'A Bad Blot

As the Editor
Views the News

Halkin's R mantic Story

Pro-Communist Nazis

Of Revival of Language

, The new world is in no sense separable
from the worsening conditions in Germany.
The faulty denazification program has en-
couraged an arrogance among former Nazis
which threatens to increase the foes of the
democracies in Germany.
It has become known that the Ruhr in-
'dustrialists are maintaining liason with the
East German government and are violating
curbs on exports of war materials to Com-
munist-controlled East Germany. Top Com-
munist leaders were present at a party con-
gress of German Communists in Berlin's
Soviet sector and in calling for a "'national
front" Premier Otto Grotewohl of East Ger-
many included former Nazis.
A review of German events released by
the American Jewish Congress points out
that Grotewohl called on Germans to unite
in the "great national struggle for libera-
tion" and shows that "the shift is to na-
tionalism, at a time when Communist propa-
ganda in democratic countries continues to
denounce the appeasement of German na-
tionalists, militarists and .neo-Nazi elements
by the Western allies." -
Proof that Grotewohl and his associates
()JEW/1 ,1 •f*Veliteli
are aiming to mobilize Communists for the
formation of a German national front is to
be found in a quotation from his speech
cabled to the New York Herald Tribune by
Joseph Newman. Grotewohl is quoted: "No
patriot who is willing to fight for the justi-
In a .pamphlet entitled "Prejudice in Textbooks," issued
fied national interests of the German people by the National Conference of Christians and Jews as a
will be excluded from the German National weapon in democracy's arsenal in the fight on discrimina-
Democratic Front."
tion, Maxwell S. Stewart points to the need for making a
A,. cable to the New York Times from study of textbooks used in American schools, analyzes pre-
Frankfurt • states that "Communist propa- vious studies and exposes errors of omission.
ganda asking for resistance to U. S. 'war-
Mr. Stewart renders a service to democracy's cause by
mongering' was being received by mail by indicating how misunderstandings are spread about Jews,
former members of the Nazi party and Negroes and others who are maligned in textbooks. We learn
German armed forces." The American Jew- that "there is much less material in college textbooks than
ish Congress declared that "it is a line close- in the high school texts that could be regarded as harmful
ly resemblino- that peddled by isolationists to good intergroup relations." Since a great deal more dam-
and so-called
6 'patriots' in this country who age can be done to the cause of good will by the larger stu-
imply that the U. S. should not have fought dent bodies in our high schools, it is clear that a serious
Nazi Germany."
task faces those who are responsible for the eradication of
While former Nazis apparently are re- prejudices in our schools.
gaining power, their activities are inter-
In his summary of the analyses made public in his
linked with those of Communists. The new pamphlet, Mr. Stewart makes these interesting observations:
menace is a threat to this country and to all
"Textbooks are not guilty of deliberately attacking any of
democratic forces in the world. It could
the many groups that make up the American population, but
have been prevented with a firm stand
most of them, particularly in grade school and high school, are
against the recurring Nazi danger: Now, we
guilty of failing to come to grips with basic issues in the com-
plex problems of human relations. Much material essential to
may once again have two foes to fight—the
the understanding of intergroup relations is simply not pre-
revived Nazi movement and the spreading
sented to pupils. The fault lies not in texts alone but in the
Communist Neology.

A(.00.1.

Prejudice In Textbooks

Crisis Planning

Israel Cabinet and Jewish Agency execu-
tive members participated in a two-day
meeting in Jerusalem last week and dis-
cussed plans for the mobilization of funds
to facilitate the settlement in Israel of an
additional 90,000 immigrants during the
coming few months.
Prominent American Jewish leaders par-
ticipated in this conference, which must
have been motivated by the critical need
for means with which to carry on activities
for the rehabilitation of newcomers to the
Jewish state. The drop in income of the
United Jewish Appeal, the increasing apathy
with which American Jews are receiving ap-
peals in behalf of Israel and the pressing
need for the immediate rescue of Jews from
Iron Curtain and Moslem countries are forc-
ing the issue to the front.
We are yet to receive definite word re-
garding the plans that were promulgated
at the emergency session in Jerusalem. One
thing is certain : unless there is a new flood
of funds to Israel, the little state will be
severly tested. Israel needs American dol-
lars, and these must be sent there either
as contributions to UJA or investments in
industrial enterprises.

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 S3 a veer: foreign $4.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit. Mich.. under Act of March 3. 1879.

PHILIP S L01110 V rrz. editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertisinp Manager
RUTH L. CASSEL. City Editor

Vol. XVII—No. 22

Page 4

August 11, 1950

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the twenty-ninth day of Ab,
5710, the following Scriptural selections will be
read hi our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Deut. 11:26-16:17.
Prophetical portion—I Sam. 20:18-42 or Is.
54:11-55:5.
On. Sunday and Monday. Rosh Hodesh Elul,
NUM. 28:1-15 will be read during morning
ser vices,

Modern Hebrew Literature

courses of study for which textbooks are prepared. Only as
those courses of study demand the inclusion of topics on inter-
group relations, some of which are inevitably controversial, will
the textbooks be substantially improved. A remaking of cur-
riculums must preceile the revision of textbooks. That revision
involves, first, the writings of passages focused directly on the
description and exposition of contemporary intergroup relations,
and, second; careful scrutiny of the indirect references now in
the textbooks.
"A great deal has been done in recent years to improve the
teaching of intergroup relations in the schools. Institutes to
encourage more thorough study and to promote better teaching
are functioning successfully at the University of Chicago, at
New York University, and at Teachers College, Columbia Uni-
versity. The National Conference of Christians and Jews have
financed several studies in this field, of which the one sum-
marized in this pamphlet is but one. Great credit must be
given to the authors, publishers, and schools for the progress
made in recent years. But it is still possible through conscien-
tious work to make a substantial contribution to education for
intergroup relations in American life."

"Modern Hebrew Literature Trends and
Values" (Schocken) by the eminent scholar and
author, Prof. Simon Halkin, formerly of the
faculty of the Jewish Institute of Religion in
New York and now assistant professor of mod-
ern Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University
iri Jerusalem, reads like a romance of great
achievements in the re-
vival of the ancient Bib-
lical tongue.
Dr. Halkin, who fear-
lessly touches upon
every controversial is-
sue in his book in order
to present a complete
picture of the position :
of the Hebrew language, :
and literature, points
out that "no adequate
understanding of the
volcanic eruption in
Jewish life which led to
the restoration of Israel
is possible without a
Dr. Halkin
study of modern Hebrew
letters." He proves the point that the symbol of
the "spiritual thread of (Israel's) continuity .
has been the Hebrew language;" that "only the
Hebrew language has spanned the vastness of
Jewish history in time and space."
He makes the interesting point that Hebrew
"is so charged with the quaintly synagogal that
it has been the carrier of nostalgias" and that
the question of the survival of Judaism in Israel
is hardly comparable with modern western civi-
lization's issue of "separation of church and
state.". In his realistic approach to the issues
involving Jewish language and culture problems,
as they affect Israel and the Diaspora, he makes
this frank statement:
"Hebrew literature, which has heroically re-
solved the dilemma of humanism versus Jew-
ish self-continuation in modern history may

soon find itself between the horns of a new
dilemma: the vision of the redemption realized
in Israeli civilization versus the existence of a
world Jewry not included within the scope of
that vision."

The Haskalah period is reviewed in a. new
light in relation to the qUestion of Hebrew. Prof.
Halkin outlines the dilemmas of the Maskilirn,
their struggles, the emergence of assimilatory
trends and the struggle between the religious and
irreligious groups.
In our own day, Jews generally will be most
interested in the outlines of the question of how
Jews can survive as Jews once they share fully
the non-Jewish cultural environment. This
analysis has special interest now, in view of the
issues -that have arisen from the rise of Israel
and the Jewish state's effect upon the rest of
Jewry.
All of the doubts and anxieties which plagued
the leading Hebrew writers and thinkers in the
last 80 years are reviewed in Prof. Halkin's book.,
The humanistic approaches of Haskalah, the
slow groping towards Zionism, the social think-
ing of the leaders in the movement of enlighten-
ment—these and many other issues provide new
material for thought in Jewish ranks. As a mat-
ter of fact, in the course of his discussion of
the Hebrew cultural problems Prof. Halkin of-
fers sidelights on Zionist history and on Halut-
ziut.
The chapter on "Religious Motifs in Modern
Hebrew Poetry," the verses which are quoted to
illustrate this chapter, lend validity to the state-
men:

"Faith in God speaks out in terms alto-
gether unequivocal only when the modern
Hebrew poet ceases to sing his own personal
life and becomes the mouthpiece of Jewish
faith."
His discussion of "The Quest of Faith in

Palestinian Literature" and the other illuminat-
ing chapters are part of an over-all instructive
work which adds to the laurels already gathered
by Prof. Halkin in his interesting literary career.

Of particular interest in this study is the revelation
that most of the material about Jews in textbooks is about
the Jews of ancient times ; that three-fourths of the space
devoted to them in world histories deals with events preced- Facts You Should Know ...
ing 79 A.D. and that less than 12 per cent of the texts even
What is the origin of putting a monument
mention the existence of Jews as a modern entity. Only
over the grave of the .dec e ased?
passing references are made to the cooperation between
Traditional sources trace it all the way back
Jews and non-Jews in America and the reasons for a lack of
to the Book of Genesis (Chapter 35:20) where
understanding among the elements which make up the we are told that "Jacob set up a monument upon
American population become more evident. Careless word- her (Rachel's) grave; it is the grave of Rachael
ing is pointed to in Mr. Stewart's study as leading to an- unto this day." The rabbis in the Talmud claim
tagonisms among racial and religious groups.
that the tombstone was a marker so that future
The struggle to prevent the perpetuation of such texts generations would know where to come and pray.
may be a long one, because it is not easy to destroy history It should be noted that the earlier Matriarchs
books and other textbooks, but the fight must be carried to and Patriarchs like Sarah, Rebecca, Abraham
and Isaac were buried in the famous cave—the
a finish.

The Schlussel Israel Forest

Detroit's Mizrachi orthodox Zionist organization has
undertaken to honor its president, Irving W. Schiussel, with
a Forest to be planted by the Jewish National Fund in Israel.
In this fashion, Mizrachi gives deserved recognition to
its leader who has rendered important service to Jewish
causes in Detroit as president of the JNF, a,s an officer in the
Jewish Community Council and the Zionist Council, as a
congregational leader and teacher.
The entire community, whose major causes have learn-
ed that they can always call upon Mr. Schiussel for coopera-
tion, should assist in the realization of this project as speed-
ily as possible. The Schiussel Forest in Israel will be an indi-
cation of a community's readiness to honor its most deserv-
ing leaders.

cave could then be a tombstone in itself. It ap-
pears that the custom of erecting a monument
over the grave is as old as Jewish history itself.
*
*
*

What is the "Sanhedrin?"

The "Sanhedrin" is the term used to desig-
nate the central legal authority in the land of
Israel during the days of the Temple. Tech-
nically speaking, historians point to different
kinds of "sanhedrin," i.e., different types of as-
semblies that. reigned during the Biblical era in
Jewish life. What is most commonly referred
to is the great sanhedrin which met in the
courts of the Temple and was invested with
the highest religious authority of all Israel. It
is the body which is being widely discussed to-
day by those who .are seeking to reinstitute a
central legal authority in Jewish life. It was
also called the "Great Beth Din."

