The Texas Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 23, 1931 Page: 1 of 24
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I
A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
*
No. 2
Who Speaks For The Jews?
F
1
• important, and should
not he dropped The Kehillah,
all the difference.
recog
religious bodies
with chiefs at th
offic
the
Hnpire is
(p
he
So with letters.
official lea i t •
A
3
it.
Poslum
and a
ciety lead
Often he in
eludes a leading rabbi
quot es‘‘
woman’s
question of suf
prominent individua whom he could
"4
get quickly
official pro- •
rt unit ie
PI
l his demand
human life, and he I
U
h
hinir
arc
due,
she
no harm
I israeli
to
might ha
c'ynically c
But
bv
biography of (iladsttne.
separated
peel that (Bad
R. S. STERLING
!
mplete li t would be H
leli
I years. Ross Sterling served as chair-
f ‘Trust
4
I
bet ween
*
.)
, I
this
donation I
f a
lah, wita
1'1 ti
fol
f a convenient bureau that may
V
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E
\
111 .
is
a
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II
>
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$
t
r
11
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-*39
camp,
thi' St at e
freighting pr
merchandise
tin .1
mary
the
the
100
Sa III
i
Kehillah, and
a Sanhedrin,
> B-n
■ *2}
into
long
Sout h
( ‘hure h
( romwell
officially
Twenty-Fourth Anniversary Number
THE TEXAS JEWISH HERALD
nized by
necessary
bay
and
tensin e
hig h way
and maiht
public
f his
I
I
i
I
I
I
i
I
I
I 0
t he
1 m
1,1 w ee
i l
ii i
ent ire
govern
a mi
his
f the
grou
Such
on
to
ill
of
.of England
formality w
their
w hen
Bro
t hat
per
lah, that
pregatior
Gov. R. S. Sterling
be a
that
$
of
did
He
all
of
Governor
"4
26
I
I
t el in •
by law
le and
their
exist
ized a
/12
more
sion o
s that
ta ks
■ nr
li'y
Jewish
among
const met ion
enance.
call
/Twenty-fourth Year
office.
Jewish
Of .
did. him
Rah
, by .
d
r of
New J
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
ica . . . the
long one.
even called to ,
t hat t he J ewish !
Sidon ia
Hebrew
re essen
religious
a Cau-
। ish. <
wouli
the o
' wh.ch
■ 4 ...
of a
Kehil
has
provi
muuuuuUNUIUNI
One I
l d.« !
t-her
wa
of di
t a n i
What
I the eye
fact t ha i
THE OLDEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN THE SOUTHWEST
oduce and
across the
Anahuac
- .' )
I
in the lot of the newsp
is piven a topic, told t
ad-
for
x pel Teller
i was seen
in
Jew
been
,7 i
ml 11111)1/4
mat unl” a
4
"Ea
48
ha pt ism
on r
have
binici
Select!
I
i
1 1 reduced
elearl V
himself ;
' delivered
I eluded a
I Mayor's
Of the
I one i n n
I !
I I
paper write
cit ies i munity then choose a chief rabbi for
nf.ji......
1.1.....
r
: !
!
li
1
!
1
r
the government is not
admired lh i a<
be orran
f the convert, it
any subject from
slavery in Siberia.
Ordinarily, for a
7 39
11
।
i i
।
i
i;
i
।
।
।
।
brutally expelled from the conn
19
$
(1 Herman
up
I,'
' >2
He asked the Jewish men
became his
0 many governmerts as a
means of organization for
body might be governed as of old.
I do not believe that the French gov
16,000, had
Up a leading minister, a physician, aonly
psychiatrist, a university professor, * *
of Hlermann Hospital es
. l)is1
Jew,
1 Jeu
bui luuuI iuilimuiurunn uniiunumtu
"I- "—1I
He proceeds t
people, declared Nidonia, we
tially monarchial, deeply
land essentially Tories. As
He Made European History
faps • on America’s participation
V‘N
\
\
organ- his ewishne s and his uncanny
ized into units,
heads. Thus,
But who speaks
Benjamin I
the British
history and
from Parliament and
•n to
would have called Rabbi Wise, Rabbi
writing the
the deeper.
A pid I Jt h marks to 11
made 1 Courageous words for a politician in
। t hose days to use ’ ,
I
I
I
I
i
bet'll to hi di-advantagi.
I i rneli.
I mpire
no man
get a “
their presence was
Brili h Parlia that Disraeli was able <
a congregation of con-
The rabbis in that com-
in the
sort of
, , with the
spite the rivalry that
two men, it was a res
Into his novel "(dningsby”, he in
(‘burel
bishop-
d< voted
ly separated from church
civil authority demands gether
ment, the
that the i
i organizat ion
course there were Iewish
casian community, they would be ob-
I literated by persecution. The lead-
the closed । ing ministers in nearly every state
hisin Europe were, he declared, of Jew-
ish descent. Jesuits owed much to
(Fditor's Note: It is a fact not
generally realized that American
Jewry as a unit has no official voice
that entire community, into a Kehil stitutions a
the year 1920.
, numbering about
Jewish organizations. The J
i character, Sidonia, who
is a kind of rhapsody on
stone himselt confessed, nor must it
be forgotten that there i. A letter,
I H | well-known Lthe historian ia which,
: on one occasion. Disraeli offered to
! i
actually happened was
schooner. A t the age of
about 20. he opened a
little “general merchan-
dise” store in his home
community.
"When we read of the election of
a chief rabbi in an American city",
says Dr. Drachman, "we must realize
that this is a loal affair. A group
of rabbis in the locality form an or-
ganization, and elect one of their
number a chief." He has final juris-
diction in all question of Jewish law.
such as the marriage laws, the
dietary laws, the laws of Sabbath ob-
servance. But there may be rabbis
in the same community who do not
belong to this organization, and who
would of course not be governed by
the chief rabbi's decision.
‘Tn general, according .to rabbin-
leal ethics, the decision of any rabbi
on a point of law is final. No other
rabbi will over-rule him, though a
chief rabbi, or a body of rabbis, if
they feel that in their judgment the
first rabbi has made a grave error,
may suggest to him that he change
his decision.
"In European countries, it has
been the custom for the Jews of a
■ large city or community to organise 1
God, the Lord is one".
In curly years Disraeli included
the Near East in what used to be
called "the grand tour of the conti-
nent" The picturesque magic of the
Ottoman Empire fascinated his imag
ination and to the end of his life he
held the view, common in England
that the Turk is the gentleman of
Asia. When, therefore, Russia be-
gan to force her way to the gates of
Constantinople, Disraeli was whole-
hearted in his demand that the ag-
gression should be resisted. He was
fiercely attracted by Gladstone, who
took the view that the interests of
the Christian peoples in Turkey had
been sacrificed t o imperialistic
"jingoism", and today there are no
(Continued on Page 8)
matters, such
Kosher food, a
l orley h
PMMhad Having achieved suc-
cess in all his private
and public endeavors,
Mr. Sterling became a candidate for governor through
an expressed desire to be of further service to,his state.
He was elected by a majority of almost 100,000 -
Votes.
His election brought forth favorable comment from
the press throughout the nation.
By P W Wilton
08
of Houston, and a trus-
tee of Texas Christian
Uni v ersit \ of Fort
Every news
he views
tho vario’
t he Engli h I
3 al
41
30,
Di raeli, a grant
played the. rame. Lore
id it coniribtitee |<> ,i l ain
Hi1, wor -hips
h:lf Worship
III- playfully
-1 intru ishingr
answer if they were asked whether | .
there was a chief Rabbi. Others, i I .
having read reports from Palestine j I I |
in the newspapers, might mention 1 •
"Isn’t there some
office. The Synagogrute imposed on into Italy and the
him a fine of $00 and the w ar was [ whence Shakespeare I
.on! Isaac announced that his child
ren should be baptized as (’ h list ia ns.
and immediately after the death of j
his father, the threat was carried
out. Benjamin l)israeli received a'
ceremhonial admission into the(‛hurch
I :
So with the arts.
Mendelssohn was a
was a Jew. Nean-
l israeli
ly, he
null's id
11 oust on
joining
He served as a mem- "2
ber of the Houston Port
Commission from the time of its inception in 1912. He
was later named chairman of the commission, and served
until he resigned recently. During his period as chair-
man, the Port of Houston was developed from a dream
into one of the major ports of the country, and the city’s
size doubled.
a reognized . head,
it s object t han t he
proinent Inglisk
r member of t he
mitted. E\cn so, they were exchid
not wish merely t
demanded a full
Jews to all the
has ,a list
“tap for
c0,) ■.'
24102,20*0
jolrnakist, njlt was thus because
great task of
For a numbur o
man of the I Joan I
Ross Sterling
member of the
Pope occupies in the Catholic world. L ■
A clear outline of Orthodox meth- H I
are common.
ganizations. There are thousands of
whom he can
When it occurred, the
as a ( hristia n who had never ccnrcd
j to be a Jew. I le I nested that
(‘hristinnity arose out of .Iidni-ii.
| ami every ccclesinstical historian
knows well that there is mdhinr in
( hrist ianit y which ha’s not been .lew
l tiop. But to
toleration wan
known to be an organized people,
and it is a common jest that when
two Jews come together they elect
a president, a secretary, and two
honorary vice presidenfs.
Further, there are- ’organizations
or national scopei and of great sig-
nificance. Fhe American Jewish
Committee has often spoken for the
nouncement of the Jewish
point of view.
“Who speaks for the J
asked. *•“*
(Fditor‛ Note
the fiftieth year
omet hi ng of in
to give 1
End Christian
R OSS STERLING was born on a farm near Anahuac,
I in Chambers County, in 1875, one of 12 children of
parents impoverished by the Civil War. His father was
a captain in the Confederacy, and-an uncle on his moth
er‛s side fought with Sam Houston at San Jacinto.
Early in his youth, he left the farm to engage in
the reporter
lirious matters. Many
ad chief rabbis, and the
else to renounce Judaism.
Of course, the existence
united Jewish community, or
There were
if of the world
unusual te( t orat e of Oliver
Di raeli lived hi- :iclilt lii.
Rabbi Kook with the idea that he
occupied ii position in the Jewish
world cofhbarable to that which the
Wit- thf ch u re h.
Like the l h ri
it , »w af a niat i,»
craft are described in this
article specially written for
ish "lelegraphic Agency ;
' Texas .1 cw uh I le । a ld by I'
population, does not
ews. So did the Czarist dipl
of people
sonally. he made his own. Others
asked that Jews be allowed tolera-
the phone. But this
' he .1 c w
.•mil The
W Wil
HOUSTON, TEXAS, THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1931
Shylock. Then, with especial pride, I
I he stated that, "grateful to the (iod among the
of Jacob’’ for their preservation, theland her <.......
exiles "dropped their gothic sur | courage, and the
name’’ and’ adopted Disraeli, a “ nm
name never borne before or since by , public
any other family in order that their might
nice might be forever recognized’’. .
! let it be known t hat. :
died i n 1 92 1, M r. Sterl-
ing gave t he Y M .( A
of South Texas a beauti-
ful Wooded camp on
(lalveston Hay . Hecent-
on merits. Mankind has a right to
be served by all w hg armrermble of
i if i i rendering sorvice
had derived hle I
gion for the Jews?
In England, the newspaperman’s
task would be a simple one. He
would refer bis question to Dr.
Joseph Hertz, chief rabbi of Great
Britain. In Poland, he would seek
the head of the Kehillah. In Pales-
tine, he would go to Chief Rabbi
Kook, or the Sephardic Chief Rabbi
Jacob Meir. That is, if his question
were one of Orthodox Jewish law.
In Italy, he would seek out the bead
of the New Jewish community, or
Kehillah, with the certainty that he
spoke for all the Jews in Italy, for
one of the latest edicts of the Mus-
solini government makes it coinpul
sory for every Jew to belong to the
Jewish x community organization, or
the death of
Hi services to
made Hluropetn
of this. It
it “H
enough. He
o be tolerated,
admission of
pure based
I the old
i homesite.
'. list in
the I o;.
O Israel, the Lord
the Jew:
uL 'fhe
a simple
Mr. Sterling launched
into the oil business in
1910, purchasing two
producing wells. Add-
ing to these properties,
he organized the Hum-
ble Oil Company. In
1925, he retired as head
of the Humble Oil and
Refining Company ami
parted with his holdings
in it, to devote his time
to other affairs, private
and public. He is own-
er and publisher of the
Houston Post-Dispatch
and chairman of the
board of the Houston
National Bank.
ways of observing holidays, all is of
the old world. 1
"Many of tho European Jewish in
man who, in
Worth. He is a mem-
ber of the Masonic,
Knights of Pythias and
Woodmen of the World
lodges
ernment today has a compulsory or- son
Kanization of that sort, but there is foi
a voluntary Kehillah which does not me
f (
ods of jurisdiction is offered by Ir.
Bernard Drachman, one of the lead-
in" rabbis of New York. and a I
teacher of Dr. Hertz, the present 1
chief rabbi of Great Britain. Dr. ,
Drachman has often urged the or-
ganization of a Kehillah that would
include all New York Jewry, Reform
as well as Orthodox.
ficient significance
had to be a mor or le
were rabbis who had personal adher-
ents, often scattered widely among - n<^ all are known to ber religiously r ,, , , ■ ।
theeeongregat...... »f other rabbis, reliable. ' 1 oward । 1 ' hulox: •' ni tol ' he"an in hi voins 1 he
The late Rai,hi Izchak Elchanan of Ral,hi Drachman pointea that Dinaplis....... in, uliar , r,L 1", 1 b 10, o1 th. Villa Iwai the Me
KAvne w,. g,,.1 .1 .. .. * .1 i i ai i ii ; nil lodav, he would be described as a (fina, the Lara, the Mendez da ( osta
MoVn was Such a man, a great , a kehillah wouk gain many Jewish i i । i n < 1 1." i 10 i n 1, । i r । i
.ccL,1., L,L, on;.,;,,.’ ci.., . 1-.ai. .. , i i F / ""18 Liberal Jew. But he lived most of and other Bephardic families who
.Mnoiai, whose individual influence adherents who are not sufficientlv i ur , , । । i । । i r i n ■ i .1 . ,
religious gytone, f.,, ;,,4 .. , i iiioumiv jus lile at a time when Liberal Jmla found their homes on the shores of
i ' : I nt.^U.M in any one Eroup to join ism had till to be organize, I ll,.,,,,. what he called "the Midland ocean".
Vo. L Nome Ameriean communities I, present l" ing contact he adopted an attitude of indiffer Purther. he recalled th, tradition
1 hevc taken over the Buropean form 1 ■ udaism. ence to I he forms of all reli,ion, ami. that th, persecutinns of Toruemada
, ‛ 11 ° 1 orranization. In .Denver, ' It would be of extraordinary fi- when the Bevis Marks Synaggye and t he" I nqu isition had driven his
or ins ami', he'e 1S a •ewish com-inancial advantage , he declared, elected him warden, he ignored the borebears out of Spain arid Portugal
munity that might have been carried [pointing out that the business of office. The Synagogue imposed on into Italy and the . very Venice
over bodily from old Russia. The supplying Kosher food in New York ’ '
sermons in t he synagogues are all I is at least a $5,000,000 a week busi
conducted in Yiddish, the Talmudness, and that the profit of this huge
Torah is like an old world school, | sum “now’ 'flows entirely ito the
and the daily life of the people, their pockets of private individuals with-
out any benefit whatsoever to any
Jewish cause or institution. In most
((ontinued on page 8)
Jewry of
headed by
—+ eliminate him elf from the prosper
। I live leadership of the Tory l’arts in
. order that Gladstone might enter up-
l on th.it inviting re ponsibility
I | III, character i tit of I aac | i,
। . raeli t hat. having had hi n ha ।
! I tized an A nglican. he |>' ceeded t .
hand him o er to tin l . nitarians f,.i
In proceeded
(trict, has added to the muni
Rregignal Orthodox leader
" • e,, , Al ilene. reorganized
,h <• V, t hi' department, spoil
: - 1 sored an inerease in the
y 26 ' ' gasoline tax. and for thi’
‛,sg" ", past three and a half
1 u 1 '.' v ears carried on an
{ M- a" :
, I! t " i \ " " i a in
28
\5ml the Jowish people through fon that key wis in the lock,
out the world, th., lift,,.th year sine. . With hi pnopects in the balance.
,i i ,i c 1 .1 ■ । , iiiui’c arose the iiuestion how he
the death ol Benjanin Disraeli stirs . . 1 . . 1 . .. .1 . .
leep emo!,,,,, 'll. lonr irilliant would behave oward 1 he f ait h of Jew. Meyerbeer wa
career culminatinir in an Earidom his a 7 , .u flinh der and Wchl were
and I lie office of Prime Ministor in 0YN ant 1 wa a Ya Y,tha 08 , even , included Napoleon’s marshals,
the British Empire, was, from first him . omethinF anit onnt •Soult and Massena in his roll of
A Chief . in t. , triumph of per onality over he Irish leaden, denounced young honor- a elaim that is disputed,
piritual ' acinl 11 ejudin . and a victor in the Ihlaraclia i i‛ nitantcthi in'" It was” no vague anti semitism
-ews. mot eactin of -ih confliet • the ,l,,ra('t. retie tiraze apinst tho'stthatDi-raen had '" face. Ameng
ry ol im-rueh has grown with he perlatfv, Ilebrew p.dll.md all the I.....tical 1 ues that day.
u It son Mount Zion that his Ing ali th, rrat lor , preat ivarties.none aroured a more vehement emo
Jubilen 1 ""lebrated Ereat inter, t a England" \l tion than the appeal for the aboliton
.. n..0 , ,r 1,1 that day, hi father Isane wa fireely contested .lection,, he wa Jewih disahilit jes and Din,el.
affair a reat • harm ter. A a writer, he assailed in th. street by , t ie „(i war .dong t„ lead the Tory Party
! "IY nitua. was prolific, vei aide and .ionising. "Shyloek" and "Old < Io" (0, "Inch, on the "hoi,, “s lea t in-
' ."hl'ly of |„ society, hewa a general favorite, eiothe ) But, despite his undoubted clined to concede thisad of justice
confusion Un'mlliorized ' -d i . "t L and it was ....... him th.a lenjamin .mhiti.m, DisTaeh never fl, nched J 1 f ever 1 her" were, a list of what;in
charge of t 7' wrt , | । take inherited the atirical geniality Every insult again st his l lebrew de- a fa mou $. play, ( ialsw " rt hy de " ri bed
1 F ii । i ’ 7’ and those which, throughout his life, was his 1 2,,. wis met bv in ,0 <»f it । as loyalties , here it was, and out
"lo would obey the dietary laws passport into th most eX. lsivi , ( ■ , h 1 h. mv I'to ' ns m d, of t hat orde a I ■ • isracl1 emerged " it h-
must iccept ll" " decisions although circles. ! . 7 ,, iJ , a \ fidelity to a can e winch,
ndt all are known to be r,di!n.„,Ov ....... E‛ •..... d a full ......unt ‛ t’hougli it no longer .alTe, ted him |>ei
I of the lit
I fait h. It v
| t ddu ho,I
tate, which built ad is ad minist ering a $1,500,000char-
ity institution. lie is a director and for several years
was president of the Y. M. C. A. of Houston.
In memory of his youngest son, Ross Shaw Jr., who
answer qruestions of newspapermen
who must gather symposiums.
But the new spaperman’s question. I
ns a small matter often will, point
out the amazing general ignorance
of American Jewry in regard to its
own affairs. We might venture to
say that nine out of ten American-
born Jews, would not. know what to |
state try, and it was only under the
ont jo’ or , no ( it t le of I lie e < ill lb
hi !<■< d; h - t heolorry w: fuiidameu
tali-t. and faced l lauwin’- evol
tin, with tin suggo .( d in that min
I ' hires h i - ped ur) ce witl । he .ip(
' “ I iz 2} in t he v rde i ; becalm
apot ry. retorted "My loid. I am on
thle '-ide <»i the angels’’. He wa- ene
tranced by the orient with its mystic
i m and wa- far too partial to the
Turk. Many a time did he make his
way to the home of the Rothschild-
and confess his love for the old pray
ers and hymns. It is believed, more
ver, that when he lay on his death
bed. his last muttered words, in a
language unknown to his listeners,
were “the great avowal”, as his bio
ranher. Sir Edward Clarke, called
he Worle ( ourt. IL' wante
Texas as a park.
( ,o\ erno l )aib M 00(1y
Jews, with authoritv and with effect.
The American Jewish Congress
speaks for thi' Jews. There is the
Union of Orthodox Jewish lonrrera-
tions, a body of national importance,
and there is the corresponding or-
ganization of Reform Jewry. 'I here
is the Zionist Organization of Amer-
York, the greate*! Jewish commun
ity # the world, has no chief rabbi
TheHewish Telegranhic Aireney tell British
of te duties of a chief rabbi I Chief Rabbi, who was selected at the
I ' reque t of the British Government. however, represent all of French
4 writer for a metropolitan news I "In Palestine", says Rabbi Drach- Jewry. The British an I Italian are
peber "as gathering opinions on ajmgn, "the Jewish community was the strongest forms of Jewish bodies
crtain matter, the subjeet of which । as ket to form a Kehillah by the gov related to their governments.
is not rormane to fill di cussion. ernment, ami as a result the Kenes 1 "In London, the dignity and status
perhaps it was on prohibition, per seth I raid was formed. It is headed of the Chief Rabbi ar ‘ comparable
ill bv two chief rabbis, one for the Ash- I to those of the great church digni
i , get , Kenazic Jews, that is the Jews of paries and the higher standing of
general European origin Judaism in the British empire , on
Ilie chief is Rabbi Kook. The other doubtedly due to that fact,
chief is Rabbi Jacob Meir, who rep- Rabbi of New York, the
lie re onts the Sephardi. Jews, or ori- leader of nearly two million Jew
lental Jews of Spanish origin, would have even high.-, dignity and’ Ii"
| "These rabbis have jurisdiction authority and would raise immense
the Palestine community ly the statii of Ameriean Jewry.
| of Jews, except as other communi "It would greatly facilitate’ t he
ties may appeal to them. regulatRn of om
"Sometimes we hear of a rabbi At present the e
I Tribunal of Ios Angeles
g a chief rabbi for then
us. Napoleon
an education. I‛n der a proce
| dev clopment, o illopica i it w . i l.|
have been lio mat t , of 1 |'p| I , if
Dtanli had emerged a -ceptic, ready
t believ e anyt hinir or Hof hitisr.
of great learning who is ought out
by other rabbis for his judgment in
difficult matters of law. This is a
question of purely individual author-
ity. Antony the Chassidim, there
Krass, Rabbi Goldstein, or any other
By Meyer Levin
(hi l vest on in a
It and now amemher of the taff sider a political future. To I
he New York lime i door, an accident had purt
• hand the kty, nor was it
From there, he ven-
tured tiilo the oil field
regions of 11 umble, and
Sour Laike. establishing '
ferel find prod nee stores. e
and later expanding his «&
activities to include
country banking: In 47-
1 898, he \v sis married to ")
Miss Maude Abbie ’O
Gage. Five children M3
have been born to them. 0F
and 1 ath Ii I in
h I bapti-i. and b.
mir be m. ii । mi ted. 11 < w a
I ' l" him. that . ■
i e li vled a
I mini
Kehillah. In many countries.
a ppoint ed Mr Sterling
chairman of the State
11 ig h w a y (‛omm ission
early in 1 927. I le and
his i । d leagues, (‛ommis
sinners ('one ohnson of
ly ler and W . R. EI, of
Kg)
W57/
,353
Shou.
1 lewi h tradlition
ici ' di-I Dim- ie l i
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Goldberg, Edgar. The Texas Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 23, 1931, newspaper, April 23, 1931; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1520943/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .