s the , , Editor
Views, the News
Parting of Ways

A Report to OUT Community

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Services of Federation,
Procedure of Budgeting

We are beginning to experience a parting
of ways in Jewish life. Matters on which we
agreed in time of crisis no longer unite us.
We are not as touched by the plight of the
less fortunate as we were in the days of
Nazi oppressions—because the downtrodden
are so much nearer to salvation. The settle-
ment of the dispossessed in Israel is not as
homogeneous as was the colonization effort
of a decade ago.
Before statehood, East European Jews
who, in the main, were able to get together
as an element marked by kinship in lan-
guage and in habits, formed cooperative
colonies. Yemenite Jews who began to come
to Eretz Israel in large numbers represented
an inspired group that was willing to make
sacrifices for the embryo Jewish state and
they did not represent a problem to the
Europeans. Conditions have changed in the
past three years. In spite of the assurances
that are given us by Israeli leaders that
"there is no color line in the Jewish state,"
rinw
Oks cs °Oar Gre.e.a9p
it has not been easy to eliminate differences
that go with background, with language,
with habits--and even with the colors of the
skin. Now Israel and Israel's friends must
recognize that such a problem can not be
In the commentaries in his impressive "Israel Passover
shoved aside by denials or blindness.
Haggadah," Rabbi Menachem M. Kasher makes the im-
• •
•
points that—
The issue came to a head with a rather portant
"He who afflicts himself with the community shall live to
unexpected development in Israel: the return see the comfort of the community .
of 140 Jews from India to their former
"It was for this reason that the tribe of Levi was not
homes and the declaration of their leaders grahted a portion in the Land of Israel; it was because they
that they are akin to Israelis in religion "but had not toiled at hard labor along with the rest of the people
in every other respect we are 100 per cent in Egypt .
Indians." This is the first occurrence of its
"Concerning the wicked one the Haggadah says, 'Since he
kind in the new state, and the resumption has excluded himself from the community, he has denied God.' ;
of their status as Indians by the returning This likewise imparts the thought that one should never ex-
group may affect others who, like them, clude himself from the Israelite community, for such exclusion
were originally fired by Zionist zeal to go leads to the denial of the Deity."
to the new state.
$ .
In order to understand this "parting of
This basic lesson implies unity. It calls for solidifica-
the ways" it is well that the background of tion of Jewish efforts in support of strong and undivided
the problem should be stated bluntly. Dana
life.
Adams Schmidt reported the story in its community
Yet, Jewry is not united. We are split into many parties.
brutal reality in a cable to the New York We are
divided by ideologies. We are not a people that yields
Times from Tel Aviv. He quoted 21-year-old to uniformity,
and we are individualistic enough to differ.
Indian tractor driver David Menachem as
it
should
be. It elevates our status as a democratic
This
is
as
emphasizing the differences between the community. It strengthens
our elementary rights as human
Jewish and Indian backgrounds. Isaac Jo-
sef, 32-yearzcild Bombay insurance broker, beings.
Passover's message of freedom is punctuated by many
charged that "we are 'Easterners' and hence revolutionary
elements involving the freedom of man. The
`different and apparently inferior,' but in
foundations of htiman liberty stem from Passover. The shat-
India we were not • 'different.'
•
tering of the fetters of bondage dates back to our Festival
The charges are grave. The Indians of Freedom. Similarly, the admonition that "one should
claim that adults and children were frus- never exclude himself from the community" is a Passover
trated in finding schools, that "Our la- lesson of major significance. If the idea of freedom is to be
dies are gentle, no good in queues. They fully attained, there must be a functioning community that
don't argue—they go home and cry." They is not split by warring factionalism. It must be a community
maintain that some people called them with the right to differ and to battle against uniformity. But
"blacks," that a baker told them, "white it must stand united on the major needs which call for the
bread is for white Jews; for you only black backing of a people's determined will.
bread."
Our American Jewish communitites are engaged in the
The Jewish Agency has made it clear
that all ‘'ho come to Israel must stand in important task of redeeming Israel, of our rescuing the
queues, that all must be pioneers, that the remnants of surviving Jewry, of establishing security for the
departees are a small minority. In a sense, Jewish state. This is the major objective of the fund-raising
this answers the charges, but we must face effort in which we are presently engaged through the Allied
the issues in order to be able to overcome Jewish Campaign. On this score, we believe, there is no dis-
graver difficulties.
sension. But it is not enough merely to concur. If there is
The Israelis have come through many to be genuine accomplishment through the funds we con-
crises. We are confident that they will come tribute, it must not be a niggardly gift. Mere lip service will
through this one, too. "All Jews are equal" is not attain the complete goal. If the extra dollars that are
Israel's motto, and the government undoubt- needed for Israel as well as for our local causes are to be
edly will strive to make it real and work- secured, all must work as well as give.
There may be a difference of opinion as to methods of
able. It is well that the issue has come to
the front. Only by knowing reality and by fund-raising for Israel, but all of us undoubtedly are united
facing problems realistically can difficulties on the idea that Israel is an entity that needs and must
be overcome.
receive our encouragement and support. There is need also
for devotion to the local causes. On this score, too, there is
need for unity in order that the community at large should
not be harmed.
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle

art

Passover's Unifying Appeal

THE JEWISH NEWS

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. 708-10 David Stott Bldg.. Detroit 26. Mich., WO. 5-1155.
Subscription S4 a year foreign $5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post °Mee.
Detroit. Mich.. under Act of March 3, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK, Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS, City Editor

Vol. XXI—No. 5

Page 4

April 11, 1952

Sabbath Rol Hamoed Passover
Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the seventeenth day of Nisan,
5712, Hol Hamoed Passover, the following Scrip-
tural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions—Ex. 32:12-34:26; Num.
28:19-25.
Prophetical portion—Ezek. 36:37-37:14.

Hol Hamoed Passover Selections

Sunday, Ex. 13:1-16, Num. 28:19-25; Monday,
Ex. 22:24-23:19, Num. 28:19-25; Tuesday, Num.
9:1-14, 28:19-25.
Selections for Last Days of Passover
Pentateuchal portions: Wednesday, Ex. 13:17-
15:26, N21.711, 28:19-25; Thursday, Deut. 15:19-
16:17, Num. 28:19-25.
Prophetical portions: Wednesday, II Sam. 22;
Thursday, Is; 10:32-12:6.

Jewry needs the strength that goes with knowledge.
Israel will suffer if the community is not well informed on
its collective needs. Therefore, even with our numerous dif-
ferences of opinion, recognizing the validity of many claims
to independence in conducting schools and cultural pro-
grams, the fundamental idea of advancing our cultural and
educational needs must not be permitted to fade.
Passover's roots offer nourishment to campaigners be-
cause on this festival we are admonished "to teach it to
our children," to remember the past in order to protect our
future. The Festival of Freedom does not demand blind al-
legiance. It reasons and approaches the needs for human
salvation through knowledge. When we speak of unity in
support of basic ideas, we include among them the need for
knowledge, for the training of a well-informed Jewish com-
munity. Therefore, in speaking of unity, as divorced from
uniformity, we urge united action—through dedicated labors
—for our current drive whose objectives iniclude, in addi-
tion to Israel, the spiritual element of knowledge through
our schools and their allied movements.
It is easy to accept the blessings of freedom. We should

be equally as willing to pay a price for such privileges. Our

campaign offers means for a minimal payment. Having made
that, we can proceed to plan greater gifts towards unity out

of which will stem the greatest good for us as individuals,
for the community, from which we dare not exclude our-
selves, and for all mankind.

By ISIDORE SOBELOFF

Executive Director, Jewish Welfare Federation

The organized Jewish community of Detroit
in the year ahead faces one special problem..
Somehow, we must sustain our program over-
seas undiminished in extent and in devotion
and at the same time deal fairly with the emerg-
ing domestic needs that are demanding attention.
The remaining tasks in Europe and North
Africa and above all, in Israel, continue great
and pressing. They also indicate
that social services here at home
—the new hospital, new neigh-
borhood facilities for recreation
and informal education in the
growing northwest section and
other essential communal pro-
grams for young and old can no
longer be neglected_
To borrow an analogy from
the general national scene we
also have our problem of main-
taining civilian level of activity,
Sobeloff while building up our defense
program. While it may sound overdramatic to
describe our problem as that of providing both
guns and butter, it is a fact that we are at
once engaged in helping wage the second war
of independence for Israel—a war for economic
independence—even while building our domestic
resources for a strong community at home.
Unfortunately, we do not have the choice
of "either/or." From 1941 to 1946 we did not
develop the home front sufficiently, because
the restrictions of war made that impossible.
From 1946 to 1951, we took some slight ad-
vantage of emerging local opportunities, but
the challenge of 1948 by the fledgling State
of Israel claimed our absorbed attention: We
admired its heroism, we rallied around its
people. We stood by them then and we shall
continue to stand by them now. Each of us is a
complex personality. On Monday we would like
more funds for local activities and the pre-
p a r e d to head a delegation askin g,
demanding that the particular local service
we champion should have and must have an
additional grant. On Tuesday, we, the people,
frequently the very same people, remind our-
selves of the families in the wind-swept and
rain-soaked tents of Israel and we are ready to
storm the barricades and batter down any op-
position that stands in the way of increased
allocations to the United Jewish Appeal. We
want guns AND butter. We want a strong
army and a strong home economy, too. And,
too frequently, we want all of this without any
increased cost to ourselves.
To the extent that careful, detailed budgeting
will help us plan wisely, spend carefully, avoid
duplication, insure the abandonment of the un-
necessary and wasteful, and at the same time
assure the inclusion of the most urgent of the
newer services—to that extent the dollar of
this year will do at best as much as the dollar
of last year. Even with the most exacting study
of every item in every budget, we are faced, not
only with mounting needs, but, added to our
difficulties, with mounting costs.
There is but one escape from our dilemma—
and that is the road of increased understanding
and increased generosity. Our Federation mem-
bers, who are also, of course our contributing
public, have an opportunity once more this year,
as in years gone by, to look at the entire pro-
gram of service. Our task as stewards of your
funds is to keep you convinced that where costs
can be kept down they are indeed kept down,
that not one cent is continuing to go for du-
plicated services, behind whatever fancy label-
ing the activity may be hidden . •
Our planning and budgeting committees
are exerting every effort to stretch the dollar
as far as it will go. Our fund-raising army is

doing everything possible to increase the num-
ber of dollars raised. Federation has a con-
tinuing and fervent desire to secure the full
participation of all Jews who accept or who
can be persuaded to accept some degree of in-
terest or responsibility for the functions which

Federation and its agencies seek to perform.
The doors for service are wide open.
We must remember that the great economic
needs abroad—most specifically in Israel re-
main a major factor in Jewish fund-raising and
in Jewish communal effort. The organization of
economic assistance services for Jews at home
and abroad on a truly communal basis has been
.possible—and will continue possible only through
measures which would avoid bringing into the
areas of our social work the conflicts arising out
of the cultural diversities of our Jewish popula-
tion. It was a task of the first magnitude to
bring together on a cooperative basis for central
fund-raising and planning for local Federations
the diverse religious elements—Reform, Orthodox
and Conservative, the YiddiSh speaking immi-
grants as well as the descendants of older gen-
erations of immigrants, the Zionists and non-
Zionists and all the other varieties of views and
affiliations which are to be found among our.
Jewish population. We have succeeded in Detroit
in involving all of the these as contributors, as
workers and as leaders. This is the lesson of
our past work of which we would do well to re-
mind ourselves, This is the story of our strength
until now. This is our over-all character that
has been able to inspire the loyalties of all in-
terested Jews. As we enter another year, may the
inspiration of the past year be our inspiration
and guide for the year ahead.

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