A plea to Queen Marie to intercede on behalf of the Jews in Roumania was uttered by Dr. Stephen S. Wise at a conference held at the Metropolis Club Tuesday night to review and consider matters affecting the Jews in East European countries, including Roumania. About fifty persons attended.
Dr. Wise who presided and was the principal speaker said that both Jews and Christians had remarked that this was an opportune time to call the attention of the public to “the grievous wrongs to which the Jews of Roumania despite all assurances and treaty obligations, are still being subjected.
“In common with all our fellow-Americans,” Dr. Wise said, “we share in the time-honored spirit of welcome and friendship to distinguished visitors, but convictions on questions of life and death are presumably permitted to be entertained under all circumstances, even at the time of public jubilations.
“As it is, the question of the Jews in Roumania had been raised by questions submitted to Her Majesty. Queen Marie, and her answers have been so little reassuring, that I am reluctantly compelled to appeal to America’s spirit of fair play.”
Dr. Wise then reviewed the Jewish situation in Roumania saying the Jews there were peaceful and patriotic. He said that even now economic and educational discriminations threaten to make ineffectual the minority rights guaranteed in 1919.
Dr. Wise said, “We ask her Majesty, the Queen of Roumania, as a lover of fair play, as a friend of America, which means the same, and more, to intercede on the Jews’ behalf.”
Among those at the dinner were: Representative Sol Bloom, Supreme Court Justice Aaron J. Levy, Magistrate Louis Brodsky, Louis Lipsky, President of the Zionist Organization of America; Carl Sherman, former Attorney General of New York State, and Max Steuer.
The “American Hebrew” republished a letter addressed by Queen Marie to Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the American Joint Distribution Committee, praising the post-war relief work of that committee in Roumania through which “others than Jews in my country” were helped by this American Jewish relief agency. This letter was at the time delivered to Mr. Warburg by Oscar Leonard of St. Louis, who was the Joint Distribution Committee director of the Roumanian Relief in Bucharest. The letter read:
“My dear sir:
I take the opportunity of Mr. Oscar Leonard’s return to the United States, after his service in Roumania for your Committee, to say that the work done by the Joint Distribution Committee has been extremely beneficial to the Jewish population. I also know that your work has helped others than Jews in my country. I hope the good work will be continued by your Committee as long as it may be necessary. I know of your plans for rebuilding thousands of homes in Bukovina and elsewhere and of your plans of rehabilitation, all of which 1 not only approve but admire.
“I wish to ask you to convey to the Jewish people in the United States that I am ready in the future to help then in their good work, just as I worked in the past and during the war, when there was no special committee, at which time we helped the entire population irrespective of religious affiliations.
“I wish to assure your people in America of my sincere appreciation and heartfelt sympathy.
“MARIE”
Mr. Leonard, in his article, points out that Queen Marie “has not raised her voice in protest against the miserable conduct of the Roumanian students who have kept their Jewish fellow students from their studies in the universities of Roumania in the past four years. Nor has she raised her voice against the many miseries to which the Jews have been subjected during the four years of the wretched Bratiano administration.”
“Since Queen Marie is regarded as the head and symbol of the Roumanian people,” the “Jewish Tribune” observes, “and since she has answered the question concerning the Jews of Roumania in a manner that may create a wrong impression both here and in Roumania it would be wise on her part to make an unmistakable statement to the affect that she deplores any discrimination directed against any portion of the Roumanian population, and that she will use her good offices with officials and leaders in Roumania to promote the equalization of the rights of the inhabitants of her land, regardless of race or creed, in order that peace and prosperity may prevail there. Such a statement would be in keeping with the Queen’s reputation for charity and spirit of fairness. Such a statement would make the popular Queen even more popular abroad and more respected at home.”
MRS. ROSENBLOOM, DONOR OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY BUILDING, IS HONORED
A dinner welcoming Mrs. Sol Rosenbloom of Pittsburgh, donor of half a million dollars for the Hebrew University, and her son, Charles Rosenbloom, on their return from Palestine, was given by the United Palestine Appeal at the Hotel Commodore, New York, on Sunday night.
While abroad Mrs. Rosenbloom consulted with the architects of the projected Central Hall for the Institute of Jewish Studies of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the construction of which Mrs. Rosenbloom has made possible by her contribution as a memorial to her late husband.
Judge Julian W. Mack who was toastmaster, declared that detailed plans for the proposed Rosenbloom Memorial will be arranged by Mrs. Rosenbloom with Dr. Chaim Weizmann upon the latter’s arrival in America.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, conveyed a personal message to Mrs. Rosenbloom from Dr. Weizmann in which the latter characterizes her contribution not merely as an important gift to the Hebrew University, but as an act of great Jewish national significance.
Louis Lipsky, President of the Zionist Organization of America, Mrs. Irma Lindheim, President of the Hadassah Women’s Organization and Morris Neaman, prominent Pittsburgh Zionist leader, also delivered addresses, the latter dwelling upon the service being rendered to the United Palestine Appeal of Pittsburgh by Charles Rosenbloom.
In response to the greetings, Mrs. Rosenbloom expressed the hope that the Hebrew University will become the fountainhead of Jewish thought and enlightenment not only for Palestine but for the whole world.
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