THE JEWISH NEWS
In Memory of Martyrs
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 $4 a year foreign $5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office.
Detroit. Mich.. under Act of March 3, 1879.
NEWS 1TE M :
U.S. JEWISH GROUPS PLEDGED TO PLANT
THE FIRST 1,000,000 TREES IN ISRAEL TO
COMMEMORATE THE 6,000,000 VICTIMS
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK, Advertising Manager
Vol. XIX—No. 5
Page 4
OF NAZISM
April 13, 1951
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighth day of NiSan, 5711,
the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Lev. 14:1-15:33.
Prophetical portion—Mal. 3:4-24 or II Kings
7:3-20.
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Panic Is Shameful
In an - editorial entitled "Orchestra
of Eight Million," the New York Doily
Mirror, on April 3, dealt logically with
the tragic involvement of a few Jews
in the atom bomb spy trials.
The American Jewish' Press reports
that publication of this editorial result-
ed from a lengthy debate participated
in by the Mirror's top editorial execu-
tives. AJP was told by Glenn Neville,
executive editor of the Mirror, that "we
decided to run the editorial as an
answer to the whispering campaign
against American Jews because of
their Jewish names in the atom espion-
age cases."
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Cowardice of Anti-Semites
Anti-Semites have often been described as irrational, as
A page-long editorial opened with con-
gratulations to "three fine Americans of our suffering from fear of Jewish competition. Bertrand Russell,
city: Judge Irving B. Kaufman, who presided Nobel prize-winner in literature, in a recent address in Aus-
over the court which tried the atom bomb tralia as guest of the Australian Institute of International
spies; United States Attorney Irving R. Say- Affairs, offered a new interpretation of this "irrational fear"
pol; and his assistant Roy Cohn, who prose- and declared that "the most singular, unfortunate and beast-
cuted and convicted those spies, Julius Ros- ly of race prejudices is the hostility towards the Jews."
•Lord Russell is quoted as having told his Australian
enberg, Ethel Rosenberg, and Morton Sob-
audience:
•
.
ell."
"If you ask a modern anti-Semite why he dislikes the Jews,
Then the editorial proceeds to state:
he will tell you that they are unscrupulous and sharp in business
"Some bigots will say the three spies
and merciless to their debtors. If you question him when he
are Jews and, will denounce all Jews. They
is off his guard, you will find that whenever a Jew engages in
will forget to say that the judge, the prose-
a bit of sharp practice, he says: 'How like a Jew,' but when a
cutor, and the prosecutor's assistant who- • Gentile does likewise, he says: 'And you know, the astonishing
did such a magnificient job for America,.
thing is that he is not a Jew.' This is not a scientific way of ar-
are also Jews. •
riving at averages. The fact is that attributing these traditional
"The unfairness of drawing conclu-
faults to the. Jews is merely rationalizing. They are thought to
sions from particular instances, the inde-
have these faults because they are disliked.
cency of fixing a. universal stereotype
"The truth is that they are disliked because they are suc-
from a bad-.ItYpe..is: here: exemplified."
cessful: Theg•.are successful because they are industrious . and
The editorial in the Hearst newspaper . because ma4Y:f:e.en-turies of pogroms have made them wary. But
points out that such judgMents are like say- when.#Ze
• ar'boun.':by a competitor we do not like to attribUte
ing that all Americans of Italian descent are ourjailure tp .tats:—$iiperior ability, and so we attribute it to his
like Frank Costello; that all Anglo-Saxon unicrUpuio4 method;, anc V thereby justify our hatred of him.
Americans are like Alger Hiss; that all Quakers are quite as successful as Jews in business, but they are
Irishmen are like "Cockeye" Dtinn, the New not hated in the same'ilitiy: . What is apparently held against the
York mobster, and-asserts:
Jews is that they are strange, incalculable and therefore might
"Who dares say this Rosenberg creature be dangerous.
"This kind of argument betrays an irrational fear. It shows-
is typical of our citizens of Jewish persua-
sion, when against him can be pitted mil- a man to be a coward, and in defense he becomes a swashbuck-
lions of Americans such as Bernard Baruch, ling militarist. If Hitler had been a brave man, he would never
Bernard Gimbel, Barney Balaban, Isadore have been an anti-Semite."
The newness of these ideas is in the way they are stated,
Straus, Admiral Strauss, Chaplain Joshua
Goldberg, Rudolph Halley and so many in their frankness, in the interpretation of anti-Semitism as
cowardice. The tragedy is that these things need to be said
others who come so quickly to mind?"
The Mirror editorial continues to state even in our day. It is sad commentary on the 20th century—
that it was raising "this very sensitive ques- now: in its third quarter—that "the most singular, unfor-
tion because our city is the home of citizens tunate and beastly of race prejudices" still exists.
The irrational anti-Semite, according to Lord Russell,
of fairly immediate foreign origin. Of course
we were all of foreign origin at one time, and considers the Jew dangerous. Because the destructive move-
the history of our city shows that when a ment • continues and appears to be gaining momentum in
group become 'old-timers' they tend to hysterical circles, Jews, in turn, must ever keep in view
the sad fact that a danger always faces them. An ancient
look down on the new corners."
The editorial contends—rejecting Is- battle for sanity goes on, in our own era of enlightenment.
rael Zangvvill's description of America as
Proof that the battle for common decency still rages
the "melting pot"—that Americans "are
was
provided last week by the acceptance by the Harvard
more like a symphony -orchestra." It de-
clares: . "Harmony means neither sameness Medical' School of a 5200,000 bequest for the establishment
nor monotony. It does mean cooperation, of a scholarship fund earmarked "preferably for applicants
self-discipline and teamwork. Of course of Anglo-Saxon ancestry." Protesting the acceptance of this
there will sometimes be a devil who plays bequest, Walter C. Carrington, president of Harvard •Uni-
out of time and out of time. He has to be versity's Society for Minority Rights, declared: "Acceptance
of this new fund will contribute to racial discrimination at
straightened out or kicked out. But; be- Harvard."
cause there is one sour note, we do not
A similar challenge is in evidence in Demorest, Ga.,
tear down Carnegie Hall,"
where an appeal has been made by war veterans to the
We quote this editorial at great length president of Piedmont College to reject an offer - of a $500
as an addendum to the views of our Com- monthly gift from George Armstrong and George Van Horn,
mentator in this issue, in order to set some notorious anti-Semites. The Atlanta American Veterans'
of our people straight, to point out to them Committee, in a letter to James E. Walter, president of Pied-
that panic is shameful, to show them that mont College, declared that the "Piedmont College affair is
blaming an entire group for a couple of trait- a beachhead which totalitarian forces have established in
ors is disgraceful and un-American.
our own backyard," since Armstrong's gift would bar •Jews
Keep on holding your heads high, fellow- and Negroes from benefits provided by the proposed grant.
Americans and fellow-Jewsl' We rejoice that
While a $50,000,000 offer by Armstrong and Van Horn
we are a part of this great democracy and to Jefferson Military College, on condition that its curricula
we are happy to be privileged to be able to should include courses in "Master race theories" which have
assist in the building of America. We do not been repudiated by reputable scholars, was rejected, the
doubt that from time to time a few more problem of keeping bigotry out of colleges remains acute, as
criminals may emerge. They won't be of our evidenced by the Harvard and Piedmont incidents.
doing or of our tradition. We need not even
We had begun to think of this century as the era of en-
waste time to reject them; they are not shar- lightenment. But the bigots are back on the scene. It is en-
ing our heritage—the legacy of the Prophets .couraging to know that the bright .lights are upon them so
and the Bible which has become a part of that they may be presented in all their ugliness. By expos-
American tradition, just as they are not ing them to public view we may hope to end discrimination
sharing the heritage of America-.
and threats of bias more speedily.
.
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if • II 4,
11,
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'Hagadah,. Mostly in English,
Copies Reconstructionism
"The Bay Area Jewish Forum Hagadah," pub-
lished by the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish
Forum in 500 numbered editions, edited by San-
ford Keretsky, Ralph M. Kramer and Philip
Schild, is available from the Bay - Area Jewish
Forum, 269 Monte Vista, Oakland 11, Calif.
It is an interesting work, illustrated by the
able Bezalel Schatz. Originally used by the Bay
City Jewish. Forum for its own Seder, it was
printed by popular demand for its availability to
a large audience.
The lettering, line drawings and cover design
by Schatz enrich this Hagadah. Schatz, who re-
cently settled in Israel, is the son of the famous
founder of the Bezalel School and Institute in
Jerusalem. Until last year he resided in Berkeley
and Big Sur and collaborated with Henry Miller
in producing "Into the Night Life," a work that
was exhibited in Europe and in this country.
The interesting point about the new Hagadah
is that it is nearly all in English. The Hebrew
portions are limited to the Kiddush, the Ho
Lakhma, the Mah Nishtana, the Avadim Hayinu,
a small portion from Hallel and the Berachot.
All else is in English.
A logical explanation is offered: that an Eng-
lish version makes the Hagadah understandable.
According to the authors, they took "a page from
Reconstructionism" and arranged the service so
that all participating in the Seder should have a
part in it, so that nothing should be skipped.
The authors explain:
"Each succeeding year the Bay Area Jewish
Forum Hagadah was rewritten and mimeo-
graphed. Last summer it caught the eye of
Ben Kennedy of the Times-Star Press in Ala-
meda, a printer of fine books whose limited
editions of Californiana have won him a wide-
spread reputation. Mr. Kennedy became in-
terested in publishing the Bay Area Jewish
F 01U7n Hagadah in a format befitting a cre-
ative work. The entire Hagadah was re-edited
during the past nine months by Keretsky,
Kramer and Schild with many new sections,
and with a concern for a unity of text, art-
work and music. As finally published, the Hag-
adah has the fresh, contemporaneous look of
a fine book in which are fused typography,
creative writing and art. Kennedy became so
interested in this projeet that he has under-
written the entire cost of publishing the first'
limited edition. of. 500 copies."
As this reviewer already has stated, this is• •an.
interesting Hagadah and there is merit - to the
claim that it has, a place for those .who desire
full understanding_ of the Seder service. But
those who crave for the full tradition will reject
it. It will be niore easily acceptable for a forura
Seder. After all, hoW . much of tradition can we
afford to shed? Aren't we trying to encourage
the study of Hebrew?
Rabbi Bernstein's Famous
Article Now In Book Form
When Rabbi . Philip S. Bernstein's article,
"What Jews Believe," appeared in Life Magazine,
thousands of Christians joined many Jews in fil-
ing requests for copies of the scholarly essay
for wider distribution.
In order to fulfill the widespread wish for
greater circulation of Rabbi Bernstein's ideas, the
publishing house of Farrar, Straus, Young, inc.,
(53 E. 34th, N. Y. 16) now are making this essay
available in a book of 100 pages, with several
excellent illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg. It is
an enlarged article; with addenda that enrich
the original essay—with chapters on all the
Jewish holy days and festivals, on Jewish move-
ments, on Zionism and Israel.
Now that the book is out it is easy to under-
stand the avalanche of correspondence. This
book is about three times the original Life article
and contains much material which was not run
there. Rabbi Bernstein writes in a lucid, direct
style. He does not enter into apologies nor
polemics. He states what Jews believe and why.
they believe it directly and forthrightly.
While Rabbi Bernstein's chief concern is
with what Jews, "here and now, believe," he has
not failed to give the historical backgrounds for
Jewish beliefs and practices. Nor is the book nar-
row and sectarian. All groups and • segments of
the Jewish religious community are presented.
"What The Jews Believe," Rabbi Philip S. Bern-
stein's popular classic on the principles and prac-
tices of Judaism, part of which first appeared
as a feature article in Life magazine, has been
published in book form by the Union of Ameri-
can Hebrew Congregations in cooperation with
Farrar, Straits and Young. Rabbi Bernstein, cen-
ter, is shown presenting the first copy to tome
off the press to Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath,
UAHC president, . while Roger IV. Straus, Jr„,
publisher, lOoks . .• cu.
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