Daily Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]

The attitude of the “New Judaea” of London, organ of the World Zionist Executive, toward the Zionist-J.D.C. controversy in America, is stated editorially in the “New Judaea” of July 23.

Making reference to the J.D.C. statement, issued immediately after the recent Buffalo Zionist convention, wherein the Zionists were charged with “wilful misrepresentation,” the organ of the World Zionist Executive declares:

“On reading the ponderous statement, we are bound to say that we find it a little difficult to take the charge at its face value. The alleged wilful misrepresentation strikes us as decidedly ill-founded, as indeed the whole statement is superfluous. As it is pointed out by Mr. Lipsky in his reply, the document of the J.D.C. is an uncalled-for attack upon Zionists. There is no ground for the implication contained in the statement that Zionists in America or elsewhere have interfered with the relief campaign. Even more baseless is the charge that Zionists anywhere are indifferent to the terrible plight of the Jews in Russia or in any other country. The President of the American Zionist Organization has no difficulty in showing that Zionists everywhere have always actively assisted in the organization of relief work. Indeed, there is no reason whatever why the J.D.C. should have taken such a grave objection to the attitude of the Zionist convention, condemning anti-Zionist propaganda arising out of the Russian colonization project. There was no suggestion that the J.D.C. itself is responsible for anti-Zionist propaganda. That anti-Zionist propaganda is made out of the Russian colonization cannot be denied. If any evidence were needed, M. Kalenin, chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, has supplied it in the course of his long statement on the Jewish question in Soviet Russia, published in a recent issue of the ‘Izvestia.’ Comments are unnecessary. The Soviet Government has supplied the facts which the J.D.C. endeavored to repudiate.”

ORTHODOX PAPER DEFENDS REFORM JEWS

The opinion of Rabbi Ezekiel Lipschitz, leading rabbi of Poland who left the United States last week after a visit here of three months, to the effect that the Jewish immigrants in America have given up their own culture “in preference to the culture and language of non-Jews or of the rich Reform Jews whom they found here, imitating their customs and mode of life, whether good or bad,” is regarded by the “Jewish Daily News,” orthodox daily of New York, as “unnecessarily harsh.”

Writing editorially on Aug. 6 in its English section, the paper states:

“We hold no brief for ‘the rich Reform Jews’ but it is gross exaggeration to state that all the blame for the non-Jewishness of the Jewish masses is to be laid at their doors. Large numbers of these immigrants were only to eager to throw off the ‘Jewish yoke, and very many came here ignorant of things Jewish. Today it is far easier to reach Jewishly the native-born Jews than it is the foreign-born. Rabbi Lipschitz speaks without full knowledge of actual conditions. He should have been here twenty-five years ago and he then would have been in a position to properly analyze the situation.”

SAYS JOSEPH CONRAD WAS NOT A JEW

The statement that Joseph Conrad, the famous writer, was not a Jew, as is believed in some quarters, is made by Richard Curle, one of Conrad’s executors and trustees, in a letter appearing in a recent issue of the New York “Times” Book Review.

Referring to Mr. Pennell’s “The Adventures of an Illustrator,” wherein the writer says Conrad told him he was a Jew, Mr. Curle declares:

“According to Mr. Pennell, Conrad told him that he was born at Berditchev in Little Russia and that he was a Jew. It is quite true that Conrad was born in Beditchev, either in the district or the town–then part of Russian Poland and now a short way over the border into Russia proper–but it is totally untrue that he was a Jew. There was not one drop of Jewish blood in his veins. Mr. Pennell’s memory must be completely at fault on this matter. For generations back Conrad’s family on both sides were purely Polish, apart from one ancestor who was either French or Italian. In The New Republic (U. S. A.) of Aug. 4, 1918, will be found a long letter from Conrad to a correspondent, giving an account of his family and saying in the most explicit terms that he was not a Jew, as Mr. Frank Harris, the writer had apparently stated in some publication.”

A series of publications is one of the features of Young Judaea’s educational program for the coming year.

The “Young Judean” plans, which head the year’s projects, include an interesting threefold special piece of work, namely: a manual for Young Judaea members; a handbook of information and guidance for Young Judaea club leaders and an illustrated pamphlet for the general public describing the purpose, meaning, scope, accomplishments and needs of National Young Judaea.

Among the numerous booklets which will be printed will be the completion of the series of pamphlets on Jewish festivals, a new series on Zionist Institutions and an illustrated handbook of Palestine information for boys and girls of high school age.

The new Jewish Community Center in Middletown, N. Y. will be dedicated August 11th to August 14th. The laying of the cornerstone took place on June 14, 1925, and the building is nearly completed.

The facilities at present are: gymnasium, shower baths, banquet hall, social and meeting rooms, and other complete activities for the young people.