At Eventide
There Shall
Be Ught"
May You Be
Inscribed For a
Happy New Year
VOLUME XII—NO. I
HE JEWISH NEWS
A
Weekly Review
2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Michigan
of Jewish Events
Friday, September 19, 1947
34 41A., 22
`1 Yea
rmito
$3.00 Per Year; Single Copy, 10c
U. S. Expected t Lend Support
To UNSCO
jority Report
FLUSHING MEADOWS,
•
By Telephone From Jewish News Special Correspondent
N. Y.—U. S. support for the ma-
jority UNSCOP report which recommends the partition of Pa-
lestine into Jewish and Arab States was seen as imminent on
Tuesday, when the Second Session of the United National Gen-
eral Assembly opened here with the election of Oswaldo Aranha
of Brazil as president.
Responsible American officials informed The Jewish News
ilk assert Huts
\T •
correspondent that they would support the partition plan, but
expressed fear that threats of an Arab "holy war" may delay
action and may cause unnecessary trouble.
The opening session was limited to formality. The Palestine
question is not expected to arise for several days, although the
General Committe, which was elected Tuesday afternoon and
held its first meeting Wednesday, will begin consideration of the
—International Sound Photo.
form backdrop at Poppendorf, Germany, Displaced Persons camp as
some of the 4,300 Exodus 1947, disembarked at Hamburg, arrive for interment in the British
occupation zone. The refugees were transported on these ships from Haifa, Palestine, where
the British captured the Exodus, barring homeless Jews from their Promised Land.
Yom Kippur Tradition
agenda, which includes the probable creation of a special
committee on Palestine.
Aranha was president of the special session in May re-
garding Palestine. The General Committee is comprised of
Aranha; the seven vice-presidents, which are the-United States,
Great Britain, Russia, France, China, Mexico and Cuba; plus
the chairman of the six committees—Luxembourg, which was
elected chairman of the important political committee, Chile,
Poland, whose delegate, Oscar Lange, heads the committee on
human rights and was prominent in the May session for sup-
porting the Jewish cause, Syria, India and New Zealand.
We found out that Canada's Lester Pearson will probably
not become chairman of the special Palestine committee as has
been rumored, because the Canadian government is insistent
on his early return to Ottawa.
Zionist circles had strongly hoped that Pearson would head
the special committee in this session because of the favorable
attitude of the Canadian dele-
gate on UNSCOP. The Canadian
delegate's attitude there came as
Proclamation on
a surprise to many, particularly
in view of the Canadian silence
–Gommunity ,Wide
while in Palestine, where he ab-
stained from taking any attitude
Education Month
publicly, although he was later
disclosed to have been one of the
leading fighters for the majority
By all Detroit
recommendation.
The Assembly opened with
Jewish Schools
speeches by Aranha and Mayor
William O'Dwyer of New York,
—Page 5
but there was no mention of
Palestine.
Despite Many Misinterpretations
Kol Nidre Remains Holy to Jews
By RABBI ABRAHAM SILVERSTONE
"Kol Nidre" means "all vows" and is the name of a legal
formula by which a person is released from vows. A vow is a promise
to do or refrain from doing a certain act. There are promises which
are generally not considered binding. Such, for instance, are rash
promises made in a state of emotional tension or mental weakness,
or promises whose fulfillment is impossible, socially undesirable or
illegal.
The Jews of antiquity sought relief from the psychological and
social difficulties arising from rash vows, in a legal, formal and
ceremonial annulment: They would present the case before an
, ordained rabbi or a jury of three laymen. They would declare the
vow either binding or null and void.
The formula, recited by the cantor as the head of the jury of
three, before- the open Ark, reads:
"All vows, bonds . . . wherewith we have vowed .. . and
bound ourselves to take effect from the last Day of Atonement
until this one, shall be . . . annulled, made void and of none effect.
Our vows are not vows" ... -
This formula is too general, and may be made by the unscrupu-
lous and ignorant to cover all obligations. As early as the 9th
century C. E. the Gaonim of Babylonia called it a foolish custom and
did not allow the practice in their academies.
Opposition also came from the Gentile world, Many courts
refused to depend on an oath taken by a Jew, or devised a special
form of oath for Jews on the basis that the Jew could not be
trusted because he was released by the recitation of Kol Nidre.
The Jewish people, however, clung to the Kol Nidre. Is it its
gripping melody that accounts for the Jew's attachment to this
-
formula?
After an unsuccessful attempt to abolish Kol Nidre, Prof.
ti
Mordecai M. Kaplan, of the Jewish:Theological Seminary, restricted
the formula to vows made "to the end that we might estrange
ourselves from those who have offended us, or to the end that we
might give pain to those who' have endangered us." This . enlarg
e d
Kol Nidre is recited
in a that
few
synagogues
came u
u nder 'le
influence of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, which was
) founded by Kaplan in 1922.
Copyright 1947. Seven Arts Feature Syndicate
U. S. Honors Swope- .
, —International Photo
Herbert Bayard Swope, chairman of the board of
Overseas News Agency was awarded the Medal of Merit for his "exceptionally meritorius con-
duct in the performance of outstanding services" in World War II, as public relations consultant
to the Secreary of War from 1942 to 1945. The citation, signed by President Truman, states;
"Herbert Bayard Swope was an important participant in the various Baruch committees which
prepared reports in connection with the council of national defense, on industrial mobilization,
and war and post-war reconversion. He was of great value in the prosecution of the war because
of his broad experience, quick and clear analytical capability, and never failing good judment.
The presentation was made by Gen. Eisenhower and witnessed (left to right in the photo)
by former Secretary James F. Byrnes, General Eisenhower and Bernard Baruch, in addition to
other distinguished national and military leaders.