THE JEWISI1 NEWS
Weapons Against Israel. 9
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20. 1952
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspap?rs, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Fridty by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich., VE.
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. XXIII, No. 24
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Adyeitising Manager
Page 4
8-9364.
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
August 21, 195?.
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eleventh clay of Elul, 5713, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
--
Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 21:10-25-25:19.- Prophetical portion. Ia. 54:1-10.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 21, 6:26 p.m.
World Jewish Congress and Its Attendant Issues
Many issues—some real, some imaginary
—have emerged from the sessions of the
World Jewish Congress held in Geneva,
Switzerland.
It was natural for the representatives of
Jewish communities throughout the world to
be deeply concerned over the fate of Jews
behind the Iron Curtain, over the future of
Israel, about the status of. the International
Covenant on Human Rights.
It is unfortunate that representatives
in this country should have fanned a con-
troversy over the • question of the migration
of Jews from free lands into Israel. That
matter should have been considered resolved
long ago. Jews are as loyal as their neigh-
bors to the lands of which they are citizens,
and they have no intention of. abandoning
that citizenship. But they also retain the
moral right to help Israel, and, if necessary,
to send technicians to assist Israel in her
struggle to attain economic self-dependence.
Why the unnecessary squabbles over estab-
lished facts?
*
*
The very nature of various discords in
Jewish ranks makes even this controversy
natural in our internal affairs. That does
not make it more fortunate Or less regret-
table. It would have been far better if bur
resources were totally pooled for construc-
tive action rather than for controversy.
Apparently we must continue to enlighten
our people on the basic facts regarding the
relationship of American Jews to Israel.
We were impressed by the dispassionate
tone of a letter to the editor of the New
York Herald Tribune on this subject, and we
consider it valuable to the present discussion.
A. H. Sakier 'of New. York wrote to the
Herald Tribune:
Let us not be alarmed by the reports from
Geneva about the relationship of American
Jews to the State of Israel or by the explana-
tions which followed the original speeches.
Nothing new has happened, nothing new has
been said. A correct understanding of the
Zionist movement's aims will make every Jew
eager to see it realized in full, because its chief
aim is to confirm and to stabilize the Jew in
his citizenship wherever he may live, and not
to threaten it or to becloud it; while non-Jews
in every country, particularly in the demo-
cratic lands, should welcome the success of
Zionism precisely because it clarifies relation-
ships that have badly needed clearing up for
more than a century. Above all one thing
must he made plain—no Zionist seriously
regards Jews outside of Israel as being Israelis
in exile...
What we Jews have done . in the Zionist
movement - is exactly what any other healthy
people would have 'done were they the victims
of the same historically-political accident that
happened to us. There is a deep and powerful
instinctive feeling among all peoples, and
nowhere so strongly as in the democracies,
that a newcomer cannot be accepted as a bona
fide and complete citizen unless he can point
to the state where his own race is master in
its own home and say: "Over there is the state
of my own stock; I am free to be a citizen
there if I want to be; therefore, if I come to
you, it is because of my own choice and
preference."
Swedes have had no trouble in becoming
Americans, because there is a Sweden; He-
brews have had trouble, though they may not
have been willing to admit it, because there
has been no Hebrewland; . now, because there is
an Israel, Hebrews can for the first time.look
forward to acceptance as complete Americans
(or Englishmen or anything else). The more.
we do for Israel and the stronger and more
independent she becomes,. the. stronger and
clearer becomeS • our own citizenship in the
United States. Those who say that Zionism
and the creation of Israel and our loyalty to
its needs have caused anti-Semitism are
wrong; the success of Zionism and Israel will
put an end to anti-Semitism. A "Zionist" is
not an Israeli in exile or necessarily a future
Israeli; a Zionist is a person who is convinced
that the health of the world and of its peoples
demands that there be a healthy state for
every racial stock, so that the peoples of all
stocks may move freely among one another—
and that, being a Hebrew, his contribution to
this ideal is to help create a strong Hebrew
state, regardless of whether he or his descend-
ants ever go to live there.
In other words, we are American citizens
of the Hebrew- stock and of the Jewish reli-
gion; Israelis are Israel citizens of various
stocks and of various religions—there is no
political tie between the two, between us and
them. In helping to build Israel, we are doing
our duty as Hebrews, as Jews and as Ameri-
cans. Nowhere is there any conflict of
purposes or loyalties.
The sooner these basic truths are under-
stood, the better for the state of mind of
those who have created an unnecessary con-
troversy and the healthier for, the 9017 of
goo relations between Israel and Kin7rica
-7
Jewry.
Only time will offer the proper answer
to the puzzle created by Russia's attitude
toward Israel, the Jews and the uncertainty
of the Soviets' position on Jewry's demand
for a free emigration policy for Jews desir-
ing to go to Israel.
The criticisms of those who objected to
the absence of Jewish delegations from the
USSR and its satellite countries sounded
utterly ridiculous. Since the Pfeffer-
Mikhoels visit in this country, there have
been no official Jewish delegations out of
Russia. Jews in Communist countries are
isolated.
The 'World Jewish Congress took the
only step at its command: to ask for the
right to Jews to emigrate to Israel and to
call for free communication between world
and Russian Jewries and the right of. USSR
Jews to Jewish cultural and communal
autonomy. It is doubtful, however, whether
any of these demands will be listened to.
* * *
The World Jewish Congress resolution
which called for the restoration of Yiddish
"to the position of eminence it enjoyed at
the beginning of the last decade"—the argu-
ment being used that the revival of Yiddish
is the best way of resisting the Diaspora's
"temptations of assimilation" — is perhaps
the most unrealistic of all of the WJC dis-
cussions. A resolution does not restore a
language. You can not inspire youth, which
has abandoned or is abandoning Yiddish, to
cling to this language simply because an
important world conference in Geneva . asks
them to do so.
Furthermore, the failure to revive Yid-
dish does not mean an increase of. "tempta-
tions to assimilation." Even with Yiddish as
a thriving tongue there has been assimila-
tion.
A better approach would be to encourage
the study of Hebrew, to inspire Jews to
acquire knowledge about themselves and
their people's history in whatever language
they can make themselves informed Jews.
This may not be the best desirable approach
to our needs, but it certainly is the more
practicable in an age of indifference.
* *
This leads us to the major issue affecting
our people: the cultural problefn with which
survival is closely linked. The most impor-
tant need in Jewish life is to advance the
educational programs of our communities,
to expand our cultural efforts, to create
well-informed Jewish communities. Jews
who know their history, who understand our
people's present position, who are aware of
the problems involved in their relationship
with their non-Jewish neighbors, will be
more devoted to faith, will more readily
help Israel, will be better citizens of the
co-aidries to which they owe allegiance.
Educational programs are the obligation
not of a single movement, but of all Jewry.
Insofar as the World Jewish Congress strives
to advance this need, it renders great service
to Jewry.
The World Jewish Congress sessions ren-
dered much good. Their deliberations were
at times unrealistic, but their decisions were
in the main in the right direction, pointing
toward needs in Jewish life which must be
fulfilled unstintingly by all of us.
H 1STOR I ETTE
The Romances of Jewish Supermen: 1
An American Jewish Press Feature
The love affairs of the supermen of Israel, whose deeds and
dreams andmemories laslYt vivified Israel have, in nearly every,
instance, been afin-ost as turbulent as their eliteli7
When the famous philosopher Benedict de Spinoza at the
age of 40 asked Klaartje Van den Ende, the daughter of his life-
long friend, to become his bride, she answered after a palpitating
silence: "But thou art a Jew." Upon his reply that she was too
broad to let religion stand in the way, she answered, "I know, but
nevertheless women are not philosophers." With these words,
Spinoza knew that religion and a woman's will obstinately stood
between him and happiness. His own philosophy seemed to jeer
and mock him.
—
On the Record
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
(Copyright, 1953, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)
Sports and Semantics
The English language is constantly being augmented by folksy
Yiddish terms and expressions such as "mazuma," "tzimmes,"
"schlemiel," "kibbitzer," and other colloquialisms have.virtually be-
come standard words in our dictionaries. But who would have
believed that an Israeli would ever become a medium in bringing
new Yiddish idioms to our language? And that is precisely what
is happening with the frequent wrestling appearances of Raphael
Halpern, the undefeated Israeli wrestling champion who has over-
come more than 105 opponents, some of them most formidable
figures, in the United States.
Out of sheer curiosity, I recently attended one of his matches
and found- the arena sprinkled with fans who more properly be-
long in yeshivah and synagogue. , Sprinkled among the burly Irish
and dark complexioned Italians were Jews old and young, bearded
and in skullcap, whose eyes shone with delight as their idol en-
tered the ring. It was my surmise that most of them were at-
tracted less perhaps by the sport than by the fact that Halpern is
a Jew, an Israeli and a graduate of a Jerusalem rabbinical school
to boot.
As Halpern entered the ring, the arena resounded with Yid-
dish colloquial exhortations that must have puzzled the surround-
ing fans. "Gib ihm a zets," "gib ihm a buchtze," "gib ihm a chmal-
ye," they shouted enthusiastically. The Jest of the folk gpod
humoredly tried to repeat the expressions, but they naturally came
out distorted and sounded as if they were from a different world
even to an ear attuned to their sound. While watching the match
it occurred to me that here was a young man, Ralphael Halpern,
who was perhaps not only destined to become the wrestling cham-
pion of the world but to influence the American sports language
as well. I am no authority on wrestling, but I must admit guilt
of chauvinism, for I was a proud man indeed when deafening
cheers broke out for the Israeli strong man as he pinned his
heavier opponent more with brain, as well as brawn.
*
N uggets
There are about 323,526 Jewish children in New York City's
schools, but only 71,867 are receiving any kind of Jewish educa- .
tion . . . Jimmy Braddock, good Irishman and former heavyweight
champion of the world is physical director of. Tifereth Jerusalem
Yeshivah on New York's East Side . . . The New York Times will
soon carry one of the most thorough surveys on Jewish education,
with Dr. Benjamin Fine as the author . . . A new Anglo - Jewish
paper is slated to make its appearance in New York City, or, more
correctly in Queens . . . Since its inception over 1,500 new syna-
gogues have arisen in Israel. The total number of synagogues in
the Jewish State, according to a survey made by the Mizrachi Or-
ganization of America, is 2,600 ... At a meeting held recently at
the famous Grossinger resort in the Catskills, the Sullivan-Orange-
Ulster Counties Council for the Weizmann Institute of Science
voted as a special project the establishment of a memorial library
in tribue to the late Asher and Malke Grossinger, parents of
Jennie Grossinger, the vivacious lady whose name is synonymous
for the resort ... The New York Yankees have never satisfactorily
explained the absence of a Negro player on their team, nor of a
Jew either.
•
A
Left-Handed Compliment
A noted New York physician was recently called in for medi-
cal advice by the pastor of a neighboring church. The pastor's '
wife had been ailing for a long time and since she wasn't respond-
ing to treatment he decided to call Dr. K., whose office is located
across the street from the church. Time passed and the doctor's
treatment led to the woman's complete recovery. When Dr. K.
came for the final checkup, the pastor was most grateful since
other physicians had virtually abandoned hope for the patient.:
As Dr. K. left the pastor extended his hand in gratitude and ex-
claime d sermon-like: "Dr., you are such a wonderful man,
really ought to be a Christian."