THE JEWISH NEWS

bicoriserating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of

Aar 20. 2931

American, Jewish Tercentenary

Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspagns, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 3&. Rich:.. VL. 114811/6
Siiihneription 64. a year. foreign. SS.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6. 1942, at Post Office. Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879

PHtLIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

VOL. XXV, No4 1

stoma,.

St4MARAK
Advertising Manager

Page 4

FRANK SIMONS
City Editor

March 12,1954

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighth day of Adar Sheni, 5714, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Lev. 1:1-5:26, Dent. 25 :17-19. Prophetical portion, I Sam. 15:2-34;
Fast of Esther Scriptural Selections, Tuesday
Pentateuchal portioh; Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1-10. Prophetical portion, Is. 55:6-56:8.
On Purim, Friday,. Ex. 17:8-16 will be read during morning services. The book of Esther will
Pc read Thursday evening and Friday morning.

Licht Benshen, Friday, March 12, 6:19 p.m.

Purim. Lesson: 'Ungodly Like Thorns in Flesh

At sunset next Thursday we will observe,
for approximately the 2200th time, the joy-
ous festival of Purim.
The event, too well known to require
repetition, marked the defeat of bigotry, the
destruction of a bigot, a triumph for the
right of a people residing among differing
elements to live and to observe its faith as it
chose.
The plot that was hatched by Haman to
destroy the Jewish people was nipped in the
nick of time by the heroic Mordecai and his
courageous niece, Esther, who, as queen of
Persia. interceded with her husband, King
Ahasuerus, and rescued her people from
death.
Purim perenially serves as a warning to:
anti Semites that their doom is near,- that
they can not succeed with their nefarious
schemes, that their impious plans to harm
Israel must fail. -
Known also ,, as the Feast of Lots, Purim .
dmonishes the wicked who seek to him
Jewry that while they draw Jots to decide on
destruction of a people, their own' lot be-‘
comes settled by divine decree.
In his fascinating book on Purim, Dr.
Theodor H. Gaster includes the following
among the legends about this festival:

-

"The gallows on which Hainan was hanged
afforded a theme around which fancy could
weave its threads. All the trees of the forest
. vied for the honor of .supplying the wood. The
fig tree reminded God that its fruits were
brought to the Temple as an offering. The
vine recalled that Israel had been compared to
a vine planted by God and that it yielded wine
for the altar. The apple tree, the nut tree, and
the cedar also pressed. their claims, • on the
grounds that they were employed in the Sacred
Text as symbols. of Israel. But the lowly thorn-
bush made no such claims. 'I am the most
fitted to serve,' it said, "because the ungodly
are like thorns in the flesh.' So God chose the
thorn bush." •

In this legend is incorporated one of the
most vital lessons in human relations, one
of the most vital warnings to bigots. "The
ungodly are like thorns in the flesh." There=
fore every people must pull these thorns out
of its flesh. Therefore anti-Semitism can not
survive anywhere.
.This lesson of Purim offers encourage-
ment to all men not to fear prejudice, not to
bow to bigotry., It causes us to retain faith
that justice always will triumph.

Our Salute to Prof. Einstein on 75th Birthday

Dr. Albert Einstein's 75th birthday, oc-
curring next Sunday; Will - deservedly receive
the attention of the entire world. He towers
over all in his generation not alone for his
theory on the unification of the basic con-
cepts of the universe, but more especially
for his humanitarian outlook on life.
An escapee from Nazism, his acquisition
of American citizenship was one of the
giins for this country from the stupidities
of the Germans.
His scientific research was the founda-
tion stone for the development of atomic
energy, but his chief aim in life continues
to be a striving . for peace for mankind.
Many years ago, he was a staunch pacifist
and at one time even suggested that con-
scientious objectors should oppose war so
determinedly that they would be sent to
jails; and, having, crowded the jails, they
would be released and their governments
would recognize the validity of their paci-
fistic ideals. Later, he re-cognized the prob-
lems imposed upon mankind by dictator-
ships, by Nazi-Fascist and Communist ele-
ments. He then began to plead the cause
of peace by pointing to the dangers that
faces humanity from militarism and from
authoritarian rule: When he was asked
what weapons would be used after in a
third world war, he said he did not know
but that in a fourth world war it would be
rocks! He could offer no better warning
that the world would be destroyed if we
start using population-exterminating wea-
pons that would put an end not only to life
and Property but also to mankind's discov-
eries through the ages.
He has made interesting comments on
the question of religion and has presented
his personal views in this impressive senti-
ment:
"The most beautiful emotion we can ex-

perience is the mystical. It is the sower of

all true art and science. He to whom this
emotion is a stranger, who can no longer won-
der and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.
know that what is impenetrable to use
really exists, manifesting itself as the highest
wisdom and the roost radiant beauty, which
our full faculties can comprehend only in their
most primitive forms — this knowledge, this
feeling, is at the center of true religiousness.
in this sense, and this sense only, I belong to
the ranks of devoutly religious men."

To

Prof. Einstein has caused his name to
be recorded indelibly in Jewish history by
the support he has given the Zionist move-
ment and all important Jewish causes. He
was a close associate of the late Dr. Chaim
Weizmann -and as a member of the Weiz-
mann-Einstein-Warburg -Ussishkin - Sokolow
delegation to this country in the early 1920s
helped mobilize support for the cause that
was responsible for establishing the foun-
dation for the State of Israel.
Many honors have been accorded Dr.
Einstein by peoples of all faiths and by a
number of nations. But the most distinct of
all honors accorded him was the appending
of his name to Yeshiva University's
Medical College. This first. non-sectarian Col-
lege of Medicine to be established under
Jewish auspices, in affiliation with the Bronx
Municipal Hospital in New York, undoubted-
ly will benefit from the encouragement it re-
ceives from the eminent scientist. The joint
$62,500,000 teaching and hospital center,
under supervision of Yeshiva University,
emerges as a unique American Jewish con- ,
tribution to science and deservedly honors
the name of Di. Einstein, while expanding
the services of Yeshiva University. .•
On his birthday, we join in extending
to him heartiest greetings, rooted in the
hope that he will be granted many more
years in which to render service to human-
ity.

Detroit's 'Seven Painters of Israel' Exhibition

Presentation of the "Seven Painters of
Israel" exhibition by the J. L. Hudson Com-
pany, from March 20 through April 7, has
been timed with wisdom, to direct attention
here to the Jewish Welfare Federation's Al-
lied Jewish Campaign which finances the
work of the American Fund for Israel In-
stitutions, the national sponsor of the exhibit.
The exhibition, coming to Detroit as part
of a national: tour, after appearances in New
York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Los
Angeles and Tucson, serves the American

F'und's , program. of ,culturals.exChange bee

tween the United States and Israel.. It is an
excellent way of calling attention to the ar-
tistic creations of Israelis and, 'like the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra's concert here three
years ago, should serve as strong cement to
bind indestructibly American-Israel relations.
Art lovers especially, and certainly all
who are interested in Israel's creative ef-
forts, will be anxious to witness this exhibit.

Tercentenary Book About a Goldsmith

MYER MYERS; GOLDSMITH. By Jeanette W. Rosenbaum. Philadelphia, Pa., The
Jewish Publication Society of America. 141 pages (12 illustrations, 30 page platetk

A Review By DR. HERMAN S. GUNDERSHEIMER

Professor of History of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.

The history of Jewish artists and craftsmen in America is yet
to be written, and the contribution of Jewish religious life to the
development of art forms still to be described.
,Jeanette W. Rosenbauni's book on the goldsmith Myer Myers
is one of those pertinent and thorough monographs which project
a fascinating personality on the background of his time and place.
Historians, artists, craftsmen, collectors will gain from it under-
standing of Myer Myers, the "craftsman and patriot."
Myer Myers was born in New York in 1723, the son of parents
who had come from Holland. Little is known about his schooling
and apprenticeship. But documents report that he became a
freeman of New York City in 1746, and served as president of New
York's Gold and. Silversmith's Society around the time of the ReV-
olution and later, in 1786. He was a member of the Spanish-Port,-
uguese Synagogue Shearith Israel in New York. During the Eng-
lish occupation of New York he lived with his family in Norwalk,
Conn., and moved in 1782 temporarily to Philadelphia where he
joined the Congregation Mikveh Israel. He died in New York in
1795.
Thus his life was deeply influenced by the political and milt-
tary _developments of the RevolutionarY War. His prOfeSsional
activity also reflects the social and esthetic changes of the second
half of the 18th century.
As a goldsmith Myer Myers was a craftsman whose technieal
skill ranked him with America's finest metal workers. As an artist
he sensitively followed the changing tastes of his generation.
Myers' hallmarks or his personal style appear on beakers,
bowls, ladles, spoons, candlesticks, coffee and tea pots, shoe buckles,
saltcellars, and.even on the silver-hilt of a sword. His works are
among the cherished possessions of our best museums and private,
collections and represent a great American goldsmith.
To this important rank comes an additional distinction ,:
Myer Myers made a most significant contribution to the de-
velopment of taste and beauty among the Jews of America. He
is the one who brought to the Jews of this country the tradi
tional bell decoration for the Scroll of the Law, the 1?,iinonim,
and introduced with them a form which has remained almost
a ceremonial requirement in our synagogues. Myers' Rimonim
were commissioned by sane of our most distinguished congrega-
tions. They can be seen in the Touro Synagogue in Newport,
Rhode Island, the Congregation Shearith Israel in. New York,
and the Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia. While they
are not all of the same design and style, they all show the
craftsmanship and taste of their maker. •

..„

Elmo Ehrlich Levinger's Fine New Book

Jews Who 'Fought for Freedom'

Elma Ehrlich Levinger continues to be an outstanding writer
of fascinating stories for children and of Jewish historical narra-
tives. Her newest: book, "They Who Fought for Freedom and Other
Stories : Heroes of Jewish History," published by the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations, retains the charm of her previous
works and adds a new set of narratives about noted personalities
in our history.
In the editor's introduction, Dr. Emanuel Gamoran states that, ;
this volume, part of a new intercultural series for children. aims . .
"to bring primarily to non-Jewish children a description of jewish
hiStory." In reality, Jewish children, and their parents, as well,
will find in this book material that will enlighten them.
It is appropriate, as Dr. Gamoran points out, that Mrs. Lev-
inger's stories should begin with the Maccabees. Then come the
following great figures. in Jewish history, who are splendidly delin-
eated biographically and with facts about the times in which they
lived: ,
Hillel, Jochanan ben Zakkai and Josephus, Rashi, Judah Rale-
vi, Benjamin of Tudela, Maimonides, Abravanel, Donna Gracia
Mendes, Manasseh ben Israel, Ba-Al Shem Toy, Moses Mendelssohn,
Moses Montefiore, Theodor Herzl, Henrietta Szold, Albert Einstein
and Chaim Weizmann.
The able narrator did, in truth, capture the spirit of each era,
in her biographies. The all-inclusiveness of various periods of
history, the incorporation in her book of eras that embrace straw,
gles for freedom against the Romans and the Greeks, the time
the Inquisition, the days of emancipation and enlightenment,
leading up to the modern Zionist activities preceding the birth et
Israel, make "They Fought for Freedom" a truly outstanding

of

-

J. L. Hudson Company is rendering a real work.
service to the entire community with its
The illustrations by Tracy Sugarman add to the interest that
each chapter attracts in this book.
, sponsorship of this exhibition. ,

