Hadassah, opening its 25th annual convention, tonight heard Dr. Solomon Goldman, president of the Zionist Organization of America, demand that American Jews make representations to obtain guarantees of the Jews’ post-war status in Europe and Palestine and immediate issuance of Palestinian passports to stateless Jews.
In an impassioned address to 2,000 delegates from 46 states and some 2,000 guests at the Manhattan Center, Dr. Goldman urged that American Jewry put aside fears of arousing anti-Semitism by taking positive action and asserting its leadership, warning that “a timid American Jewry will by its sheer weight blast whatever hope there is in the House of Israel.”
Dr. Goldman spoke on a program with Mrs. Moses P. Epstein, president of Hadassah, who asserted the British White Paper would have to be revised after the war; Mrs. Alexander Lamport, treasurer, who reported record collections of $1,510,000 in the past year; Mrs. Edward Jacobs, member of the Jewish Agency Executive; Miss Nell Ziff, president of Junior Hadassah, and Rabbi Israel H. Levinthal.
The Z.O.A. president, after reviewing the tragedy of the Jews in Europe, sharply criticized Jewish timidity “a Jewish blackout,” as he called it which he declared was robbing American Jewry “of the right and privilege to lead world Jewry.”
Terming the present state of mind of the American Jew “the most grievous problem confronting us,” he cited the American tradition of freedom and non-uniformity and protested “against those who seek to libel my country and to terrify me.”
“I will not suppress my opinions because they may be distorted by the Pelleys, ” he said “I will not refrain from speaking on conditions in Europe, or on the neutrality bill for fear it be charged that I am seeking to drag America into the war. I will not remake Jewish history, abandon Zionism and Palestine because knaves or fools will charge me with a lack of patriotism, with duel allegiance.
“Will American Jewry, I ask, rise to its full stature, or will this giant among the Jewries of the world fetter its own hand and feet? A timid Jewry in America is no asset to world Jewry. What if we extend aimless charity, but offer no leadership? What if we give bread and inspire no hope? Will that heal the wounded heart, comfort the broken spirit or sustain the frustrated will to live? On the contrary, an inarticulate American Jewry, a timid American Jewry will by its sheer weight blast whatever hope there is in the House of Israel.”
Calling for “Maccabaean courage,” Dr. Goldman declared that at this moment when the democracies had discovered the menace of Hitlerism it was for the American Jews to speak.
“We must warn them that we cannot be cashiered with affability, tolerance and empty declarations,” he said. “Let us write into the consciousness of people and rulers that we will not accept a refugee status for millions of our brethren…To defeat Hitler is not enough. It is the wrongs of Hitlerism that must be blotted out of existence.
“The Czechs, the Poles in this country are resolved to regain what they lost last year or last month. How about us Jews? In the event of a victory for democracy, which we pray may be soon, shall we not inquire now what the status of the Jews in Poland will be? What guarantee shall we have that the new Poland that shall arise will remember the loyalty and heroism Polish Jews revealed in the day of their country’s disaster? Will Jewish young women again have to stand in the classrooms of the University of Warsaw? Will the parks in the city once more have yellow benches for our people? ….
“There is no reason in heaven or on earth why American Jews should not immediately begin making representations in London, Paris and even in Washington. American Jewry is world Jewry’s greatest asset. Let us then be it. We are not merely a Salvation Army or a Red Cross. We are expected to be tribunal, voice, leader.”
Dr. Goldman asked the democracies for “their unreserved help” in building the Palestine Jewish homeland. As an immediate measure he urged “that our homeless, stateless brethren be issued Palestinian passports.”
We are not bargaining with the democracies,” he said. ” We are not asking quid pro quo. We are not promising legions of millions. We are asking because the democracies are fighting against Hitlerism and for justice, against totalitarianism and for freedom, against violence and for the right of small peoples on the face of God’s earth.”
“What will we in America do?” he asked. “Will we hesitate, stammer, whisper? Or will we undo the grievous error of a century? Will we merely be philanthropists? Or will we take courage and be statesmen?”
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.
