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2
JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
Friday, February 2, 1940
The JeMsh W^^tern Bulletin
OfficUl Organ of the Vancouver Jewish Aimimstrative Council
W r.Kpcc ______^ehaimian Adnjinistrative Council
Samuel Gillies____---------------—.Editor
Harry Musikansky.
.Business Manager and Publishsr
2675 Oak St., BAy. 4210. Business Honrs: 9 a.ni. to 5j|^.m., excefit Saturday and itnyn^ pEoIy Days. Enterjed as Second Class Mail Matter at Ottawa
VAl^COUyE;^, B.O., f ^IPA.Y, FEBRUARY 2, 1940
THANK GOD AND GIVE!
On Sunday evening, February Uth, the Vancpuver Jewish External Welfare Fund wilV launch its jcampaign for the year 1940. A special committee of the Fund, after carefully considering the merits and needs of each of the beneficiary organizations, as well as the fair proportion which ^s^^ cpntribution of Van-
couver Jewjry, has set the quota at^
The External Welfare F^nid pakes it possible of course to eliminate a multiplicity of cp.mpaigrns, the waste of unnecessary expenditiires, and what is most important, it conserves the energies of communaiiy minded ben and women for constructive tasks within the community.
The quota figure of $15,000.00 may at first glance loom big. But any Jew or Jiewess has given even a momentary thought to the pHght and needs of their feU^ in no man's
lands and refugees concentratipn camps in the lands pf Eiurope, suflfering disease, famine, and Jiomelessness, ydll not fail to realize that in the face of the tptal picture of trag^edy, $15,000.00 is an iudgnificdnt amount
Polish and German Jewries are destroyed and enslaved. But tens of thousands have managed to ea^^^ brutal and
inhuman cruelties of Hitler's^ a fpund temporary
havens in lieighbdiing neutral land^. They need our help, and that immediately,
The major portion of the 1940.Extemal Welfare Fund Drive will go far relief through THE JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE, and THE UNITED JEWISH REFUGEE AND WAR RELIEF AGENCIES OF CANADA.
But Our obligations do not end with relief alone. We dare not neglect the educational and constructive work which must go on with undiminished strength even in this year of emergency. Neither dare we forsake the home front. As a community, we luive t)bligations to meet for the welfare of Jews in Canada and in Vancouver. Thus in the External Welfare Drive are included THE ORT, THE YIDDISH SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTE, THE CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS, EUROPEAN, AMERICAN, AND PALESTINIAN YESHIVOTH, AND THE CANADIAN NATIONAL JEWISH COMMITTEE ON REFUGEES.
In the coming Campaign, it is necessary that every Jew and Jewess, youth and adult, be a subscriber. Let each one lay the matter on his or her own conscience. Do your duty, in accordance mth your ability to share the bounties you enjoy with those less fortunate than yourself. Do not wait to see what some one else will or will not give. We need a new sense of responsibility on the part of every single one among us, no matter how rich or how meagre our income. If each of us share in this responsibility, it will be an easy matter to achieve the quota of $15,000.00.
May we suggest that our response indicate the measure of our gratitude for the privilege that is ours, by the Grace of God, to be blessed in living in this land of freedom and justice, lacking nothing, depriving ourselves not even of luxuries in these teribly tragic days.
Our country is at war against the cruel and barbaric tyranny of Hitler's Germany. As Jews, we will share every sacrifice, and loyally defend every position of danger with our fellow Cana-' dians and our allies. At the same time we must not forget for a moment our obligation to render aid and succor to the most tragic victims of Nazism's brutality—our fellow Jews.
LET US THANK GOD FERVENTLY FOR OUR PRIVILEGED POSITION, AND EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE IN DEEDS OF MERCY AND LOVINGKINDNESS, BY CONTRIBUTING WHOLE HEARTEDLY AND ADEQUATELY TO THIS APPEAL. WHEN YOU ARE CALLED UPON BY A WORKER IN THE COMING EXTERNAL WELFARE DRIVE GIVE GENEROUSLY AND WITH DIGNITY.
PLAIN TALK
By AL ^EGAL
B^ACK CROWS
After "roundly repudiating" them Mr. Coughlin is taking uzi^er |iis^ring tliat • sector of the Christian Front v/hich the government is charging with sedition. (I call him Mr. Coughlin in deference to a Christian priesthood). He will sltand by them to s.ee that they get a fair trial, he announces.
It seems tjiat Coughlin J;hpught better of repudiating them aftjsr he became aware of the public contempt which was being heaped upon him for abandoning the creatures of his own making. He was suffering both contempt and ribald laughter. (Laughter is often fatal to the pretensions ot the arrogant).
I remember the story of the big black crow. .]. '
This crow was a big nuisance , in its commimity. On accoimt of this crow people wondered why natirce produces crows anyway. But wjlio may quarrel with nature which, without regard to politics, morals arid public peace, produces crows and eagles, vultures and canaries.
This crow liked to annoy people especially on Sunday. On a day when people'desired only to have rest from all the clatter of the work-week, the crow sat on the topmost branch iof| the highest tree and gave but its sounds. •
At the hour when citizens would rather be listening to the PhilhEir-monic on their radio sets this crow let loose its clatter with such a loudness as to disturb the peace that was ordained for the Sabbath,
Not that everyDoay considered the crow a nuisance. There were those who said, "There must be somethin'g in these sounds. They are so loud
Oyr Sport World
AI7IJ> I.ANG SYNE
It's always a pleasure to h^ye Bennie Leonard drop around for a chat. Benny, regarded by many as the greatest fighter of all time, is now in the middle-west, refereeing in various amateur tournaments. He later will train the Des Moines, la., Golden Glpve team and lead it into Chicago for ttie finals. The years l]ij3uven't treated our Benny p..ny tpp ^jndjy flng-i^cij^illy. H^ made gobs of money and lost it, not recklessly, but more or less through inv.es.t-ments that folded up around 1929. Or don't you need any reminder, either?
But the former lightweight champion is looking very well, thank you.' He is his same hale and hearty self, a bit on the plump side, but nevertheless looking quite fit.
Refereeing keeps him hopping from one town to another, and he seldom stays put'very long.
It was during his last visit that he was talking about two other fight-f ing men who will go down in fistic history alongside Leonard. One was Harry Greb; the other Mickey Walker; _.
"They had just finished a gruel-Img fight," Leonard related, "and Greb, of course, won the decision. There was a great fighter for you. Nobody like him before or since.
INTERDENOMINATIONAL MILESTONES
This week will mark both the eighty-first birthday of Lucius N. Idttauer and the opening of the Institute of Interdenominational Studies which he has endowed. The two milestones can most fittingly be celebrated together.
Lucius Littauer has always believed that men can learn to live in harmony and in creative peace. That they may more readily learn he has given large sums to American educational institutions and to individual students. This week his most recent vision will have embodiment. At the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City more than a hundred ministers, half of them from the various Christian denominations and half of them of the Jewish faith, will meet for a series of courses to last for twelve weeks—^The Interdenominational Stduies. They will study together the common origns of their religion and will learn the func^mental precepts of Christian and Jewish faiths, from each other as well as from the eminent theologians who will conduct the courses. The faculty will be Dr. Ben Zion Bokser of Forest Hills, Dr. Robert L. Calhoun of Yalo University, Dr. Louis FlnMestein of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Dr. A. A. Neiunan of Dropsie College in Philadelphia.
Here for the first time is a joint interdenominational venture ofmioisters, a coming together on a mutual basis of advanced Bible study of leaders of men and those who shape men's minds. The courses in Talmud, the Second Jewish Commonwealth, contemporary Christian ethics and contemporary Jewish ethics have been arranged by the Seminary and encouraged by the Federation of Churches of Greater New York and the Federal Council of Churches. Plans are now being made for the expansion and continuance of this week.
Citizens all over the country will take heart from this inspiring movement at the Seminary. The new decade opens with high promise when an Institute of Interdenominational Studies can be launched in America with such success.
GERMANY AND RELIGION
Two important events occurred last week which had a clear connection:
(1) The Vatican radio began to denounce outspokenly the "horrors and inexcusable excesses committed upon a helpless and homeless people" by the Nazis jn Poland. It related the execution of priests, and other Catholic functionaries, devotmg the better part of three broadcasts to the subject, apparently with Papal approval.
(2) Soviet newspapers disclosed that H. H. Mikhailov, General-Secretary of the Komsomol, Communist youth organization had announced at a plenary meeting the conclusion of a Soviet-German agreement for a united front to combat religion.
The impression had prevailed in some circles that Soviet Russia was the chief threat to religion in Europe. There had been a disposition to regard GermansT, despite'her bruM
and for that reason there is something in them. The crow certainly is trying to say something." ;
Now this was flattering unction t£> the crow's soul. It began to . think about its happy situation: What the' world needed were many more, crows like it ... . "If I am multiplied many times we can have a ssmiphony orchestra and fill the world with.our sounds. I guess I'll lay some eggs." And so it did..
It laid eg>ss and sat upon them and announced to the whole commimity: ".Soon you shall see what you shall see. I have been just a sole voice but soon we shall have a big orchestra."
As the hom: of hatching approached, the big black crowd could scarcely contain its pride: "Here they come! Now see, everybody, what I have produced." ;
The public gathered around the tree expeclantly, waiting for thie hatching. Then when people saw v;liat had corne out they were at firj^ horribly shocked. The big old black crow was black enough but the blackf ness of the new crows was blacker than nights in which to commit murr der. They could tolerate a blackness like that of the old crow but this was ■ a blackout you might say. Besides, the new crows had a resemblance'to vultures, ' \
But after the first shock at the ■ sight of this, people laughed at the big black crow. They remembered the pride of the crow as it waited for the hatching.
Then the crow said: "It's all a lie. These crows are not mine. I repudiate them roundly. And whoever sayk they are my crows is a liar,"
At this there arose such a blast pf laughter that ^he big black crow wa^ spim away from tlje tree—such a blast of laughter, indeed, as carried the crow as far as the horizon whence it never canie back.
How much like Coughlin was this crow. How like Coughlin it disturbed the peace of Sunday and how like the' crow Coughlin laid an egg. Yes, hfe
said, out of this egg shall come the Christian Front and I shall be multiplied many fold.
How like the crow he clattered in expectance of the hatching: "We will fight .... in Franco's way if necessary. Call this inflammatory if you' will. It is inflammatory. Rest as- { sured we will fight you and,we will! win. The Christian Front is no long-' er a dream. It is a reality. A reality that grows stronger, more courageous and more determined."
How like the crow he sat proudly on his egg. How like the crow he felt devastated when the public first was shocked a,nd 1 hen laughed to see the Black Front he ;had hatched: A lot of little gun-carrying dupes marching to capture naval bases, the cvistom house an(J the VJewish Forward, according to the G-men.
'T roundly repudiate them," he siaid publicly at first. These were not his, he said;
The shred of his public reputation seemed about to be buried in the contumely of public contempt. Like the crow he was repudiating his own hatching. Then over the week-end he reconsidered: These were his, he said.
"While I do not belong to any imit of the Christian Front, nevertheless I do not associate myself from that movement ... I re-affirm every word which I have said in advocating its formation . . . despite this thinly veiled campaign launched by certain publicists and their controllers to vil-lify both the name and the principles of this pro-American, pro-Christian,' anti-Communist and anti-Nazi, group."
He warned "those responsible for Mr. Hoover's descent upon a group of Christian young menamong whom, possibly, there was at least one borer from within—that the real Christians of this nation will not beat a retreat." I
He urged his listeners to "visit these prisoners with our prayers. If they; are guilty let them be puished. If, innocent, God speed their freedom." I
CoughUn used to irritate me at 4:00 j p,m, every Sunday, At that hour in' our town it is the practice to throw the unfiJiished Philharmonic symphony off the air to let Coughlin in, A symphony is the closest approximation to truth of which the frail human intellect is capable; so it seems desecration to let a Coughlin drive a symphony out of the air.
Bijt .after this I shall not be irritated. I shall remember the big, black crow that repudiated the ugly blacker crows that it hatched, and I shall laugh.
I shall laugh the more at Coughlin taking his crows back after saying for a week they weren't his.
W
minorities, as less of a menace to organized religion and faith in
God than Communist Russia.
Now it has become strikingly apparent that Nazi Germany represents no less a threat to religion than Red Russia. Already according to Protestant Church sources in Switzerland, Nazi Leader Rudolf Hess has ordered the translation into German and the widespread distribution of Soviet anti-religious literature. Moscow and Berlin have aranged to exchange information in the drive against religion.
When Hitler in 1933 contended that his persecution of Jews was based only on racial principles, not religious oppression; that his oppression of Catholics and ^dissident Protestants was a political action, having no reference, to religion, there were some who believed this propaganda.
Now the last shreds have be^n torn away of what was a flimsy mask to begin with. Nazi Germany is not only anti-Democratic and anti-Jewish; it is against religion as such and for the same reason that Moscow is against rehgion—because faith in God is incompatible with blood lust, with the supremacy of a tyrant, ydth the thurst for conquest an4p^^^
Welfare Fund
Feb. 12-25,1940
One Yearly Appeal For Jewish Aid
Distributing Funds to
JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
THE ORT ORGANIZATION
YIDDISH SCIENTIFIC
LOS ANGELES SANITOIUl^
CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS
THE CENTOS
EUROPEAN RABBINICAL YESHIVAS and AH Emergrency Needs >
UNITED JEWISH REFUGEE AND WAR RELIEF AGENCIES
Never wets the
We are privileged in this drive to do our utmost to relieve the unparallel sufferingr of our Jewish Brothers across the seas.
Vancouver Jewish External Welfare Fund Ca,mpaign presents to us a real opportunity to make known:
1, Our thankf uliiess f or our own happy
lot;
2. Our sympathy for the distress of
others.
Show Your
to Give
so that
Others
PROVISION
"The Polish Provisional Government in Paris contains outspoken anti-Semites—the spiritual fathers of the Idea that there are in Poland "superfluous Jews"—the insplrers of the "ghetto benches" and the leaders of the policy of economic annihilation of Polish Jewry, The Polish Provisional Government speaks in the name of all inhabitans of the occupied Polish territory including the three and a half million "superfluous" Jews. What has she prom-Day.
ised the Jews when the Polish salvation will come?—Absolutely nothing. She has not even, as a matter of fact, for demonstration purposes, included a Jew in the cabinet. However, this is not everything. The Polish Provisional Government has decided to send to the States the notorious General Haller, leader of the legion who have torn Jewish beards, thrown Jews but of moving trains, and violated Jewish women. —Moses Shtarkman, City Editor,