The Denver Jewish news., 1923-09-06

| i'll proportion TO our means. Fifty doh
/ lars is the top figure. This is a joke
when you consider that we have dozen
Iecple here. each worth over half II
million. These same people, if they
lived in Baltimore. Chicago or in PhiLa-
deIphia, would have to be among the
| substantial givcrs. But in our last
war-rcief campaign we raised $4,000
as against quota of $4,000. The A..
J.tR. G.. has taught us how to give. If
the work stops now. we will stop giving
and that would be real social cal
amity. l am glad you propose that the
machinery built up by the A. J. II. C.
should be utilized for other beneficent
purposes. We must not be permitted to
sink into 'desuetude.' l am positive
that an appeal for Jewish education,
though more difficult TO put over at the
finer response. If aggressively and per.
sistcntly presented, as we presented the
plight of the anaemic. undernourished
children of the Ukraine. But the main
point is that we must have something
TO do which will lift us out of our
selves and sustain cur interest in the
grtat' Jewish problems, especially now
that relief campaigns are Overt"
This letter is quoted rather fully be-
cause it IN typical Of one class Of re-
sponse-the response of the rank and
file, who. it might have been supposed.
were fed up on money raising cam
paigns. tr-r}
On the whole, the reaction of the
American Jewish weeklies has been de-
cidedly favorable. The Yiddish press.
however. has expressed number of
misgivings. Some. because they be-
licve that there may be need for addi-
tionnl relief in Europe-tO which 1
should like to reply that one of the
objects in view is to keep the organi-
zation intact against any such necessity.
even though 1t is the belief of the J.
d.. C. workers in Europe that the need
for systematic relief will have ceased
by 1925. Others made the counter
proposition that. since the European
need is nassing. the organization be dt
verted to raising. money for the up-
building of palestine-to which the
answer is that Embarrassing Organiza-
tions for Palestine already exist, such
as the Keren Hnycsod. the Hndassah,
and the Palestine Development Council.
all of which agancies should be liberal
ly supported. Meanwhile, there are
definite major problems in the country
which have been neglected too long.
and the further neglect of which may
hDye, serios2 social and moral consc-
qucnccs. Even the most ardent yewhsh
nationalist must recognize this. In fact,
the more deeply grounded is his jew
ish nationalism, the more clearly he
must sec the need of the project.
While not put in so many words. it
is evident that some of the Yiddish
dailics are Withholding their approval
of the project because they see in it
n perpetuation of the American Jewish
, Relief committee Objection to this pos
sibility may or may not be valid. 1t
is not necessary to go into that. But
nothing of the sort is contemplated.
The new organization, If 1t is to be mt
nll effective. If 1t is 10 avail itself of
the best feature of the war-relief cam
pnign. namely, the breaking down OF
the absurd barriers between Jew and
.Jew--must be so constructed as to In
clude. all Jews. regardless of religious
ar. ho. tI,n nd
the capacity to serve. Yet. at the same
time, such an organization would be
I.inthillkable If it did not include, among
its lenders. all of those men who were
and still are mt tile head of the A. ].
Il. c, the Central and Peoples Jewish
Relief and the Joint Distribution COM
mittees. just as it would be unthinliable
that the distributing committee. of the
proposed organization should not In
clude representatives of all shades of
Jewish opinion.
There is still another objection, one
in which II number of social workers.
i.abbis and laymen have joined with the
Yiddisl press md 1t is this. the pro
gram rs outlined for the proposed re-
organization of the A. ] .R. C.-prefer-
ably. thcy say, under new name-is
hybrid. BY embracing social service
institutions. like the Bureau of Jewish
Social Research, and eleemosynary IN
stitutions like the National Jewish Hos
pital for Consumptives and the Has,
with cultural institutions like the
Mcnorah and the Chautauqua, the Is
silc is confused. May ! point out that
my purpose in including. these DIVERSE
fed features of. Jewish life was that
the proposed program should be so com
prclcnsive MS to afford no jew an op-