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Page Two
The Southern Israelite
Friday, January 25, 1935.
The
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Truth* About The Jewish People
Musings Apropos Of The Jews In The Modern World
By MAURICE SAMUEL
TRAINING JEWISH LEADERS
One of the most heartening pha-
ac* of Jewish life in America in re
cent months has been the unosten
tatious but significant development
of federations of Jewish youth or
ganizations in a number of cities, j
Under the direction of the Jewish
Welfare Board and Its dynamic
head. Harry L. Gluckman. Jewish
youth groups in half a dozen com
munities have banded together for
the purpose of training Jewish
youth for future Jewish communal
leadership by attaining a funda
mental Jewish pliilosophy of life
through actual participation In
Jewish communal activity. In the
past, leadership In Jewish affairs
has too often been achieved on the
strength of Influence In the general
community and financial powci
rather than on ability and merit.
The weakness of this type of lead
ership has been made apparent by
the difficulties encountered In find
ing successors for leaders who die
or retire.
The time is not far off when
younger men and women, with
demonstrated capacities for lead
ership and administration, but
without financial standing, must
take over the burden of responsi
bility for Jewish communal life in
this country. The program of these
federations of Jewish youth organ
izations indicates that the future
leaders of American Jewry will
come from their ranks. The suc
cess of the existing federations
should encourage the establish
ment of similar bodies in every
Jewish community. In sponsoring
and enocuraglng such federations,
the Jewish Welfare Board is per
forming a valuable and far-reach
ing service to Jewry in America,
the fruits of which will be a rich
harvest of capable, experienced and
intelligent Jewish leaders.
CULTURAL AMBASSADORS
Among the notable visitors now
being welcomed to these shores are
the two distinguished Jewish writ
ers, Sholom Asch and Stefan
Zweig. Asch, who personifies Yid
dish literature, has in the last few
years, through translations of his
works, acquired an international
reputation as one of the masters
of contemporary literature, while
Zweig, who has propagandized the
ideals of Roliand and Tolstoi, sym
bolises the human culture of Eu
rope. These two ambassadors of
broad, international, human cul
ture are welcome in this country.
They do not belong to any Jewish
party nor do they represent any
specific economic philosophy of
life. They are torch-bearers of the
eternal and fundamental values in
a universal civilization.
ThU article represent*, for those
who think, talk and write about
the Jewish problems, a real edu
cation. The distinguished author
of this article, whose works on
Jewish subjects are among the
foremost in the bibliography on
the Jewish question, tells us why
Dr. Arthur Kuppen's book “The
Jews In The Modern World” is
ho significant and distinctive a
contribution.
Nearly a year ago I went out for
my first stroll along two of the most
Important streets in Johannesburg.
South Africa. The time was mid
day, the season spring (in that part
of the world: In the northern hem
isphere It was autumn), and I was
alone. The streets were thick with
people, and on all sides of mtf I
heard the eager chatter of pedes
trians In a hurry.
I had not walked for five minutes
when familiar syllables struck my
ear: Yiddish! I started and cast a
glance at the two men who had
passed me by. Pleasant and homey
sound! Two or three minutes later,
again, Yiddish. Ten minutes went
by and once more two men passed,
speaking Yiddish. By the time I re
turned to my hotel, half an hour
after I had set out, I had heard
Yiddish spoken on the streets of
Johannesburg five times.
Instinct, rather than reason, ex
claimed in me: ‘‘Why, the place
must be alive with Yiddish-speaking
Jews.” But a little later I sat down
in my room and made a simple
calculation.
I was being passed, or I was pas
sing, people in the crowded streets
at the rate of about one a second,
or. sixty a minute. Of these rather
more than half were in pairs, and
carrying on a conversation. There
fore. in the course of half an hour
I hRd caught the sound of some
four hundred and fifty conversa
tions. Among these one per cent
had been In Yiddish. And there is
nothing astonishing in that. For the
Jews of Johannesburg form nearly
ten per cent of the total population,
and rather more than a tenth of the
Jews speak Yiddish. When my in
stincts exclaimed “Why, the place
must be alive with Yiddish speaking
Jews" I was succumbing to the old
est and most dangerous form of im
pressionism.
This little incident, taken from my
notes, is as good a commentary as
I can think of as an opening to
some rather random remarks on Dr.
Arthur Ruppln’s book "The Jews in
the Modern World.” For If there is
any subject In the world which has
been ruined by impressionism mas
querading as observation, it is the
subject of the Jews. It is impossible
to read any book on that people,
from the' bitterest passages in Hit
ler’s "Main Kampf" to the most
sugary defenses in the gentlest of
phili-Semittc authors, without real
izing that, when it comes to the
Jews, every one begins to think in
antedotes instead of in statistics.
And among our friends not less
than among our foes there is a
stubborn, one may say a desperate
resistance against logical deduction
from obtainable objective data.
Let us take what I consider to be
an obvious case: the astounding as
cription of ability. Influence and
power to the Jews of Germany by
the anti-Semitic leaders of that
country. How do their statements
usually run. “The press was in the
hands of the Jews! The commerce,
finance, art. law. literature of the
oountry was in the hands of the
Jews. Jews controlled Germany!"
Now It may have seemed astounding
even to the greatest admirer of
Jewish gifts that one per cent of the
population should, without an army,
but by subtelty and training alone,
be able to control the other ninety-
nine per cent. For, even if one were
to grant that, on the whole, the av
erage Jews could do ten times bet
ter than the average German (a
ridiculous assumption), even then
only ten per cent of the power of
the country would actually be in the
hands of the Jews.
And the facts are that the Jews,
whose sole advantage (and disad
vantage!) has long been their tra
ditional training and their urban
concentration, have never, in mod
em times, played a dominating role
anywhere. For a variety of reasons
they played a role out of proportion
to their numbers. But that does not
mean domination, and even that dis
parity is gradually disappearing. So
we learn from Ruppln’s book that
In 1861 the Jews of Prussia were,
to the extent of fifty-eight per cent,
engaged in business, while among
the general population the percent
age so engaged was only 2. But since
the Jews were less than one per
cent of the population, it meant
that of all merchants one in four
was a Jew.
But, as a matter of fact, there
has been a steady decline since
those days. In 1925 less than fifty
per cent of the Jews were in com
merce, and more than ten per cent
of the general population. This
means that by 1925 only one merch
ant In twenty was a Jew.
In finance, the participation of
the Jews declined, between 1882 and
1925. from forty-three per cent to
eighteen per cent. In medicine,
dentistry and the law the Jews (who
It must be remembered, were forced
Into urban life by their history)
held eighteen, fifteen and twenty-
five per cent of the places.
Now these figures are remarkable.
They indicate, of themselves, a
prodigious achievement on the part
of the Jews. But on the basis of
such figures, to talk of Jewish dom
ination of Germany is rank non
sense. And this quite apart from
the steady decline of the Jewish po
sition already In evidence before
the appearance of the Nazis.
But how could one possibly put
these figures in evidence, and how
could one get an embittered Germ
an anti-Semite to consider them?
For the fact is that, from every
prosperous Jew he meets or hears of
he carries away five or six times
the amount of impression that he
carries away from a prosperous
Gentile. And one Jewish profiteer in
a cage on the I^urfurstendamn
makes him exclaim (as I was temp
ted to exclaim in Johannesburg):
“Why. the place is alive with Jews.”
This is why a title like “Truths
about the Jews”—unpretentious and
therefore all the more impressive,
would have suited Dr. Ruppin’s book
If he had been looking for a catchy
but not inaccurate heading. "Truths
about Jews." Not “The Truth about
the Jews,” which is mendacious in
its offer of the universal formula,
or “The Facts concerning the Jews”,
which Is mendacious by implication,
for not all the facts are or even will
be known; but “Truths about the
Jews," valuable data, statistics, cool
figures, the first prerequisites for
an understanding of the Jewish
problem.
The figures I have cited above, in
regard to the Jews of Prussia, are
a tiny excerpt from Dr. Ruppin’s
book. But the book itself, fascinating
and informative as it is, is, alas,
only a condensation of the two-
volume compendium which Dr.
Ruppin published in German a few
years ago, “Die Soziologie der
Juden," a monumental piece of
work which should have been made
available to the Jews with a frac
tion of the funds being used for
anti-defamation work. It is true
that perhaps only a thousand people
would read Dr. Ruppin’s work close
ly. while presumably the anti-de-
famers reach their tens and hund
reds of thousands. But those thous
and readers would, I imagine, be of
infinitely greater importance.
Yet, as it stands even now in
English, “The Jews in the modern
World" represents, especially for
those who think, talk and write
about the Jewish problem, a thor
ough education in methodology. It
is true that there are in America a
few groups of specialized Jewish
social workers who have learned to
think, on Jewish public matters,
more or less statistically. But in the
temples, in the movements, among
leaders, the disease of careless im
pressionism is at least as wide
spread and as deep-rooted among
Jews as among non-Jews. And if it
is true that there are not available
for the Jews the details and the
data which are available for more
unified and more organized people,
then, for that very reason, such
facts as have been garnered and
set down in order are all the more
valuable and significant.
And Dr. Ruppin has advanced,
side by side with a maximum of
fact, a minimum of theory. That
theory, again, is restrained and fac
tual. Whether it be with regard to
the racial composition of the Jews,
their vital statistics, their distribu
tion, geographic and economic, their
education, their political and so
cial struggles, their defections and
their achievements. Dr. Ruppin
writes simply as if he were an in
terested stranger, intent on getting
at whatever realities he can, leav
ing surmise to other§. Or, rather, he
does not write. He merely opens the
record, makes It accessible by his
lucid ordering of the available ma
terial, gives his sources, and cau
tiously summarises his conclusions.
If this sounds simple, it is pre
cisely because it is not. After a lit
tle reflection one stands in genuine
admiration before the patience, the
industriousness, the many-sidedness
and the thoroughness of the effort.
I do not pretend to give an ex
tract of the book; nor will I do it
the injustice of quoting from it cer
tain fascinating passages: for the
larger fascination of the book lies
in its sobriety and in the spirit in
which it has been conceived and
executed. There is, of course, little
hope that people with an anti-Se
mitic fixation will ever go to this
book. But it is from the Jewish
point of view that it achieves its
importance. We ourselves, while we
blame the world for thinking of us,
very often, in demonological instead
of sociological terms, are equally
prone to the defect: the difference
is that where we make our demons
benevolent, the anti-Semites make
them malevolent. It Is vital for us
that we ourselves shall begin to
think of Jewish matters objectively:
and if any one is inclined to state
that surely it is impossible to com
bine this chilly, scientific, analytical,
statistical attitude toward one’s
people with a genuine affection and
steadfast desire to serve it, the ans
wer is that the thing has been ad
mirable done, namely, by Dr. Rup
pin himself.
(Copywright 1934 by Seven Arts
Feature Syndicate).
Tells Canadian Zionists
Dominion May Yet Be
Haven For Refugees
Reports To Convention Indicated
That Canadian Zionist Raised
$140,000 In 1934.
■ Toronto (WNS)—"I hope
economic conditions in Canat
improve to such an extent th
gates of this country will be (
to become a mecca for all tl
pressed people of the world,"
Roebuck, attorney general c
tario Province, told the V
fourth annual convention <
Canadian Zionist Organizatio
ports to the convention inc
that Canadian Zionist raised
000 in 1934, that they have 1
$1,000,000 worth of land in
tine, and paid in $500,000.
Young Judea has fifty-seven c
with 4,000 members and thj
Nasi Habonim Order has
members. The convention vo
establish agricultural training
ters for Canadian Jewish ch
to ask increased chalutzim c
cates of the Jewish Agenc
Canadians, to call on the Cai
government to send a cornu
mission to Palestine. Arc
Freiman was reelected presid
the Organization.
B’NAI B’RITH ANNOUNCES
COMMITTEES FOR 1935
(Continued from page one)
cent drive in honor of the National
president, Alfred M. Cohen, and
to the present members, as well
as the old faithful members who
have belonged since they were el.
igible.’’
Joseph M. Brown, now firse vice
president, shared honors with the
new president for his services as
secretary of the lodge for the past
ten years. Mr. Brown’s record for
holding the secretarial position for
that period is believed not equaled
by any lodge in the country and
his reward for his efficient service
is the rights and priviledges of a
Past President of the District
Grand lodge.
Following the main address the
major oemmittees and committee
chairmen and members were an
nounced as follows:
Plan and Scope of Lodge Activi
ties
Joseph M. Brown, Chairan, H. A.
Alexander, Harry Abelson, David
Gershon, Herman Heyman, H. S.
Jacobs, Jack Lichtenstein, A. L.
Meyers, Dr. Joseph Yampolsky.
Anti-Defamation League
Herman Heyman, Chairman;
Charles W. Bergman, Julian V.
Boehm, Rabbi Joseph Cohen, Rab
bi Harry H. Epstein, Arthur I.
Harris, Kurt Holland, Arthur J.
Altmayer, Jr., David Marx, Jr., J.
N. Reisman, Dr. L. C. Roughlin.
Committee on Hillel Foundation
H. A. Alexander, Chairman;
Max Cuba, Rabbi H. H. Epstein,
H. S. Jacobs, L. J. Levitas, A. L
Loeb, Dr. David Marx, Edward
Vadja, Joseph B. Wolfe.
Social Service
H, S. Jacobs, Chairman; Jack
Brail, Nathan Cohen, Joseph Cuba,
A. L. Feldman, L. J. Levitas,
Joseph Loewus, Dr. David Marx,
Berry Rittenbaum, Joseph Schles-
inger, Armand Wyle.
A. Z. A.
H. A. Alexander, Chairman;
Joseph M. Brown, David Gershon,
Dr. Irving Goldstein, Herman Hey
man, Dr. Joseph Yampolsky, L. J.
Levitas, Jack Lichtenstein, David
Marx, Jr., Adolph Vajda, Edward
Vajda.
Women’s Auxiliary
Joseph M. Brown, Chairman;
H. A. Alexander, Jack Brail, Dr.
Irving Goldstein, Milton Klein, K
J. Levitas, A. L. Meyers.
Membership Committee
Harry Abelson, Chairman; Mil-
ton Klein, Co-Chairman; Jack
Brail, Joseph M. Brown, Joseph
Cuba, A. L. Feldman, David Gersh
on, Oscar Gershon, Kurt Holland,
H. S. Jacobs, L. J. Levitas, Jack
Lichtenstein, Berry Rittenbaum,
Dr. Jack Silver, Samuel Rothberg,
Jack Weinkle, Joseph B. Wolfe.
Publicity
Nathan Cohen, Chairman;
Stephen Schiffer, Leon Kletzky.
Jack Weinkle. Nathan Lip ton.
Committee on District Qrand
Lodge No. 5 Convention
H. S. Jacobs, Chairman; L. J-
Levitas, Jack Brail, Dr. David
Marx, Rabbi Harry H. Epstein,
A. L. Feldman, M. F. • Goldstein,
Leonard Haas, Arthur I. Harris,
Leon Kletzky, Joseph Loewus,
Julian V. Boehm, Louis H. Moss,
Frank Constangy, Samuel Roth
berg, Joseph Schlesinger, Dr. B.
A. Wildauer, Armand Wyle, J. H-
Wilinsky, Harold Hirsch, Edward
M. Kahn, Milton Klein, A. L
Loeb, Joseph M. Brown, Armand
May, Dr. L. C. Rouglin, Nathan
Saltzman. Joseph B. Wolfe, Her
bert Haas, Jack Weinstock, Sam
E. Levy.
Reich Seizes Estates Of
Einstein’s Daughters
Berlin (WNS)—Estates belonging
to Ilse Kayser and Margot Marian -
off, married daughters of Professc:
Albert Einstein, have been confis
cated here by order of the German
Government. The confiscated prep-
erties are at Carputh.