Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff
Resolutions To Be Presented Before the 23rd Annual Meeting of the United Jewish Fund of San Diego December 8, 1956
Southwestern Jewish Press, November 30, 1956, Page 5
I–Peace in the Middle East — With the Question of permanent peace in the Middle East now on the agenda of the United Nations, the nations of the world have the sacred obligation to help achieve a just and lasting peace in that crucial part of the world, which we fervently pray will be attained by mutual agreement of the parties involved. Such a “peace with justice–and justice with peace — will be of momentous and enduring value to all peoples of the area –and to all mankind.
II–U.S. Immigration — The recent action of President Eisenhower calling for the admission of 5,000 Hungarian refugees to the United States is most praiseworthy. Unfortunately, the President is limited in the greater accomplishment of his humanitarian purpose by the inflexibility of our base immigration laws which lack provisions under which such tragic situations can be met.
For many years members of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds have joined with other welfare agencies, church groups, and fraternal and labor organizations, to urge revision of our basic immigration laws; to eliminate the discriminatory national origins quota system; and to establish a realistic and flexible quota system geared to meet emergencies.
Again, we urge that Congress enact such changes and we call attention particularly to the need for a provision in our basic law creating a special preference be used in giving asylum in the traditional American way to those who must flee from their homelands because of oppression or persecution or fear thereof on account of race, national origin, color, religion, adherence to democratic beliefs or opposition to totalitarianism.
III–Israel — Since World War II, under the most difficult conditions, Israel has been and remains the bulwark of democracy in the Middle East and has been the salvation of over 800,000 refugees who found it necessary to flee there in search of freedom and security. The ability of Israel to continue in that role is vital.
We assure the people of Israel and their great agencies of reconstruction and development of our deep concern for them in their hour of trial. We rededicate ourselves to continue and intensify our efforts to the end that the great humanitarian program to which we have contributed and which continues to demand our help, may go forward.
IV–Fund Raising — This Annual Meeting is profoundly stirred by the critical humanitarian needs overeas which press for the strongest action without delay. This Annual Meeting likewise understands the necessity for continuation and strengthening of our institutions at home so essential for the vitality of the largest Jewish community in the world.
This total responsibility requires the most generous outpouring of support , in far greater sums beyond the gains achieved in 1956>
This calls for the immediate mobilization of campaign organization and manpower — immediate enrollment of campaign leadership — fullest enlistment of all sections of our communities in this united effort–and maximum giving.
The example set by leadership now in giving and working is the essential key to success.
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Jewish Book Month
Southwestern Jewish Press, November 30, 1956, Page 6
By Ida Nasatir
Shortly before his death, the late Ludwig Lewisohn was asked what he thought was the great question facing American Jewry. This was his comment: “The burning question of this day, and of many days, for the Jewish community in America is not so much: will we survive? For this is a free and great society which gives liberty and peace to all its citizens. The question is: How will we survive? For this is a free and great society which gives liberty and peace to all its citizens. The question is: How will we survive? We will survive as half illiterate users of values not our own and therefore unable to make a contribution to American culture, or will we live as self-affirmative Jews, as those who contribute a majestic tradition? … Therefore every hour, if we choose the nobler way of creative survival, is also an hour in which we need books, the old and the new, the grave and the gay, the learned and the simple, in which the Jewish spirit has sought and found expression.”
Alert American Jews are becoming aware that we can no longer subsist on our philanthropic emotions or defense enterprises, as terribly important as those endeavors are. We are beginning to realize that all our philanthropy cannot buy us self-fulfillment as Jews; charity and fear are not enough, we must remain a people of books or court the real danger of lapsing into mere items of statistics — so many million of so-called Jews.
The complete devotion of the Jew to the Book, and to books over the centuries is unparalleled among nations. Driven from county to country he became a merchant of the life of the intellect and the spirit. He was a disseminator of ideas contained in books which he created, which he translated, and which he gathered in distant lands. During the long course of the Dark and Middle Ages he traveled to Greece and Rome and brought books to the lands of the primitive West. These he translated into Arabic, into Hebrew, into Latin, and later into moder Western languages. Since Jews travelled everywhere, they could say with honesty: “From all m teachers have I gotten wisdom.” What commenced as love and devotion to the Torah, evolved into a passion for philosophy, poetry, humanism.
“Make thy books thy companions, let thy cases and shelves be thy pleasure grounds and gardens.” — Rabbi Judan Ibn Tibbon.
May I recommend ten such “companions” for cases and shelves, “good companions” of recent publication?
1,Heinrich Heine: A Biographical Anthology, by Huge Beiber: Translated from the German b Moses Hadas: A study of a tortured soul of a man of genius who was torn between his desire to escape from Jewish life, and his appreciation of Judaism. His mordant wit did not spare the Jews, the world or himself, yet all three are better understood when seen through his own eyes.
2. Memoirs of American Jews: by Jacob R. Marcus. An important and humanly interesting account of Jewish participation in every aspect of American life, from the Colonial period to the Civil War.
3. Pathways Through the Bible: by Mortimer J. Cohen. Makes the Bible more understandable to the modern reader. Remarkably well illustrated by Arthur Szyk.
4. Personalities and Events in Jewish History: by Cecil Roth: Essays based on the research and scholarship of a foremost historian.
5. The Sacrifice: by Adele Wiseman: An unusual first novel by a writer in her mid-twenties, this is a moving record of human experience, of a father possessed by his hopes for his only son, of a son who rebels against his father’s ideals yet sacrifices himself to preserve what his father most prizes; and of a grandson who assumes his inheritance.
6. Certain People of the Book: by Maurice Samuel: Shot through with humor, speculation and humane understanding, this is a brilliant book of people in the Bible. We are sick of books which “rewrite” the Bible; the best of them can’t hold a candle to the Bible itself. Samuel has not rewritten any part of the Book, what he does is to reawaken in us the sense of nearness to our ancient ancestors, an account which leaves us with clearer eyes and a faster beating heart.
7. Raquel: by Lion Feuchtwanger: An immortal love story of Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, and Dona Raquel, known as “the Jewess of Toledo.” A revealing story of the mysterious and evasive soul of 12th Century Spain: a significant literary achievement.
8. The Professor and the Fossil: by Maurice Samuel: This is a unique reply to Prof. arnold J. Toynbee’s “A Study of History.” Mr. Samuel vigorously attacks and challenges the bias, inaccuracies, omissions and distortions about the Jewish people and Jewish history occurring throughout Toynbee’s much-acclaimed 10 volume history of world civilization. For Prof. Toynbee, the Jew is “spiritually and intellectually a fossil, an inert and petrified form devoid of any living juices….Oh, but readd Samuel’s reply.
9. Tevye’s Daughters: by Sholom Aleichem: Tevye the Dairyman is one of the most delightful and amusing character in all fiction and this chronicle of Tevye and his daughters, is beyond question, the great Jewish humorist’s masterpiece. A joyous “companion” for the book shelf.
10. As A Driven Leaf: by Milton Steinberg: A powerful novel about Jews in 21nd Century Rome. Ellisha, the son of Abuyah, painfully learns the thesis of the book… there is no truth without faith.
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