Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1930-12-19

              ^¦^
'I'j'.l •
.. '  'J:V;^V.>^/^|iV^£¦l^?^^q^,l'JIdA"«!¦^.¦¦¦*J«-'-•i»¦'.'¦. ''„-
Central Ohio's Only
Jewish Newspaper
Reaching Every Home
A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FOR THE JEWISH HOME
Devolcid to American
and
Jewish Ideals
¦Vol. XIV—No. 51
COLUMBUS, OHIO, DECEMHER 19, 1930
Per Year $3.00; Per Copy icjc
As I See It
By A. M. N.
Last Fridily evcnitig, JJeccniljer 12th, at the East Broad Street Temple, I deliv¬ ered an address on "The Cry o£ a Modern Jew." I staled iii this address that the modern Jew, schooled in Ameri¬ can colleges and universities, is essen¬ tially a truth seeker and a strong up¬ holder of. the principle of religious tol¬ erance. He believes firmly .ind consist¬ ently in the motto of Alexander Pope, "For modes of faith, let graceless zeal¬ ots fight; he can't be wrong whose life is in the right."
Big Drive on Behalf of the Columbus Tal¬ mud Torah Will Soon Be Launched in This City
Prominent Local Leaders Endorse the Work of Talmud Torah
and Pledge Their Co-operation in Putting Campaign
Over in a Big Way; Telegrams Are Received from
Friends of Jewish Education in Other Cities
- After all, dear reader, there are hun¬ dreds upon hundreds of ways of wor¬ shipping God, the Eternal Father. He worships God most truly, my friends, who serves his neighbor most devotedly and unselfishly. I say this fearlessly and sincerely; for I abhor bigotry, tyranny, and intolerance in every form.
Why should I cast aspersions and sneers at those who differ with me in re¬ ligious matters? Who am ¦ I to pass judgment on a man's attitude towards his heavenly Father and his manner of worshipping Him? Isn't it possible that he may be nearer the truth than I am?
Infallibility, my friends, is not as yet one of man's fundamental characteristics. Sincere, intelligent, and analytical as we may be, error inevitably creeps into our thinking.
Let us all realize that perfection has not yet been attained by ANY of us, even though we are looked upon as ex¬ perienced journalists, erudite ministiers and publicists, aiid scholarly academicians. To respect each other's right to work otit, his oTJOn Personal' salvation should be our guiding star.
With love in our hearts let us rather help each other by the exchange and in¬ terchange of views, concepts, and con¬ clusions.
For a brief space of time at least let us forget that we are Catholics, Protes¬ tants, or Jews. As members of a pro¬ gressive house of worship, we ought to cJonsider the search for truth as one of our prime objects. Regardless, however, of what Temple a man is a member lie ought to strive unceasingly to bridge the chasm of alienation and prejudice which has been and is keeping good men from understanding and co-operating with each other. By taking this attitude, we can do a great deal toward;; establisliing a common basis upon whjcli various creeds can meTtt.
I rejoice that I have successfully cul¬ tivated the attitude and outlook of : truth seeker. From the age of ten I have been permeated by a strong yearn- , ing to learn all that is good and true from whatever source it may be.
Altliough by birth and rearing I iwi a Jew, I feel kindly disposed to all hu¬ manity of every race and clime. In all its grandeur and significance I realize the great truth that "Gii6 has made of one blood all nations of men." I realize, too, that creeds and sectarian differences are all man-made and that the Universal Father has established but one religion— the religion of Love.
I firmly believe that Love covers every human need. If a man loves God su¬ premely, he cannot but live up to all the universally accepted ethical and moral precepts. He who loves God supremely, cannot hate his brother, nor covet his neighbor's property, nor bear false wit¬ ness, nor steal, nor commit adultery.
Some time ago, while attending a meet¬ ing of liberal religionists in the city of Chicago, I was surprised to hear a sup¬ posedly well-informed preacher assert that Jews are the most intolerant of all religionists. I would like to digress a moment to refute this declaration. As a son of a Jewish rabbi, and as one who has spent the major portion of his years among the Children of Israel in various parts of this country, I believe that I speak with authority when Isay that the average _ Jew is extraordinarily broad- minded in his attitude toward' his neigh¬ bors of opposite beliefs. I have rarely seen a Jew, my friends, who did not re¬ spect a sincere Christian of whatever de¬ nomination.
Noted Authority on Russian
Affairs   to   Speak
Here
Maurice Hindus Has Just Re¬ turned from the Land of the iBolstievists
Said the Netv York Evening Post of Maurice Hindus, noted author and edi¬ torial observer, who is to speak here on Tuesday, January 27th, at the Bryden Road Temple in the Temple Lecture Course:
"He is the most keenly observant com¬ mentator of post-revolutionary Russia of our time." He is the only English speaking journalist with a,knowledge of the Russian language who has year after year been wandering up and down the vast Russian domains, living, working, feasting with the common people so as to learn from them first hand how they were reacting to the stormy world about them.
He was born in a Russian village, came to this country at the age of 14 and worked his way through Colgate and Harvard.
He is the author pf "Broken Earth," and "The Russian Peasant and the Rev¬ olution," regarded as classics the world over. His new book, "Humanity Up¬ rooted," puts him at the very forefront of interpreters of Russia and of the so¬ cial upheavals of pur times.
His articles have api>earcd in leading American magazines—Century, Yale Re¬ view, Outlook, Current History, and Asia.
His lectures are based on personal ex¬ periences. They are really dramatic in¬ terpretations. He is a fine speaker with rich diction, a fine flow of wit, a keen sense of the dramatic and above all fair- minded.
President Glenn Frank of Wisconsin University ¦ paid Hindus the following tribute: "I can say of him what Ches¬ terton said of Wells, 'You can almost hear his mind growing.'"
His subject here will be "My Latest Impressions of Russia."
' By A. M. N.
If Judaism is to continue as a living and throbbing force in the life of Ameri¬ can Jewry, the Talmud Torah movement will have td receive a greater support and impetus. The future of our religion and its ideals and principles is bound up with the education of our children in those thjhgs which will distinguish them from the young people of other denominations and faiths.
We do not know of any plausible reason why every boy and girl should not be familiar with the language in which the Bible—the premier literary production of the ages—was written. Moreover, we do not understand why they should not be familiar with the original text of our prayer book. The history of the composition of the Bible and "Sidur," as well as their contents, should be as well known to every young Jew as is the history of the United States. This is absolutely funda¬ mental. -
It occurs to us that there is no better time than the present for the inaugural of a great national movement for Jewish education in all its branches. The study and cultivation of neo-Hebrew literature should also be. encouraged. Why this work should be carried on by our Orthodox and Zionist brothers exclusively, is a mystery to us.
HAS BEEN NAMED A MEM- BEK OF OHIO BAR COM¬ MITTEE
I will admit frankly that many Jewish immigrants in this country because of persecution to which they have been sub¬ jected by their Christian neighbors in the old country, look with suspicion upon Christianity, the Galilean Prophet, and the New Testament. For they infer that there are things taught in this religion which have evoked anti-Semitic feelings. (Continued on page 0)
Crtlilic U  Kauttfr
Miss Kanter, member of the law firm of McMahon & Kanter, the only woman law firm in Columhus, 8^ South High Street, has been appointed a member of the important legislative committee ot the Ohio Bar Association by Phil S. Brad¬ ford, its president. Miss Kanter is the only woman member of this committee, which is perhaps, the most itnportant of the association.
Special Notice
Mail In Your Stories Early Next
Week, If You want Them
Published
All organizations desiring publicity in the Ohio Jewish Chronide for December i 24th are hereby requested to mail in their stories one day earlier than usual.
In order to be published, your stories will have to be in our office not later than Tuesday evening, December 23rd.
Kindly co-operate with us in this matter and thereby facilitate the work of the editorial department.—The Editor, Ohio Jewish Chron¬ icle.
L
Rabbi Tarshish to Give Sec¬ ond Bible Lecture Sunday Evening
On Sunday evening, December 21st, in the main auditorimn of the Bryden Road Temple, Rabbi Jacob Tarshish will give his second Bible lecture in his series on a biographical survey of the Holy Scrip¬ tures. The subject Sunday evening will be "Moses—Who Was He and What Did He Do?"
All men and women interested in the premier literary production of the ages, the Bible, are cordially invited to attend these lectures. The lecture Sunday eve¬ ning will commence promptly at 8 P. M. Come and bring your friends.
The lime has come when, we' Jews of America who have been privileged to live under the benign influence and protection of American liberty, should realize that the pursuit of Hebraic culture is just as necessary, if not more so, than that of the secular sciences. Success in the fields of commerce and in the professional world is not sufficient; we.must achieve success as conscientious, intelligent Jews saturated with the real spirit of our race through the familiarity with all that goes to make a cultured Jew. We often hear our rabbis expatiating on the contribu¬ tions the Jews have made to the civiliza¬ tion of the world; they tell us again and again that bur outstanding and significant contributions have been the religious spirit and the ethical and moral ideals of our prophets. This is undoubtedly true. It is also true, however—and unfor¬ tunately so—that our present contribu¬ tions are not religious and spiritual ones; for the spirit of our prophets aiid their lofty idealism as well as their passionv for social righteousness do not seem itA. be the^pfimary aniihating"factofS Itf"(ittfTi lives today.
Why is this so? Simply this, because we have drifted too far from our ances¬ tral uioorings and have neglected the study of the Law and the Prophets'; the cultivation of our own religious and spir¬ itual heritage has been sadly n^lectcd. While ive have been working in strange vineyards, our duty to our ancestors as well as to our posterity has been over¬ looked; yea, scorned and ridiculed by some of us. The situation is indeed a most gloomy one and calls for immediate consideration and statesmanlike action. Let Us Awaken Let us awaken to our responsibilities; let us forget for a moment the mundane pleasures and interests of this earthly life and unite Iiarmoniously for one com¬ mon, glorious, purpose—the proper edu¬ cation and upbringing of our children. As one who has had considerable experience with the young, the writer can candidly assert that the latter's lack of interest in things Jewish is not inborn, but is only a reflection of the cold attitude of their parents.
No less a man than the late Judge Mayer Sulzberger—one of the most dis¬ tinguished lay scholars in the United States—asserted some time ago that "American Jewry is destined to disin¬ tegrate and' become entirely assimilated unless herculean efforts arc put forth to attract our young people and to imbue them with love for the sacred literary treasures handed down to us by our an-( cestors." ^
"I speak," he pointed out, "from long'i experience and observation as a Jew who yearns for the spiritual welfare of my co-religionists. I feel that our position today is, to say the least, precarious."
Dr. Louis Ginzberg, one of the world's' most noted Hebraic scholars and aca- demicians. said last week that the "Kack to the synagogue" movement niiust be preceded by a "back to the To^ah" move ment. Religion devoid of understanding and knowledge is a hollow sham and itiockery. The hope of i¥merican Israel is the daily Hebrew school; let us all rally to its support.    /
Felix M. Warbur4, the late Louis Marshall,   Simon  Mliller,  Rabbi  H.  G.
Endow, Dr. J. L. Magnes, and others of our leaders in Israel have voiced similar opinions. To heed them is our plain duty and' privilege.
A Question We have here in Columbus a daily Talmud Torah—"The Columbus Hebrew School." Why can't we make it a nu¬ cleus for a city-wide institution, open to and supported by every element in the city? With the right kind of co-opera¬ tion the Columbus Hebrew School can become the pride of local Jewry, elicit¬ ing the encouragement and interest of the Reform as well aS" the Orthodox Jews, the Zionists as well as the non- Zionists, the German and Hungarian, as well as the Roumanian and Russian Jews. We must relegate petty spites, prejudices, and jealousies to the limbo of forgotten things and stand unitedly behind this in¬ stitution.
Today, we are sorry to say, the Colum¬ bus Hebrew School is supported and maintained by a handful of conscientious Jf^ws—people who also contribute gen- t'TousIy'^to many other kinds of he^s and causes. Why should they bear the brunt of the burden? Every Jew in this city should consider it a sacred privilege as well as a duty to contribute to the promotion of Jewish education. We dare not shirk this manifest duty; to do so would be nothing short of religious dcr- clicition.—^A. M. N.
Annual   Election   of   B'nai
BVith   Lodge   Will  Take
Place December 29th
Elntirc  Community  Is  Looking Forward to Big Event; Sev¬ eral  Contests On
The entire coninuinity is looking for¬ ward with keen anticipation lb the long- heralded election of officers of Zion Lodge No. 62, B'nai BVith, whiciT will take place Monday evening, December 29th, at the Progress Club, 142 Parsons Avenue.
Beside the election there will also be
itwo other features:—(1) a recital by a well-known violinist, Frank Romoiidclli; and (2) a grand initiation ot some thirty odd candidates. President Justin L. Sillman makes it very clear that no one will he permitted to vote unless his dues are paid up in full. Absolutely no per¬ mit card for election will be issued to any one unless this rule is adhered to.
Secretary Garek will be on hand to receive all payments and remittances. The meeting will start promptly at &:30 P. M. with a short business session fol¬ lowed immediately by speeches from the candidates. AU members are urged to secure their ballot cards at the earliest opportunity. On election night Mr. Ga¬ rek will report at 7 P. M., for the con¬ venience of all members. In exchange for the ballot cards given to each paid- up member, the regular ballots will be issued on which preferences of each voter will be made.
(Contittued on p(^e 4)
By the Way
By David Schwartz
NOTICE   TO   ALL   LOCAL COUNCIL MEMBERS
Please reserve Tuesday, January 7th, for the Council of Jewish Women Birth¬ day luncheon. Further details concern¬ ing this event will be announced in the next issue of the Chronicle.
First Jr. Hadassah Lecture
at  Excelsior  Club
December 23rd
Editor of Ohio Jewish Chronicle
WiU Speak on "The Challenge
of an Ancient Faith to the
Modem Jew"
The Late Lamented Louis Marshall Said:
****"We must establish and support religious schools in such number as to accommodate every Jewish child whose par¬ ents desire that it shall be given a thorough training in the prin¬ ciples, history, traditions and literature of our people.
*'We must supply them with suitable textbooks, properly equip them, train an abundance of competent and enthusiastic teachers, and make them in every way attractive.
"It is 'needless for me to say that these schools are not to take the place of public schools. Our children must be educated secularly side by side with the children of other faiths. All must be made to appreciate that Americans constitute a single civic and political unit.
"We mast establish and sup¬ port for those who desire them, Talmud Toras conducted on^he most modern pedagogic meth¬ ods OR a strict basis of ortho¬ doxy,
"We must be prepared to en¬ courage Jewish scholarship and to foster Jewish learning.**** We can no longer afford to re¬ main indifferent to this supreme issue. No Jew who reflects in¬ telligently dare remain indiffer¬ ent or withhold his ungrudging support.***
'*The antidote of anti-Jewish spirit Is more Judaism."
The first of a series of lectures on Biblical History and conate subjects, sponsored by the Cultural Group of Junior Hada,ssah, will be given by Mr. Aaron M. Neustadt, editor of the Ohio Jewish CiironJcle, on Tuesday evening, December 23, at the Excelsior Club, Rich Street at Parsons Ave.
Mr, Ncustadt, in his initial talk, will give a summary tif the field, and- point but how, through knowledge of Je\visii history and culture, the modem Jewish man and woman can find his place among his fellow citizens.
Mr. Neustadt has invited a number of other leaders of the communal and cul¬ tural life of this city to deliver lectures in the course.
The lectures, which will be held bi¬ monthly, are open to the public, both men and women.
Members of Junior Hadassah who are preparing for the National Cultural Fel¬ lowship will use the material derived from these lectures to fulfill their re¬ quirements for admittance. Miss Kath- erine M. Baker is chairman of the Cul¬ tural Fellowship Group of the local unit of Junior Hadassah,
Eliot  Wanted   Brandeis   as   Harvard President
Norman Hapgood in his just published "Auto-Biography" presents some very intcrcstivig material conceriung Justice Brandeis. Que of the most interesting facts recalled in this connection is, that the name of Brandeis was presented to President Eliot of Harvard as a iios- sible successor to Eliot upon his retire¬ ment from Cambridge.
President Eliot, Hai>Bood reminisces, was delighted with the idea and an¬ nounced that he would call it to the at¬ tention of the Harvard Board ot Over¬ seers.
He was delighted with the idea, but he lamented that he did not think the Overseers possessed the necessary breadth and catholicity to appoint a Jew.
And of course, they didn't.
Things have changed at Harvard. There is no EHot there now. Nor, in¬ cidentally, is there the respect for the Hebrew language and Hebrew thought that characterized Harvard of old.
There was a time—in the early days of that institution—when no student pur¬ suing the cultural arts there would think of omitting Hebrew from his curricu¬ lum.
The old Doctor Mather, that queer blend of the witch-burner and thinker who at one time was President of Har¬ vard, is on record as having bemoaned the fact that many of the students could have acquired more proficiency^ in He¬ brew if th'ey spent some of the time they wasted in smoking by studying Hdifew instead.
The directors of the Jewish Education Association are no more anxious to in¬ still a love for Hebrew than the old mas¬ ters of Harvard.
A New Use for Hebrew
Mather, b^r the way, used Hebrew for a very peculiar purpose—that of teaching the dumb to speak artificially. The or¬ dinary method, then l&rgely in vogue, was to speak and let the mute observe the oral movements as each sound was uttered.
But Mather found that they learned quicker when he spoke Hebrew to them, for the reason, as he explained, that the speaking of Hebrew required a more de¬ cisive and hence a more visible mouth
ACHIEVES ENVIABLE REC¬ ORD AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Annual Chatiukah Banquet at Betb Jacdib Congregation
The Annum Oianuka Banquet will take place at/the Beth Jacob Synagogue on Sunday, JDecember 2!st, at 6:00 P. M. This is Qiie of Uie outstanding annual events ofAhe Beth Jacob Congregation, as the *'Sion Gmoro" of Rabbi Leopold Greehwa|ldi is celebrated at that time.
The / entertainment committee has spent mbch time and effort to make Ibis a most Enjoyable evening, which will long be remdjnbered by those present.
All members are kindly asked to come early to reserve seats.
Knights of Israel to Meet Sunday Evening
A meeting of the Knights of Israel will be held on Sunday, Dec. 21st, at tlie He¬ brew School, at 7:30 P. M. At this meeting election of officers will take place. Our president, Mr. Louis R. Fol- ster, requests that each and every mem¬ ber be present, as matters pertaining to the welfare of the lodge will be discussed at this meeting.
Edythe May Polster
E^ythe May Polster, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Polster, 2548 Sherwood Road, Bexley, was graduated from Ohio State University last Thursday, Decem¬ ber 18th. at the age of 19.
Miss Polster graduated from Bexley High School with the class of 1927. She was a student in the Arts College at the university.
Congratulations from the entire com¬ munity as well as from the staff of the Ohio Jewish Clironicle.
movement.
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
Well, our friend Charlie Levine is out, and I am glad to see it, largely for the reason that Charlie is too good a show to ;
feeccnfined fcahind barred wMls.- ——i-
Charlie is adways staging a good show and yet he doesn't ask any movie en¬ gagements in return nor does he plague us with indorsements of cigarettes or shaving soap. ,-.   -
Levine really needs some Dreiser to write him up —a la Dreiser's "Twelve Men." For in Levine, you have a mighty interesting personality—full of queer an¬ tics that sometimes . suggest the unbal¬ anced, but never the uninteresting.
If one can believe all the stories that are told about him, he is as full of little "tricks" as the Jersey meadows are of mosquitoes—or were.
How He Started Fortune
Raised virtually on the streets, Levine laid the foundations of his substantial fortune after the war, when the gqveirh- ment confronted by the problem of re¬ moving a monumental njass of derelict war material ¦ offered to donate it and add a bonus to anyone who would cart it away.
None could be found to take the job. Charlie Levine got busy. What did he do?
He merely bought some land adjoining the government site and on it dumped the material from the government site. Now, I don't know—I am not sufliciently aware of the details, to know how ethical this was, but it is an awfully refreshmg idea—and it must have given everybody as good a laugh as the Marx Brothers ever afforded.
Lindsey t.nd Gould
It has been wittily observed that Vic¬ tor Hugo made a fortune, pitying the poor.
Something along a similar line might he said of Simon Gould, except that Gould is making his by a different form of practical idealism.
You may have noticed in those _ ac¬ counts of the clash between Judge Lind¬ sey and Bishop Manning a little line to the effect that Judge Lindsey made his entrance into the church accompanied by Simon Gould.
An interestnig fellow is this Gould! He .was the initiator of the first "Little Cinema" theatres—that type of the movie house which catered to the intelligentsia. Gossip has it that Gould put aside a nice little n_est egg from that form of ven¬ ture.
Then he took to fostering debates—is the head of the Discussion Guild, under which Darrow, Lindsey and other such have exi>ounded their views before a public which paid theatre ticket prices to hear the talk.
The Manning-Lindsey fight is just so much velvet to Gould. Another^ who stands to profit from the publicity is Horace Liveright. This publisher who has recently been going in heavy on Ihe translation of Yiddish classics is soon to publish Lindsey's second book. He will make more money on the new Lind¬ sey book than on the Yiddish classics. If we could only get some bishop to damn and kick out the authors of tbe Yiddish classics, it, of course, might ^^ different, but most of the bishops can not read Yiddish*
Take Him to the Zoo. Asronskyl
I get that tickling sensation when I note the fuss that is now made over every move of Professor Einstdn and think back some eight years or so, when the great scientist madie his first visit to America, under the escort of Dr. Wciz- mann.
Gcrshon A^ronsky was tlieti named as
a sort of major doino to the piofebbor.
(Continued m Pag* 6)