HAPPY OCCASION!
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, National Editorial Association
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co, 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich., VE. 8-9364
kibscription $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
VOL. XXVII, No. 9
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
Page Four
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
May 6, 1955
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fifteenth day of Iyar, the following Scriptural selections will be readrn our
onagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Lev. 21:1-24:33. Prophetical portion, Ezek. 44:15731.
Licht Benshen, Friday, May 6, 7:16 p.m.
To Jewish Mother: 'Thou Excellent Them All'
Mother's Day, to be observed this Sun-
day as an annual occasion for tribute to the
"woman of valor," provides a coveted op-
portunity to take a glance at our traditions
and to review once again the manner in
which Mother is treated in Jewish history.
For the greatest tribute of all to Mother,
we must again turn to Scriptures. In the
Book of Proverbs is the oft-quoted declara-
tion, used by all faiths to pay honor to valor-
ous women. Mother's Day offers us another
chance to quote these lines from Proverbs:
A woman of valor who shall find: For her price
is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in
her, and he ha-th no lack of gain.
She doeth, him good and not evil all the days
of her life.
She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea,
she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
Strength and dignity are her clothing; and she
laugheth at the time to come.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and the
law of kindness is on her tongue.
She looketh well to the ways of her household,
and eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her
husband also, and he praiseth her:
"Many children have done valiantly, but thou
excellent them all."
not as easily explained today in Scriptural
texts, for these texts are less known today
than they have been. That is why we resort
to Scripture, to quote it for our purpose,
as an encouragement to the Women of Valor,
while giving physical and moral strength to
the child, not to forget our traditions: in
rearing the young, to remember that in-
spiration is derived by the People of the
Book from the Holy Book.
*
Mothers have been honored in many
ways in our history. Grace Sguilar, the bril-
liant Anglo-Jewish writer who produced
some great books before her untimely death
at the age of 31, and whose "Women in
Israel" remains a classic in this field to this
day, was referring to Deborah when she
wrote:
The simplicity and lowness of the proph-
etess is beautifully illustrated by the term "a
mother in Israel." She asked no greater honor
or privilege for herself individually than being
recognized as the mother of the people whom
the Lord alone had endowed with power to
judge.
A Portrait of the Jewish Mother'
Her Children Call Her Blessed'
Franz Kobler, through his "Treasury of Jewish Letters," which
continues to fascinate all who are privileged to read it, is
It is a tribute that c-an safely be applied enriching our libraries with another, similar and equally charm-
to the average Jewish Mother — and its ing book: "Her Children Call Her Blessed: A Portrait of the
application can be assured by universal Jewish Mother," which has just been published by Stephen Daye
Jewish adherence to tradition and faith, by Press (105 E. 24th, NY10).
In this new book, so ably edited by Mr. Kobler, are included
Time and again, these words are quoted the study and knowledge of the Scripture. many
classics: letters and documents that have made history
in praise to woman, and especially to Mother.
On the occasion of this Mother's Day, it and that will be viewed as guides to the subject of the new book:
It gives validity to the old Jewish saying; is timely that the impressive delineation of "the Mother's historic role in Jewish life from Biblical times to
"G•c7d could not be everywhere, therefore he the Portrait of the Jewish Mother, under our own day."
"Her Children Call Her Blessed" blends many emotional
the title "Her Children Call Her Blessed,"
made mothers."
should have made its appearance. This appeals. In it are incorporated the "testimonies to this hidden
We turn to Scriptures on this occasion volume, reviewed elsewhere on this page, kingdom of motherhood," exploring "the Jewish heritage in all
for another reason. Were it not for the- properly evaluates the Mother's place in its branches — Scriptures and post-biblical literature, history,
and fiction."
inspiration of Jewish Mothers, our people's Jewish life. It inspires in us the prayer that poetry,
The editor's introduction is in itself a scholarly approach
cultural survival would have been even more the modern Mother will strive to recapture to his subject. Describing the Mother's position in Jewish life,
difficult. In Jewish folklore, it is the Mother the strength of old by restoring the influence Mr. Kohler points out that "according to the Jewish concept,
who encourages the child to study, who in- of the Scriptures in Jewish life, and that she is surrounded with a sanctity unknown to other peoples.
spires him to learn the Torah, who, as in the she will thereby give renewed validity to The stories of the Biblical mothers abound with the same
well known lullaby, sings "Toireh is die beste another' excerpt from the Book of Proverbs: refrain: barrenness is a reproach, childbirth a blessing . . . The
first prayer to be found in the Scriptures is Eve's thanks to the
s'choire."
Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain;
Lord for the birth of her first child, and the Holy Writ does not
woman
that
feareth
the
Lord,
she
shall
The old lullabys are mostly forgotten, but But a
contain a more sublime hymn than the praise of Hannah,
be praised.
the modern Mothers remain steadfast in
whose prayer for a son has been granted."
Give her of the fruit of her hands;
The title to Mr. Kobler's book is taken from the famous selec-
their devotion to their homes and families— And
let her works praise her in the gates.
tion
from Proverbs, "A woman of valor who can find . . ." One of
husband
and
child.
But
their
position
is
to
the great Talmudic scholars is quoted as never having called his
wife "wife," but "home."
Mr. Kobler, wisely selecting material to describe the deepest
meaning immanent in the name "Mother in Israel," has
Temple Beth El, by honoring The Detroit ficers of Temple Beth El, we accept it also incorporated in his impressive book references to Jewish mothers
throughout the. ages—from Scriptures and the Apocrypha, in
Jewish News, with its deeply moving senti- as proof of the realization by Jewish leaders the
Middle Ages and in modern times, in modern Israel and in -
ments expressed in the Resolution of Ap- of the need for closer links between Jewish the eras that preceded Israel's rebirth.
predation published in our last week's issue, 'movements — religious and philanthropic —
Naomi and Ruth, Deborah, Hanna, the Mother of the Seven
establishes a new policy for communal co- and the only remaining effective Jewish Martyrs and many others precede the chapters which deal with
these historic figures: Gluckel of Hameln, the wife and mother
operation. press in this country.
Dr. Richard C. Hertz, in his presentation of the Gaon of Vilna, Henrich Heine's mother, Leah the mother
Sincerely appreciative of the distinct
Mendelssohn, Rebecca Gratz, Lucie Dreyfus.
honor accorded us by the Rabbis and Of- to us of the Temple's Resolution of Appre- of Felix
Then there are the mothers of Theodor Herzl, Louis D.
dation, stated quite properly that commu- Brandeis,
Chaim Nacham Bialik, Franz Kafka and Sigmund Freud..
nity service is a "two-way street", calling
Included among the heroines in more recent times is Hen-
for cooperation between the press and the rietta Szold. She remained unmarried, "but the spirit of Jewish
institutions it serves.
motherhood never found a more perfect or a nobler manifestation
We are again nearing the end of a very
Naturally, we are flattered by Rabbi than in her blessed life."
In his introduction, Mr. Kobler makes a reservation: "Miriam,
good Allied Jewish Campaign. The responses Hertz's compliments—by his assertions that
apparently are generally good. There are we have served his congregation well and the Wife of Joseph mother of Jeshua of Nazareth who walked in
many increases over last year. There is the that his congregation desires to show its ap- ways of the prophets of Israel and taught the ethics of the
has, by the same token which led to her canonization,
usual enthusiastic cooperation in many quar- preciation. His statement, however, is more Fathers,
been. separated from other Mothers in Israel. The very incom-
ters.
than flattery: it is evidence of recognition mensurability with which she has been invested alienates her
But we are far from the goal. It is a rep- of the need to strengthen the English-Jewish tragically from the company of her sisters. Every single attribute
etition of the former experiences in our cam- press, because an effective press will mean constituting the Madonna—her blessedness before all women, her
virginal maternity, the bearing of God, and her assumption—.
paigns: there is always an excellent first an effective Jewish community.
dear as they are to the hearts of Christians, are not only incom-
beginning, but it is always hard to collect
The American Association of English- patible with the basic ideas of Judaism but also a challenge to
the last million.
Jewish Newspapers will convene in Boston, the all-embracing sanctity of Jewish motherhood, to the blessed-
That is why it is so vital that the cam- and for several sessions at Brandeis Univer- ness of the joyful mother of children, to the holiness of every
paign workers should not tire in their efforts, sity, next week-end. It will be a good occa- Jewish mother on every Sabbath eve . . . 'Every Jew might be the
that we should have a large army of volun- sion for the editors and publishers of all our Messiah, every Jewess a mater dolorosa.' Moses Hess, the modern
Jew
teers, that those who have not as yet con- English-Jewish newspapers to consider the Jewish prophet, has thus restated the undying hope of the
tributed should cooperate by voluntarily importance of the step first taken by Temple for the coming salvation of mankind and his faith in the election
Mothers in Israel."
remitting their pledges or by calling for Beth El—as a development from proposals of all Mention
must be made of the farewell written by Haya
volunteers to call for them.
made at the recent biennial convention of Feldman, one of the 93 martyred daughters of Israel, students
Time is running short. A sense of re- the Union of American Hebrew Congrega- of the Beth Jacob School in Poland, who ended their lives rather
sponsibility to the community, from which tions in Los Angeles—for the strengthening than submit themselves to shame and humiliation at the hands
no one dares • separate himself; to Israel, of the cooperative efforts between the Jew- of the Nazis. This historic letter--"We washed our bodies and
whose position must be defended; to all our ish press of America and the religious and we -grew clean • . ." is included in the Kobler anthology under
heading "Mothers of the Unborn."
local, national and overseas causes, demands philanthropic organizations of our commu- the Scholars,
saints and laymen will be equally moved by the im-
that all of us work together to assure the nities. '
pressive selections incorporated in this book.. A typical example
The Detroit Jewish News meanwhile has is the letter of the famous sainted Gaon of Vilna, taking leave of
success of the 1955 Allied Jewish Campaign.
This is an expression of hope that the the great privilege of being the first Ameri- his wife and his mother, upon his departure for the Land of Israel:
"How the Baal-Shem Comforted a Bereaved Mother" and a
volunteers will not tire and that all potential can Jewish publication thus to be honored.
score
more of similar episodes, Chassidic stories and historical
We
are
grateful
to
Temple
Beth
El
for
its
contributors will cooperate by remitting their
this magnificent book. "Her
pledges at once. The last campaign steps gesture of friendship. In acknowledging it, narratives, add magnificent pages to
rule work, :.unequalled. *231 Ate
-a,
Children
Call
Her
Blessed
is
truly
we
regfirrp..
our
sec]
cation
to
service
to
eased
they can
A 'Two-Way Avenue' for Community Service
The Last Prospects
are the hardest, but
cooperative community.
))37
Je.wry.
cope in previous literary productions.
.