The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992, 1940-02-09

interests. All CHeS0 dAAu
misconceptions must be cOmbatte0
and a large amount of work is OF
course now being done to dlspei
them from the public mnd.
Specifically, at the present mo-
ment there is one misconceptlon
which has become exceedingly
dangerous and which must be Wig
orously attacked, namely the mis-
conception that Jews are war
mongers. Every American wants
above all things to keep this courl-
trv out of war. Accordingly, the
present argument Of the anti
Semites is along the following
lines: America must keep out OF
the war. But there is one group
in America which is working a.
gainst peace. Watch out for the
Jews"
To combat this, the Jews OF the
country should do everything to
make their position clear. Rabbls'
and Jews in public life generally
should express themselves in no,
uncertain terms along the line OF
their beliefs, namely, that Ameri-
cans must think Of America first.
The test of every proposition must
be whether or not it makes for
the security, happiness and we'll
being, not of a particular group,
but of the American people as
whole, and, beyond That, of the
world at large. American Jews
are Americans, and if in the pres
emit crisis they show that they are
acting as such, they Will do much
to defect the impact of the war
mOnger propaganda which is be-
ing released against them.
JEWS AND THE DEFENSE
OF DEMOCRACY
BY anr large, the combating of
-Senitisnp is so closely tied up
with the affirmation OF all those
democratic values which the civil
lied world is now being forced to
defend. The, present moment is,
therefore,. peculiarly appropriate,
for giving consideration to- this
broader aspect. Of the problem.
Under the pressure Of war psy-
chology, the American. pROple,
thrown back on themselves and
forced to appraise their irstitu-
lions in the Eight of what. is hap
pening abroad, are already devel-
oping a strong. and wholesome
spirit of national unity. This is:
something which should be- fos-
tered from every high minded mo-
tive The world is now in a period,
of transition3 and such a. perioG
always means the coming inf divi-
sive forces, which sat gr0np, al
gainst grouR, class against class.
Protecting American in such All
period means off-setting the ami
mosities that the revolutionarias
in our midst, whether Nazis or
communists; are trying to pro-
mote: We must stop discard and
all put our shoulders to tfler wheel
of liberty and humanity.
We i'm this country arc facing
today a concerted, attanrk on all
the things wI1ick have, gone. to
make up what might be called
Neutrality-suspicious. AmeEicanisIn,"
and ti1nn average maa must be
made to understand how the SUBJ
versive, groups, at WORK behind a
SmOke-Screen of i.SemItiSm,
are eTiangeri1rg the. kind of a
world chat he wants to live ia. In
other words. it is not enough to
speak of democracy the Bill of
Rights, etc. in vague, generaE
terms: For in. these terms every
one pays homage to them; even
the German-AmerScan Bund and
Father COnghlin wrap themselves
i'm the American flag as the de-
tenders Of what they call "true
AmericaRism." Rather must these
vague generaligies be- brought
down to specific cases.. 1t must