The editors reserve the right to excerpt all letters exceeding 250 words in length. All letters must bear the name and address of the writer, although not necessarily for publication.
To the Editor, Jewish Daily Bulletin:
It is rather a travesty on Zionism when an American resident in Palestine, a landlord, asks intervention in a rent dispute because he fears his profits will not be large enough.
Rents have increased alarmingly in Tel Aviv, most modern city in the Holy Land, and land speculation lends its evils to this American form of living off the labors of others.
Officials of Tel Aviv are to be commended for their stand against excessive rentals, which in many cases exceed those in this country.
For this have the early pioneers struggled. For this have they laid down their lives in a plague-ridden country in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, that land speculators should prosper on soil reclaimed by the blood, suffering and lives of those inflamed with the highest ideals of a true Holy Land!
It is nothing short of disgraceful that such a thing should become an actuality. Landlords of this type are a disgrace. They should be tarred and feathered.
Samuel Epstein.
Brooklyn, N. Y.,
January 16, 1934.
DIFFERS WITH JUDGE ON ‘GET’
To the Editor, Jewish Daily Bulletin:
Your edition of January 14, 1935, contained a statement made by Judge O’Dunne of Baltimore, in response to a petition filed by Miss Zerline, that a “get” (Jewish divorce) must be the voluntary action of the husband in order to be valid, and unless granted wholly voluntarily by the husband was not binding in the Jewish faith.
Permit me, now, to correct the error of this statement, as it is contrary to the Jewish laws of divorce contained in the Talmud and other rabbinical sources. The fact is, that there are many causes for which the Beth-Din (Jewish Court) could and should compel the husband to grant a “get” to his wife (Kothin otho)). And outside of the Jewish commonwealth, where the Beth-Din is powerless to compel him by itself, he may be compelled to grant the “get” through a Gentile court. All this, if the Beth-Din finds a real cause for divorce. And the causes for a compulsory divorce, according to the Jewish laws are manifold, as certain manners, faults and sicknesses, illtreatment, even unpleasant occupations, etc.
Israel Konovitz.
New York, N. Y.,
January 15, 1935.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
