THE JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
Friday, September 13, 1946,
The Jewish Western Bulletin
Ofltdal Orsran of the Vaneonra Jewish Administrative Coundl
Nathan Slutsky........................................ Committee Chairman
Ruth Toubman..........._......„.....................................Society Editor
Published Weekly Every Friday at
2675 Oak Street--BAy. 4210
Biudnesc Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 pjn., except Saturday and Jewish Holy Days. Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at Ottawa
I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true
—Abralium Lincoln
VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA, FRIDAY, SEPT. 13, 1946.
EDITORIAL
More Dismissals Needed ♦ ♦
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
The dismissal of Sir Frederick Morgan as chief of UNRRA displaced persons operations in Germany will cause no tear shedding, except perhaps L: the circles which came to his staunch defense when he made his nortorious assertion that "rosy-cheeked" Jews from Poland were "fleeing to Germany with "pockets-full" of money.
Fiorello La Guardia, the dauntless Director-General of UNRRA. was reported to have denied that Morgan's statement about the Jews was a factor in his dismissal. But then ' again, Mr. LaGuardia also was reticant when asked to comment on a report that Morgan had been relieved of his post because he accused Russia of using UNRRA as an imibrella for spy activities. Whatever the case, Morgan's exodus from UNRRA eliminates an official who had little understanding of his task and even less sympathy for the victims whose plight he was to alleviate.
However, the, Morgan incident serves to call attention to a situation that demands immediate mending. While it is true thatUNRRA has on the; whole done a creditable job, there is no denying the fact that many of its personel were woefully lacking in the qualifications required in the handhng of such a humanitarian task as rehabiliating broken lives. There have been to many instances of middle-level UNRRA officials displaying either total callousness to the tragedy of the homeless and destitute Jews or open hostility to the survivors of Hitlerism. But with the imminent dissolution of UNRRA, the homeless Jews face even a worse situation. The interim period between the dissolution of UNRRA and the establishment of a substitute body may prove an unduly hard one for the Jewish survivors, particularly if the relief activities during that period are to be handled by the Army. It would be well therefore if our army officials re-examined their files with a view to weeding out the unqualified, the hostile and the indifferent.
PI
am
Talk
By ALFRED SEGAL The opinions expressed by the author of this colunm are not necessarily subscribed to by this newspaper.
IF YOU WANT YOUR
CHICKEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS
GET THEM AT
2970 Vaness
DExter 1201 M
At 27c* per lb. light weight
ALSA GRAVENSTEIN APPLES at ?1.25 per box—you can pick them yourself if you like.
That boy Paul is a most embarrassing child with all the questions he ask. There was an awfully distressful moment one ' day last winter when he addressed a man v.'ho was visiting his nursery school . He asked her what she had on beneath her black robe.
We take him to a restaurant ana a well-roiuided waitress comes to our table to take the order and what does he ask her? He asks her why ere you so fat:
A colored maid at a house he is visiting helps him with hi:, coat and he mortifies me half to death, as they say, by asking her, "Are you black all over?"
That's his inquiring mind for you, Paul will be 4 in November and i)erhaps it is of some interest, if not of any importance, to mention that he is a grandson of mine.
He put me on the spot the other day with one of his questions, "Grandpa," he asked, "what's a Jew?"
I woxmldn't have you believe that his infant mind already broods on the matter of being a Jew. Goodness no! It was simply that the term "Jew" had come to his ears for the first time and he. promptly wanted to know what that was.
It was this way, his greatgrandfather was visiting him and in the course of mediating upon this yong decendant, the old gentleman said, "I hope he'll_ be a good Jew."
Then Paul turned to me and asked. "Grandpa, what's a Jew?"
Several weeks before he had asked me to explain the atomic bomb and now this! What could I teU the kid? I could see that his faith in the omniscience faltered as I groped and stammered toward an answer for his latest question. I was quicker the time he asked me about the atomic bomb.
What could I answer now? I could feel the multitude of Jewry plucking at my elbow, prompting me what to tell him. Almost every Jew had a different aswer.
There were' those I coiild hear say, "Shame on you Segal; You have a grandchild whom you have allowed to grow almost to the ripe age of 4 without knowing what a Jew is? He ^ould have acquired that knowledge with the milk he sucked out of the bottle. His Jewish identity should already be a part of his being. What kind of a Jew are you Segal to let a grandchild of yotu-s grow up to the age of 4 without knowing what a Jew is*?"
mim HiDim
By Phineas J. Byron
CONGREGATION
SCHARA TZDECK-BETH HAIDROSH
Seat Sale For High Holidays
FOR SERVICES AT SCHARA TZDECK SYNAGOGUE
Sale at the Synagogue only, Heatley and Pender Sts.^
at the following times:'
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18th (MEMBERS ONLY)........................7 TO 10 P.M.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 19th (MEMBERS ONLY) ........................7 TO 10 P.M.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 22nd.......................................................................2 TO 6 P.M.
MONDAY, SEPT. 23rd........................................................................7 TO 10 P.M.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 24th........................................................................7 TO 10 P.M.
WEDNESDAY (EREV ROSH HASHONOH)
SEPT. 25th........1 P.M. TO START OF ROSH HASHONOH SERVICES
CANTOR H. FISCHER, of Montreal and New York
Will Officiate at the High Holiday Services, Assisted by Mr. J. Garber.
FOR SERVICES AT BETH HAMIDROSH SYNAGOGUE
Sale at the Beth Hamidrosh Synagogue only, 3231 Heather Street^ at the following times:-
SUNDAY, SEPT. 22nd..............................................................10 A.M. TO 8 P;M.
MONDAY, SEPT. 23rd............................................................. 7 P.M. TO 10 P.M.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 24th............................................................ 7 P.M. TO 10 P.M.
WEDNESDAY (EREV ROSH HASHONOH)
SEPT. 25th........1 P.M. TO START OF ROSH HASHONOH SERVICES
CANTOR KLEIN, of Montreal
Will Officiate at the High Holiday Services, Assisted by Mr. Myer Checov.
PLEASE ASSIST THE COMMITTEES BY MAKING YOUR RESERVATIONS EARLY
As the invisable host of Israel pressed around me each impingeci his opinion on my mind, jwndering what to answer the boy.
Some insisted it was' about tipic I was telling him that he was a member of the Jewish nation. He, at his age, should already be made to feel that he belongs to a seper-ate people and to order his life accordingly. They said the way to start a Jew right was to start him nationally from the cradle. I had been an eiTant grandfather in neglecting my duty as an ancestor who sfliould be handing down the Jewish idea to his decendants.
Still others said no; I should make it clear to Paul that to be a Jew was to belong to a special kind of civilization that had to do with culture, manners and even to the age of 4? Was I less than the robber who might take his candy away from Mm? I was much more, than a robber, since I had been withholding from him his iriherit-ed rights.
Some addressed me more charitably. Well, Segal,^ when all's said and done, whiat are" we? The most reasonable thing you can tell this •boy is that we belong to a religious group. We are Jews becaxise
■ oT the way we wor^p and, be-cajise of our spiritual ideals. We all do agree on that, don't we? Therefore, our religion is the common denominator of being Jewish.
The tiunult of conflictmg opin-' ion was loiid iri my head. "Tell
■ the boy about the homeland." "Tell him <about anti-Semites and the way It's the duty of the Jew to stand up to them." "Tell him a-bout Jewish religion and its traditional laws." "Tell him about Jewish reli^on but the Reform way of it" "No, it must be Orthodoxy."
Finally I pushed them all aside. " I was ready to address myself to Paiil. "Paul." By that time he had applied himself deeply to his electric train. "Paul" I said, you remember you asked me what a Jew is Now listen Paid. I'll tell you."
Well, I went on, to be a Jew is to be a good boy. It's to care about other people. You are a Jew whenever you behave that way. You aren't a Jew if you grab toys away from other children and hit them. No, Paul, you weren't a Jew the other day when you got mad at Amy iand hit her on the Iheaa v/ith a rake and made it bleed.
Pajil was exulting to see his train going so smoothly around the bend I dropped the matter of v/hat being a Jew is. Some day when he is older and more tmder-standing I'll tell him,
" Paul, the main thuig about being a Jew is what you do and •w^at you give to the world. You see, Paul, there are all kinds of •people in the world' and the Jews are one of the kinds. It's just lilce in a.family in whicQi there are different ^kinds of people but theyr'a all alike, though, in wanting to keep the family well fed and warm and decently behaved.
"The family of the world is called the brotherhood and everybody is a brother in it. You are a brother of the world and the best way to be a Jew is to be a good brother. To be just and kind and to go along with all the other kinds of people who want to make it a better world.
"As a Jew you get your teacfhing from the old Bible and other people get theirs from the New Bible, but theyr'e both pretty much the same teaching. This teaching that you have is a good light to go by and the teaching of the Christians is a good light. A good Jew doesn't run away from the world with his light, he joins his light with the lights of the other i)eople to find a good, new way for all the people to live together in peace. You see, a good Jew isn't one who wants to be separate. But, first of all, though, a Jew must show by his own conduct tliat he has good light to give.
"There may be some who will tiUTi .you away, even if you art the best of Jews, but that's alright. In being a good man you will have made good as a Jew and that's enough."
I invite the opmion of eritizers who may have other ideas as to how to answer Paul's question. "Grandpa, whaf s a Jew?")
THE TIME IS NOW ....
We agree with L. H. Bu-khead of "The Friends of Democracy". . . . He is urgmg Henry Ford, Sr., to clear himself completely of his anti-Semitic past. . . . Birkhead says that Ford should carry out an intensive cami>aign in the press and radio counteracting the' use of his name by Fascist groups abroatt and in this country. . . .Birkhead writes: "A campaign of this kind cculd easily be carried out by a man of Mr. Ford's means .... Furthermore it shoiild be laimch-ed now while Mr. Ford is alive and can speak for himself. . . . After he is gone the Ford family can do nothing to prevent his name from being linked with the sinster racial and religious passions of our time.". . . . Yes, THE' TIME IS NOW!
YOU'RE WELCOME,
MRS. ROOSEVELT..........
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt asked us to give space to the following letter. . . . "Since my re-um from Europe at the beginning of this year I have been deeply concerned with the problems of the people for whom the United Jewish Appeal must raise a mini-, mum of $100,000,000.
In Germany I visited four displaced persons camps, where I saw Jews—men, and women and children — crowded together in tin> rooms or in imderground shelters, without any privacy, living on a diet based on potato soup, the prey of all kuids of disease. In the short time I was there I became more conscious than ever before of what human misery can be.
Seeing how these people must live today gave me the feeling that wo Americans have been, saved untold misery, and that we must have been saved for a reason. That reason must be that we were expected to give leadership^— spiritual, moral and physical leadership. We have the capacity to see that they get the thuigs they need. We can help them to get to Palestine — this uprooted people who have no other home to return to, and we have the added responsibility of helping some of them find a home here, among us.
I think that the most important
thing for us to realize is that a great responsibility lies upon our shoulders and that we must give beyond what we have ever given in other years. I have attended United Jewish Appeal meetings and seen men and women give as much as 10 times wSiat they gave last year, aware'that only sacrificial giving can help these unhappy people Rnd a future. If we Americas don't give them that h&lp, I don't know where in the world it is going to come from.
I do hojDe you will send in a contribution in keeping with the tragic needs. . . .
Eleanor's appeal is for the United Jewish Appeal and if you feel like sending an extra contri-r^.bution mail it to her at 29 Washington Square West. . . .
"OF THESE OUR PEOPLE" ....
Hats off to Vicki Masson, foimer dancer, who saved up nine thou-•''sand dolars and spent all of it to ' niake a iilm against anti-Semitism. . . . Vicki's film "Of These Our People" is a survey of the Jews in American. ... It is a docmnentary film presenting evidence that the history of the "children of Israel" in our country is inseperable from the history oi America itself. . . . Some of the notables 'who appear in the film are: Albert Eistein, Marc CaiagaU, Misha i^man, Ho'ward Fast, Leonard Bemsteui. . . . School, Trade Unions, religious groups, covdd make good use of Vidki Masson's film.....
THE INSIDE STORY ........
Harold L. Ickes, in one short newspaper column, has told the real story behind the headlines from Palestine. . . . That m itself could not make news. . . . Ickes, however very definitely says that the good will statement by President Truman are meanhigless. . . . Ibn Baud, Kmg of Saudi Arabia is being well oUed with millions by the U. S. Government ano Washington will do nothing to alienate him. . . . And sm.ce Ibn is the spearhead of British opposition to Zionism, the 100,000 Jewish refugees, knocking at the gates of Palestine are doomed. ... It is hi^ time that the Zionist leadership start thinking in realistic tftrms. . . .
Urge Admission Of Jews To Palestine
The substitute resolution on Palestine which was passed read as follows:
"This convention expresses its deep regret at the failure of the British government to implement the recommendation of the Anglo-American Inquiry Commission for the admission of 100,000 Jewish re-« fugees into Palestine. We express oiu' deepest sympathy for European Jewry in their untold sufferings and we urge the British government to implement the above recommendation on the basis of simple justice and elementar> humanitarianism. Should any tlareat to peace develop as a result of this action we urge that full responsibility be accepted by the Security Council of the U.N.O. We also urge the immediate admission into Canada of a. reasonable number of displaced persons from Europe, without racial discrimination, as part of an overall program for the re-settlement of displaced persons. We dedare our belief that the future of Palestine is the concern of the entire world and should become the responsibility of the United Nations,"
State Documents To Establish Mufti's Collaboration
WASHINGTON (WNS) — Actmg Secretary of State Dean Acheson disclosed here this week that the State Department was considering the publication of documents which will establish the Mufti's connection with the Axis. Mr. Acheson said that all the Axis documents, including those bearing on the Mufti's activities, were being translated and edited for publication.
Although no date of publication has as yet been specified, Mr. Acheson said the documents would be released in the form of a "White Paper."
Goldie Meyerson Confirmed As Temporary Chief
JERUSALEM (WNS) — The appointment of Goldie Meyerson as actuig chief of the political de-piartment of the Jewish Agency was coniirmed this week by the Small Zionist Actions Committee.
She is to replace Moshe Shertok, (who was sent to the Latrun detention camp foUowing arrest in the British Jime 29 raid on the Jewish Agency office.