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. ]

A retort to Dr. Fosdick’s criticism of Zionist work in Palestine is made by Arthur Brisbane in yesterday’s “New York American”. Mr. Brisbane writes:

“Jews will remind Dr. Fosdick that they were interested in agriculture many centuries before the Anglo-Saxon race had got over the habit of living on uncooked meat.

“Palestine is not the beautifully fertile land that it was 1,900 years ago, and Jews seeking to reestablish the Jewish homeland have difficult problems. They are not helped by discouaraging criticism.”

JEWISH SCHOOL ISSUE REMAINS, SAYS CANADIAN PAPER

The vexing problem of Jewish schools in the province of Quebec remains as it was, despite the victory of Bercovitch over Fitch in the recent elections, declares the “Western Jewish News” of Winnipeg, in its May 20th issue.

“Now that the fight is over and the smoke of battle has cleared,” the paper asserts, “we can calmly review the strategy employed. One thing is certain: The issue was clear, unequivocal and specifically Jewish; the Jewish issue having been introduced by Fitch, who contested the seat as a ‘Nationalist’ and designated Bercovitch as an ‘Assimilationist’. The terms referred not to the fact that Fitch was a leader of the Zionist Movement, and the other not; but to the circumstance that Louis Fitch had defended the principle of separate Jewish schools in Montreal, while Bercovitch sponsored the idea of maintaining the status quo, namely the Jewish children would continue to be the ‘guests’ of the Protestant schools.

“This issue was not a mere ruse with which to catch the Jewish vote. It was not invented for the purpose of the campaign. The public school question has been a live acute problem with the Jews of Montreal for a few years now, and still worries the thinking, conscientious Jewish leaders, no less than the conscious Jewish masses. And while the matter rests in abeyance, pending the decision of the Privy Council (where it went, thanks to the activities of the ‘assimilationists’ lead by Peter Bercovitch) final solution of the vexing problem will ultimately depend on ‘political action’– since it will be up to the Legislature of Quebec to give practical effect to the decision of the Privy Council.”

A memorial meeting to Hermann Conheim, the late National Treasurer of the United Palestine Appeal, will be held on Thursday evening, June 2, at the Jewish Institute of Religion, 40 West 68th Street, New York.

The meeting is being arranged under the auspices of the Zionist Organization of America, the United Palestine Appeal and the Keren Hayesod.