Friday , September 27, DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle Page Eight THOUGHTS ON ROSH HASHONAH By HOWARD SINGER I have been looking at some relics of a lost civilization. They do not appear to be relics at first. They are of paper, not parchment. Antiquarians are not likely to treasure the inscriptions. And yet they are as surely relics of a lost civilization as are stones found in Egypt and covered with hiero, giyphics. I refer to the exhibit of humor- ous Rosh Hashonah greeting cards from Poland in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, in New York. I call th •em relics because it Is change, not time which creates relics, and the world has changed much since those New Year cards were printed in Poland 20 years ago. They are relics because they were written and sent in a world which no longer exists. They are stimulat- ing relics; unlike their ancient counterparts they provoke us to do some thinking about ourselves, about Rosh Hashonah, and the fu- ture. Some 20 or 30 years ago, Jews found time to laugh and wish each other well at this time of the year. The Jews of Poland, a breed almost extinct now, looked forward to the New Year with a confidence amounting to gaiety. Rosh Hashonah meant the same thing to them that it does to us: the time to settle accounts with man and God. But they could be confident about coming out on the credit side of the ledger; we can- not. As individuals, they felt that they had sinned, but were not all His children near to God? As a people, they had suffered, but had they not survived? Were they not the Eternal People? That sublime confidence is al- most unknown today, nor is it surprising. For the Polish Jews who wrote humorous New Years cards, life was comparatively sim- ple. They lived in a world in which murder was imprisoned, or, even when released, confined to a neighborly pogrom. There was even something funny in the anti- Semite, something pathetic in his perpetual frustration. The anti- Semite was a dull, inferior being, whose excess of brawn was in- adequate compensation for his lack of brain power. He was a throwback, confined to the shad- ows of the world's thinking, still capable of doing local harm but Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Chafetz and Family Wish Everyone A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year Max and Marie Bussey ultimately to be subdued. Certain. ly, no Jew need concern himself with a dying force, a relic of the dark ages. . . . In brief, the inner life of the Jew was immeasurably superior to that of the anti-Semite, and our people, instinctively sensing this, were furnished with the inner strength to withstand the clod. And so they were able, on Rosh Hashonah, to send each other greet- ing cards which provoked a chuckle from the sender and a laugh from the recipient, for laughter was no stranger to them. To us, laughter sounds out of place. For the next few years those of us who laugh will feel as guilty as if we had laughed at a funeral. The sense of guilt will be justifiable. If the normal period of mourning for an individual is one year, what shall we do for six million individuals? We have seen the world go berserk, and the memory will not leave us soon. The new precedent of mass murder has finally destroyed the sublime confidence of the Jew in his survival. We have seen six million people die because they were Jews; we have seen the na- tion that committed the murder come frighteningly close to con- quering the world. Even if these were the only factors to be con- sidered in our taking stock this Rosh Hashonah, we would be badly frightened. But these arc not the only factors. The things that are hap- pening right now, in Europe and in Palestine are even more re- vealing, and more frightening, than the things that happened during the war. The Jew must realize, this Rosh Hashonah, that the peace treaties do not include him; that he is still at war. The Jew must finally find the courage to admit that his enemies were defeated by his friends, but that many of his friends have now become his enemies. We face new enemies; we 'face the same en- mity. That is what Rosh Hashonah should mean to us as a group. It should be a time for honesty, for self-searching, for review of the national as well as the per- sonal Illusions and follies to which we seem to be addicted. As a peo- ple, did we do all we might have done to help those of our people who needed our help? As a peo- ple, are we doing all we can to help the survivors to start life anew in the lands of their choice? Most important, as a people, are we doing all we can to help the survivors to start life anew in the lands of their choice? Most important, as a people, has the impact of the past few years really affected us; has it broken up our old patterns of thinking, or do our minds still have the business as usual sign hanging out? As a people, have we done anything to prevent a similar catastrophe from finishing what the Nazis so auspiciously began? Or are we still hamstrung by the illusion that it can't happen here? This Rosh Hashonah provides an opportunity which ,we dare not lg. nore. It provides an opportunity to acquire something of the men tality of veteran troops. Mean- WA YNE OAKLAND BANK Royal Oak Highland Park Berkley Dexter-DaVison Market Resources over $3,000,000 13310 DEXTER BLVD. TO. 8.1382 Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Norman Cottler Rubin Cottler ■ S. BANK OF COMMERCE Resources over $24,000,000 and Sons MARVIN and HAROLD 11300 JOS. CAMPAU Wish Our Many Friends Member of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. A Very Happy New Year 6 .,...10=01=20=01==20=0 Greetings from 0 Here's to a Government of the People, by the People • and for the People Brothers Super Mkt. 15203 West 7 Mile Rd. Joe Peltz O ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS Ferndale National Bank 22840 WOODWARD DETROIT RENDERING CO. EL. 6754 Ferndale, Mich. LA. 1711 2500 2 2ND ST. First Mortgage Corporation F. H. A. Approved Mortgagee 904 PENOBSCOT BLDG. Phone Cherry 8088 Detroit, Michigan Best Wishes Le Shono Tovo Tikosevu A HAPPY NEW YEAR for A Happy and Joyous New Year Buick Sales, Inc. .51 Michigan's Largest Buick Dealers • THE DETROIT BANK Authorized Sales and Service COMMERCIAL and SAVINGS BANKING Main Office: GRISWOLD at STATE • Member F. D. I. C. 12th Street 0 0 NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS HACQUOIL 7715 0 Fred Peitz Extend the Season's Sincerest Greetings Becker Bros. Printing Co. Greetings from Best Wishes from , Mr. and Mrs. It Harry Fortgang TO THE ENTIRE JEWISH COMMUNITY For a Greater Understanding Among All Mankind— Happy New Year ingless optimism has no place in such an outlook. Those who pre. diet the arrival of an era of peace and happiness lie. But the veteran trooper has a kind of confidence bred of battle. He has a vague feeling that he will still survive, having survived so much; that it's all a matter of digging your foxhole deep enough. Per. haps that is what we should pray 1946 8911 GRAND RIVER 32 Convenient Offices Throughout the City /