The Sentinel, v.085 no. 01, 1931

              THE SENTINEL
REVIEW of the JEWISH WEEK
By JOSEPH SALMARK
Deserved Honor
Charles E. Bloch, president of the
Bloch Publishing Company, celebrated
his seventieth birthday the other day
and was duly honored by his friends
and associates. The honor was well
deserved. Charles E. Bloch, dean of
Jewish publishers in this country, rep-resents
the best traditions in the busi-ness
of publishing. For over a half a
century his firm was the source from
which the best of Jewish culture in all
languages was disseminated through-out
the country. The Bloch policy
has at all times been one of dignity
and self-respect. Never did Mr. Bloch
succumb to the temptation of spon-soring
cheap literature in order to in-crease
his income. At a time, when
even some of the most venerable
names in the publishing field have
flirted with pornography believing it
the best method to combat the depres-sion
in the book market, the Bloch
Publishing Company headed by
Charles Bloch kept an even keel, issu-ing
books on religious, philosophical
and sociological subjects. It is true
that Mr. Bloch has devoted more time
to the problem of distribution of Jew-ish
books in English and Hebrew pub-lished
by other publishers than to pub-lishing
by his own firm. He was com-pelled
to do this by the indisputable
indifference of Jewish book buyers who
talk books rather than read them. His
record, however, is one that stamps
him as America's premier Jewish book-seller.
This is no small honor. Our
congratulations to Charles E. Bloch
and our best wishes for many more
years of fruitful work in his field.
A Fine Record
The religious congregations of Ber-lin
are losing members at a steadily
increasing rate, according to the
figures of the Municipal Bureau of
Statistics. In the six-year period from
1925 to 1930 withdrawals from the
Evangelical churches amounted to 8 3
per cent of their total membership.
Catholic congregations in the same pe-riod
lost 71/2 per cent and Jewish
congregations less than 2 per cent.
Thus the rate of loss is definitely
greater among Protestants and Catho-lics
than among Jews. The number
of Jews who withdrew from their
congregations amounts to 450 per
year. In other words, the Jews of
Germany are synagogue - conscious.
Far from submitting to the Hitler
menace, they carry on in the usual
manner, participating in congrega-tional
activities. These statistics also
prove beyond the shadow of a doubt
that the Jewish youth in Germany is
not turning communistic in alarming
numbers. If this were the case, the
loss of Jewish congregation members
would be much higher because many
of the older generation have died or
are financially unable to keep their
seats in the synagogue. German Jew-ry
is thus as stable as it ever was
from a Jewish point of view.
A Good Mexican
Diego Rivera, Mexico's outstanding
painter, considered by many the fore-most
artist of this era, whose exhibi-tion
in New York has created a sen-sation,
is a Jew. Few know it and
still fewer believe it. Yet Rivera, in
an exclusive interview with Joseph
Brainin of the Seven Arts, stated: "If
I am anything at all, I am a Jew."
We comment on Rivera's Jewfshness
not in order to boast. It deserves
mention that Mexico's national artist,
to whom the government intrusted the
painting of Mexico's history, comes
from a Spanish Jewish family that
lived for generations in Russia.
Rivera is a liberal. He stands for
equal rights to all regardless of race,
creed or class. Mexico is proud of
him and, rightly so. Those few Mexi-cans
who at one time last year showed
inclinations to follow in the footsteps
of Hitler should remember that when
they hail Rivera for the prestige he
bestows on Mexico, they show their
appreciation for the Jews who can help
Mexico in many ways, primarily in
the cultural field. If they do not
realize it, Rivera surely will.
The Ice Is Broken
Recently Dr. Isidor Warsaw, author
of "Broken Tablets," wrote a series
of articles on the good will movement.
Dr. Warsaw asserted, among other
things, that a Jewish medal for Chris-.
tian friendship amounts to Jewish
self-abasement. He took the stand
that good will seminars are futile and
even harmful as far as anti-Semitism
is concerned. He contended that a
good will movement to be effective
should be exclusively sponsored and
financed by Christians and carried on
by Christians only. Dr. Warsaw's
stand was a daring one, because no-body
had had the courage of debunk-ing
some of the aspects of the good
will movement in such plain and direct
language. It seems, however, that
some of our rabbis merely waited to
have somebody break the ice before
giving their real views on the subject.
Since the publication of Dr. Warsaw's
articles Rabbis Stephen S. Wise, Louis
I. Newman, Solomon Freehof, and
many others have come out definitely
in support of Dr. Warsaw's views. It
Sis about time that those at the head
of the Better Understanding move-ment
take to heart the criticism of
our outstanding rabbis and revise the
program of their activities. A good
slogan would be: Fewer seminars and
more active work on the part of the
Christians against prejudice and so-cial,
political and economic discrim-ination
against the Jews.
Welcome to Sokolow
American Jewry is now host to one
of the most distinguished figures in
the Jewish World. Formally Nahum
Sokolow is visiting us as President
of the Jewish Agency for Palestine
and of the World Zionist Organiza-tion.
But actually he comes to us as
one of the outstanding contributors to
the modern Jewish renaissance. The
life of Sokolow has been a series of
triumphant conquests for the higher
things of the Jewish spirit. Littera-teur,
historian, essayist, .Nahum Soko-low
cannot be confined within any
single adjective. He is pre-eminently
a symbol of the versatile, effective,
progressive Jewish spirit. It is our
hope that the mission which brings
Sokolow to this country will be ex-traordinarily
successful. He deserves
of American Jewry a token of esteem
and affection which will give him cour-age
and support in his very difficult
tisk as the head of the Jewish
Agency. The welcome to Sokolow is
genuine and profound.
Poor Goebbels!
No one with the slightest human
sympathy will fail to be grief-stricken
at the plight of Joseph Goebbels of
Germany. This valiant nationalist,
whose antics have done so much to
win new converts to Adolf Hitler, was
indirectly the subject of a vile and
ruthless slander. Some person .had
the heartlessness to suggest that the
anti-Semitic leader's wife is a Jewess.
The person who made the astounding
accusation must have realized that
such a charge, if true, would ruin the
career of one of Germany's greatest
champions of intolerance. The wife of
Goebbels bore the name of Friedlan-der
in her maidenhood. But Hitler's
aide tearfully assures us that the
world has him all wrong. Friedlan-der
is not a Jewish name at all, and
his wife comes of the finest Teutonic
stock. We do hope that these terrible
people will stop molesting our friend
Goebbels. If his peace of mind is so
violently disturbed, how can he go
about successfully preaching hatred of
the Jews? ©S. A. F. S.
MOMENTS OF
DISCRETION
.... When you promise
to meet your wife at one
of the department stores
and you forget which one
. . . be nonchalant
LIGHT A
MURAD
CELLOPHANE-SEALED
TO RETAIN
FRESHNESS
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January 1, 1932
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