in environment rather than in heredity, they can be cured. . . But the causes of anti-Semitism are deep-rooted in the social system. The remedy is not a ready nor a quick one. it involves vast chaages of opinion in many millions of people. ... It must he a long term program, for only that can ever touch the causes, can ever change the thinking of mobs, parties or nations, or can ever turn their members from mass thinking to individual thinking.’’

NOTE: This book may be purchased at the regular $2.50 price from The Postal Library, Box 503, Louisville, Ky.