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THE JEWISH NEWS

Page Four

As the. Editor
Views the News...

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From Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, the Jewish com-
munity of Detroit will sponsor a drive for
SOS—the effort to secure supplies for o\ Ter-
seas survivors.
Sponsored by the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee with . the cooperation
of all national JeWish organizations, SOS has
become a symbol for service and mercy.
Through SOS, men, women and children
who remain in displaced persons camps in
Europe have been provided with necessities
of life, with canned foods, with music and
clothing.

The response SOS has received from De-
troit Jewry in . the past year has been most
heartening. Leaders of the current drive
therefore are encouraged by past • peform-
ances and feel confident that an even better
answer will be given - during the special .col-
lection effort which is to start on the Sunday
after Thanksgiving.

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AMERIeAN OVERTURE: Jewish Rights in Colonial Times.
By Abram Vossen. Goodman, Philadelphia: The Jewish
Publication Society'' of America. 15 illustrations. Bibliogra-
phy. Index. $3.

g

AV, :=

A review by DR. DAVID DE SOLA POOL, Rabbi,
Shearith Israel Synagogue, NeW York City.i

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The openina date of the new SOS driVe is
symbolic. The fact that it. follows Thanks-
giving, when all of us will be able to enjoy
the bounties of American life, Should serve
as additional impetus for greater giving - to
aid the dispossessed European Jews who
have survived Nazi oppressions.

Nov. 30-Dec. 7 should be a period of su-
preme effort in behalf of the needy. SOS
provides an objective for many of our organ-
izations, especially also in view of its prox-
imity to the Hanukah gift-giving period. All
of us are obligated to make the SOS drive an
impre'ssive and outstanding success.

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The New York Times used the heading
"Mercy and Fanaticism" for the following
editorial:

It seems incredible that racial and political
fanaticism could rise so high as to refuse medi-
cal aid even from an unwelcome quarter in the
midst of a raging epidemic. Yet that seems to
be precisely the answer made by the Egyptian
Government to an offer by the Hebrew Uni-
versity in Palestine to supply cholera serum
for use in infected areas around Cairo.

The Hebrew University has one of the finest
laboratories in the Near East. Its offer by
Dr. Judah L. Magnes, president of the univer-
sity, included both doctors and serum to fight
the Egyptian plague. Within three weeks its
bacteriologists agreed to increase the manufac-
ture of serum units from an average of tens of
thousands to millions. The offer was made
officially to the Egyptian Consul, who asked
that it be put in writing. That was done three
weeks ago. The letter has since remained
unanswered. Meanwhile cholera victims in
Egypt are dying at the rate of 400 a day.
What a splendid victory for the Arab League!
It took a cholera epidemic to inspire these

strong words 'from the great New York
Times. It is unfOrtuna.te that Arab rejection
of progress also is applicable to practically
all fields of endeavor in which our people
have excelled in Palestine. Our pioneers have
paved the way for unprecedented achieve-
ments in industry, commerce, farming and
education. They have revolutionized the
medical field and have vastly improved
health conditions for all inhabitants. But
the Arab hierarchy, acting in behalf of a
handful of effendis and large landowners,
have rejected our contributions. ALL their
rejections have been • "splendid victories for
the Arab League!"

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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
Allied Jewish Campaign of- Jewish Welfare Federation of
Detroit. 40 cents pei year.
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 Slomoicitz
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sobeloff
Judge Theodore Levin Abraham Srere
Maurice 11. Schwartz Henry Wineman

rump •SLOMOVITZ. Editor

VOL. XII—NO. 9

Goodman Reveals Jews'
Place in Early History
Of American Freedom

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New. SOS. Call

Mercy and Fanaticism

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Fiiday, NOve-mber 14, 1447

NOVEMBER 14, 1947

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 2nd day of Kislev, 5708, the
following scriptural selections will be read in
our synagogues;
Pentateuchal section — Gen. 25:19-28:9
Prophetical section
I: Sam. 20:16-42

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C JEulist4 -relt.GrPAPNK.

Challenging Plans for Unity

An interesting proposal has been made by Louis Lipsky,
chairman of the executive committee of the American Jewish
Conference, at a meeting in Philadelphia.
Mr. Lipsky, one of the_ ablest American Jewish leaders,
keen thinker and brilliant organizer, suggested that a seven-
- man praesidium or political commission should be chosen
to represent the totality of Jewish life in America and to
act as the authorized mouthpiece for the American Jewish
community in dealing with the United States Government
and with intergovernmental bodies.
For more than 10 years, dating back to the days of his
leadership in the American Jewish Congress, Mr. Lipsky
has been adVocating plans for the election of a representative
group which is to speak with authority for the Jews of this
country.. He has been motivated in making such proposals
by the unfortunate lack of unity and the _overlapping of
numerous activities on the political and rescue fronts. On
one occasion, during the Evian conference, more than 30.
petitions were presented by Jewish organization to the na-
tional parley. Since that time,: the situation has been eased
considerably and we have witnessed a greater amount of
unity and cooperation in matters affecting the status of
world Jewry. •

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There is -particular ground for jubilation over, the
cooperative effort which marks the presentation of the
Jewish case before the United Nations. Mr. Lipsky's plan
for a seven-man commission could very well be e/tended
to many fields of endeavor_ in .American Jewish life and
might lead to the elimination of duplication in activities
affecting political work. .

The major objective in Mr. Lipsky's plan undoubtedly
is the sincere effort to create a single, centralized, over-all
body to deal 'with Jewish problems. The American Jewish
Conference may be the medium for the establishment of a
unified front.' As matters stand today, there is little chance
of the Conference succeeding, in view of opposition encoun-
tered from the American Jewish Committee, the . Federations
and Welfare Funds, the Jewish Labor Committee, the Coun-
cil of JeWish Women and other groups.' Even the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations, whose president, Dr. Mau-
rice Eisendrath, is an outstanding Conference leader, is not
fully in accord with the Conference's projected reorganiza-
-
tion program.

Nevertheless, the totality of Jewish life would be
enehanced by the formation of a commission that includes
spokesmen for all elements in American Jewry. It is a
plan worthy -of discussion, but it will have to become
acceptable before the Conference sessions in Chicago
the end of this month, else we see little chance of survi-
val for. the Conference,-.in spite of the acclaim given its* .
proposals at numerous popular gatherings.
The Conference sessions will be watched with a great

deal of interest in view of its challenging theme. It will be
most interesting to study the temper of those delegates who
Will participate in discUsSions of "unity." Perhaps the Con-
ference reorganization plan and Mr. Lipsky's idea are pro-
posals too far ahead of their time.

In a generation in which various forms of to-
talitarianism have - imposed on states a doctrine
and a faith which brook nol dissent, -it is altogether
valuable that there-should be made widely avail=
able books which set forth'- the facts about our
American achievement of a national unity hap-
pily synthesized out of diversity. One such book
is Abram Vossen Goodman's "American Overture."
How did the United
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4 iStates achieve religious
.:`.liberty and equality for
:imen of all faiths? In the
original 13 colonies there
. iwas wide denominational
.variety. Among the many
religious groups there
were those who would
have wished to see • one
'state church of their own
!denomination established
. by the United ,Slates
emerged out. of the
:Revolution. But if for . no
:other' reason .- than the
::multiplicity of the
::;churches and their corn-
petition among them-
selves, this tendency
Abram V. Goodman towards a state totalitar-
ianism, that was standard in Europe at the time,
Was altogether ruled out when the federal consti-
tution, its Bill of Rights and first amendment were
hammered out.
Yet, the separation of church and State which
the United States' achieved and whiC
h was 'so
widely copied by the democratic upheavals in
19th century Europe was not something that Caine
to sudden birth in the days of Jefferson and the
Constitutional Convention. It was the' final . step
in a struggle that had been waged in colony , after
after
colony for more than a. century before the
In each state the problem had presented
itself and had been grappled' with in a different
way. The Puritans in New England faced the
problem presented' by religious diversity alto-
gether differently from the spirit shown by Roger
Williams 'in nearbY.Rhode Island, just the -Quaker
Penn in Pennsylvania had to meet a different
situation from that which was presented to the
Catholic Lord Baltimore in neighboring Maryland.
Goodman's "American Overture" surveys this
whole field in state after state, from New England
to Georgia, by assaying the attitude of each col-
ony towards its Jews. It tells an absorbing story
that is based not on conjecture but on facts' drawn
from diligent reatling of legal records and other
scattered, little known and rarely used sources.
The results are often surprising. Massachusetts,
which in the popular mind is associated with the
persecution of Quakers and violent witch hunting,
emerges as more liberal in its treatment of Jews
than was the Rhode Island that . was born in. the
beautiful religious tolerance of Roger Williams.
Maryland founded by Catholics soon had to 'face
a problem of anti-Catholicism. Everywhere the
Jew found a more ready acceptance than. did the
Catholic. But everywhere the Jew served - as a
test case in the 'struggle for religious and . civil
liberties.
It was Peter Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam
who, almost three centuries ago, presciently, de-
clared: "To give' liberty to the Jews will be very
detrimental • . . Giving them liberty, we cannot
refuse the Lutherans and Papists." Religiously the
Jew was classed below the Singing Quakers, -The
Ranting Quakers, the Sabbatarians, the Anti-
sabbatarians, the Dueritlers, Boehmites-, Schwenk-
felders, Trichtfelders, Mid the Well-Wishers. They
figured at the bottom of the list of. religiOns, just
above the heathenS. They therefore served as a
touchstone in .the development of American civic
and religious liberty from the beginning:
The story which Abram V. Goodman tells in
"American Overture" is no series of backwoods in-
cidents. To realize its importance in the story of
the struggle of human rights in the modern. world
we should remember such a fact as that in 1776
the poptilation of Philadelphia, 40,000, exceeded
that of any city in Great Britain or Ireland- save
London itself. We should recall, as the author re-
minds us, -that when Francis Salvador was elected
by South Carolina as a representative to the 'First
and Second Provincial Congress in 1774, be. was
not only the first. Jew in American history, :but
"probably the first JeW in the modern world to
serve in an electiVe Office." The cause of human
rights, religibus freedom and equal dembCratic
citizens everywhere is Well served by the phbli-
tcuartieoy of Abram- V. Goodman's "American Over

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Facets You

Should Know -

Jewish-Hospital—Nearer Reality Answers to Readers'
The Detroit Jewish community's dream for the estab- Questions
lishment of a Jewish Hospital is nearing reality.

The statement circulated this week by the Jewish Hos-
pital Association outlines the projected plans for the erection
of a hospital with 224 beds and 60 bassinets: A call soon is
to be issued for bids, doctors will makea study of technical
details and final plans will be available to the community
at large.'
The rising costs point to the need of a total sum of
$5,000,000 for the projected hospital. This means that funds
approximating an •additional $3,000,000 will be needed to
supplement the available capital to make the dream a reality.
Detroit Jewry needs the hospital. The desire to see it erected
is sufficiently strong to encourage prompt action to secure
the necessary means for this great project -

Who are the Seventh Day Baptists? -1

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Baptists 'Who' observe' the Jewish Sabbath rather
than the first day of the week. The group repre-
sents a survival of the Fifth Monarchy Movement
in England, and adopted their particular .emphasis
in reaction against the identification of the Lord's
Day with. the JeWish Sabbath by the Westminster
Assembly.
* * *

What does Gemara mean?
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This- is the Armaic word for "learning," and
technically is applied to the discussions of the rani-
binic scholars on the Mishna, the code of JewiSh
law formulated by the famous Rabbi Judah I the
Patriarch, and his colleagues, early in the thiid

century, • - •:

