2—THE JEWISH NEWS

Display Israel. Bond
At • Knollwood Club

Purely Commentary

Friday, August 17, 1951

Austin. Kanter Wins
Top Insurance Award;
State's Youngest CM

A family tradition of top-
flight insur ance underwriters
reached new heights when Aus-
tin Kanter, of 19735 Prairie,
learned Monday that he had
been accepted into the exclusive
top segment of the insurance
business.
The youngest insurance man
in Michigan to
have earned his
C.L.U. cert ifi-
cate • (Chartered
Life Under-
writer). and
A million-dollar sized replica of an Israel bond is on display probably the
at KnolIwood Country Club where preparations are being com- youngest in the
pleted for the million dollar Israel bond dinner next Thursday Unit ed States,
evening. From the left, the bond is being shown by JAMES I. Kanter is only
ELLMANN, Knoliwood president, to BEN TOLMICH, co-chairman 23-years-old.
The certificate,
of arrangements for the dinner; CHARLES MATLER and DAVID
.e q u iv a lent to
NEWMAN.
an accountant's
CPA award, in-
Kanter
dicates top prOficiency in the in-
Ex-Mufti, a Paid Red Agent, Says Pearson
surance business and allied
WASHINGTON (AJP) — A di- Mussolini, Pearson said that ex- fields. Less than five percent of
rect accusation that the ex- Mufti has now joined the ranks the nation's insurance men have
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj of the Communists to "contin- achieved this distinction.
Kanter is a representative of
amein el Husseini, is a •p aid
the
Jerome Kanter Agency, 1320
ue
to
stir-up
trouble
in
the
year
Communist agent was made by
United Artists Bldg., which was
columnist Drew Pearson. It fol- East."
founded by his father, the late
lowed by a' week an accusation
Jerome Kanter, in 1925. Austin's
by another top-flight newsman, Beth Moses Adopts
mother, Mrs. Rena T. Kanter, al-
Robert S. Allen, that the -ex-
so represents the Kanter Agency.
Mufti was joined by Egypt and Tax for JNF on All
Kanter, a graduate of Wayne
Syria in the plot to assassinate
University where he was af-:
King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan Holy Day Tickets
filiated with Sigma Alpha Mu
last month in Jerusalem.
!fraternity, will receive the award
Pearson alleged that the ex-
After hearing an address by in Los Angeles, Calif. next
Mufti "turns up at pan-Islamic William Hordes, honorary chair- month.
meetings through the Middle
man of the Jew-
This year's C.L.U. class was
East as a tool of Moscow to
ish National named the Solomon S. Huebner
promote revolt against the West.
Fund Council of class, honoring one of the found-
To show Moscow is the friend
'Detroit, Congre- ers of the College of Life Under-
of the Arab world, he is estab-
gation Beth writers, who is a professor of
lishing an Arab university in
Moses, Linwood economics at the University of
Communist Warsaw." .
and Oakman, on Pennsylvania. Dr. Huebner is
Monday evening also Jewish.
Pearson charged that t h e
Mufti- and his agents were be-
decided to tax
Last year, Kanter, a member
hind "the agitation against the
each purchaser of Mosaic Lodge of the Masonic
British in Egypt, the assassina-
of an admission Order, was a delegate to the
, Lion of the late pro-British :pre-
ticket to Holy national convention of the Na-
mier of Iran and the murder of
Wm. Hordes Day services an tional Life of Vermont Insur-
other leaders friendly to t h e additional dollar for the JNF. ance Co. at White Sulphur
West."
Beth Moses is planning a me- Springs, W. V., and was given
Pointing out that the sworn morial tribute to its late presi- membership in the Leader's Club
enemy of the Jews received dent, Emil Kahan, through the of the organization for selling
nearly $500,000 from Hitler and JNF.
over $250,000 in life insurance
during that year.

Between You and Me

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

"A Return to Judaism"—An Israeli's°Challenge

Israel Schen, the able editor of the Zionist Newsletter, publish-
ed in Jerusalem by the Infcrmation Department of the Jewish
Agency and the World Zionist Organization, poses challenging
questions and offers interesting advice on the need for a
"Return to Judaism.." The basis of - his article in the Zionist News-
letter are the original ideas of Dr. Theodor Herzl that Zionism
should "conquer the communities" and should aim at the "more
complex question" of a "return to Judaism." Herzl himself, Schen
points out, "was not fully aware how these two great truths are
bound together." He observes: "One may be inclined to speculate
how it happened that Herzl, the assimilated Jew with but a vague
and sketchy Jewish background, should have stumbled upon these
profound truths and that he should have given them such clear ar-
ticulation. Perhaps, to quote Raslai's famous saying, 'he prophesied
and knew not what he prophesied,'—in other words, his intuitive
flair for analyzing a situation and suggesting a remedy for it
extended to the cultural sphere as well."
The Jerusalem writer commences his discussion with a gloomy
view of existing conditions in the Diaspora—and we assume he
means American Jewry more than any other, since we are the
more numerous of all Jewish communities in the world and, in-
cidentally, the most influential from the point.of view of partici-
pation in world affairs and in movements to aid Israel. He declares
that "despite the increased emphasis in Zionist utterances upon
the need for cultural and Hebrew educational work, the state of
Jewish knowledge throughout the Western Diaspora is very un-
satisfactory . . . Competent 'teachers are far too few to meet even
the minimum requirements ... There are small bands of devoted
enthusiasts who have dedicated themselves to the education of
the young generation of Jews . . But their valiant efforts are
utterly incapable of halting the growth of ignorance, and of the
assimilation which is its fruit."
Schen believes that "religious educational authorities have
failed miserably," that the great majority of the Jewish children.
"are growing up ignorant of their people, its history and its cut-
ture." Therefore, a remedy must be found through a "return to
Judaism" and "unless a Jewish way of life is evolved in the Dia-
spora, it is difficult to see how assimilation can be stemmed."
To prove his point, Schen quotes from an article in the Jew-
ish Frontier in which Maurice M. Shudofsky spoke of "the scandal
which is the typical Hebrew educational institution in the U. S.,"
charging: "Ours is the age of the 'am ha-aretz' the illiterate in
Jewish learning. Ignorance is the accepted order of the day."
The Israeli observer is realistic. He points to the disappearance
of Yiddish as a contributing factor to existing conditions, with
the rich Yiddish idiom becoming meaningless, when divorced
from its objects: "How can Jewish children whose parents were
born in America or England be expected to use expressions based
upon the realia and concepts of the shtedtl? Even in ultra-re-
ligious homes, the milchige and fleischige benkel has given-way:to
the double sink and additional marble draining board."

Truman Names Lubin
To Key UN Position

By BORIS SMOLAR

WASHINGTON, (AJP) — A
leading Jewish economist and a
The Zionist Congress:
one-time president of the Inter-
The Zionist Congress seems to be of . greater interest to Ameri- collegiate Menorah Society, Dr.
can Jews than to Jews in Israel . . . Whatever, the decisions of the Isador Lubin, was nominated by
Congress, they matter little to the average Israeli . - . In fact, he President T r u-
no longer considers the elections of delegates to the Congress as
his, as they were in the pre-state days when the Zionist Congress I man
the U.S.
key
p o s for
t as
decided the political and economic fate of the Yishuv for the next
two years . . . Today his fate. is decided by the Israel. Parliament r on
e p the
r esentative
advisory
. and by the Government . . . On the other hand, some of the de- committee to
' cisions which the Zionist Congress may adopt will undoubtedly af- the Unit ed Na-
feet Jewish community life in the United States . . . Basic tions
changes
e an
Kai' Na-
may, for instance, take place in the American Jewish fund-raising I R e construction
system . • . And serious differences of opinion may develop in the Agency.
ranks of American Zionists should the Congress pass a resolution
Dr. Lubin
Presently a
making the recruitment of Chalutzim a primary objective of the U.S. representative - an the UN's
American ZiOnist movement . . . The issue of attracting American Economic and Social Council,
Chalutzim to Israel will, no doubt, be very popular at the Con-
with
gress with the Israel delegates, since young Americans are badly Dr. Lubin last week clashed
Arkadiev
needed in the Jewish state . . . The Israelis have been asking con- Soviet delegate. G. of P. the United
stantly why so_ few Chalutzim are coming from the United States during a session .
at a time when there are at least 110,000 Jewish youths in Ameri- Russian
Nations' delegate,
body in Geneva.
The
in an hour-
ca organized in various Zionist groups . . . These groups include
the Bachad with 1,500 members, the Bnei Akiba with 5,500 mem- long
speech, lambasted
the U.S.
for "capitalistic
exploitation"
bers, Habonim and other groups of the Chalutz movement ... Not
both Dr.
at home
in the Near
to speak of the Intercollegiate Zionist Federation of America with East.
Lubin and
answered
that
3,000 members, Junior Hadassah with 15,000 members, Junior Miz-
rachi Women with 12,000 members, Young Israel and Young Judea
"great
domestic
stress"
in
the
Soviet Union was really respon
with a membership of 15,000 each apd others .. . And, of course, Bible for the Red charges against
there are also the 500,000 members of Jewish Centers, Young Men America.
and Young Women Hebrew Associations . . . With such a tre-
mendous reservoir of Jewish-minded youth in America, the Is- Temple
p Israel School
raelis wonder why the Chalutz movement has no real roots in the
Announces
Re-Opening
United States.

(Copyright, 1951, Jewish Telegraphic Agency,

Ine - Z

fft

The Domestic Front

Rabbi Leon Fram, returned from
The fight around the Maclver report on the Jewish organiza- his summer vacation, announces
tions engaged in combatting anti-Semitism is becoming hotter the re-opening of the Temple
each week . . . The American Jewish Committee has addressed a Israel religious school on the
circular letter to its leading members in the large communities to mornings of Sept. 15 and 16• New
take a hand in the situation • .. These members are urged to im- pupils at the school may be reg-
press the leaders of the Jewish Welfare Funds in their cities with istered at the Temple office.
the fact that the situation is one requiring the utmost delibera- Winners of the Men's Club es-
ton and open-mindedness on the part of all concerned . . . There say contest for religious school
is much in Maclver's report to which the American Jewish Com- students were recently an-
mittee subscribes and much, too, with which it takes issue . . . At nounced. They are Judy Ann Ja-
present the AJC seems to be interested primarily in preventing cobs, high school; Sheila Gross-
"premature" judgment on the part of the Welfare Funds . . . Lead- man and Linda Victor, confirm-
ers of AJC want the communities to discuss the Maclver report ation class; and Allan B. Grass
in conjunction with briefs of the organizations involved, and not and Marjorie Stein, intermedi-
a..s an isolated document . . • Such briefs are now being prepared ate. .
During Rabbi Fram's absence,
by the anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Congress and
the American Jewish Committee . . . They will be presented to services were conducted by
• the larger communities and will help formulate the position of Charles L. Goldstein, a past
,-.
each of these organizations on.Prof, - MacIver's recommendations.: president of the congregation

How are we to achieve an effective return to Jewish values
when religious observance "in itself is no guarantee," when the
very use of the word "orthodox"—a non-Jewish concept—"furr.
nishes a measure of assimilationist ,ideas which have pervaded
the religious outlook in the Western Diaspora?" Schen calls
for 'honest consideration of his view that European and Ameri,
Can ideas have colored the existence of the great majority of
religious Jews. Thus, even the "return to Judaism" is predicated
upon "disabusing ourselves of the false notions about the Jew- .
ish people absorbed from the Gentile environment, and replacing
them with correct notions gained direct from our own Jewish
sources."

Schen'sanalysis is challenging. We are yet to find a solution
to a problem which is plaguing the Jewish communities. There
is the question of language: Yiddish is not used, and Hebrew is
mastered by only a few. Then there is the "low depth" of Jewish
understanding, to quote from the Zionist Newsletter article:
"At the bottom of the scale are those who do not read any7;

thing at all of Jewish interest, but who nevertheless cherish it
residual, if often inarticulate, love Of things Jewish. This ex-;
presses itself in the frequent repetition of a few well-worn
dish phrases, and a predilection for Jewish dishes, deliCaCia
and jokes. It is such people who help to provide the audience
for that most pathetic of characterS, the Jewish vaudeville come-;
dian. Can a greater reductio ad absurditm be imagined than a
Jew sitting in the Diaspora and laUghing at another Jew pub- .
licly making fun—even though it is_ kindly, good-humored fun- 7-,
of his own people? This is surely the lowest depth to which JeW-
•
ish culture can be brought."

This is a bit extreme. The genuine student of Jewish humor
does not abuse privileges, whereas the comedian does not know
how to draw the line between vulgarity and natural wit. Nathan
Ausubel does not stoop to low standards in his compilations of
humor and folklore, whereas many others—among them rabbis—
have failed to grasp the importance of separating the grain from
the chaff. Schen goes off on a tangent also when he emphasizes
that the birthday and engagement celebrations do not have "roots
or warrant in Jewish practice." He asserts that the "modern
`engagement' " party and attendant newspaper announcement is
"un-Jewish and borrowed from Gentile practice." He is realistic
enough to say that he does not mean that it should be abolished,
but: "Let the Jew who indulges in them at least realize that they
have no Jewish relevance at all. And, while it is understandable
that turkeys, being on the market at Christmas time, should also
grace Jewish boards at Hanukah, which happens to fall in the
same season, let the Jewish partaker of them beware of assigning
to them the same degree of `Jewishnese as lathes."
A thought-provoking essay thus went off on a tangent. Israel
Schen ought to know that turkeys are not an extraordinary item
in the American Jewish menu. He will no doubt admit that the
birthday party and the engagement, while borrowed from the
accepted observances of our neighbors, are no less -objectionable
than the extraordinary emphasis on yahrzeits or the borrowing
of foreign tunes for "Hatikvah." and even for liturgical hymns. Non-
Jews borrow from us; we borrow from them. Retention of the
basic ideals which account for the -distinctiveness of principles in-
herent in Jewish life is what matters. To this end, we therefore
join in the study undertaken by the Jerusalemite.
Schen has rendered a service with his resume of existing
conditions and with his admonition:

"There must be a- moral courage and readiness to uphold
Jewish concepts and values even when they differ Plum those
generally accepted in the non-Jewish environment. This is not
to say that the attempt should not be made; but its success will
obviously be greater among the young generation, if it is edu-
cated along the right lines."
The question is: what are the right lines? How are we to
achieve right-line approaches in a foreign environment—and
whether you like it or not, adherence to Jewish values means their

enforcement in a strange setting.
A serious question has been posed. American Jewish educators
already are grappling with it. Our communities must help solve
it. And the home—the parents—must lead before their children

will-follow.

t • f