Page Four
THE JEWISH NEWS
As the Editor
Views the News
uestion for Allied Conference
---
Blessed Be His Memory!
May the memory of President Roosevelt
be a blessing for all generations to come!
He was a very, very great man, and his
labors are recorded in golden letters in the
annals of world history.
He was a humanitarian whose pioneering
efforts to establish justice on earth had
made him the idol of the entire world, with
the sole exception of the barbarians who
make up the Nazi-Fascist powers.
Bait so powerful is the influence of Presi-
dent Roosevelt's humanitarianism that des-
tructive forces in the world are certain to
be completely uprooted as a lasting tribute
to the great -man whom we were privileged
to call our President.
* * *
He was a very faithful man. .A very few
days preceding his death, in a greeting to
Congregation Emanu-El of New York, on
the occasion of the Temple's centenary cele-
bration, he wrote:
"It seems fitting that I should again de-
clare that no greater thing could come to
our land today than a revival of the spirit
of religion—a revival that would stir the
hearts of men and women of all faiths to a
reassertion of their belief in God.
"The great majority of Americans find
religious unity in a common Biblical heri-
tage of the Old Testament. Whether our
allegiance is to the tenets of Christian re-
velation or to the ancient teaching of Israel,
we all hold to the inspiration of the Old
Testament and accept the Ten Command-
ments as the fundamental law of God.
"It is well for us, therefore, in the face of
global war and world upheaval, to empha-
size' the many essential things in which we,
as a nation, can find unity as we seek
solution of the momentous problems before
us."
These are the words of a man who was
truly religious, who loved the Bible, who
appreciated that the major faiths inherited
their - tenets from Judaism and that there is
a common Biblical heritage.
* * *
President Roosevelt was on record as a
devoted friend of the Zionist cause, and one
of his most effective statements which the
recently reaffirmed declared:
"I know how long and ardently the Jew-
ish people lave worked and prayed for the
establishment of Palestine as a free and
democratic Jewish Commonwealth. I am
convinced that the American people give
their support to this aim."
This statement, made last October, was
one of many oft President Roosevelt's de-
clarations which indicated that our Presi-
dent was concerned that Jewish aspirations
in Palestine should be realized.
* * *
The President's major aim was to see a
victorious peace. He was concerned that the
democratic powers should triumph and that
tyranny should be obliterated for all time.
That day is drawing near, but it is one of
the great misfortunes. of the war that death
had stepped in to prevent him from seeing
the fruits of victory.
• But it is a source of relief, at least, for the
living to know that the President was
aware that victory is at hand and that his
life's labors are not in vain. •
May his memory be a blessing for all time
to come.
.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent
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Member American Association of English-Jewish News-
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Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
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h 7956. Subscription rate, $3 a year; foreign,
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Entered as second-class matter August 6, 1942, at the
Post Office at Detroit, Michigan, under the Act of
March 3. 1879.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MAURICE ARONSSON
PHILIPT O SLOMOVITZ
FRED M. BUTZEL
ISIDORE SOBELOFF
THEODORE LEVIN
ABRAHAM SRERE
MAURICE H. SCHWARTZ HENRY WINEMAN
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
A. It. BRASCH, Advertising Counsel
VOL. 7—NO. 5
APRIL 20, 1945
The Week's Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighth day of Iyar, 5705,
the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Lev. 16:1-20:27.
Prophetical portion—Amos 9:7-15; or Ezek.
22:1-19 (or 16).
Friday, April 20, 194g
Answers to Readers
Questions About Jews
What reference is made in the Bible to
dietary laws?
—S. 11.
The dietary laws are incorporated in Deuter-
onomy 14. The laws of kashrut are based on the
Biblical statement "you shall not boil the calf in
its mother's milk."
* * *
What is the significance of the Jewish
feast of Lag b'Omer, which falls this year
on May 1?
—B. B.
Lag b'Omer is a half-holiday which occurs
between the period of Passover and Shevuoth,
or Pentecost. It is devoted to the celebration of
weddings and other festivities from which pious
Jews refrain during the rest of this period.
Talmudic Tales
(Based upon the ancient legends and philosophy found
the Talmud and folklore of the Jewish people dating back
as far as 3,000 years).
By DAVID MORANTZ
PEARLS OF WISDOM
President Harry S. Truman
"A woman of 60," says the Talmud, "runs
after music like a girl of six."
"It is better to have ten inches to stand upon
than a hundred yards to fall."
"The weakness of thy walls invites the burg-
lar."
"A handful of food will not satisfy the lion,
neither can a pit be filled again with its own
dust."
"The house which opens not to the poor will
open to the physician."
- "When men speak ill of you, live so that no-
body will believe them."
"Eaten bread is soon forgotten."
(Copyright 1945 by David Morantz)
For a handsome 195 page,
gift volume con-
The hour of the nation's mourning also calls for the taining 128 of these tales and autographed
508 Pearls of Wisdom, send
- to David Morantz, tare of The Jewish News, or
pledging of allegiance by all Americans to their new 81.50
phone PLaza 1048,
President.
Harry S.. Truman is President of the United States, and
the support which goes to a President from his electorate is
now transferred to him.
All the resources at the command of our nation are now
Boys and Girls:
at the disposal of our new President. The entire people is Dear This
is Victory Garden Time! And it is the
at his service, in order that we may achieve an early vic- duty of all of us to pitch in and to start planting
tory on the battlefields and in order that the forces of our Victory Gardens.
But it should
justice and righteousness may rule mankind.
Eager Beaver
be considered as
The Jews of America, in common with all citizens,
more than
a
duty; we should
pledge allegiance to President Truman and pray that he be
look upon it as
given the strength to carry-on the great work for a better
a pleasure, be-
world.
cause of the ad-
vantages we de-
And the Jews of the entire world will join in prayer
rive from such
for the- well-being of our new President, so that he may lead
activity and be-
us to victory and so that all humanity may again breathe
cause of the
great contribu-
freely in peace and in security.
tions we can
All blessings upon President Truman!
Make at the
Children's Corner
One of FDR's Last Statements
One of the last statements issued by President Roosevelt
before his death Was the message he addressed to Rabbi
4hron Opher of the Synagogue Council of America, ex-
pressing the belief that Americans will find National Family
Week to be "of deeper significance now than ever at any
time in our history."
Rabbi Opher is a member of the sponsoring committee
which includes the Rev. Harry C. Munro, director of adult
work for the International Council of Religious Education,
and the Rev. Edgar Schmiedeler, secretary of the Catholic
Conference on Family Life.
"The war has brought to all of us the meaning of the
love and the joy and the spiritual unity which derive from
the home," the President said. "Your committee is perform-
ing a notable task in focusing attention upon the group—the
family—which is the basis of civilization."
President
added that the annual observance of
National Family Week should "result in increased reverence
and respect for the home and dwellers in it."
This statement is typical of the President's devotion to
the most sacred ideals involving the nation, the family and
the individual. It is indicative of the deep-rooted devotion
to sacred ideals leading to the betterment of humanity which
had made our deceased President such a great man.
Statements such as this one served to elevate him in the
thought of his countrymen and .the world at large, and will
help to preserve his memory for all time to come.
A Program for the Jewish Center
We recommend to our readers a careful reading of the
interesting and thorough report submitted to .the Jewish
Community Center of Detroit by its president, H. C. Broder.
Mr. Broder shows that he possesses vision and a full
understanding of future needs of our community when he
places emphasis on two things:
1. The need for expansion for the establishment of three
auxiliary centers to -serve the needs of our young people in
neighborhoods removed from the present Center; and
2. The importance of training our young men and wo-
men for leadership.
The programs instituted by Mr. Broder are leading to-
wards the realization of his ideal policies and it is an en-
couragement to the entire community to know that he has
the wholehearted support of his co-workers and cooperating
agencies in the sponsorship of his plans.
ka-A6
same time to the
war effort by
helping increase
the food supply.
I sincerely hope
that all of you
will start
i n g
g- on your
Victory Gardens
NOW! , This is
the time to - start
getting the best
I hope many of you= will write to tell me of
the progress you are making with your gardens.
I wish you all a very pleasant Sabbath.
* s UNCLE DANIEL
a
'
HONOR THY MOTHER; A TALMUDIC STORY
The Talmud contains a story of a wise Rabbi
who held his mother in such high regard that
when he heard her footsteps he used to rise' up
and say: "I stand before the Shechinah (the holy
Presence.)"
Of another Rabbi we may read that he used
to assist his mother to get in and out of bed by
kneeling down so that she could use his back as
a foot stool and, when on one occasion her shoe
came off in a slippery courtyard he placed his
hands under her feet so that she should not fall.
oon after this happened the Rabbi became ill
and called for some of his fellow Rabbis to offer
up prayers in his behalf. To the visitors the
mother related the incident and asked if they did
not think that her son had paid her more honor
than was her due. But the Rabbis answered:
"Even if he had 'done a thousand times as much
he would still not have performed half of what
the Torah enjoins concerning the honoring of par-
ents." So you who read' this story may see how'
highly the Rabbis esteemed the fulfillment of
this command.
Only when a child is bidden to break a divine
command do the sages release him from his duty
to his parents. For the Bible says: "Ye shall fear
every man his mother and his father, and keep
My Sabbath." The Rabbis explain this verse to
mean that we can do our duty to our parents by
not breaking away from the religious teachings
which they have imparted to us. The Rabbis also
teach- us that if We should be bidden by a parent
to do something that is' forbidden in the Torah,
we are not bound in words of respect.
*
a
*
'
MODESTY: A CHASSIDIC TALE
The Rabbi of Zanz used to tell: "As a young
man I believed I would be able to convince the
whole world of the greatness of God. When I
realized, that I could not, I tried to convert the
people of my town. I tried for a long time, but
did not succeed. Then I saw that I had been
over-ambitious, and I turned to the members of
my own family. But even them I could not con-
vert. Finally, I tried to improve myself, to serve
God in truth. And even this I did not succeed."