Building a Sukkalt Together
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member: American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 708-10 David Stott Bldg., Detroit 26. Mich.,
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 and Publisher
Vol. XXII—No. 4
WO. 5-1155.
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
October 3, 1952
Page 4
Sukkot Scriptural Selections
Pe-ntateuchal portions: First Day, Saturday: Lev. 22:26-23:44, Num. 29:12-16; Second Day,
Sunday: Lev. 22:26-23:44, - Num. 29:17-25.
Prophetical portions: Monday, Zech, 14; Tuesday, 1 Kings 8:2-21.
Hamoed Scriptural Selections: Monday, Num. 29:17-25; Tuesday, Num. 29:20-28; Wednes-
day, Num. 29:23-31; Thursday, Num. 29: 26-34; Friday, NUM. 29:26-34.
Licht denshen, Oct. 3, 5:14
••■■••••■•••
The Israel Bonds: Crisis and Rebuttal
`At the recent National Economic Con-
ference for Israel, convened in Atlantic City
by the movement for the advancement of
the Israel bond campaign, the Israeli Am-
bassador to the United States, Abba Eban,
advanced important arguments which need
to be retold in order that the great effort
for the bond drive should not slow down.
Mr: Eban's concluding remarks were so
powerful that they deserve quotation at this
time, when our communities are mobilizing
forces for the fall bond campaign. He stated:
"If things are as wrong as they are de-
picted, the conclusion is that more work,
more sacrifice, intensified responsibility are
needed. I could • well understand a man who
said that because Israel's eco-
nomic and fiscal situation is so
utterly defective he is reluctant-
ly forced to double his bond
purchase and to treble the vol-
ume of his activity. To invoke
these defects as a cause for di-
minished effort, for desertion of
the vessel as it fights the storm
is the ultimate cowardice as be-
ing a distorti o.n of logical
thought. First we createa crisis by not sell-
ing sufficient bonds; then shall we invoke
the crisis as a ,reason why bonds - cannot be
sold? I do not suggest a moratorium on criti-
cism. Criticism is our only unrationed luxury
in. Israel, and we have a lot to learn, The
point is that we witness and suffer, not the
ills of degeneration but the sharp pains of
rapid growth. May I suggest in all good hu-
mor that a reader of conterriporary literature
about Israel in the present vogue of self-
flagellation would discern a strange division
of talent in the Jewish people. It appears
that the Jews who don't know how to run a
state effectively or to promote its economic
well-being are all concentrated in one group
as citizens of Israel; while, by a freak of
chance, all the Jews who do know how to
manage the politics and_economy Of a state
with perfect efficiency are unfortunately
resident elsewhere. The Bond Issue is con-
ceived in quite the opposite spirit—the spirit
of complete identification with Israel's cen-
tral purposes in a spirit of joint responsi-
bility. I therefore rejoice to observe that
your own mission to Israel has had the in-
sight with which to penetrate the wall of
our imperfections and perceive the broad
highway of progress which stretches far be-
yond the horizon and toward the light. Re-
member as you tread our soil that genera-
tions of our people who never saw the flag
of Israel fly in freedom would have rejoiced
at the opportunity of making our mistakes,
if only they could have made them in a
sovereign capacity as the citizens of a liber-
ated homeland. It is no small thing to be in
a position to make government mistakes,
ministerial mistakes, even ambassadorial
mistakes, if such a thing is conceivable. It is
no ordinary people, this people of Israel,
which enters now upon a new birth of free-
dom. Today it is our fortune to have Israel's
sacred hills, these cherished valleys, rich with
the pride of national history, restored to our
possession once again. The determination is
in our hands whether this soil will again sus-
tain a people in the plentitude of freedom,
in the full spate of productivity, in the rest-
less stirring of minds pursuing truth and
hearts in quest of justice. External aid from
friendly governments, and from remorseful
antagonists of the past can at most supple-
ment and enlarge the reservoir of our own
Jewish effort. We have established the Bond
organization to test your devotion and your
faith; it has done valiantly. Its leaders de-
serve the praise of our immortal history. It
yields to no other source of foreign currency
in the volume and regularity of its proceeds,
and it has rendered a service above its tens
of millions of precious dollars by projecting
into Jewish life the ideal and doctrine of
economic independence for Israel to be as-
sured and defended by the collective efforl
of the Jewish people."
We know of no better argument in sup-
port of the Israel Bond Issue and we there-
fore quote these remarks at great -length. We
urge, on the strength of this plea, that De-
troit Jewry should join wholeheartedly in
the bond drive to be inaugurated at the din-
ner on Monday evening.
A Pleasant Sukkot to the Entire Community
Sukkot, one of the agricultural festivals on our calendar,
represents a mixed appeal of the elements of nature and the
spiritual—the rejoicing of the farmer over the bounties of Ws
lharvests and his thanks to Almighty for the blessings granted him.
The traditional Sukkot greeting. "V'samakhta b'hagekha," its
1 taken from. the Biblical reference to Sukkot (Deut. 16:14k
"Thou shalt rejoice in the feast, thou, and thy son and thy daugh-
ter, and thy maidservant, and the Levine, and the. stranger and
the fatherless, and the widowed, that are within thy gates." in
the spirit of tradition we greet every member of our corn-
munity: "V'samaklita b'hagekha."
Traditional Prayer for Rain
In his book "Jewish Feasts and Fasts," Rabbi Julius Green-
stone relates the following about the Sukkot traditional prayer
for rain:
"When the Germans swooped down upon Poland on Sept. 1,
1939, with their highly mechanized war machinery, the newspapers
reported that Poland was praying for rain which, it was hoped,
would render the roads impassable for the German armies and
halt their precipitous assaults. This was quite different in purpose
from the farmer's prayer for rain to enrich the soil and to fructify
the seeds that he placed in it. Prayers for rain, as well as
elaborate ritual ceremonies that usually accompanied them, were
quite common among all peoples of antiquity and even of more
modern times. The dependence of the soil upon rain and the
feeling that all such blessings are the direct gift of God, or of the
gods, caused the tiller of the soil to. turn heavenwards in times et
drought and offer up his-prayer before the Almighty , In ancient
Judea the actual prayer for rain was not offered until 60 days
after the Sukkot festival, so as to permit the pilgrims, who spent
the holiday in Jerusalem, to return to their homes before the
roads became difficult of passing because of the rains.
"The rabbis declared that Sukkot was the period when the
world was judged regarding rainfall. It was in connection with
this belief that the elaborate ceremony. of.. the drawing of water
was enacted every day of the festival in the Temple in Jerusalem,"
Guest Editorial
1 Balfour Ball and Zionist House
By HARRY OaFIEN
RE PA S des JULF'S pendant- la
E des E V S .
Picart Engraving of a Sukkah ;n the Amsterdam Jewish Community, 1728
Once again, on Nov. 15, at Hotel Statler, the Zionist
Organization of Detroit will sponsor its annual Balfour Ball.
I am happy, as chairman of the committee on arrangements,
to share in the effort to advance the Zionist
idea and to help finance the cause of Israel
redemption, with funds we raise annually bsr
this means.
In the years when Zionism struggled, lift
pioneers nevertheless battled for an ideal
which blossomed forth into the realization o
'the establishment of the St_ate of Israel. From
itime to time we still are called upon to de.
4 fend that idea, and our movement stands kg
the forefront of Israel's defenders.
We carry on an educational program. W
aid youth activities and we have a home Of
Harry Cohen our own.
- This year's Balfour Ball funds will go towards the fin.
arcing of the Zionist House on Linwood. In our own home
we hope to advance the idea which has enriched Jewish lifer
We hope sincerely that all Detroit Jews will support us ill
this great effort.