Newspaper Page Text
Page Two
The Southern Israelit
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1934.
to defend its inhuman treatment
of the Catholics on the ground
that they are opposed to the gov
ernment's program of revolution
ary socialism. That excuse won’t
work; for socialists, even the most
fanatic of them, are not bigots.
Religious persecution and racial
prejudice have found their most
bitter and relentless foes in those
who want to create a cooperative
economic order. The Mexican gov
ernment’s lame efforts to excuse
its persecution of the Catholics
will deceive no one, least of all
Jews, who know from tragic ex
perience the many devices em
ployed by governments and rulers
to excuse their persecution of
Jews. Unless Mexico returns to
sanity and halts its senseless and
unjustified persecution of Cath-
The Father of Palestine Colonization
Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the First Practical
Zionist
By BERTRAM JONAS
The death last week of Baron
Edmond de Rothschild brought
an irreparable loss to world
Jewry. Mr. Jonas here pprtrays
the only Rothschild whose re
nown, because of his great
philanthropies, transcended
that of the clan.
Ever since Mayer Amschel Roth
schild sent his “five Frankfurters”
— Amschel Mayer, Solomon Mayer,
Nathan Mayer, Karl MayeV and
James Mayer—into the leading fi
nancial centers of Europe, the
name of Rothschild has been syn
onymous with fabulous wealth and
gigantic industrial enterprises. The
five sons of Mayer Amschel pros-
noreri waxed ereat and multiDlied
The
Southern Israelite
ESTABLISHED 1925
I'ahlshed Weekly by the Southern N*w»-
paptr Knterprisea, Inc.
M. 8. Miller Editor
M. Stephen Schlffer Publ-iiher
Nathan Liplon Business Mitr.
Bxerutivr Office*. 312 15-14 Glenn Hid*.
Product on Department
|2« Marietta St., N. W Atlanta, Ga.
WALNUT 7*78
Eastern Representative
8. M. GOLDBERG
SIS Fifth Avenue, New York City
Entered im »woml<l»«i matter at the
Poat Office «t Atlanta, Ga., under the
Act of March 8, 1879.
The Southern Israel te Invite* corres-
pondrnce and literary contribution*,
but the editor I* not to be considered
as sharimr the views expressed by the
writers except those enunciated In the
editorial columns.
BIGOTRY DEFEATED
In the excitement of the tre
mendous Democratic victory in
Tuesday’s elections, most observ
ers neglected to comment on the
decisive rebuke administered by
the electorate to those candidates
allied with the forces of bigotry
and racial prejudice. Perhaps the
most outstanding triumph for
tolerance and democracy was the
outcome of the gubernatorial elec
tion in New York, where Gover
nor Herbert H. Lehman was elect
ed to a well-merited second term
by an overwhelming plurality.
The fact that Governor Lehman’s
Republican opponent was also a
Jew and the last minute candi
dacy of John F. Hylan, who had
the endorsement and active supu-
port of the Nazis, gave rise to
exaggerated fears that antl-Sem-
itio voters might defeat Lehman
by throwing their support to Hy-
othcr words, the hysterical outcry
precipitated by Hylan’s candidacy
was entirely unwarranted. In the
long run his candidacy served a
valuable purpose in that it prov
ed that the Nazis are politically
a negligible factor in New York
and confirmed the belief that the
great majority of Gcrman-Ameri-
can voters are hostile to Hitler
and his satellites in this country.
Of equal importance was the
sound trouncing administered to
Representative Louis T. McFad-
den, of Pennsylvania, who failed
of reelection. Mr. McFadden, It
will be recalled, is the gentle
man who has been aping Hitler
in Congress. He has waged war
against “international Jewry” and
openly boasted of his alliance
with the Silver Shirts. His defeat
again emphasizes that the Amer
ican people will not tolerate big
otry and racial prejudices in pub
lic life. Generally speaking, the
outcome of the election was an
unmistakable indication that de
spite the loud-mouthed activities
of agitators and demagogues, anti-
Semitic propeganda cannot ob
tain a firm foothold in the United
States.
MEXICO APES HITLER
In Mexico today the Catholics
are being persecuted in approved
Hitlerite fashion. Their religious
activities have been virtually pro
scribed. Violence against them is
ran (pant. Churches and schools
have been closed and confiscated.
Priests have been jailed and de
ported and one government
spokesman went so far as to urgt
their complete extermination.
The Mexican government tries
olics, enlightened people every
where will be forced to regard the
present Mexican regime as no
b’tter than the Nazis.
VALUABLE PRECEDENT
A px-ecedent of far-reaching
importance was established by
Chief Justice MacDonald, of the
supreme court of Manitoba, Can
ada, when he granted a continu
ing injunction against William
Whitaker .publisher of the Can
adian Nationalist( a Nazi paper,
enjoining him for libeling the
Jewish people. Justice MacDon
ald’s Injunction was based on the
recently enacted Manitoba law
granting individual members of a
race or creed the right to sue for
libel damages where the whole
race or creed has been libeled.
fens© will endeavor to attack the
constitutionality of the law under
which judge MacDonald grant
ed the injunction.
Justice MacDonald's action, the
first of its kind in the British
Empire, and also the first under
the new law, is regarded as an
\
almost insuperable obstacle to
such an attack, since he, the high
est judicial officer in the pro
vince, would hardly have Issued
an injunction if he had any
doubts as to the consttiutionality
of the act. From that point of
view Justice MacDonald’s injunc
tion will ultimately have a salu
tary effect, in that It may give
pause to other anti-Semites and
encourage other Canadian pro
vinces to emulate Manitoba in
outlawing racial and religious li
bels.
T "' r '. l " -r 1
Prague (WNS)—German sports
authorities have agreed to send
a boxing team to the inter-Eu
ropean boxing tournament being
arranged by the Prague Athletic
Association, but made their ac
ceptance conditional on Jewish
judges being barred from officiat
ing at all matches.
5695—Hebrew Calendar—1934-5
Date
Occas'on
Dec. 8
Sabbath "Mikertx" (Hanukah)
Mar. 18
PUR1M (Eve ) Book of Esther
Mar. 10
PI'RIM (Morn.) Book of Esther
Apr. 18
FIRST DAY PASSOVER
Apr. 19
SECOND DAY PASSOVER
Apr. 20
Sabbath Choi Hamoed
Apr. 24
Seventh Day Passover
Apr. 2o
Eighth Day Passove
'une 1
Sabbath "Bamitibar**
'u»i« 7
FIRST DAY SUABUOTII
'une S
SECOND DAY SHABUOTH
mne 7
Tisha B’Ab Eve Book of
I jonenUtou.
until the Rothschilds became one
of the most far-flung and remark
able families in all history. There
were famous Rothschilds and in
famous Rothschilds, but all Roths
childs were wealthy and loyal to
the family tradition of one for all
and all for one. The history of this
amazing financial dynasty is full of
great and distinguished men, but
no matter what heights of power
and importance any one Roths
child ever attained In his own
right, he was inevitably swallow
ed up In the House of Rothschild.
People spoke about “the Roths
childs” or "Rothschild" but never
about one Individual member of
the inimitable tribe. It was not un
til the 1880's that any Rothschild
became a distinct name and an in
dependent personality in the world
And that Rothschild was the late
Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the
one <membor of this famous family
who had little or nothing to do with
finance. Although the thrilling saga
of the Rothschilds is largely the
story of spectacular financial coups
and triumphs, Baron Edmond de
Rothschild stands alone among all
who ever bore that distinguished
name in having won international
fame not as a man of money but
as a servant of humanity. While
the Individual exploits of all the
other Rothschilds were overshad
owed by the renown of the family
and its immense fortune, Baron
Edmond became the best known
and the mast beloved of all the
descendants of Mayer Amschel of
Frankfurt because he devoted most
of his life to serving his own peo
ple by setting an historic example
in employing the Rothschild wealth
for the advancement of mankind.
Baron Edmond first appeared on
the Jewish scene in 1880, when, to
gether with his brother Alphonse,
he organized relief committees for
the victims of the Russian pogroms.
To this work Edmond brought not
only money and the prestige of the
Rothschild name but the same zeal
and selfless devotion that were to
characterize his efforts in behalf of
Palestine. It was his association
with thase striving to rehabilitate
the refugees that laid the groun-
work for his interest in Palestine.
While the pogroms were at their
hight, Rothschild, in common with
other Jewish leaders, became inter
ested in a proposal to settle Rus
sian Jews in Santo DOmingo, whose
former president. General Luperon.
had worked out a plan for a great
Jewish colony in his country. Tre
mendously impressed with this idea.
Edmond financed an expedition to
examine the feasibility of a Jewish
homeland in Santo Domingo. When
the project turned out to be fraught
with insuperable obstacles, other
Jewish philanthropists lost interest,
but not Rothschild. He had become
convinced of the possibility of set
tling Jews in large numbers in
some particular territory where
they could become self-sustaining
through agriculture.
It was the influence of Chie'
Rabbi Zadok Kahn, of Paris, Roth
schild’s principal adviser on mat
ters of philanthropy, that tume'’
the Baron’s thoughts to Palestine
To appreciate what Rothschild’
support meant to Palestine it mu c
be remembered that in those pre
jr.erzlian days the handful -of Eu
ropean Jews who had settled in
Palestine were generall regarded as
crackpots and impractical idealists.
The organized colonization move
ment was still in the future. The
daring chalutzim of the 80’s who
had attempted to carve out new
colonies as the nucleus of a Jewish
Homeland were already on the
verge of starvation. Jewish leaders
everywhere not only looked askance
at the movement but were hostile
to it. Jewish men of wealth stood
aloof because they considered the
idea chimerical. The Turkish gov
ernment viewed the movement for
a Jewish renaissance in Palestine
as dangerous and placed every pos
sible obstacle in its path. Under
such circustances only so great
hearted a soul as Edmond de Roth
schild could have undertaken the
leadership of the back-to-Palestine
effort.
In 1890. when he thought he was
dying, Rothschild turned over to
the Jewish Colonization Association
all the colonies he had founded in
Palestine and gave it 14,000,000
francs to put them on a self-sus
taining basis. At this time there
were thirty colonies that owed their
existence to the Baron. Keenly
concerned over the welfare of Pal
estine, he did not content himself
with written or oral reports of
progress being made, but visited the
country five times. His last visit
was in 1925, shortly after the dedi
cation of the Hebrew University,
and a year after he had organized
the Palestine Jewish Colonization
Association (PICA), headed by his
son James, to manage the colonies
and to develop new Jewish enter
prises. Previously he had made it
possible for 25.000 Jewish war or
phans to find homes in Palestine.
In later years he gave $500,000 to
wards the organization of the com
pany sponsoring the Ruteberg el
ectrification plan and $100,000 for
Hebrew schools. More recently he
financed thousands of German
Jewish refugees who wanted to set
tle in Palestine. All told, Rothschild
invested more than $20,000,000 in
Palestinian enterprises. The exact
amount of his benefactions will
probably never be known, for he
was always the anonymous bene
factor who literally carried out the
injunction not to let the right hand
know what the left doeth.
Although he gave many millions
to art, science and various chari
ties in France and England and
supported hundreds of impecunious
students, rabbis and Jewish insti
tutions, Palestine was closest to the
heart of this great Jew. He was the
oldest living Zionist, yet he was
never a member of the Zionist Or
ganization. For fifty years he never
made a public statement on any
question, but when the Passfield
White Paper and the Simpson Re
port threatened the entire structure
of the Jewish Homeland in 1930,
the venerable Baron, then 85 years
old. broke his self-imposed silence
and publicly associated himself with
the world-wide protests against
England in a statement in whicji
he repudiated the praise extended
to the PICA colonies by the Simp
son Report.
Fatalists see a strange coinci
dence in the fact that Rothschild
died on November 2nd, the seven
teenth anniversary of the Balfour
Declaration, a document which en
abled one man to witness both the
beginning and the fulfillment of
the dream of Zion restored. For
this coincidence brings to mind that
vithout Rothschild’s timely aid to
hose earlier Chalutzim and his
subsequent and continued support
'f the growing Yishub which laid
he foundation for the present de-
elopment of the Jewish Homeland,
is doubtful whether there would
've been a Balfour Declaration,
opyright 1934 for The Southern
sraelite.
THE
okacli:
By CARL ALPERT
The Oracle answers all ques
tions of general Jewish interest.
Queries should be addressed to
The Oracle, in care of this pa
per, and should be accompani
ed by a self-addressed, stamped
envelope.
Q. What is the oldest syna
gogue in the country? C. L.
A. The % Touro Synagogue, in
Newport, R. I„ was built in 1763.
The only older synagogue of which
we have record that was built and
consecrated before the Touro syn
agogue, is the Mill Street Syna
gogue of the Congregation Shear-
ith Israel, of New York, which
was built in 1733. However, the
last services were held in this
building on April 13, 1833, before
it was sold to give place to a
number of other edifices. Thus
the Mill Street Synagogue is no
longer functioning.
Q. Who was Jonas Phillips?
D. D. H.
A. Jonas Phillips was one of
the patriots who suported Wash
ington during the Revolutionary
War. In 1776 he used his influ
ence to close the New York syn
agogue and move the congrega
tion to Philadelphia, rather than
continue under British rule. He
also joined the Revolutionary
army and served in the Philadel
phia militia.
Q. Are there any public mon
uments erected to the memory of
Jews in Germany? G. T.
A. There are five public mon
uments honoring Jews in Ger
many. Of these, three perpetuate
the memory of physicians, Lud
wig Traube in Berlin, Hermann
Hirschfeldt in Colber, and. Jacob
Herz in Erlangen.
Q. Is it true that a Jew pre
dicted the discovery of America
before Columbus? C. J.
A. Moses De Leon, two and a
half centuries before America was
discovered, expressed the opinion
that a new and large continent
must exist on “the other side"
of the Atlantic. He is also the man
who propounded the principle
that the revolution of the earth
about its axis causes changes of
day and night. He advanced this
theory 200 years before Coper
nicus.
Q. Why is the Talmud called
“Shass?” O. D. T.
A. When the Talmud was first
printed in 1564, the authorities
wished to curtail the influence
they thought it would have among
the Jews, and so they had certain
passages eliminated and sup
pressed the name Talmud. The
book therefore bore the title “The
Six Orders” or “Shishah Seda-
rim,” thus giving rise to the ab
breviation, “Shass.”
Q* Where was Roxy born?
What did he do before he enter
ed the theatrical line?
A. Samuel L. Rothafel, better
known afc Roxy, was born in Min
nesota, July 9, 1882. For seven
years he was with the United
States Marine Corps, and then
entered the field of exhibition
and theatre management.
The Oracle will soon be
available in book form, as a
handy Jewish Reference Book.
For information, see your book-
dealer or write this paper.
Refugee Colonies In
Jugoslavia Gain
Belgrade (WNS)—The three
colonies established in Jugoslavia
as training centers for German-
Jewish refugees are making steady
progress and their success is as
sured.
Ian. Actually only 10,000 voters
The injunction action was brought
troubled to write Hylan’s name in j by the Canadian Jewish Congress
on the ballot. Most significant of j following the publication of anti-
all was the fact that he received i Semitic articles in the Canadian
but 220 votes in Yorkville, the I Nationalist. Whitaker’s case will
penler of Nazi 'propoganc\a. In
be tried next month and the de