As the Editor
Views the News • • •
'Out of Zion - - the Law
I'm Big and Strong Look at My Shadow!
Dr. Tabak's Fine Study of
Shevuoth in this crucial year 5708 should
prove historic for Israel and for mankind.
The festival of the Giving of the Law to
- Israel on Sinai, it is an occasion for hope that
the world at large will recognize the futility
of warfare and will strive peacefully and
justly to solve 'fiumanity's problems.
On six occasions, Israel's spokesmen have
accepted international requests for truce ne-
gotiations in Zion and Jerusalem. The sixth
request also has brought the concurrence of
the Arab nations on the eve of Shevuoth. It
is sincerely to be hoped that when the dis-
cussions are over there will be peace for Israel
and for the Arabs,—with increased possibil-
ities of peace for the entire world.
Shevuoth's major ideals are not over-
shadowed by events in Israel. In Jewish com-
munities everywhere the festival will be ob-
served in a spirit of joy and with a feeling of
confidence that "out of Zion shall go forth the
Law, and the word of the Lord from Jer-
usalem."
Consecrants, confirmands, graduates in
our congregations and schols have complet-
ed their preliminary Jewish studies. They
should be encouraged, by teachers and par-
ents, to continue learning the history, ethics
and positions of our people. The new era in
Israel calls for knowledge, in order that an
enlightened Israel should be able to refute
misrepresentations and should be in a posi-
tion best to interpret the ideals of Judaism to
Acceptance of truce terms by Jews and Arabs has
themselves and their neighbors.
brought relief for the pent-up emotions which have affected
Peace and knowledge are the greatest
gifts of Shevuoth. May they materialize in the thinking and actions of Jews everywhere. It is hoped
universally that the truce will lead to peace and that Jews
the historic year 5708.
and Arabs will begin a new neighborly life of harmony and
cooperation.
On many previous occasions, Jews have had reason
After several years of urgent pleading,
to resent attacks by Arabs and obstruction to peace efforts
by the British. There remains cause for serious regret that
the United States Senate has adopted a mea-
sure, which now awaits approval by the the anti-Jewish mania of Ernest Bevin continues to plague
House of Representatives, providing for the us, that it is a deterrent to peace, that Mr. Bevin should have
admission of 200,000 displaced persons during made it possible for "hired" British military leaders to direct
the coming two year.
Arab forces against Israel. John Baggot Glubb Pasha re-
Thanks to the efforts of Senator Homer Mains among the Arab hirelings and only a firm international
Ferguson of Michigan and several of his as- stand against aggression can possibly be expected to put
sociates, the original bill's provision for the an end to the troubles in the Holy Land.
admission of 100,000 DPs was doubled. The
- Mr. Bevin's imposition of restraining orders upon the
chief deterrent in the bill, which calls for half
removal of the detained Jews in Cyprus adds to existing dif-
of the people to be admitted to be agricul- ficulties. For a time there was hope that impartial leaders
tural workers, remains in force and will limit
of the present British government would check the antag-
the number - of Jews who will come in under
onistic policies of Mr. Bevin. In the interest of future good
the new provisions. While Jews make good
relations between the British and the Israelis we cling to the
farmers, and while many of our young people
hope that there will be. a return to the traditional program
were trained on farms, in preparation for of friendship for Israel in Great Britain.
settlement in Israel, it will be impossible for
those seeking admission to the U. S. to prove
Meanwhile, there are other obstacles to be overcome.
their previous activities and it has been
The report that was circulated by the so-called Christian
established that less than 25,000 Jews will Union in Jerusalem, charging that Jews had occupied and
be admitted under the new provisions.
destroyed Christian churches, was a dastardly misrepresen-
By refusing to admit to this country
tation of truth. An Israeli spokesman has . shown that this
DPs who entered Germany and Austria
Union is identified with the Arab Higher Committee, that
after Dec. 22, 1945, and by recognizing
neither Protestant nor Catholic churches are affiliated with
Volksdeutsche as DPs, the Senate in real-
it, that previously it had asked for the revocation of the UN
ity voted "relief in reverse" and its meas-
partition decision and declared its solidarity with their
ure freezes the position of the Jewish
"Moslem brethren."
survivors from Nazism and helps their
Thus, a body that is active in Arab political propaganda
Nazi persecutors. The so-called DP meas-
activities has made an attempt to undermine the Jewish
ure is, therefore, a travesty on justice and
position through falsehoods, and as on previous occasions
is a mockery of humanitarianism.
many newspapers—including Detroit's—have failed to pub-
/ An effort was made by Senator Ferguson,
lish the Israeli reply although they gave prominence to the
in cooperation with Senators Wayne Morse, stories that Jews had "desecrated" Christian churches. In
J. Howard McGrath, Leverett Saltenstall, the interest of truth American newspapers should have
John S. Cooper and Alexander Smith, to pro- published Israel's reply which concludes with the state-
vide a proportional basis for Jewish DPs. By ment: "It is regrettable that such attempts to stir up hostility
defeating this proposal by a vote of 40 to 31,
against the Jewish cause should be made by a partisan pol-
the Senate has made it impossible to increase itical group sheltering behind the cloak of religious senti-
the number of Jewish settlers under the new
ment."
measure. The rehabilitation of the hundreds
*
of thousands of Jewish survivors from Hitler-
There remains the Arab problems. All of the difficul,
ism thus remains an Israeli problem. With
ties in Israel, as has been indicated on numerous occasions,
more than 90 per cent of the Jewish DPs con-
have come from the outside, from the invading Arab armies.
tinuing to prefer Israel to any other haven
Encouraged by Bevin's policies, Arab forces, bent on loot,
of refuge, the rebirth of the Jewish state is the have been responsible for destruction and death. Robert P.
only ray of light for the victims of Hitlerism. Martin, writing for the ONA and the N. Y. Post, in a cable
from Amman describing the brazen looting of the conquered
old city of Jerusalem, stated:
Peace with Justice for Israel
Perverted Action on DPs
•
; 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, S3 a year: foreign, S4.
Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6. 1942. at Post Of-
' tee, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March. 3 1879.
Board of Directors: Maurice Aronsson, Fred M.
IButzel (deceased), Judge Theodore Levin, Maurice
H. Schwartz, Philip Slomovitz, Isidore Sobeloff,
Abraham Srere, Henry Wineman.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
VOL. XHI—No. 13 Page 4 JUNE 11, 1948
a.
Sabbath and Shevuoth Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fifth day of Sivan, 5708, the fol-
Sowing Scriptural selections will be read in our syna-
gegues:
Pen tateuchal portion—Num. 1:1-4 :26.
Prophetical portion—Hos. 2:1-22.
On Shevuoth, Sunday and Monday, the following
Seri ptur al selections Neill be read:
Penlateuchal portions: Sunday, Ex. 19:1-20:23, Num.
26:26-31; Monday, Deut. 15:19-16:17, Num. n:26-31.
Prophetical portions: Sunday, Ezek. 1:1-28; 3:12;
1164mday, Han. 3:1-10.
Heine's Judaic Heritage
—
"We passed truck after truck loaded with loot- from the
Old City. I worried about that and asked a British colleague for
an explanation. 'Never mind,' he said, 'it's a custom of the Arab
world. To the victor, the spoils. They are quite different from
us in this respect, you know. Most of the Arabs. other than
the Legionnaires, are fighting this war to get loot'."
-
On the other hand, Keith Wheeler, correspondent for
the Chicago Sun-Times in the State of Israel, on the very
same day cabled an entirely contrasting story:
"Except for small portable souvenirs such as daggers and
abandoned tarbooshes, Jewish soldiers leave captured towns
pretty much intact. They're distinctly not looters."
This is the type of war Israel was compelled to wage:
against British obstruction, international indifference, and
Arab looters.
Now, there is a chance for peace. As Mr. Sumner Welles
has indicated, "no real truce can be expected if its terms
deny the Jews their ultimate freedom or if it condemns the
pitiful Jewish refugees in Europe to continue exclusion from
Palestine." Only peace with justice is possible; only such a
peace will redeem the good name of humanity and will save
the United Nations from the fate of the League of Nations.
Eminent Poet's Loyalties
Dr. Israel Tabak of Baltimore, who recently was
elected president of the Rabbinical Council of
America, is the author of the fascinating volume,
"Judaic Lore in Heine: The Heritage of a Poet,"
published by Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.
Students of Heinrich Heine as well as of Hebraic
lore and of history will find a great amount of
interesting material in this volume. Students of
the German language and
of poetry will find added
reason for satisfaction with
this book because of the
quotations—in the original
and in English translations
—of Heine's poems, of com-
ments on Heine's Jewish
background by noted au-
thorities and of anecdotes.
The reader is thoroughly
convinced, after reading this
book, th at Heine was
strongly influenced by his
Jewish studies in his youth.'
As a matter of fact, we have•
a new version of the famous,
reference to Heine's state-
ment that "Judaism is a
misfortune." Rabbi Tabak
states that Alexander Weill
quoted Heine as having
Dr. Israel Tabak
made the interesting comment in 1843: "I said
somewhere that Judaism was not a religion but a
misfortune; I should have said: German Judaism."
While there is disagreement by authorities with
regard to Heine's knowledge of Hebrew, Dr. Tabak
quotes M. Bienenstock as crediting Heine with a
translation of "Lecho Dodi"—the "Sabbath
Queen" poem—into German.
Max Brod is among the authorities quoted to
show that Heine remembered and referred with
reverence to his father's communal activities, to
the work of the Burial Society, to Jewish cere-
monials, and it is evident. Dr. Tabak writes, "that
Heine was from his early childhood in close con-
tact with observances, rituals and symbolisms of
Judaism, and had a natural opportunity to learn
of these elements in his oWn home and in his
community."
Louis Untermeyer is another authority on
Heine who described Heine's early acquaint-
ance with Jews and Judaism. We learn that
Heine, in his youth, not only attended "Ched-
er" but, observed the dietary laws and re-
frained fr
om breaking the Sabbath.
Heine knew and corresponded with the eminent
Jewish scholar Leopold Zunz and there are some
interesting references in the book to this relation-
ship. Dr. Tabak writes that it is "most likely that
the distinction which Heine makes in his `Jehuda
ben Halevy' between 'Halacha' and 'Hagada' dates
hack to Zunz, who wrote at great length about
those themes."
His association, in 1822, with the Verein
fuer Kultur and Wissenschaft der Juden
opened• another interesting chapter in Heine's
Jewish interests.
The noted poet's interesting characterization
of Ludwig Marcus, with stress on his keen in-
terest in Jewish history, is another significant
chapter in his life. It is clear that Heine knew
the Bible well and that he read it often.
One of Heine's major contributions, as outlined
by Dr. Tabak, is his "harmonious blending" of
Judaic culture with western ideas. Rabbi Tabak
writes:
-
"The medieval Hebrew poets and- philosophers
of the Spanish era, who contributed so much in
preserving ancient Greek and Arabic thought, and
who were hardly known in Europe, were redis-
covered by Heine and interpreted to the modern
world with mastery and skill. Through his He-
brew background, which was deeply implanted
in the recesses of his soul, and his thorough ac-
quaintance with the thinking of his time, Heine
endeavored, in the final stages of his mental de-.
velopment, to effect a synthesis of Hebrew culture
with Western thought."
BOOK
OF BOOKS
A Bible Quiz With
Answers
By Dr. Scialroom Goldman
do you know about the
its history, its people,
ond.its influence on the world?
Test your knowledge in this
quiz by Robbi Solomon Gold-
mon, outhor of the new thir-
teen volume commentary, "The
Book of Books." The answers,
from Dr. Goldman's monumen-
tal project in Biblical scholar-
ship, ore printed with special
permission of the publishers,
Harper & Brothers.
What
Bible,
(The first of a series)
What great German-Jewish poet called the
Bible "the book of books"?
The Bible. was called "the bOok of books" by
Heinrich Heine, a 19th century German poet-
critic.
Do we know who wrote the Bible or the
various books of the Bible?
Nineteen of the 39 books in the Hebrew Bible
mention no author at either their beginning or
their end. Not considering their words their own,
but as coming from God, the writers of the Bible
had no pride of personal authorship and readily
sank their names into anonymity.
What has been the great contribution of the
Book of Exodus to the history of the world?
The Book of Exodus, the fourth great act in the
Biblical drama, has become the most universal
storehouse of liberative ideas and literary allu-
sion. It has entered almost bodily into the folk-
lore of humanity, a symbol of freedom, a source of
vital metaphors. There is scarcely an image in
Exodus—the toilers bidden to make bricks with-
out straw, the babe in the reeds of the Nile, the
burning bush, the pillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire, and the waters that divided and stood up
like walls—which does not form part of the heri-
tage of the Western mind.