Facing 1952 Issues
II
The problems that will face us in 1952
are inexhaustible. As we have indicated in
last week's introductory analysis, we shall be
faced with problems on the local, national
and worldwide fronts.
As a preliminary indication of the issues
that are beginning to knock at our commun-
ity's gates, we already are being treated to
a call to. action by the Jewish Community
Council, whose executive committee warns
us of "mounting tensions" between it and
the Jewish Welfare Federation. A special
meeting is planned to review a situation
which. it is charged, involves an attempt by
the Federation's executive committee to
curtail the activities of the Council.
In the inner circles of Federation and
Council, the tensions referred to have been
in evidence for several years. The conflict
between the two groups on occasions have
been aired in open sessions of the Council.
For the first time, however, the Council.
whose operating funds are provided by the
Allied Jewish Campaign. which is directed
by the Federation. speaks of "mounting
tensions." The C o u n r i 1 now accuses
the parent organization of atteMpts. to cur-
tail its work. Assuming that the proposed
January meeting of the Council delegates
will materialize, we are now faced with
open debate involving internal issues.
. Can we afford a split in our ranks in a
time of mounting demands for action on
many fronts in defense of harrassed Jewish
communities throughout the world ? Must
we adopt . the premise that existing differ-
ences among our leaders are beyond adjust-
ment and reconciliation? It will be a sad
day for our community when we shall be
compelled to say that our differing opinions
are beyond pacification. - •
We list this as Problem Number One
on our local agenda, but we refuse to
accept the proposition that we must. splin-
ter our community' between Council and
Federation. It is • our contention that
unified effort is possible, that it . is im-
reasonable to perpetuate two -:competing
organizations, each constantly - battling
the other. This is an excellent occasion
to remind the two warring factions in our
midst that only a. few months ago, in
Cleveland, where a similar situation ex_.
.fisted, Federation and Comicil merged into
a single body. Why can't Cleveland's ac-
complishment be emulated in Detroit?
The Federation-Council rift presents a
challenge to all of us. Perhaps it is less the
problem that appears on the surface. Per-
haps a competent, non-partisan committee
can be mobilized to compel action in behalf
of community unity and for the elimination
of unnecessary wrangling.
*
*
We return to another problem which
has been debated ad nauseam : the mul-
tiplicity of fund-raising campaigns. Our
communities do not have unlimited funds.
The more campaigns we are asked to sup-
port, the more splintered will be our avail-
able resources. Some causes must suffer
from the overlapping of activities. In the
long run, the basic needs of our communi-
ties suffer from an overlapping of appeals.
The cost of campaigning for the major
causes is inevitably expensive enough with-
out multiplying it by numerous appeals. Is
it possible that the leaders in our many
movements fail to see it?
Get together, gentlemen ! Combine our
School systems, since so many are mere
replicas of each other. Abandon competitive
Civic protective movements. Unify relief
and social service projects. By working in
unison, we shall render the greatest benefits
to our community.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle
commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
Co '0)8-10 David Stott Bldg.. Detroit 26, Micb., W0.5-1155.
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.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK. Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS, City Editor
Vol. XX—No. 17
Page 4
January 4, 1952
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the seventh day of Tebet, 5712,
the following Scriptural selections will -be read
in our synagogues: • •
Pentateuchal portion—Gen. 44:18-47:27.
Prophetical portion—Ezek. 37:15-28.
Scriptural Selections for Fast of Tebet, Tuesday
Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 32:11-14, 34:1-10.
Prophetical portion—Is. 55:6-56:8.
Licht Benshen., Friday, Jan. 4, 4;$2 p.m.
'The Sanctification of Time'
`Don't You Think He Ought to Be Restrained?'
--.
As the Editor
Views the News .. .
Prof. Heschel's Glorious
Edification of 'Sabbath'
VP
.
"Eternity utters a day."
nE NIAL OF 054 c
=-Argoirr-
-
This brief sentence summarizes the inspiring
message that is incorporated in "The Sabbath:
Its Meaning for Modern Man," by Prof. Abraharn
Joshua Heschel, of the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary of America, whose earlier works, "The
Earth is the Lord's" and "Man is Not Alone,"
already are on record as
highly spiritual evaluations
of Jewish life.
Published by Farrar,
Straus and Young (101 5th
Ave., N.Y. 3), "The Sab-
bath," beautifully illustrat-
ed with wood engravings
by Ilya Schor, is a credit
to the publishers for hav-
ing had the vision to pro-
duce so splendid a work
and for undertaking to
circulate its great message.
Dr. Heschel, the mystic,:
emerges as a most realistic
interpreter of the Sabbath
message. He links it to
the "architecture of time.",
He explains that "Judaism
is a religion of time aiming
at the sanctification of time." "To the Bible,"
he asserts, "it is holiness in time, the Sabbath,
which comes first." Thus he explains "the task
of _men: to conquer space and sanctify time":
"We must conquer space in order to sanctify
time. All week long we are called upon to sanc-
tify life though employing things of space. On
the Sabbath it is given us to share in the holi-
ness that is in the heart of time. Even when
the soul is seared, even when no prayer can
come out of our tightened throats, the clean,
silent rest of the Sabbath leads us to a realm of
endless peace, or to the beginning of an aware-
ness of what eternity means. There are few
ideas in the world of thought which contain so
much spiritual power as the idea of the Sabbath.
Aeons hence, when of many of our cherished
theories only shreds will remain, that cosmic
tapestry will continue to shine. Eternity utters
a day."
"Jewish indolence" was the opprobrium hurled
at Jews by the Romans who reacted with con-
tempt to our people's adherence to a law of ab-.
staining from_labor on the Sabbath. Dr. Heschel
quotes Philo's defense of the Sabbath,—a classic
to this day in the literature dealing with ethical
and social principles. Prof. Heschel adds to it
another brilliant evaluation of the Sabbath as
an instrument for freedom:
"To set apart one day a week for freedom,
a day on which we would not use the instrit:-
ments which have been. so easily turned into
weapons of destruction, a day for being with
ourselves, a day of detachment from the vul-
gar, of independence of external obligations, a'
day on which we stop worshipping the idols of
technical civilization, a day on which we use
no money, a day of armistice in the economic
struggle with our fellow men and the forces
of nature—is there any institution that holds
out a greater hope for man's progress than
the Sabbath?"
Dr. Heschel quotes Rabbi Shimeon ben Yohai:
"After the work of creation was completed, the
Seventh . Day pleaded: Master of the universe, all
that Thou hast created is in couples; to every
day of the week Thou gayest a mate; only I was
left alone. And God answered: The Community
of Israel will be your mate." Then we are treat-,
ed to a dissertation on how this promise was ful-
filled, how Israel was linked with Queen Sab-
bath, "without which there would be no holiness
in our world of time."
The Sabbath, because of its holiness, is in-
terpreted as "an example of the world to come."
It is the day on which Jews acquire the "nesha-
mah yeterah"—the additional soul for spiritual
purposes.
Time, the conqueror, is confronted with the
defense mechanism against the inevitability of
time—The Sabbath. And we are blessed this-day
that a contemporary has brilliantly interpreted
the Sabbath message. For, in our time, no finer
message has been offered to Israel and to man ,;
kind than that contained in "The Sabbath," so
masterfully evaluated by Prof. Abraham Joshua
Heschel.
/444
A 'Ganging Up' On Israel
There is in evidence a virtual "ganging up" on Israel. A
campaign of letter-writing is in progress to emphasize the
problem of Arab refugees and, invariably, the letters con-
clude with attacks on the Jewish state.
The tenor of special articles and of messages to editors
is to demand that the United States should end its policy of
friendship to Israel and instead adopt a program of all-out
military and economic aid to the Arab states. There is some-
thing unreal about the new approach of the anti-Israeli pro-
Arabs who fail to recognize that only Israel and Turkey are
equipped to give adequate aid to the democracies and to
the anti-totalitarian nations. Yet, comfort is being given to
the Arab effendis, to the pro-Nazis and the oppressors of the
masses of Arabs by those who are creating a new issue with-
out making a practical effort to solve the Arab refugee.
Problem.
*
There are reports to the effect-that the anti-Israel move-
ment sponsored by Dorothy Thompson and her associates
soon -Will come, forth with a new program intended to harm
the young Jewish state, under the guise of mustering help
for the poor Arab refugees. But neither Miss Thompson,
nor the Arab propaganda mills, seem in any sense concerned
with the real issue. They are ignoring the important pro-
posals that have been forwarded to the General Assembly
of the United Nations by this country's most distinguished
leaders, includinc, Archibald MacLeish, Dr. Reinhold Nie-
buhr, Sumner Wells, Dr. Henry A. Atkinson, the Very Rev.
Ivan Lee Holt and several other men and women who are
concerned not with destroying the cause of a democratic
Israel but with serving a great humanitarian effort.
The proposal submitted to the UN outlines a plan of
action—the relief of the sufferers, their repatriation in
Arab lands with the aid of the nations of the world, includ-
ing Israel, the financing of an exchange of populations in
order not to burden Israel unduly while rescuing the
Arabs who fled from their former Palestinian homes. It
is a humane document and it challenges the motives of
those who are seeking to undermine the good that was
achieved in solving the problem of Jewish homelessness
through a reconstructed Israel.
-
*
ey,
Jewish communities must be prepared to meet the
spread of venom by presenting the facts and disseminating
the truth. Let the true details be known, and we shall have
nothing to fear from the propagandists who seek to under-
mine the position of Israel, while, at the same time, aiming
to harm the position of the Jews in America. Jewish spokes-
men again will be charged with the duty of refuting untruths
while defending their kinsmen. There is no end to the need
for training Jewish leadership. that should be ready to meet
attacks whenever they may be made against Jewry.
*
*
*
In the meantime, Israel is suffering not only from the
economic burdens imposed upon her by a large immigration
but also as a result of abnormal elemental outbursts. The
gales and the floods are adding to the trials and tribulations
of the young state. The ,unfortunate seamen's strike threat-
ened to cripple shipping and transportation.
When the pro-Histadrut workers go forth, in our own
and in other communities, to ask for funds in the drive
which is to be inaugurated in behalf of labor Israel on
Sunday, they will be called upon to answer many ques-
tions, among them those involving labor's state of insta-
bility. They have reason to feel free to point out that
without a well organized labor community, especially one
as well integrated as Israel's, it may be impossible for a
pioneering state to succeed.,
Labor in Israel ha's earned the support and encourage-
ment we are in position to give it. Only if Histadrut can be
made to feel that it can count upon the help of American
Jewry will it be able to overcome the disruptive influences
which are undermining the best intentions of the state's
guides and builders.
—P. S.
Facts You Should Know:
What is done to the broken pieces of glass
which the bridegroom breaks under the canopy?
In Palestine it used to be the custom to bury
these pieces. Some sources claim this was done
because of ancient witches or magicians that
would try to weave a spell over the pieces and
thus harm the couple.
Why is the Tefillin on the hand usually ,
covered (by the sleeve, .etc.), while the Tefillin,,
on the head must remain uncovered?
•
The commentaries claim this is so because
concerning the Tefillin on the arm it is written
in 'the Bible: "It shall be for you a sign" mean-
ing the sign is. for the individual himself and
thus may be covered. The• tefillin. on the head
was supposed to be a symbol for others to see
that the name of the Almighty or his precepts
rest upon the head of the Jew. This was to be
displayed openly: