THE JEWISH NEWS
See. 542. P. I. & R.
Published every Friday by the Jewish News Publishing Co.,
inc., 2114 Penobscoap131dg., Detroit. Mich. Telephone RAndolph 7956.
Subscription rates, $3 a year; foreign, $4 a year.
Member of Independent Jewish Press Service, • Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, Religious News
Service, Palcor News Agency, Bressler Cartoon Service, Wide
World Photo Service.
U. S. POSTAGE
PAID
DETROIT, MICR.
Permit No. 3760
MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ and PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Publishers
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maurice Aronscon
Fred M. Butzel
Theodore Levin
Maurice H. Schwartz
Philip Slomovitz
Isidore Sobeloff
Abraham Srere
Henry Wineman
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
On this Sabbath, the fifteenth day of Iyar, 5702, the following
Bibical selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal
portion, Lev. 21:1-24:23: Prophetical portion; Ezek. 44:15-31. Lag
b'Omer will beobserved on Tuesday.
------- -
MAY 1, 1942
VOL. 1—NO. 6
A Billion a Month
America's clogan, impelled by the need for speeding
up our war efforts, is: A Billion Income a Month Through
the Sale of Defense Bonds and Stamps.
This drive for the investment of funds with our Gov-
ernment is now on in full force.
Its call must be heeded by everyone who has any-
thing to spare, from a dime up, as an investment in the
cause of freedom.
Delay will cost us more than money ; it will cost us
additional manpower.
If this war is to end speedily, we must throw in all
our resources to achieve victory.
For victory, we must provide the necessary Billion
a Month.
To make victory possible, no one is immune from in-
v•sting in the cause of national freedom.
Be sure you buy Defense Stamps daily, and Defense
Bonds as often as possible.
Deplorable Disunity
The Weekly
Sell monette
ON TO SINAI
By DR. LEO M. FRANKLIN
Rabbi Emeritus of Temple
Beth El.
There is no standing still.
Either we move forward or we
retrograde. This is as true in the
realm of the intellect and of
morals as it is
in the physical
world. The stu-
d e n t, however
erudite and
learned he may
be, knows that
he will become
mentally d u 11
unless by con-
tinued and con-
stant study he
keeps his mind
k..
Dr. Franklin alert for more
and more knowledge.
The person who attains a high
moral standard in his own day,
may not of necessity serve as an
examplar for the generation that
follows him. The Biblical narra-
tor of the story of Noah recogniz-
ed this when he characterized
his hero as "a just and perfect
man" "b'Dorosov" in his genera-
tion.
A group of rabbis have decided to convene a con-
ference of dissenters from the majority opinion of the ON TO SINAI
Central Conference of American Rabbis on the subject of
a Jewish Army in Palestine. In effect, such a conference is
proof of the deplorable disunity which continues to split
the ranks of American Jewry. It is a regrettable example
of failure on the part of our people to get together in time
of crisis.
T he question of a Jewish army in Palestine has
been debated in many quarters. The need for such a force
has been recognized as a precautionary measure in the
defense of the Middle East by British and American states-
men. Outstanding American leaders have pleaded for such
a military force. The large majority of the members of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis, as well as the
Conservative and Orthodox groups, have approved of the
proposal. To create dissension at this time by calling a
- ,
-
protest conference against the action of the majority is
hardly consonant with the dire needs of the hour on the
world democratic front.
The Plea of the Technocrats
a
A full page advertisement in last Sunday's Detroit
News makes certain proposals which do not correspond
with the best American ideals.
The plea in that advertisement for the abolition of
foreign language periodicals sounds like a return to the
days of the Know-Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan. Even
the most drastic steps taken by our Government during
the last war did not include abandonment of newspapers
published in languages other than Erglish.
Two weeks before the Technocrats' advertisement
appeared in The Detroit News, it was inserted in 40 other
newspapers. At that time, the advertisement carried em-
blems known as the "Monad" which have the shape of
the Swastika. Nevertheless, the advertising copy inserted
in the News by the Technocrats car, , s a call for the de-
feat of the Fascists.
There is something mysterious and inconsistent about
such copy, and it calls for further study, by newspapers as
well as Goveinment.
To Leon Blum: Greetings
r
On the occasion of his 70th birthday, 200 leading
'Americans have cabled to Leon Blum a message of cheer
in which we heartily join.
The message, which included the signatures of Dr.
Albert Einstein, Dorothy Thompson, Dr. John Dewey,
Eddie Cantor, Senator Arthur Capper, Governor Herbert
H. Lehman and others, expressed sympathetic greetings
on M. Blum's "courageous stand in the cause of freedom
and democrac y ."
"I am a Jew and a Marxist," M. Blum has told the
Nazi-controlled court at Riom.
It took courage to say it, and it reflected the dignity
of this eminent Jew and outstanding Socialist.
We greet him, and we hope that he will soon be
able to proclaim his ideals for freedom and democracy
in the public squares of the land he loves so dearly and
served so well.
HOT-AIR BARRAGE
This is exceedingly worth re-
membering by those of our peo-
ple who are accustomed to build
their lives and to pattern their
beliefs upon the basis of yester-
day's thinking. Those who lay all
their stress upon tradition and
who believe that what was good
enough for our fathers ought to
be good enough for us, fail to
apreciate that we live in a world
that is constantly in process of
change, even though the change
may not always imply growth
in the right direction.
This thought becomes signifi-
cant if we realize that we are
today midway between Pesach,
our Feast of Freedom, and Sha-
buoth, the Festival of Emancipa-
tion. Many there are who seem
to believe that when the chains
were broken from the limbs of
our fathers who had been slaves
in Egypt no further effort on
their part needed to be made.
They were free — that was
enough. But those who thought
out the problem more than su-
per icially r ealized that the
brea g the shackles that
bound the limbs of these people
was only a first step in their
emancipation. They had to go
forward—on to Sinai — where
they might hear the Divine
Voice calling "Thou shalt" and
"Thou shalt not."
THE SUPREME TASK
This onward progress is the
very key to the successful life.
Yesterday's world cannot fit the
pattern of today's thinking. The
gruesome fact that we live in a
day that is morally subnormal
and in which every form of
idealism has been cast to the
winds, does not alter the basic
truth of what is here stated. In-
deed, it makes more imperative
that morally at least we go for-
ward. We need to create a world,
or to narrow the term, to build
a society, that shall in its prac-
tices go beyond the presently pre-
vailing standards of the jungle,
and strive to reach up to the
plane of the Prophets who saw
in man the image of a just, right-
eous and humane God.
Indeed that is the supreme task
confronting men in these troubl-
ed times, and most of all men,
those who hold themselves to be
possessed of the religious spirit.
Now, with no attempt to find
fault with those who hold other
views, it is my firm conviction
that the one justification for the
Give Because You Are Free
Within ten days, the call will go forth to every Jew
in Detroit to prove that he is worthy of the freedom he is
enjoying as an American.
The Allied Jewish Campaign asks of us a sum of
$985,000 to guarantee the existence of our Jewish insti-
tutions, and to provide for the minimum needs of millions
of unfortunates who must be helped either with the bare
necessities of life or with efforts to provide homes for
them.
We who are free can have only one answer to the
appeal of the Allied Jewish Campaign : we must give to
the utmost of our abilities if we are to prove deserving
of the liberties that are our gifts as citizens of this great
land.
We should be thankful, every moment of our life,
that we have been blessed with the privileges that go to
Americans, and it should be a small token of appreciation
that we are in position to help those who have been
robbed of the most elementary rights of men.
The least we can do to fulfill our obligations as free
men is to give liberally for the liberation of the oppressed.
Give MORE than you had planned to the Allied Jew-
ish Campaign. It is one of the ways of demonstrating your
human loyalties in this grave hour in history.
separateness of the Jew or even
for his survival is his sponsor-
ship of a unique religious mission
and a code of conduct that takes
on character and meaning be-
cause it is sanctioned by God.
This gives to the Jew a place
of dignity and of high responsi-
bility today. If he is content to
be a moral laggard, living in the
reflected glory of his historic and
heroic past; or if he is willing
like the masses about him to be
a spiritual nonentity, with no
worthwhile aims and aspirations;
if he finds it right to follow the
multitudes whose God is gold,
and to bow down at the altars of
pleasure and self - indulgence
there can be little hope for his
survival, and his future, if he is
to have one, will not in any sense
be worthy of his past.
paths to the heights. But it is not
enough that his ideals express
themselves in brave words. His
achievements must not lag too
far behind his aspirations.
His
practices must coincide with his
preachment. Conduct and creed
must be only the reverse faces
of one shield. The priestly mis-
sion laid upon him in ancient
days and which is somewhat el-
aborated in the Scripture portion
that is read on this Sabbath must
still inspire him now when altar
and priesthood are no more. His
traditional obligation to be a
kingdom of priests and a holy
people, must translate itself into
the terms of modern living.
modern thinking and modern
ways of giving expression to his
faith.
Were Moses living today, I am
"NO STANDING STILL"
sure that he would repeat the
It is the task of the Jew to rise ancient mandate spoken by him
morally and spiritually above his
environment, and in rising, to
carry others upward with him.
He must not be willing to follow
the path of least resistance and
to ride with the tide. Morally
and spirtually he must cut new
in the name of God: "Speak to
the children of Isarel, that they
go forward." Pesach must pres-
age the message of Shabuoth.
Emancipated from Egypt we
must push on to Sinai. There is
no standing still.