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The Southern Israelite
( ^i.oi'i)s of trage-
i dy still obscure
t lie 1 iu 111 of prom
ise f( >r Jewry as the year
7 dawns. Throughout
the world, the hearts of
t host' who hoped for an end
to persecution are heavy,
and hope is giving way to a
>pirit o| resignation and defeat.
Like bewildered, helpless chi 1
SEPTEMHEK, lu.iti
THE DAWN
Of
PROMISE
>trite-torn Palestine
more fortunate
brothers for aid.
We fact* tin*
New \ ear with
the outstretched
arms of men, wo
men and children
raised to us in
mute appeal, and
we. too, ask
which way we
must turn, what
escape exists in
the days that a re
to e< mie.
It becomes in
creasingly evi
dent upon this
New ^ ear t hat it
i> not in the fu
ture alone that
e must seek an
answer, but in
t he year t hal has
past, with all its
frame overtones.
•h wry must look
with unflinching
<\ve at past (‘vents, weigh them carefully in order that defense
lines 1 >e strengthened.
In the past vear, the hot lava of anti-Semitism poured
forth over the borders of Germany into Central and Lastern
burope. An anti-Semitic, Fascist dictatorship threatens in
Spam, hailed only a few years ago as a haven where refugees
from Nazi terror could find asylum. One of the cardinal
points of the program of the Fascist rebels is an expulsion
"t all Jews from Spain—an act that would hold all the
tragic import of the first mass expulsion during the reign
"I herdinand and Isabella.
In Palestine, wherein lay the hopes of Jewry for a na
tional homeland, Arab disorders took a heavy toll. Terro
rism was rampant, and vast forest lands were burned and
uprooted by vandals. New troops have been dispatched
hy Great Britain and fear runs high that the vandals are
preparing a campaign of terror that will reap a harvest tar
uiore appalling than Palestine has yet seen.
Fven in countries that have hitherto been liberal and tree
"t anti-Semitism, the specter of religious intolerance ap-
>eared. England had her Alosely; France her ( olonel de fa
Pocque. Belgium, due to the spreading poison of Nazi
tered as second-class
‘ .?* Southern Israelite
*25. M. S. Miller,
Xumhrr ,f.i propaganda, found a
Jewish problem on her
hands.
In democratic, lib
erty-loving America, agi
tators of the William Dud
ley IVIley and James True
t'j>(‘ flooded the country
with defaming literature and
<r(«itod a network ot secret
terrorist organizations. South
ern Jewry was shocked to hear
n! the Conference for Christian
ergvmen and Laymen in Ashe
ville, X. ( ., where
open charges
were hurled.
These facts
are not easy to
face; neither time
o r fain i I i a r i ty
dulls the shock
of reading them.
On tin* other
hand, there oc
curred during the
past year certain
ev cuts that
seemed on the
s ii r f a ce unre-
hited, but which
surveyed with a
single eye be
come part of a
great awakening
on the part of tin*
Christum world
to the true nature
of anti-Semitism.
This, above all
things, is the
most significant development of the year, and as such, holds
new hope for Jewry.
We h ave waited long for the Christian world to voice
its protest against the horrors of religious persecution, to
stand united with us in the fight against the barbaric forces.
I util the last year, the response was meager; men like the
late Dr. S. Parkes ( adman, James G. McDonald and Dr.
John Haynes Holmes deplored the failure of their co-re
ligionists to take an open stand against intolerance.
The year 5606 told a different story. Throughout the
world, there was a changed attitude on the part of Christian
religious leaders and organizations. From America, went
sharply-worded protests to Germany, Poland, Roumania and
other countries. As the year closed, thirty congressmen and
senators urged Great Britain to uphold its promise to Jewry
and not to curb immigration to Palestine. The awakening
had spread from the church to public life!
If is certain that the New Year will see greater effort to
crush the spirit of terrorism that is rampant in the world to
day. Events of tin* past year have shown the civilized world
that the Jew has been used as a symbol to camouflage the
true nat ure of dictatorships and regi- (Please turn to page 50)
is?a2.-tejiijstfv* N D *«-~ •••
Marietta St.. N. W.. Atlanta. Ga. Eastern Representative. S. M. Goldberg. 54 5 Fiftn Avenue. New York Gty.
! he SOUTHERN ISRAELITE *
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