Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 12, 1942 Page: 4 of 8
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V
—
THE JEWISH HERALD-VOICE
I .
UNITED JEWISH CAMPAIGN SI TPLEMENT
THE PROJECT to settle Jews on the
island of Santo Domingo needs no defense.
Its very objective is its own best spokes-
man. But brranif several individual
Zionists have spoken or written dispar-
agingly of the undertaking, I believe it
necessary to make one point completely
clear: that the expressions of such single
individuals do not constitute a unified
Zv>mst policy—nor do they, in my judg-
ment, faithfully reflect the purpose or
achievement inherent in the Dominican
Republic Settlement Association.
Not many of us are experts on reset-
tlement and colonization. It is a field in
which long years of experience are re-
quired as a basis for acceptable judgment,
whether laymen may consider it valid or_
invalid. I affirm at once that I am not
an expert in colonization, even though
for many years I have associated myself
with the upbuilding of the Jewish National
Home in Palestine and though I continue
to take great pride in the miraculous trans-
formation which Jewish colonization has
wrought in Palestine. Perhaps it is be-
cause I have been so completely convinced
of the colonizing ability of Jews in Pal-
atine that I look with sympathy and
understanding on any program that will
reptratify the shattered economic life c
Jews. 4fM
A group of philanthropic-minded Am-
erican Jews took up the offer of the Do-
minican Republic to settle large numbers
of Jews at Sosua. The word “philan-
thropist” is held in odium in some circles
and some part of that suspicion of self-
righteous well-endowed Americans I can
understand. But in thinking of the moti-
ves of those who associated themselves
With the Dominican project, I can only
interpret the word "philanthropist” in its
original Greek meaning as “a lover of
man.” What else can explain the in-
defatigable labor and the limitless pat-
ience with which these sponsors of Sosua
have pursued their objective?
The men and women who are now
settled on the island of Santo Domingo
were not dragged there against their will,
m some would make it appear. They
were told in advance that the project rep-
resented an effort to establish an agri-
cultural settlement into whose economy
they would have to adjust themselves, re-
gardless of their previous training and
background. Some who have been brought
tb Sosua have failed to meet the test and,
properly, they have gone elsewhere, either
fleivA Should He Saved Anywltesie
ANOTHER VIEW OF 80SUA
By CHARLES J. ROSENBLOOM
The author of this article on Jewish settlement in the Dominican Republic is
one of American Jewry’s foremost philanthropists. He commands a high posi-
tion in the American Zionist movement, as National Treasurer of the United
Palestine Appeal, as Chairman of the Tri-State Zionist Reyion and as a member
of the National Executive Committee of the Zionist Organisation of America.
In his home city of Pittsburgh, Mr. Rosenbioom is noted for his philanthropies
to music, art and literature as well as to various Jewish and general communal
undertakings. — The Editor.
to the city of Trujillo or to some other part
of the Dominican Republic. As a Zionist
I would wish that the resources which
abound to Palestine were so opened to
immigration by the British Government
that ail who need this home would be
able to enter it. But I am compelled to
admit that for various reasons, most of
which I consider invalid as regards the
attitude of the British Government, Pal-
estine is not now in a position to absorb
the millions who must ultimately be
rescued from the wrecked society of
Europe. No responsible Zionist takes the
position that a Jew who wants to escape
the inferno of Europe must go to Palestine
to be saved or he cannot be considered a
responsibility of American Jewry.
In one of the articles recently written
against the Sosua project, the question was
asked: “Have Jews a right, in the face of
the miserably inadequate resources at their
disposal, and the swelling number of those
who need assistance, to appeal for funds
to the Jewish community as such for non-
sectarian colonization enterprises*—parti-
cularly when what is at stake is the sur-
vival of the Jews as a people, and not
merely their existence as individuals?”
My answer is that Jews not only have
a right but they also have an obligation to
save human lives no matter how miser-
ably inadequate their resources are. They,
of all the peoples of the world, realize
that responsibility and will not shirk it.
Certainly if Jews are saved as individuals,
that will just as surely mean their suxyival
as a people. There is no difference be-
tween the Jew saved who settles in Sosua
and the one lucky enough to get an affi-
davit to come to the United States. Is it
right to save Jews as individuals by* bring-
ing them to the United States but wrong
to save them by making a haven in the
Dominican Republic ?
One of the factors which deserves pri-
mary consideration in any colonization
scheme is the climatic condition under
which people of a special geographical
origin may work and live. But on that
subject those who have written on Sosua
in opposition have been generally vague.
The climate is almost tropical. But that
this is not an insuperable obstacle has been
proved by the Jews from Germany and
Poland who went to Palestine and hurdled
the same condition. Some of them have
even settled in and about the Dead Sea
area, where on a fine cool summer day the
thermometer may go down to 120 de-
grees Farenheit. Undoubtedly it is hot,
swampy and malarial in the Dominican
Republic—but such conditions are nothing
new to Jewish colonizers and cannot be
cited as reasons for refusing to salvage
human lives.
Those who express doubts about the
Sosua colonization program on the score
that it is dependent on the good will of a
government whose past actions have been
the subject of considerable criticism may
have good reason for caution. But the
very progress of the work in Palestine is
a reminder of what Jews, spurred by the
need to make a home for themselves, are
able to accomplish. Any one following
the history of Jewish development in Pal-
estine, fro mthe days after the first flush
of jubilation on the issuance of the Balfour
Declaration to the latest bureaucratic edict
ordering the removal of a Jewish flag from
a Palestine camp garrisoning a Jewish
unit, knows that the officials of Britain
in Palestine—and in England itself—have
done all in their power to impede or halt
the upbuilding of the Jewish National
Home. Even today, when men are needed
to die for the survival of civilization, Jew-
ish soldiers in Palestine mist fling them-
selves upon the grace o the British Gov-
ernment in order to be accented in the
fighting ranks. I quote this in tribute to
that noble, valorous spirit of Tews of
Palestine, who have gi./t n. • < every-
where a new pride in then s^.o and their
people because of what t • iu- done
and are doing today. It is evident, there-
fore, that governmental idiosyncrasies —
even though everyone wishes that they
were removed — are not the only criterion
of what Jews, given a free opportunity,
may accomplish.
In writing as I do of the Dominican
Republic Settlement Association, I am not
trying to offer an opinion as a coloniza-
tion expert as to whether its aims are at-
tainable or not. Certainly, I would not
encourage any enterprise if it were ani-
mated by any desire to divert attention or
funds from the greatest colonization pro-
ject which demands the devotion of the
Jewish people: that is, the rebuilding of
Palestine. But the problem must be faced
realistically. For the moment, the war
has modified the possibilities in the West-
ern Hemisphere. But millions of Jews—if
that many remain alive under the thrusts
and counter-thrusts of the Hitler Jugger-
naut—will want and need a new home. It
is not for me to prophesy how long that
home will be stable. That must rest with
Providence and the risking level of civiliza-
tion. It is my hope that Palestine will
be able to take the greater number of
them, if not all. But for those who do
not wish to go to Palestine or cannot go,
every undertaking which has any scintilla
of hope for their secure survival must have
our appreciation. It is my belief that any
one contributing his time, energy or means
to a Jewish program is contributing to
the survival of the- Jews as a people. In
that spirit, I salute, the founders and the
leaders of the Dominican Republic Settle-
ment Association. I am sure that their
fullest co-operation may be counted upon
to differentiate between the largescale per-
manent homeland colonization of Palestine
and the necessarily experimental settlement
of Sosua. In no sense can any reasonable '
person regard them as competitive. It is
true that every one of the settlers now in
Sosua—and many, many more—could be
absorbed in a single colony in Palestine.
But as I understand it, what is aimed at
in Sosua is an effort to determine, on a
small scale, whether Jewish colonization
outside of Palestine, especially in view of
the pressing need for homes, is a feasibility.
,____ (JPS) — In the six
iDonths tram July 1st to Dee. SI,
I Ml. there were 7,091 “Hebrew
immigrants” entering the United
States, according to the report of
the Department of Justice Immi-
i ration and Naturalisation Serv-
ice. In addition there were 1,045
'non-immigrant Hebrews.” The
total of immigrants in this period
was 17J78 and of non-immigrants
♦7JS7.
mian
«
from page 1)
lent; Mrs. Wm. Salman,
and J. L. Zuber, treas-
e re-elected. The fine
itior of the past year,
concluded, deserved an-
te year of service and the co-
llate of officers were reelect-
by a unanimous vote,
lected to serve on the corn-
tee of the Loan Funds ad-
by the Jewish Wel-
Bureau was Mrs. Henry
reelected were: L
and Simon Sako-
All will serve for three
The constitution of these
funds provides that three
of the committee are to
year to serve for
a three year period, there being
serving on the loan
ittee with the president of
Jewish Welfare Bureau as an
member.
LET US MAKE THE
UNITED JEWISH CAMPAIGN of HOUSTON
a VICTORY Campaign
DO YOUR PART
CONTRIBUTE TODAY
S. Juran ...
(Continued from page 1)
made no difference, this salesman
for our Uncle Sam worked deli-
gently. No high pressure sales-
man receiving a weighty com-
mission for his sales could have
applied himself any more to the
job on hand. Mr. Juran has suc-
ceeded in selling more than $5,000
of Defense Bonds and Stamps
each month for the past three
months and says he will exceed
this amount in the near future.
So, for you Uncle Sam and a
victorious campaign to make de-
mocracy and decency and hu-
manity safe—buy Defense Bonds
and Stamps—and of course, S.
Juran will be glad to take your
order and deliver same to your
door.
^1
-> ; «*f|
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White, D. H. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 12, 1942, newspaper, March 12, 1942; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1102193/m1/4/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .