News Brief

RABBI ISRAEL GOLDSTEIN, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun Eighty-eight Street west of Broadway–“The bills which have been introduced into the legislatures of New York and New Jersey aiming against the kind of propaganda which is now being spread throughout the country, bring up the question of whether it is possible to legislate racial and religious prejudice out of existence.

“Obviously, good will cannot be ordered by law. It is a quality of community living which is created by the dispositions of individuals and groups constituting the community. A Brotherhood Day such as is being observed today by Jews and non-Jews throughout the land, properly utilized as a means of stressing the values of fellowship and understanding, can do far greater good than laws and statutes.

“Yet, while one may not be justified in expecting any positive results from legislation, one may be justified in expecting that legislation will curb the organized propaganda which is calculated to undermine the unity of American citizenship, by injecting corrosive germs of slander and vilification, and by raising up fears and bogies of one element of the population against the other.”

RABBI LOUIS I. NEWMAN, Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 7 West Eighty-third Street–“Sir Oswald Mosley’s Fascist meeting in London last Sunday evening, with its ‘warning’ to British Jewry, is an unfortunate omen for Western democracies. Fascism means the enthronement of those financial barons who wish to keep the middle classes and the masses in subjection, and anti-Semitism is a useful weapon in their hands.

“In the United States, the same processes are at work, and there is danger that Fascism, taking the form of an attack upon President Roosevelt’s liberalism, may point to his Jewish friends as an indication that Jews have exaggerated power in this country. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real leaders of this government are Mr. Roosevelt himself, Mr. Tugwoll, Mr. Ickes, Mr. Wallace and others, not the few Jews who are being aggrandized out of all proportion to their activity. To be sure, Jews are patriotic servants of the republic, and are ready to place their talents at the command of the President whenever he summons them to duty. But instead of criticizing in a forthright and public manner Mr. Roosevelt’s policies, the Fascist-Tory-Baronial group in this country, now beginning to feel the pinch of the NRA, is seeking to create a ‘scare’ over Jewish influence. Behind the accusations of radicalism lurks an incipient anti-Semitic Fascist attack which may bedevil the entire country.”

RABBI ALEXANDER LYONS, Eighth Avenue Temple, Brooklyn–“Never has it been a greater privilege to be a Jew or the representative of any other religious faith. The world teems with problems, the solution of which will be determined by a positive palpable contribution from the realm of religious piety. To the realization of such a consummation I want my people to be specially active.

“Primarily, I want the Jew to cease talking about being a Chosen People. It is true that he has been chosen in the sense that he has been specially gifted in a religious way. This does not exclude the Divine choice of other people in other ways. Among too ## Jews it has resulted in a concern that has resulted in a claim without corresponding conduct. I want the Jew to become conspicuous as a God-choosing people whose conduct will evidence plainly and palpably that the thought of God as Supreme Reality is the compelling influence of his life.”

RABBI JOSEPH ZEITLIN, Temple Ansche Chesed, West End Avenue at 100th Street–“Civilization must depend upon the unselfishness of man. The recent impromptu remarks of President Roosevelt, in which he admonished us not to depend on the ‘lazy way’ out of the depression–that is to say, expecting an instant and miraculous recovery–are especially pertinent. Instead we must rely on serious and sincere efforts on the part of American people to reestablish normal times through unselfishness and mutual help.”

RABBI WILLIAM F. ROSENBLUM, Temple Israel, 210 West 91st Street–“The Jew has been a war resister though not a non-resister to violence. He has been in the vanguard of efforts for world peace because he has experienced the cruelty of various nations which tried to destroy him and because he has seen the futility of trying to tamper with what God ordains. The survival of the Jew is dramatic evidence of purpose and destiny in the world is his destiny to live, however much others wish him to die. He suffers, he wanders, but he lives. He has risen not from his own dust but upon the dust of countless adversaries who tried to bury him in the sands of oblivion.

“I, for one, have determined that I shall make war upon no one and assist at no aggression but that I shall not turn the other cheek when mad and irresponsible leaders attempt to smite my people and my faith for no other reason than that in the dawning days of the world we were born in a different place and have therefore acquired a different history. This does not make of me a militarist, merely a Jew and a citizen of the world militantly dedicated to justice and to peace.”