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The hart Available hestrument‘
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., VF.,. 8-9384
Subscription S4. a year, foreign •$5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1042, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
VOL. XXV No. 9
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
PRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Page 4
May 7, 1945
•
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
The Sabbath, the fifth day of Iuar, 5714 — State of Israel Independence Day
the following
Scriptural selections will, he read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion. Lev. 21:1-24:33. • Prophetical portion, Ezekt. 44:15-31.
Licht Benshen, Friday, May 7, 7:36 p. m.
The Sixth Anniversary of israers Independence
The sixth anniversary of Israel's inde-
pendence, to be observed by the young state
and the Israelis' kinsmen and friends
throughout the world this Saturday, the
fifth day of Iyar, finds us in a dismally
somber state. The Israelis are threatened
with war, by neighbors who outnumber them
30 to It in areas 300 to 1 the size of the Jew-
ish state. At the same time, world Jewry is
faced with many problems, relating to Is-
rael, which challenge the strength of our
characters and the extent of the courage
with which we must face- libelous accusa-
tions and the spread of venom which
often indicates the. danger of war between
the Contending peoples. in the Middle East.
Peace in that area would bring prosperi-
ty 5 to Arabs . as well as Jews. It would mean
an end to CornmuniSt machinations aimed at
capturing the area for the Soviet Union in
its struggle against the West. It would re-
duce the fears for a world conflict. But sel-
fish politicians stand in the way of such
amity. They are bent upon arousing hatreds,
undoubtedly for selfish economic reasons —
because they desire to perpetuate the serf-
dom of the Arab masses and to retain feudal
domination over them — and out of a de-
termination to dominate politically in their
countries.
It is in such an atmosphere that Israel
now finds herself. It is against many evil
forces that Jewry must act in defense of the
young state. And because the situation is
so serious, the challenge is all the greater—
not only to Jewry but to the Christian
friends of Israel whose valiant help has been
a contributing factor in the Jewish state's
triumphs against the vast odds that were
piled up against her.
. Israel's successes are, indeed, remarkable.
In . spite of war threats, defying all obstacles,
handicapped by the entrance of hundreds of
thousands of new settlers f rom differing
climes who speak many languages and are
unaccustomed to the new conditions, Israel
has Succeeded in integrating the multitude
of new arrivals into a unified society and
is gradually melting them into a strong
nation.
The economy of the young state has been
threatened by scores of reverses; yet Israel
has overcome most of them and her many
new industries attest to a courageous stand
against all obstacles.
Those who have as yet failed to be cap-
tivated by the spirit which has created Is-
rael and has kept the young state humming
with activity must learn to know that the
reborn nation began With 600,000 Jewish
inhabitants and now has a popUlation of
more than 1,500,000 — half of them sur-
vivors from the curse of Nazism. This is
in itself a very great accomplishment. But
it is not the only one;
There are 200,000 new housing units in
Israel, 80,000 of them being permanent
dwellings. There are projects for the
development of industries to utilize the rich
deposits of glass sand, copper, iron, phos-
phates. There is a vast afforestation pro-
gram.
Thanks to the help provided by the
United Jewish Appeal — the major bene-
ficiary of the Detroit Allied Jewish Cam-
paign — the newcomers have been inte-
grated within Israel's economy and spiritual
life. -
With the help of the Israel Bonds, many
hundreds of new enterprises have been es-
tablished in the Jewish state, electric power
consumption has increased from 200,000,000
KWH to 800,000,000 and Israel ships now
carry nearly 500,000 tons of freight.
Investments have increased from 121,-
000,000 Israel pounds in 1948 to 650,000,000
IL in 1953. Exports have risen from 1,500,-
000 Israel pounds in 1948 to 2,500,000 in
1953.
These are symbols of growth. They are
the evidence that is needed to prove Israel's
progress.
But we must ever' keep in view the real-
ity of the existing situation — that Israel is
under constant attack and must have the
help of her friends throughout the world,
especially the American people. -
American Jewry has a special obliga-
tion, which must be reaffirmed on the sixth
anniversary of Israel's independence. We
must uphold the hands of the builders of
Zion. We must protect those \Who have fled
the Nazi holocaust and now must dig • deep
into Israel's soil . so that they may never
again be uprooted.
We must redouble our efforts in behalf
of the funds which help Israel's immigrants
—through the Allied Jewish Campaign.
We must continue to encourage the Is-
rael bond drive, in order that investments
may grow so that Israel may become self-
supporting.
Above all, we must exert our efforts in
demolishing the frightful libels leveled
against Israel. We must join in presenting
the truth, in order that America's friendship
for Israel may not be impaired.
Let us rededicate ourselves to these tasks
on Israel's sixth anniversary. Then our
greetings to the young state will have real
substance.
Spread of Prejudice Through Comic Books
A New York psychiatrist, Dr. Frederic
Wertham, describing how comic books
hamper the progress toward easing tensions
among races, declared, in an address to the
Urban League in New York, that "through
comic books more racial prejudice, espe-
cially against Negroes, has been taught to
American children' than at any time in the
previous 100 years." Dr. Wertham declared:
"In all comic books people are divided into
two groups. They are either long-limbed, mus-
cular • supermen or an infinite variety of sub-
humans—foreign-born, Negro, Oriental, in a
never-ending stream of prejudice-producing
images.
"Children don't have to be badly adjusted
to absorb the racial prejudice given to them as
entertainment. No one has a psychological
need for race prejudice. If you don't teach it
to them, they just don't get it."
This is reminiscent of the work of Julius
Streicher, the Nazi terrorist whose hate-in-
spiring program in his ghastly Stuermer
may have been responsible for more mur-'
ders of Jews than.: any other. Hitlerian. in-
strument. The stories and pictures -circulat-
ed by this demented Nazi • did exactly . th6
damage described by Dr. Werthant. with
the additional tragic fact that the venom
was spread among adults as - Weli - aS- Chil-
dren, creating an overall German antipathy
to JeWs.
It is evident that there is need to in-
fluence the creators of the comic books --- 7
the authors of the ,stories, the artists and
the publishers along lines of common
decency. If this can be -accomplished with-
out censorship, a basic ideal will have been
defended most adequately.
Round Table in New Home
A Hillel Book by Ludwig Lewisohn
'What Is This Jewish Heritage?'
A Review by MAURICE SAMUEL
Hillel did well in going to Ludwig Lewisohn for the first of its
Little Books series—the program book, one may perhaps call it. it
is quite extraordinary how Lewisohn, after thirty years of think-
ing and writing on Jewish matters can bring to a re-statement of
basic principle a freshness and glow which one instinctively
associates with a gifted spirit which has only just seen the light,
This lies partly in his style, which combines with lucidity of ex-
pression a vast, musical range of allusiveness; and partly in the
depth of his feeling, which, again, combines the special utterance
with the universal purpose.
Here in less than fifty pages you find a series of definitions:
"What is a Jew," "The Choice," "Tradition and its Meaning,"
"The Heritage," 'The Classical Foundation." It is a pity that there
is not a proper antonym to definition," which means delimitation,
identification by exclusion; for these definitions are also their own
opposites—they are the expansion of the significance of Jewish
thought and of the Jewish role in man's history.
Thus, no sooner has he made clear what a Jew is not (e.g.,
neither "an accident," nor a stereotype of secular concepts) than
he proceeds to indicate that being a Jew is the fundamental datum
The
of a Jew's existence, hence his only all-human possibility.
choice, then, is not between a Jew and something else, but between
being a Jew and being nothing. This is the limit of a Jew's choice.
And the fateful decision is related to the universal problem of man
in the twentieth century, who can choose to be an individual, or
surrender to the anonymity of the mob.
But at once Lewisohn warns against that frivolous interpre-
tation of "individuality" which is in reality the evasive negation
practiced by the feeble-willed and justified by the feeble-witted:
individuality without tradition. And having established tradition
as the very material of individuality he applies it, with a rapid
glance over the Jewish scene, to the specific content of the Jewish
heritage.
Here, of course, he does no more than indicate what many
other books in this series will have to develop in detail; and if
Hillel can follow up this first publication with others on the same
level, and moved by the same power, it will have performed an
important task. As a friend of Hillel, I should like to utter
warning. Better slowly and to good effect.
•
The Emergence of the American Jewish Community
History of Rochester Jewry
Rabbi Stuart E. Rosenberg's "The Jewish Community of
Rochester (N.Y.) 1843-1925," published by Columbia University Press.
(2960 Broadway, NY27), is more than a history. It is a study of the
development of Jewish communal life in this country and it is, as
Prof. Salo Baron states in his foreword, an "epic description" of an
American Jewish community.
Rabbi Rosenberg outlines the rise of Rochester Jewry from the
handful of first immigrants, and the various changes that took
place from the time of the settlement of the German Jews, the
immigration of the Polish Jews and the gradual fusing of the
various elements into a single, wholesome community.
Dr. Baron refers to this development as "the saga of successive
waves of immigrants who settled on these shores; their speedy
adjustment and, before long, significant contributions to the eco-
nomic life of their city; and the constant interplay of 'old' and
`new' in their life and outlook."
Dr. Rosenberg describes the economic changes in the corn-
munity, the establishment of industries, the cultural and social
aspects of Rochester Jewry. The entire • portrait emerges in
sharp focus as a masterful emergence of an element in American
democracy.
Not unlike experiences in other communities, the story of
Rochester Jewry shows how East Europeans and German JewS
first conflicted then formed a unified community. The Mortara
Case in 1858 and the formation of the Alliance Israelite Universelle
in France in that year spurred. Rochester Jewry on to unified and
cooperative action.
The part played by philanthropy and social welfare, charity
drives and Zionism, and especially the synagogue, are ably des-
cribed.in this impressive book. Rabbi Rosenberg considers Roches
ter Jewry, as of the year 1925—up to which point he wrote his.
history—as being "still an adolescent community." But he points
to "newLfOund powers" and a turning of Rochester. Jews to theit
own resources, since they can no longer .augment their forces with.
Acquisition by the Detroit Round Table
of Christians and Jews of a new home, in
the Kirby . Medical Building at 81 E. Kirby,
represents another advance in the' efforts
of the inter-faith good-will movement to
strengthen amity in our community.
In the new Round Table home, there
will be better facilities for meetings of dis-
cussion groups and leaders who are active
here. in, behalf of. the National Conference
of Christians and Jews. There will be op - .
portunities for Detroiters to study the needs
fir better .relations and to make use of the
splendid library on human relations.
immigrants,: •
We join in • the hope that a strongei,..
This ,history is worth reading and.stwlying;. in. this Tercenten.A.s:
Round Table will mean.an.increasingly more ary year, as an inspiration to other communities to produce their.:
effective brotherhood, rooted in fact and histories of Jews who have..developed.ne.spiritual centers in this,
,country.
reality and not Mere lip . service.