THE JEWISH NEWS
To Israel from American Jewry
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20. 1951
Siernber American Association
of English-Jewish Newspapars, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich., VF... 8-9304
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
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
VOL. XXIV, No. 1^
Page 4
December 4,• 1953
Sabbath Hanukah Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-eighth day of Kislev, 5714, the following Scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Gen. 41:1-44:17, NUM. 7:30-35. Prophetical portion, Zech. 2:14-4:17.
Hanukah Scriptural selections: Sunday, Num. 7:36-47; Monday, Rosh Hodesh. Tebet and Hanu-
kah portions, NUM,. 28:1-15, 7:42-47; Tuesday, NUM. 7:48-53; Wednesday, Num. 7:54-8:4.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Dec. 4, 4:31 p.m.
Hanukah—Struggle for Freedom and Self-Respect
We are in the midst of celebrating Hanu-
kah. Our children rejoice over the Menor-
ahs. Their gift-exchanging is exhilarating.
Their elders, in reviewing the story of the
Maccabean festival, undoubtedly acquire new
courage in their re-dedication to service for
their people and for all human causes which
defy persecution.
Commemorating the first struggle for re-
ligious liberty in mankind's history, Hanukah
also marks the triumph of Jewish nationalism
in the time of the Maccabees. The leaders in
that struggle knew that a defeat for Juda-
ism also meant a defeat for Jews—that the
crushing of the Jewish faith also meant the
destruction of the adherents to that faith.
They thus fought for religious and national
liberties—and conquered because- they were
compelled to. take the last stand and could
not afford to lose the fight for . existence.
Hanukah has another. significant mean-
ing. It was not alone a struggle against ex-
ternal oppressors, but also a fight for the
cleansing of - Israel's own. hothe, for the puri-
fication of an atmosphere • which was pol-
luted- by Jews who were only • too ready to
accept Hellenistic .ways; • to
their
people and their faith, to accept false gods
and to sacrifice their individualities as Jews
through assimilation and Hellenization. The
Maccabees fought against such internal de-
terioration, and their internal success was
perhaps even greater than their military tri-
umph — although the former would have
been impossible without the latter.
We have a similar struggle today. There
still are external enemies to be defeated,
and there are internal foes who would aban-
don faith, who welcome assimilation, who
are ready to sacrifice their existence as Jews
for the sake of flattery from strange quar-
ters—without realizing that our neighbors 'The Great Little Madison'
have greater respect for those of us who re-
tain faith and self-respect as Jews.
There also is a military challenge. Our
kinsmen in Israel are threatened, and it is
Irving Brant has rendered a great service to our country with
only normal that we should pray on this his voluminous biographies of James Madison. His fourth volume,
Hanukah for their security. Our prayers are "James Madison: Secretary of State: 1800-1809," has just made its ,•
mingled with hope that it will not be neces- appearance. His great literary and research efforts on the subject
sary again for our kin to resort to arms in will be concluded soon with his final book. "James
Madison: The
order to defend their hard-won freedoms.
President: 1809-1836."
Thus, Hanukah symbolizes for us the
Previously issued by the publishers of all these volumes, Bobbs.
very truths for which our Maccabees fought
nearly 2,200 years ago. May justice and lib- Merrill CO. (730 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis 7), dealt with Madi-
erty survive in our time as they' did in the son, "The Virginia Revolutionist: 1751-1780"; "The Nationalist:
Maccabean times.
1780-1787" and "Father of the Constitution: 1787-1800."
Brant s Magnificent Biography
/.
Our columns already have shown that Mr. Brant was justified
in idolizing the subject of his biographical sketches, and his call-
ing the attention of Americans to the merits of "the great little
The highly interesting Report on. Infor -
become progressively tighter, is more readily
Madison." His hero, in -truth, is unknown.
'nation, submitted by galVador P. Lopez,
explicable by reference to internal political
But. Mr.• Brant, a brilliant writer and an
rapporteur on freedom of information, to the
considerations involved in the Naguib dicta-
able man of research, by digging into the
United Nations Economic and Social Council,
records, by studying the character of
torship than in the course of relations with ,
liSts the 'countries - which impose censorship
Madison, enables us to recognize the val-
Israel."
on outgoing news dispatches. and states that
ues of the man who was "the .father of-
This
is.a
quotation
from
an
official
United
our Constitution,"- the 'genius who, better
in Israel "censorship -
is.. exercised on matters Nations document. It should be studied by
than any one else, was able to establish
of military security. Dispatches for publica- Israel's
the precedent for separation - of church'
s friends as consolation for the un-
.
tion abroad
must. be submitted to the censor .
and state.
just treatMent accorded the small nation by
Israel s Quest for Freedom: A Lesson in F air
• Play
•
•
•
for scrutiny On this angle."
peoples; and as a lesson
Mr.•Brant'S previous works are strength-
In` the explanatory • notes, Mr. Lopez - to vengeance-seeking
those who fail to recognize the importance
ened by his latest, dealing with Madison
makes these references to.. the situation in of Isreal's democratic position.
as Thomas Jefferson's Secretary Of State.
Madison. was Jefferson's. •guide, •; most of
Americans—and
especially
our
represent-
"In Egypt and Syria, the official state of
the time remaining in ; _the .backgrOunci.
atives at the United Nations — should take
war with Israel still existing may be advanced
although many of the papers .arid
particular note of this evaluation of Israel's
James Madison
sions were his.
as a justification of pre-censorship, but there
quest
for
freedom.
A
new
nation,
battling
is an. important distinction between censor
"Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin formed one of the .greatest
against difficult odds, deserves the encour-
ship in these two countries and in Israel,
teams in American history," Mr. Brant writes.
agement of the democratic countries with administrative
(Albert Gallatin was Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasu ,ry).
"Israeli censorship is limited officially to
whom she shares membership in the United
Madison played an important role in the Louisiana purchase.
strictly military matters. There have been
_Nations. Apparently, however, judging by He was a factor in the controversy with Napoleon. "Madison laid.
criticisms by Israel editors that censorship was
-
tending to trespass beyond military considera-
tions, but the democratic regime in Israel is
a safeguard of Press freedom. which the Egyp-
tian and Syrian Press do not enjoy. Further,
the history of censorship in Egypt, which has
recent events, this means little to expedi- down a policy which not only anticipated the Monroe Doctrine,
ence-seeking nations like Great Britain. We but foreshadowed the extension given it by President Cleveland
are confident, however, that the Average n the Anglo-Venezuelan dispute of 1895."
Man—especially the Average American to
Another bit of history is reflected in this telling statement:
whom Fair Play is a code of ethics—will
"Madison had greeted Napoleon's original seizure of. power as
a death blow to French liberty, leaving the United States as the
know how to respect it.
Good Punch-Lines Against Bigotry
President Eisenhower, in his address at
the 40th anniversary dinner of the Anti-
Defamation League of Bnai Brith, made an
important point, applicable to many areas
in American life, when he said:
"In this country, if someone dislikes
you or accuses you, he must come up in
front. He cannot hide behind the shadows,
lie cannot assassinate you or your char-
acter from behind without suffering the
penalties a-n outraged citizenry will inflict."
It was a good thought, well put, especial-
ly deserving of attention in a period in our
history in which "character assassination"
has become one of the most damaging sym-
bols of an emerging bigotry. This is the time
to encourage people to face the assassins of
character without fear. They have the back-
ing of the President of the United States
in expressing outrage against the spread of
libels. As long as there is truth on the side
of the maligned, they must score a triumph
for justice if they carry on the battle for
the American principle of fair play cour-
ageously, refusing to be intimidated and to
be cowed by bullies. The ideal laid down by
Mr. Eisenhower—"I am proud to be an
American"—assumes added weight by his
encouragement to the fighters for civil liber-
ties.
There were many good punch lines in
the address delivered by L, L. Colbert, pres-
ident of Chrysler Corporation, at the twenty-
fifth anniversary dinner of the Detroit
Round Table of the National Conference of
Christians and Jews. The best—the• briefest
—asserted :
"What a man hears in church on Sun-
day is likely to have some effect on the
decisions he makes in his office on Mon-
day."
This was our contention in our recent.
editorial in which we appraised. the taxicab
driver's anti-Jewish remark , made durin g
the national gathering of the Conference of
Christians and Jews recently.
What a man hears in church on Sunda
should have strong effect on what he does
in his office the fdllowing six days,. the way
he acts toward his neighbors during his ac-
tive life as an American, how he instructs
his children.
If the people.-will be instructed. well by
their spiritual leaders, the parents will be
better people and the heritage they will pass
on to their children is then likely to be root-
ed in decency, devoid of the suspicions which
presently threaten to destroy our Arnerican.
way of life.
only remaining theater of true freedom.. The moment the dictator
reached for a crown, French diplomacy became iinperial.in stype
and imperious in tone. There was a Whiff of diplomatic grape-'
shot in the phrase 'imperial sanction.' Henceforth, the American
government would have to cope with a self-made monarch aiming
to rule the world by arms and edicts."
Napoleon met his match, in MadisOn and Jefferson.
Mr. Brant's works are a great gift to our knowledge of Amer-
ican history. We look forward with great interest to the final
volume in his series—on Madison The President.
H I STOR I ETTE
Judah Tour° and Jerusalem
In his interesting book, "Middle East Dilemmas" (Harper)
Prof. J. C. Hurewitz relates this story about - Judah Touro's
gifts
to Jerusalem:
"As early as colonial times, American J6Cvs came to the finan-
cial aid of the impoverished Jewish community in Palestine. This
philanthropic interest grew steadily throughout the nineteenth
century, as societies were created explicitly for fund-raising pur-
poses. One of the best kno'ivn of these bore the breath-taking
titl e, North American Relief Society for the Indigent Jews of Jeru-
salem. A principal benefactor of the group, Judah Touro of New
Orleans, in 1854 set aside in his will a substantial sum which paid
for the construction of the first Jewish housing project outside
the walls of. Old Jerusalem. This served as a nucleus of what
in
later mandatory days became the new, and largely Jewish, Jerusa-
lem. From the very inception of Zionism, United States Jews
participated in the movement and supported its multifarious edu-
cation
and developmental schemes. United States. Jews also settled
Palestine, numbering about 200 at the beginning of the
I in
tieth century."
twext-