American Jewish Periodical 6
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DETROIT JEWISH . CHRONICLE
Center N times
Camp Leaders
Supervisors for the five sum-
mer camps operated by the Jew-
ish Community Center were an-
nounced this week by Harry L.
Jones, chairman of the camping
committee.
Deena Zemel was named super-
visor of Camp Northwest day
camp which will meet at the
Verner School, Pembroke near
SchaefTer. Registrations are ac-
cepted at the Northwest Exten-
sion. 18677 Livernois, DI. 1-2130.
Frank Loewenberg will con-
tinue as supervisor of the 12th
Street Council Center day camp.
Jim Senor will be supervisor at
Camp Habonim, day camp at the
Woodward Center, and Ted Gold-
berg will direct Camp Frelach at
the Dexter-Davison Branch.
Sam Marcus will serve his sec-
ond summer as supervisor of the
Center's camp for mothers and
children at Camp Chelsea.
Registration is now in progress
at all four Center buildings. Reg-
istrations for mothers' and chil-
dren's camps is centralized at the
12th Street Council Center, 8687
12th. TY. 8-6000.
All campers must*be Center
members.
Passover Greetings
Sheeton
Furs
Tricameral Council
Urged for Local Jews
he was forced to create his own
communal setup.
• • •
IN THE GHETTO, through the
that a Jewish homeland will carry on its wings Messianic potentials for a transformed Judaism in
America. Many a Zionist preached that with the creation of an independent Jewish state, a revival
of Jewish cultural creativity will simultaneously rise for Jewish Communities outside Israel. .
After close to three years o
Israel's independence, and the
characteristics of a Jewish com-
disappearance of this Utopian de-
munity.
lusion, we are thoroughly con-
• • •
vinced that no way of life, how-
THE TERM "COMMUNITY"
ever flourishing, outside the
was borrowed from the Latin
boundaries of our own domain,
"community s" which in turn is
can do for us what we ourselves
derived from the word "corn-
are unwilling or unprepared to
munis" meaning "common."
do.
Thus the designation "commu-
While it is true, on the other
nity" implies a fellowship of like
hand, that a thriving Jewish way
interests and common creative
of life in Israel can, as it has in
expression. This connotation is
the past, stimulate creative ex-
especially significant to Jewish
pression in Jewish life beyond its
life. Judaism in the past w a s
natural boundaries, nonetheless
never limited to any one phase
the conditions necessary for such
of life.
influence are not fully met.
As important as the study of
Israel is an infant state and at
Tora was to the Jew of yester-
best it should not be expected to
year, it merely constituted one
extemporize a way of life which
phase of his life's program.
takes generations to develop. i
Charity, though it played no
But what is even more impor-
small role in the life of our
tant to ourselves is the fact that
people and tantamount to a
RABBI LEHRMAN
we have not given too much of
passion penetrated the hum-
•
•
•
our energies in setting up a com-
blest of Jewish houses, exempt-
munal structure on the American our co-religionists across the seas. ing no one from this basic so-
This is gratifying enough and cial impulse, was never substi-
Jewish scene, which could serve
as a receiving station to the cul- highly commendable, but to be tuted for the totality of joyous
tural and religious transmitting engaged in philanthropic endea- living.
vors at the neglect of our own
plant developed in Israel.
Not even the synagogue was
cultural and spiritual vineyard is thought of as a full program,
• •
WE HAVE DEVOTED and are to invoke the full and thunder- exempting the Jew from partici-
pation in the overall pattern of
devoting a generous portion of ous wrath of the prophet.
The Jewish community is in Jewishness.
our time and effort in helping
need of reconstruction if Jewish
Thus Judaism flourished or at
life is to serve us today as ef- least survived, when conditions
fectively as it has in the past. hampered its growth, because it
While we speak freely of a represented life's all embracing
[ A Happy and
i Jewish
Community in America gamut of activity whether it be
the fact remains that such a social, cultural, economic and
P rosperous Passover
community exists in name only, spiritual.
Such was the nature of Juda-
We have, to be sure, the frag-
ments of a community, but parts ism as it functioned in the Jewish
do not make for an organic whole "Kehilla" or community. The
he had been forced to identify
himself with his own community.
He now lived in a community
within a community, unable and
unwilling to break through.the
inner concentric circle into the
outer.
Consequently a full Jewish life
was developed; for to the Jew
no other form was available.
Then he breathed unadulterated
Jewish air in a concentrated
Jewish atmosphere.
But soon the air-tight Jewish
community crumbled. With the
birth of the so called "eman-
cipation" which approximately
a century and a half ago,
opened the door. for the Jew,
to the general life of his neigh-
bors about him, lie was faced
with the most crucial test of
character.
He now was faced with the
choice of escaping his own des-
Middle Ages and' up until 150
years ago he was bound to depend
upon his own social outlets, cul-
tural expression and, of course,
By RABBI MOSES LEHRMAN
his own religious life.
Congregation Bnai Moshe
Now, once more, without choice
but
under different circumstances
FOR SOME TIME PRIOR to the birth of Israel, too much emphasis was placed upon the contention
•
402 Michigan Bldg.
WO. 2-1233
Passover Greetings
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Friday, April 20, 1951
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Passover Greetings
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6175 Vermont
TYler 7-9700
unless they are integrated into structure of the community, how-
one structural pattern, by a ever, varied with the conditions
under which the Jew lived.
meaningful association.
• • •
We have splendid fund-raising
agencies, inspiring synagogues
and well functioning cultural ac-
tivities, but they function as iso-
lated agencies without the com-
mon structural unity which con-
tains the elements of a commu-
nity pattern.
Too often we fall into the error
of referring to a Jewish neighbor-
hood is a community, forgetting
that more is required of a neigh-
borhood than that it be peopled
by Jewish residents to give it the
Passover Greetings
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Passover Greetings ...
INDIAN
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6925-31 East Lafayette
LO. 7-6500
IN ANCIENT JUDEA, the com-
munity carried a natural aspect,
much the same as does a French
community for the Frenchman or
an English community for the
Englishman. In fact the commu-
nity became synonymous with the
municipality.
There was no conflicting en-
vironment to contend with. The
Jew had no choice but to remain
part of the Jewish communal
system into which he was born
and raised.
A similar condition exists for
the Jew in Israel today.
Thus when the Shamash runs
through the streets of Tel Aviv
today on a truck and with the
sound of the bugle summons all
shopkeepers to close their stores
Friday afternoon, it appears a
natural phenomenon to the
Israeli.
There is • nothing strange
about it to him. In this natural
setup there is no communal
problem for the Jew. He has
no choice but to maintain asso-
ciation with his group.
When the Jew, however, had
been driven from his soil to for-
eign lands the complexion of his
communal life underwent a com-
plete change. The naturalness of
his homeland disappeared.
Segregated by his "host" na-
tion from the rest of the popula-
tion, which at best tolerated him,
tiny, by assimilating with his
neighbors, or of remaining in his
original Jewish community,
though the doors were wide open.
In the main, the Jew chose the
latter, though the former took its
toll.
• • •
AS TIME WENT ON he becaine
aware of the need of a third
form of Jewish communal life,
which will function not in an air-
tight concentric circle apart from
the general community, but side
by side with it, as a complement
to the general life of the non-
Jewish community.
With this problem we are faced
today. Concsientious Jews are
no longer troubled by the ob-
sessions of those who fear that
a full Jewish communal life on
American soil will create a con-
flict in our lives as Americans.
They are fully aware of the
many contributions which a
creative Jewish community can
offer our democratic way of life.
They know from experience
that not alone is there no conflict
involved but that one is bound
to add to the other.
Furthermore, they are con-
(Continued on Page 27)
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Passover Greetings
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