Purely Commentary
2 — DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Young Israel Shuns
Plan for Jewish Court
Book-Burning: Destruction of the Talmud in 1242
To be consistent in their book-burning program, those who
are bent upon removing from circulation works by leftists, or pro-
Communists, which are tinged with radicalism would have to
turn back the pages of history and include in the proscribed
volumes the writings of Madison, Jefferson, the Hebrew Prophets
and the revolutionaries who fought against tyranny on this con-
tinent and in Europe.
From time immemorial, the ideas of all liberals—including
the founders of our own democracy — have been branded as
heresies.
In a healthy society, the first and abiding principle should
be to grant the right to expression of their views to minorities.
It is when the minority viewpoint is stifled that our democratic
ideal is endangered. When it is permitted to be heard, it perpetu-
ates freedom of expression and the vigor of the society to which
we owe our loyalty.
The banning of many books in U.S. Information offices by
State Department officials takes us back to the era of Hitler who
ordered the burning of Jewish prayerbooks, the Talmud and works
of liberal writers; it takes us back to the time of Justinian whose
decrees called for the destruction of Jewish codes of ethics; it
reminds us of the seizing and the burning of the Talmud in
France in the 13th century.
In the days of disputations between Christians and Jews, a
parallel situation arose. A former Jew, Nichilas Donin, charged
the Talmud with a blasphemy against his acquired Christian
faith, during the disputation in Paris in 1240. Donin made the
charge to Pope Gregory IX. The Bishop of Paris was told about
the "heresy" and 24 carloads of Jewish manuscripts and sets of
the Talmud were seized and burned in 1242.
Are we witnessing a repetition of the 13th century witch-
hunt, of the Hitler madness, of the reactionaries' crusade against
reason and justice?
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Freedom to Read: Eisenhower Backs "Freedom of Inquiry"
Friday, July 10, 1953
NEW YORK, (JTA)—A res-
olution rejecting the decision
adopted by the Conservative
rabbis at their recent annual
convention to establish a
"Beth Din," a Jewish court to
deal with family affairs in-
cluding marriage and divorce
problems, was adopted at the
41st annual convention of the
National Council of Young
Israel.
The Young Israel parley
also adopted a resolution
calling for the support in Is
rael of independent religious
schools, outside of the unified
government system. Another
resolution called upon the
government of Israel to in-
troduce a law prohibiting the
offering of food, clothing and
shelter to lure children and
adults to another faith, as is
presently practiced by mis-
sionaries in Israel. The reso-
lution pointed out "that sim-
ilar laws are in effect in a
number of Scandinaviaa
countries.
Agudah Party Asks
Halt of Israel Draft
The American Library Association, in its recent declaration
GREENFIELD PARK, N.Y.,
(JTA)—The national convention
democracy"
and
declared:
"We
trust
Americans
to
recognize
our
of Agudath Israel of America
propaganda, and to reject obscenity. We do not believe they need concluded here with a resolu-
the help of censors to assist them in this task."
tion calling upon the Israel
Thus, President Eisenhower's recent repudiation of book burn- government to "immediately
ing won the commendation of the librarians. The President, in a halt its plan to adopt a law re-
message to the librarians, who he wrote, "serve the precious lib- garding women's conscription
erties of our nation: freedom of inquiry, freedom of the spoken and the control of fund-raising
and the written word, freedom of exchange of ideas," made these by yeshivoth and religious insti-
additional important observations:
tutions."
"A democracy smugly disdainful of new ideas would be a•
The adoption of such "anti-
sick democracy. A democracy chronically fearful of new ideas
religious measures and throttle-
would be a dying democracy.
holds of religious institutions
"For all these reasons, we must in these times be intelli- will bear dire consequences in
gently alert not only to the fanatic cunning of Communist con-
the future relations between Is-
spiracv—but also the grave dangers in meeting fanaticism with
rael and the American-Jewish
ignorance. For. in order to fight totalitarians who exploit the
community," the resolution said.
ways of freedom to serve their own ends, there are some zealots
The delegates expr essed
who—with more wrath than wisdom—would adopt a strangely
"warmest approbation" of the
unintelligent course. They would try to defend freedom by deny- independent religious education-
ing freedom's friends the opportunity of studying communism al system established by the
in its entirety—its plausibilities, its falsities, its weaknesses.
Agudah in Israel, after with-
"But we know that freedom cannot be served by the devices
drawing its network of 30,000
of the tyrant."
students from the official gov-
In all their preciousness, these ideas must not remain mere ernmental school system because
words. They can be powerful instruments in defense of democratic of the new school unity plan.
ideals—provided there is consistent repudiation of those w h o
The convention also adopted
would burn books, who would brand as heresy every revolution- a series of resolutions regarding
ary word, who would condemn as disloyal minority opinions.
"preservation of the definite
*
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lines of demarcation which dis-
tinguish Orthodox Judaism
The Removal of Harmless Books
The list of books removed from libraries of U.S. Information from conservatism and reform."
The expansion of the activties
Services abroad includes harmless titles. Howard Fast may be
extreme in his radicalism. He may or may not be pro-Communist, among youth in the United
as charged. We have no knowledge of that. But we know that his States was mapped.
Rabbi Itzhak Meir Lewin, for-
"Citizen Tom Payne," "The American," "Haym Salomon, Son of
mer Israel Minister of Welfare
Liberty" and many of his other books are powerful instruments and chairman of the world ex-
for good democratic thinking and are harmless insofar as Com- ecutive of the Agudath Israel
munist ideology is concerned.
Organization, was one of the
"Critics and CrUsaders" by former Detroiter Charles A. Madi- principal speakers.
son is informative and may be biased in favor of the more liberal
labor leaders, but it is as far from being a pro-Communist book
as the President's message to the librarians. Equally harmless—but Canadian Society Backs
valuable in themselves—are the banned books by Stephen Heym, Foreign Immigration Plan
Lillian Hellman, Clarence Streit and many more of the prescribed
MONTREAL, (JTA) — T h e
authors.
Why were their books banned? Why must we suffer from the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society
hysterical fear that is being injected into our democratic society? oi Canada has been named one
Is it the fault of a handful of McCarthy supporters who have of the voluntary agencies par-
judged as hastily during a brief stay in Europe? The New York ticipating in a plan for the mi-
Herald Tribune pointed to such a danger in a recent editorial, gration to Canada of depend-
ents of Canadian residents from
"Mr. Cohn and Mr. Schine," which follows:
"That you can tour Europe in eighteen days and see every- Germany and Austria, it wa3
thing that you want to see has been amply demonstrated by revealed here by the Canadian
Roy M. Cohn and G. David Schine, the itinerant investigators Jewish Congress.
plan for the migration
of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy. Having headed the touring company of The
these dependents—limited to
for three weeks, the two travelers are now busy drawing up a wife,
minor child or parents
report for the main show. The press clippings were none too supported in whole or in part
flood, ranging from chilly to frigid. Some critics, for instance, by the applicant—was submit-
commented on the youthfulness of the two stars, Mr. Cohn being ted by the Inter-Governmental
twenty-fives years old and Mr. Schine twenty-six. This does not Committee for European Migra-
appear to us to be an altogether valid criticism: youth is not a tion to the Canadian Govern-
quality to be despised, particularly In Paris in the spring.
ment, which approved it. The
"But the speed of their journey is something to marvel at, announcement of the decision
even in a jet age. An hour here, a forenoon there, half a day in was sent to the CJC by Col.
the next place would hardly suffice for an investigative team, Laval Fortier, Deputy Minister
except one working for Mr. McCarthy, who likes to rip through of Citizenship and Immigration,
big problems .in a hurry. The London press, in particular, seem- because the Canadian immigra-
ed upset, evidently learning that the sleuths were planning to tion department recognizes the
investigate the British Broadcasting Corporation, a report which CJC as a representative of Jew-
proved unfounded. The boys were too busy reading books at ish organizations in policy mat-
various United States Information Service branches. At any ters, while the JIAS is recog-
rate, Europe seems to have survived their whirlwind visit, and nized as an operating agency.
on "The Freedom to Read," called such freedom an "essential to
the United States has succeeded in absorbing them quietly, for
the moment at least. But does not all this give to the world a
disconcerting example of how some Congressional shows are
conducted? Absolutely, Mr. Cohn; positively, Mr. Schine."
Anti - Semite Must Pay Fine
STOCKHOLM, .( J T A )—T h e
Court of Appeals has quashed
• The warnings are properly at hand. They are to be found an appeal by the notorious
in our history—in Jewry's experiences with Hitler and the Tal- Swedish anti-Semite, Einar Aa-
mud-burners of the 13th and other centuries. They are available berg, against a fine of 360 Swed-
in the traditions of this great land, which make of the freedom ish crowns imposed on him
to speak and to write .a. major .principle in. our Americanism. Those some time ago .for .distributing
pamphlets libeling Jews.
who would destroy it also would demolish all human decency.
Agency Plenary Session Hears
Report on Reparations Distribution
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—A report
on the system of distribution of
reparations received from the
West German government by
the Conference of Jewish Ma-
terial Claims Against Germany
was presented at the plenary
session of the Jewish Agency by
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, head of
the conference.
Dr. Goldmann informed the
Agency that the conference has
set aside 18 percent for organ-
izations conducting operations
in. Israel outside of the Jewish
Agency. The major part of the
reparations will go to the Jew-
ish Agency, which is to report
annually to the conference on
the distribution of the money
and the activities for which the
money was allocated.
Organizations in Israer de-
manding funds from the West
German reparations can apply
for such to the conference
through the Agency. Fifteen
percent of the reparations, Dr.
Goldmann reported, will be used
for Jewish activities outside of
Israel. He expressed the hope
that the present claims negoti-
ations in Austria would soon be
concluded favorably.
The delegates heard a report
on immigration presented lr!
Itzhak Raphel, head of the Im-
migration Department. Raphel
reported that 9,000 immigrants
entered Israel during the last
nine months.
The decrease in immigration,
Raphael said, was due to the
following developments: 1. Ces-
sation of immigration from East
European countries; 2. Impossi-
thlity of bringing in those Jews
who remained in countries
where the Jewish communities
have been liquidated; 3. Emi-
gration from Israel; 4. Immi-
gration of Jews from Western
Europe has still not increased;
5. Difficulties created by the
present immigration policy.
R aphel recommended a series
of measures to encourage emi-
gration from western countries
to Israel. He also urged an in-
crease in immigration of youth
to Israel, and modification of
the present immigration policy.
The head of the Immigration
Department also asked that
certain rules be introduced for
immigrants who desire to leave
Israel after they were brought
to the Jewish - State at their own
request and at the expense of
the Jewish Agency.
Moshe Kol, heard of Youth
Aliyah, reported that the organ-
ization now maintains 240 edu-
cational institutions with 13,500
pupils, most of them from Mos-
lem countries.
Half of the Youth Aliyah
budget is covered by the Jewish
Agency and the rest by various
campaigns, led by that of Hs-
dassah in the United States. Mr.
Kol urged that the Youth Ali-
yah be permitted to conduct its
own fund - raising campaigns
and urged all Zionist federa-
tions to aid the organization's
programs.
Between You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1953, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)
Communal Affairs:
The budgets of national Jewish agencies are now being re-
viewed cooperatively by representatives of the larger Jewish com-
munities, local welfare funds and national agencies . . . Mutual
agreements concerning the needs of several agencies were worked
out at a joint conference in Cleveland . . . As a result of these
agreements, the Large City Budgeting Conference .recommended,
increased support for American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor
Committee, and National Jewish Welfare Board . . . The American
Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League of the Bnal
Brith do not participate in the cooperative review process, thus.
no ,acceptable decisions can be made regarding their needs .
The Cleveland conference decided to encourage the Jewish War
Veterans to intensify community services through the develop-
ment of civil rights programs by veterans organizations . . The
decisions adopted at the conference will be sent to allocations
committees of all larger Jewish communities for guidance in de-
termining 1953 allocations.
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Facts and Figures:
A picture of American Jewry's spending on national and
activities is revealed in figures c_ompiled by the Council
of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds ... The figures establish
that 70 Jewish national and overseas agencies received nearly
$111,000,000 during the year from welfare funds . . . This was
seven percent less than the sums spent by these agencies during
the previous year .. . A similar decline below the 1950 level was
reported in 1951 . . . The United Jewish Appeal saw $69,000,000
expended last year, which is $10,000,000 less than in 1951 . .
Other overseas agencies, however, increased their spending by over
$2,500,000 . . Twelve other overseas agencies spent about $18,-
000,000 last year as compared with the $15,425,000 they spent in
1951 . . . The seven community relations agencies spent about $5,-
700,000 last year, which is about $200,000 less than in 1951 .
Nine health and welfare agencies had expenditures amounting to
more than $4,600,000 last year, which is alSb about $200,000 less
than in 1951 . . . A similar case is the 15 cultural agencies which
spent $4,000,000 last year . On the other hand, 21 religious
agencies show about $8,000,000 expenditures in 1952, which IS
$650,000 more than in the previous year . . . National service
agencies accounted for about $1,500,000 in 1952, which is $140,000
more than their expenditures in 1951.
•
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The Enemy's Camp:
The Egyptian consulates in the United States are now grant-.
ing visas to American Jews wishing to visit Egypt, providing that
they have no Israel visas on their passports ... Lebanon, too, I
now milder with regard to admitting foreign Jews as tourists ..
However, this is not the case with Syria, Jordan and other Arab
states . . . The American Friends of the Middle East, in coopera-
tion with the Lafayette College, is now sponsoring a six-week tour
of students to Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan . , The Detroit
Arab newspaper As-Sabaah published a startling article against
the Arab League by Father Joseph Awad, a Lebanese leader .
He takes the Arab League to task for refusing to accept the
Blandford Project which suggested the resettlement of Palestine
refugees in Syria with the help of $200,000,000 from the -United
Nations . . And he reveals that Lebanon carries the heaviest
weight of Palestine refugees .. Interesting are the figures which
he gives on the number of the Palestine refugees in the various
Arab countries . . . Lebanon, according to him, has 140,000 of the
refugees; Syria has 94,000; Jordan, 95,000; Egypt, 8,000 and Iraq
7,000. Of the rest of the former Arab inhabitants of Palestine,
about 440,000 live in the Arab part of Palestine annexed by Jordan
and about 200,000 in the Gaza district now occupied temporarily
by Egypt . . The Lebanese clergyman points out that Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq are very rich in oil and enjoy an fine
of over a half billion dollars a year . . If the Arab League is
really concerned about the Palestine refugees, it should make
efforts to resettle the refugees In the Arab countries which have
these vast areas and those rich resources in money and "blame
gold," he suggests.
.