As the Editor
Views the News .. .

'The Ethics of Israel'

Cultural Field Covered
In Weisfeld Anthology

Jewish Hospital a Reality

-
Rabbi Israel H. Weisfeld (Ph. D.) of Dallas,
Tex., whose earlier books, "My Son," "The Ethics
of Israel" and "The Message of Israel,"- deserved-
ly attracted wide interest and were highly com-
mended by critics, has risen to far greater literary
and scholarly heights with his latest work, "The
Ethics of Israel," which just came off the press
of Bloch Publishing Co., New York.
Dr. Weisfeld's book is an excellent anthology of
rabbinic thoughts. Dealing with many phases of
Jewish lore, each subject is supplemented with

Inclusion of the Jewish Hospital in the
Greater Detroit Hospital Fund for an alloca-
tion of $2.500.000 is a tribute to Jewish com-
munity leadership.
For more than 35 years, Detroit Jews had
hoped to see the establishment of a hospital
under Jewish auspices. Until 1944, small sums
were collected. One fund of approximately
$45,000 awaited the gathering of the very
large sum that is needed for such a project.
A women's group has collected another
$15,000. But in the special campaign of 1944,
a sum of $2,400,000 was raised, bringing the
idea near to reality.
In recognition of the community's ability
to secure the necessary large sum for an ad-
equate hospital, the Greater Detroit Hospital
Fund has made the Jewish Hospital a partner
in the large community-wide project. Before
very long, therefore, as a result of the action
of 1944 and the recognition just accorded the
Jewish Hospital, the dream for a hospital
soon will be realized.

Triumph for Restraint

American Jewry, the backbone of Israel's
supporting forces in the world, soon will-
Proceed with another great fund-raising
drive which will mark the renewal of unity
in Jewish ranks. The restoration of peace
among the United Palestine Appeal forces
assures the reconstitution of the United
Jewish Appeal and the continuation of unity
in American Jewish ranks.
During the past few weeks, intemperate
words were spoken during the. UPA internal
battle. The agreement reached last week is a
triumph for temperate action and for re-
straint. It is a tribute to the Council of Fed-
erations and Welfare Funds which has super-
vised negotiations for peace, and to many of
its constituent members—including the Jew-
ish Welfare Federation of Detroit—which
have insisted upon unified and peaceful ac-
tion in our great relief and state-building
activities.
The temperate approach as a result of
which- a serious dispute was settled ought
to be a lesson to hotheads whose lack of
vision might have resulted in tragic conse-
quences for those mill° need American Jew-
ry's help. Restraint has brought much-de-
sired peace, and our internal accord will help
Israel, the DPs and the many causes which
annually are included in our great fund-
raising drives.

Pay Your Pledge NOW

This is the time to make substantial pay-
ments on pledges to the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign.
Final accountings are about to be made-on
all business transactions for 1948. Current
ledgers will be closed and a new reckoning
will begin for another year.
The first consideration in making final pay-
ments on obligations should be given to the
all-inclusive Detroit fund-raising cause:* the
Allied Jewish Campaign.
- Payments on pledges made before the end
of 1948 can be included in tax deductions.
But the most important consideration is the
need for funds. Israel will function properly
only if our obligations to the Jewish State are
fulfilled. The displaced persons camps will
be liquidated only if means are provided for
the transportation of DPs to Israel. Local
agencies need the funds that have been
pledged for their maintenance:
Payments must, therefore, be forthcbming
at once. This is the time to clear . our ac-
counts with the Allied Jewish Campaign.
'A list of stations where payments may be
made on 1948 pledges will be found else-
where in this issue of The Jewish News. We
urge all who owe unpaid pledges to the Al-
lied Jewish Campaign to make their remit-
tances AT ONCE.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Independent Jewish
Press Service, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, Palccir
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-
lice, Detroit, Mich.. under Act of March 3 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ. Editor

VOL. XIV—No. 14 Page 4 December 17, 1948

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the sixteenth day of Kislev, 5709,
the following Scriptural selections will be read in
our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Gen. 82:4-36:43.
Prophetical portion—Hos. 12:13-14:10 or 11:7-
12:12 or Obadiah 1:1-21.

Poor Sports With 'Portable Hearts'

selections from the great teachers in Israel.
The able author points out that "Jewish ethics,
like monotheism, is at once. personal, national and
universal." His work follows the pattern of this
view and the result is a great contribution to
scholarship and the interpretation of Jewish.
thinking about righteousness' and justice, humil-
ity, truth, charity, forgiveness, honesty, prayer,
faith and numerous other topics.
Dr. Weisfeld explains his approach by point-
ing out that his volume is not intended as a de-
fense of Jewish ethics, which do not need defense.
Rather: "It presents the loftiest, noblest yet prac-
ticable system of morality known to mankind
. . . This book attempts to set forth by means of
representative ethical teachings from Biblical.
times to our own, and in simple, understandable
form a comprehensive picture of ethical Juda-
ism."
He naturally draws for his' source material
upon the Bible and the Talmud, the Prophets
and the great Rabbis, the great Jewish poets of
all time and thinkers of all ages. the Mishna,
Maimonides, Judah HaLevi, Ibn Gabirol, etc., etc.
"The Ethics of Israel" is a very scholarly work
which enhances the available classics sn the rich
ethical teachings of our people.

Israel must wait until another meeting of the United
Nations General Assembly for admission to the world organi-
zation. The hopes of Jewish representatives to receive recog- Humanism vs. Nationalism
nition from the UN, especially after the strong plea—a major
portion of which was published in our last week's issue—by
Dr. Philip C. Jessup, United States delegate on the UN Se-
curity Council, was shattered as a result of the obstructive
work of the British spokesmen. - -
All the difficulties in the Middle East stem from British
Martin Buber deals with the religious, national
quarters. If not tor. the British, the war in Palestine would
and cultural problems of Jewry in "Israel and the
have been averted, tens of thousands of lives would have been World: - Essays in a Time of Crisis," published by
saved and Israel would-today be a strong republic, function- Schocken Books.
One of the great philosophers and authorities
ing well economically, living at peace with the Arab states.
on Hasidism, Prof. Buber also is known for his
The British have interfered with peace efforts. They have opposition to ultra-nationalism. He sets up Hebrew
been the sole obstacle in the path of conciliation. They have humanism in opposition to Jewish nationalism
and challenges Zionism to choose between egoism
prevented UN recognition of Israel.
and humanism.
The great empire whose friendship we solicited for gen-
"Israel," he writes in the concluding essay
erations, whose great efforts in -behalf of a Jewish National
in this book. on the subject "Hebrew Human-
ism,"
"is not a nation like other nations, no
Home began with the Balfour Declaration, has turned against
matter how much its representatives have
us. During the final days of the last UN General Assembly
wished it during certain eras. Israel is a people
session they even injected attempts to fdment a war between i like no other, for it is the only people in the
.world which, from its earliest beginnings, has
Israel and Transjordania. They joined with the Egyptians
been both a nation and a religious community.
in making false charges against the Jewish State. Fortunately,
In the historical hour in which its tribes grew
these charges of new alleged "aggressions" were proven
together to form a people, it became the car-
untrue.
rier of a revelation."
He is even more firm in his assertions when
According- to a cable from Paris from the Jewish Tele-
he says: "The great values we have produced is-
graphic Ageficy's correspondent—
sued from the marriage of a people and a faith.
"The only member of the sub-committee to speak on
We cannot substitute a technical association of
the Egyptian position vis-a-vis Israel was the French
a nation and religion for this original marriage,
without incurring barrenness."
delegate who said he would have acted as did the Israeli
In "The Land and Its Possessors" (from an
commander who confiscated the contraband cargo of the
open letter to Gandhi in 1939) Dr. Buber ex-
Faluja convoy. The Frenchman called the Egyptians
presses some of the views he holds as an adherent
of the late Dr. J. L. Magnes' movement for Arab-
`clumsy' for not having at least removed the kosher label
Jewish
cooperation. He relates how Jews have
from Israel-bound meats seized by the Egyptians and
,taught Arabs "to cultivate the land more inten-
included in the convoy's cargo."
sively" and he declares: "The more fertile this
The British, who pride themselves on sportsmanship,
soil becomes, the more space there will be for us
and for them. We have no de:sire to dispossess
have proven poor sports in dealing with triumphant Israel.
we want to live with them. We do not want
They have many bad marks against them in the record' of them:
to dominate them, we want to serve with them."
their final years of administration in Palestine. Their heart-
Then, in discussing "Nationalism," he asserts
that "national ideology, the spirit of nationalism,
less activities continue at the UN and in the Arab countries
is fruitful just so long as it does not make the
where they are exerting influence against Jews and in Cyprus.
nation an end in itself; just so long as it remem
The most shocking example of British betrayal of justice, bers its part in the building of a greater struc-
indicating how sorrowfully the great empire poses as human- ture."
Jewish educators will find great inspiration
itarian and how the great sports on the international scene
in the portion of the book dealing with 'Learn-
parade with portable hearts, is the brutal perpetuation of
ing and Education." His plea is: "Today what
tragedy in Cyprus.
was once matter of course—our language, the
Scriptures, our history—must become curricu-
A few days ago, the Israeli vessel S.S. Hatikvah brought
lum of the most crucial importance." -
200 mothers and children and men of military age from Fam-
There is a brilliant chapter on national educa-, '-
agusta, the Cyprus detention camp. But more than 11,000
ton, and here, too, he pleads for hun -fanism: "Na-
men, women and children continue to suffer indignities in
tional education is the way that leads to the ful-
filment of Judaism; nationalistic edueation is the
Cyprus.
way that leads to de-Judaization under 'a Jewish
Last week, horrified by threatened new tragedies with banner."
the approaching heavy Cyprus rains, 1,200 Jewish parents ,
These are just a few of the thoughts in the
petitioned Rabbi A. Schreibaum, the Jewish Agency repre-
impressive Buber volume "Israel and the World."
It is a magnificent work which is enhanced by
sentative in Famagusta, in behalf of Jewish infants in Cypriot
the good translations made by Greta Hort, Olga .
camps. 'There are 600 babies under six months in the Xylo-
Marx and I. M. Lask..
tymbou camp and 400 additional births are expected in the
coming two months. The last British High Commissioner for
Palestine, Sir Alan Cunningham, had extended quotas for
children to be admitted to the Jewish Homeland, but even
these have been cancelled, thus creating new problems for
detained Jews. Rabbi Schreibaum reports that 60 per cent
Is it Live that the Bible sanctions taking
of the Jewish babies do not have cribs and that their chief
more than one wife?
While
one cannot find a flat prohibition in the
source of nourishment comes from canned, dehydrated pota-
Bible agaibst the practice of taking more than
toes; that the Nissen huts in which most Jews live have no one
wife, it should be noted that the Bible didn't
heat whatsoever and there is no way of providing proper look upon this practice with too much favor.
We
bathing facilities fop. children.
find that a king is cautioned against "multiplying
wives"
(Deut.
27:17).
According
to
the
interpre-
Thus, the British parade with portable hearts: pleading
tation of the .Talmud, the Biblical passage in_the
humanitarianism where it serves their purpose but appar-
Book of Leviticus is interpreted as meaning that
ently removing all traces of kindness and mercy when dealing the High Priest was only allowed to have one
with the Jews in Cyprus. With the end of the British mandate wife. The fact that the first man, Adam, was
originally given only one . wife and that the
it was expected that Cyprus would be liquidated promptly
prophets used monogamous marriage as a symbol
and that the imprisoned Jews—the escapees from Nazism of the union of God and Israel, while polygamy
and from DP camps in Germany—at last would be permitted was compared to polytheism and idolatry, indi-
cates that while the Bible didn't forbid polygamy,
to find comfort in their Homeland.
it certainly didn't show great favor for it. The
But the end to the tragedy of Cyprus is not yet in sight. first
general prohibition against polygamy
said
First, apparently, the world must compel the British to retain to have been decreed by the famous Rabbi is Ger-
shon in the year 1,000 C. E. His decree reached
their hearts firmly in their bosoms, in order that preachments
of humanitarianism may become real, instead of remaining into northern France and Germany. The Jews of
Spain practiced polygamy as late as the lith
false lip service.
century.

Buber's New Book Urges
Strong Spiritual Values

.

Answers to Readers
Questions ...

