Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[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 hope that the pressure of Jewish public opinion will cause the leaders of the J. D. C. and the Zionists to establish peace on the question of Russian colonization and Palestine, so that the division into “J. D. C. Jews” and “Palestine Jews” will be done away with, is expressed in the “Day” (Oct. 8), by S. Dingol, who discusses the Chicago conference under the above caption.

Mr. Dingol, recalling the Baltimore Zionist conference of November 29, 1925, on which occasion Mr. Louis Marshall urged on American Jewry the duty of supporting Palestine reconstruction simultaneously with East-European relief, declares that this principle has not been acted upon by the J. D. C. “We do not doubt the sincerity of Mr. Marshall’s words,” he writes, “and we are far from accusing him that he deliberately misled public opinion. We are inclined to believe that the Zionist Organization, too, has a large share in the guilt for the chasm which has been created between the Palestine work and the relief work of American Jewry. The American Jew has remained the same from Philadelphia to Chicago and he has a right to ask why there is no unity in the relief work of American Jewry and he has the right to demand that American Jews should not be divided into ‘J. D. C. Jews’ and ‘Palestine Jews.’

Mr. Dingol finds that whereas the leaders of the J. D. C. have made their point of view clear, the Zionists have not done so. “The J. D. C. leaders,” he avers, “have made their attitude to Palestine clear. In Mr. Marshall’s Baltimore address he brought out two points: first, that the urge toward Palestine is strong and that it is the duty of every Zionist and non-Zionist to support the reconstruction of Palestine; and secondly, that Palestine and relief must go hand in hand. This assertion was uttered clearly, without any strings attached to it. We have followed the Zionist press, however, and as many reports of speeches as possible and have failed to find even one address of a Zionist leader referring to Russian colonization that did not conclude with the statement that this is a scheme of the ‘Yevsektzia’ (Jewish section of the Communist Party). In other words, on the part of the J. D. C. we have an open, definite call to support Palestine; on the part of the Zionist Organization, we have seen nowhere a clear call to support Russian Colonization.

“What is necessary at this moment,” the writer emphasizes, “is for the Zionist Organization openly to state its position–should Zionists support the J. D. C. campaign, or not? This would be clear. Every Zionist would then know where he stands. . . Just as the J. D. C. so does the Zionist Organization now play with words. . . .

“The pressure of public opinion should compel both sides to create a mutual ground for cooperation, determining in advance the share that is to go to Palestine and the share that is to go for other countries. This would perhaps be the best means of securing money for both purposes, for then American Jewry, regardless of opinions or leanings, would really be able to throw itself into a campaign for both causes.”

The “Jewish Morning Journal” of Oct. 8, dealing with the Chicago conference, observes:

“It is to be hoped that the Chicago conference will be free of the controversies and the bitterness of the Philadelphia conference. There can be at present no two opinions regarding the importance of the relief work in Poland and the colonization work in Russia. It was the latter activity that led to the controversies, but even those who had complaints against the colonization work emphasized frequently that they have no objections to colonization work in Russia as a relief measure. They merely complained against certain phases of the publicity connected with it and the difference of opinion on this question need not be so great as to lead to a diversion from the chief purpose, namely, to create some kind of a foundation for the tens of thousands of declassed Jews in Russia who have no other means of securing their bread and butter. If there will only be the necessary goodwill, all disputes regarding this can be settled. The largs sum of money which was allotted by the United Jewish Campaign for Palestine should serve as a proof that the responsible leaders of the Campaign are not enemies of Zionism and desire to serve the whole Jewish people.”