10

With Hanukah at hand there
are many of us who recall our
service days. Then, Hanukah was
often celebrated under JWB aus-
pices, or with a division chaplain,
Jewish and even non-Jewish, or in
groups of Jewish servicemen gath-
ered together voluntarily to ob-
serve the holiday.

Hanukah, with the restoration of
the Temple under the glorious Mac-
cabees, is one of our very happy holi-
days, marking life and growth. With
Israel now in its second year as a
sovereign Jewish State, fellow among.
world states, the holiday is especially
enhanced.
But a flash-back to three years
ago in Korea brings forth a memory,
which, at the time of its occurance,
confronted me with a ghost.
John Oh was a Korean Christian
who came to our battalion to check
electric meters. He spoke a biblical
English, the result of the activities of
missionaries some 20 years before we
met.
During Hanukah he came to the
battalion and finishing his work, ap-
proached me to accompany him to
Christmas Eve services.
"John, I am not a Christian," I
told him.
The little man was aghast at my
statement. "But all thy fellow GI's
art Christians, sergeant."
"Many of them, John. But there
are also Jews among us."
"Jews, sergeant; Oh, no." he smiled
fatherly, "All the sons of Abraham
art dead, sergeant, these many cen-
turies!"
I can't say as to who was more
surprised. John Oh probably never
believed my explanations that all
Jews were not dead. At the end of our
conversation he could only mouth,
"And thee,sergeant, thou a t a Jew?"
John Oh would have been a sure-

Knollwood Elects
Ellmann President
_— -

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

Copyright, 1949, Jewish Telegraphic Agency,

fire panacea for the Dudleys and the
Pellys and Armstrongs and their ilk
As it was, I could feel the futility of
a human being confronted with the .
completely innocent and intangible
concept that he and his fellows were
dead: That my own birthright hadn't
existed for centuries.
It would have been simple, were
it not John Oh, the innocent Korean,
but a prejudiced fellow GI who had
denied me. I could have been spurred
to any of a dozen positive courses.
But it was babe-like innocence that
confronted me.
Still, his words brought to mind
the slanders and attacks of anti-Se-
mites down through the ages. The
fact was concrete that John Oh's in- .
nocent remark bore the indelible
stamp of anti-Semitism in its deeper
meaning. But there was also the very
real feature that my hyper-sensitivity
as a Jew among gentiles had been af-
fected.
With Hanukah near a tie is form-
ed with the memory and the facts of
today's situation. Jewry is not dead.
Through the crystallization of Jewry's
dream of Israel it has entered a great
renaissance in spirit. Jewry today,
and Israel in particular, have many
powerful friends. Though there are
again signs of viscious anti-Semitism
throughout Europe, the scales are tip-
ping in our favor.
The factors that make for the
teaching of John Oh's that Jewry is
„a Dodo are weakening. They can be
'made extinct. The greatest steps to-
ward their extinction are to be made
through a firmer establishment of
Israel through our aid in dollars and
immigration.
Here at our hearth we can grow
up with Israel; dropping the hyper-
sensitivity of our Jewishness, whose
features have led to assimilation and
denial for many of our people, and
we can help John 011, in his amusing
Biblical English, to one day learn
that the sergeant, verily, wert a Jew..

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, December 16, 1949

uiz -.7or –nanuLah

Memory of Hanukah Mingles
With Present-Day Realities

By AVRUM SCHULZ INGER

—

In

Why was it originally customary
for the women of the household to
abstain from work of any kind
while the Hanukah candles were
still aglow?

Many interesting reasons are of-
fered forthis custom. Generally the
role of the Jewish woman is quite
prominent in the story behind the
festival of Hanukah. The martyrdom
of Hannah and her seven sons is
enough to allow Jewish womanhood
the crowning role in the observance
of Hanukah. The wisdom and bravery
of Judith in overcoming the general
Holofernes is deserving of some spec-
ial note on the festival. The hard-
ships imposed upon women who in-
sisted upon retaining their purity in
spite of the strange laws of the ty-
rant which were overcome only by
the cunning methods of Jewish wom-
en raise the prestige of Jewish worn-
anhood even higher when Hanukah is
mentioned.
Thus, at least when the candles
-were lit, the women were elevated
from their household chores and set
up as the heroines of Jewish families
to be admired and respected for the
role they played in saving the Jewish
people from restruction.
* * *

What is the source for the ob-
servance of the Hanukah festival?

The major source is, of course, the
Book of the Maccabees, one of the
books not included in the official can-
on of the Bible. There is some men-
tion, although little in the Mishnah
and more in the later books of the
Talmud. Talmudic sources and post-
Talmudic sources like to trace hints
of it even in Biblical times, i.e., to
show that the 25th day of Kislev was
an important day through all history.

* * *

What is a "Chanukas Habayis?"

"Chanukas Habayis" is the term
given to the ceremony that is enacted
when dedicating a new Jewish home.
The term "Chanukas Habayis" is a
combination of two Hebrew terms
which means "dedication of the
house."

Dexter Parents' Group
To Celebrate Holiday
At Party This Sunday

Dexter Parents' Group will
present a Hanukah party, with
community singing, Palestinian
folk and square dancing, latkes
and games, at 8 p.m., Sunday,
Dec. 18 in Butzel Hall.
The group is composed of the
parents of members of the Dex-
ter Nieighborhood Clubs.
Mrs. Theresa Hackelman is
president, Mrs. Betty Mittleman,
vice-president and Mrs. Lillian
Bratt, secretary. Planning com-
mittee includes: Mesdames Mar-
garet Alper, Albert Cole, Saul
Merkle, Sam Petro, Henry Ro-
sen, Rose Woolf.
The neighborhood clubs are
open to children between the
ages of five and nine whose
parents join and participate in
the program. Club meetings take
place weekly in the homes of
members. The following are
clubs in this program:
Parents interested in h'M7ing
their children join a Dexter
Nei.,hborhood Club or in organ-
izing a new club should contact
Mrs. Sara Graff, club supervi- 4
sor, or Samuel Neuschatz, Dex-
ter Branch supervisor, at the
Dexter office, 11614 Dexter, TO.
8-5856.

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Community Council
Moves to Eliminate
Bias at State Resorts

James I. Ellmann, prominent
attorney, leader in numerous
Jewish and civic causes, was
elected president of Knollwood
Morris Zwerdling, chairman
Country Club at a recent meet- of the Jewish Community Coun-
ing of the board of directors. cil of Detroit legal committee,
reported to the community re-
lations committee of the Coun-
cil on the progress of the Coun-
cil's efforts to eliminate anti-
Semitic descrimination in ad-
vertising published by some of
the Michigan resorts.
The Community Council, to-
gether with the Michigan State
branch of the Anti-Defamation
League of the Bnai. Brith, sub-
mitted a memorandum to Gov-
ernor G. Mennen Williams and
Attorney-General Stephen Roth,
citing of discriminatory prac-
tices as contrary to existing
Michigan State Civil Rights
statutes.
The position taken by the
Council is that since tax funds
are appropriated by the Michi-
gan State Legislature to adver-
tise the Michigan resort indus-
JAMES I. ELLMANN
try, such funds cannot be used
Ellmann was president of the for any resort which discrimin-
ates against Jews, and conse-
club twice, in 1937 and 1938.
Ellmann, a graduate of N.Y.U., quently violates the provisions
received his LL.B. degree in of the Michigan Civil Rights
1910. He is a former Associate Act.
A committee consisting of
Justice of Highland Park and a
former Attorney General of Zwerdling, B. M. Joffe, Council
executive director, and Haskell
Michigan.
He is past president of the Lazaere, state director of the An-
Zionist Organization of Detroit ti-Defamation League, met with
and the Jewish Community the Attorney-General and with
Council and has served on the representatives of the Michigan
board of the Detroit Round State Tourist Association and as
Table of Catholics, Jews and a consequence the State Tourist
Protestants, Detroit Service Council will issue a letter of
Group and the Commission on warning to the four Michigan
Community Interrelations of Tourist Associations, advising
the American Jewish Congress. them of the illegality of anti-
He served on the War Labor Semitic discrimination practiced
Board and acted as arbitrator by some of the resorts.
in industrial disputes.
There is no record of a salmon
Other officers elected by
been caught in the River
Knollwood Country Club are having
Harold H. Gilbert, vice presi- Thames in England since 1833.
dent; John Isaacs, secretary;
Prescriptions and Repairs
Nathan Fishman, treasurer; Jo-
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seph Gendelman, assistant sec-
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Phone: WEbster 3-3332
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EDWARD PEVOS
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Alper, Dr. Raphael Altman,
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Louis Berry, Irving W. Blum-
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Modern Frames
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Grossman, Arthur Robinson, Da-
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DETROIT 4, MICHIGAN
members of the board.

• • •

•

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