The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle from Milwaukee, Wisconsin • Page 4

THE WISCONSIN JEWISH CHRONICLE How Hungary Treats Her Greatest Actor Thirty-Five Years of "ICA" Work Wisconsin hwish (ftronide A Weekly the JeiabSsi Offices and Printing Plant, 366 Milwaukee Street, Corner Michigan, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Telephone Broadway 5392. NATHAN J. GOULD IRVING G. RHODES To insure publication in the current matter must reach this office by Subscription in Advance The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on subjects of interest to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an endorsement of the views expressed by the writers.

Communications will not be given consideration unless signed by name and address of writer. If requested by known writer name will be omitted in published letters. All anonymous correspondence will be destroyed. Vol. 14 MAY 22, from page 1) work of the "lea" in Russia was placed upon a strictly scientific footing, on the basis of incontestable facts.

It was made evident that the Jewish farming colonies and settlements, with a population of over 60,000 farmers, were doomed chiefly because of the Ignatiev regulations (the so-called "May if no measures should be adopted to intensify the farming and train the Jewish agriculturists in new farming methods. The result was that there grew up within a very short time under the auspices of the "lea" a considerable staff of Jewish agronomists and agricultural experts who went to work in the colonies with loyal devotion. Depots of agricultural implements were established, and new branches of agriculture fruit and vegetable raising, were started. In Bessarabia, in the environs of the city of Orgei, an agricultural experiment station was opened, devoted largely to the production of garden seeds; this institution was considered unique in the whole of Russia, supplying seeds and saplings not only to the Jewish colonies, but also to the peasants of South Russia in general. On this seed iarm were trained hun dreds of efficient Jewish gardeners and vegetable growers, and they took their knowledge to every Jewish farming community and wherever there was an opportunity to apply it elsewhere.

The Jewish colonies, thanks to the work of the agronomists and the resources provided by the began to prosper, the Value of cattle and inventory rose, and in the colony of Novaia Poltavka the "lea" was enabled to open a Jewish agricultural school which became, as it were, the center of agricultural education and training among the Russian Jews. Co-operative Institutions A special and, I feel safe in saying, most conspicuous place in the history of Jewish social welfare work will belong to the network of co-operative institutions created by the "lea," forming the best system of Jewish self-help and far, indeed, from the often demoralizing methods of philanthropic assistance. The plan to reconstruct Jewish economic life from above, and to alter the existing class relationships among the Jews, is a mere illusion. This illusion has swallowed up already many a million of Jewish communal funds and it is, unfortunately, not yet evident that the consciousness of this futility should have penetrated at last to the Jewish communal leaders and philan thropists. Every faction in Jewry would like to do the reconstruction work in accordance with its own particular catechism and the dogmas laid down in it.

All such attempts, however, are in vain, and it is useless to waste money on them: worse still, it means de moralization. Each individual Jew, according to his own adaptability to times and circumstances, will be able much better than all those social wel fare people, committee, and kindred social assistance institutions and leaders to find employment for his labor and skill. The national social task of Jewry should be to aid each one individually to find proper em ployment, to sustain his strength, which is ebbing away because of the extraordinary conditions under which the Jews are forced to live. This task may be definite, without fear of contradiction, as one of help ing the Jews with loans, not in the form of "Gmilas Khesed," but in the form of well organized, self-support ing co-operation. The fact is that, as soon as the Russian laws permitted the establishment ot such co-operative organizations, in the form of loan and savings societies, the Jewish communal leaders of St.

Petersburg who were affiliated with the Central committee of the "lea" took advan tage of this opportunity and found but little difficulty convincing the leaders at Paris of the blessings which the establishment of these cooperatives brought to the Jews of Russia. Suffice it to say that in the course of some fifteen to eighteen years, in spite of all the obstacles raised in later years by the govern ment, there was created a network of some live hundred co-operative organizations of that type, with a turn over of many millions, and suoplied with capital in the shape of loans by the lea The co-operative loans quickly brought life into the desert of Jewish economic activity in Russia At the Central committee of the lea a special banking institution was ere ated which had formal charge of this branch of work; the Central commit tee maintained a large staff of in structors and inspectors; the business was placed upon a sound basis, and had it not been for the destructive war and the still more destructive (Continued can oe caicuiaiea ueiorenana, in drawing up the annual estimates. But the expenditures are likewise settled in advance. This is why the "lea" cannot respond to the unfortunatelv 1 3 1 i frequent calamities of Jewish exist ence in Russia. Only a very imited degree may the "lea" devote some funds out of its budgetary pro vision for unforseen expenditures to the relief of Jews overwhelmed bv such catastrophes, as ior the dailv.

current work of this organization, it appears to be hidden away, out of sight of the masses, who are prone to resent the fact that the "lea" is not to be found in the relief organization following the calamity, but who fail realize the unremitting work for the benefit of Jewry that is beins done with the means of the "lea." The trials and experiments of the first years in Argentina demonstrated hat it was, of course, idle talk about shipping millions of Jews out of Rus sia, as Sir Arnold White had promised. And as regards other work, it was not provided for the lea in the Russian field under the terms of the concession granted by the Russian government, thanks to the efforts of Sir Arnold White. It became evident that effective help for he Jews of Russia, penned up within he vicious circle created by the Count Ignatiev regulations of May 2, 1882, would be necessary and possible within Russia itself. Only thanks to he insistent demands of the Central Relief committee of the "lea" at St. etersburg, in the person of its presi dent, the late Baron Horace Gins- burg, did it become possible to in duce the Russian government to shut its eyes, as it were, to the other ac tivities of the lea in Russia, not connected with any exportation of emigrants.

First Attempts in Argentina Lack of space prevents us from dwelling at length upon the interesting story of the formation of the first colonist groups which were sent to Argentina and established there the first Jewish colonies, such as Moses-ville and others, in the Province of Entre-Rios and elsewhere in Argen tina, ihe epic or this colonization is far too dramatic and complex to be treated adequately in this brief review. The failures of the first ex periments, the thought of the inability of these emigrants ever to return to Russia, the experience of a considerable group of Jews who found themselves unable to adjust themselves to the new environment and were forced to eke out a precarious living in Buenos Aires, awaiting permission to return to Russia, and the fact that the death of Alexander the Third, in 1894, to gether with the rosy expectations called forth in the beginning of the reign of Nicholas the Second had brought some confidence in the future among the Russian Jews all these circumstances tended to stop practi cally all further emigration to Ar gentina for some time and the Rus sian government tacitly approved of the offer of the "lea" to engage in preparing within Russia itself a proper element of Jews for future emigration to Argentina. There was now created within the Central committee at St. Petersburg a group ot intelligent workers who formed all kinds of committees and drafted various plans for the activity of the lea in Russia, outside of colonization work. A number of measures was planned and later car ried out for the development of the skilled trades and professions among the Jews of Russia.

The executive council of the "lea" in Paris ap proved a budget for the opening and maintenance of trade schools and farms, most of which exist even to day. It is generally known that the ex pectations of a revival of skilled trades among the Russian Jews through the work of che trade schools have not been fulfilled. But on the other hand, there was need of preserving at all costs, the Jewish farming colonies in the provinces of Kherson and Ekaterinoslav, as well as the other agricultural settlements of the Jews scattered in various sections of the former Pale of Settlement. There was need of obtaining an accurate picture of the economic situation of the Jews. Thanks to the funds allotted for this purpose by the "lea," such an investigation became possible, and in 1898 and 1899 there was published, in two volumes, material describing the economic conditions of Russian Jewry, tending to throw a flood of light upon various aspects of Jewish life in Russia of which even the professional communal workers had known nothing until then.

Colonizaton Thanks to this in Russia publication. the Shabuoth, The Feast of Weeks The Jewish festival of Shabuoth, or the Feast of Weeks, will come this year on May 29th. This is the day of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, of the ancient harvest feast of the Jewish people, the day known in the Greek language as Pentecost. Shabuoth comes seven weeks after the beginning of Passover; the one is at the beginning of the barley harvest, then through the seven weeks the various grains ripen and are reaped, finally, at the last is the wheat harvest which is marked by this festival.

The ancient offering for this day, when the Jews lived in Palestine as farmers, and worshipped in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, was two loaves of bread, made from the new wheat, in addition to special animal sacrifices and a basket of the fruits of the season. Just as Passover and Shabuoth are connected in the series of ingatherings of grain, with the seven weeks of harvest in between, called the Omer; so they are connected in the history of Israel. For they are both reminders of great events in ancient times, Passover of the Exodus from Egjrpt and Shabuoth of the giving of the Ten Commandments. On the former, the Jew became a free man, released from the slavery of Egypt; on the latter he was freed from spiritual bondage by the inspiration of the moral law. Thus Shabuoth is both a Jewish and a universal festival; it commemorates an event in the history of Israel, and represents a conception of law, of morality and of faith which are world-wide.

As the old Talmudic legend has it, the Ten Commandments were first uttered in the seventy languages of the ancient world, but none of the great nations stopped in their daily affairs to listen and accept. Only the little nation of slaves just released from their burdens, stood at the foot of Sinai, listened to the great words there pronounced, and promised, "All that the Lord has spoken wTe will do." Thus Shabuoth is a birthday, not of the national life of the Jew, but of his becoming a Chosen People. And the thanks which are uttered in every synagogue the wTorld over on this day are for both the fruits of the earth, the material good which the Lord has bestowed on mankind; and the Ten Commandments, the spiritual revelation wThich came to the world through the Jewish people. Under the leadership of Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, over three thousand years ago was laid this foundation-stone for the morality, religion and law of all nations in modern times. For this reason Shabuoth is the time of confirmation in liberal Jewish congregations, wThen classes of boys and girls over the age of 13 come before the ark, bring their offering of flowers to symbolize the ancient offering of the harvest, read the Ten Commandments from the Scroll of the Pentateuch, and promise to observe the teaching and be faithful to the doctrines of Judaism.

The festival begins at sunset on May 28th, and lasts until sunset the following day; orthodox Jews keep it for two days, according to ancient practice when all feasts wrere set by direct observation of the new moon, and there might bq uncertainty which of two days wras the actual festival. Liberal Jews have dropped the second day, which is not Biblical in origin. The sources of the festival may be found by any reader of the Bible in Exodus 34. 18-26 and Leviticus 33. 15-22, as well as minor references in a number of other places.

MAGYAR club was then booked. The minister for the interior prohibited its use, declaring that there were not sufficient safeguards against fire. A third hall was booked, and again permission for use was refused. Disgusted at this treatment, Beregi has refused to fight against it any more, and he has again shaken off the dust of his native country, the country of his birth, which he would fain serve with his great talent, and which will have none of him because is a Jew. What Beregi Told The J.

T. A. "What shall I say?" Beregi said an interview which he gave the Jewish Telegraphic Agency representative before he went. "I came to Budapest because I was called. My colleagues asked me to come home to help them raise some money for the aid of the actors and actresses of Hungary who are old and unemployed.

I was proud to have been invited and I came. "You know what happened. And why should I be angry with the students? They are young men who are being misled. I was watched by the police, I was dogged by spies, my telephone was censored. "I recall how I was treated in 1920.

went to the inspector -in-chief of the National theatre to ask him why the Awakening Magyars were allowed to demonstrate against me. His answer was, 'Be baptized, and you will not be "I looked at him and I said, quite calmly, 'No thank you. I am a Jew, and I am going to remain a Jew. I will return to my Maker in the faith in which I was born. If I am to be insulted and hounded out of my country because I am a Jew, I shall make known to the whole world what is the reason for my persecution.

I shall tell them that it is because I am a Jew, but I shall go on being a "What have I to do with these little student boys, youngsters of 17 and 18, who use my name as a curse, and mouthing it, strike down old men and women with rubber cudgels? Are these to be my judges? They had not come into the world when I was already an old and far-famed actor, honored in Hungary and abroad, the recognized leader of Hungarian dramatic art. "But today Hungary has no use for me. I am not an actor any more. I am a Jew. I am a subject for the propaganda of the anti-Semitic reactionaries, I am a something which the government can exploit in their negotiations with their extremists.

To be that I am not going to stay in Hungary. I am not going to be made a football to be tossed about between government and police and anti-Semites, a symbol of the Jewish question. It is not for that I came back." tives of the Executive committee of the Jewish World Relief conference and the "Hias" of America, in the relief of the 8,000 Jewish emigrants stranded in the ports of Europe because their American visas are no longer recognized under the late American immigration laws. No Co-operation with Other Groups It is a matter of regret that this offer of co-operation on the part of the "lea" has apparently met with no sympathy in New York, where the Emergency committee still prefers the methods that were employed by the J. D.

that is, to conduct its relief work independently of European organizations, following its own paths. It is, therefore, to be feared that the beginnings of the co-operation between the "lea" and other Jewish organizations will not find any further development and will not yield the results we might expect. Concluding this brief review, we ought to mention also the help rendered by the "lea" in the many different kinds of initiative that was shown (by other organizations) in the educational and cultural fields, in the struggle against anti-Semitism, etc. Passing through the formalities which are inevitable in so closed an organization as the "lea," this initiative finally always found, and still finds co-operation on the part of the Executive council of the "lea." I have deemed it my duty to write this brief review of the activities of the "lea," and I am confident that these activities will be properly appreciated by Jewish society, in whose mind the memory of the unfor-getable founder of the Baron Hirsch, should always remain fresh. It is to be regretted that the example of Baron Hirsch, except the work of Baron Edmond Rothschild, for the benefit of Palestinian colonization, a work that has no parallel in history, has found no followers.

(Copyrig-ht. 1925. by Jewish Teleg-. Agency) French Government Will Help Colonize Jews in Southwestern France Paris, (J. T.

Jews will be colonized as farmers in southwestern France by the Jewish World Relief conference with the co-operation of the French government, according to the announcement made by the Paris office of the Jewish World Relief conference. Plans for the undertaking are now being worked out by the Jewish World conference. It is stated that the Minister of Agriculture has already given his approval of this scheme. Lithuanian Government Assigns 1,000,000 Roubles for Synagogues Riga, (J. T.

One million roubles were assigned for Jewish synagogues in this country by the Latvian Sejm, when that body considered the question of economic support for churches. This decision was received with satisfaction by the Jewish population of Latvia. By STEPHEN Oscar Beregi is Hungary's greatest actor. He is also a Jew. Naturally then, when the anti-Semites came into power in Hungary there could be no room for a Jew in the country, certainly not for a Jew whose role it is to be always in the limelight and to win the enthusiastic applause of the people.

When the pogroms broke out in Budapest in 1921, Awakening Magyars invaded the National theatre and prevented him from playing. The man who for twentv-one years had been the idol of the Hungarian stage was refused a hearing. He was insulted and mobbed by the hooligans of the Chris- ian regime. Beregi is not the sort of man to stand such treatment. For twenty-one vears he stood at the head of his profession.

He had given himself to the dramatic art of Hungary with out stint or reserve. He was Hungarian through and through. But when he saw that Hungary under her new rulers no longer wished to have his gifts, that she spurned him and his offerings, he drew himself up with dignity and shook off the dust of Hungary from his feet and went out to exile from his native land. Beregi went to Vienna, where he was received with open arms. He played the lead at the famous Burg theatre and later at the Reinhardt theatre in Vienna.

Hungary did not want him because he was a Jew. Well then, Hungary should not have him. He would not force himself upon her Jew-baiting mobs. Now, four years after, Beregi was invited back to Hungary. The Hungarian Actors' association called him, the doyen of their profession, to play at a charity performance in aid of the poverty-stricken actors of the country, unemployed because of the eco nomic crisis under which many of the theatres have been compelled to close.

Beregi came. Immediately the anti-Semitic organizations heard of his coming, they organized demon strations, and declared that they would not allow him to appear. The Actors' association, terror, abandoned the performance. Oscar Beregi was furious at this cowardice. He had been invited back to Hungary, he said, to play in aid of his unemployed fellow artists, and he would not be intimidated by the anti- Semitic threats.

He would appear in spite of them. At this point the government stepped in in the person of the min ister of education, Count Kuno Kle-belsberg, and prohibited Beregi's per formance. The Academy of Music Budapest, which had been booked for the purpose, the minister said, was a school and could not be permitted to become the scene of the disturbances which were threatened by the anti- Semites. The large hall of the Lloyd revolution, it is certain that the economic life of Russian Jewry would have been definitely reconstructed and stabilized, thanks to this branch of the "lea's" work. Resuming Work in Soviet Russia Today the "lea" is resuming this work in Soviet Russia.

Blessed be they who believe that it is possible to create in that boundless desert which Russia represents now, as a result of the doings of the Third International, which runs the Soviet government, any such thing as an oasis, or oases, of prosperity in the Jewish centers of population, by reestablishing co-operative societies with the participation and under the surveillance of the Communists Blessed be they who can believe that sje Hand in hand with the work in Russia proceeded the work of the "lea" in Argentina. The administration of the "lea" in Argentina was subjected to the loudest complaints, and even today we hear some very bitter complaints against it. Just how much these charges are justified we cannot say. It may be that there are shortcomings which, perhaps are due to the fact that the administration of the "lea" in Argentina is composed of elements that have no relation to the agricultural population which it has to administer. There are frequent charges that the administration regulates too strictly the daily life of the settlers, which interferes with individual initiative.

Still, the results of more than a quarter of a century of work in that field cannot but be recognized as brilliant. Suffice it to say that the colonists, in general, are in a very prosperous condition, well able to reimburse the money spent to set them up and pro vide them with land, and today the repayments of these sums by the colonists form the principal source of revenue for the "lea," amounting during recent years to more than 10,000,000 francs a year. The work of the "lea," because of the peculiarities of its organization, must necessarily continue along the same lines. This work, as I have stated before, cannot assume a different form under the influence of catastrophic emergencies. It would be sheer madness to insist that the "lea" spent its funds for current relief to the Jews of Russia, even though they are now in desperate situation.

On the other hand it would be unfair to ignore that relief work which the "lea" recently undertook in aid of the scores of thousands of refugees stranded in Roumania and Poland who were in danger of forcible evacuation, with the alternative of deportation to Soviet Russia. Far be it from me to maintain that the methods of the "lea" are above all reproach. Until recent times it was difficult to arrange satisfactory co-operation between the "lea" and other organizations which were created in recent years. But other organizations which were created in recent years. But we must be just, and we have to note the fact that in this respect, too, a beginning has been made to change the policy of the "lea." Only a short time ago the "lea" expressed its readiness to work hand in hand with the so-called "Emigration Directory," of Berlin, an organization composed of representa its he in I Editor Business Manager issue, all correspondence and news Wednesday evening of each week.

$3.00 Per Year 1925 No. 11 Jewish Community of Quincy, Will Present the City with Monument of Moses Quincy, (J. T. The Jew ish citizens of Quincy have tendered the city a granite memorial as their gift on the occasion of the 300th an niversary of the settlement of the town. The sketch of the proposed memor ial, which was submitted to Mayor Barbour, shows Moses, the law-giver, holding the tablets of stone.

One tablet carries the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew language, and the other the Commandments in English Such a memorial, the proposed donors believe, will appeal to all the people without regard to race or creed. The carving will be out of a solid block of granite estimated to weigh more than 10 tons. The finished me morial will weigh more than 12 tons The die itself will be 6 feet by 2 feet at the base, and 9 feet 7 inches in height. The base will be 7 feet inches in width, about 3 feet deep and slightly over a foot in height The die will weigh approximately 10 tons and the base, two tons. It is estimated that the proposed memorial will cost more than $3,000 It would be impossible to have this work completed by the week in June when the tercentenary exercises wil take place, so it is proposed to have a plaster model of it on exhibition at Merrymount during this period.

The Mayor will submit the design and the tender to the City Council. The execution of the monument wil be by John Horrigan of South Quincy the sculptor who did the Titanic mon ument, and has been commissioned to cut the Robert Burns memorial for Quincy. How should we celebrate our holy days? Give half to the Lord and half to yourself! (Partly by attending religious services, and partly by recreation and enjoyment. Talmud. Polish Jews, Seeking to Save Selves Through Skilled Labor, Crowd Trade Courses Warsaw, (J.

T. Jewish business men, ruined by the economic crisis in Poland, are seeking desperately for a chance to learn a trade by which they might support their families, competing with their former office employees for places in the available trade courses. So great has been the appeal for such opportunities and so desperate is the situation of those unable to enter such classes that the Ort committee in Warsaw has been compelled to open additional evening courses in carpentry, despite a critical shortage in funds which makes the continuance of this activity problematical. At the same time, in order to avert the development of serious problems among women and girls formerly in Jewish business and industrial establishments, the ORT Committee in Lodz, has opened trade courses for women in which millinery, dressmaking and weaving are taught. More than 270 adults are now entered in the trade courses organized and maintained by the Ort in Warsaw; all classes are filled to capacity and the applications of additional candidates for the courses are increasing daily, pointing to the necessity for further extension of the work.

Not only does this appear impossible however, but there is grave doubt as to whether the existing classes can be continued, in view of the straitened finances of the Ort Committee in Warsaw the available funds for this work are cut' down, moreover, because those most in need of the training courses are not in positions to pay even the nominal fees usually required. Unless, therefore, the Ort committee secures additional funda, the entire future of this activity is in jeopardy. The American Ort Organization, the headquarters of which are at 103 Park Avenue, New York, has just received an urgent appeal for assistance in this emergency. Jewish Calendar 5685 1924 Tishri 1 New Year (Roeh Hashonah) Sept. 29 Tishri 3 Fast of Gedaliah Oct.

1 Tishri 10 Day of Atonement (Yom Kippnr) Oct. 8 Tishri 15 Tabernacles (Succoth) Oct. 13 Tishri 22 Eighth Day of the Feast Oct. 20 Tishri 23 Rejoicing of the Law (Simchath Torah) Oct. 21 Tishri 30 First New Moon Day (of Heshran) Oct.

28 Heshvan 30 First New Moon Day (of Kislev) Nor. 27 Kislev 25 Feast of Lights (Hanukkah) Dec. 22 Kislev 30 First New Moon Day (of Tebet) Dec. 27 5685 1925 Tebet 10 Fast of Tebet 6 Shebat 1 New Moon Day Jan. 26 Shebat 30 First New Moon Day (of Adar) Feb.

24 Adar 13 Fast of Esther Mar. 9 Adar 14 Pnrim Mar. 10 Nisan 1 New Moon Day Mar. 26 Nisan 15 Passover (Pesuch) Apr. 9 Nisan 30 First New Moon Day (of Iyar).

Apr. 24 Sivan 1 New Moon Day May 24 Sivan 6 Feast of Weeks (Shevuoth) 29 Sivan 10 First New Moon Day (of Tammux) June 22 Tammuz 17 Feast of Tammuz 9 Ab 1 New Moon Day July 22 Ab 9 Fast of Ab July 30 Ab 30 First New Moon Day (of Elul) Anff. 20 Elul 29 Eve of New Year. 18.