[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]
The opinion that the Turkish Jews have been unjustly criticized for renouncing their national minority rights, is expressed in the “Jewish Morning Journal,” by A. Revutsky.
“The truth is,” Mr. Revutsky contends, “that the Turkish Jews have not renounced their minority rights, but only the international guarantees for these rights. They have not rejected their right to have their own kehillahs, schools, hospitals, and to maintain their own taxes for these institutions. They have merely renounced the control and protection of the foreign Powers who signed the treaty of Lausanne. And this was done after negotiations with the Angora Government, from whom they received binding promises regarding a favorable community law which should place their kehillah on a firm juridical foundation.”
Pointing out that national minority treaties were imposed on the weak nations only and that in no case have they been fulfilled by the governments that signed them, the writer argues that the act of the Turkish Jewish notables was “a patriotic step.” The Turkish Jews having gotten along well with the Turksih governments for hundreds of years have decided to place their faith in the hands of the future governments trusting for a continuation of the just treatment accorded them hitherto, the writer says, observing in conclusion:
“As long as Turkey is strong she can, if she so desires, oppress the minorities, despite all guarantees. If she were to become internally weak, as in the time of Abdul Hamid, she would not be able to do so even without guarantees.
“Therefore the Turkish Jews have decided to make a fine gesture; to proclaim their renunciation of the guarantees of the Lausanne treaty and to declare before the world that they rely upon the Turkish nation to give them their due rights without external pressure. In order not to lose anything, Turkish Jews first felt the pulse of the Angora government. Of course, the Angora government is pleased with this step because it gives her the opportunity to compel the Christian communities in Turkey to follow a similar course and thereby to free the country of the last formal trace of foreign dominance. The government met the Jews in their request for a kehillah law and school rights. Having these assurances the Turkish Jews made an eloquent gesture which will surely tend to create better Turkish-Jewish relations.”
Although not approving of the step taken by Turkish Jews the “Jewish Morning Journal,” editorially, finds that the act of the Turkish Jewish notables was not entirely without justification.
“Jewish public opinion at large will agree with Mr. Marshall in his criticism of the Turkish Jews,” the paper declares in its August 13th issue. “Mr. Marshall, himself contributed a great deal towards the securing of the national minority rights and it is natural that as a Jewish leader and as a lawyer, he should think that such a ‘claim’ should not have been cast away. We have heard frequently from Turkey and from other countries that the Jewish minority rights, which were won with so much effort, are being trampled upon, but that is no reason for the Jews to renounce those guarantees. A note is not thrown away because the debtor is a poor payer.
“All that can be said in extenuation for the unjustified act of the Turkish Jews is that they were disappointed to see how little affect the national minority rights had. The classic example is Lithuania: the Jews in Lithuania first got real minority rights, but later they were deprived of these completely and the treaty guarantees proved to be worthless. The League of Nations could not, or would not, help. Everything depended on the internal political state of affairs, and if we find that today the situation in that country has improved somewhat, it is due to the fact that there has been a change in the internal political conditions.
“But the disappointment is great, greater among the Jews than among other minorities. It is easy to advise others not to despair, but it is only human to become impatient when the disappointment is so deep.”
Justification of the Turkish Jews on the ground that the principal of national minority rights was in the first place inapplicable to Turkey is made by “Dos Yiddishe Folk” of August 13th.
Stating that it does not see nay betrayal of the Jewish cause in the act of the Turkish Jewish notables the paper declares:
“In the first place, it should be remembered that the decision of the Turkish Jews does not come at a time when the entire Jewry is united on the proposition of minority rights as it was at the time of the Versailles treaty. It must be borne in mind that it is now five years since that time and the minority rights plan has turned out to be a failure. Even in those countries where the minority rights are presumably respected, no great changes are to be observed. In the second place every one who is familiar with Jewish life must admit that it was an absurd attempt to introduce the principle of minority rights, which may have been suitable for some countries in Eastern Europe, into such countries as Greece and Turkey, where the structure of Jewish life is fundamentally different. Such an inconsistent method was doomed to failure. This was especially the case with Turkish Jewry which has its own rich traditions and its own definite attitude to the surrounding non-Jewish world. We are certain that by this act Turkish Jewry did not desire to demonstrate its renunciation of the principle of the national minority policy, but merely that it has its own opinion how best to protect the religious and national rights of the Jews in the Turkish realm.”
A JEWISH CONTROVERSY IN SEATTLE
The question regarding the right of Jewish parents to remove the body of a child from a cemetery, over which a controversy has been aroused in Seattle, Washington, is discussed by the “Jewish Transcript of that city.
In its August 6th issue the “Transcript” declares:
“The controversy that has been waged in the local courts over the right to remove a dead body has at last come to a temporary close, with the decision of Judge Frater denying an injunction to the Congregation, and permitting the parents to remove the body of their dead son from the cemetery where it had been mistakenly buried, and to inter it in the Cemetery of their choice alongside departed members of their family. The decision of Judge Frater in this matter has been hailed as a victory for common sense and rationalism.
“As predicted in this column two weeks ago, the daily newspapers were filled with the reports of the trial and these accounts conveyed to the general public an erroneous impression of Jewish law and tradition. The newspapers were filled with stories of the fight between mother love and the Talmud. The impression was created that Jewish law was harsh: that it lacked in sentiment and human sympathy.
“Nothing is further from the truth. Our Bible, our Talmud, and our traditions are filled with sentiment, with kindness and with parental love. To the Jew the home has always been uppermost and it has been his most sacred institution. We have been taught that the outstanding commandment was to “Respect thy father and mother.” To love and honor one’s parents, is a mitzvah for which one is rewarded not only in the world to come, but also in the present world.
“We are a most sentimental people. Mother love has ever taken precedence over everything else. Any other impression is unjust. Such however, is the harm that must necessarily come to us, as the result of a rash and unpremeditated act on the part of any Jew or group of Jews such as bringing an action of this type into court.”
Ralph Jonas, President of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, has donated a large building at 102 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, for the use of the International Theatre Art Institute which has been organized for the purpose of cooperating with the Brooklyn Little Theatre by developing stage talent, it became known yesterday.
The new organization will be one of the cooperating groups of the Independent Theatres Clearing Committee of which Manny Strauss is Chairman and Otto H. Kahn Honorary Chairman.
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.
