Here's One Already in Operation

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., VE. 8-9364
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

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-fifth day of Sivan, 5714,, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, NUM. 16:1-18.32. Prophetical portion, I Sam. 11:14-12:22.
Rosh Hodesh Tammuz Torah Readings, Thursday and Friday, Num. 28:1-15.

Licht Bensheti, Friday, June 25, 8:12 p.m.

VOL. XXV, No 16

Page 4

June 25, 1954

The Aims for Peace in the Middle East

Wisconsin's Senator Alexander Wiley,
chairman of the Senate- Committee on For-
eign Relations in an address at an Israel
bond dinner in Dallas, Tex., offered this as-
surance on the question . of the arming of
Arab states by the United States: •
"We of the United States can and will
do our part. We .must help provide reason
and objectivity. But we must not and will
not supply, matches to blow up the fused
powder-kegs of war. No arms in particular,
must be recklessly and prematurely given
which might wreck the already 'shaky
peace of the Mid-East. The greatest care
must be exercised so that not a single bul-
let or gun in arms aid is used for purposes
of aggression."
This is an encouraging statement. But it
must be accompanied by more definite ac-
tion than has been shown until now as a
guard against putting matches to pbwder-
kegs.
As matters stand today, the Arab states
can very easily divert weapons provided them
for defense purpose for use against Israel.
This aggravates the serious dangers in the
Middle East which has enormous opportuni-
ties for expansion but whose peoples instead
are compelled to arm for • self-defense. Israel,
instead of devoting all her energies to the
economic upbuilding of the country, is forced
to retain a strong. army whose personnel
must be provided with weapons.

It is fortunate that the men in Senator
Wiley's position understand the issue. The
Wisconsin Senator, in his address in Dallas,
"spoke of peace to the 'people of peace' " and
paid Israel this compliment:

"I speak of the people fulfilling today the
ancient Biblical prophecies of a land redeemed
and a people .saved—the people of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the people who first brought
to mankind the knowledge of the All-Knowing,
All-Seeing, All-Powerful Creator, the One God,
incorporeal, just and merciful.
"This is the 'people of the Book,' the holiest
Book of mankind—the people who have never
forgotten that 'from Zion shall go' forth the
law'; From out of Zion was to go forth the
message—as it has gone forth—to fill man-
kind anew with the glory of God and of God's
children.

"In Zion, on ground sacred to mankind's
three great religions—Judaism, Christianity
and Islam—is being redemonstrated the
heights which the human spirit can reach in
building, in creating, in developing."

The peace referred to by the chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is
possible only in 'an area where there is eco-
nomic security. Israel strives for it and seeks
to influence her neighbors to work in the di-
rection of amity and cooperation. This can be
achieved not through armament but through
disarmament. It can be attained "in building,
in creating, in developing." Working together,
Israelis and Arabs can turn the deserts of the
Middle East into garden spots. Let this be the
aim of all men of good will, especially of
Americans who refuse to tolerate unsavory
political schemes of those who, like the Arab
effendis, seek to perpetuate the poverty of
the fellahin for the sake of the retention of
their own powers. There can be an end to
the powers of the exploiters, who seek war,
by averting economic crisis in Israel and by
\ assuring the cooperation of Israelis and
Arabs.

New York's Participation in Tercentenary

One of the interesting developments in
plans for the celebration of the American
Jewish Tercentenary was the decision of the
New York State Legislature officially to par-
ticipate in the important observance. The
designation of a 25-man commission repre-
senting the Empire State gives added im-
portance to the celebration.

. Governor Thomas E. Dewey's message
makes interesting references to the celebra-
tion, as follows:

"Our nation is made up of the descendants
of immigrants who brought with them to this
nation the dream of a brave new world in
which they might realize longings for personal
liberty, freedom of worship and equality of
opportunity. The Jewish satlers who landed
in the tiny,Dutch colony of Nieuw Amsterdam
in September of 1654 symbolized the aspirations
of all pioneers. In them were nurtures: the
ideals of liberty and freedom later to be en-
compassed in, the Declaration of Independence
and our Bill of Rights.

"Together with other pioneers they helped

to develop our commerce and industry, our
great institutions of learning, our governmen-
tal institutions. They poured into the melting
pot the vigor and hopes which have contrib-
uted so greatly to the inner strength of this
nation and enabled thirteen struggling colonies
to fuse a government which, within less than
two centuries, has assumed the responsibility
of leadership among the freedom-loving na-
tions of the world.

"In this State and nation we have reaffirm-
ed on many occasions and in many ways our
fundamental devotion to the cause of human
dignity. We have unceasingly striven to make
equality of opportunity for all men a reality
and liberty of conscience and religious worship
our hallmarks."

In every community in America,impor-
tant events will mark the Tercentenary. In
our own community, it is expected that the
Library and Historical Museum exhibits, the
participation of public officials and the re-
ligious ceremonies will add status to Ameri-
can- Jewry's position. This is, indeed, a most
important year on U. S. Jewry's calendar.

The New Hebrew University Campus

.

In 1918, in the midst of the great war,
the cornerstone was laid on Mt. Scopus, at
Jerusalem, for' the Hebrew University, by
Dr. Chaim Weizmann. The Earl of Balfour,
author of the famous Balfour Declaration,
and representatives of -universities through-
out the world participated in the ceremony.
The university opened officially in 1925. But
the campus was cut off from the rest of
Jerusalem by the Arabs during Israel's War
of Liberation.
Since that time,' temporary quarters were
established for the university in the New
City of Jerusalem and enrollment has more
than trebled, from 870 in 1949 to more than
3,100 this year.
New faculties have been added to the
university, including the Law Schobl and the
University Ha.dassah Medical School. The
medical school also•:will. -include: a dental,
college.
But the university is.scattered in 39 build-
..t. g.
14 ,E
u .61'4 A .1 ,11.44 ;:f

!

ings in all parts of Jerusalem. While the
Israel-Jordan General Armistice Agreement
of April 3, 1949, established the principle of
the "resumption of the normal functioning of
the cultural and humanitarian institutions
on Mt. Scopus and free access thereto," Jor-
dan has refused to implement this Article
VIII of the agreement.
As a result, Israel finds it necessary • to
erect a . new campus near the Capitol
(Kirya).
The dedication of the new Hebrew Uni-
versity c a m p u s, as . Dr. James Mar-
shall, president of the American Friends -of
the Hebrew University, stated, is to mark : a
return to one
. of "the most beautiful mil-
puses in the world."

.

Christian-Jewish Conflicts in Usury

Will Durant, eminent philosopher, in his latest book, "The
Renaissance" (A History of Civilization in Italy from the Birth of
Petrarch to the Death of Titian-1304 to 1576"), published by
Simon and Schuster (630 5th Ave., N.Y. 20), makes reference to
usury and usurers. Dr. Durant writes:
"The Church condemned all taking of interest as. usury.
Preachers inveighed against it; cities—Piacenza, for example-7—
sometimes forbade it under pain of exclusion from the sacraments
and from Christian burial. But the lending of money at interest
went on, because such loans were indispensable in an expanding
commercial and industrial economy. Laws were passed prohibiting
a higher rate than 20 per cent, but we hear of cases where 30
per cent was charged. Christians competed with Jews in money
lending and the town council of Verona complained that the
Christians exacted harder terms than the Jews; public resentment,
however, fell chiefly upon the Jews, and occasionally led to out-
breaks of anti-Semitic violence."
"The Renaissance" is a thorough study of the period under
review, resulting from the author's lifetime of study and numerous
visits in Italy for the gathering of necessary material.
"Everywhere today in Europe and the Americas," the author
concludes, "there are urbane and lusty spirits—comrades in the
Country of the Mind—who -feed and live on the legacy of mental
freedom, esthetic sensitivity, friendly and sympathetic under-
standing; -forgiving life its tragedies; embracing its joys of sense,
mind, and soul; and hearing ever in their hearts, amid hymns of
hate and above the cannon's roar, the song of the- Renaissance,*

IIOenig's 'The Great Sanhedrin'

Many misconceptions about the Sanhedrin are clarified in
Dr. Sidney B. Hoenig's "The Great Sanhedrin," published by Drop-
sie College and distributed by Bloch.
Analyzing the development and functions, as. well as the
composition of the Beth Din Ha-Gadol of Jerusalem—the Great
Court that functioned during the Second Jewish Commonwealth,
Dr. Hoenig reviews the emergence of the court during the Has-
monean period. His book is an important historical narrative of
the events of that era. It evaluates the court procedure as well
as the personalities who were active in . its development.
His book also describes the "Beth Din Shel Kohanim" which
was limited to ritual practice, and he points out that "the reli-
gious-legislative body was the Great Sanhedrin," which was the
final court of appeal.
Judicial procedure, the quorum necessary for the court to
function, the "prosbul" as a court document in the issuance of
degrees are evaluated in this study.
The year , 66 C. E.—four years after the destruction of the
Temple—is given as the exact date of the dissolution of the Great
Sanhedrin.
Of special interest is the explanation of the attitudes in that
era to capital punishment. It was opposed by the sages who aimed
to curb it, Rabbis Akiba and Tarfon having declared that "a court
killing a person even once in 70 years was a murderous court."
An instance of leniency followed by the Pharisses, corroborated
by non-rabbinic sources, mentioned by Dr. Hoenig, is that "flogging
should not exceed 39 strokes."
Dr. Hoenig's "The Great Sanhedrin" is not only a valuable
study of the Sanhedrin but also is a worthy addition to historical
material on the Second Jewish Commonwealth.

`Jew's Duties': Kitzur Shulhan Arukh

"The Jew and His Duties," by Hyman E. Goldin, published•by
Hebrew Publishing Co., 77 Delaney St., is an ethical presentation
of "the essence of the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh."
Among the rules described by Mr. Goldin g who is well qualified
to deal with the questions of Jewish Law, are • those of the Home
and the Synagogue (Prayers and Torah), the Sabbath and Festi-
vals, business dealings, family relations, etc.
Commencing with "The Doctrines of Judaism," in which he
deals with Revelation of God to Man and Reward and Punishment,
Mr. Goldin proceeds to cover the entire field of deportment, moral
laws, regulations affecting marriage, circumcision, burials, etc.
"The Jew and His Duties" is a very valuable handbook for all
who seek information- regarding Jewish laws, rules of observance,
Bar Mitzvah regulations-7 in fact, all the rules affecting Jewish
living.

Bar Mitzvah Addresses

"On This Day" by Judah L. Wise, published by Bloch, is ap-
propriately titled. It is, as the sub-title to the book states, a book
of "Brief Bar Mitzvah Addresses Based. on the Portions of the Week
World Jewry 'acclaims. the event, ,and (Sidrot) for Each Sabbath of the Year . •
American Jews are- certain, as in the past,
The author explains in his introduction that "this book is the
to give wholehearted 'support to this 'great outgrowth of many years of experiencC in the ,eduqa,tion of
dren in their preparation for Bar MitzVali-:' t. • '•
cultural and humanitarian venture.
.
*:4 .44 ft I 0
tfits4
41,11.1111,11111.31

-