Page Four
THE JEWISH NEWS
As the Editor
Views the News ...
Go Thou and Do Likewise!
Joe E. Brown's Credo
Joe E. Brown, great actor, emerged as a
teacher of good will and decency during his
appearance in Detroit.
His heart-to-heart talks with his audiences
after the "Harvey" performances may have
done more good to cause people to think in
terms of genuine brotherhood than anything
else that has transpired in our community.
But the highlight of his visit with us was
his address to community_ leaders at the
Luncheon meeting that was arranged by the
Detroit Round 'Table of Catholics, Jews and
Protestants. He made several important
points:
"More than anything else," he said, "I want
the love of my fellow men. But even more
than that, I want to deserve it."
He expressed abhorrence for the term "tol-
erance," he told the gathering that "you are
wrong when you speak of tolerance, you are
right when you speak of intolerance—which
must be kicked out."
Paraphrasing a statement made by another
able speaker at that gathering—the Rev. Wal-
ton E. Cole—who appealed to all creeds to
"live and let live," he urged a "live and help
live" policy. And he expressed worry over
the fact that there were so few young people
present, since the youngsters will have to
carry on the work for brotherhood.
We are not speaking here of Mr. Brown's
"creed" but of his Credo which ought to
serve as a guide for all peoples.
During the first week's proceedings at the United Nations,
Joe E. Brown does a good job for good
fellowship with "Harvey." He 'does an even matters looked rosy for the Zionist case. We were encouraged
better one with his appeals for true brother- by many factors, by the attitudes of some of the member
hood, and we honor him for it.
states in the UN and especially by the stand that was taken
by U. S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall.
During the past week, however, he tide has turned. Power
Action taken by the Jewish Community politics again is at work. Oil interests are involved. The
Council to avoid panic in property-selling in Arabs are spouting hate and the credulous are giving ear to
the 12th Street area should receive the active
negative declarations.
support of all residents of that neighborhood
While there is an almost unanimous Jewish endorsement
and of all interested parties.
of
the
majority UNSCOP report for a partitioned Palestine,
It is unfortunate that the constant changes
growing
out of a craving for an early solution of the sad
in Jewish neighborhoods also create issues
involVing racial antagonisms. Jews, more problem of Eretz Israel, other considerations are arising to
than all others, must avoid becoming involved cause us worry.
in racial or religious controversies. When
It would be much easier to nap for a few weeks and to
insisting on fair treatment from neighbors,
awake
to a decisive conclusion by the United Nations. But
we must also resolve to assure fair treatment
that would be a thoroughly unrealistic approach. While world
to neighbors.
The problem is not an easy one to handle. powers are playing politics at our expense, it is necessary that
All the more reason, therefore, why all con-
we should be on guard; that we, too, should exert influence;
cerned must pool their forces and their best that we should make every effort to induce our government to
judgments to arrive at a fair and amicable
adhere to the established policy of the United States in sup-
solution.
port of aims for the creation of a Jewish Commonwealth
in Zion.
Palestine, Power Politics and UN
Housing and Panic
The Spirit of Survival
Not even the threat of starvation rations
can make the Exodus refugees swerve from
their determination to make Palestine the
final goal of their wanderings. French hos-
pitality means nothing to them. British in-
timidation methods make them even more
determined.
This spirit of Jewish survival after the
greatest disaster in our history is a miracle,
and proof of the strength of our race, if such
proof still is needed. It seems. however, that
miracles no longer impress a world worn out
by years of slaughter and destruction.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate. Religious
News Service, Palcor Agency, King Features, Central
Press Association.
Member American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers and Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., RA. 7956.
Subscription, $3 a year; foreign, $4. Club subscription,
every fourth Friday of the month, to all subscribers to
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Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6, 1942. at Post Of-
fice, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
\
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maurice Aronsson
Philip Slomovitz
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sobeloff
Judge Theodore Levin Abraham Srere
Maurice II. Schwartz Henry Wineman
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
VOL. XII—NO. 3
OCTOBER 3, 1947
Sabbath, Sukkot Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 20th day of Tishri, 5708, the
following scriptural selections will be read in our
synagogues:
Pentateuchal section—Ex. 33:12-34:26; Num. 29:
17-25.
Prophetical section—Ezek. 38:18-39:16.
On Shemini Atzereth (Monday) the following
selections will be read:
Pentateuchal section—Deut. 15 :19-16:17; Num.
29:35-30:1.
Prophetical section—Josh. 1.
On Simhat Torah (Tuesday) the following se-
lections will be read:
Pentateuchal section—Deut. 33:1-34:12; Gen. 1:1-
2 :3.
Prophetical section—Is. 42:5-21; 61:10.
The coming weeks will be marked by anxiety, by grave
doubts, by fears and heartaches. We have a duty to our-
selves to retain faith in our own powers to survive and to
continue to build a home for the homeless. By wise statesman-
ship and determined effort to retain the friendship and good
will of sympathetic nations, we can win our case. We can
lose only if we despair.
Anti-Semitism—British Style
Orders to police authorities in England to be on the
look-out against anti-Semitic demonstrations should have
been extended to the British-misgoverned territory of Pal-
estine.
Friday, October 3, 1947
Re-Evaluation of the Am Haaretz
On Sukkot We Know:
Soil Is Root of Learning
By GERHARDT NEUMANN
Sukkot, the festival of the harvest and the
glorification of the farmer, and Education Month
make me wonder about the strange history of the
expression "Am Haaretz."
Literally, Am Haaretz means "peoPle of the
land." Late in the Roman period the Pharisees
labeled as- Am Haaretz people who had no rab-
binical schooling, whose ways of life were simple
and whose knowledge of the law was limited to
what they had learned from their fathers. It was
the first time in Jewish history that a rift between
urban and rural civilization became apparent.
The Am Haaret2 stigma has ever since been the
most damning sentence that could be pronounced
over a Jew, although during several periods the
attempt was made to rehabilitate the unlearned,
simple man of the street and to credit him with:
the innate values which make him the backbone
of the Jewish people.
In the Hasidic literature, it is invariably the
Am Haaretz who wins God's favor. The poor man
who does not even know how to pray and there-
fore whistles a song of gratitude and devotion to
his creator is admitted to the inner circle of the
sages and righteous, because his intention was pure --
and respectable.
Likewise, in Sholem Aleichem's novels it is often
the ignorant peddler whose wishes are fulfilled and
whose words represent the real wisdom of the
people.
With the Jewish renaissance in Palestine, Jews
returned to the soil and became, in a real sense,
Am Haaretz, people of the land. Again, we-have a
rural and an urban civilization in Palestine, but so
far they have not been found to be irreconcilable
expressions of life. On the contrary, everyone in
Palestine knows that without the Jewish settler
who transforms the desert into blooming gardens
the whole work of reconstruction would be un-
thinkable.
•
*
*
There are many kinds of settlers in Palestine:
observant Jews and non-observant Jews; people
who have studied the Bible and the Talmud and
others who are more interested in worldly studies;
Jews with strong traditions and Jews with few or
no traditions—but what makes them the cultural
and political entity known as Yishuv are the ideals
they have in common, the respect of manual labor
and the love of the land. Many a settler may be an
Am Haaretz in the Pharisaic meaning of the word,
but his value as a member of the Jewish people
and as a pioneer in the rebuilding of the Jewish
homeland is not affected by such a verdict.
•
* '
*
It is only natural that Jews. are thinking in •
terms of urban civilization. Most of the 2,000 years
of our diaspora we have spent in the ghettos of
the cities, and even after emancipation had come,
we remained there to pursue our traditional trades
and professions.
But it must not be overlooked that at all times
the country was the reservoir of the cities. Many of
the greatest scholars, inventors, commercial
geniuses were products of a rural environment.
The Talmud itself is full of examples of scholari
who were originally farmers or laborers. It was a
perfect synthesis of the small but well-rounded
world of the peasant and the large but instable
world of the city.
*
Real learning means respect. Real learning
does not discriminate between people of rural and
urban origin, but recognizes their values and tries.
to strike a balance between them.
.Education .Month gives us an opportunity to
promote Jewish learning among our youths so
their minds will be open to all Jewish values, be
they products of the brain or products of manual
labor. At a time when Israel is again becoming an
"Am Haaretz," a people of the land, it is our duty
to eliniinate the ignorant Am Haaretz who has no
roots at all and who is a real danger to the exist-
ence of our people.
Eventide
(Ps.
By DR. NOAH E. ARONSTAM
i .91 )them hath Be set a tent for the sun.
The sun lies golden on the ground;
Fascist propaganda is infiltrating not only in England
A canopy. of green
but also in other lands where Britain has gained a military
Spreads forth its web-like foliage
foothold, with the result that vandalism by British troops
Like tracings on a screen.
has assumed an ugly character.
The shadows flit on playfully--
Kaleidoscopes of hue,
The defilement of two synagogues in Jerusalem on the
And shape themselves in changeful moods
eve of Yom Kippur proved to what depths anti-Semites will
To vie with skies of blue.
sink when motivated by hatred and prejudice. The statement
The
vesper sun sinks netherwards
issued•by the British Army authorities in Jerusalem deploring
In purple-mauve array;
the incidents does not help any. These occurrences, during
The twilight stalks on graying wings
which British military who conducted the alleged "search"
And seals the cicising day.
in the synagogues unrolled the Holy Scrolls and defiled
prayerbooks, are continuations of similar acts which showed Facts You Should Know
the lack of respect British authorities have for Jewish re-
ligious sentiments.
It was to be expected that the British would refrain from
desecrating synagogues on the eve of Yom Kippur. Only the
Nazis previously have stooped to such ugly tactics of insult-
ing Jews on their holiest day of the year. We would have
Is Yiddish used by Jews in spiritual writings?
imagined that at this time, when the United Nations is dis-
Yes. Yiddish, which originated 1,000 years ago
cussing a plan , for a solution to the Palestine problem, bias
the Rhine provinces, first was used as a literary
would be relegated to the background. Evidently it will take in
medium for translations of the Bible, prayers,
much stronger forces to enforce decency.
homilies and ritual customs.
* 4. *
The pre-Yom Kippur occurrences in Palestine prove the
What are the "Na-anuim"?
validity of the point on which the United Nations Special
During the Hallel the four species are waved
Committee on Palestine agreed unanimously; that Great towards
the four points of the compass, and up-
Britain must give up the mandate for Palestine and her wards and downwards, thus making six distinct
troops must evacute the country as speedily as possibly. Great motions. These motions are called "Na-anuim."
*
*
*
Britain's "threat" to withdraw' from Palestine is nothing
What is Hasidism?
more than admission that her hand has been forced and that
A mystical movement in Judaism, founded by
she must admit defeat in dealing. with the situation in the
Israel Baal Shem. Tob shortly before the middle of
Holy Land.
, the 18th century.
Answers to Readers'
Questions .. .