American Yewisk Periodical
Page 24
Friday, April 20, 1951
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
STUDENT RECITAL
A student recital at 4 p.m.
Triday, April 20, at the Jewish
Community Center will feature
Avren Foreman, Carl Frieden-
berg, Reva Kowalsky, Joan Ma-
chin, Estelle Pappas and Phyllis
By RABBI LEON FRAM
Pullberg. They are pupils of
Congregation Temple Israel
Julius Chajes, director of music
at the Center.
MOST OBSERVERS of Jewish life in America will say that it is over-organized. They refer to
the plethora of societies, socill, fraternal and charitable, whose notices fill the pages of the Anglo-
The Chronicle deadline is on Jewish press.
Tuesday noon.
It may be said, however; that
danger, every little club aspired
the more organization we have,
to be the spokesman for Jewry.
the less are we organized. It
Any number of little societies
PASSOVER GREETI NGS is only central and overall con-
were convinced that there must
trol that give a community
be immediate action and that
To All Our Friends
mastery of its destiny.
they knew exactly what action
to take. Many tragic mistakes
When Detroit Jewry faced the
were made before community
peril of Nazi propaganda in the
responsibility was finally estab-
years preceding the second
lished.
World War, we were all shocked
DELICATESSEN
into the realization that the
The Jewish Welfare Feder-
community lacked an organiza-
ation sponsored the interfaith
13118 DEXTER
tion to speak for it and to plan
body called the League for
BEN EPSTEIN
for its defense.
Human Rights, over which
the writer was asked to pre-
The multifarious socie t ies
GEORGE FINK
side. This form of organiza-
which proliferated themselves
tion proved successful in the
in the city aggravated the prob-
specific area of the boycott of
Nazi goods.
However, when the war broke
GREETINGS .. .
PASSOVER
out in 1939, it became obvious
that Jewish civil defense could
GREL4I'INGS
no longer center on the boycott
approach. The League was hon-
RABBI FRAM
orably discharged, and the Jew-
•
•
•
ish Community Council took
AL POLLAK
lem. Despite the evidence they over the civic-protective func-
offered that Jews joined plenty tion.
• • •
Wholesale Fruits
of organizations, they demon-
2420 Grand River
THE WRITER WAS then
strated after all that the Jews
7201 WEST FORT STREET of Detroit were not adequately drafted to chair the Community
WO. 3-0895
Relations Committee of the
VI. 1-7982
organized.
In the face of the common Council. It is out of his own
personal experience, then, that
the writer narrates its organ-
izations into a responsible, cen-
tral body that could speak and
act for the community as a
whole.
It is one thing to have
brought a central democratic or-
ganizations into being. It is an-
other thing to have its authority
generally acknowledged. It is
one thing for a community to
accept the discipline of a cen-
tral authority in the field of
self-defense.
It is quite another thing to
acknowledge its jurisdictions in
other fields such as internal
conflicts within the community
or the programming and co-
ordination of Jewish activities.
It is such a slow, treadmill
Common Goals and Needs
Mahe Unification Essential
Ben & George
POLLAK
PRINTING CO.
ROSENGARD & CO.
PASSOVER
GREETINGS
Holiday Greetings
Friedberg
Jewelry
process to win community rec-
ognition and cooperation that
communal leaders are apt to
despair and to wish that by
some miracle a "Kehillah," a
fully centralized authoritative
community organization might
come into being. Or they may
indulge the comforting vision
that a perfect Kehillah lies at
the end of the difficult road
they are traveling.
It can easily be forgotten that
in those European countries
where such an authoritative Ke-
hillah has appeared in the his-
torical past, it came as the re-
sult of a delegation of powers
from the government. Among
the powers thus granted the
Jewish community had the pow-
er of taxation. A Jewish com-
munity organization which op-
erates with the force of the
law of the land and possesses
the sure source of funds af-
forded by the power to tax—
that was the Kehillah in Europe.
• • •
IS THIS FORM of Jewish or-
ganization realizable in the cities
of America? Is it desirable even
if it can be achieved?
In the United States a re-
ligious or cultural community
with the power to tax is prob-
ably unconstitutional. It would
certainly be fought in the courts
and resisted so strenuously as to
render it ineffective even though
legal.
American Jews are committed
to the voluntary processes of de-
mocracy and to the separation
of church and state.
We are, therefore, left with
this paradox. One, the Jewish
community in America needs an
effective central organization.
Two, the Jewish community in
America cannot have any legally
binding organization with the
power to tax.
Such a paradox need not lead
to frustration. The voluntary
way of self-control is harder to
achieve than the authoritative
control imposed from without.
Once, however, the voluntary
way is attained, it is morally
more satisfying and ultimately
more effective.
Patiently, step by step, we
must educate the members of
the community to a sense of
their common needs, and to
the need of self-discipline for
the realization of common
goals. Step by step the vol-
untary democratic centrol or-
ganizations must vindicate its
usefulness, impress Itself upon
the imagination of the people,
and assume an indispensable
moral force.
It is a long hard way, but for
the Jews of America it is the
only way.
Whether for the latest news
or the best in advertising, it
always pays to read the Jewish
Chronicle the year 'round.
1256 GRISWOLD
WO. 2-4782
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Passover
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PASSOVER GREETINGS
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