Rosh Hashanah Absentee Ballot Rules Released

Leadbetter, Community Council
Issue Advice to Jewish Voters

City Clerk Thomas D. Lead-
better this week joined with the
Jewish Community Council in
inaugurating a campaign to ac-
quaint Jewish voters with the
use of the absentee ballots in
the Sept. 12 Primary Election,
which coincides with the first
day of Rosh Hashanah.
In a statement to The Jew-
ish News, Mr. Leadbetter ex-
pressed the hope that the facts
regarding use of absentee bal-

lots, which has been made pos-
sible by special legislation of
both Houses of the Michigan
Legislature and approved by
Governor G. Mennen Williams.
would be published for the bene-
fit of Jewish voters.
Outlining the instructions re-
garding use of absentee ballots,
Mr. Leadbetter, who is chair-
man of the City Election Corn-
mission, pointed out that the
occurrence of the Primary

Purely Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Conflicting Views on Church and State in Israel

Paul Blanshard; the Nation's correspondent who aroused con
troversy with his book "American Freedom and Catholic Power
(Beacon Press), in a recent article on "Israel: Church and State
makes striking comments on the situation in the Jewish stat e.
Mr. Blanshard, who is optimistic and friendly, refers to "anach
ronisms and anomlies" which "will undoubtedly seem triflin
barnacles upon a noble ship of state," and concludes with th e
comment:

"One of these days the ship of state will put into calm
waters, and the good liberals who form the majority of the
crew will clean the barnacles off."

Election on Rosh Hashanah de-
prives persons of ,the Jewish
faith of "the opportunity of
voting in person at their re-
spective voting place," and de-
clared that in order for these
voters to participate in the
Primary it would be necessary
that an application be filed with
his office over the signature of
the elector requesting absentee
ballots.

At the request of Mr. Lead-
better, the Jewish Commun-
ity Council urges all election
board personnel to report
immediately on their avail-
ability for duty on primary
election day Sept. 12.
This is done realizing that
Jewish personnel working in
polling places have, in many
cases, not notified the Com-
mission that they will be un-
able to work on Rosh Has-
hanah. The Election Com-
mission urgently r e q u es t s
that availability cards mailed
to all workers be returned to
City Hall as soon as possible,
so that, where necessary, sub-
stitutes will be found for
Jewish workers not working
on Rosh Hashanah.

the dark on Friday night rather than violate this rule. For years
the few orthodox kibbutzim, or cooperative farms, never turned
on their electricity between Friday and Saturday sundowns.
"In an orthodox kibbutz south of Jaffa one of the recent
settlers, young Mr. X of Brooklyn, told me how milking machines
were finally introduced. Although liberal cooperatives all around
were using them, the devout leaders of this kibbutz said it was
against God's law to turn on the electricity for a milking ma-
chine on Friday night; and if they had - to milk by hand on the
Sabbath, they might as well on the other six days of the week.
Then a wise ar d learned article contributed by an orthodox rabbi
to a local religious magazine suggested indirectly that if the
electricity for milking machines could be turned on and off by

Applications must be filled
out in detail, listing name of
individual desiring ballots;
address from which he or she
is registered; reason for ab-
sence, which in the case of
persons of this faith would be
"Jewish Holiday"; address to
which ballots are to be sent;
and, last but not least, signa-
ture of the applicant. Com-
pleted applications should
then be mailed or delivered

some extra-human agency, perhaps no sin would be involved in
its use. After some discussion the leaders of the orthodox kibT
hutz finally evolved the following scheme. Before sundown on
Friday the machinr-s are connected with an electric clock

Mich., after August 13, as the
Michigan S tat u tes prohibit

While Mr. Blanshard is correct in presenting most of the facts
in his report published in the Nation, this Commentator would
like to call attention to another approach to their needs by re-
ligious farmers. While in Israel, we had occasion to watch the
activities of the ultra-religious Poale Mizrachi at the Moshav Sde
Yaakov. At that settlement, the religious cooperative residents
milked their cows on the Sabbath and holidays, else they would
have been guilty of cruelty to animal's. On Yom Kippur, these
settlers arose early to perform these chores, went to their syna-
gogues until noon, took two hours off from prayers to return to
their milking duties, then completed the day of fasting and pray-
er. The Sde Yaakov residents installed electrically-operated clocks
to provide lighting systems for the chicken coops, in order that
the requireslights should not cease as necessities in inspiring
highest production of eggs. For these settlers, there was no need
of electrically-operated milking machines, even though avodah
atzmith—self help—means that they must labor more with their
hands and less with the use of machines.
Like Mr. Blanshard, we believe that in the course of time the
problems created by religious restrictions will be solved. There
will be disputes and struggles, but there is no reason for doubting
that in the years to come the sanhedrin may be revived and
modern methods will be applied to needs created by the revival
of statehood. •
*
*

A Complaint from the Reform Ranks

In his presidential address to the convention of the Central
Conference of American Rabbis, in Cincinnati, last week, Dr. Jacob
R. Marcus recomended that the CCAR "denounce the injustice
that now prevails - in the land of Israel, whereby some Reform
rabbis are denied complete religious equality." He said that, with
one exception, Liberal Rabbis are not permitted to perform at re-
ligious ceremonies and asked that Israel give them "the same
rights as Christian and Moslem clergymen."
We are not belittling this protest. If the "one exception"
exists, however, why not have faith that Reform as an entity will
not be discriminated against? But there is ground for suspecting
that the demand is lacking in Israel for both Reform and Con-
servative (which also have protested that they are not given a
chance in Israel) groups. In any event, Israel's authorities should
be given a chance to reply to the protest before any of us jump
to conclusions in charging Israel with abuse Of: religious or civil
liberties.

Maurice H. Zackheim's more
than 40 years of service to Jew-
ish causes in Detroit, and espe-
cially to Jewish education, will
be honored at the annual elec-
tion dinner meeting of the
United Hebrew Schools of De-
troit, Tuesday, June 20, at the

Election Workers
Urged to Report

to the City Election Commis-
sion, City Hall, Detroit 26,

their acceptance more than
30 days prior to the Primary.

The required information re-
corded in letter form will also
be acceptable, Mr. Leadbetter
stated, but in order to better
facilitate the processing of re-
quests, the printed application
form is more desirable and pre-
ferred.
The deadline for acceptance
of application for the Primary
of Sept. 12 is at 2 p.m. Saturday,
Sept. 9.
Mr. Leadbetter stated that
further information pertaining
to absentee voting is available
by calling the office of the
Election Commission, WO. 3-
1260.
A supply of forms also will be
available at the office of the
Jewish Community Council, 803
Washington Blvd. Bldg. Further
information may be obtainted
by calling the Council, WO. 3-
1657.

Install Haifa Chapter
Officers at Elmwood

Zionist Organization and the
United Hebrew Schools and for
the past 15 years has been chair-
man of the schools' board of
education. He recently returned
from his second trip to the state
of Israel.
Reservations for the dinner
are being taken by Harry Co-
hen, chairman of the dinner
committee, UN. 3-0412; Julius
B e r m a n, co-chairman, WO.
2-6050, and at the office of the
schools, TO. 8-0063.

Center's Annual
Meet Monday

Like many other observers, Mr. Blanshard is disturbed b y
some of the issues which have created a conflict between syna
gogue ("church") and state in Israel. Thus, speaking of the use o
Printed applications for this
electricity, he relates the following:
purpose are now available at
"According to orthodox Jewish religious law no one may
the office of the City Election
strike a match or ride a bicycle or turn on an electric light or
Commission at Room 107, City
operate an automobile or answer a telephone call or smoke a Hall. Ballots are expected to be
cigarette between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. Some
ready for distribution on Aug.
of the extreme orthodox communities in Palestine used to sit in
28.

which
automatically turns on the electricity for five minutes, then off
for one minute. The theory is that it is not a sin to attach the
milking machine. to- the cow's udder during the minute that the
electric current is off. _So strong and intelligent-looking young
Jewish farmers may be seen every Friday night dashing from
cow to cow during the holy minute of respite from the sin of
using fire. Thus the kibbutz c,_n compete on equal terms with
its liberal neighbors.
"Electricity still flows through the wires on the Sabbath,
and people are permitted to choose sin or convenience for them-
selves. Public buses, however, do not run on the Sabbath in any
of the larger cities except Haifa, and average citizens who can-
not afford sinful taxicabs stay home or walk. Of course, kosher
rules for meat are universally applied, and pork is excluded from
the country by administrative currency regulations."

Hebrew Schools to Honor Zackheim,
Elect Officers, at Dinner Tuesday

MAURICE H. ZACKHEIM

Northwest Hebrew Congregation.
With Rabbi A. M. Hershman
as principal speaker and former
Judge Charles Rubiner as toast-
master, the program also will
highlight vocal selections by
Miss Leah C r o h n, soprano,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Law-
rence W. Crohn, and an octet
of teachers and students from
the Hebrew High School.
Miss Crohn, a- member of the
Vinaver Choir, is a soloist in the
Stephen S. Wise Free Synagogue
in New York. She recently was
featured here in the annual
concert of the Music Study
Club.
The invocation and benedic-
tion at the dinner will be given,
respectively, • by Mrs. J. H. Ehr-
lich and Rabbi Leon Fram.
Greetings will be extended to

Mr.

Zackheim

by

The Jewish oornrnimity Cen-
ter will elect seven new board
members at a dinner meeting
at 7 p.m. Monday, at the Wood-
ward Center.
Morris Garvett, president, will
present his annual report.
The following have been nomi-
nated to fill seven vacancies on
the board:
Mrs. Eugene J. Arnfeld, Mrs.
Daniel Cohn, Bernard Lasky;
Dr. William Wattenberg, Harry
L. Jones, George D. Keil and
John Isaacs.
The nominating committee
consists of Mrs. H. C. Broder,
chairman, Mrs. Charles Lakoff,
Louis Hamburger and Louis
Redstone.

Canada Is Fifth in DP
Admission with 80,642

MONTREAL (JTA) — Up to;
February, 1950, Canada had
taken 80,642 displaced persons,
standing fifth in terms of num-
bers, according to Hector Allard,
resident representative of the

Samuel H. International Refuczee.Organiza-
tion in Canada, who addressed

Rubiner, president of the Jewish
Welfare Federation; Mrs. Louis
J. Tobin, president of the
schools' Woman's AuxiliPry, and
Morris Dworkin, a pupil in the
schools.
Mr. Zackheim has served as
president of - Shaarey Zedek, the

the 30th annual meeting of the
Jewish Immigrant Aid Society,
(HIAS). Jerry Segall was re-
elected president of the society.

2

—

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday. June 16, 1950

Between You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1950, Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Inc.)

Military Intelligence
All eyes in Israel

are trained on Egypt which seems to show
the strongest resistance among all Arab nations to a peace treaty
with the Jewish state . . . Despite the recent American-British-
French assurance that the Big powers will not tolerate renewal
of warfare in the Middle East, there is a definite belief in Israel
that Egypt is preparing for war . Egypt's Army is now being
transformed into a modern military force . . . Thousands of Egyp-
tian officers and soldiers are reported to have been sent to mili-
tary schools in Britain and the United States . . . The army's
organizational structure and training methods have been com-
pletely revamped . . . And the flow of British war materials into
Egypt continues . . . Israeli military experts are asking: "Against
whom is all this directed?" . . No matter how it may be ex-
plained or denied, they feel that the initial and immediate ob-
jective can only be Israel . . . The desire to avenge the Israel vic-
tory is quite prevalent in Egypt. and is keenly felt by the • army;
the King and the politicians . . . And leading circles in Israel are
of the opinion that this spirit of revenge is the primary factor-
impelling Egypt toward a renewal of hostilities against the Jewish
State The peace feelers which are from time to time sent
out by Egyptian statesmen who are not in 'the government are not
taken seriously in Israel . . At best they are looked upon by
JewiSh experts as attempts to lull Israel into complacency, thus
enabling Egypt to prepare a "Pearl Harbor" in an Arab setting .
Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia—each for its own reason—are likely
anytime to join Egypt and attack Israel from the north and east.
* • . •

The newly - elected officers
and board members of Haifa
Chapter, Zionist Organization of
Detroit, will be installed at a
dinner, Saturday evening, June
17, at the Elmwood Hotel in
Windsor. • •
Dr. Louis K.a z d a n, former
chapter president and acting
president in. the absence of Leon
Kay, will install the president,
Dr.- Albert A.' SchWartz, and his
fellow officers: .
Communal Trends
• Dr. Philip Sherman, Jack
Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati' has ordained over 50*
Nevel, • Ben Greenstein, vice- young men for the rabbinate since its inception 75 years ago . . .
presidents; Mrs. Alex Zuckman, About 200 men have also been ordained' by the Jewish Institute of
recording secretary; Mrs. Jo- Religion in New York which is now merged with • the Hebrew
seph Dresser, corresponding sec- Union College . . . The College-Institute offers fellowships
to
•etary; Bernard D a v i d s o n, Christian clergymen to -
live and study at the College in Cincin-
treasurer .; Alex Zuc•mari, audi- nati .• . Courses in Judaism;
Hebrew and Semitic languages pre-
tor.
pare them for teaching in Christian seminaries and for inter
Members of , the board of di- faith work in their communities . . A unique religious revival
rectors are: Sidney Brand; Mrs. is now taking place among the younger Jews in the United States,
Herman Kazdan, Nathaniel Per-, according -to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations .•
nick, Dr. Burton Schmier and 40 new congregations have been organized by the Union in the
Louis Wasserman.
last year . . 20 more are projected
- At present the Union
Dancing and entertainment is serving about 400 congregationS in the United
States and Cana-•
will follow the installation cere- •da, representing • more than 100,000 'Jewish- families 'in 3
25 COM.
monies.
im unities.
• •

