As the Editor
Views the News ..

Knock It Out !

Shaw and Capa Join in
Producing Vivid Story

Hebrew University

Although the Hebrew University has
been deprived of the use of its original
buildings on Mount Scopus, since the acqui-
sition of that area, together with the Old
City of Jerusalem, by Hashemite Jordan, the
great higher institution of learning has never
interrupted its activities during the 25 years
of its existence.
With a record enrollment exceeding 1,-
100, the Hebrew University continues its
activities in the New Jerusalem, in the Terra
Sancta and other buildings. A law school
was introduced this year and a medical
school is beginning to operate jointly with
the Hadassah Medical Organization.
The 25th anniversary of the Hebrew
University, which was observed at a dinner
on May 10, at Princeton, N. J., under the
chairmanship of Dr. Albert Einstein, marks
one of the most significant occurrences in
modern Jewish history. In spite of the try-
ing conditions that existed in Palestine in
1925, the Hebrew University. opened offi-
cially on April 1 of that year under the
chairmanship of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, with
Lord Balfour, author of the famous Balfour
Declaration, as principal speaker and repre-
sentatives of leading universities in the
world in attendance.
Today, the Hebrew University is one of
the symbols of the state of Israel. The
recognition given it by President Truman
and the Governors of most of our states, in-
cluding Michigan's G. Mennen Williams, are
indications of esteem which have elevated
the great school. It is a distinct privilege to
be able to observe the great event in an era
of revived Jewish statehood.

Award for Kelsey

W. K. Kelsey's commentaries in the De-
troit News, which have been widely recog-
nized as top-ranking opinions on major is-
sues, have earned for him the honor to be
accorded him next Wednesday by the Detroit
Women's Division of the American Jewish
Congress.

The women have made an excellent choice
in naming Bill Kelsey for the 1950 Amity
Award to the newspaperman "who, during
the past year, did most to further human
relations in Detroit."

Kelsey's sound opinions often come as a
relief in a period marked by tensions. In his
comments on Jewish issues, especially those
affecting Israel, he has shown a keen under-
standing of existing conditions. We congratu-
late the women on their choice and kelsey
on the deserved honor accorded him.

Shortage of Doctors

During the past few years, it has become
apparent that there is a shortage of doctors
in Michigan.
Wayne University, for example, has
asked for funds for the erection of a new,
badly-needed building for its college of medi-
cine.
While emphasis is placed on funds—
'which are most essential and which should
be provided by our communities—there also
is a question of manpower.
Since there is a shortage of doctors, why
not drop the barriers and lift the unwritten
numerus clausus limiting the number of
Jews in American medical schools?
If it is proper to ask for funds for medi-
cal schools, it should be equally as proper to
ask for the abandonment of unwritten laws
setting up percentage norms for certain
groups in our population.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
Papers. Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by the Jewish News Publishing
Co. 708-10 David Stott 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., under Act of March 3, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ. Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAH Advertising Manager
RUTH L. CASSEL. City Editor

Vol XVII—No. 9

Page 4

May 12, 1950

Sabbath Scriptural Celections

This Sabbath, the twenty-sixth day of lyar,
5710, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our Synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Lev. 25:1-27:34.
Prophetical portion—Jer. 16:19-17:14.
On Wednesday, Rosh Hodesh Sivan, NUM.
?2:1-15 will be read during morning services.

Report on Israel

Irwin Shaw and Robert Capa jointly preser4
a vivid story of Israel's progress in "Report on
Israel," published by Simon and Schuster (1230
6th Ave., New York 20).

Every aspect of the Jewish state's activities
is covered here in text and pictures—more pic-
tures, in fact, than text. Capa's superb illustra-
tions give tremendous status to this book, and
Irwin Shaw's brilliant story-telling will hold the
reader entranced.

The chapter on Jerusalem already_ is known
to many readers—having been featured in Holi-
day Magazine. A portion of this book also ap-
peared in the New Yorker.

The cover design for the book, by Peter
Hollander, showing a bearded Jewish worker,
with a yarmulke, carrying a wooden beam, typi-
fies the book. It indicates that faith in an ideal
and hard work are the roots of Israel's idealism.
Shaw speaks of the men of Israel who 'have
reached their horizon, fought their battle, died
or survived," and in its totality his story is mag-
nificently descriptive of the miracle of the new

state.

Standards for American Jewry

No one will question the fact that American Jewry has
come of age, that the largest group of Jews in the world has
attained important status economically and possesses an
important position by virtue of its ability to provide a large
percentage of the funds needed for overseas relief and
Israel's reconstruction. Internally, however, there is much to
be done to build a well-informed constituency. In spite of the
many changes that have taken place on the world scene, our
structure remains the same. All the organizations that have
functioned for many years remain intact and no one is will-
ing to give way in order to coordinate where mergers are
necessary and in order to eliminate groups in fields where
there is overlapping and unnecessary duplication.

Writing in The Torch, a monthly periodical published .
by the National Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, Philip
Graubart raises some interesting questions. .Using the title
"Hawkers of Judaism Inc.", Graubart points out that "the
conglomeration of noises that eminate from the various or-
ganizations in Jewish life today has all the earmarks and
characteristics of a veritable bacchanalia. Spokesmen of a
dozen organizations who are self-appointed speak in behalf
of Torah and Judaism. Gentlemen who haven't visited a tem-
ple or synagogue since their Bar Mitzvah—confirmation days
speak glowingly of the 'glories of Judaism,' Heads of organi-
zations who have difficulty to decipher the Aleph Beth appeal
passionately in behalf of Jewish culture and its values . .
Each organization claims the monopoly of Judaism and its
survival . . . Never mind observance, scholarship, piety,
ethics, regular synagogue attendance, Talmud Torah, tra-
ditions . . . You can buy your 'Judaism.' Never worry about
ideologies • . . Let the shlimeils, the rabbis, concern them-
selves about such trivialities . . And the rivalry between
the organizations ! The duplications ! the waste of time,
energy and money ! ... Well paid hawkers, trained like the
old time medicine men at country fairs, they offer pills for
all diseases . . . Some of the existing organizations are more
interested in their own survival than they are in the sur-
vival of Judaism and Jewish culture in which they pretend
to be so vitally interested."

The book's text is divided into reports on
Independence Day, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and
Galilee. In the course of the narrative, the
author describes the leadership and the people
of the state as well as their accomplishments
and aims, and the pictures supplement the
impressive tale.

"Report on Israel" is available in paper as
well as hard covers. It is a book worth reading
and owning.

Composer's Romantic Story

David Ewen Ably Records
`The Story of Irving Berlin'

David Ewen, biographer of great musicians,
has written a most interesting story about the
composer of hundreds of popular songs in "The
Story of Irving Berlin," which has been publish-
ed by Henry Holt & Co. (257 Fourth Ave., New
York 10).

This fine biography, which is strikingly illus-
trated by Jane Castle, commences with the back-
ground of Berlin's birthplace—the little town of
Temun in Siberian Russia. Moses Baline. the
future composer's father, had no desire to leave.
his "homeland." But the pogroms, the attacks
by the Cossacks, the sacking of homes and the
indignities that were heaped upon the Jews in
the last decade of the. last century, forced the
Baline family to seek shelter in the United
States.

Baline found life hard here. Moses' cousin
gave him a fine welcome in 1892, but he found
the economic struggle difficult. He died four
years after his arrival on these shores.

His son Israel—who later changed his name
to Irving Berlin—was four years old when he
came to the U. S. He was eight when his father
died. At the very outset, Israel loved popular
hymns. As Ewen states:

The accusation sounds a bit harsh. If it is, it should be
exploded. If it is not, it should be corrected. Is it true, as
Graubart writes, that "there are organizations whose only
raison d'etre is based on speaking fear, foretelling imminent
`dangers' ?" He charges in the "state of confusion and babble"
a tower of Babel has arisen ; that new houses of learning are
calling for support, "forgetting or rather ignoring that rec-
ognized and deeply rooted institutions of Higher Learning in-
America are experiencing financial embarrassment."

"From his cantor father he inherited the -
gift of sweet voice, naturally meant to sing.
But, to his father's horror, Israel seldom sang
the poignant chants and prayers of the syna-
gogue, nor even the Jewish folk melodies pass-!
ed down from one generation to the next. No!
Israel went in for the popular songs of _the
street, raising his delicate and sensitive voice
in a strange mumbo jumbo . .'. Were they the
kind of songs a Jewish child was meant to
sing? As the months passed Moses gave up the
struggle to create Israel in his own. image."

From the national field one could turn to the local area
where there is confusion in educational and other Jewish
ranks. While every group has a claim either to "priority" or
to a right to existence by virtue of past service, many could
be consolidated. This is as true of the civic-protective groups
as of the schools and of certain relief agencies.

Israel pursued his love for popular songs. He
strolled aimlessly along Chinatown, through the
streets of lower New York's East Side, and gath-
ered his inspiration there for his songs which, in
the course of time, made him America's most
popular creator of songs that were—and are—
beloved by the masses.

Thus, the "hawkers of Judaism" will have to make a
better case for themselves than they built up thus far. It is
not necessary to name names. In a general way, it is safe
to say that Graubart, while he paints a dark picture, never-
theless renews a challenge which has been made time and
again—last year by the American Association of English-
Jewish Newspapers and by our editors on numerous occa-
sions—that whenever it is possible to merge overlapping
activities it should be done and when it becomes necessary
to disband movements which have outlived their usefuilness
there should be no hesitation in doing so.

Ewen takes his reader step by step through
the experiences of Berlin, the various eras dur-
ing • which new hymns were created, new ac-
claim acquired, new spirit injected in the en-
tertainment of the American masses.

Some people may be hurt in the effort to remove from
the scene unnecessary organizations. Others will have to
find outlets elsewhere for their overabundance of energy. But
in the best interests of America.n Jewry there should be a
re-evaluation of our needs. New standards should be set in
our national organizations. .An overhauling will make the
machinery that is functioning in American Jewry more effi-
cient. It will lead to greater results and to the establishment
or• dignity which is lowered when spokesmen for Israel are
in the limelight as mere "hawkers of Judaism."

Songs for the Ziegfield Follies, war songs, his
famous "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and scores
upon score of others now are a part of the his-
tory of music of this country. Ewen lists in ap-
pendices the most famous of the Berlin songs,
the numerous Broadway productions for which
he wrote the music, his songs for motion pic-
tures and his recordings.

"The Story of Irving Berlin" may prove dis-
appointing for Jews who, like his father, would
have liked to see him create music for the syna-
gogue and for the Jewish people. But as a lite
story of a man whip made positive contributions
to the entertainment of the American people,
this is a fine story anti will be read with keen
interest. Ewen, the able and authoritative writer
on musical subjects, did a good job with his
treatment of the Berlin biography.

