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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE NATIONAL AND FOREIGN NOTES SIR JOHN MON ASH Commander-in-Chief of Australian Expeditionary Forces during the World War, recently hailed Austra lia’s leading general, is the Jew hold ing (he highest military rank in any country. New York, N. Y.—Religion became a center of bitter controversy in New York as a result of the publica tion of a story in the local news papers that the Board of Educa tion of the city was planning to in stitute a course in Bible teaching in the schools and that pupils would be given credit for it. The plan to teach religion in the schools was said to be the outcome of plans worked out by the so-called Interfaith Committee, a self-constituted body consisting of Jews, Protestants and Catholics. At once Superintendent of Schools Wil liam O’Shea and members of the In terfaith Committee vehemently denied that there was any intention to make the teaching of the Bible a part of the curriculum for New York school students. It seems that all the Inter faith Committee wants is for the New York State Board of Regents to give credit for courses in Bible study con ducted outside of school buildings and school hours and in institutions rep resenting the individual faiths. A sim ilar move to introduce religious in struction in the school system by dis missing all pupils at certain hours every week to go to religious school was made in 1920 but was quashed by the protest of numerous individuals and organizations. Rabbi David de Sola Pool is a vice-president and Rab bi Israel Goldstein is treasurer of the Interfaith Committee. Jerusalem.—The Moslem Supreme Council, after consideration of the re port of the Wailing Wall Commission of the League of Nations, has defi nitely determined not to accept its findings and will so inform the Brit ish Government. The Moslems declare that since they did not agree to the appointment of the Commission in the first place, they are not bound by its decisions. They further state that Mos lem rights have been violated and Jews have been granted rights which they did not previously have. Vienna.—With Austria’s financial and political difficulties becoming more pronounced daily, popular wrath against Louis Rothschild, head of the Creditanstalt, whose collapse caused the country’s economic crisis, has broken out into a series of street dem onstrations. This feeling is being fanned into anti-Semitic paths by pro fessional agitators. A series of pa rades and street meetings have been held during the past week, during which Rothschild has been character ized as a symbol of Jewry, ensalving Austria as well as the rest of the world. Madrid.—A large fund is now being gathered among Sephardic Jews in various countries for the purchase of the famous Synagogue of Toledo, ac cording to El Debate, Catholic news paper. The abolition of the decree banning Jews is expected to bring many Jews back in the country, who will need places of worship in the large towns. Jerusalem—Thirty-three Jews left in Palestine during the month of May but 470 immigrants stayed in the country, according to the report of the Immigration Department. COMPLETE REVISION OF UNION HYMNAL 1 he annual convention of (he Central Conference of American Rabbis, held in Wawasee, Ind., June 17, featured a report of a committee that for the past five years has been engaged in revising the l nion Hymnal. In the picture are members of the committee at their final meeting. Standing (left to right): Rabbis David Marx and Nathan Stern, Abraham W. Binder of New York, musical editor, and Rabbi Abraham Holtzberg, secretary. Seated: Rabbis Jacob Singer, Harry H. Mayer, James G. Heller, Edward N. Calisch, Sidney E. Unger, and Louis Wolsey, ot Philadelphia, chairman of the committee. The new r hym nal is entitled, “Songs and Prayers of Jewish Worship.” Vienna.—Hereafter Felix Mendels sohn’s Wedding March, the most fa mous of our time, will not be played at matrimonial functions performed in the churches of Linz, Austria, as a result of a ruling made by Bishop Jo hannes Gfoelner. His official reason is that the music is too worldly for Cath olic rites, but it is believed that the Jewishness of its author affected the Bishop’s decision. New Y’ork, N. Y.—Organizers of “mushroom synagogues,” which spring- up in every large Jewish community before Rosh Hashanah, will be prose cuted to the full extent of the law in New York, as a result of action taken by the New York branch of the United Synagogue. Judge Hyman J. Reit, president, has organized a staff of lawyers who will act on complaints against those who “fleece orthodox Jews.” New York, N. Y.—A World Jewish Congress for the discussion of the ills which afflict contemporary Jewry will be held at Basle, Switzerland, on July 12th, according to an announcement made at an executive committee meet ing of the American Jewish Congress. It was pointed out that this year’s meeting would be only a preliminary conference which would make com plete plans for a really representa tive world Jewish gathering to meet later on. The American Jewish Congress also passed resolutions condemning the passage of the alien registration law in Michigan and denouncing the anti- Semitic agitation in Mexico, calling upon the government, for the sake of its own good name, to suppress such demonstrations against Jews as have recently occurred. Washington, D. C.-—Freedom 0 f th press gained another vict< - the United States Supreme , : ’ urt JT‘ a vote of 5 to 4, decided that'the Minnesota “press gag” law i s U ncon stitutional. However, the court’s de cision, though a boon to liberalism* has raised important questions with regard to the right of a publication to indulge in attacks upon a particu lar race or religion. For the Saturday Press of Minneapolis, which was the center of the long court suit, had not only published a series of attacks on individuals in public and private life but had also continuously published attacks on the Jews as individuals and as a people. The majority opinion was written by Chief Justice Hughes. The dissenting opinion was written In justice Butler, who, referring to the attacks on “leading newspapers of the city, many private persons and the Jewish race,” urged that the law restraining libel of the kind said to have been published by the Saturday Press should be upheld. PROFESSOR EINSTEIN Most recent portrait of the I the Theory of Relativity, on His ^ to receive an honorary degree a ford University, England. Cambridge, Mass.—An u &n( j vandal entered Straus - 1 .^ or slashed the portrait of tht . irva rd Straus, in whose memory ti V, she j University dormitory was e by his three sons, all Harva ‘! ut tfng It is not known whether ’ tu _ of the picture was done by dent with an anti-Jewish