News Brief

The Jewish community of Oakland subscribed in full to the $30,000 Jewish National Welfare Fund, which embraces the United Jewish Campaign, the United Palestine Appeal, and all other worthy national and international Jewish causes.

The Fund organization, of which Mr. A. S. Lavenson is Chairman, includes every Jewish organization, and all the leaders of the local Jewish community. The first annual appeal which was made the week of May 1st to May 8th, was under the direction of Mr. Lionel Wachs.

“Oakland has never seen such wholehearted and complete cooperation for any cause as was evidenced before and during the drive, and Oakland is assured, as a result of this campaign, that it has a United Jewry.” Mr. Lavenson declared.

MAYOR WALKER DEFENDS THE FIRE COMMISSIONER FOR HIS “JEWISH JOKE”

“I am perfectly sure Mr. Dorman did not mean to cast aspersions on the Jews,” Mayor Walker said, commenting on the protest addressed to him by the Jewish Veterans of the Wars of the Republic, demanding the removal of Fire Commissioner John J. Dorman for a remark Commissioner Dorman made in a radio address Sunday.

“His appointment was one of the most popular I have made. His previous position in the courts in Brooklyn made him acquainted with all sorts of persons and he was universally popular. He had a host of friends including many Jews. I am sure he did not mean anything by the anecdote to which these people took exception.”

The Harry Wolkof Association, a social organization composed principally of Jews, at No. 1255 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, Monday night, rejected the protest against Fire Commissioner Dorman.

The Harry Wolkof Association resolution condemned the attack on Commissioner Dorman and “particularly those who, assuming to speak on behalf of the Jewish Veterans of the Wars of the Republic and other Jews of the city, have misrepresented Jewish thought and inflamed race prejudice.”

According to the New York “Herald Tribune,” Meier Steinbrink, Brooklyn lawyer, told the story to Mr. Dorman. In admitting that he told the joke at a dinner attended by Mr. Dorman last Thursday night, Mr. Steinbrink called the protest “ridiculous,” according to the “Herald Tribune.”

“I told the joke and I may tell it again,” Mr. Steinbrink is quoted by the paper. “Life is certainly going to be a solemn affair if they take away all the Jewish jokes. All this protest is a tempest in a teapot.”