THE JEWISH NEWS
member 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., l/E.
Subscription $4. a year. foreign $5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 8, 1942, at Post Office. Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
8-9384
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
A Perfect Camouflage for Hatists
I
incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20. 1951
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-sixth day of lyar, 5714, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synago gues:
Pentateuchal portion, Num. 1:1-4:20. Prophetical portion, Hos. 2:1-22.
Rosh Hodesh Sivan Torah selection, Wednesday, Num. 28:1-15.
Licht Benshen, Friday, May 28, 7:57 p.m.
May 21, 1954
Page Four
VOL. XXV, No. 12
Publication Society's Role in Jewish 'Life
A place of major importance in Ameri- able literary products. It elevates it to a
position of first rank among the great in-
can Jewish history. already has been earned
by the Jewish Publication Society of Ameri- struments for the advancement of Jewish
ca. As we apProach the American Jewish cultural values in this country.
Tercentenary celebration, it becomes in- To the Jewish Publication Society goes
creasingly more evident that this publica- the credit of having spurred sales of the
tion society is among the leaders in great Bible. According to Judge Levinthal, the
cultural efforts. in behalf of Jewry. It al- Society last year printed 35,000 more Bibles,
ready is playing a major role in the publish- making a total of 550,000 Bibles it has pro-
ing of books. that will place emphasis on duced in print. The Society thus became
cur history= inthiS country. One of the first one of the great Bible producers in the world
products of the society in this Tercentenary and holds a place of honor among the great
year is the biography of Commodore Uriah distributors of the finest translation of the
P. Levy, and according to the former presi- Bible into English by outstanding Jewish
dent of the society and its new chairman authorities.
of the publication committee, Judge Louis
flaying popularized Israel Zangwill and
E. Levinthal, 10 more books dealing with
AmeriCan Jewish history will be published a score of other great writers, the producers
of the finest Jewish literary efforts, the So- 'Hatred, Ridicule or Contempt'
this year.
This speaks well for the sense of reSpon- ciety emerges as a great American Jewish
sibility shown by the Jewish Publication So- institution whose efforts we acclaim in this
ciety in its efforts to publish the finest avail- Tercentenary year.
Abba Eban and the New Israel Bond Drive
From all indications, the Detroit effort
to spur sales of the new Israel Development
Bond Issue will meet with considerable suc-
cess. Initial meetings held during the past
two weeks have resulted in the enrollment
of scores of participants in the new effort,
and there is strong hope that Detroit Jewry
will respond as readily to this issue as they
did to the first Israel Independence Bond
Issue, and as they so readily respond to the
appeals for the United Jewish Appeal,
through the Allied Jewish Campaign,
making ours the most generous Jewish
community in the land.
The current bond drive has the good for-
tune of being inaugurated by Israel's most
distinguished spokesman, the Jewish state's
Ambassador to the United States, Abba
Eban, who will be the guest speaker at the
inaugural bond dinner next Wednesday eve-
ning.
"Hatred, Ridicule or Contempt: A Book of Libel Cases," by.
Joseph Dean (Macmillan) is a truly fascinating book. It not only
Europe into the rich and varied tapestry of is instructive, it reads like a series of novels involving human re-
a new American civilization. The fight of a
small people against overwhelming od d s has
appealed to your inherent chivalry. The charac-
ter of our institutions has made America and
Israel brethren in a family of democracies
whose numbers, alas, are more restricted than
we both could wish. The re-birth of Israel was
bound to appeal passionately to millions of
Americans who are joined to us by the links of
a common Hebrew faith and tradition, as well
as to millions of others who revere the Jewish
heritage as the parent source of their own
Christian civilization.
"Thus every circumstance of history and
tradition, of mutual interest and - common as-
piration, of democratic partnership and of re-
gional peace commands us this day to renew
and cherish our fraternal bonds. Let us look
back with thankfulness upon that which this
friendship has already yielded. Let us bear its
banner aloft, above the threatening tensions
of our region and across the differences of
judgment or opinion, which are the right and
sometimes, indeed, the duty of free sovereign
states. Let us labor to preserve our common
purpose against harsh deed or imprudent ut-
terance. May the seventh year of Israel's in-
dependence fortify our partnership, one of the
most noble and moving friendships which has
ever bridged the gulf of space and time."
Mr. Eban is, without question, the ablest
interpreter of Israel's position. He is, at the
same time, the brilliant evaluator of. Ameri-
can-Israel relations. In his address before
the American-Israel Society in Washington,
two weeks ago, he offered most interesting
It is this great friendship, so eloquently
observations on the "impressive encounters described by Ambassador Eban that encour-
. which brought the United States and ages increased support for the struggling
Israel together .. . in so many acts of gen- young state of Israel. It symbolizes Christian
erous statesmenship." In view of the several interest in Israel and Jewry's devotion to its
differences that exist between the two 'needs: It is mirrored in the support we give
states, especially in the matter involving the to the United Jewish Appeal and in the man-
arming of Arab states, his comments are ner in which we assist investment programs,
timely and important. Thus, Ambassador especially the bond issues.
Eban stated, in his evaluation of the great
The bond organization could not have
American-Israel partnership:
chosen a better spokesman for its initial
"Your country's great programs of economic
campaign effort in Detroit. We join in wel-
assistance in grant and loan have made the
coming Ambassador Eban and in expressing
American people a primary architect of Israel's
the hope that the hands , of the builders of
strength and security. The treaty of Friend-
Israel Will be• strengthened through the - bond
ship, Commerce and Navigation concluded re-
drive.
cently between us gives formal status to the
manifold links of an active working relation,
ship. Your Presidents have appointed men of
profound idealism and high capacity to devote
themselves to the cause of American-Israel
friendship in your diplomatic and economic
missions. The streams of your historic experi-
ence, your technological genius, your scientific
and artistic attainments have flowed freely
into the early formation of our economy, our
society and our culture. The American people
Which, with its allies, has contributed so ef-
fectively to the independence of many peoples
and, not least, the peoples of the Arab world,
is entitled to proclaim unqualified pride at what
Israel and the United States have meant to
each other in these six years. Our people which
writes its history with a pen of immortality
will always cherish the memory of this generous
partnership which attended us in the days of
our adversity and solitude.
"Your national memories equipped you well
to understand the enterprise upon which we
were embarked. The struggles of our immigrants
and pioneers evoked the heroic age not yet ex-
hausted of your own immigration and pioneer-
ing; our efforts to build .a new civilization from
so many diverse elements recalls your own suc-
cess in weaving the tongues and • creeds of
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Book of Libel Cases Tells
About Cassel, Laski Issues
End to Segregation
lations.
Mr. Dean deals with English libel cases and explains that *ea
libel, in the language hallowed by centuries of repetition in the
Courts, is the publication of any statement which exposes a man.
to 'hatred, ridicule or contempt.' A more up-to-date definition in-
cludes any matter which 'tends to lOwer a man in the estimation
of right-thinking members of society generally or to cause them
to shun or avoid him.' " Therefore the aptness on the title page
of the quotation from Shakespeare's "Othello":
"Reputation, reputation, reputation! 0, 1 have lost my reputa-
tion! 1 have lost the immortal part of myself, and what re-
mains is bestial!"
Admonishing his readers that "possibilities of libel are infin-
ite," the able author, who has compiled an interesting set of cases
to prove his points, states that "a single malicious or inconsiderate
expression may ruin a reputation:" He therefore indicates that
the existing law "must prevent the cold war of words from turn-
ing into a hot war of swords." He adds: "Libel holds the scale
of justice between the protection of private reputation on the one
hand and public freedom of speech on the other."
We are told in this good book about the various methods of
proving points in libel cases and the number of defenses open to
defendants, about the plea of "privilege, the difference •between
libel and slander, the financial incentives in libel cases and the
part of "blackmail" in such suits.
Especially interesting is the chapter "Reputation by Vio-
lence."—the famous case of the late Prof. Harold Laski who de-
fended himself against the charge that he advocated violence.
He lost the case against the Newark Advertiser and Dr. Laski
had to pay 13,000 pounds in court costs. That was in 1946. in
1949 Laski resigned from th.e executive committee of the British
Labor Party and he died the following year.
Another interesting case described by Mr. Dean under the title
"Winston Churchill and the Battle of Jutland" refers to the charge,
proven to be false, that Sir Ernest Cassel, a former German Jew
who became naturalized as a British citizen, had, on advice of
Churchill, made millions in speculation in 'British stocks during
World War I. Churchill himself and Lord Balfour testified in the
case. They clarified the facts out of which "Lord Alfred Douglas
concocted the most extravagant libel of the century." Lord Alfred
not only lost but was given a prison sentence.
The other cases in the book are similarly interesting and
make instructive and entertaining reading.
'Storm. Over Paris' War Revelations
Blanche Lempel knows Paris and therefore writes with au-
thority on conditions in the French capital city during the Nazi
regime. Her novel, "Storm Over Paris," just published by Philo-
sophical Library (15 E. 40th, N: Y. 16), is a stirring story of
conflicts, of loves and emotions, of Nazi atrocities which have left
deadly marks on the minds of the people.
The story starts before the war„ It relates the life Of. a: Polish:
Jewish girl who met a German, fell in love with him, later feeling
Last week's Supreme Court decision .end- the suspicion and wrath of the young man - who fell under the.
ing segregation in American schools marked influence . of the Nazis and was made a "leader."
the greatest single step in the direction of
A major portion of the book treats the conditions in P•ris, • ,,
when. the Nazis took control. The . tragedies that accompanied the
justice and fair play in our generation.
deportations to labor and slave camps are reflected in this tale..
At last, the unanimous opinion of the , l3lanChe Lempel, who was born in Poland, livedthrough the,
en, inother
greatest court in the land rules against era described in her book. She is now an. American citiz
separating children on account of the Color of four children.
Her novel describes the feelings. of the people of France after
of their skin.
the defeat of Nazism: "Every street fighter was obsessed by a.
It will not be easy to enforce this ruling. single thought; to find his Nazi and settle his own score. They
There undoubtedly will arise sentiments streamed through the city, overrunning stockpiles of ammunition
and warehouses of foodstuffs. And the cornered Nazis, like yellow
which still are rooted in Civil War day pre- dogs,
huddled behind hastily raised white flags, lifted their arms
judices. But justice must triumph, and the high and pleaded sanctimoniously for justice."
latest Supreme Court decision is a step in
In the spirit of revenge, Anna, the heroine of the story, shoots •
the direction of fair play and decency.
Eric the Nazi who was her lover. The Jewess exacted justice and
removed from the scene the person who disturbed her conscience.
The Supreme Court's -historic decision Now she could go back to Pierre who loved her.
gives new strength to the Biblical injunction,
Some doubt will arise in the reader's mind, that Anna should •
engraved . on the . Liberty Bell: 'Proclaim have loved Eric once it became known that he was "leading"
Liberty throughout the Land, unto all the German group. Otherwise, her novel is a well-told story of the
Parisians' loves and struggles before N a zism , ,apd uncle,r. Nazi r11)*.
inhabitants thereof." •
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