•- •

As the Editor
Views the _News •

Leuing the Beast Loose

'Medicine on the March'
ListsManyAchievements

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Sectarianism in Schools

The Joint Advisory Committee on Re-
ligion and the Public School of the Syna-
gogue Council of America and the National
Community Relations Advisory Council has
issued a "Legal Memorandum in Opposition
to the Distribution in the Public Schools of
the Protestant Version of the New Testa-
ment by the Gideons, International." .
This memorandum points out that "there
have been many attempts to intrude the
church upon the state via the public school
system" and that the spread of the Gideon
Bible among school children is "plain use
of the fax-supported public school system
in aid of sectarian doctrine."
The protesting memorandum describes
the standardized procedure employed by the
Gideons in distributing the Protestant Bibles.
A Gideon representative appears before stu-
dent bodies to advise them that they can
get Bibles as gifts if they obtain their par-
ents' consent. "T'ne form itself is often pre-
pared and printed by the school" and is
exchanged for a copy of the Gideon_ Bible
which consists of the King James version of
the New Testament, a few psalms and pro-
verbs from the .Old Testament. The memo-
randum reveals that "included on the fly-
leaf of each Bible is a pledge to be signed
by the recipient requiring him to promise
to read the book as a condition to the gift."
It is pointed out in the memorandum that
the established practice represents prefer-
ential treatment to one religious faith and
that "by participating in the Gideons dis-
tribution plan the state unconstitutionally
favors one religious sect over all others."
The protesting statement shows that Cath-
olic children, it_ accordance with their re-
ligious principles, have suffered persecution
for refusing to participate in the reading of
the Protestant Bible and that "in one in-
stance "Catholic children were expelled from
a Boston school "for continuing this stub-
born refusal": that a Jewish child was :kept
in a closed wardrobe while the rest of the
class engaged in Bible instruction."
We also learn that "the object of the
Gideons is to win men and women for the
Lord Jesus Christ, through . . . placing the
Bible. God'.s Holy Word—or portions there-
of in hotels, hospitals, schools, institutions,
and also through the distribution bf same
for personal use." Thus, the principle of
separation of church and state "is violated
when a representative of a missionary so-
ciety is brought into the public school sys-
tem and allowed to make an evangelical
speech to school children and to obtain
from them the pledges that they will read
a specified religious text accepted by some
sects but rejected by- others."
It is clear, as the memorandum points
out, that "by participating in the Gideons
distribution plan the state engages in ac-
tivity in aid of religion which is forbidden
by the Constitution." The memorandum ap-
peals for adherence of one of the most
sacred American principles when it declares:
"The Gideons program for distribution of
the King James version of the New Testa-
ment imposes unusual burdens upon the
child of non-Protestant parentage. It may
ultimately produce dissention and strife in
the . larger community . . . Proponents of
Bible distribution seek to exploit the vast
machinery of the public school system for
the fulfillment of their sectarian aims."
. This action undertaken with the approval
of all national American Jewish organiza-
tions opens anew the wider issue of sep-
aration of church and state. The moment a
concession is made involving this principle,
the entire idea may collapse. It is important,
therefore, that all who are interested in up-
holding the basic ideal of keeping religion
and the schools separated should support
the JeNxish proposals to end the distribution
of the Gideons Bibles in our schools, and
should, on all issues, work together to re-
tain the character of our school system as
it was -molded by the founders of this great
Republic.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers.. Michig.an Press Association.
Services: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Seven- Arts Feature
Syndicate, King Features, Central Press Association, Palcor
News Agency.
every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
Co.. 2114 Penobscot bldg.. Detroit 26, 'Mich., WO. 5-1155.
Subscription S3 a year: foreign St -
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit. Mich., under Act of March 3. 1679.

Published

PH/L1P SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK. Advertising Manager

Vol. XV—No. 24

Page 4

'` August 26, 1949

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath. the second day of Ehd, 5709,
the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagooues:
portion—Dent. 16:18-21:9.

Prophetical portion—Is. 51:12-52:12.

Medical Progress Report

A Guide for Action in Is*rael

In an interesting analysis of the situation in Israel,
where he recently made a thorough study of existing con-
ditions, Henry Montor, director of the United Jewish Ap-
peal, throws new light on the issues affecting the develop-
ment of the Jewish state.
Describing the plight of the refugees who must be kept
in camps until homes are built for them, Mr. Montor tells
this story:

"Ah American' tourist can suggest many things that are
wrong with the camps; there should be more doctors; there
should be more schooling; there should be more leisure-time
activity; there should be intensified vocational training. There
isn't anything sound of which there should not be more. - But
what is lacking is not so much American efficiency, skill and
know-how. What is lacking is money. The day before I left
Israel, I was confronted with a simple illustration. The man
who had been one of the biggest suppliers of food to the camps
was owed millions of dollars by the Jewish Agency. The Agency
had kept putting him off for weeks, as the bills grew. Finally
he was .desperate. He himself would go bankrupt if he could
not get any money to pay off against the heavy bills which he
himself -owed. For two weeks no money had come to the Jewish
Agency from the United •States. TO avert - a disaster, the Agency
went to the hard-pressed Government of Israel to borrow
$1,500,000 to tide the situation over for a week. It isn't easy to
keep going 63,000 Jewish refugees in the camps of Israel with
that kind of thin-ice financing. I' am .convinced that if the
presidents of welfare funds, the chairmen._ and. treasurers of
campaigns—if each of them saw the campS • and their inhabi-
tants face to face in Israel, they would not tolerate any slowness
in the flow of cash to their treasuries. They would not be able
to sleep at night thinking of two doctors in a camp of 4,000
people-1,000 of them children who need the most constant
care and the most ample variety of medical ._supplies. They
would be aghast at the incongruity of the . promises we have
made of "resettlement," "reconstruction," "rehabilitation" and
the reality of tens of thousands of men, women and children
being broiled under wafer-thin tenting for months on end."

Having related this incident, Mr. Montor asks the per-
tinent question, "What is the reality of what we American
Jews have done for Israel this year ?" And his reply is:

"Since January 1, about $40,000,000 in cash has gone to the
United Palestine Appeal as its share of the income. The rest of
the income in that period, totaling altogether about 580,000,000,
has gone to vital services, too. For example, the Joint Distribu-
tion 'Committee will be spending $26,000,000 this year on immi-
gration. The maximum has been created out of the money
furnished. But the money forthcoming is so inadequate to the
great need—and the tremendous opportunity." .
It is not a pleasant picture. But Mr. Montor does report

progress in the field of housing, in the building of a pro-
ductive economy under the guidance of "a government whose
top men are at least the equals of any Cabinet in the world."
Tourists • in Israel are given this sound advice by the UJA
director: "If one comes to Israel prepared for a sharing
of experience rather than a glorified version of America's
most lavish resorts, one will find ample reward in the friend-
liness of the people, in the evidences of miraculous - achieve-
ment, in peace and war, that abound everywhere."
Mr. Montor naturally feels keenly about the multiplicity
of drives in the United States. A stronger UJA could solve
the existing problems. But the splitting of. energies harms
Israel, and the sooner all forces are pooled in support of the
major fund-raising effort, the better.
While he recognizes that "Israel is not a perfect coun-
try," that "it is not always the arbiter of its own destinies,"
Montor returns from Israel with an optimistic mes-
sage. He states:

"Israel is destined to be a. powerful State, as small States go.
It will have to endure rough weather for quite a time. How
rough that weather will be and how long it will endure can be
determined in very large measure by the Jews of America. If
we act as though we understand what a Jewish State will mean
through the years to millions of people, the job of stabilizing
that State will be cheaper. and sounder. The United Jewish
Appeal, in the year ahead, will play a momentous role in the
economy of Israel. Through these means, American Jews will
help to bring to a climax what. they have already achieved
toward the solution of the probleM of Jewish homelessness."

These are sound views and practical advice. If Ameri-
can Jewry can be mobilized to increase its contributions to
the United Jewish Appeal and to participate investment
projects for Israel, the Jewish state's security will be
strengthened. Mr. Montor's report is wholesome and en-
couraging. It must serve as a guide for action by American
Jews in the months to come.

Jewish doctors have made important contri-
butions to the progress of medicine in the past
five years. During this period, medicine has ad-
vanced at least 25 years, according to Marguerite
Clark, head of Newsweek's medicine department,
in her book "Medicine on the March: A Progress
Report," Published by Funk & Wagnalls Co., 153
E. 24th St., New York.
Improved methods in the treatment of high
blood pressure, cancer, heart disease and other
diseases are outlined by the able author. Health ..
in old age, mental health of children, epilepsy;:.
tuberculosis are among the subjects reviewed.
Many Jewish names are recorded - in Mrs..
Clark's listings of doCtors who have made con-
tributions to the advanCement of medicine...
Among those selected for special mention is Dr..'
Raphael Isaacs, former University of Michigan
professor. Mrs. Clark writes:
"Dr. Raphael Isaacs of Chicago has in-
creased the life expectancy of six acute leu-
kemia patients by administering doses, three
times a day, of a chemical called tyrosinase.
Emphasizing that this is no cure for the
almost always fatal blood disease, Dr. Isaacs
said that he had transformed the Acute var-
iety of leukemia, which usually kills in about
six w Neks, to the chronic form, in which
patients may live for one to two years or
more. Tyrosinase, Dr. Isaacs said, causes the
immature white cells formed in the bone mar-
row to ripen into more mature cells."
The book reports on the Baruch rehabilita-
tion plan aimed to help millions of Americans
who are in need of physical or vocational reha-
bilitation because of injury, disease or psycho-
logical maladjustment. The Committee establish-
ed in October 1943 by Bernard M. Baruch is
known as the Baruch Committee on Physical
Medicine.
Mrs. Clark evaluates the work of Dr. Edwin
J. Cohn, professor of biochemistry at Harvard
Medical School, and refers to him as "the man
who probably has done the most to increase
medical knowledge concerning the blood and
its special properties as a body fluid."
With reference to another Jewish physician,
the book contains the following interesting para-
graph:
"To protect newborn babies against diph-
theria and whooping cough, Dr. Philip Cohen
of New York has urged that all mothers be
inoculated during the last three months of -
pregnancy. This is the time when antibodies
and antitoxins pass most easily from the
mother to the child. • The immunity will not
only protect the pregnant women against these
diseases but will immunize her baby for the
first few months of his life until he is ready
for his own inoculation schedule. The shots
may cause a mild local reaction in the mother .
btit they will not harm the pregnancy."
Many other Jewish doctors are credited with
important accomplishments in this valuable
book which will be found of great interest by the
layman as much as—if not more than—the
doctors.

Physician s Fine Novel
About Jewish Medics

Dr. Daniel Taylor's novel "They Move With
the Sun" (published by Farrar, Straus and Co.,
53 E. 34th St., New York 16) is a story about
Jews, about Jewish medical students, one of
whom—the - hero, Dr. Harry Leher—is concerned
with psychiatry.
It is a story of hatred and love and race
struggle. It touches upon the Negro problem
and makes frequent references to anti-Semitism.
It deals with Hank's parents, their battles, his
father's deformity and his mother's illiteracy,
but their consistent reunion and their one con-
cern: their son and his future as a doctor.
Hank fought against bigotry in high school,
and it cost him his college scholarship. He worked
as an elevator operator in a hospital to make his
way through medical school. His inner struggles
led him to medicine and psychiatry.
His love affairs are among the various links
which form the chain that binds him to his
passionate search for answers to numerous
questions - which disturb his inner being. There
is the nurse, Prairie Wilde, and then the Jewish
girl, Marianne Lash.
When he is asked, in his pre-med days, by
physicians in the hospital that gave him the
elevator job, for his definition of hate, he says:
"I think, sir, maybe hate is a pure ,human
thing. It's the thing I'd feel if I wanted to
make a statue—like—like the Thinker in front
of the Art Museum, and somebody or some-
thing or anything tried to stop me. Or, if I
wanted to own a piece of land and—and kuild
a house, or plant a garden, or have a certain
kind of girl—woman in itor have a child
with that woman. It's the thing I think I feel
when anybody tries to—block—or smash my
brain, my wanting to make something to cre-
ate. That's why we need freedom, why we fight
for it. Otherwise our hate would kill us."
Thus began a psychiatrist—and his entrance.
on the scene makes an excellent story, in the well
written book""They Move With the Sun" by Dr.
Taylor. It is Taylor's , first novel, and it is the
introduction to a series. to be published at yearly
intervals, under the over-all title "Man, a Many-
Sided Mirror," a nhrase from Shelley's "Prome-
theus Unbound." Dr. Taylor. has made a good
beginning, and his series of novels will be
watched with keen interest.