- The Hebrew Commonwealth and the
Government of the United States

By OSCAR S. STRAUS

An AJP Tercentenary Feature

PART 3
from under the thraldom of
The historians and writers on Pharaoh, and establish their
political science, in tracing' the , national independence and civil
origin of democratic govern- freedom.
m.ent. refer invariably to the re-
and State Separation
publics of Greece, assuming that Church
Came After Red Sea Crossing
civil liberty was first cradled
Having crossed the Red Sea;
there under their SolonS and
Lycurguses. We must locik fur- the first significant step taken
Ihei• back than either Athens by Moses is the separation of
or Sparta, for the origin of the
blessings which we enjoy, . and Church and State, by causing
which are guaranteed to us the priestly duties to develop
under the forms of popular gov- under Aaron, and the military
ernments.
command upon Joshua, while
Moses retains the entire charge
Hebrews Set Precedent
of the civil administration, un-
For True Democracy
The form of government out- til about the third month of the
lined by Moses and practically wanderings, when they arrive at
developed under Joshua and his the foot of Mount Sinai. Then
"It came to pass on the mor-
successors, first embodied the
principles upon which the rights row that Moses sat to judge the
and liberties of a people should ; people." When Jethro, who had
rest and be sustained. The He- joined Moses, saw how he was
brew Commonwealth originated occupied in judging between one
and organized a civil polity ; and the other, he very wisely
which the matured experience counselled Moses how to dele-
Of after - ages selected as the gate his authority for the
most perfect form of govern- greater advantage of his people
and with benefit to himself.
ment.
Government Of and For
Administration of Moses,
The People of Israel
Joshua and the Judges
These biblical passages dis-
The Hebrew Commonwealth
embraces that period of the his- tinctly prove the practical es-
tory of the children of Israel, tablishment and adoption of the
tom the Exodus to the selection essential principles of demo-
of Saul as King; that is, during cratic government. First, that of
the administration of Moses, representation the text is
Joshua and the Judges, about (habu); take you or select for
550 years, according to the gen- yourself not that I will make
erally approved chronology from rulers over you of my own selec-
about 1650 B.C.E. to 1099 B.C.E tion; but Ile words of Moses
The sight of his suffering are "Take you and select for
brethren filled Moses with grief yourselves," and such as you se-
and turned his thoughts to de= lect I will make them rulers.
vising methods for their relief. Secondly, we discover here the
He abandoned the splendor and- recognition and adoption of the
luxury of the palace to lead the principle of civil equality in its
life of a simple shepherd in fullest application, in that we
Midian, where he remained for find that the rulers and officers
40 years, in the meantime were not to be taken from any
doubtless perfecting plans to se- special favored or privileged
cure the release of his enslaved class, but "out of all the people."
brethren. He married the daugh- And who were these rulers to
ter of Jethro, a priest of the be? Were they to be men of
Midianites, and a man Of much wealth from any particular
wisdom, as appears from every tribe or family. No, they must be
allusion to him, and from the men of recognized fitness and
excellent advice he gave to capacity, of high moral worth,
Moses. Forty years having pure and righteous men, who
elapsed, Moses reappears in would not betray their sacred
Egypt as the deliverer of his trust for selfish ends." Able men,
people, with his plans and such as fear God, men of truth,
methods all carefully arranged hating covetousness - wise men,
for the accomplishments of his and understanding, and known
noble purpose. In the narration among your tribes." These were
of his manner of the release, the qualities that the represent-
doubtless the real and the fig- ative must possess, that are as
urative are intertwined in ac- all - sufficient now as they were
cordance with the style of the then, and of which the Ameri-
writers of the ancient East. The can people were continually re-
release is effected, and the chil- minded during the period of
dren of Israel, numbering 600,- their • organization of govern-
000 men capable of bearing ment by the public orators and
arms, which represented, ac- preachers of election sermons.
cording to the generally ac-
cepted estimate, a total popula- 24—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
tion of 3,000,000, march forth
Friday, October 8, 1954

ook Reviewers' Seminar Formed by
City-Wide Annual Book Fair Committee

Technology Holds Key
To Israel's Future,
Prof. Einstein Says

Israel "can win the difficult
battle of survival only by de-
veloping painstakingly the in-
telligence and expert knowledge
of her young people in the field
of technology," Prof.. Albert Ein-
stein declared in Prinston, N. J.,
Sunday, at a convocation at
which he and Prof. James Frank
each received the honorary de-
gree of Doctor of Science in
Technology from Technion, Is-
rael Institute of Technology.
Two 'hundred educators, Israel
'officials and Jewish leaders at-
tended the conferment cere-
mony and luncheon held at
Princeton Inn, under the spon-
sorship of the American Tech-
nion Society.
Prof. Franck, who left re-
search studies at the University
of Chicago to share honors with
his friend and fellow-scientist,
concurred with Prof. Einstein on
the importance of technological
education in Israel.
Prof. Einstein said he had
seen "with great satisfaction"
how well • Technion fulfills its
task of providing technological
education in Israel. "Every bit
of practical help that the Jews
in this country are giving to
Technion contributes effectively
to the development of Israel's
economy," he concluded. -
Prof. Franck said that "the
work done by Technion and the
spirit in which it has been done
shows that faculty and students
alike know what was and what
is at stake, and how important
their task has been and will
remain."
J. W. Wunsch, president of the
American Technion Society,
represented General Yaacov
Dori, president of Technion, in
conferring the degrees on the
two Nobel Prize winners. The
candidates were presented by
Dr. William Fondiller, honorary
president of the Society.
Wunsch revealed that approx. !.
imately $3,000,000 had been rais-
ed nationally by the ATS toward
the $10,000,000 sought in this
country as part of the Greater
Technion building fund.

Vichy Regime Forced
To Depart Jews to Death

PARIS, (JTA) — The Vichy
government was ordered by Nazi
Germany to surrender Jews for
deportation to the East and at
that point the French collabora-
tionist government was forced
to choose between sending to
their death French Jews or Jews
of other nationalities residing
in France, Jacques Bousquet,
onetime Secretary - General of
Interior and Chief of Police in
the Vichy government, testified
at the trial of Nazi Gen. H.
Oberg, the notorious "Butcher
of Paris," and his aide, Col. Hel-
muth Knochen.
Bousquet told the military tri-
bunal trying the Nazis for war
crimes that Vichy had not de-
sired and had attempted to de-
lay the deportation of Jews to
the "new state" in Poland which
the Nazis told Vichy they were
creating for Jews. He asserted
that under the treaty of peace
between France and Hitler Ger-
many, Vichy could not protect
non-French Jews.

The city-wide committee for ter next Thursday, at 1:15 p.m.
the third annual Book Fair an- ' Other sessions will follow on the
nounces the formation of a Book three successive Thursdays
Reviewers' Seminar to be con- through Nov. 4. For information
ducted during the month of call Mrs. Rubin at the Jewish
October.
Center, TR. 5-8450.
Four Seminar sessions will be
directed toward deVeloping
greater skill in book reviewing.
Members will have an opportun-
ity to read and hear discussed
Copyright, 1954, by Aiwioset Jowled) Prim
the best in current Jewish liter-
ature. By November the group
will be available to present book
reviews to community organiza-
tions.
With the theme of the Book
Fair "Know Yourself as an
American and a Jew" as its
guide, the committee has col-
lected for the Seminar the most
recent books as well as classics
in American Judaica. The review
of these books in this Tercenten-
ary year offers an unusual pro-
gram opportunity for Jewish or-
ganizations.
Among the leaders of the Sem-
inar will be Mrs. Harry Ober-
stein and Mrs. Harry '14, Jack-
son, The first session will be

Sole Worshipper Hears
Special Blowing of Shofar

A special performance of the age-old Rosh Hashanah ritual—
the blowing of the Shofar—is given by 14-year-old "ELLIOT BURNS,
whose sole listener is OSHER BARAHAL. Ill and unable to go to
the synagogue to pray, Barahal had stated his most urgent New
Year's wish- was to hear the Shofar blown. Mrs. Barahal took the
matter up with Rabbi Jacob M. Chinitz, of Cong. Ahavas Achim,
in which synagogue they were to have worshipped on the holiday.
Rabbi Chinitz called on Elliot who played the Shofar at Junior
Congregation services at the synagogue. Elliot readily agreed to
comply with Mr. Barahal's wish, and the Shofar trumpeted with
special meaning in the Barahal's home. The tie of youth to age
provided the true signi.ficance of Rosh Hashanah—the closeness
of people of good will which provides the true hope of peace for
all mankind.

Spanish Officials Halt Holiday Services
In Madrid; Build Synagogue in Barcelona

• NEW YORK, (JTA) — The primarily at the Protestants—
Council of Christian Social Pro- who are also barred from public
gress of the American Baptist
Convention condemned the ac- worship under Spanish law —
tion of Madrid police in barring and that it has no anti-Semitic
the holding of Rosh Hashanah overtones, it is believed here that
services by Jews in a private hall the regular publication of Am-
nesto's articles is an indication
of a hotel in that city.
some official circles are
At the same time, the Baptist that
sympathetic
to his anti-Jewish
group praised the intercession
of the United States Embassy in views.
Last week-end, American Jews
Madrid with the Spanish au-
thorities to permit the services. in Spain brought to the atten-
The ban on the hotel service, tion of U. S. Ambassador James
which was held last year with C. Dunn the police ban on the
the permission of authorities, hotel services. His inquiries at
followed recent publication in the Foreign Ministry brought the
the Spanish press of articles and reply that the Foreign Minister
reports from abroad highly crit- was out of town and that noth-
ing could be done in his ab-
ical of Jews.
The most outspoken of these sence.
--However, a service was held
anti-Jewish articles were writ-
ten by Felipe Fernandez Amnes- in a small dwelling in Madrid.
to, press attache of the Spanish It was led by Rabbi Alex Fis-
Embassy in Washington, who al- chel, who came from Paris ex-
so acts as correspondent for a pressly to conduct the service.
number of important Spanish In Barcelona this Rosh Hashan-
ah the Jews of that city opened
newspapers.
Despite protestations in some the first synagogue to be erected
Spanish circles that the ban on ; in Spain since the expulsion of
the Jewish services was aimed ! Jews in 1942.

U. S. Group•Adopts $500,000 Budget
For Financing Hebrew Education

NEW YORK, (JTA) — The
adoption of a $500,000 annual
budget . for the financing of a
Hebrew educational and cultur-
al program in the United States
was announced here by the He-
brew Language and Culture As-
sociation. The project is linked
to the observance of the Ameri-
can Jewish Tercentenary and
aims at recreating the Hebrew
langue as a"strand in American
culture."
Dr. Samuel K. Mirsky, profes-

5. Marranos in Recife Brazil

THE TERCENTENARY STORY

teld at the Davison Jewish Cene.

sor of Bible History at Yeshiva
University, Dr. Samuel M. Blu-
menfield, Jewish Agency direc-
tor of education and culture,
and Morris B. Newman were
elected to the presidium of the
association. Dr. Blumenfield an-
nounced the opening of free
courses in Hebrew. Dr. Ben
Zion Dinur, Israel Minister of
Education and culture, present-
ed the association with the first
six volumes of a Hebrew ency-
clopedia.

Text by DAN !IL ELAZAR

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