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.