Daily Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

Jewish newspapers of New York, conservative and radical alike, take exception to Mr. Louis Marshall’s statement in his annual report as President of the American Jewish Committee that the governments of eastern Europe are living up to their promises in the matter of “minority rights.” Mr. S. Rosenield, in his weekly review of Jewish affairs, in the “Day” of Nov. 22, says:

“We dare not believe Mr. Marshall’s words, for when we look at the facts we find that the good tidings disappear. Which are the governments that have given national or even civil rights to the Jews?

“The Jewish schools in Roumania have become factories of apostacy. The Jewish teachers have been discharged. Yiddish and Hebrew are prohibited. Jewish children are compelled to attend school on Sabbath and are even forced to take instruction in the Christian religion, by order of the Minister of Education. The Jews of Bessarabia are faced with the alternative of turning over their children to apostacy or permit them to grow up without any education whatever. All Jewish cultural institutions are persecuted. The government maintains a ruthlessly destructive policy.”

Mr. Rosenfeld recounts the persecutions of Jews in Lithuania and Poland and finds the situation there equally bad. Lithuania is completely controlled by a party of anti-Semitic priests while the economic and cultural position of the Jews in Poland “proves the very opposite of Mr. Marshall’s assertions”, concludes Mr. Rosenfeld.

DISAPPOINTED WITH REPORT OF MANDATES COMMISSION

The Jewish press continues to comment on the report of the Mandates Commission to the Council of the League of Nations. The “Jewish Daily News” of Nov. 23 says editorially:

“We cannot feel elated over the report of the Mandates Commission. It is a lengthy document which says nothing. It makes an attempt to please the Jew and the Arab but the impression is that it is vapid and uncertain. Too much is made of the complaints of the Arabs, who in reality have nothing to complain about. No one has hurt the Arabs or abused them. The Arabs demand that the doors of Palestine be shut to the Jews, but it is senseless even to enter into a discussion of this matter. The report of the Mandates Commission is a disappointment in this respect.”

FINDS MANDATES COMMISSION’S REPORT UNFAIR

The “Saint Louis Jewish Record,” in an editorial of Nov. 21, after citing that part of the report of the Mandates Commission on Palestine which says that the Jews who immigrate to Palestine from the east-European countries “are not prepared for manual labor, especially agriculture,” asks:

“Does not the Commission know that the Jews from eastern Europe go to Palestine with the special intention of becoming farmers? There is no lack of tillers for the soil in Palestine, but there is a lack of soil for the tillers.

“In the original draft of the Palestine Mandate free government land was promised for Jew immigrants, but so far no land has been given them. This should have been made clear to the Mandates Commission before it drew up its report on Palestine.”