As the Editor
Views the News .. .

Important Encyclopedic
Work Issued. by CYCO

Community Cooperation

THE JEWISH PEOPLE: PAST AND PRESENT. Volume H.
An Encyclopedic Handbook in three volumes. Published
by Jewish Encyclopedia Handbooks, Inc., Central Yiddish
Culture Organization (CYCO), 67 Lexington Ave., New
York 10.

The construction of a new center for
community activities on Davison Avenue,
in cooperation with the Jewish War Veter-
ans, the earlier joint effort for Center work
on 12th Street, where the Center enlisted
the assistance of the Council of Jewish
Women, and the negotiations that are in
progress for cooperation between the United
Hebrew Schools and the Center are indica-
tions of an earnest effort to-pool energies
and resources for Detroit Jewish activities.
In his annual report to the Center, as
retiring president, Samuel H. Rubiner made
these interesting comments:

Will the American Jews be the recipients
M spiritual and cultural values from the
State of Israel as we were nursed before by
the cultural leadership and creativity from
European Jews who migrated to our shores?
Do we have an indigenous American Jew-
ish culture and'a series of patterns of Jewish
group behavior that have the potentialities
for the making of this American Jewish cul-
ture? Will it come from our common religious
background? Will it come from our sense of
kinship with Jews the world over? Will it
come from the extent to which American
Jews identify themselves with Jewish life?
Who will assume the major role in the de-
velopment of this new Era? American Jewish
youth firmly rooted 'in the soil of America
and in the life of the Jewish people must
be prepared for these responsibilities and for
leadership.

The Jewish Community Center does not
profess to have the answer, nor the solution,
but with its history of accomplishment, its
community awareness and capacity , for in-
telligent self-evaluation, the Center is in a
position to make a notable contribution. The
Synagogue, the Center, and the schools of
Jewish education, as complements of each
other, will together build the structure of the
future. The Center has always had a keen in- •
terest in building sound relationship with
other community groups and it is encouraging
to observe the meetings which are now tak-
ing place all over America amongst these
various community bodies.

On the local level the Center joined hands
with the National Council of Jewish Women
in building the Twelfth Street Council Cen-
ter. Our Dexter Branch will be built on land
which was acquired from the Jewish War
Veterans and the structure will house under
one roof both our branch and the memorial
home of the Jewish War Veterans. Had the
nature of the building facilities and the char-
acter of the City ordinances permitted, the--
Center would at least have housed a branch
of the United Hebrew Schools in its Twelfth
Street Council Center.
In the meantime this type of relation has
been launched in other Hebrew School build-
ings in which the Center conducts and super-
vises club activities for the Hebrew School
children,

By enhancing Jewish and general com-
munity life, by enriching Jewish group living
and by stimulating Jewish cultural activity
the Jewish Community Center is making it
possible to achieve a finer American Jewish
life. The years immediately ahead are years
of opportunity and I have every confidence
that the Jewish Community Center with its
enlightened leadership and community sup-
port will successfully meet the challenge of
the new _era in American Jewish life.

The views uttered by Mr. Rubiner have
been put into action. This is the best proof
of the sincerity of intentions on the part
of those who are planning tc prepare proper
facilities' for youth work in Detroit. These
efforts deserve the wholehearted support of
all of us. While financial assistance is given
through the Community' Chest and Allied
Jewish Campaign, there are more important
means of participation in the center's work
—through memberships and by means of
personal interest on the part of parents
who should themselves join in Center work
in addition to encouraging their children to
become ,active in the various Center-spon-
sored activities.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member : American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers, Michigan Press Association.
Services: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Seven Arts Feature
Syndicate, King Features, Central Press Association, Palcor
News Agency.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
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 Office,
Detroit, Mich., wider Act of March 3, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor

SIDNEY SHMARAK, Advertising Manager

VOL. XV--=No. 16

Page 4

July 1, 1949

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the fifth day of Tammuz,
5709, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Num. 16:1-18:32.
Prophetical portion-1 Sam. 11:14-12:22.

Like its predecessor, this encyclopedic vol-
ume is marked by an earnest effort to present
to the reader the .results of studies of Jewish
cultural, colonization, population, political, re-
ligious and ethical movements. It is a most im-
pressive volume which leaves the reader with
a sense of gratitude for the thoroughness with
which the prominent authors have covered their
respective fields.
Population trends, colonization movements,
the status of education, Palestine and the his-
tory of Zionism, the Jewish labor and Socialist
movements are covered in this volume-

In every instance authorities in their fields
have written on these subjects. Jewish
population t r ends in Europe, the United
States, Canada and Palestine are reviewed in
the first 50 pages of the book. Another 50
pages are utilized for discussions of coloniza-
tion movements in Russia, Palestine, the
United • States, Canada, • Argentina and the
Dominican Republic.

More than a fourth of the book-100 pages—
is devoted to evaluations of educational and
cultural tendencies in this country, in Eastern
Europe, in Latin America, in Ragland and Pales-
tine. All aspects of education are covered—in-
cluding the Yiddish and Hebrew schools, the
Yeshivot and the secular. school movement, and
Israel faces new challenges and untold difficulties. Aside special
consideration is given to_a discussion of
from the trying situation created in the Jewish state by the traditional
education.

israers New Difficulties„

large influx of immigrants and the pressure that comes from
the building of a new economy in a new state, the new politi-
cal crisis is responsible for anxieties reminiscent of the days
when Israelis were fighting for their freedom.
At Lausanne, in Tel Aviv, London and Washington, new
stumblinc, blocks were erected to antagonize Israel. It is
apparent b that unfriendly elements were in charge of affairs
of state involving the Jewish state. The Israeli spokesmen,
however, have held their ground, and the situation does not
appear as uncertain now as it did two weeks ago.
The ever-grinding rumor mill produced many unfortun-
ate reports involving the status of Arab refugees, the Vati-
can, Jerusalem and Israel's relations with the Arabs. Subse-
quent statements prove, however, that many of these rumors
are figments of the imagination and that the desire of Jewish
leaders to negotiate peace and to make concessions in the
interests of amity is more real than appears on the surface.
For instance, a report from London that the Israeli
government is planning unilateral action to. create a free
zone in the Haifa port for use by the Jordan Kingdom
points to a new move for Arab-Jewish cooperation. Also,
the repeated assertions in Tel Aviv that Israel will welcome
the return of a large number of Arabs and that relatives—
women and children—of Arabs now in Israel will be admit-
ted to the Jewish state, are definite indications of a desire
by Israelis to be fair and to help speed peace in the Middle
East.
Unfortunately, there are obstructionists whose interfer-
ence has been harmful to peace. While the attitude of the
former United States representative on the United Nations
Conciliation Commission, Mark Ethridge, has been felt as
hard, it is possible that his toughness stemmed from un-
friendliness, if the sentiments of his wife are to be taken as
an indication of their joint viewpoints. Mrs. Ethridge, upon
her arrival in NEtw York after a three month stay in Israel
and at Lausanne, made some rather disparaging statements
about the Jewish state. She expressed the view that Israel's
admission to the UN before the return of Arab refugees and
the internationalization of Jerusalem was "very unfortun-
ate," charged that Jews refused to take back a single Arab,
made the rather ungenerous remark that while Israel provid-
ed a haven for 250,000 European Jews she created a much
more serious problem of displaced Arabs and went so far as
to say that 910,000 Arabs either fled or were forced to leave
Israel and are living in "the most squalid and horrible con-
ditions" in the Jordan Valley.
These are the type of gratuitous remarks which arouse
prejudices and create doubts in the minds of interested
parties in this issue. While Mrs. Ethridge, when reached by
telephone in Louisville, Ky., a day after she made these
harsh remarks in New York, softened her speech and instead
pleaded with Israel "to be generous in its peace terms" to
the conquered Arabs, her original remarks are on record and
are sufficient to 'condemn her as biased and as arousing un-
friendliness.
It is unfortunate that such a casual observer should
have gone off half-cocked with a view regarding Israel's
admission to the UN—at a time when the entrance of the
Jewish state was propagated by the overwhelming number
of nations who expressed the conviction that peace can
come only when one of the interested parties in the Mid-
dle Eastern struggle is able to meet the issues freely and
'On equal ground with her adversaries. It is even more un-
fortunate that the number of Arab refugees should be
magnified. When the issue first arose, after the Arabs had
fled from Jewish territory, in spite of requests from their
Jewish neighbors to remain and to build the Jewish state
jointly with their Jewish cousins, the number of Arab
refugees was estimated at anywhere from 300,000 to
400,000. Now, Mrs. Ethridge, following the line pursued
by Israels enemies, boosts the number of refugees to
910,000 ! The trick—of trying to embarrass andantagonize
Israel—is apparent !
Fortunately, Israel's spokesmen are not frightened. They
are firm in pursuing a path of justice—as is indicated in the
affirmations of faith in the future, in the willingness to take
back Arab refugees and in territorial readjustments. There
is no other way for the Jewish state than to carry on the
struggle, and Israel must succeed on the political as well as
the economic fronts:

.

The Jewish Socialist movement in Russia
and Poland is outlined by two authorities:
Abraham Menes covers the years of 1870-1897
and Raphael' R. Abramovitch deals with the
years 1897-1919. J. C. Rich is the author of
the' essay on the U. S. Jewish labor move-
ment.

Seventy pages are devoted to "Dates and
Documents Relating to the History of Zionism"
The Manifesto of the Bilu, the pioneers of
modern Zionism, is one of the significant dec-
larations reprinted in this volume. Included in
this section of this scholarly work are the Bal-
four Declaration, the UN 1947 Resolution, the
Declaration of Independence in Hebrew and
English, and other important documents.
Jewish law and morals and currents in
Jewish social life and an article on the U. S.
Jewish communal organization are among the
other features in this volume.
It is a great4 undertaking and the completion
of "The Jewish People: Past. and Present" in its
full three volumes will constitute a great con-
tribution to Jewish culture in this country.

Reform Judaism Viewed
in Three New Volumes

A LIVING FAITH: Selected Sermons and Addresses from
the Literary Remains of Dr. Kaufmann Kohler. Edited
by Samuel S. Cohon. Published by Hebrew Union College
Press. Cincinnati.
JUDAISM: A WAY OF LIFE: By Rabbi Samuel S. Cohon.
Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Cincinnati.
REFORM JUDAISM: A Movement of
• the People. By
Rabbi Louis I. Egelson. Union of American Hebrew Con-
gregations, Cincinnati.

In these three works—the first two full-
length books, the latter a 25-page mimeographed
pamphlet—the reader will find a complete eval-
uation of Reformed Judaism and an answer to
every conceivable question regarding it.
Rabbi Egelson's thesis is that "the layman
began the movement," that he never groped in
the dark about this trend in Jewish religious
practices, that they brought about a revolution
in Jewish religious practice. He reviewed the his-
tory of Reform Judaism, describes the activities
of several of its founders and answers a num-
ber of pertinent questions regarding this re - •
ligious movement.
In his editor's introduction to Dr. Cohon's
"Judaism," Emanuel Gamoran points out that
this book will be especially helpful to Christian
ministers and teachers who are in search of an
account of modern Judaism. Dr. Cohon, who is
professor of theology at Hebrew Union College,
states that his book is the fruitage of years of
teaching.

His views, of course, are strictly in com-
pliance with his Reform teachings. In his dis-
cussion of the dietary laws, for example, he
admits that "they exerted beneficial effects
upon the health of the Jewish people," but
asserted that "their hygienic value is but in-
cidental." He continues to explain that the
primary aim of the dietary laws "is to train
the Jews in holiness . . . the ritual minutiae
of shehitah and of lihe other laws of kashrut
are thus conceived as serving the purpose of
trying and purifying human character." He
adds that "the religious needs of modern
Jewry make at least part of the dietary laws
necessary."
Prof. Cohon deals most interestingly with
numerous aspects of Jewish religious life, in-
cluding social righteousness, Torah and charac-

ter training, fasting, confession, repentance, etc.
"A Living Faith" reprints 49 of the late Dr.
Kohler's sermons and addresses. The scholar-
ship for which. he was noted is reflected in each
of the selections. The holidays, noted person-
alities, Jewish ethics and traditions are dis-
cussed in these splendid essays. The reader
learns why he opposed Zionism (although he
affirmed satisfaction in the return of Jews to
agriculture). This noted man of learning will
be better understood through the pages of this
book.