Texas Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 4, 1937 Page: 1 of 6
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TEkAS JEWISH KERALD
Thirty-first Year
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HOUSTON, TEXAS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1987 V<*
A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Jews of Texas, Their Interests
No. SI
HAS REFORM JUDAISM FAILED?
What it Has Achieved and What It Can Do
By DR. ISRAEL I. MATTUCK
One of the most important
utterances of the past Jewish
calendar year-dJy a Jewish reli-
gious leader was the speech of
Dr. Felix Levy, who, as presi-
dent of the Central Conference
of American Rabbis, told that
body that "our reformation days
are over.” In this article, Dr.
Mattuck, chairman of the World
Union for Progressive Judiasm
and rabbi of the Liberal Syna-
gogue in London, subjects Dr.
Levy’s assertion to searching
analysis and answers the ques-
tion “Has Reform Judaism Fail-
ed.”—The Editor.
RABBI ISRAEL MATTUCK
sive Judaism was founded eleven
years ago at a meeting in London
with two special aims. One was
to bring together represents
tives of Progressive Judaism
which includes those organiza-
tions which are called “Liberal”
and those that are called “Re-
form” for an exchange of views,
for a discusison of policies, for
considering ways by which Pro-
gressive Judaism might increase
“Political High
Level” Legalized
Jerusalem (WNS-Palcor Agency)
— Palestine’s immigration ordi-
nances are drastically revised by
a new amendment published in
the Palestine Gazette which gives
the High Commissioner full pow-
er to determine the immigration
capacity of the country without
reference to the long-established
principle of absorptivity. The
draft ordinance authorizes the
High Commissioner to prescribe
the maximum immigration per.
missible and the categories with-
in it as well as the proportion
and maximum aggregate and
maximum number in any cat-
egory who may be Jews.
Henceforth, the ones for prov-
ing their right to stay in the
country in the case of illegal
immigrants devolves on the ac-
cused who must show that they
entered Palestine lawfully. The
penalties for people harboring,
aiding or abetting illegal immi-
grants and for ships smuggling
them into the country are made
heavy. The new provision which
gives authority to the High Com-
missioner to determine the immi-
gration flow legalizes the state-
ment issued by the British Gov*
erament on July 7, 1937 regard-
and strengthen its work in the
countries and in the organisa-
tions where it existed. The
second purpose was to combine
all the existing Progressive
Jewish organizations for joint
work in spreading Progressive
Judaism to countries and to
places where Jt did not then
exist.
The first of these purposes in-
dicated that we believed in pro-
gress in Progressive Judaism,
that we did not any of us claim
— no matter what country we
came from, no matter what par-
ticular line we took in Progres-
sive Judaism — that Progressive
Judaism had come to the end of
its development, and that it
must stay where it is. For it is
fundamentally true that in Pro-
gressive Judaism, change, de-
velopment, is a sign not of
failure but of success. Whereas
in those forms of religion which
accept an authority from the
past, every change, every de-
velopment is a sign that the au-
thority has failed, growth be-
longs to the very life of the
Progressive Jewish idea. There-
fore, there is never any cause for
surprise, but a cause for grati-
tude, when a call for develop-
ment, for change, comes from
adherents to and from leaders
of Progressive Judaism.
When, -therefore, the retiring
president of the Central Confer-
ence of Amrican Rabis, Dr. Fe-
lix Levy*, in his presidential
address to the meeting of the
Conference, called for some
changes, for some developments,
in American Liberal Judaism or
Reform Judaism, that call was
to Progressive Jews in itself not
a confession of failure. If the
president of an orthodox Jewish
organization or rabbinical organi-
zation had said: “Gentlemen, we
must make changes,” that would
be a confession of failure. But
when the president of a group
of Reform Rabbis says: “We
ought to change,” far from be-
ing a confession of failure, that
is a sign of living power.
But in the report which has
reached us, great stress is laid
by the critics and opponents of
Reform Judaism on the state-
ment which Dr. Levy is reported
to have made: “Our reformation
days are over,” and that is in-
terpreted to mean tljpt Reform
Judaism is over. The Reforma-
tion days in the Christian Church
were over several hundreds of
years ago, but Reform Chris-
tianity is not over — far from
it! Reformation days in the
church lasted for some decades,
but Protestant Christianity which
was the result of the Reforma-
tion has gone on and goes on
and kvill go on. Reformation
days may be over for Reform
Judaism, but Reform Judaism is
far from being over; it is only
preverted desire to find argu-
ments against Reform Judaism
where no arguments exist, to in-
terpret such a statement to mean
anything contrary to the hopes,
the aspirations and the belief of
all of us that Reform Judaism
is a power. Surely there is no
one, least of all the president of
the Central Conferenc of Ameri-
can Rabis, who would maintain
that Reform Judaism is dead.
But be made a plea for a ten-
dency, a return perhaps, to more
conservative practices in Re-
form Judaism in America. As
Herr Rechtsanwalt Stem of the
German Reform Jewish group
said recently, no matter how far
back to conservative practices
Reform Judaism in America
may go, it would probably still
Zion Flag Day Set
For November 28
New York (WNS) — The 24th
annual observance of Zion Flag
Day, an annual occasion to
muster public support for the
Jewish National Fund’s Palestine
land redemption program, has
been set for November 28th, the
eve of Chanukah. A corps of
volunteers recruited from among
all Zionist parties and students
of Hebrew and Sunday schools
will engage in the sale of minia-
ture reproductions of the em-
blem of the Zionist movement
ing the 8,000 certificates, the
“political high level” suggested not be as conservative as Liberal
by the Royal Commission.
(Continued on Page 2)
Adath Yeshurn
Sisterhood Dance
Armistice Eve
The Sisterhood of Congregation
Adath Yesnurun nave completed
plans for a gala Armistice Eve
dance to take place on Wednes-
day, November 10th., at 9 o’clock
at the Junior League Building,
500 Stuart Avenue.
Many novel plans have been
made to make this affair one of
the most elaborate dance at-
tractions of the current season.
Everything that is in keeping
with the holiday season and
Armistice day will be carried out
in every detail.
The committee announces that
JaJke Wilkenfeld and his orches-
tra has been engaged to furnish
the nwsic for the, occasion and
are planning several new .Music-
al features for this affair.
The advance ticket sale has
been most incouraging and a
large crowd is expected but the
hall is most adequate to care for
a goodly gathering. Those who
have not secured tickets may do
so by calling the synagogue of-
fice for additional information.
Remember the date — Armis-
tice eve, November 10.
The place — Junior League
Building, 500 Stuart.
The time — Nine o’clock.
Admission .— $1.50 couple or
stag.
-.—o-
Chanukah Ball
Plans Made
The Joint B’nai B’rith Lodges
of Houston, Herzl No. 608 and
Houston No, 434, will this year
again sponsor a huge Chanukah
Ball, according to a announce-
ment made Wednesday by Abe
Sampson, general chairman.
Assisting Mr. Sampson will be
Morris Rauch, co-chairman; Irv-
ing Waldman, secretary and
Harry Maltz, treasurer. This
group will shortly call upon
members of the Order to form
teams and go out on a general
city-wide ticket sale campaign.
As in the past the money re-
ceived from the sales of tickets
will go toward the upkeep of the
various B’nai B'rith institutions
and on part of the funds will be
used to defray any of the ex-
pense in connection with the
Ball.
Again this year, a public
spirited member of the Order
is covering the general expenses
of the dance dance which in-
‘cludes the tickets, stationery,
stamps, hall and orchestra.
This year the Joint Chanukah
Ball will take place on Thurs-
day night, December 2. This
place and orchestra will be an-
nounced at a future date.
aND THE JEWS
WAR PROPAGa. <_
How the Allies the Support of
American Jewry
By HAROLD ROLAND SHAPIRO
Reproduction in whole er In
part without written permission
from the Seven Aria Feature
Syndicate is sfeictly forbidden.
The inside, never-before-told
story of how the propaganda ma-
chine of the Allied Powers suc-
cessfully won the support of
American Jewish opinion in the
years before the United States
entered the World war is told
in this fact-buttressed expose by
Mr. Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro is the
author of a starkly realistic
book, ‘What Every Young Man
Should Know About War,” which
Knight will publish this month.
It is a revealing document that
should be in the hands of every
Jew.
In this first of two articles
presented on the ocasion of
Armistice Day, Mr. Shapiro
sounds a warning against Jewry
again by those who are playing
on their desires to take a crack
at Hitler. — The Editor.
• • •
Jews throughout the world,
who wish subconsciously that
they could “take a crack at
Hitler,” should take heed lest—
as in the World War — they
again become the dupes of other
people’s ambitions. Long before
countries are actually at war,
neutral and racial groups are
subjected to a systematic propa-
ganda by armies of experts:
psyschologists, sociologists, news-
papermen, artists, cartoonitL,
linguists and others who are
playing on every emotion and
weakness, including racial preju-
dices and national aspiration.
‘To be forewarned is to be fore-
armed!"
Brigadier General Edward L.
Munson, General Staff, U. S.
Army, has pointed out that the
morale division of our World
War army operated on the prin-
ciple that soldiers of a demo-
cratic country “fight well only
for ideals. Money or material
reward was no inducement to
the American soldier to face the
bullets of the Arogonne, but he
sought death, with a smile on
his lips, as the champion of
ideals."
In no case has this been truer
than of the Jew. As the in-
extinguishable idealist he is
considered to be an excellent
prospect for recruiting in a war
against fascism, and an even
better fighter. No country in
the world understood this better
than England, which began its
campaign to make the American
Jew pro-Ally long before the
United States declared war an
Germany. In doing so, England
had to explain away, or claim to
have converted, two of its allies
—anti-Semitic Russia and Jew-
baiting Rumania — a burden
eased, in a negative sense, by
publicizing and building up
stories of German and Turkish
anti-Jewish persecutions. Realiz-
ing the inadequacy of this nega-
tive approach, Great Britain, on
behalf of itself and its Allies,
had to adopt a plan whereby Ae
Jewish people, particularly in
America, would regard the Allies
as the saviors of Israel and be
eager to lay down their lives
to achieve an Allied victory.
For, every General Staff knows
full well that once an ideal has
been fixed in the minds and
hearts of its racial legions, its
only fear need be that the troops
shall not di« from excess emo-
tion or recklessness. Aside from
this, the matter of race does
have an important bearing on
the food and equipment to be
provided for the troops. Thus,
regiments containing a large pro-
portion off short, Polish Jews
from New York City would have
to be provided a leaser amount
of food per man than those com-
posed mostly of long-legged
Scandinavians. A knowledge at
racial characteristics is nacaa
sary for the proper cuting of
uniforms and the manufacture
of gas masks. It was important
to the British Army in the for-
mation of military organizations
fey
HAROLD R. SHAPIRO
• , . .
like the Jewish legion. On the
other hand, in one servic* of the
army, racial characteristics are
unimportant except in determin-
ing the size of stretchers, army
cots and coffins. In the all-im-
portant function of blod trans-
fusion, a dark-eeyed Hebrew
who has been taken prisoner can
effectively donate his blood to
dying blye-eyed Nordic, and the
other way 'round, provided only
(Continued on Page 2)
Jewish Shops
Destroyed By
Nazis In Danzig
Danzig (WNS) — Signalling the
opening of the anti-Jewish drive
promised as soon as the Nazis
gained complete political control
of Danzig, gangs of Nazis at-
tacked Jewish owned stalls in
the public market. Jewish trad-
ers in the market were forcibly
segregated in ghetto sections.
Those who resisted were beaten
and their merchandise restroyed.
It is estimated that 400 Jews
were removed from the main
trading area and pushed Into
undesirable corners. Nazi pickets
were stationed in front of Jewish
shops to keep buyers out. Few
Jewish stores escaped without
having their windows broken.
On the main business streets of
Danzig Jews were forced to move
because of an order demanding
the display of the swastika an
all stores. Under the N
berg laws Jews are forbidden
display the swastika. A
of Jewish lawyers and doctors
is also being organized.^
Although th« Nazi Party issued
a statement repudiating respon-
sibility for the disorder and de-
claring that the authorities bed
other means of eliminating the
Jews from trade, the Jewish pop.
ulation is panic^tncken, feering
further trouble and
mi
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Dannenbaum, Cecil E. Texas Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 4, 1937, newspaper, November 4, 1937; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1102236/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .