IiiEpErRorr,/twtsif (ARoNlCL
PAGE SIX
of society, and the home and family
are stabilizers of character. Insuffis
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS
cMnt family ties may lead to reckless
and wild living, selfishness, lack of
sympathy, and a host of other un-
By MEYER SOLOMON, M. D., Chicago.
desirable results. But that excessive
Just as physical hygiene has for he found the Jewish admission to av- family ties are bad from the mental
hygiene point of view is seen clearly
erage
not
over
16.5
per
cent,
while
its ideal goal the elimintaion of phys-
ical diseases, defects and handicaps, the proportion of Jews in the general in such nations as China and Japan
where traditional ancestor worship
population
in
New
York
City
was
HIGH GRADE WEDDING RINGS
so also mental hygiene has as its final
has been an obstacle to progress,
aim the prevention of nervous and 25.8 per cent.
ENGRAVERS
However that may be, it is gener- initiative, independence and freedom
mental imperfections, distortions, per-
versions, defects and disorders, in ally admitted as true that nervous- of the individual.
MODELERS
—
CARVERS — DESIGNERS
also
Jews
As with others, among
order that improved and more ad- ness and mild mental condition of
OF FINE JEWELRY
vanced individual and social meth- emotional origin are very common much too frequently we find spoiled
ode of self direction may result. Men- among Jews. Such forms of nervous children. who have been pampered
tal growth, self-knowledge, self-guid- and minor mental disorders are ear- and had their every wish gratified,
801 METROPOLITAN BUILDING
Office and Warehouse:
ance and self-improvement in mental marks of inefficiency and maladjust- so that in the end they have become
CADILLAC 1136
12622 - 23 HAMILTON AVE., Near GLENDALE
health (in thinking, feeling and be- ment, and flight from obstructing self-centered, selfish, dependent and
33 JOHN R. ST.
having), comprise the supreme and reality with associated mental con- parasitic. This is more apt to occur
Arlington 0775 - 0776
among
the
children
of
those
who
true object of the mental hygiene flicts.
have become financially successful.
movement.
The modest object of this paper is
The struggle between the old and
Mental hygiene has for its task the to present a few practical points in
attainment of harmony between the mental hygiene—mental health—m the new, the reactionary and the pro-
individual and his environment so its relation to the American Jew in gressive, inertia and initiative, rou-
tine and change often breaks forth in
that, for the good of the individual particular.
and society, there may be avoided hu-
That nervous conditions, generally intensified degree in American Jew-
man maladjustment, inefficiency and called by physicians neuroses and ish homes where the parents are or-
breakdown. It means satisfactory so- psychoneuroses, are very common thodox and the children are becoming
lution of the eternal conflict between among Jews can be proven in any or have already become American-
the demands of the environment and large clinic or private office not only ized. Dr. A. A. Brill has expressed
the ability or willingness of the indi- of neurologists and psychiatrists but himself very well on this aspect of
vidual to adjust, adapt or conform. also general practitioners in Europe the problem in the following words:
"The Jewish boy brought to this
And, as such, it has direct bearings , or United States.
country by orthodox parents, or those
upon legislation, education and the
It should be said at once that these born here of such parents, cannot b e
other varied aspects of life, among' conditions are not necessarily hared-
kept long under the same restrain
which religion holds its deservedly ,nary.
, ary. In fact there is no royal evi- as in the old country. The home at
high place. dence to this effect. They are due mosphere, which is Russian, Polish
Mental hygiene has to do not only rather to life's theme. To analyze Galician or Roumanian, as the cas
with the important and interrelated , and understand the past history and may be, is so very different from th
problems of the insane, the feeble- environment of the Jew will show new and free environment in th
minded, the criminal, the pauper, the that they are but acquired by so- streets and at school that the bo
vagrant, the prostitute, the inebriate I called "social heredity."
soon begins to be ashamed of hi
and the drug addict and the homeless
Although it has not been conclu- home and parents and tries to be
unemployed, but also with all sorts sive . 1 ), shown that he is dispropor- come an American in appearance an
Cadillac 3404
i reaction. The struggle becomes vet
of border-line nervous and mental tionately predisposed to insanity, it
conditions that occur in a large pro- I is unquestionably true that the Jew acute. The parental love and autho
242 WEST JEFFERSON AVENUE
portion of individuals—the so-called i is disproportionately neurotic or ner- ity exert the strongest influence t
Detroit, Mich.
conditions,
character I vous. In fact he is as a rule more keep him faithful to the old ideal
"nervous"
anomalies or peculiar character , nervous than the non-Jew.
while his natural impulses yearn fo
traits, the habits of the individual,'
One of the fundamental character- freedom and new life." Is it to b
the consequences of unrestrained istics of nervousness is undue sensi- wondered at that in the end the i
phantastic thinking along lines of tiveness nervously and mentally. pulse for freedom becomes victorio
pure wishfullment and unreality, etc. And the Jew is frequently more ne e in the struggle, and that the chit
It should help the individual to ob- vous because adjustment to environ- throws off the old oppressions to li
tain the maximum of good from life ment is more difficult. This is true a new and freer life?
in the way of individual expansion today as it has been in the past. Ile
In his rebellion or self-assertio
and by social usefulness.
has had to suffer in silence, to re- owing to his original strong fami
Dr. William A. White has ex- press strong, but prohibited desires ties, the rigid orthodox taboos a n
premed the viewpoint very well in for expression or retaliation to men- the intense emotionalism, the rea
the last words of a volume devoted tal injury—too often unsuccessful. treme. In the struggle for eman
to "The Principles of Mental Hy-I This has made him deeply emotional. tion is frequently execessive or e
giene": "To see a man as a social And for his emotional makeup there pation and Americanization the yo
animal and his failures as forms of are
definite reasons. The main cause may be thrown off too suddenly, a t
I
social inadequacy; to approach the ! is the hostile attitude toward restric- the child, if there has not in t
problem free from prejudice and tion and persecution of the Jew by meantime been built up with his mi
with a full appreciation that in each his Gentile or non-Jewish neighbor. a new philosophy, with proper gut
instance the failure has back of it Jealousy and fear of his ability were ing lines for behavior, may r
causes adequate to explain it; then i important factors.
amuck or astray. Even servo
to attempt to bring to bear upon the I Excluded from the soil and from breakdown and criminal conduct m
problem those forces which are best the occupation of handicraftsman, his be the outcome.
calculated to bring about results preoccupation with and fixation in results a spirit of ill will and fam
which are constructively of the high- mercantile life was determined b tion by their elders is too great th
est value to both the individual and such factors as his being scattered in
If repression of the rising gene
society, and then to be able to apply small colonies, his speaking many discord; and if the parenta do
the principles worked out in dealing languages, and the view of the non- handle the situation tactfully and
with individual cases to the larger, Jew that mercantile life was allied to low no compromise, the children
more general issues—these are the usury. As urban life gradually re' their rebellion may throw off eve
problems of Mental Hygiene." placed rural (agricultural and peas- thing Jewish and may even join cu
The American Jew is not only as ant) life, the Jews became practical- and movements entirely opposed
much in need of mental hygiene as ly exclusively a city people. The ay. Judaism.
most others, but in many respects is erage Jew's occupation did not de-
Conflict between the public sch
in greater need of it than many oth- velop a strong physique, he lived in teacher and the orthodox Jew
ens. crowded and insanitary quarters, and teacher and the parents is not
Let us, therefore, discuss briefly in general he led a sedentary life. common.
the question of the mental hygiene He was too serious and earnest. He
One should realize, then, that
of the American Jew. This should lost the art of play. Me matured too foreign born or immigrant to
be not merely a defense of the Jew, early. Coupled with an underdevel- United States is compelled to m
but a frank self-examination from sped physique there was an over- many adjustments which lead to
the mental hygiene point of view— developed
developed brain. "In other words,"
conflicts and so make them m
a search for truth with justice and as Dr. Abraham Myerson puts it, nervous and more subject to
"the Jew, through his restrictions, mental upsets. In addition to s
liberality.
How frequently do we find nervous was cheated out of childhood." And factors as the breaking of for
and mental disorders and defects such a state of affairs tends to nee- ties (loyalty
t and patriotism),
Phones: Randolph 6506 - 6507
country and home town, the need
among Jews?
His excluded and restricted life more initiative and energetic e
The late Dr. Pearce Bailey, a prom-
inept specialist in nervous and men-
CORNER CONGRESS AND WAYNE STREETS
to make a living, the cases of gi
tal diseases, shortly before his death which resulted in clannishness. Per- individuals with no satisfying ou
, wrote a paper entitled "A Contribu-
occupational malplacement and
tion to the Mental Pathology of Races insult, constant criticism, massacres like, there is the problem of orthod
in the United States," which an- and the like bred apprehensiveness and the home life.
penned in Mental Hygiene for April, and fear on the one hand, and led
In all such cases there stands
Ile made a study of 1,314 to a closer, purer and more devoted eminent the question of the harm
1922.
Jews, out of a total of 69,394 volun- family life on the other hand.
ration of Judaism with Amer
Hatred of the Gentile for the Jew ideals and customs. Readjust
leers and drafters, based on the data
in "Defects Found in Drafted Men," was responsible for hatred of the Jew must eventually he made, if no
published by the federal government. for the Gentile, with opposition by the parents, then by the children.
Comparing the Jews with others, he I the Jew to the customs and views of
Because of the sharp lines dr
found the number of alcoholic pa-
between Jews and Gentiles, bec
The struggle for existence by
tients among the former to be almost
of the Jew being in a minority ag
but the percentage of drug , ropean orthodox Jews has been very a non-Jewish majority, and bec
negligible, but
addicts more than double the United! great indeed. This was responsible of his many disabilities, the Jew
epi- for much worry and nervousness.
States' rate; the percentage
for a long time been looked down
lepsy, ductless gland or endocrine dis-
as socially inferior. It was a h
orders and mental defectiveness was ish home. Sex and woman were un-
also low in fact, the only classified der. severe religious taboo. Mates
races showing a lower percentage of were not selected by love—hence
mental defect were the Scotch and many mental conflicts for both sexes.
""""‘"'"'''''''"'""‘"*"'"‘"
''''''''''''"'"""
Too many attachments to the past
Irish) but the Jew exceeded the av-
"'"
""'"
erage representation in conditions led to constant conflcits between the
characterized by emotional instabil- taboos of the past and the demands
ity. He found the percentage of in- of the present. This was a rich
sanity among the Jews nearly 2 per source of nervous upsets.
Harsh treatment by the Gentile led
cent above the United States aver-
age and very much higher for or- to increasing suspiciousness and
derline nervous and mental condi- . fear, sometimes real, sometimes im-
tions usually called psycho-neuroses: aginary, and to increasing isolation
psychopathic which was originally forced upon him
and constitutional
pa o l l e e.
nd w
ad to
hetbteoesnan
i n w the
states.
in
r for
Dr. Jacob Goldberg, of the Free, Having
Synagogue, New York, writing in centuries, he has lived in the hurry
July, 1922, the same journal, asserts and bustle of life, and, by reason of
that the traditional view that insan- , being a commercial people, many
ity is more frequent among Jews than Jews have been speculators, bankers,
non-Jews is now open to question,' and merchants, doing business with
and in fact definitely denied. His small capital, with consequent uncer-
MAIN 2702
figures for New York State for 1917 tainty, worry, anxiety and fear.
536 GRATIOT AVE.
and 1918 show a lower percentage of How great a role consanguinity in
insanity among Jews than non-Jews., marriage among Jews played in the
And in analyzing the statistics of ad- production of nervousness is purely
mission to the psychopathic wards of speculative, since consanguinity in
■ Bellevue Hospital, New York City, marriage leads to no degeneration in
the offspring unless the family
strains are defective to begin with.
All the above and many other
causes are responsible for constant
or repeated profound mental con-
flicts. This in turn produced exces-
sive emotionalism and its distortions
Y.
of personality.
Owing to factors already men-
On this momentous occasion in the lives of
tioned, family ties among orthodox
the Jewish people it gives me great pleasure in
Jews, especially among orthodox (ni-
l devel
al
l p ressed Jew, s became stron og
expressing my felicitations to you all. May the
sped for the mental health f a con-
New Year bring a full measure of health. wealth
cerned. In cases of even slight ill-
Iness, intense worry and anxiety is dis-
and happiness.
played by relatives and friends, while
EDWARD W. FREY
in cases of death among Jews, as Dr.
1
' Maurice Fishberg says, "the profound
impression made on all relatives,
friends and neighbors is hardly to be
observed among other Europeans.
Fits of hysterical crying and wailing
are the rule, and beyond control by
reasonable interference."
I The attachment to family and ra-
cial ties, often called Familensinn,
is so strong among orthodox Euro-
pean Jews that it too frequently
passes beyong the range of the nor-
mal into the abnormal or morbid. In
such cases it means narrow-minded-
ness, undue and blind attachment to
the past, fixation along purely tradi-
tional lines and lack of progressive
possibilities. This spirit of excessive
family love and bondage is commonly
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
responsible for lack of proper interest
in the outside world, for the absence
of numerous and wide contacts, and
Your Vote and Support Solicited.
for profound lack of understanding
!of one's fellowman.
Primaas
ri Oct. 6, 1925.
Now, normal family attachment is
NMIIMMIPSSIIMISMNSMIGID.
by all means to be encouraged and
EDWARD W. FREY.
developed, for the family is the unit
A Happy New Year to the Jewish Community.
The Mental Hygiene of the American Jew
Alitel!lke C.aftsmanollip Alloy
Marvin Sprague Storage
MOVING — PACKING — SHIPPING
,
SEASON'S GREETINGS
GREETINGS
JOS. KLEIN
cne.,
t
,
"TRADE"
AUCTIONEER
F. W. SMITH CO.
I
GOODRICH
RUBBER PRODUCTS
474.478 W. COLUMBIA ST.
DETROIT
D
i,
Cadillac 7910
1-
1
e
Is:
c.
,,-
(0
id
he
id
d-
un
us
ay
ily
re
ra-
,ot
0_
ill
ry-
Its
to
ool
ish
in-
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS
To Our Host of Jewish Friends.
WOLVERINE
NEWS CO.
WHOLESALE
STATIONERY – POST CARDS – GUIDES
MAPS AND NOVELTIES
PARTY FAVORS – BALLOONS
HATS, ETC.
A Happy New Year to
All Our Jewish Friends
of
i en-
l' w e
ore
mild
uch
ner
to
o
ffort
fled
.let,
the
oxy
pre-
oni-
lean
lent
t by
awn
ilISC
.inst
'use
has
upon
.ndi
The Season's Greetings
"..„
.k
'9`
If it is a good job and the price was low,
it was printed by
the
peni-nsular Press
Folders
Pamphlets
Catalogs
Booklets
Circulars, Etc.
ot
Telephone Cadillac 8330 - 8331
465-7 *lest Fort Street, Detroit, Mich.
Make a Gkew reares 'Resolution
ROXBOROUGH &
TALIAFERRO
TO USE
Gkoyal Mayonnaise!
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS
TRY
FR Y
for
Councilman
Royal Mayonnaise adds zest to salads and has the magic trick of trans-
forming cold meats, sandwiches, entrees into epicures' delights.
Its never-varying deliciousness has made it the choice of fastidious
hostesses.
Made in Detroit. Delivered fresh every day. Your grocer carries it in
convenient quart, pint and half-pint jars.
llorton=Cato Mfg. Co.
We Extend the Season's Greetings to the Entire Jewish Community.
*4.