THE JEWISH NEWS

Hanukah — 5713

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 28, 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.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

FRANK SIMONS

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SIDNEY SHMARAK

City Editor

Vol. XXII—No. 14

REF DoA4 , H004,

Advertising Manager

Page 4

December 12, 1952

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, 5713, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Gen. 37:1-40:23, Num. 7:1-17; Prophetical portion, Zech. 2:14-4:7.
• Hanukah Scriptural selections: Sunday, Num. 7:18-29; Monday, Num. 7 :24-35; Tuesday, NUM.
7:30-41; Wednesday, NUM, 7:36-47; Thursday, Hanukah and first day Rosh Hodesh Tebet, Num.
28:1-14, 7:42-47; Friday, Hanukah and Rosh Hodesh, Num. 28:1-157:48-53.

Licht Benshen, Friday,

Dec.

12, 4:43 p.m.

Hanukah: 'The Maccabean Spirit Leaps Newborn!'

Hanukah, the Feast of the Maccabees, is
spoken of as triumph against political op-
pression. It is primarily the festival which
marked the first battle for. religious liberty.
It is aenerally conceded that the failure of
the Maccabees would have made impossible
the survival of Judaism and the eventual rise
of Christianity. By winning the war against
the idolators, the Maccabees scored a victory
for religious freedom, and against paganism.
The Hanukah story was most effectively
related in a famous poem, "The Feast of
Lights," by Emma Lazarus. In it she de-
scribed, as follows, the chant of victorious
hymns and how the Maccabean spirit leapt
newborn:

Kindle the taper like the steadfast star
Ablaze on evening's forehead o'er the earth,
And add each night a lustre till afar
An eightfold splendor shines above the hearth.
Clash, Israel, the cymbals, touch the lyre,
Blow the brass trumpet and the harsh-tongued
horn;
Chant psalms of victory till the heart takes fire,
The Maccabean spirit leaps newborn.
.

Remember how from wintry dawn till night,
Such songs were sung in Zion, when again
On the high altar flamed the sacred light,
And, purified from every Syrian stain,
The foam-white walls with golden shields were

hung,
With crowns and silken spoils, and at the shrine
stood, midst their conqueror tribe, five chief-
tains sprung
From one heroic stock, one seed divine.

Five branches grow from Mattathias' stem:
The Blessed John, the Keen-Eyed Jonathan

Choke the wide Temple-courts, the altars lie
Disfigured and polluted—who had flung
Their faces on the stones, and mourned aloud
And rent their garments, wailing with one
tongue,
Crushed as a wind-swept bed of reeds is bowed.

Even they by one voice fixed, one heart of
flame,
Through broken reeds, had risen, and were men,
They rushed upon the spoiler and o'ercame,
Each arm for freedom had the strength of ten:
Now is their mourning into dancing turned,
Their sackcloth doffed for garments of delight,
Week-long the festive torches shall be burned,
Music and revelry wed day with night.

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Still runs the dance, the feats, the glorious

_Psalm,
The mystic lights of emblem, and the word.
Where is our Judas? Where is our five-branched
palm?
Where are the lion-warriors of the Lord?
Clash, Israel, the cymbals, touch the lyre,
Blow the brass trumpet and the harsh-tongued
horn;
Chant hymns of victory till the heart takes fire,
The Maccabean spirit leaps newborn!

Of special significance in connection with
the Hanukah festival is the lesson of the
Haftorah reading assigned to 'Sabbath Han-
The Shulhan Arukh, the Code of Jewish Law, sets forth the
ukah. Incorporated in Zechariah . 4:6, t h e following
ruleS for the observance of Hanukah in the home:
message of Hanukah is summarized in these
"Buy yourself a lamp of silver to reflect the beauty of the
words:
flickering lights. Fill it with sufficient oil to burn at least half an

Hanukah in the Home

"Not by might, nor by power, but by'
My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

hour. Set it in public view.

"Place the eight tapers in a straight row, since no day 01
Hanukah is superior to another. Only the kindler and guardian
of the lights, the ninth taper, shall stand above them all.

Simon, the fair, the Burst-of-Spring, the Gem;
Eleazar, Help-of-God; o'er all his clan
Judas, the Lion-Prince, the Avenging Rod,
Tow red in warrior-beauty, uncrowned King,
Armed with the breastplate and the sword of
God,
Whose praise is: "He receives the .perishing."

Thus, Hanukah is the festival that places
faith in the Almighty, the holiday that
marks the triumph of Judaism over Hellen-
ism, the first event in history when a re-
bellious populace, acting for Democracy as
emphasized in Jewish teachings, succeeded
in defeatinc, Autocracy and Dictatorship as
represented by the Greek warlords.

They who had camped within the mountain-
pass,
Couched on the rock, and tented 'neath the sky,
Who saw from Mizpah's heights the tangled
grass

Hanukah is an occagion for rejoicing. It
"Eat and be merry. Linger over your viands and punctuate
is a time to proclaim anew the imperishable
Hebraic teachings. It has an important les- your meals with jest and songs, and relate miracles."
son for our time and for those who, in all
Indispensable as Reference Work
ages, are battling against oppression.

Technion's Important Role in Israel

Detroit Technion Society, the local
branch of the American movement to aid
the Institute of Engineering -and Technology
in Haifa, Israel—known as the Technion-
is making a serious effort to secure liberal
support here for the $10,000,000 project in
behalf of the enlarged Technion construc-
tion program. It is a task that should suc-
ceed in enrolling wide support in Detroit
This is the ideal community to serve as the
pivotal spot from which should emerge en-
couraging words for the technical school.
Ours is a community that has thrived on
technology. We know the meaning of science
to life and the pursuit of happiness. Surely,
our people understand the importance of pro-
viding Israel with means for self-sustenance
through technological know bow.

The Technion is an effective instrument
in the projection of plans for self-sustenance
for the young, struggling state. Israel, as
has been repeated time and again, needs
American know-how. It needs engineers,
chemists, experts for water purification. But
Israel can not remain dependent upon Amer-
ican skills. She must train her own experts.
She has begun to do that with considerable
success, and she must be encouraged to carry
on this task. In the Technion, Israel trains
her own experts who, in the course of time,
will be able to guide the new-born state to
security and economic stabiilty.
In an appeal to American Jewry in be-
half of the Technion, Israel's Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion described the Technion's
efforts as constituting "an important con-
tribution to the development of industry,
agriculture, building, seafaring and com-
munications in Israel," and described the

role of science and technology in Israel as
follows:

Science is man's rule over Nature, its se-
crets and its forces. Born of. the intellectual
and reflective power of man, it enables him to
reveal' the hidden workings of Nature and to
harness its latent forces to his interests. We
live in an age of scientific revolutions—the
wondrous composition of the atom and the
immense potentialities of its fission and its
radiation have been laid bare—and enormous,
almost infinite energies are now within hu-
man grasp. We are living in an age of miracu-
lous short cuts, enormous distances are over-
come in almost no time. Chemical and bac-
teriological discoveries cause upheavals in agri-
culture, and the huge productive power of ad-
vanced technology opens up incalculable pros-
pects to industry. We are already living and
acting ON the earth, in the air and under the
water. And now., in defense against the dan-
gers of the atomic bomb, we are beginning to
arrange dwellings in the womb of the earth;
the human mind does not acknowledge ob-
stacles of space and time.

Detroit Jewry has the unusual oppor-
tunity of assisting in this program by en-
couraging the efforts of the local Technion
Society. Detroit's Technion leaders hope to
be able to raise $300,000, in a period of three
years, as this community's gift towards. the
$10,000,000 building program. It is not a
large sum—measured in terms of the proj-
ect's importance to the young state. The
opening appeal for the Technion will be
sounded here at the Technion dinner on Dec.
20, at which distinguished leaders will bring
the Technion message to Detroit Jewry. It
is of vital importance that the appeal
for Technion should receive a warm response.

"Kindle the lights before any member of the household, child
or adult, seeks sleep.

"Light the Shammash. With it kindle first the taper on the
left. Move toward the right.

"Men, women and children may kindle the lamp of dedication.
It is well for each member of your household to have a lamp to
kindle,

'Dictionary of Folklore'

The more than 1,200 pages of the two-volume "Funk Rs
Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend"
y iseathrs.
e.richest collection of folkloristic literature published in recent

Edited by Maria Leach, with Jerome Fried as associate editor,
the publishers (Funk & Wagnalls, 153 E. 24, N. Y. 10) have enlisted
28 outstanding specialists to write the many hundreds of articles
in this impressive work.

Theodore Herzl Gaster, former chief of the Semitics Division
of the Library of Congress, is the authority on Semitic mythology.
A number of other Jewish authorities are among the contributors.

An interesting feature of the book is the set of definitions
of folklore by the contributing authors. Dr. Gaster's viewpoint
is:

"Folklore is that part of a peoples culture which is pre-
served, consciously or unconsciously, in beliefs and practices,
customs and observances of general currency; in myths, legends
and tales of common acceptance; and in arts and crafts which
express the temper and genius of a group rather than of an
individual. Because it is a repository of popular traditions, and
an integral element of the popular 'climate,' folklore serves as

a constant source and frame' of reference for more formal liter-

ature and art; but it is distinct therefrom in that it is essential-
ly of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Thus, the mythologies of practically the entire civilized world
are incorporated in this volume.
There are very many Biblical references in the- two volumes.
The special articles on Abraham and Jacob are instructive.
"Jacob's Ladder is an additional valuable note on ancient folklore.

The Jewish items of particular interest include also articles
on Johan, Jew in the Thorns, Jew's Daughters (throwing light
on the Hugh of Lincoln incident), and Jew's Harp.
"Jew's Harp" is described as "probably a corruption of
law's harp: an ancient musical instrument consisting of a frame
in loop, notch, horseshoe, or rod shape, with a free vibrating
tongue attached by one end to the frame."

In its entirety, the two-volume "Dictionary of Folklore"
magnificent work, marked by genuine scholarship, replete with
information, indispensable as a reference work.

