IN THE projects to relieve our distressed German Jewish brethren there should be coordination and unity. The Jewish people are puzzled by the separate appeals for help. There is grave danger that without coordination the response to all the appeals for relief will be inadequate. Plans are being formulated for coping with the tragedy of the German Jewish refugees and the distressed needy Jews in Germany by all the representative Jewish organizations who are cooperating with the High Commissioner for German Refugees, appointed by the League of Nations. Dr. Weizmann represents the Zionists in the Council. The American Joint Distribution Committee was represented by Felix M. Warburg and James N. Rosenberg during the recent deliberations on the subject of immediate and reconstructive relief at the conference held in London under the chairmanship of Lord Cecil and High Commissioner McDonald.
The Jews of America will soon be called upon to make greater sacrifices than ever before to cope with the unparallelled calamity that has befallen Jewry through Nazi bigotry and cruelty. The problem of settling German Jewish refugees in Palestine and in some other lands will be solved with the aid of Jewish generosity. Vast sums will be required. The Jewish people will be expected to give its proper answer to Hitlerism by saving the victims of Hitlerism. It would be a grave blunder if we were divided even in our relief and reconstruction work. At this crucial moment there should be one unified campaign for funds. The Joint Distribution Committee and the Palestine fund-raising organization should make a united appeal to American Jewry, and there will be no excuse for the failure of any American Jew to respond to the limit of his capacity. Palestine, of course, must have a substantial share of the funds to be raised for the settlement of German Jewish refugees there, for Palestine is now offering the most logical and most practical solution in this crisis. The Jews of America dare not fail our persecuted people in Germany by splitting up our relief efforts at this tragic moment.
WHO IS TO BLANTE?
WE PUBLISH elsewhere in this issue a letter from Rabbi Edward N. Calisch, of Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Calisch approves our pointing out that while Austrian non-Jews are described as Austrians, Karl Radek, who is an Austrian of Jewish origin, is classed as a Jew,” and adds that the Jews themselves are in no small measure to blame for such a “national classification” He further says that “the Zionistic movement with its nationalist claims, the
Dr. Calisch seems to have missed the point made in our criticism of the inclusion of Karl Radek among the Jews who control the Russian Government. We pointed out that as the brilliant editor of the offficial Soviet newspaper he should not have been numbered among those who control the Soviet Government. We also emphasized the fact that the Jews mentioned as high office holders in Soviet Russia did not consider themselves as Jews, just as the non-Jewish officials do not regard themselves as Christians.
It is said that Israel Zangwill once remarked in jest that everybody is a Jew, “for all good people are claimed by the Jews, while all bad people are called Jews by the Gentiles.”
The Jews are naturally proud of all Jews who distinguish themselves in Jewish, humanitarian, scientific and artistic fields of endeavor, and are ashamed of the “Jews” who disgrace us, for it is the world that often fails to credit the Jewish people with the great achievements of individual Jews, but often blames the entire Jewish people for Jewish individuals who go wrong.
The German Nazis made their first and worst attack not on the Zionist or nationalist Jews, but on Jews who called themselves Germans. They included in their attack even those who had abandoned the faith of their fathers, if they sueceeded in discovering the forgotten Jewish grandmothers of the converts.
BRONX ZIONIST REGION
The Bronx Zionist Region will hold its first annual Purim celebration at the Prospect Theatre, 161 Prospect Avenue, on March 8.
Following the theatre an informal dinner will be held.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
