The Sting of Inconsistency
FRE • JEWISH NEWS
incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue 01 July 20 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association.
Purnished every Friday by the Jewish News Publishing Co.: 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35. Mich. VE. 8-9364
Subscription S4. n year foreign $5.
Kntered as seennd class matter Aug 6. 1942 al Post Office. Detroit. Mich under Act of March 3. 1879
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
PHILIP SLOMOVt -r2.
Editor and Pubitsher
December 25, 1953
Page 4
Vol. XXIV, No. 16
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath.. the twentieth day of Tebet, 5714, th.e followina Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Es. 1:1-6:1. Prophetical portion, Is. 27:6-28:13; 29:22, 29.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Dec. 25, 4:55 P. m.
.
Firmness of Truth in Encounter for Civil Liberties
Bill of Rights Day, observA two weeks
ago, was the occasion for a review of the
American traditions. It was occasion for the
reaffirmation of our basic principles,. for re-
pudiation of witch hunts, for condemnation
of convictions without trials.. But it also
occasioned expressions of anxiety over the
developments in our political arenas, and the
advances made by McCarthyism.
U. S. Senator Herbert H. Lehman, whose
courageous battles for the rights of man
have distinguished him in his Senatorial
services, issued some important warnings in
a "Decalogue of - McCarthyism" which was
published in the Nation's Civil Liberties Is-
sue. In his analysis of the characteristics
of McCarthyism and the "tell-tale marks
which identify them," he wrote:
1. They use and abuse the constitutional
protections for the free exchange of ideas but
seek to deny these protections to all others.
2. They insist that they and they alone pos-
sess the power to determine what is' right for
everybody.
3. They appeal to fear and passion, never
to reason; they do not persuade, they threaten.
4. They understand only .„ dictation and
domination, never cooperation and delibera-
tion.
5. They are completely intolerant of op-
position or deviation, identifying all opposition
as heresy, which they tbould stamp out by
threat and terror.
6. They use and justify the use of any
means to achieve their particular ends . . .
ends which they consider absolute and un-
changeable. Without scruple or compunction
they ride roughshod over truth„ honor, dignity,
and integrity.
7. They fear and distrust new or foreign
people and new or foreign ideas; they believe
in iron curtains and isolation.
8. They drape themselves in the cloak of
patriotism but cynically destroy the soul and
spirit of the nation whose name they invoke.
9. They avow respect for religion but stamp
ruthlessly under foot all standards of morality;
they threaten to subject to their inquisitions
even the clergy and the ministry.
10. They are, in short, the arrogant and
the absolute, who sit in solemn judgment on
the loyalty and morality of their fellow-
citizens, all humbled by the sheer effrontery
of such a usurpation of Conscience and of God.
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Senator Lehman's admonitions must be
taken into consideration in view of some of
the frightful tactics to which witch-hunters
have resorted in recent months. Especially
disgusting was the desecration of the death,
the attacks that were made upon two dis-
tinguished Jewish leaders who no longer are
among the living—Rabbis Stephen S. Wise
and Judah L. Magnes.
In 1,42, in Opinion, the magazine he
founded and edited, Dr. Wise presented his
credo as an American. The acclamation to
the Bill of Rights is strengthened by the
views then expressed by Dr. Wise, thus:
• I am an American. I am doubly an Ameri-
can, because I am foreign-born. It may be
that native-born Americans take America for
granted. Foreign-born Americans like myself
do not -take America for • granted. We look
upon American citizenship as the most prec-
ious and sacred of boons. We understand what
it is Quit we have left behind us—of denial
of the freedoms of man, and we know what it
is that .has come to be our high destiny, to be
a sharer in American freedoirt, to be a bearer
of American responsibility, to be a devotee of
the American Democracy, to Use American
freedom not for one's own advantage but for
the. service of the American Democracy, and
in. these days of war, for the preservation of
its loftiest ideals and purposes.
I am an American. I thank God that my
parents brought me to this country. I thank
God that my children and children's children
have been born in this country. They have
entered into and become sharers in the most
precious heritage which can fall to the lot of
man, and I have faith that they will prove
equal to and worthy of the high opportunities
of life which American citizenship affords.
They, like me, will give their deepest, :truest
loyalty to the America which is today, to the
greater, freer, nobler America that is to be on
the morrow . . .
I ant an American, an American Jew who,
because he is a -Jew, proudly recalls that on
the Independence Bell, which, on the 4th day
of July, 1776, proclaimed the gladdest tidings
that human ears ever heard, there were in-
scribed the words of the Hebrew Bible, "And
ye shall proclaim liberty throyahout the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof." On this,
A712 An American" Day, I know. and I thank
God. because I am permitted to know, that the
Bible verse. "And ye shall proclaim liberty
throughout the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof" has, since the 7th. day of December,
1941, yea since the 3rd of September. 1939,
yea since the 5th day of March 1933, translated
itself into the larger term "And ye Americans
shall proclaim . liberty throughout the lands
unto all the inhabitants thereof."
I am an American. Because I am an Amer-
ican., I ant free. Because I am an American,
I shall live and labor to the end that all men
be set free and that the spirit of American
freedom rule over all the sons and daughters
of Men.
.
It is never too late to review these ideals.
They are always pertinent, but especially
in a time when civil rights are threatened.
We reaffirm our established opinion that
it would be unwise to be pessimistic over our
future as Americans. We have had other
gloomy periods in our history, but the light ; 'Rebirth and Destiny of Israel'
always breaks through the dark clouds- for
free Americans. We concur with the view-
point of Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn, who,
writing on "Freedom and the People" in
the Nation's Civil. Liberties Issue, reaches
David Ben-Gurion, the retiring Prime Minister of Israel,
this conclusion: '
more than once has struck the keynote for his people's inde-
David Ben-Gurion's Credo
We Americans, acting as free citizens, may pendence. In Israel, in the United States and in other lands where
make mistakes; we may be selfish lbr stupid
or negligent. But in the field of political opin- he was called upon to interpret Zionist ideology, B-G, as he is
ion or expression or affiliation, we cannot known affectionately wherever there are Jews—and also among
cOmmit punishable crime for the reason that, non-Jews — spoke courageously, without equivocation, for the
ill that field, the lawmakers have no author-
Zionist idea and later for the freedom of his country.
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ity to legislate a crime into existence.
At this final point my lawyer friends will,
His major addresses, edited and translated from the Hebrew
I know, say to me, "Don't you know the law
is what the Supreme Court says it is?" And under the supervision of the Israel Minister to Australia, Morde-
to that I answer in closing, "Yes, I know that khai Nurock, have just been published by Philosophical Library
the law today is what today, the court says it
(15 E. 40th St., NY16) in a 540-page book under the title "Rebirth
is. But you see, I am hoping that tomorrow and Destiny of Israel."
the members of the court will read again from
The translator, in a prefatory note which evaluates B-G the
Madison and Hamilton and Harlan. Perhaps
man, the leader, the man of vision, says ..of Ben-Gurion:
tomorrow they will change their minds."
But. today I would say to them that the
"Farm-worker and soldier, labor organizer and champion of
Supreme Court, more than any other agency
Zionism, author and scholar with ancient Greek and Sanskrit
or person in our society, must be held respon-
sible for the destruction of those constitutional • at command, and now unchallenged for statecraft and states
principles which that court is commissioned to
mnanship in a sovereign Israel which is so much his—that is
interpret and to defend.
the multifarious man. He uses a Biblical Hebrew .grandly repeti-
In this sense, the fight for the right con- tive and of mounting parallelisms, iridescent, ringing and exact.
tinues, and the libertarians refrain from si- In very truth, there is in his speech and writings, as in the bold
lence. But their battle is conducted with imagination and faith of his leadership, not a little of the stuff
confidence, sharing the view of. John Milton:
of prophecy. So I have striven always 'towards an English akin
"Let Truth and Falsehood grapple; who
to that of the Bible versions . ."
ever knew Truth , put to the worse, in a free
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and open encounter."
The prophetic is, indeed, reflected in all the speeches—whether _
it is the one on "Peace and War" which he deliverd in 1948, or his
statement on the ill-fated Altalena, or hiS very great article in
This is a Season of Good Will. It has been the 1952 Government Yearbook—"Israel Among the Nations."
SO assigned by the religious fervor of Chris-
The editor has exercised good judgment in his sub division
tians. It is accepted as such by all who share of the addresses. The "Prelude" actually evaluates Zionism. It
in the hope that the world will attain peace, contains a series of addresses in which the easy as well as the
that there will be good relationships between hard ways of the movement are seen in all their realities. It is
peoples, that incitement to hatred will be
typical of the man: he faced dangers with calmness; therefore he
rejected.
There is a long road to be covered in the was able. to reap with great satisfaction the fruits that were sown
.
Season.. of Good
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attainment of these aims. If Men of Good with tears.
Much has been said about the Israel War of Independence.
Will really mean to be so on Christmas, let
them apply it to the many days before and But no one can possibly tell the story as well as B-G. An entire
after the sacred Christian Holy Day. Then section is devoted in the book to this era. B-G never forgets the
we shall surely have Good Will Among Men. major objective, as, for instance, when he asserts:,,
Habonim Conclave
"The people cannot be restored to the Land if the Land
is not itself restored."
And there is this powerful panegyric to Israelis as Jews and
as men:
"In Israel, there is no rift between the Jew and the man,
Intellectual and moral dependence is irreconcilable with its dig-
nity. INDEPENDENCE IS INDIVISIBLE. There cannot be inde-
pendence in Jewish and subservience in world affairs. Jewish
life embraces the world and all that is in it."
Then there is a section dealing with "Performance." This Is
history. It is official review—semi-officially as well as officially
uttered—of the State of Affairs of Israel by her first Prime Min-
ister who also was among the creators of the State.
The final section—"Stateside"—is of special interest. It in-
eludes two articles: "America and World Future" which was pub-
lished in 1942 in Palestine and Middle East, and "To American
Jewry," an address, delivered in Jerusalem in 1950 to American
Zionists. Both have their relevance today. The second could well
be delivered this very day—as an admonition of dangers facing
Israel', as a warning of an unending battle,. as a plea for uninter-
rupted cooperation between Israel andAmerica.
For the second time in a decade, mem-
bers of Habonim, the Labor Zionist Youth
movement, will gather here this week-end to
review their interest in Jewish history, in
the revival of the Hebrew language, in the
defense of Israel.
This gathering, which takes place at the
Bnai Moshe, will be honored on Monday eve-
ning by the presence of a distinguished
guest—Israel Consul General Avraham Har-
man, whose eloquence and brilliant analyses
of. Jewish issues follows the charming style
of Israel's Ambassador Abba Eban.,
The gathering of delegates from all parts
of this country and from Canada, their im
pressive program, the devotion of the young
people to Jewish cultural aims, has earned
for them the interesting and attention of
the entire community. We join in welcoming
Habonim's conclave to Detroit and in shat-
In its completeness, "Rebirth and Destiny of Israel" by David
ing the hope that out of the deliberations Ben-Gurion is an outstanding work. When B-G's biography le
here may emerge a stronger youth move written—soon, we hope—this volume will supply a great deal of
ment and greater devotion by our young material to illustrate the great Israeli leader's genius as States--
people to their heritage. man, labor leader, Zionist organizer, orator and writer.
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