Five Years of Progress

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., 79840 David Stott Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., WO. 5-1155.
ihobscription $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

SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Mantis,

FRANK SIMONS
City Editor

April 24, 1953

Page 4

Vol. XXIII. , .No. 7

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the tenth day of Liiar, 5713, the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:

Pentatenchal portion—Lev. 16:1-20:27.

Prophetical portion—Amos 9:7-15 or Ezek. 22.1-19 or 16.

Licht Benshen, Friday, April 24, L: 2 p. m.

Israel's Antagonists: USSR and the Arabs

"Jews AR.E News" it has been said by
those who have seen fit to place emphasis
on Jewish issues in their discussions of .world
events. The debates before the United Na-
tions Political Committee in the past two
weeks once again pointed bluntly to the in-
terest in Jewry's status on the world arena.
Unfortunately, it is the negative element
that plays a major role. It is the anti-Semi-
tism of the Communists and the anti-Jewish-
ness of the Arabs that has dragged Jews into
the limelight.
The UN debate, during which some very
caustic statements were made by Latin
American delegates, who joined in condemn-
ing anti-Semitism, and the defenders of Sov-
iet policies, brought to light interesting view-
points. In a sense, the debate exposed to light
the true sentiments of the member nations
of the UN.
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Disregarding the frank expose of exisit-
ing conditions by Israel's special delegate,
Mrs. Golda Myerson, the Byelorussian dele-
gate, Kuzma V. Kiselev, saw fit to assert
that what he regarded as the "fantastic"
and "lying" allegations about supposed rac-
ial and religious persecutions in the coun-
tries behind the Iron Curtain had been de-
rived from "filthy" sources. These so-called
"allegations" had their source in the Krem-
lin: the charges against the Jewish doctors,
which have been withdrawn, --were made by
the Communist henchmen. Yet the Byelo-
russian spoke of them as "base slander"—
overlooking the fact that the charges them-
selves have been branded as part of a plot
.by Pravda.
Equally amazing was the statement made
by . the Polish UN delegate, Stanislaw Skrzes-
ezewski, that "my delegation had to oppose
any outside interference by the State of
Israel, or Zionist organizations. in matters
concerning Polish citizens." If a protest
against anti-Semitism . is "interference," then
we shall have to continue to protest and to
interfere—in the hope that Poland and the

A United Jewish Choir

The news that the Halevy and Workmen's
Circle choirs have combined their forces and
henceforth will function as a single musical.
unit is of more than passing importance..
While the two groups remain affiliates of
the national groups into which they have
thrown in their lots—the Farband and the
Workmen's Circle — their merger into a
single musical group is an important move
in the direction of combining two related ef-
forts and of eliminating unnecessary over-
lapping in communal activities.
For too many years, we had too many
such overlapping projects inflicted upon us.
The refusal of one party or another to give
up an iota of its independence has been re-,
sponsible for the existence of numerous un-
necessary national and local movements.
The merest gesture to indicate a willingness
to cooperate and to work together, by aban-
doning some of the special privileges that go
with separate existence, could have led to
coordination of efforts, the saving. of energy,
time and money and the drawing of larger
audiences into the spheres of attention
sought by the movements or projects or or-
ganizations.
It took many years to make possible the
merger of the choirs of the Workmen's Circle
and Halevy. Perhaps the declining audiences
were factors which helped compel such ac-
tion. Whatever the cause, the result is a com-
mendable one. It is a step in the right di-
rection. The merger must redound to the
good of the entire community. Acting as a
single unit, the two groups will emerge
stronger, the members of the choirs will be
happier in their work and the community
will benefit from more effective unified ac-
tivities. Furthermore, this merger m a y

serve as encouragement to other groups
serving the same ends to pool their resources.
other Soviet satellite countries . will make
real Skrzesezewski's claim that opposition to
anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimina-
tion is a basic part of the ideology and polit-
ical principles on which the Polish social
system is based. It was not so long ago that
we acclaimed Poland's pro-Zionist position.
It was not so far back that Poland's Ambas-
sador to the United States was in Detroit to
break bread with Jewish leaders and to
speak with what we then thought was sin-
Dr. Herman Jacobs, former director of the Jewish Community
cerity and earnestness of Israel's glorious
future as a result of Zionist aspirations. Or- Center, has raised some very serious issues in his dissertation,
be
ders' from . the Kremlin must have • changed "Jewish Education: A Perspective for Modern Times," which
Wayne .
wrote
as
his
thesis
for
his
doctorate
awarded
him
by
the method of interpretation, since Zionist University last year. This book, numbering 350 pages in type-
aims now are called. "interference!!"
writter form, will be published soon for wide distribution. At
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present it may be read in the Wayne University Library.
-
Dr. Jacobs, in the first half of his book, has performed a
It is no wonder, therefore, that the
Uruguayan UN delegate, Prof. Enrique Fab- truly fine service with his thorough evaluation of the status of
regat, should have spoken of Mrs. Myerson's Jewish education in this country. His reference to many author-
speech as resulting from Israel's pressing ities indicates that he has made a study of all available data on
need for the matter of Russian attacks on the subject.
It is not a happy picture portrayed in this volume. The
Jews to be aired . Prof. Fabregat realistically American Jewish scene emerges, in the words of Prof. Mordecai
indicated that while the retraction of the Kaplan, as a "spiritual wasteland."
.charges against the Jewish doctors was "a
Not all the viewpoints are disparaging. But they predominate,
praiseworthy correction of police-state pro- as expressed in the question posed by Dr. Gamoran whether it is
cedure," that "it showed that there was an not utter blindness "to continue to do the same thing year after
anti-Semitic nucleus in the Soviet Union." year, to pretend that by holding on to our traditional Hebraic •
The burden of proof that there no longer curriculum we are achieving something; when the overwhelming
majority of our children leave our schools knowing neither Hebrew .
exists this nucleus rests upon the USSR!
nor having absorbed enough of Jewish traditiOns, values, and at-
It is unfortunate that it should have titudes to be able to live a Jewish life when they grow older?", .
been necessary for the Dominican delegate,
The able author. of the new book on Jewish education makes-,
Dr. Salazar, to charge that "anti-Semitism reference to the formation, about 10 years ago, of the "Com-
has become a permanent fixture of inter- mission on New Approaches to American Jewish Education.": :
national Communist policy"; and for the This group of "dissenters," as Dr. Jacobs calls them, believed ,
"neither the existing schools nor the plans for improving
Cuban representative, Dr. Numez Portuondo, that
their curricula could transform these schools sufficiently to con-
to recall that ."the Cuban government has form to their expectations, because the proposed changes dealt •
recently issued a statement which emphatic- only with pedagogic methods but not with curriculum content."
ally condemned the persectition of Jews. in He deplores the dissolution of this commission, in whom he
placed great hope. He outlines the aims of the commission and
the USSR and its satellite states.
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describes the distinction in its recommendations from those of
psychological.. - •
But the Russian issue is not the only one existing educational agencies as movements
are reviewed
Practically all important educational
to plague us on the international seen e. by Dr.
Jacobs. Educators will find his analyses valuable, informa-
There also is the Arab onslaught. -
tive and useful in the study of the entire subject of Jewish edit - .
Ignoring Israel's quest for peace, t h e cation.
Iraqi delegate, Abdullah Bakr, attacked the
The reviewer must, however, deplore the conclusions. White
Jewish state as "the greatest menace and building a monumental approach to a major issue in American
terror" in the Middle East. As in the in- Jewish life, Dr. Jacobs descends to discussions of minor projects
stance of the Soviet attacks, the Iraqi adopt- as if they represented major solutions. His mountain gives birth
lion. Instead of aiming at the
ed an arrogant attitude by differentiating to a flea rather than the expected
a kehillah, of a strong and well-functioning Jewish
services
of
Jews from Zionists, by accusing Zionists of community, he offers a kleizel, a minute little organizational set-
demagoguery and murder.
up, as a solution.
The shocking outcome of the • entire 'de-
True: Dr. Jacobs reviews many projects which to him appear
bate was the all-out attack on. Israel and major. But he offers a pattern which is reflected in the work of
Zionism by the USSR delegate VishinSky a club system, an organization known as the JPI—the Jewish
and the Arabs—an alliance that proves Parents Institute of the Jewish Community Center of Detroit. He
that the danger to the Jewish position has links similar groups in other parts of the land to his analyses in
not ended. Israel's spokesman, Abba 1Nban, his "recapitulation," in his "retrospect and outlook," which we
as weak and ineffective.
felt called upon to expose the manner in view JPI,
admittedly, seeks substitutes for bar mitzvahs and for
which the UN is used as a sounding board
Sunday School attendance. While this group has grown in scope
for anti-Semitism.
and has been able to attract more than 120 children, it has not
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thereby earned a position that would merit it for consideration
The continued sniping upon Israelis by as solving the problems faced by Jewish education.
The truth is that the Jewish educational problems can be
their hostile neighbors, the military threats
of the Arab nations and the attacks upon solved only by adhering to traditions, by striving for maximum
Israel in the UN are clear indications that attainments, by giving the child the best available instruction in
in Jewish history, in the festival observances—and in
"menace and terror" emanate not from Is- Hebrew,
having the child share in the observance of these festivals. Any
rael but from her neighbors. -
other approach, any substitutes, represent destruction of our ulti-
A JTA report from Tel Aviv this week mate aims rather than the building up of new media and ob-
quoted the Arab daily "Al Yom," published jectives. Because he offers us a kleizel rather than a kehillah, a
in Israel, as reporting mass arrests of Syrian JPI rather than an effective school system, we must reject Dz.
Jews, The Arab • paper reported that even Jacobs' conclusions as unrealistic, ineffective—unacceptable.
Syrian Jews who fled to Lebanon have been How Sunday Schools Fight Prejudice.
kidnapped by Syrian secret police and forc-
The serious effort,s made by Sunday Schools to combat reli-
ibly returned to Syria's custody.
gious and racial prejudice are described in "Sunday School Fights
:#•
Prejudice" by Mildred Moody Eakin and Frank Eakin, a Mac-
It is not Israel alone that is the target in millan book that should prove valuable in extending the bes$
the UN debates, behind the Iron Curtain posSible inter-faith relations.
and in Arab countries, but all Jews, whether
By viewing the fight against bias as basic to the study of the
or not their antagonists seek to differentiate Bible, the authors at once make a realistic approach to the
problem at hand.
between Zionists and Jews.
Prejudices against Jews and Negroes are evaluated, and are
The only hope for an end to the snipings
with a view of eliminating hatred and bigotry.
on the borders and at UN sessions is peace. examined
The authors maintain that "the 'Ohrist-killer'
Our own government has expressed the hope current, one hears, in back alleys when youngsters get involved
for an early • peace. We pray that President in epithet-hurling contests—can no longer be said to • reflect
Eisenhower will be successful in these ef- current Sunday-school teaching as to how Jesus met his death,"
forts. American Jewry stands ready to do
The able authors urge that "the close historical and ideologi-
everything that is necessary to encourage cal relationship between Judaism and Christianity should not
such a peace—for the best interests not only remain obscured."
"Sunday School Fights Prejudice" is a splendid guide itee
of Israel but for the Arabs as well and for
teachers and should be used extensively.
the peace of mankind.
•

Herman Jacobs'
Jacobs Education Study:
Good Evaluation, Poor Solution

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