Rabbi Goldstein Resents Remarks of Cong. Fish to Jews to Shun Communism

Approval of the resolution calling upon President Roosevelt to make representations to the German Government concerning the treatment of the Jews in Germany, introduced in the House of Representatives. Thursday by Congressman Hamilton Fish, was voiced yesterday in a broadcast over Station WMCA, by Rabbi Israel Goldstein, of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. Remarks made by Congressman Fish in introducing the resolution, in which he advised American Jews to shun Communism, “cannot be countenanced, however,” Dr. Goldstein said.

“The resolution which Congressman Fish proposes to introduce to the House of Representatives, that the American Government should take up with the German Government the question of its anti-Jewish policies, deserves the approval of American Jewry,” Dr. Goldstein said. “Congressman Fish wants to know how American Jews feel about the resolution. The feeling can only be one of approval. The resolution should receive immediate favorable action. It is high time that the American Government should speak out, as it has spoken out on previous occasions when Jews were persecuted in foreign lands, beginning with the ‘Damascus Affair’ in 1840.

“The comment, however, with which Mr. Fish accompanies his proposed resolution, cannot be countenanced however well intentioned it may have been. His appeal to American Jewry to shun and oppose Communism is gratuitous and uncalled for. American Jews, like all citizens, are represented in all political classifications, Communism and Socialism included.

“If Mr. Fish were not known to be utterly free from racial and religious prejudices, his comment might by implication, be construed as half apologizing for Hitler, in suggesting the possibility that the menace of Communism has driven him to his anti-Semitic program. It must be evident, by now, to the entire world, that Hitler and his regime are against Jews, whether they be capitalists or Communists. Jews are dismissed from offices and positions no matter what their political views, and Jewish children are barred from schools no matter what parties their parents belong to. The issue in Germany today is clearly one of anti-Semitism, without reservations or qualifications. Those who confuse that issue with any other issue are offering Hitlerism a loophole. The attempt of the German Government to prevent the bringing up of the Silesian question before the League of Nations, is adequate testimony to its villainy as well as to its cowardice.

“The kind of statement which would do justice to Mr. Fish would be one such as was published on the same day and was signed by 1,200 of America’s leading Christian clergymen. It is the voice of the Christian conscience of America which places the blame squarely where it belongs and sees the issue clearly as a crime against the Jew and as a blot upon Germany’s reputation.”