Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 October 1938 — Page 8

THE JEWISH POST

A Journal for Indiana Jewry Published every Friday by The Spokeaan Co. Editorial and circulation office, 1016 Majestic Hldg., Indianapolis, Ind. For advertising rates apply at office. Entered as second class matter at the

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Friday, October 7, 1938

HEBREW CALENDAR 5698-1938

Succoth Oct. 10-11 Sh’mini Atzereth Oct. 17 Simchath Torah Oct. 18 Hanukah Dec. 18-25 Shevuoth May 24-25, 1939 Purim ._ Mar. 5, 1939 Passover Apr. 4-11, 1939 Shevuoth May 24-25, 1939

The Editor's Chair, I attended services for New Years eve at the Jewish Temple in Jacksonville, Fla. The Temple is dignified, the ushers were very gracious and Rabbi Kaplan took particular pains to welcome the visitors to services. That is why I hesitate to find fault with part of Rabbi Kaplan’s sermon. Yet I do believe that a direct attack he made against what he preferred to call the irreligiousness of Zionists should not be allowed to go unchallenged. Rabbi Kaplan’s thesis was the attack made by the Central Conference of American Rabbis at its convention in Cape May this summer on Secular Judaism, that type of Judaism which finds expression in every kind of Jewish activity save affiliation with religious Judaism. Rabbi Kaplan excoriated that class of our coreligionists who believe they can discharge their loyalty to Judaism by digging down into their pockets for charitable causes. Then without any qualifications, Rabbi Kaplan roped in all Zionists and classed them as Zionist Jews, that group of Jews who believe that by and in their nationalism they are good Jews, and who use their nationalism as an excuse for non-affiliation with religious Judaism. Rabbi Kaplan said from the pulpit that the C. C. A. R., at its convention in Cape May, attacked Zionists as secular Jews. To emphasize this divided allegiance, Rabbi Kaplan recalled the instance in Warsaw, Poland, of several years ago where a group of Zionists declared they no longer had any connection with Judaism, but were Zionists. I followed the C. C. A. R. meeting closely this year and read almost every report of the convention, yet nowhere do I recall that Zionists were roped into a class and called secular Jews. In fact, to my personal knowledge and observation, wherever you find a Zionist, there you find an observant Jew. I hold no brief for Zionism or the piety of Zionists. I believe they can and have defended themselves on that score. But the members of The Jewish Temple of Jacksonville should be given correct information. If Rabbi Kaplan is an anti-Zionist, that is his privilege; if the congregation of Temple Israel is anti-Zionist, that is their privilege; but I do believe that their leanings, one way or another, should be based on factual information.

1,100 LOSE STATUS BERLIN — Establishing a new record, the Reich authorities have deprived of citizenship 1,119 Jews in the three months ending Sept. 30. Altogether, 3,845 persons have been denationalized since the advent of the Nazi regime in 1933.

What Shall The J. D. C. Do?

\\7 HEN Isidor Coons, national director of * ▼ the Joint Distribution Committee, quoted figures at the regional meeting in Indianapolis Sunday to show the sizeable disparity between contributions from communities in 1926 and 1927 as compared to 1936 and 1937, he touched upon a problem which he admitted has been a source of much consideration by national leaders. That the answer lies in the fact that in 1926 and 1927, the J. D. C. conducted its own campaigns, while now communities unite all funds into one allied campaign and distribute the quota to anywhere from two to forty different sources, is no consolation. So, Mr. Coons and William H. Shroder, president of the National Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, who followed him, talked of the possibility of the divorce of the J. D. C. from united drives. That would mean a return to the chaotic conditions preceding the institution by most cities of combined campaigns, and it is doubtful, that even if the J. D. C. did decide to conduct its own campaigns, if individual communities would permit such disruptions in their community life. Be that as it may, the problem still remains of providing sufficient funds to the J. D. C. to allow it to carry on its work unhampered. With a 1938 goal of $5,100,000 the J. D. C. will realize this year something less than $4,000,-

000, Mr. Coons admitted. New York City, where J. D. C. conducts its own campaign, provides 40 per cent of this sum. In the remaining cities throughout the nation, the J. D. C. receives but 25 per cent of the monies raised. And this, according to the J. D. C., in the face of the fact that practically the entire appeal of the united drives consists in a recital of the foreign relief work of the J. D. C. Asked by a delegate Sunday how large a quota it would require to take care of amply the needs of European Jewry for next year, Joseph C. Hyman, executive director of the J. D. C., stipulated a sum of $12,000,000. This figure demonstrates how inadequate is the $4,000,000 that U. S. Jewry actually will give before 1938 is out. There is the problem. Shall the J. D. C. conduct its own campaigns? Maybe in larger cities this would be a wise move, Perhaps an arrangement could be made whereby in those cities in which united drives are held and the J. D. C. receives only a small proportion of the funds raised, individual solicitation of the more affluent Jewish member of the community would be countenanced. Both Mr. Coons and Mr. Shroder admitted the impasse of the situation. It is a difficult problem, and it seems that the near future offers no solution for the dilemma. What shall the J. D. C. do?

Current Comment

Mrs. Anna Roosevelt Boettlger, Daughter of President Roosevelt Tells of Her Contact With Jews In An Exclusive Article In The Jewish Transcript, of Seattle, Wash.—^In my younger years, I sometimes used to wonder why Jewish families I knew there wont to withdraw themselves, and to hesitate to mix freely with their neighbors. I soon grew to realize that they felt themselves unwelcome, and this because of a general misunderstanding, and its resulting prejudices. This realization served to emphasize in my mind the importance of teaching our children, rc matter what race we may belong to, to have pride^yes, in our own race and people of achievement, but also to know and learn the history of other races and their achievements. It has been my privilege to know a few of the outstanding Jew's in the United States, and from them to gain much, both personally, and educationally. As a young woman I saw a great deal of the Felix Warburg family. Their family life was so natural, warm, and alive, that w'hen with them I used to feel very much as if I were in my own home. At the same time, I was privileged to see something of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Warburg, .whom I remembered from childhood days in Washington, D. C., when Mr. Warburg was inaugurating our Federal Reserve system during President Wilson's administration. I then came to know very well members of the big Lehman family. The older Mr. Lehman, who has now passed on, and who was at that time the senior member of Lehman Brothers banking firm had turned his New York City House into a veritable museum of paintings by Old Masters. To dine there and listen to him talk of his collection taught me more, by far, than many hours I spent in my high school art class! If I wanted advice—kindliness, wisdom and experience—I would not hesitate to turn today to another friend, Mr. Bernard M. Baruch. He has that deep and very important interest in his own people, but parallel to it runs a continued and active interest in improving the lot of mankind generally. Two other very real friends of ours are the Henry Morgenthaus, both junior and senior. When I was younger I used to think of the juniors as contemporaries of my parents, whom they have been close to for many years, but as the years have rolled by I’ve grown to think of them as my own contemporaries with whom I love to spend as much time as possible. I have mentioned these friends and acquaintances because they bear names which are familiar to many people in our country. But, in my leisure time and in my work it has been my pleasure to know, respect and grow fond of many Jews who are not so well known, but whose work for their own people, their families, and their communities command the admiration of all who come in contact with them. Why do I mention these friendships? For the reason that knowing them has often

made me wonder deeply why intolerance and discriminations still exist and persist in the minds of some Christians in their relationships with some Jews. This United States of ours has often been called the melting pot of the world. In this melting pot we seem to have done a pretty successful job of assimilating peoples from almost every other country in the world. And at the same time we have gained a distinct individuality as a nation, with our own outstanding characteistics. In building our country into the great democracy which it is today, we have called on the master brains of people whose ancestors came from many different countries, and who worshipped at many different churches. While our nation has progressed greatly by this method, other nations, where dictatorships prevail, are now blindly exiling some of the greatest of their people, some of their greatest philosophers, musicians, scientists, educators, and economists. In so doing are they not acknowledging by inference that they really fear the Jewish race is superior to their own? • * • Milton Brown, J. T. A. Writer, Discusses Position of Jewish Refugees In Respect To A Possible War.—In the World War thousands of Jews laid down their lives for the Allied and Associated Powers and for the Central Powers. In the war that seemed last week to be impending, there will be a complicating factor affecting service of Jews. This factor is the dislocation of Jewish populations since 1918, and particularly the exodus of Jews from Central Europe. In England and France there are living thousands of Jews from Germany. Many refugees have found residence in Czechoslovakia. Most of the nations of Europe have given asylum to some number of exiles. What will be the status of these Jews in wartime? Resident aliens always constitute a problem for a nation at war, but particularly is this true when the aliens come from the enemy country. By and large, the Jews who have found new homes in European countries appear to be eager to serve the countries of their adoption. Thus, in France last week the Federation of Jewish Societies and landsmanshaften (organizations of Jews of foreign origin) offered to serve in the army. Immigrant Polish Jewish veterans placed themselves at France’s disposal. France and Britain are not disposed to accept refugees in their armies. A number of German exiles in France were informed that they were at present Ineligible for volunteer service, but they volunteered to do any type of passive defense work that would be assigned to them. Refugee groups in England offered their services to the British Government, and it was believed that they would not be admitted to army service, but would be accepted for auxiliary work. At any rate, it was understood they would not be treated as enemy aliens, but would be given some special consideration after their status as refugees had been proved.

Groups Bolt German Day Celebration In N. Y. By Jewish Teltgritphic Agency NEW YORK—Last-minute bolts by participating groups and the failure of German official representatives to send greetings hit the German Day celebration of the United German Societies at the Madison Square Garden, in which the pro-Nazi German-American Bund had been refused participation, and emphasized the growing split among Germans in the United States on the question of Nazism. The German-American Commercial League backed out of the celebration, in which it had agreed to take a leading part, together with 150 persons who were to have acted historical tableaux. Other participants followed suit. Speakers at the celebration denounced these actions, Theodore Hoffman, president of the Steuben Society, warning that foreign politics on our shores “can have no other result than to create a feeling of hostility against those who exhibit it and the country which they claim to represent.”

Jr. Hadassah Gives Own Village $10,000 By Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK — Junior Hadassah has sent a Yom Kippur gift of $10,000 to Meier Shfeyah, a children’s village in Samaria, maintained by the youth organization. The sum will pay for new buildings to accomodate 45 additional children, bringing the total number of children in the village to 160.

Uruguay Government To Aid Jewish Refugees By Jewish Telegraphic Agency MONTEVIDEO. — Government aid for Jewish colonization in Uruguay was promised by President Alfredo Baldomir to a delegation of Jewish leaders. General Baldomir praised Jewish energy and industry. The president was informed by the delegation of a decision by the Jewish Bank of Uruguay to found the first Jewish agricultural colony in the country. The first settlers will be Jews now living in Uruguay.

BORINSTEIN (Continued from Page 1) old and new comers, will have to make the weary trek somewhere, somehow. Of the 40,000 to 50,000 native Italian Jews, more than a fourth will lose their means of livelihood. They will constitute a problem for the J.D.C., we cannot doubt. We are beginning to hear from them already. They do not know where to go, what to do. Their first thought is to turn to the J.D.C.”

DEANNA DURBIN (Continued from preceeding page) to the home! Jack Benny is bent low with worry . . . has to “think up” twenty-five speeches to introduce a like number of American Legion members. Ben Blue has "tsauros” . . . planted a lawn on the rorof of his house . . . finds it’s harder to mow than to sow. • • • "Four Daughters,” chirps a wag, “was an excellent piece of work by Fannie Hurst, but its odd that she has only four dogs in her penthouse.” • • • Adios . . . till next week.

MOVE EXPLAINED By Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK—Italian anti-Sem-itism is motivated by Premier Benito Mussolini’s need for a “whipping boy” to take the minds of the people off troubles at home, declares Benedict Mulligan, writing in the current issue of America. Catholic weekly.