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THE JEWISH NEWS

As the Editor
Views the News ...

Danger Lurking for a Lady

41 17,-,74,1;

Our Festival of Freedom

A good supply of Passover food is being
assured by the Joint Distribution Committee
for the displaced persons in camps in Europe.
There will be plenty of Matzos and Hag-
gadas, wine for Kiddush and the traditional
Four Cups and other supplies.
It is not enough. It is as much as can be ex-
pected from the Jews of America, from funds
of the United Jewish Appeal and Detroit's
Allied Jewish Campaign. But it is not enough.
The survivors from Nazism have carried
on a precarious existence against great odds
because of the hope, which we helped to
kindle, that their homelessness will end and
that their statelessness will be short-lived.
These hopes now are being jolted. Their con-
fidence in the democracies is being under-
mined by actions of "statesmen" who fir d it
consistent to support movements for free-
dom one day and to go back on their words
the next.
It is a situation which has created despair
in many ranks. It saddens the Festival of Free-
dom for many of our people.
Just as the people of ,Palestine refuse to
abandon hope, however, the DPs, too, refuse
to yield to despair. They will carry on and
most of them will surely reach their destin-
ations of hope in due time—provided that we
stick by them.
The Festival of Freedom has one major
message to the Jews of America at this time:
never to give up the battle for freedom for
the oppressed and the homeless. If we hold
fast to faith, we shall win the battle.

Dr. Haim Yassky

World Jewry has sustained a serious loss
in the death, at the hands of Arab snipers, of
Dr. Haim Yassky, head of the Hadassah Med-
ical Organization in Palestine and one of the
world's outstanding eye speCialists. -
In his death, the honor of the world's
statesmen is considerably lowered as a result
of the indifference that has been shown to the
status of the Jewish people in Palestine and
to the abuses that have been permitted
against medical men and Jewish hospitals in
Eretz Israel.
Since Feb. 24, Hadassah ambulances and
buses have been attacked, Jewish doctors and
nurses were murdered and the great Hadas-
sah Hospital, where Arabs have been treated
for 30 years on a basis of complete equality
with Jews, has been threatened by Arabs
The invading Arab bandits have gone so
far as to charge brazenly that the Hadassah
Hospital and the Hebrew University have
been used as military bases for attacks upon
Arabs. Not only have fundamental rights of
health and educational institutions been ig-
nored by the Arab bandits, but they are dis-
torting truth in making false accusations
against Jewry. They have used these untruths
as alibis for their own murders.
Unfortunately, some people give ear to
falsehoods, without looking into facts and
learning that -Hadassah Hospital has been a
place of mercy for Arabs and that out of the
Hebrew University has come the voice of the
most pacifist and most conciliating Jewish
leader in the present crisis.
Dr. Yassky's death removes from the med-
ical world a very great authority. We have
suffered a severe loss in his -passing. But the
principles he has taught and has consistently
adhered to—those of the right of Jews to state
hood and the sanctity of human life where
medical care is concerned—live on.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, Palcor
Agency, King Features, Central Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publish-
ing Co., 2114 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., WO. 5-1155.
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 per 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 Slomovitz
Fred M. Butzel
Isidore Sobeloff
Judge Theodore Levin
Abraham Srere
Maurice H. Schwartz
Henry Wineman

. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor .

VOL. XIII—No. 6

APRIL 23, 1948

Sabbath Passover Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the first day of Passover, 5708, the
following Scriptural selections will be read in our syna-
gogues:
Pentateuchal portions—Ex. 12-21-51; Num. 28:16-25.
Prophetical portion—Josh. 3:5-7; 5:2-6;1, 27.
Scriptural selections for Second Day of Passover, on
Sunday:
Pentateuchal portions—Lev. 22:26-23 :44; Num. 28:16-25.
Prophetical portion—II Kings 23:1 (or 4)-9, 21-25.
Hol Hamoed Passover Scriptural selections: Monday,
Ex. 18:1-16, Num. 28:19-25; Tuesday, Ex. 22:24-23:9, Num.
28:19-25; Wednesday, Ex. 34:1-26, Nunn. 28:19-25; Thurs-
day, Num. 9:1-14. 28:19-25.

Friday, April 23, 1948

'N

Seder Night Spirit
Rich with Memories

By RABBI JACOB E. SEGAL

nigh `t`siri, y is this night different from all other

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The child who asks this question in the Pass-
over service is wiser than he knows. The night is
different from all other nights; but in more ways
than the four he enumerates in his prologue to
the Seder. For Seder night is made unique not
merely by the traditional foods we eat or by the
historical rituals we observe at the table. It is
also distinguished by a spirit all its own—blend
of pageantry, mystery, sentiment and good cheer,
the Seder is the most popular and beloved of all
religious home ceremonies. -
And no wonder. For Passover itself is the
king of Jewish festivals.
Passover, first of all, is the festival of spring,
and as such its human appeal is as old as man
himself. Ever since man began to think, the an-
nual reawakening of nature has been to him a
source of awe and wonder, an experience of im-
mortality. And for children of the soil, such as
our ancestors were in ancient Palestine, the ad-
vent of spring was a dramatic life-giving miracle.
The eve of the 15th of NiSan is also a great
historical moment for us. It commemorates an
event which has changed the destinies of mankind.
It was on this night that God looked down on
the suffering of the'Israelites in Egypt and saved
them from the hands of their oppressor. It was
on this night that our people was reborn,- and
with them the hope of human freedom. It is the
memory of this birth-night which has stamped
the whole history of Israel.
4 -04- Knk‘x1.4-..._:
0, 1M1ins mo.a..areasa more
It is our Seder night which carries the sweet
burden of all these human sentiments folk mem-
ories and yearnings. Within the brief hour of the
Seder ceremony is distilled the varied magic of
the whole festival.
The table is festive with white cloth, gleam-
The dynamic leader of the 1948 Allied Jewish Campaign
has indicated the hope that a strong effort will be made by his ing silverware and bowls of spring flowers
through which shine the tiny golden flames of
co-workers and the entire campaign organization to speed festival
candles. The master of the house, according
action in the drive for $6,200,000. Aiming at completion of the
to tradition, seats himself on a sofa bedecked
pre-campaign activities during the April Month of Freedom with white cushions. On this night, at least, every
Jew is a free and royal personage, a king in the
solicitations, Mr. Aronsson's appeal to all volunteer work-
ers is that they should strive- to reach prospective contributors domain of his own home. His queen, radiant
despite her arduous labors, joins him and the
immediately in order that the drive should not lag.
children at the table.
A serious obligation devolves upon all Detroit Jews to
And now the glorious mood of Passover eve
fulfill this practical wish. If the campaign is dragged out, it begins to make itself felt. The age-old narrative,
will become more difficult to secure the necessary funds read in the traditional chant — now joyously
hearty, now lulling and soothing — begins to
when the vacation months set in and the solicitors show
work its magic. For the little Haggadah which
signs of tiring;-and the numerous causes supported by the
has been tied up with Jewish life for ages con-
Allied Jewish Campaign will suffer by delays in remittances.
tains the strangest medley ever brought together
Therefore, speed is of the essence.
between the covers of one book. Its ancient
legends, miraculous tales, prayers and festive
evoke precious and historic memories. Un-
Delay in securing the necessary funds may, at this time, songs
der their spell we are released from bondage to
seriously hamper the defense activities of the Jewish fighters particular time and place.
for freedom and the_ relief programs in behalf of the dis-
Our imaginations are set free, and girded
placed persons in Europe. '
with seven league boots and an all-seeing eye,
The major beneficiaries of the Allied Jewish Campaign we roam at will across centuries and seas. Each
at the table glows with intense articulate
are the three United Jewish Appeal causes—the Joint Dis- symbol
meaning; each ritual tells its own wondrous tale.
tribution Committee, the United Palestine Appeal and United Each fragment we read in the Haggadah tears
Service for New Americans. Haganah depends entirely upon a veil of oblivion from another ancient scene;
UPA for continuation of its defenSe efforts; the DPs get their each succeeding page lifts the curtain on another
sustenance from JDC and newcomers to this country are stirring episode in the pageant of our people's
struggle for freedom. The barriers imprisoning
assisted by USNA. These major objectives should be sufficient
our individual identities are miraculously lifted,
to encourage speedy action in our present drive in this Year
and every Jew becomes one with his people, past
and present.
of Destiny.
"Once we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.
"And it came to pass in the middle of the
We must not forget, however, that 50 other causes are
night ... The Lord brought us forth out of Egypt.*
helped with our campaign funds.
We stand with Moses along the moonlit
There are local Jewish educational services: United He-
of the Nile on that fateful night. The
brew Schools, Yeshivath Beth Yehudah, United Jewish High waters
swaying grasses seem to murmur of the coming
School, Farband Folk School, Sholem Aleichem School, the of freedom to our people. With Moses we walk
Workmen's Circle Schools.
in silence toward the wretched huts where the
Included in this campaign budget also are the following Hebrew slaves are huddled, and with words of
comfort we set them dreaming of a new dawn.
additional local agencies:
every generation men have risen against
Camp Chelsea, Council of Jewish Agencies Scholarship us to "In
destroy us . . ."
Fund, Jewish Welfare Federation administration, House of
A marrano in medieval Spain, furtively ob-
Shelter, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Community serving the Passover ritual behind bolted doors;
Council, Jewish Home for Aged, Jewish Vocational Service, a Jew in a Czarist Russian village, bravely chant-
North End Clinic, Resettlement Service, Student Training . ing the Haggadah, hiding from his family the
terror in his heart of an impending pogrom; a
Program.
Polish ghetto Jew, rising this night above op..
*
*
pression and squalor to the state of majesty;
The Allied Jewish Campaign is the only means of sup- German Jews attending a communal Seder in
port by Detroiters of the following additional national and
Frankfurt; under the shadow of the brute: Pales-
tine youths in a Galilee outpost celebrating the
overseas agencies -.
feast of freedom to the staccato accompaniment of
American Academy for Jewish Research, American Associa-
bullets . . . These and many other scenes rush
tion for Jewish Education, American Fund for Palestinian Insti-
before our inward eye.
tutions, American Jewish Congress, Bnai Brith Wider Scope
Fund, Cleveland Jewish Orphan Home, Conference on Jewish
Our feast ends with the eating of the Afiko-
Relations, Council of Jewish. Federation and Welfare FurLds,
mon, the half matzo which has been cleverly re-
Dropsie College, East Central States Region, National Commun-
trieved from its hiding-place by one of the chil-
ity Relations Advisory Council, Graduate Faculty for Political
dren. Then a cup of wine is poured for Elijah,
and Social Science, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Histadruth
and the youngest child is sent to the door to ad-
Ivrith, Jewish Braille Institute, Jewish Labor Committee, Jew-
mit the prophet who, according to legend, visits
ish Occupational Council, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jewish
every Jewish home on Seder night. The door is
War Veterans, Jewish Welfare Board," Joint Defense Appeal,
opened and the curtains rustle in the mild April
Monorah Association, Montefiore Home of Cleveland, National
breeze. The candles, almost spent, flicker waver-
Conference of Jewish Social Welfare, National Desertion Bureau,
ingly but do not go out. A comforting presence
Nationil Farm School, National Jewish Hospital, Special Pro-
seems to have filled the room.
ject for Overseas Research, Yiddish Scientific Institute.
The service is resumed with joyous hymns
The impressiveness of this program is self-evident. The of praise
and comes to an end with the lilting folk
single gift to the Allied Jewish Campaign; helps support songs, "Who Knows.One?" and "A Kid, A Kid."
not only the reconstruction and relief programs included in
Despite the knowledge that many Jews are
the United Jewish Appeal but also all of the important local still slaves in a modern Egypt, on this night there
national and overseas agencies. We have a strong obligation breathes a spirit of hope. For this is a Leil Shi-
murim—a night of vigil unto the Lord. There is
to theSe causes which, in their totality, cover the entire Jew-
ish relief, reconstruction, health, educational and social ser- an all-seeing eye which keeps vigil over our des-
and though God at times may seem to hide
vice program of American Jewry. By acting promptly in their . tinies,
Himself, he watches ever. The God who once
behalf, we shall be fulfilling a great duty and shall be free brought freedom to the slaves in Egypt will yet
to devote ourselves to the serious efforts of keeping our com- grant it to all mankind. This night, laden with
munity strong and of contributing towards the serious pol- memories of an ancient deliverance, becomes also
itical activities in defense of our position in Palestine and the symbol of our future redemption. For those
of us who have faith in the ultimate triumph of
wherever it is necessary to battle for the freedom of our truth
and justice, this night of vigil is both a
people.
dream and a prophecy. .
we.

Prompt Action for Campaign

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