A meriaut Apish periodical eater CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, OHIO • October I, 1943 DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle 3 Our Life Is An Open Boole .3 By DR. SOLOMON GRAYZEL Editor, The Jewish Publication Society of America A consciousness of crisis pre- vails in the thoughts and actions of Ow Jews today. We shall not stop to consider here how great a world upheaval was needed to stir so many of our contempora- ries out of their lethargy. It is more important to ask what will result from this increased con- cern with the Jewish fate and future. Some Jews, no doubt, will yield to panic and others to paralyzing fear. But there will be a great many in whom the situa- SEASON'S GREETINGS MOTOR CITY SPRING CO. 1821 TROMBLEY AVE. Madison 5250 L'Shono Tovo Tikosevu! DEXTER ART STUDIO DAVID SCHOLNICK 11645 DEXTER BLVD. HOGARTH 4607 lion will call forth active plan- ning to strengthen the founda- tions of American Israel. Such people, we hope, will want to re- evaluate the institutions now functioning in American Jewish life. They will want to consider' whether such institutions help carry on the basic values of our people's past and fortify its ram- parts for the future. There is no room for mere inertia under pres- ent conditions in Jewish life. The more clearly the implica- tions of the present state of Jew- ish life are realized, the greater the recognition which will be ac- corded to the usefulness of The Jewish Publication Society of America. It came into being in order to meet a problem during a critical period in the history of the American Jewish community; it has responded continuously to the community's needs; it is even now adjusting itself to the de- mands made by the new condi- tions. The Jewish Publication Society was founded fifty-five years ago, in 1888. No one .could have fore- seen at that time that the com- paratively small American Jewish population of several hundred thousand would, within less than the span of a single lifetime, be- come the largest aggregation of Jews in the world. Russian - Pol- ish Jewry was then the largest in numbers and the most devot- ed to the traditional values. The Jews of Germany were vigorous Le Shovo Tovo Tikosevu NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS! Hannan Real Estate LASALLE TOOL GAUGE, INC. Exchange, Inc. General Real Estate and Property 2830 E. 7-Mile , Road Management and Insurance Twinbrook 2-1525 See us about Mortgage money 300 Lafayette Bldg. CAdillac 7700 in the production of works of Jewish scholarship as well as in the quest for an adjustment be- tween ` the Jewish cultural herit- ege and the admired civilization of Western Europe. The Jewish communities of England, France and Italy, though numerically smaller than the Jewish popula- w— tion of the United States, were far ahead of us in Jewish cultur- al productivity. America's Jew- ish population was scattered over a broad land. It lacked organiza- tion. It was developing serious religious cleavages. It had fe ,.v effective plans for Jewish educa- tion. The very Jews who, through their economic and social stand- ing, were coming in contact with Christians had the vaguest ideas of the' meaning of their Jewish- ness. They could not justify their continuance as a minority either to themselves or to their neigh- bors. Further confusion was add- ed by the arrival of a new popu- lation from Eastern Europe who could not make themselves or their traditions understood. Such was the situation when a small group of thoughtful Jews met to organize The Jewish Publication Society. Among them were Judge Mayer Sulzberger, Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, Dr. Cyrus Adler and Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen. What motivated these men to organize The Society? Theirs was actually the third attempt to form an organization for the publica- tion in the United States of Jew- ish books in the English langu- age. The two previous efforts had failed, primarily because the American Jew had been content to live on intellectual food bor- rowed from the older communi- ties across the sea. He did not see the need for a mind of his own and did not realize that a physical transplantation of Jews necessitated a transplantation of Jewish values also. These few men, however, realized it. They saw the imperative need of ex- plaining the Jew to himself ; they recogni7ed the danger of ignor- ance. Their first motives were. therefore, a sense of shame and a desire to educate. They were R. BLISS WOLFE, Pres. Rosh Hashonah Greetings! D. SULLIVAN COAL CO. Fred Riddell, 0. D. WISE EQUIPMENT CO. 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TRINITY 1.3680 NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS MILDRED GORVITZ Superfluous Hair Removed Industrial Maintenance Painlessly and Permanently by the Spray—PAINTING—Office Electric Needle New Buildings 1009 DAVID STOTT BLDG. .1t CHERRY CAdillac 7915 3407 SEASON'S GREETINGS F. M. SLATER SAW CO. 5703 West Jefferson VI. 1-3307 Detroit, Mich. Lc Shono Tovo Tikosevu EDWARD C. LEVY CO. CONTRACTORS VINEWOOD 2-0771 8800 DIX AVE. SEASON'S GREETINGS! HOLIDAY GREETINGS KASLE STEEL CORP. NILSON TOOL 8 MFG. CO. 6782 Goldsmith Ave. HAROLD H. NILSON, Pres. 11243 SCHAEFER HOGARTH 1960 5236 Grand River, at Linwood Ave. TY. 4-6212 Michigan's Largest and Most Modern Recapping Plant Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday Jos. P. Carnaghi GREETINGS *. . . 206 E. GRAND RIVER AVE. C. N. McCLURE, MICHIGAN MANAGER MARY S. COHAN, Cashier 2402 EATON TOWER — DETROIT NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS! See BOOK—Page 6 EXPERT Window Cleaning Co., Inc. Call PETE WISE Coal and Coke under the Society's imprint. books of history and literature, books for adults and books for children—. all of them calculated to give information and courage Happy New Year To All! SEASON'S GREETINGS! Greetings of the Season! ashamed that a large and well situated number of Jews knew so little about their religion, their past and their people's contribu- tion to civilization. There is nothing petty about a sense of shame. It is, on the contrary, a very powerful force for good. In this case it laid the foundations for a cultural re- vival which helped save the dig- nity and the spiritual unity of American Israel. This is evident from the earliest publications of the Society. Graetz's "History of the Jews" in English translation proved to be not merely an in- teresting work; it was rather a tool with which another link was forged in the chain of Jew- ish history. It showed the Ameri- can Jew that he was the heir to a great cultural heritage. The publication of Israel Zangwill's stories, which also came within the first decade of the Society's existence, was not only an at- tempt to produce entertaining literature. It was a means of bringing to the English-reading public a recognition of the spiri- tual values of the new East Eu- ropean population and an appre- ciation of the poignant process of their adjustment to the Anglo- Saxon environment. These were but two projects of the young Society. Along with Graetz and . Zangwill there came off the press, NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS! Sincerest Holiday Greetings to All Our Jewish Friends and Customers CURTIS GARAGE DODGE — PLYMOUTH SERVICE Painting and Bumping A Specialty 10124 Grand River Ave. HOgarth 4600 HOLIDAY GREETINGS JAMES REO ARROW TOOL AND BAY FURNITURE CO. THE WATERWAY CONSTRUCTION CO. 6633 Van Dyke Ave. Office and Yard--22226 8 Mile Rd., W.—Detroit, Mich. Phone REdford 1030 P. 0. Box 163 Redford Station PLaza 7464 PLaza 1-5278 Residence-5623 W. 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