THE JEWIA-I NEWS Fertile Planting Area Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicl e commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 Mernber 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 eubseription $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. 11 SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertising Manager FRANK SIMONS City Editor Page Four May 20, 1955 Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath. the twenty-ninth day of lyar, 5 715, the following Scriptural selections ?pill be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Num. 1:1-4:20. Prophetical portion. I Sam. 20:18-42. Licht Benshen, Friday, May 20, 7:31 p.m. Rosh Hodesh Sivan Scriptural selection, Sunday, Num. 28:1-15. Licht Benshen, Thursday, April 26, Erev Shevuot, 7:37 p.m. Our Youth and Their Jewishness We are approaching the season of grad- uations, consecrations and confirmations and should begin to think again of future plan- ning for our young people, of their place in our community, of their attitudes towards our communal programming. There is justifiable concern over the in-' difference which has marked such attitudes in recent years. We may have been totally blind to reality in believing that only our youth have become indifferent to our com- munal - life when, as a matter of fact, a cal- loused adult - population, whose maturity should have caused many of our people to become more fully - integrated in our com- munity's efforts, is responsible for inactivity that is reflected in the ranks of the young. Nevertheless, it is impossible to absolve youth from responsibility to its Jewish hell- tag-e. * A short time ago, Associate Professor of English Charles I. Glicksberg, of Brooklyn College, in a provocative article, • "College Youth and the Future of Judaism," in the well-edited and scholarly quarterly, "Juda- isin," published by the American Jewish Con- gress, asserted that "there is no need for alarm" in considering the problem of youth and their Jewish interests. He charged that those who are "emotionally upset by the alleged immorality or irresponsibility of the young are making a bad mistake—a• mistake born of poor judgment and lack of faith. It is evident they have little confidence in the spiritual conscientiousness, the intellectual seriousness, the moral earnestness of the younger generation of Jews in college." So far, so good. We have pleaded in these columns on numerous occasions for under- standing of our youth and for recognition of the problems that beset them in an age of universal military service. But fears are not allayed but increased upon reading this con- clusion 'r ea c h e d by Prof. GliCksberg: "Though -the young in college feel a deep sense of solidarity with their own people, it is, in large part, a solidarity forged in the fires of suffering, cemented by the experience of homelessness and anti-Semitic persecution, driven home by the psychology of alienation. It is not a religious bond and it cannot be that in the old sense." * * * It would be well to examine what is meant by bonds "in the • old sense." For several decades the question was debated whether Disraeli, who was baptised on the eve of his Ear Mitzvah by a father who carried a grudge against his congregation, should be listed as a Jew. Benjamin Disraeli himself took greater pride in his Jewish heritage than his father Isaac D'Israeli. We . have accepted him and have been proud of his attainments. But, if we continue to ac- cept a viewpoint that the "religiouss bond" is not necessary for the forging of solidarity, what will be left of us? As human .beings, and as Jews, we rejoice in our kinship with the Zangvvills, the Einsteins, the Salks, the Frankfurters, the • Menuhins and the Gabrilowitsches and all who have made lasting contribution's to human develop-. ment. But what would happen to Jewry if the acts of geniuses were to encourage all our young people to feel that the religious ties are less important than the cementing of common bonds encouraged by anti-Semitism, and if, thereby, intermarriage were to be- come an accepted and a common practice? What has happened to the offspring of Einstein whose first marriage was outside .the Jewish .fold? The glory of Einstein for Jewry has died with Einstein. What happens tc all other strayers from the fold? Even a Christian can fight anti,Semitism, and Prof. Glicksberg tells us that the only issue on which Jewish college Youth "are strongly united is that of anti-Semitism." While aligning ourselves with those who have faith in the - ultimate emergence of a Jewishly-loyal youth, we must reject any suggestion that . such loyalty can possibly be. divorced from our faith and that it can flour- ish only because of the threats from anti- Semitism. Without the traditional and the religious bonds, we are not secure. * * * We must return to Prof. Glicksberg for an interesting occurrence that is applicable to our discussion: "No modern. Jewish educator has ever de- manded that Jewish college youth confine themselves within a cultural ghetto. ob- jection is to the frank disvaluation of all all things Jewish and to the exaltation of whatever is not Jewish.. Any cultural contribution stamped with the label Jewish or Hebrew is immediately suspect. One Hebrew writer brought up his daughter to love the Jewish cultural heritage; she accompanied him on his trip to Palestine, and she studied Hebrew with enthusiasm. When she enrolled in Brandeis University, he hoped that the congenial intellectual atmos- phere there would stimulate her interest in Judaism and deepen her love for all things Jewish. Unfortunately, the daughter now. in- sists on rejecting all that the father believes in. Though he has published a number of ex- cellent works in Hebrew, she never mentions them to her friends. What is the remedy? What is the emotionally disturbed father to do? He cannot win her back by angry rebukes. He must be patient, with the patience born of wise understanding. There is no need for alarm. It takes a long time for the young to grow up and revolt. When these young men and women in college come of age, they will settle down as Jews to a life of communal re- sponsibility, eager, like their fathers before them, to preserve and perpetuate the spiritual treasury and cultural wealth of their people." We welcome the illustration of what has happened, and can happen again, to children of very cultured Jewish parents, and we con- cur in the admonition that we must be pa- tient. But a responsible community Must study the problem with the aim of solving it, not by sacrificing heritage--L-and our heritage must include the spiritual and prophetic as well as cultural and civic-protective elements. Furthermore, we can not limit our think- ing to the straying youth alone, in the hope that they will return to the fold of their fathers "to preserve and perpetuate the spir- itual treasury and cultural wealth of their people." If they are to return to spiritual wealth, we must retain such treasures among the elders; and if the youth have nothing to return to, then, once again, there is the danger of total 'Jewish disintegration. In our planning, account must be taken not alone of the children but also of the parents. * * * Our youth may even now be more loyal to its heritage than we realize. Yet the col- lege youth respond only in limited numbers to the appeals of the Hillel Foundations. Our youth movements have weakened. The post- Bar Mitzvah, post-consecration and post- confirmation classes are infinitesimal and Jewish studies have declined. Later, when they approach their thirties, our young peo- ple accept positions of leadership in fund-raising. Then they become like their elders: more effective as campaigners for philanthropic causes than as culturists. Therein, perhaps, lies the root of the prob- lem we are troubled with. And if we know the cause, perhaps we can find the cure. There must be a realization that the vital fund-raising campaigns are not the be-all- and-end-all of Jewish living. They are ur- gently needed for the support of all that is holy and dear in Jewish life. But these ef- forts can be made easier, fund-raising can become less difficult, when the needs are Fully understood. An understanding of these needs calls for knowledge of our position as Jews, an acquaintance with our history, our being rooted in Jewish traditional living — and that includes the synagogue. We may not have offered a solution, but we are pursuing the discussion of a problem: the problem of youth which, we are con- - vinced, is linked with the problems of their parents. Once we have strengthened our en- tire community's cultural position we may find a lessening of the.problem of youth's de- clining interest in Jewish life. -aa JER L - News Note: A survey shows that, suspicions of "foreigners" and having little contact with Jews, farm dwellers are prone to myths and old wives' tales and are yielding to anti-Semitic propaganda, `Land and People of Israel ' : Self-Imposed Challenge' . ! Re-published in a revised edition as part of the Lippincott "Portraits of the Nations Series," "The Land and People of Israel,* by Gail Hoffman, is a charming and inspiring book. The author, a native Philadelphian, who first visited Palestine in 1925, returned to the Holy Land in 1935 and lived there for 10 years. She went back again to modern Israel and now is a com- petent and authoritative lecturer and writer on the new state, its people, its climatic and geographic status and conditions, its prob- lems, its growth, its progress and fascinations. This able writer tells her story well. She has captured the spirit of the new land and knows its people. She knows the Israelis—Jews, Moslems, Christians—and writes about all of them. Few volumes of its type describe the Arabs, their habits and their approaches to their new conditions under Israeli rule as well as Gail Hoffman. For an informative text on the ways of Israel's life and oil the Arabs' adjustments to modernity and to Israel, young and old readers, searchers for truth, should turn to Miss Hoffman's book. She deals with the prosperity of the new land with expertness. She describes the Israeli adventure as an unfinished drama, as a "self-imposed" challenge, and declares that "it is the determina- tion to hold the gates of the land wide open to every Jew who seeks entry." The 45 illustrations and the map and the index will be found helpful. "The Land and People of Israel" is a valuable addition to the Israeli book-shelf. B . G. R. Says There is Another Jewish Laurence This man spells his name somewhat differently and is also different in several other respects from the man we dealt with in a previous column, and who once upon a time rendered some aid to the Zionist cause. William L. Laurence, the Science Editor of the New York Times, now comes into special prominence as the exponent .and interpreter of the late Dr.- Albert L. Einstein who • has revolutionized the knowledge and thought of modern times. Laurence has previously displayed his special gifts as the popu- larizer and exponent of the new science of nuclear power, and his exposition of the Hiroshima explosion remains a classic. Laurence is one of our very own in more senses than one. He has helped-in technical and scientific activities in behalf of Israel and has in different ways manifested his interest in Judaism, Jewish life and Jewish literature. He is a felloW Litwak and I would like to think that that explains his personal charm, his geniality and sense of humor. We have had some pleasant personal contacts, but I never asked him where he got his name because he then - would have asked me where I.got mine and the truth of the matter would go back to a long, involved and perhaps inevitable process of Americanization, assimilation and similar motives which may in these times receive excessive acceleration. Laurence has his disciples and followers, and one of them who has attracted considerable attention lately is another fellow-, Jew by the name of Albert Q. Maisel, who has for a number of years appeared in different magazines with articles on involved scientific subjects, and now comes forward for the first time with an essay on a Jewish question. He has written a comprehensive and sympathetic sketch of American Jewry for the April numbei oi Reader's Digest, and the article is called "The Jews Among Us." Now .who is Albert Q. Maisel? The. answer will "come easily if you will remember a friendly and genial bookseller and publishet who for many years carried on his business on the lower East Side. Max N. Maisel's bookstore, first on East Broadway, was gathering place for intellectuals for half a century. What. is more important was that Maisel distributed good Jewish books in Yiddish and English in many thousands of copies and his influa ence was undoubtedly felt in many communities throughout our land. If a pour writer or student came and needed the books, but had no money, he got the books anyway. For Maisel had a passion for fine literature and a burning desire to have all readers and students share his intellectual pleasures. Maisel belonged to an extreme radical group of intellectuals, but as his interests were chiefly literary and cultural he never became involved in too intense controversies. He is a person of fine charm, intense devo- tion and unparalleled integrity. The publication of books involved him in difficulties and losses and subsequently he carried heavy burdens to entirely redeem himself from debt. He has now retired from active duty and his helpful services will long be missed by many book-lovers. Albert Q. is of course a son of Max N. Maisel, and outside of the younger man's own achievements, the merits of his honored father are bound to r01OPTIO. to hisstanding and ',a:Bernard position in life.