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.