Jewish Education Month
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., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich., VE. 8.9384
subscription $4. a year. foreign $5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6. 1942, ai Post Office, Detroit, Mich.. under Act of March 3. 1879
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
VOL. 'XXIV, No. 2
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIIVIONS
City Editor
September 18, 1953
Page 4
Yom Kippur Scriptural Selections
PentateuChal selection: Morning ., Lev. 16. Num. 29:7-11; Afternoon, Lev. 18; Prophetical selec-
tions: Morning, Is. 57:14-58:14; Afternoon, the Book of Jonah.
Sukkot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions, Thursday' and Friday, .Lev. 22:26-23:44, NUM. 29:12-16; Prophetical por-
tions. Thursday, Zech. 14, Fridaii I Kings 8:12-21.
Licht Benshen, Erev Yom Kippur, 5:40 p.m.
Yom Kippur: The True Atonement
The central theme of the Yom Kippur message is derived from the fifty-eighth chapter
of Isaiah, the following verses of which describe the tradition of fasting and of righteous-
ness - included in the Prophetical portion read on the morning of the Day of Atonement:
"Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and
Thou takest no knowledge? Behold, ye fast for strife and contention. and to smite with the first
of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the
fast that I have chosen? The day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as
bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt Thou call this a fast, and an ac-
ceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast I have chosen? To loose the fetters of nakedness,
to undo - the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free. and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from
thine own flesh.? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,. and thy healing shall spring
forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy
rear-guard."
In this tradition is reflected the spirit of our people, with its aspiration for the smash-
ing of all fetters, for the clothing of the naked, for the feeding of the hungry, for the dis-
pensing of justice without equivocation.
May these ideals continue to influence our lives and may they have serious effect
upon all mankind.
May the Yom Kippur of 5714 be a day of reaffirmation of faith and of reconstruction
of the humanitarian ideals of all mankind.
The Sundering of Israel and American Jewry'
This is the title of a provocative article
in the current issue of Commentary Maga-
zine. Its author, Maurice Samuel, is one of
the leading propagators of the Zionist idea.
For 30 years he has pleaded in behalf of the
the new Jewish Commonwealth by means of
the written and spoken word. Now he en-
visions trouble between Israel and the Di-
aspora—chiefly between Israelis and Ameri-
can Jews.
In a sense, his analysis and his warnings
come a bit late. Even in the second year of
Israel's independence, when this writer ob-
served conditions in Israel, there already was
in evidence a lack of vision on the part of
Israelis as to the status of American Jewry
and as to their position as brethren of Jews
outside Israel.
Mr. Samuel points out that Israelis con-.
sider us a doomed community, fated to suf-
fer the same end as German Jewry; that our
place is alongside the Israelis in Israel; that
all Jews can be accommodated there. We
were witnesses to the latter lack of realism
when Israelis, upon hearing our view that
American Jews can not be transported in
their entirety to Israel, pointed to the Negev
and exclaimed: "All of you can be accom-
modated there." Such is the impractical en-
thusiasm of a people that finds it difficult
to mobilize even the few pioneers who would
build industries and colonies in that hot
desert.
Israelis are, we are convinced, unrealistic
in their warnings to us that what had hap-
pened in Poland and in Russia and in Ger-
many can happen to American Jewry. If
-ever such a calamity were to be visited upon
American Jewry—perish the very thought!
—it would mean the end not only of Jewry
but of the world, since such a catastrophe
would spell the destruction of all human
ideas and therefore of humanity.
*
What our kinsmen must recognize, there-
fore, is that Israel and world Jewry—and
therefore primarily American Jewry—must
Work together as friends, with a sense of con-
fidence and mutual understanding, rather
than by inviting suspicion and creating en-
mities.
It is unfortunate that some of the dif-
ficulties should stem from a • group which
looks upon American Jews only as "the rich
uncles" from whom it is "a mitzvah"' to get
the charity dollars. If there remain very
many with such sentiments, they are de-
stroyers of a true partnership. One of the
ways of 'removing such ideas from all minds
ought to be by abandoning party divisions,
especially in the gathering and dispensing of
funds in behalf of Israel. American Jewry
is aiding Israel, not parties in Israel, and
there should be only one type of appeal, only
one idea, without political tags, without ideo-
logical divisions.
Is it too much to ask that Labor, General
and Mizrachi Zionists should join in such an
effort by abandoning separatist political
ideas? Surely, the American Uncle ought to
feel free to demand that the Idea—as incor-
porated in Zionism—should rule over the as-
piration of seeing the Israeli goal accom-
plished with dignity. Divisiveness will not
achieve it.
*
Mr. Samuel pos'es many questions. He
does not, just as we do not now, offer the
proper solutions to painful problems. But we
join with him in posing the questions in
order that all of us may, by striving for it
earnestly, find the desired solution. We
agree, in the main, with Mr. Samuel, in the
need• for a return to the source, to the idea
in Zionism which created the ideal out of
which has developed the State of Israel. Mr.
Samuel asserts:
"To most of the internal problems of Israel
there are no purely technical answers. Neither
will answers come from party programs stra-
tegically reformulated. Both Israel and world
Jewry must turn back to the SOURCES of
ZioniSt strength, to the VISION which made
the Jewish homeland an instrument, not an
end. Even the discovery of good technical
ideas depends on mood, and the change of
mood now needed must have a common source
and purpose in Israel and world Jewry."
The achievement of this common purpose
requires mutual understanding and respect.
Without them, the idea will disappear and
the instrument will be weakened.
*
*
*
It is vital that the issue raised by Mr.
Samuel in his article "The Sundering of Is-
rael and American Jewry" be taken much
more seriously than were 'other Israeli issues
raised in recent years. Else, the philanthro-
pic and the investment campaigns may suf-
fer, and the spiritual values necessary for
the cementing of American-Israel friend-
ships will be affected negatively.
We are about to launch another United
Jewish Appeal drive. We are informed that
the present Israel bond drive, due to ter-
minate next May, will be supplemented by
another Israel bond issue, to be launched in
February: Israel. would not have acted in
favor of another bond issue if the young
state's officials had not felt the need for it,
or if they. had not been thoroughly convinced
that such efforts are practical. But a 'de-
cision in Jerusalem is not sufficient. It must
be reinvigorated by American Jewry's de ;
termination to cooperate in its success. This
must be attained not by a sundering of
friendship but by a renewal of kinship and
a strengthening of the sentiments of devotion.
and good will between the two great Jewish
communities.
The mere posing of the problem of Amer-
ican-Israel relationships, so courageously un-
dertaken by men like Maurice Samuel,
shoUld be welcomed. It serves a purpose. It
introduces frankness. It eliminates suspicion.
It helps create a better spirit through a
common understanding.
t'14, .430,30ig.;
L'Arbit Lel Kippurim
(For the Eve of Atonement)
By SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
Translated by Dr. N. E. Aronstam
Send us an angel-defender
With a message: a symbol and token:
To purify ourselves on this night of all nights
From obloquy, malice and slander.
Oh, Thou Great God,
The Unfathomable and Ineffable,
"Thy righteousness excelleth the mountains,
Thy judgments are deeper than the immeasurable deep:';
'Pioneers from the West'
The English-Speaking Chalutzim
An American Jewish Press Feature
"Pioneers from the West," a history of colonization in Israel
by settlers from English-speaking countries, by Yaakov Morris,
published in Jerusalem by the Youth and Hechalutz Department
of the World Zionist Organization, is a unique book.
While it deals with colonization from many lands and could
have involved in the process many personalities—the leaders who
were responsible for the respective settlement projects—the author
avoids using names of individuals and deals strictly with the
ideological and factual aspects of the numerous colonies.
Thus, in his description of the first Hashomer Hatzair Kibbutz
of Ein Hashophet, established in honor of Justice Louis D. Bran-
deis, he could have mentioned names of very prominent pioneers.
He could have written a chapter dealing with settlers from De-
troit and Toronto and New York who built an important settle-
ment within a desert, some of whom gave their lives in the process
of building. But as in his descriptions of other settlements—in-
cluding another American first: Kfar Blum—he adhered strictly
to fact and idea, without naming names.
American, British., South African and Canadian settlements
are included among those described in this volume. There is
chapter that deals with religious settlements of Hashomer Ha-
dati and Bachad. The new settlements of the Negev are delineated
in this historical analysis.
The author takes pride in pointing out that although there
are only 3,000 *English-speaking Chalutzim, "it is a more sizeable
contribution than is generally realized." He also is confident that,
"given a continued' period of peace, and' the strong moral and
idealistic impulses so characteristic of the Jewish people, a sizeable
pioneer movement in the West may yet have time to grow."
• • - - of settlements shows that four were settled by
analysis
pioneers from South. Africk seven from the United. Kingdom , and
14 from the United States.
Lewittes','Student Bible' Continues
Simplified Teaching of Scriptures'
• • The second part•of "The Student Bible" by MordeCai H. Le•c6.
ittes, just' published by Hebrew Publishing Co. (77 Delancey St;
New York) continues the 'project of simplified teaching of Abe
Scriptures. The new volume is the second half of Bereshith (Geti
esis). The first two books pursue the following interesting method
of teaching:
, The original text is not changed, but difficUlt passages and
phraSes are eliminated; the Sidrahs are divided into interesting
stories, each chapter: being • a story in itself; the text is in
with translations of key Words given in English.
•,
They are splendid textbooks, with tests, explanatory notes . of
the Haftorahs as well as the Book of• Genesis.
The Dictionary appended to the • bdoks is accompanied by 'an
explanation of hoW to find the roots of words.
While not all of the ilhistrations (by Audrey Namowitz) , are
impressive, they pevertheless help make the,,textbooks attractive.