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.]

That the plan for the extension of the Jewish Agency to include the non-Zionists has not been abandoned and that the American Zionists will give Dr. Weizmann their full support in this task on his forthcoming visit to the United States, is the statement made by “Dos Yiddishe Folk,” official organ of the Zionist Organization of America. In its issue of Sept. 28 “Dos Yiddishe Folk” writes:

“It has become habitual of late, even in the Zionist press, to speak of the Jewish Agency plan as of something hopeless. This opinion is absolutely false. The Jewish Agency idea lives in the Zionist movement, and is ceaselessly striving to attain this or that form of realization. The Agency plan is not a product of a casual notion, it is a product of Zionist reality. The positive decision of the last Zionist Congress regarding the Jewish Agency is still alive and in full force. It is a mandate through which the Congress authorized the Zionist Organization to act and we are all bound by this mandate. Those who believe that, because of the controversies which have arisen in the course of the last year owing to the Crimea colonization, the Jewish Agency plan has disappeared from the program or has seriously been weakened, have put a false interpretation on the situation. We take this opportunity to emphasize again the falsehood of the opinion that American Zionism is combating the Russian Colonization as a relief measure. Our fight is directed only against the misleading and groundless Yevsektzia ‘redemption ideology’ which is unscrupulously employing the Colonization plan as a weapon against the reconstruction of Palestine. Our fight, however, has no relation to those elements in America and in Europe who see in the relief work a necessary general-Jewish activity everywhere, in the Golus and in Palestine. From this point of view Palestine is a splendid work-field for relief and reconstruction for all Jews who are willing honestly and conscientiously to fulfill their duty to our people at the present time. In this respect the attitude of the American Zionists needs no better manifestation than the unanimous decision of the National Executive to give its full cooperation and its heartiest support to the aims and purposes of Dr. Chaim Weizmann’s forthcoming visit. In his effort to convert the Jewish Agency plan into a living power Dr. Weizmann will find in the American Zionists the most sincere co-workers and the most loyal friends and helpers.”

THE JEWISH HERO OF MIAMI

The story of the sexton of the Beth David Synagogue in Miami, who braved the storm at the risk of his own life in order to rescue the Holy Scrolls, is compared by the “Jewish Morning Journal” of Sept. 26 to the story of the sexton in a Kishineff synagogue who was killed in the performance of a similar act during the tragically famous Kishineff pogrom.

“The symbol of devotion and self-sacrifice,” the paper writes, “is to be observed in the American shames (sexton) no less than in the Russian. . . . We must all admire the heroism and the determination to risk one’s life for something that is regarded as sacred. That is the kind of courage which helps us to live until we see the downfall of such murderers as the Kishineff pogromists and to contribute to the reconstruction of the Florida ruins.”

WISE CHOOSERS

The opinion that the Jewish immigrants in America have been wise in choosing city life in the vast majority, is expressed by the Cleveland “News,” which remarks editorially:

“Since our Jewish population is so largely urban, it may be regarded also as testimony that city life is highly advantageous. The testimony is both impartial and expert. Exceptionally free from attachment to old countries, Jews are exceptionally free to choose new places of residence on merit alone. That they are wise choosers is fully apparent in their distinguished success in commerce, industry, finance and various arts.”

A five day industrial week was introduced by Henry Ford in his plant. The workers will be paid on the basis of five days of work. Meritorious service will be rewarded by an additional day’s pay, it was stated.