As the Editor
Views the News

An Urgent Erasing Job

New 'Believe it or Not'

"Ripley's New Believe It Or Not," just pub-
lished by Simon & Schuster (1230 6th Ave., N. Y.
20), retains its traditional entertaining and in-
formative qualities. Carried on by Robert Rip-
ley's staff, the variety of unusual stories—all
verified, of course—runs into the hundreds.

Roots of Survival

Three important adrresses delivered at
functions in New York placed emphasis on
the Hebrew language as a factor in Israel's
survival.
At the Histadrut Ivrith celebration, Israel
Ambassador Abba Eban declared that "neg-
lect of the Hebrew movement will lead us
down the path of assimilation in the Dias-
pora" and warned that without the "Hebrew
language there will be no bridge of coopera-
tion" between Israel and world Jewry.
Louis Lipsky, speaking at the same func-
tion, asserted that the "ties that bind, the
Jews in countries outside of Israel to the
growing Hebraic life in Israel will have to
be strengthened."
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, in an address at
the dinner of the American Association for
Jewish Education, declared that Jewish life
in America, in order to survive, "must send
its roots deep down into the rich soil of
Jewish faith and Jewish learning" ; that -
the synagogue, "which is also the school,"
must be strengthened"; that: "No- Jewish
Community ever survived for long which
ignored Hebrew. If we think of any cul-
tural link between Israel and the Jews of
the Diaspora, we must think in terms of the
Hebrew language."
The distinguished scholars who made
these statements agree that Hebrew is one
of the strongest roots of Jewish survival,
that without it there is little hope of de-
feating assimilationist trends.
Jewry's duties on this score are ap-
parent: our schools must be strengthened,
the Hebrew language *must be advanced,
emphasis should be placed on adult edu-
cation with as much force as we advance
the training of our children.
Fortunately, adult schools in our com-
munity—especially the advanced synagogue
courses—include Hebrew and related sub-
jects. A great deal remains to be done to
achieve the end of bringing Hebrew into
every Jewish home. As an instrument for
Jewish survival, the study of Hebrew should
be given a place of priority in our communal
planning.

Pay Your Pledge NOW!

The launching of the 1951 United Jewish
Appeal, at the national conference called
for this week-end in Atlantic City, should
be preceded by assurances that outstand-
ing pledges to the 1950 countrywide drives
will be paid as speedily as possible.
From Israel come reports of a recur-
ring problem—the sufferings to which im-
migrants, especially children, are subjected
by the rains and the cold weather. A re-
port from Tel Aviv states that at least 6,000
children of school age need homes durino -
the winter, the first intense rainfall of the
year having affected adversary immigrant
camps.
A gloomy picture is painted in accounts
by eyewitnesses who reported that tents
were flooded and beds soaked, in spite of
specially-fitted double flaps. In one tent
a father was seen holding aloft his two-
year-old child as deep mud covered the floor
space. Children were seen standing bare-
footed in mud for lack of footwear and par-
ents were reluctant to part with teen-age
children who were offered shelter by the
urban population.
Israel's population again is doing the
utmost to solve the tragic problem. But
there stilt are neary 40,000 men, women
and children in camps whose lot can be im-
proved . only by the major national funds
provided by the United Jewish Appeal.
Unpaid pledges totalling millions are
on the books of many American Jewish
communities, including our own. Prompt
payment of these pledges will help alleviate
suffering.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
prxers Michigan Press Association.
Publishec every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
Co. 708-10 David Stott Bldg.. Detroit 26. Mich., WO. 5-1155.
Subscription S3 a year: foreign $4.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit Mich.. under Act of Marti, $. 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK, Advertising Manager

Vol XVIII—No. 14 Page 4 December 15, 1950

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the seventh day of Tebet, 5711,
.. the following Scriptural selections will be read:
Pentateuchal portion—Gen. 44:18-47:27.
• Prophetical portion—Ezek. 37.15-28.

Scriptural Selections for Fast of Tebet .
On Tuesday, Fast of Tebet, Ex. 32:11-14, 34:

1-10 will be the Pentateuchal selection and Is.
55:6-56:8 the Prophetical portion.

Ripley's Jewish- Oddities

Among the items covered are several of Jew-
ish interest. We learn, for instance,- that "7 mil-
lion women are named after the little village of
Magdala, Israel. Such names as Magdalena,
Magdaleh, Lena, Madeleine, Madeline, Magda-
lene, Madelon, Marlene, Maud, Ena, etc., etc. are
all taken from this little village in the Holy
Land!"
In explaining that Honduras, meaning Depths,
derives its name from a Psalm, we are told: "It
was named by Columbus after the 130th Psalm:
`Out of the Depths have I called unto Thee.' Co-
lumbus recited the Psalm in Spanish and the
Spanish word for 'DEPTHS' is 'HONDURAS'."
Here is another interesting item: "The seven
branched candle stick, sacred symbol of the Jews,
was copied from the Salvia Plant that grows
on the rocky hills of the Holy Land."
And another interesting story is: "David,
King of Israel, was twice as rich as the richest
country in the world. According to I. Chronicles,
22:14 and 29:4, David possessed - 103,000 talents of
gold and 1,007,000 talents of silver. The intrinsic
value of this hoard is $6,041,070,000. Translated
into present' day purchasing power it would equal
120 billion dollars, or more than twice the cash
available in the U. S., including money in circu-
lation and stored in the Treasury."
A warning issued by 11 PrOtestant leaderS that "wide-
Under the heading "Radio Kol Sheloleh Mi-
spread anti-Jewish feeling is a cancerous growth pushing its saph
Haolam Vuad Sophoe," which is translated
evil roots deep into the vitals of the Christian church" poses as "Radio, a voice that goes from one end of the
many questions.
world to the other," this book explains: "This
The prominence of the men who signed the statement, Hebrew passage with its ultra modern sound
headed by Dr. Henry A. Atkinson, general secretary of occurs in a book written 1,800 years ago—Talmud
Church Peace Union and co-chairman of the Council Against Yomah, 21."

`Conscience-Cleansing' Appeal

Intolerance, lends great significance to their views. The
scholarly approach to the request that Christian churches
should "examine, cleanse and correct" their conscience be-
cause "before God . . . Christians are guilty . . . if not the
sole cause of anti-Semitism" undoubtedly will arouse in-
teresting discussion.
For Jews, the statement will create curiosity whether
its release means that anti-Semitism again is raising its
hoary head. or whether the authors of the warning have
written it in anticipation of a revival of bigotry and out of
a desire to cure the evil before it becomes too dangerous
for all concerned.
Logical in its analyses, the statement of the Christian
leaders shows that Jews have their culprits and their saints,
that "they fall into error • and exalt the truth," but "for all
their faults Jews have contributed as much if not more to
the superstructure of civilized life as any other people. But
they have never been strong enough to prevent other people
yielding to the baser motives of discrimination and persecu-
tion."
Its pre-Christmas timing gives special significance to
the following elements in this statement : It calls for re-
. examination of Christian literature beginnino- with the use
of New Testament sources, and urges correction
b
of errors.
It makes this important declaration:

Thanks to diligent scholarship, it is now generally believed
that the Gospel of John, a general favorite, was written very
late, close to the end of the First Century, and probably by a
Gentile. By that time the unhappy distinction between the
Gentile Christian Church and Judaism was gaining ground.
In the synoptic tradition of Mark, Matthew and Luke, there
is scarcely more than a half-dozen references to "the Jews."
John multiplies this ten-fold! The uninitiated reader might
well inquire if the Jews were but one of several peoples who
heard the preaching of Jesus. The "common people" of Mark
who heard the Master gladly become, in John, "many people",
or "much people of the Jews." Moreover, the reader gained the
impression, not so much of authorities at odds with Jesus, as
of Jews hounding, persecuting, and at last guilty of the cruci-
fixion. It is somewhat as if • an outsider wrote the story of the
abolitionist martyr, Elijah Lovejoy, constantly referring to "the
Americans." "Many people listened eagerly to Lovejoy, but 'the
Americans' hounded him from place to • place; three times
burned his printing press, . and finally 'the Americans' mur-
dered him." True enough. But Lovejoy and all around him,
defenders and foes alike, were Americans, just as in ancient
Palestine Jesus and his friends and foes alike were all Jews,
save the Roman officials, soldiers and an occasional sojourner."

Dr. Atkinson and the other authors of this statement
proceed to show that:

It was not "the Jews (or even "the Romans") who crucified
Jesus; it was the sins of men. Those same forces of evil are ac-
tive today; indeed, millions have been "crucified" by them.
Among the recent victims were six million Jews . . .
The materials; used in our Sunday Schools, colleges and
theological seminaries have sometimes, if unwittingly, been
in error. To correct this fault, we must be humble and honest
enough to recognize that Christianity builds on the founda-
tion of Jewish Faith.

It takes a lot of courage to admit faults and to ask for
the correction of errors. The eminent Christian leaders not
only call for just practices but expose faults in the litera-
ture of their Faith. They are firm in their assertions that
"widespread anti-Jewish feeling is a cancerous growth" and
they do not hesitate to say that "we are the guilty • ones."
Their appeal is weakened because it is limited to the
Protestant group. But if the Protestant churches respond
well to this call, it will be sufficient to influence revision of
hitherto erroneous views of the Jewish position in relation
to Christianity,

'Proverbs of Solomon':
An interesting Conflation

"The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David,
King of Israel," described as "a new conflation,"
with introduction, notes, glossary and index, is a
highly scholarly work which will prove valuable..
to laymen an students alike.
A. D. Power, who 10 years ago edited "Ecclesi-
asticus," prepared this work which he bases on
the versions and emendations of a number of
noted scholars and Biblical authorities.
Reasons for variations are explained in 70
pages of notes. The text proper is interestingly
arranged. Cross headings and the index are most
helpful.
The titles to different sections lend to this
book encyclopedic dignity. Longmans, Green &
Co., 232 W. 18th St., New York 11, published this
volume..

Facts You Should Know .. .

Is the practice of the engagement ring
Jewish origin?

of

Originally a Jewish marriage took place in
two parts, often as much as 12 months removed
from each other. The first part was called "Eru-
sin" which means betrothal. This was accom-
plished by the official presentation of the wed-
ding ring (originally some other token or coin).
After this the couple were married in the l e gal
sense but were not yet allowed to live together
until the latter part of the marriage, called
"Nesuin," was performed after which the bride
finally joined her husband. Since, in later years,
these two ceremonies were combined into one,
as is the case today, there was still a yearning to
characterize the agreement of the marriage. In
Jewish life the announcement of a marriage is
characterized traditionally by a ceremony called
"Tenoim," during which a contract or agreement
is .made and gifts.are exchanged, after which a
platter is broken. In the process of the exchange
of gifts it became practical to use the solitaire
diamond as the gift of the grooM to his bride.

Why is it customary to adorn the Holy
Scrolls with metal crowns? Why do we find,
the crown so prominently displayed on the
coverings of the Scrolls as well as on the velvet
draperies that adorn the Ark where the
Scrolls_ are kept?

In diSplaying the crown in the ornamenta-
tions that drape and cover the Holy Scroll which
contains the Divine Commandments, we show
that no absolute monarchy is recognized save
the Lord himself. Therefore, when man errone-
ously makes laws that are contradictory to that
of the Divine Law the people of Israel have
always adhered to the Divine Law. An inter-
esting fact is disclosed by some writers who point
out that the 613 commandments found in the
Holy Scroll plus the seven added by the rabbis
make a total of 620. It so happens that the He-
brew word for crown (Keser) has the numerical
equivalent of 620, indicating that the command-
ments of Israel were meant to be a crowning
feature of the faith of the people of Israel.