David M. Brown on the Job Again -- The Significance of a Pledge -- Count Skrzynski and the Jewish Press -- A Loan for Hungary
An ancient custom in the ancient synagogue has it that when the reading of the weekly portion of the Bible is concluded and the last verse of the final chapter read, immediately the reading of the first verse of the first chapter of the Pentateuch follows. This is a formality which at the moment makes no particular impression but which has a greater significance. It is a pledge that the reading, or the unity between the people of the Book with the Book must continue.
More than several years have elapsed since the last $14,000 campaign for Jewish relief work was successfully concluded under the management of David A. Brown. The ancient custom of the synagogue was at that time not observed, and it seemed for a while to the American Jewish public as if the "reading" of the Jewish plight and needs would not be resumed.
Here we are, however, witnessing the first steps of the necessary preparations for the second "reading," by the same "reader," David A. Brown.
This time the chord touched is not merely the sentimental appeal of a piteous situation but -- reconstruction.
* * *
Following what could be termed a flying trip to Russia in the midst of a tour around the world, David A. Brown had occasion to obtain an inside glimpse of the real situation of Russian Jewry under the regime of the Soviet Government, which promised with thunder and stone the arrival of not a "heavenly kingdom on earth," but an earthly kingdom under a Communist heaven. In this process the bulk of the Jewish masses in the territories comprising the former Russian Empire were, in the nature of things, not only ruined by war, massacred by pogromists and crushed by the social upheaval, but they became a mass of people who no present and with no hope for the future. The economic aspect of the Jewish problem in Russia which had been "burning" since the days of Alexander the First presents itself now, after the death of Lenin the First, in its real acuteness.
What is to be done?
The answers come from Russian Jewry itself. It began to "move" and to transmigrate, to avoid the sharp pointed rays of the Communistic sky, into more stable and protecting shadows of the all-blessed earth. They wished to become farmers.
And although many may object to this plan for one reason or another, the enthusiasm, magnetism, dynamic energy and invigorating optimism of David A. Brown dispels the objections and holds a promise of success.
* * *
There could have been no better demonstration than at the last luncheon given by David A. Brown to representatives of the Jewish press in New York City.
* * *
Of the many strange words which became popular before and after the war, the pure king's English word "pledge" gained its full significance in the process of Jewish war relief collections.
Many a man and woman responded to appeals. Many found it in line with their sentiments and status in the community to attend public meetings where one or another famous speaker addressed the audience on the plight and needs of Jews in other countries. Many readily made pledges. Now it is interesting to know that no less a sum than $1,500,000 of unfulfilled pledges was recovered by the American Jewish Relief Committee in the last two years through civil action. A decision of the Appellate Division maintained the opinion that the maker of a pledge is legally obligated under the laws of contract. It is reassuring to know this in view of the forthcoming $15,000,000 campaign.
Reassuring also is the news coming from Paris by cable that the question of the stranded Jewish refugees in various European countries will finally be settled. The American Jewish Emergency Committee on Refugees, the Jewish Colonization Association and the United Jewish Emigration Committee of Berlin will create one agency to deal with this problem. A fund of $5,000,000, of which the American Jewish Emergency Committee on Refugees will subscribe $340,000.
* * *
Count Alexander Skrzynski, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, has an excellent reputation in his own country and not an altogether bad one in other countries. He is unique among statesmen in having a "good press." No matter what government was in power in Poland, Count Skrzynski remained in the foreign office. He is credited with the new orientation in Polish politics, the new aim to create a better feeling with neighboring peoples to make friends. He is credited with having concluded no less than five arbitration treaties.
On his arrival in the United States, he made extensive but not complete statements on the recently concluded Polish Jewish agreement. As a result of this, much space was devoted to him in the American Jewish press, but it cannot be said that Count Skrzynski had a "good press."
Perhaps final judgment is to be reserved until more light is thrown on the subject.
* * *
Newspapers charge that the Polish Government "talk" about the Polish Jewish agreement is merely an attempt to pave the way for a Polish loan in America. At the same time, financial reports state that the Jewish banking firm of Speyer & Co. of New York has concluded negotiations with the Hungarian Government for a loan of $10,000,000 to be floated in the United States with the approval of the League of Nations Commissioner, who is supervising Hungarian finances.
Has Hungary, the country which openly enacted the numerus clausus, abandoned her discriminating practice?
Has the Horthy regime changed?
(Text taken from newspaper clipping.)
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