Riots, an orphan’s soul and a woman MP in Africa
Moroccan Jews in danger
Despite the arrival of considerable French reinforcements, by air, the situation in North Africa remains tense, particularly in Morocco, where hundreds of European civilians, French troops, loyal Moslems, and rebels died in the rebellion by extremists last weekend. Many Jews are feared to have been massacred — at least ten were killed at Oued Zem — but because of the chaotic situation prevailing in the interior the exact number has not yet been established. Officials of the “Joint” as well as food supplies, have been sent to Mazagan, where 1,500 Jews were evacuated from the mellah (ghetto) before it was sacked by Moslem mobs. Damage to Jewish property is thought to be heavy.
Orphan returns to Jewish family
●Bernard Pitel. a 20-year-old Jewish convert to Catholicism, has, after a two-hour talk with a rabbi, abandoned the idea of becoming a priest. Pitel, whose parents, observant Jews, were deported to Auschwitz, was brought up as an orphan by Catholic foster parents who had him baptised despite the protests of his uncle. After the war, the uncle fought a court action to secure legal guardianship but the youth, in a letter to his uncle, acknowledged his belief in Catholicism. Two years ago Bernard cut all legal ties with his family and decided to enter a Catholic school for priests. However, the uncle persuaded him to visit Rabbi Robert Dreifus. This apparently had some success, for on the eve of becoming ordained, Pitel left the school and returned to his family in Brussels.
Southern Rhodesia’s woman MP
Mrs Muriel Rosin is the only woman member ever to sit in the Southern Rhodesian parliament; she is the wife of a surgeon; she attends innumerable committee meetings, and does more entertaining in one week than most women fit into two months. How, I asked, did she find time to bring up her three children and manage her beautiful home on the outskirts of Salisbury? “It is easy, really,” said this tall, blue-eyed mother. “Until last year, when she died, I had a wonderful Scots nanny, who had been with me for over twenty years …She was like a member of the family.”Mrs Rosin is a rare combination of the career woman and the housewife. Her political activities are kept strictly in their place, and she always has time for her home.