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Twelve Months of
Disaster
W E are in the midst of history in the fer
ment and, therefore, barely realize that
I when our children read their text-books in
Eunday School a generation hence, they will re-
Lird the date 5693 (1932-33) with the awe and
Ijrnse of humiliation with which they memorize the
I date 14‘>2.
Not in the memory of any living Jew have the
Irvents within the Jewish world been so tragic
in their implications, so overwhelming in their
consequences as those which have transpired during
|the past twelve months.
Rosh Hashanah, in the Jewish tradition, is the
[ vanning of the period when man asks forgiveness
for his sins. Jews will be hard put to it
this year to understand what enormous sin
weighs over their collective conscience that
the Supreme Being should have st> ruth-
lrvdv withheld his mercy from them.
Germany is the keynote to any review
! of the year that has passed. So awesome
arc the reverberations of that word that
the sound of tragedy in other lands, in-
'i'tent and loud in other years, has been
muffled, almost stilled. For what are
economic handicaps in Poland, alleged re-
ligious prohibitions in Russia, isolated
peasant attacks in Rumania, fanatic royal
ist sorties in France—compared to the vast
funeral pyre that had been erected in the
Reich to set flame to the Jewish body
ind soul?
1933 in Germany marks the end of an
ep<xh in Jewish life. It strikes a death
"low to a century-old illusion. Emancipa-
ri °n was a word with which Jewish as-
'imilationists tried to frighten and out
fit Jewish nationalists. Germany has
drmoti>trated that the Jew is still to prove
■ |N right to that equality which the post-
Vapoltonic era proclaimed all men en
titled to.
In \merica, as throughout the world,
’he events in Germany have dominated
thought and action of the leadership and
the rank and file. This crisis should have
" rn the occasion for coordination. It
tt^re: served to illumine the pitiful weak-
nr "' f American Jewish leadership, the
‘•mi ance of personal motives and frictions.
I h" past year offered an unparalleled opportu-
n, ty t r the emergence of a single personality whose
■ear h of vision and keenness of understanding
have merged all forces. With the exception
: £ muel Untermyer, there was no American
- f " vho seemed to appreciate the enormity of
* f >blem and who had the courage and the in-
nee to harness indignation to the wheels of
'" nc: te action.
ish life in America during 5693 expressed
: ^ ■ through the German situation. The decline
idardized Jewish life, which started in 1929,
1 a> one on. Synagogues continue to be closed.
. - s are dismissed. Jewish educational institu-
suffer from depleted or non-existent funds.
1C1 us racketeering arising out of kosher food
^ 0c ct s has reached a point where in many com-
By Joseph Salmark
munities the standing of the entire Jewish popula
tion is confused with the thievery and villainy sur
rounding kashruth. Philanthropy, not so many
years ago a mark of distinction on which Jews
prided themselves, is virtually a memory, except
for minor gifts (compared to the munificence be
stowed by Jews on Jews and non-Jcwish enter
prises in years gone by). Such great funds as the
Joint Distribution Committee and the American
By Todroa Geller. Courtwiy by National Federation of Temple SUterhood.
MY FATHER’S LEGACY
Palestine Campaign, which should have been the
recipient of quick millions during the past year,
have been plodding along on a routine pace, as
Jews have preferred to wring their hands in sym
pathy instead of digging down in their pockets for
support.
The most important developments in Jewish
life, outside of Germany, occurred in Palestine.
Slight evidences of prosperity have been hailed as
the sign for an influx of tens of thousands of Jews.
Palestine has been held out as the hope for a sub
stantial number of the Jews who must leave Ger
many. But if the outlook in Palestine has been
improving, the conditions within the Zionist move
ment have grown progressively worse. Stimulated
by the braggadocia of Vladimir Jabotinsky, their
leader, the Revisionist Zionists have spent the past
year attacking the Laborite Zionists. Called “Fas
cists” by no less devoted a Zionist than David Ben
Gurion, the head of the Palestine Federation of
Labor, the Revisionists have tried to introduce
“brown-shirt” philosophy in all the lands where
they are organized. 'The emergence of the
Revisionists as a powerful force in Zionist life has
been synchronous with a change that has come
about in the attitude toward Palestine. Formerly
the Jewish homeland was the goal of poor men and
women who were ready to pour their sweat and
blood into the upbuilding of the country. Now,
capitalists and pseudo-capitalists, fearful of the
prospects in their present lands of residence, feel
that Palestine should be made safe for capital and
not an outpost for experimenting with
new forms of Jewish social justice. The
results of this conflict between money and
labor will determine the future of the
Jewish National Home.
In comparison with Germany, Poland
has been an ideal country during the past
year. In the first place, Polish statesmen
have given their full support to efforts to
obtain justice for Jews in Germany. In
the second place, the Polish Government
has made sincere efforts to stamp out or
ganized and hooligan anti-Semitic ac
tivities. The Rumanian Government has
made similar attempts.
But the growth of Fascism has been the
most distressing development of the year.
Reaching even into Canada, it has tried to
reawaken all the latent and moribund
forces of Jew-hatred into a virulent and
active moment. The menace of Hitlerite
Fascism has penetrated England, always
the least fertile ground for anti-Semitism,
and has created a tension that has not ex
isted for years. The problem of how to
meet the challenge of Fascism—effectively,
dignifiedly and unhysterically—is the ma
jor problem confronting those concerned
with Jewish life in 5694.
The German Situation
Hy I. Burrows
The German Jews, numbering 560,000,
of whom nearly 500,000 can trace their
ancestry within the German border one
hundred, two hundred, and even a thou
sand years back, suffered a set-back dur
ing 5693 which even the most pessimistic observers
never foresaw. Those conversant with political
matters had heard for years of the leaders and
sympathizers of the Hitler movement, and read
that one of the outstanding points of the program
was to be the great Abrechnung (reckoning) with
the Jews. But it was generally believed that once
in power the leaders of the movement would modi
fy their demands according to civilization and in
ternational consideration. Historians may even
find that the popular approval of the Hitler gov
ernment w'as to a great degree due not so much to
outspoken hatred against the Jews as to the hope
that the daily attacks and riots which the Hitler
ites themselves had staged before coming to power
would cease. It is known that in the period before
the beginning of the tragic calendar that follows
clashes had become a (Please turn to page 42)
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Tttl SOUTHERN ISRAELITE *