ills the Editor
Brush the Little Man Away, Uncle
Views the News:
Services of unusual merit are offered the
Jewish community through the Information-
Proaram of the Jewish Welfare Federation.
and the Jewish Community Council's Pro-
gram Planners Institute.,
Every conceivable topic of interest to De-
troit Jews, is included in the-list of subjects
offered as -a choice to program-planning or-
ganizations. Culture and education, refugees,
anti-Semitism, the State of Israel, the Jewish
Hospital, the Jews of Europe, recreation, the
problem of the aged, mental health are major
topics suggested to those planning programs,
and the sub-titles in the Federation Program
embrace more than 50 possible subjects for
discussion at cultural meetings.
* *
The two Community Information Pro-
grams represent another great contribu-
tion by the major Jewish community organi-
zations to the Jews of Detroit. They not only
offer programs to organizations: They mark
an effort at energy-saving which should prove
a boon to the- entire community.
At the same time, the Federation's Infor-.
/nation Program should serve the very im-
portant purpose of enlightening our people
on the major needs of our time, the causes
which call for millions of dollars of contribu-
tions every year. Without an understanding
of the issues involved locally, in overseas
areas, in Israel, it may become increasngly
more difficult to secure the needed sums for
the Allied Jewish Campaign. The .program
planning projects of Federation should serve
both as an aid to planning by organizations
and for mutual understanding of all Jewish
issues on the basis of cooperation between
the Federation and the numerous community
groups;
is
*
Planning of community programs should
fit into an over-all effort to do the most good
without overlapping. •
While both the Federation and Com-
munity Comicil programs offer marked
. contributions to community planning, it
would be of great benefit to all concern-
ed if the two projects could be merged,
or some sort of cooperative agreement
could be arrived at. There has been too
widespread a tendency in Jewish ranks
- to duplicate activities. Too many of our
individual groups are sponsoring Meet- -
ings which are so alike in their con-
tests that the pooling of energies could
accomplish greater good for all concern-
ed.
In commending the Federation and
Council program planning activities, we
would like to propose the joining of efforts,
the elimination of duplication, and a serious
attempt to avoid overlapping. By doing so,
valuable time and energy will be spared for
the planners and for the community at large.
Weizmann at UN
The announcement made in Paris that Dr.
Chaim Weizmann, President of Israel, may
visit Paris during the sessions of the United
Nations General ASseMbly and that he may
address the UN session before leaving for
Israel is - of great significande.
Dr. Weizmann is world Jewry's outstand-
ing spokesman. He is Israel's leader whose
voice always has commanded attention and
whose sentiments should be of great value
in clarifying a the Israeli issues which 'Will be
discussed by the UN: We pray that he be
given strength as the messenger of good will
from Israel to the world at large.
'• His intercession is especially needed at this
time, during a serious crisis created by an act
of vengeance perpetrated by an insane ele-
ment in Israel. All the resources at our com-
mand are needed to protect the Israeli - posi-
tion, and it is urgently to be hoped that Dr.
Weizmann will be given an opportunity to
plead for Israel's cause.
-
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.
Entered as second-class matter Aug. 6, 1942, at Post Of-
/Ice, Detroit, Mich.. under Act of March 3 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
VOL. XIV—No. 2 Page 4 September 24, 1948
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-first day of Elul, 5708,
the following Scriptural selections will be read in
our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Deut. 26:1-29:8.
Prophetical portion—Is. 60.
Biographical Sketches
Of Cabinet Members
ki•S'
Community Programs
Who's Who In Israel
(A. continuation of a series of biographical
sketches of the leaders of the Israeli Government.)
ELIEZER KAPLAN, Minister of Economics
and Finance of the Provisional Government of the
State of Israel, hgs been in Palestine since 1923. A
native of Minsk, he was educated
at religious school and High
School and Technical College in
Moscow.
t
Head of the financial and ad-
ministrative department of the :.
Jewish Agency since 1933, sl
Kaplan served as a member of
the Board of Directors of the Jew-
ish Colonial Trust, the Anglo-
Palestine Bank, Palestine. Land
Development Co. and many other
economic enterprises sponsored
by the Agency.
Married to Dr. Debora Kaplan, they have one
son and one daughter.
Prior to his' cabinet appointment, Kaplan
served in various elected administrative capacities
with Sold Boneh, the municipality of Tel Aviv
and the General Labor Federation.
Jewish Bookshelf Enriched
b...
Important Volumes Give
Our Children Have Transgressed! Good Start to Year 5709
Yc Lt411A1,4.
"4..4
Isaiah's first words of admonition to erring Israel are ap-
plicable to the tragedy of today. The great Hebrew Prophet
lamented:
"Children have I reared, and brought up
And they have rebelled against Me.
The ox knoweth his owner,
And the ass his master's crib;
But Israel doth not know,
My people doth not consider."
AUTHORIZED DAILY PRAYER BOOK. First American
Revised Edition Complete in One Volume. Hebrew
Text, English Translation with Commentary, Intro-
ductions and Notes by the Late Chief Rabbi Joseph
H. Hertz. Bloch Publishing Co., New York.
DAYS OF AWE. Being a Treasury of Traditions, Legends
and Learned Commentaries Concerning Rosh Hasha-
nah, Yom Kippur and the Days Between, Culled from
300 Volumes by Shmuel Yosef Agnon. Schocken Books,
Inc., New York.
ROADS TO ZION. Four centuries of Travelers Reports.
Edited by Kurt Wilhelm of Jerusalem. Schocken
Books. Inc., New York.
For the sins of a few, a whole nation was castigated by
Isaiah. For the transgressions of a handful of terrorists, an
entire people is being punished.
The struggling young State of Israel had much to contend
with without the murderous schemes of the discredited dissi-
dent groups. It has many more problems to deal with and
many more obstacles to overcome as a result of the out-
rageous murder of Count Folke Bernadotte.
, It has been and it remains Israel's aspiration that the
vision of Isaiah' shall prevail—that "Zion shall be redeemed
with justice."
Therefore, all evil will have to be uprooted from Israel and
all forms of terrorism will have (to' come•I to an end.
The sinning children in Igrta qiave IbrOught great hard-
ships to the JewisliiState. They must receive the' punishment
due for their crime. Their insanity has been eValuated and
condemned for what it is worth and is on record aS a national
crime.
And their evil ways must come to an end..
Justice must prevail in Zion, and all Israel must, as Israel's
leaders have 'declared that they will, follow the path of right-
eousness as prescribed by our Prophets.
But the outrageous act of a handful of irresponsible peo-
ple must not be held against all Israel. The world was given
a chance to atone for great wrongs to Jewry during the last
2,000 years. Jews in Israel have liberated themselves. No
murderous act should be permitted to interfere with an entire
people's freedom. Martyrdom of a mediator is no excuse for
approving his report which is detrimental to Israel.
The key to the situation remains in the hands of the
United States. Secretary Marshall's statement approving the
Bernadotte report is entirely unsatisfactory. Jews can not
be expected to abandon places which they have irrigated
anew. Is it possible that the battle begins anew as a result
of the insane act of a few demented Jews?
'
•
Education Month s Op portun it ies
Annual Education Month of the United Hebrew Schools
again will-serve as a traditional commencement of this com-
munity's educational efforts for the New Year.
The Education Month of 5709, because of its unique posi-
tion as the first observance in the era of Jewish national re-
birth, offers far greater opportunities for progress and for the
enrollment of interest among young and old in behalf of
Jewish learning.
There is a greater interest in the Hebrew language, the
official tongue of the Jewish State, and it may be expected
that our children will show more zeal in acaquiring a knowl-
edge of the language of their kinsmen who are now self-
governing.
Zionists, if they possess sufficient vision, should offer all
their resources to community educational efforts which place
so much emphasis upon information about Israel, with special
weight on the Hebrew language.
The United Hebrew Schools and its Education Month
Committee, which has just begun its functions for 5709 under
the chairmanship of Mrs. Joseph H. Ehrlich, have the finest
opportunity of rendering great services to the community,
and they should receive wholehearted support. New stand-
ards have been introduced in the local Hebrew schools, the
status of the teachers has been improved, and opportunities
are being offered to young people to enter the Hebrew teach-
ing field. It is to be expected, as a result of the new programs,
that many hundreds of new pupils will be enrolled in the
coming year and that the schools will show greatest progress
in their history in the coming year. Education Month of 5709
holds out great hope of marked advancement in Jewish edu-
cational efforts.
UNDER THE FIG TREE. Palestinian Stories by Yitzhak
Shenberg. Schocken Books, Inc., New York.
BENYA KRIK, THE GANGSTER and other Stories.
By
Isaak Babel. Edited by Avrahm Yarmolinsky. Scho-
cken Books, Inc., New York,
On the eve of 5709, Jewish publishing houses
in the United States are enriching our book- 7 t .,
shelves with volumes of unusual merit. Some have
direct relation to the Holy Days—such as Dr.
Hertz's Prayer Book and Agnon's "Days
of Awe."
Others represent introductions to English readers
of classics which have been acclaimed in recent
years in other languages:
Jewry is indebted to Bloch Publishing Co. for
; the splendid Prayer Book, perhaps the best of its
kind available for English-reading American Jews
who desire not only the' complete Original ." text
for all occasions but -also . the best' tranSlation:
.
The Prayer Book contains the prayers for daily -
and Sabbath services and for the holidays and
prayers for special oecasions...The 15-page intro-..-
duction offers an exhaustive and scholarly. ana-
lysis of the history of JewiSh litUrgy, the prayers
and the synagogue. (A lengthy review of this
Prayer Book by Rabbi Morris Adler will appear
in next week's issue of The Jewish
News.)
The other four volumes under review here are
products of the energetic and far-visioned firm
of Schocken Publishing House, which has pre-
sented to English-speaking Jewries some of the
outstanding classics since the opening of the
American office in New York.
Agnori's "Days of Awe" is an especially . ap-
propriate volume for this season of the year, and
its value will be permanent for rabbis and lay-
men. It is a treasury of traditions, of commen-
taries and legends about Rosh Hashanah, Yom
Kippur and the Intermediate Days between the
two Holy Days. The eminent author culled his
selections for his great work from 300 old and
new volumes. The entire bibliography reveals a
great research effort. It is historical and philoso-
phical and the masterful manner in which the
author has re-created the spirit of the Holy Days
makes his work stand out as one of the most
magnificent books of all time.
-
"Days of Awe" Originally appeared in Hebrew
in 1938, when it was acclaimed by Hebrew
scholars everywhere. It merits and is certain to
receive equal acclaim from English readers.
Shenberg's "Under the- Fig Tree" is a' tolled' •
tion of Palestinian stories by 'one of the .ablest ,Of
the younger Israeli writers. Born in 1905 :in. the
Ukraine, Shenberg came to Palestine as a youth
and worked as a laborer. The experiences he has
gathered have enabled -him to write intiMately.
about life in Israel and his tales mirror life in
the Jewish settlements. His stories have the
power of a universal appeal and their presenta-
tion in an English translation mark another
milestone in Jewish literature:
"Roads to Zion" --is an account of pre-Zionist
travels. The journeys of eminent. Jews of many
ages reveal the physical and spiritual reactions
to Eretz Israel. The first-hand accounts incor-
porated in this book tell vividly , of life in Israel
and relate many incidents . encounterec: by the
travelers. Among those whose letters and. essays
are included are: Rabbi Abraham Kalisker who
traveled from Lithuania in 1777; a disciple of
Rabbi Obadiah, Italy, 1495; David Dei Rossi,
Italy, 1535; Elijah of Pesaro, Italy, 1563; Moses
ben Israel Naphtali Porges,, Prague, 1650; Joseph
Schwartz, Bavaria, .1837; Dr. Hillel Jaffe, Zichron
Yaakov, 1894.
Avrahm Yarmolinsky edited Isaak Babel's
"Benya Krik, the Gangster." This is - a collection
of stories about Jewish life in revolutionary and
pre-revolutionary Russia. The author first gained
fame with his "Red 'Cavalry." The story about
the gangster king was excellently executed by a
master hand. The story of a pogrom, one of the
10 in this volume, is superb. Isaak Babel, whO
was born in Odessa in 1904; experienced the
troubled life in the revolution of 1905. He became
a protege of Maxim Gorki in 1915, fought in the •
Revolution and the Russo-Polish war. His stories
enrich the Schocken Library.