Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Tragic Passover Anniversary: Remembering Warsaw Ghetto
Passover marks a tragic anniversary—that of the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising. This year there will be another impressive
ceremony here in tribute to the heroes who defied the Nazis.
An interesting "Ritual of Remembrance for the Six Million
Jews who perished at the-hands of the Nazis, and for the heroes
of the Ghetto uprisings," prefixed with the assertion "Lest We
Forget," has been prepared by the eminent historian, poet and
novelist, Rufus Learsi. It was written as part of the observance
of the Passover Seder "wherever the Seder is celebrated," and it
is suggested that the text, printed attractively by the Committe
for a Ritual of Remembrance (1776 B'way, New York 19), be kept,
in the Passover Haggadah.
The ritual consists of three parts. After the third of the four
traditional cups, just before the doors is opened for the symbolic
entrance of the Prophet Elijah, it is suggested that all rise and
recite the following, first in Hebrew—given in the available folder
—and then in this translation:
'On' this night of the Seder we remember with reverence
and love the six millions of our people of the European exile
who perished at the hands of a tyrant more wicked than the
Pharaoh who enslaved our fathers in Egypt. Come, said he to
his minions, let us cut them off from being a people, that the
name of Israel may be remembered no more. And they slew
the blameless and pure, men and women and little ones, with
vapors of poison and burned them with fire. But we abstain
from dwelling on the deeds of the evil ones lest we defame the
image of God in which man was created.
Now, the remnants of our people who were left in the
ghettos and camps of annihilation rose up against the wicked
ones for the sanctification of the Name, and slew many of them
before they died. On the first day of Passover the remnants in
the Ghetto of. Warsaw rose up against the adversary, even as in
the days of Judah the Maccabee. They were lovely and pleasant
in their lives, and in their death they were not divided, and they
brought redemption to the name of Israel through all the world.
"And from the depths of their affliction the martyrs lifted
their voices in a song of faith in the coming of the Messiah,
when justice and brotherhood will reign among men."
Israeli Composer Marc Lavry to Participate
In Tercentenary Music Festival March 30
Over a. month later than it
Under Frohman's skillful ba-
had been planned, but never- ton will be an ensemble of 20
theless enthusiastically awaited musicians from the Detroit Sym-
in the community, the Ter- phony Orchestra who will sup-
port the chorus.
•
Highlighting a program of all
Jewish composers will be the
presentation of "Dos Neie Lied,"
an oratorio by Frohman-Raisin.
In conforming with the Tercen-
tenary theme, the program Will
feature the works of American-
jeWish composers.
The huge chorts is comprised
Sonenklar
Frohman
of the Halevy-Farband, Music
Shaarey Zedek and
centenary Music Program, under Study,
Workmen's Circle Choral groups.
the chairmanship of Morris
The evening's program will
Schaver, will be presented at
be prefaced by remarks by Mrs.
Schaver, and greetings in behalf
of the Detroit Tercentenary
Committee of 300 by its chair-
man, Philip Slomovitz.
Rabbi Jacob E. Segal will
speak on "Jewish Music and the
Tercentenary."
There will be no admission
charge for the concert, to which
the public is invited, because of a
grant by the Jewish Welfare
Federation covering all Tercen-
tenary expenses.
MARC LAVRY
Between You and Me
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1955, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, inc.)
The Communal Scene
The Hebrew and the English of the above form the first two
MRS. EMMA SCHAVER
parts of the Ritual. The third part is the singing of the "Ani
Maamin"—the music having been obtained from the Jewish 8:15 p.m., Wednesday, at Temple
Welfare Board—and the assertion:
Israel.
"I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah;
Word was received earlier thiS
and though he tarry, none the less clo I believe!"
week that Marc
It is an innovation, and it is thanks to the deep understand- Lavry, the noted
ing and the warm devotion of a man like Rufus Learsi that we Israeli composer
are in Position to have so stirring an addition to our Passover and pianist, will
ritual. May it help strengthen our faith in the ultimate triumph participate i n
of justice and may it give renewed courage to those who-struggle the program.
for liberty!
Lavry will play
several compo-
Tanay Moiseiwitch and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival
sitions on the
The excitingly interesting revised and augmented edition of piano, and will
"A History of the Theater," by George Freedley and John A. direct some of -
Reeves, which Crown Publishers (419 4th, NY16) released this the other pieces.
Schaver
week, contains this paragraph:
Guest soloists to be featured
"Tanya Moiseiwitch (1914- ) has definitely come to the fore on the program include Mrs.
both as a scene and costume designer. From 1941 to .1944 she Emma Lazarus Schaver, inter-
employed her considerable talents at the Oxford Playhouse and nationally known Detroit so-
after 1944 for the Old Vic. The Stratford, Ontario, festivals of prano, and Cantor Jacob H.
1953 and 1954 boasted such names as Alec Guinness, James Mason, Sonenklar, of Cong. Shaarey
and Tyrone Guthrie, yet the name that remains above them all Zedek.
is Moiseiwitch."
A 125-voice choir will be di-
This is a glowing tribute and those who have had the good rected by Dan Frohman, who
fortune of seeing the Stratford productions will concur with Mr. has regained his health after an
Freedley in this evaluation of the work of the great designer. illness that postponed the ori-
(She is the daughter of the great Jewish pianist, Benno Moisei- ginal Feb. 20 concert.
witch).
This year, Miss Moiseiwitch returns to Stratford to supervise
the designing of scenes and costumes for three plays—"The Mer- Educator Is Speaker
chant of Venice," "Julius Caesar" and "Oedipus Rex"—which will
be staged from June 27 to Aug. 27. The inclusion of the play In Franklin Series
about Shylock has aroused considerable discussion and it will be
"Power Relationships a n d
most interesting to watch further reactions to the play, the man-
ner in which the role of Shylock will be interpreted by the great Patterns of Personal Develop-
Czechoslovak refugee actor, Frederick Valk, and the possible ac- ment" will be discussed. by Dr.
A. H. Maslow, professor of psy-
ceptance of and recognition to the play.
Meanwhile, the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada, chology, Brandeis University, in
thanks to the ingenuity of its founder and the director of plan- the third lecture of the Leo M.
ning, Tom Patterson, remains one of the great theatrical crea- Franklin spring series, Monday,
tions of our time—and Tanya .Moiseiwitch is among its great 8:30 p.m. in the Detroit Art In-
stitute Lecture Hall.
architects.
Before joining the faculty of
* _
Brandeis University, Dr. Maslow
Cultural Freedom: . Recalling the Nazi Atrocities
taught at the University of Wis-
Those who were so concerned about "cultural freedom" dur- consin, was a Carnegie Fellow at
ing the discussion over the visit here of the Nazi-led Berlin Or- Teachers College, Columbia, and
chestra are invited to read our review of "The Laughton Story" was associate profesSor of psy-
on the editorial page of this issue.
chology at Brooklyn College. .
Here is a record, in the Stefan Zweig incident, of Nazi ac-
He is co-author of "Principals
tions in which those who participate in and lead the Berlin Or-
of
Abnormal Psychology" and
chestra may have had a great share. But we of the latter half of
author of "Motivation and
the 20th century are asked to forget what had happened to the Personality," two leading texts
civilized world, at the hands of the Hitlerites, in the last decade in the psychology field.
of the first half of our century.
Dr. Maslow is president-elect
No, we can't forget the six million, and we do not want future
of the Division of Personality
generations to forget them. Only by remembering can we possibly and
Social Psychology of the
prevent the recurrence of Nazi brutalities. That is why we joined
in the .protest against the appearance here of the Berlin Nazi-led American Psychology Associa-
tion. -
orchestra.
The lecture is open to the
. *
public without charge.
An Anti4sraeli Jew Tramples Upon the Quality of Mercy
Perhaps we should, by this time, be altogether accustomed to
the shockingly arrogant accusations that emanate against Zion-
ism, Israel and American Jewry from the American Council for
Judaism—a Council that has been aptly described as being neither
American nor Jewish. But the haughty and overbearing insolence
with which Rabbi Elmer Berger has suggested that, 10 years hence, ,
the $99,000,000 relief drive of the United Jewish Appeal, emphasis
in which is laid in 1955 on the emigration needs of North African
Jewry, may "be revealed as a story of intrigue and deception mo-
tivated by the need of. a State rather than a human effort moti-
vated by human need" transcends all bounds of decency.
Surely, this Judaism Council spokesman knows what has hap-.
pened to Jews in Moslem countries; - the pogroms in Libya; what is
occurring daily in that area to make life for Jews miserable•. Dr.
John Slawson, in his explanation of the North African situation,
was most charitable to the Moslems.
But the former Pontiac and Flint rabbi dares to use the terms
"intrigue and deception" in his reference to the UJA! How long
will his own associite.tolerate .sUch kidecency.2 . .
°
Senate Gets Stamp Bill
To Mark, Jewish Tercentenary
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Sena-
tor John Marshall Butler intro-
duced a bill in the Senate di-
recting the issue of a special se-
ries of three - cent postage
stamps commemorating the
300th anniversary of the arrival
of the first Jews in America. In
introducing the bill, Senator
Butler noted the participation
of Jews in Columbus' voyage
and the arrival of the first Jew-
ish settlers in New York in 1654.
The choice of Dr. Joseph 3. Schwartz as executive head of the
new Israel bond organization is considered by Jewish leaders all
over the country as an excellent move by the Israel government
It is felt that the naming of Dr. Schwartz to the post hitherto
held by Henry Montor automatically solves the problem of coordi-
nation between the bond drive and the UJA campaign . . . This
makes the leaders of the Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds
feel certain there will be no further conflicts over fund-raising ...
They also feel that the sale of Israel bonds will receive a new
impetus under Dr. Schwartz, although all of them admit that
Montor had a terrific drivine. force ....It is considered certain that
in addition to the backing which the Israel bond campaign, re-
ceived from Jewish community leaders during the Montor ad-
ministration, Dr. Schwartz will succeed in attracting new influ-
ential elements behind the sale of bonds .. :In fact, Dr. Schwartz'
acceptance of the new post. is an indication that the top leadership
of the UJA is entirely convinced that a successful bond effort iS
absolutely essential ...In the meantime, Montor is extremely co-
operative during the transition period which will probably last
about two months ... His cooperative attitude leaves no doubt in
the minds of numerous Jewish leaders that his views—which led .
to his parting with the bond organization—stem from his sincere ;
conviction that the sale of bonds without restriction as to timing
is necessary for the success of the campaign ... The Israel govern-
ment hopes to attract Montor to new projects ...It would espe-
cially like to see Montor take charge of a campaign to stimulate
tourism from the United States ...It is felt in Israel government
circles that there are great possibilities for attracting American
Jewish as well as non-Jewish tourists to Israel and thereby increFAK
ing Israel's dollar income ...It is also felt that if anyone can do
the job, Montor is the man.
*
The Washington Scene
Now that the American policy with regard to Israel has been
made clear by the State Department, American Jews find them-
selves in exactly the same position as the Jews of Britain when
Palestine was under the British Mandate • _British Jewry, which
loves Britain, was nevertheless placed by its government in a
position where it could not help but criticize British action in
Palestine ...This has n.w become true for American Jewry which
certainly cannot approve a U. S. policy excluding Israel from de
fense arrangements in the Middle East ...High officials in the
State Department, when they discuss privately the objections that .
Israel is being isolated by American-sponsored defense pacts
among Moslem countries, have a ready-made excuse ...They point
out that India, which is also a non-Moslem country like Israel, is
similarly affected by the Pakistan-Iraqi pact, which is actually
a treaty among Moslem countries strengthening Pakistan vis-a-vis
India ...However, these officials avoid mention of the fact that in
reply to India's objections, the United States has offered India A
separate treaty which India rejected ...No such separate treaty
has been offered Israel, and it is no secret that Israel would wel-
come such an offer ...In fact, it is begging for it, as long as the
Arab countries object to her being included in any general re-
gionakdefense pact...State Department officials claim that in
order to allay Israel's fears, the U.S. has asked the Arab nations to
accept Israel' as a member of the Middle East community ... They
insist that the main objective of the U.S. policy in the Middle East
is the security of the region' as a whole ...However, one has to be
pretty naive to expect that the Arab states will at this moment
comply with the U.S. request to accept Israel into the Middle East
community ... This naturally, leads to Israel's isolation, which can
only be solved by the State Department's extension to Israel of a
separate security arrangement.
The Israel Scene
There is a good deal of satisfaction in Israel overthe fact that
Scrip prices have just-been reduced, on the eve of Passover when
American Jews are sending many Scrip certificates to their rela-
tives as gifts ... The reduction is about 25 percent, thus the new
price of a two-pound package of frozen meat is now $2.60 instead
of $3.10 ...Nescafe now costs •$1.00 instead of $1.50 ...The price of
butter has similarly been reduced ...The reduction was made pos-
sible principally by :educing the commission paid to agents in the
United States ...Instead of a 30 percent commission, the agents
will now receive about 10 percent _Another factor contributing
to the reduCtion is a new agreement signed-recently between Scrip
firms in the United States and Israel government ...Under the
terms of the agreement, the companies will turn over to the Israel
Treasury, as heretofore, 42 percent of their sales in dollars .... But
the payment will be effected in three installments: 10 percent
upon the granting of the import license, 50 percent upon the re-
ceipt of the goods and 40 percent two months later ...Previously,
Scrip firms were required to transfer 25 percent upon the granting
of the license, and 75 percent upon receipt of the goods ...The
new. prices,-will apply only to the new series of Scrip eertificAteit
2 — DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, March '25; 1955
recen
tly placed, on sale */