American lavish Periodical Center

Thursday, October-42, 1950

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

rage 4

Countipg Their Lucky Stars

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

Published Weekly by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
WOodward 1-1040
2II27 Cadillac Tower, Detroit 26, Michigan
SUBSCRIPTION:
$3.00 Per Year, Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at
Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

SEYMOUR TILCIIIN
Publisher
GERIIARDT NEUMANN
NORMAN KOLIN
Editor
Advertising Manager

Thursday, October 12, 1950

Heshvan 1, 5711

The Life With a Purpose

In a recent article on a conversation with the doctor who
treated Harry Houdini, the famous magician, in his last illness,
George W. Stark, in his Town Talk column in the Detroit News,
reported the following conversation:
"One evening he said to me, 'Doctor, you know I always
wanted to be a surgeon, but I never could. I have always re-
gretted it.'
"I answered him, 'Why, Mr. Houdini, that is one of the
most amazing statements I have ever heard. Here you are, the
greatest magician and the greatest entertainer of your age. You
make countless people happy. You have an unlimited income
and you are admired and respected by everybody, while I am
just an ordinary dub of a surgeon trying to struggle through
life,'
"He looked up and smiled. 'Perhaps those things are true,
doctor, but the difference between you and me is that you
actually DO things for people and I, in almost every respect,
am a fake."
We are taking these remarks as the text for an editorial
because we feel that there is a deeper - meaning in them than
appears on the surface.
Houdini, the son of a Milwaukee rabbi by the name of
Weiss, expressed a feeling that is typical of our age: the feeling
that life has lost much of its purpose and that we are going
through life like "fakers' who deceive both the world and
ourselves. The final conclusion of this outlook on life is that
most of what we are doing is really useless and does not mean
anything in the evolutionary process.
In Jewish history, this way of thinking is not new. Eccle-
siastes was so disgusted with his time that he arrived at the
conclusion that all is vanity. The prophets, however, refused
to yield to the temptations of a philosophical resignation but,
in the depths of their miseries, found new goals and "liaises
for their people. The difference is that Ecclesiastes lived in a
period, which despaired of man's future, whereas the prophets
lived in a period which accepted the challenge to transform
political defeat into spiritual victory.
Today's outlook on life is largely one of hopelessness and

lack of purpose. II they dare look into 'the mirror of their selves

and examine their doings critically most people will have to
admit that their lives are rather empty and that they are
looking to the present day rather than the future.
We all would like to DO something, to be creative, to help
advance the world, but very few would have Houdini's courage
to consider themselves "fakers." We feel that this was not only
the pun of a magician but the outcry of modern man who sees
himself caught and entangled in the mechanistic and soulless
organization of a relentless hunt after riches—a process in
which all the fine points of culture are ground to bits and, in
the final analysis, life itself is deprived of its contents.
The trouble is that we have become so used to this con-
tinuous depreciation of the intangible life values that we easily
give up fighting this process. We have lost our faith in mankind.
Many a period in history has seen the decline of faith.
But all these periods finally merged with the beginnings of
new eras and the resurgence of new values. The question is
whether new values are on their way to help us evolve a new
era in history.
There are indications that this is so. Jews in America and
other parts of the world are in a process of rethinking and re-
evaluating their religion, their national, ethical and cultural
values. New social concepts are displacing the old ones. But
all this is not yet strong enough to give us more faith in the
future. It takes time for such things to grew.
And this leads us back to the beginning. Every life that
is lived for the day only, without any thought for, or faith in
the future, is a fake. We can DO the purposeful things only
when we understand that every generation is but the pace-
maker for the following, working in the hope that its labors
will enable the coming generation to build where we could
do nothing else but plan.

'No Way Out'

Have you sten the movie, ''No Way Out?" If not, we re-
commend that you do. Here is one of the frankest documen-
taries on race hatred that we have ever seen.
In this movie, it is the hatred of a poor white man against
a Negro doctor. But the plot could also be easily transplanted
into the sphere of Jewish-Gentile relationships.
The movie interprets the white man's ht tred as a result
of his unhappy youth, lack of love, association with criminal
characters and lack of opportunities to improve his economic
and social conditions.
The Negro doctor, on the other hand, is pictured as a man
who takes all the prejudice he has to put up with so much to
heart that he almost breaks down and despairs of himself.
Main theme of the movie is that the white man who, to-
gether with his brother, was shot by police when resisting
arrest, insists that his brother's death in the hospital was de-
liberate murder by the Negro doctor. Even when an autopsy
proves that he is wrong he remains unconvinced and tries to
kill the doctor.
He almost succeeds id his plan but is finally subdued by
the doctor. The climax comes when the doctor has a chance to
take revenge and kill the white man but, instead, kneels down
to treat his wounds.
No solution is offered by the movie. The facts are stated
coldly, and the conclusions are left to the spectators. We hope
that they will not depart with the ide- that there is no solu-
tion. To be sure, there is no easy solution. But if this movie
can set at least a few people to thinking it will accomplish a
great social mission.

Catholic Sees
Israel Through
Israelis' Eyes

By HAROLD S. COVEN

WATCH FOR TIIE MORN-
ING by Thomas Sugrue (Harp-
er and Bros., New York, 304
pp., $3.50).

ti

Thomas Sugrue is an American
by nationality and a Catholic by
religion. There is nothing startl-
ing about this, except for the fact
that he is also the author of a
book on Israel,which ranks with
the best in recording the birth
of that new nation.
"Watch for the Morning" is a
first class job of reporting and
writing. It is the story of Israel,
Proudly displaying the banner which flies over their American-type
not as seen by an outsider, but a
camp, 14 Immigrant children, representing eight diverse foreign
record of the actual experiences
nationalities, pose with Elias A. Cohen, (center, rear), founder of Camp
of the people who made the coun-
Tranquillity, In Eariton, New York, which annually provides vacations
try.
for hundreds of children.
It is as if someone had come
to the United States right after
our Revolution and had gone
about taking down the statements
of the men and women who won
our country's freedom.
The result is a moving and
thrilling book which reads partly
to questions provoked by the re- like a newspaper story fresh
By ALFRED SEGAL
MR. HYMAN SOLOMAN of marks of the junior element of from the typewriter and partly
this Gentile suburban area in like a work of fiction from a
3437 West 82nd Street, Ingle- which we live.
fertile mind.
wood Cal., has been thinking
"My children respect and un-
"Watch for the Morning" bears
much about his children as Jews.
derstand the Jewish Holy Days comparison in technique and
Which, of course.
just as much as they respectfully quality to John Hersey's "Hiro-
is what most
ignore Christmas and Easter. shima."
Jewish parent.
They know there are other re-
There is the same quiet horror
think about all
ligions, other churches but they as average people go about their
the time: How
know the one to which they be- daily tasks during periods of
should we raise
long.
great stress and danger. For ex-
that kid Jewish-
"And, above all, my children ample one woman at the begin-
ly? Or should
are Israeli conscious. Through ning of the book, a Yemenite,
we let his Jew-
stories and letters, their contact describes the sensations upon
ishness be just a
with the news reports and corn- learning that her son was killed
casual matter in
ments on the radio, they have b ythe Arabs. The very biblical-
his upbringing?
learned of Israel, are more than ness of her • language, which
As soon as. a Segal
Jewish child gets old enough his proud of it and are for their ages Sangrue captures excellently,
parents begin to worry about the conscious of their connection adds poignancy to her tragedy.
kids he goes out with socially. with it. They are being taught
Sangrue recounts the early

Free Jewish Education
From the Ghetto Spirit!

Oh, Melvin„,,had a date with his they are part of it."

high school classmate, Mary
Geoghegan, and what attitude
should they take on that? Should
they speak to Melvin about his
Jewish obligations and the dan-
gers of falling in love un-Jew-
ishly? Mary Geoghegan is a nice
girl all right but a Jewish boy
like Melvin ought to be told.
The parents debate the matter;
Should they speak to Melvin but
then maybe. Mary Geoghegan is
just a phase of his life. If they
made too much of her, Melvin
might make other dates with her,
just to be contrary. Melvin al-
ways was a wilful boy.
Yes, Jewish parents of young
children find themselves contin-
ually in such conflicts. But Mr.
Soloman of Los Angeles had care-
fully charted the Jewish life of
his children; he seems to know
what kind of Jews they will be
when they grow up. I have a let-
ter frdm Mr. Solomon about that.

• • •

pioneer days when the settlers
worked with rifles at hand. One

WELL, that's Mr. Solomon's of the persons he interviewed
chart for the Jewish upbringing can recall his first days in Israel
of his children and I am not when he helped a young fellow
sticking my nose into any man's immigrant to find a job on a
way of bringing up his children. farm, a man who knew nothing
But if I had anything to do with about farm work—David Ben
raising my grandchildren (the Gurion.
In addition to the various Isra-
daughters-in-law won't let me) I
wouldn't teach them that they are elis interviewed, Sangrue also
part of Israel, as Mr. Solomon called upon Christian leaders and
friendly Arabs, although Jordan
does with his kids.
Rather I would teach them as- refused him permission to enter
siduously that they are part of its territory to renew old friend-
the world, that being a Jew is ships with some Arabs he had
not just self-serving. The com- met on a former visit.
It is really quite rare to find
plete Jew must carry his Jewish
teaching into the world toward an American Christian as well in-
the brotherhood of man. He must formed and as wholeheartedly
not be a ghetto man. His Judaism sympathetic to Israel as is Sang-
is a mission to the world to help rue, who, it should be said, is a
member of the Christian Pales-
make it better.
tine Committee. The faith he has
Finally Mr. Solomon says: "It in Israel is such that he made
is my hope that if we don't make the trip to the country and trav-
it as a family unit that, at least,
my children will return and set eled all about the land despite
, the fact that he suffers from
• • •
up their lives in Israel."
Oh, Mr. Solomon! You speak of arthritis which confines him to a
MR. SOLOMON was saying:
wheelchair. •
"I want my children to be Jews your children returning to Is- _ The author is evidently a man
rael!
They
haven't
been
away
without restriction, without res-
of deep faith and he developes in
ervation and without any mental from anywhere. Their homeland his work a thesis about the role
hedging. I want them to live their is here, as sacred as the area that Jews may play in ushering
lives anywhere as free as the that is known as Holy Land. To in a new era in human relations
Mormons live in this country, to hope that they will "return" to and understanding.
be accepted as human beings and Israel is to suggest that they are
He feels that Israel may be the
not as members of a secondary aliens here and aliens in the chosen instrument, as it were, of
whole
world
outside
Israel.
group.
It's not for me to meddle in the divine spirit, whose mission
"I want them to have as
it is to pioneer new social and
thorough a Jewish education as your children's lives but I hope economic concepts which the
I can possibly provide for them— when the time comes they will world can adopt to end its pres-
this education to shape and mold say: "Israel can't be our country.
chaos.
a more human, more -understand- This America is our holy land; ent Of
particular interest are the
ing person. But in hand with this it welcomed our forefathers from
where Sangrue discusses
preparation, they must under- oppression and enabled them to parts
differences he senses between
the
make
good
lives.
Here
we
shall
stand without equivocation the
stay, with all due respect to our American Jews and the Israelis.
kind of society they live in.
He says that he really "senses"
"They must understand and be good father.
"Not that we cherish Israel any the difference, which comes to
prepared to meet jibes, jeers and
restrictions, handicaps and ex- the less. We venerate Israel as him as a feeling of tenseness and
in'
clusions. They must know that the land of Jews who took their uncertainty which is absent
the
Israeli,
even
those
who
came
the society in which they live is oppressed brethren and set them
not the most fertile for human going on a good way of life; just from America.
His description of the reactions
as America did for our forefath-
growth, for Jewish growth.
to Israel of a young man from
"If in -the contact with this ers."
With no purpose to dispute New York will particularly in-
American society they can arrive
at an understanding of what with Mr. Solomon I am betting terest Americans.
The youth says, "That Hebrew
brotherhood may mean to the him that his children will not
world then my job and my wife's want to emigrate to Israel when grammar! It's tougher than a ten-
they are old enough. As the de- cent steak. But those Jewish cops.
will be well done.
"But I personally will not scendants of the Irish love Ire- How I love them."
That sums up the impact of
preach this philosophy. I must land poetically at a distance, so
prepare them for life as they now will American Jews sing of Is- Israel, the feeling on finding Jews a
the functions of
find it. Much of the groundwork rael but hold to the good life conducting all
nation.
has already been laid by answers they've earned in America.

