Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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) V] Tttl SOUTHERN ISRAELITE *