Protestant Support Is Voiced for
Jewish Adoption of Catholic Child

BOSTON (JTA)—Support for
Mr. and Mrs. Melvin B. Ellis in
their fight to keep their foster
daughter Hildy in the face of a
court order to surrender the child
'because her natural mother is a
Catholic and her foster parents
are Jewish came from two Pro-
testant sources.
While the Ellises continue to
hide from a warrant and their
attorney continues his legal move,
the New England conference of
the Methodist Church condemned
the Massachusetts law under
which adoptions may be denied
and foster families broken up.
'Particularly do we protest," said
the Methodist conference,
"against the policy of uprooting
a child already secure in a foster
home because of a difference in
religious background between
his foster parents and his nat-
ural parents."
The Christian Science Monitor,
respected national newspaper
published by the Christian Sci-
ence Church, declared editorially:
"Some revision seems needed in
a law that can wrench a four-
year-old child from the only par-
ents it has ever known. Any legal
system structured to permit a
case to run on for years while
ties of child to adoptive parents
constantly strengthen, violates
both reason and feeling, and is
op _ en to severe, censure."
(In New York, a case some-
what similar to that of the Ellises
was revealed with the filing of a
suit to halt the adoption of a five-
month boy by Mr. and Mrs. Ber-
nard Gluckman. The child's un-
wed mother, of the Greek Ortho-
dox faith and a resident of Chi-
cago, charges that she did not
know when she agreed to his
adoption that the Gluckmans
were Jewish. The foster father
says that the entire matter was
thoroughly discussed with the
mother. The suit was filed barely
a week before the adoption be-
came final.)

A bill to permit the Ellises
to keep their foster daughter,

Hildy McCoy, 4, was intro-
duced in the Massachusetts
Legislature by Reps. Abraham
H. Kahalas and Alvin Tarn-
kin. The bill would exempt
from the provisions of the
adoption law children placed
with families before 1954.
Hildy had been with the
Ellises since 1951.
The dOctor who delivered
the child, Dr. Herman C.
Sands of Salem, revealed that
he had told the natural mother
that the couple that desired to
take the child for adoption
. was Jewish. He said that the
mother, Mrs. Marjorie McCoy
Doherty, unwed at the time,
said that the Ellises' Jewish-
ness did not matter. She now
seeks recovery of the child to
turn it over to a Catholic
agency for placement with
Catholic foster parents.
Rev. Myron W. Powell, secre-
tary to the Massachusetts Con-
gregational Christian Confer-
ence, expressed his belief that
the law under which a Massa-
chusetts court has ordered the
Ellises to surrender the child "is
not in keeping with American
principles of religious freedom
and that it ought to be amend-
ed." Granting that religion
should be recognized as a major
factor in the original placement
of a child, he said that the
Massachusetts law appears to
violate the principle of separa-
tion of church and state.
Dr. Kenneth L. Patton, minis-
ter of the Charles Street Uni-
versalist Church, has called for
abolition of the state law, charg-
ing that the idea on which it is
based—that a child is born into
the religion of its parents—is
"abhorrent." Rev. Charles N.
Forsberg, field secretary to the
Massachusetts Baptist State Con-
vention, hit the law as "con-
trary to the purpose of adop-
tion" by subordinating the con-
cern of a suitable home for the
child to the question of religious
preference.

Detroiter s Join Celebrants
in Bar-Ilan Dedication

The Detroit federation of local
leaders, who will participate in
the dedication of Bar-Ilan Uni-
versity in Ramat Gan, Israel,
will join 2,000 educators, gov-

Hebrew Teachers College of Ye-
shiva University in New York.
Bar-Ilan will offer a combined
program of Jewish studies (25
points) and liberal arts subjects,
such as social studies, language
and literature, and math, as
taught in American colleges
(128 points), which will lead to
a B.A. degree. •
Athletic facilities, including a
swimming pool, gymnasium, and
sports fields eventually will be
provided. Dr. Churgin stated that
the aim is not to produce only
clergymen, but men of intellec-
tual stature and integrity with a
religious background.
It is hoped that students ta-
king courses at Bar-Ilan will re-
ceive credit for them in Ameri-
Max
Phillip
can colleges. To establish com-
Stollman
Stollman
parable standards, Bar-Ilan Uni-
- ernment officials and members of versity will be especially selec-
the American committee, in cere- tive during its formative years.
monies on Aug. 7.
Heading the Detroit delegation Scholars to Discuss
are Phillip Stollman, president of
Detroit Mizrachi, and his brother, `Dead Sea Scrolls' in
Max Stollman, national chairman Ann Arbor, on Aug. 1
of the university building com-
"The Dead Sea Scrolls" will
mittee.
be discussed in a symposium at
With them, in the Detroit dele- Beth Israel Community Center,
gation, will be Rabbis Samuel H. 1529 Hill St., Ann Arbor, Mon-
Prero, Max J. Wohigelernter and day evening, Aug. 1.
Hayim Donin; Messrs. Sol G.
Basis for the discussion will
Chinitz and Zvi Tomkiewicz.
be the article in the New Yorker
Twenty-five American students magazine by Edmund Wilson.
and 12 lecturers will arrive in
The speakers will be Dr.
Israel in time to enter new Bar- George Mandenhall, of the De-
Ilan University, located in a partment of Near Eastern Stud-
suburb of Tel Aviv, and open- ies at the University of Michi-
ing its doors of knowledge for gan, who will explore the rela-
the first time this September. tion of the Scrolls to the early
The university's eight completed history of Christianity and the
buildings, which include a syna- New Testament; and Dr. Max
gogue and auditorium, will ac- Kapustin, director of Hillel
commodate 150 students. Future Foundation at Wayne University,
plans call for 24 buildings.
who will discuss the Scrolls in
Sponsored by the Mizrachi Or- terms of the light they shed on
ganization of America, the uni- Jewish history.
versity is named after Rabbi Meir
A discussion period and a
Ear-Ilan, late leader of the Miz- social hour will follow the lec-
rachi movement. Heading Bar tures. All are invited.
Ilan is Dr. Pinchas Churgin, pres-
ident of the American Mizrachi 24—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
movement, and former head of
Friday, July 22, 1955

Prof. Zeitlin Challenges Hebrew University
Scholars on. Dead Sea Scrolls' Authenticity

Continued from Page 1)
we say that the connecting line
was not inserted by the author
but by a later copyist, the ques-
tion again arises, who tampered
with the text, and when? Why
did he take the Scroll from the
cave and then replace it?"
Dr. Zeitlin proceeds to examine
the use of the term kohen ha-rosh
throughout the Scroll, since, in
the Second Commonwealth, the
term used was kohen ha-gadol.
We quote again from Dr. Zeitlin's
expose:
"In the biblical books of the
post-Restoration p e r i o d, like
Haggai, Zechariah and Nehemiah.
we find only the term ha-gadol;
hence, I maintain that this also
indicates that this Scroll could
not have been written during the
Second Commonwealth as the
term was then not employed. It
has been pointed out that the
term kohen ha-rosh does appear
in the Book of Chronicles, which
was written after the Restoration.
It is true the Book of Chronicles
was written after the Restoration;
the author, however, refers to the
history of the time before the
destruction of the First Temple;
hence he uses the terms which
were in vogue throughout that
period. Similarly, Josephus in the
first eleven books of his Jewish
Antiquities uses the term Hebrew,
although in his time the term
Hebrew was not employed, but
Jews. Since in his eleven books
he refers to the period preceding
the destruction of the First
Temple when the term Hebrew
was employed, he uses the term
Hebrew even though in his own
time it was no longer in use."
The use of the word Togar is
questioned. "The word Togar,"
Dr. Zeitlin states, was employed
for a Turk and came into vogue
in the late Hebrew literature, and
never occurred earlier. We can-
not explain how the word Togar
appeared in this Scroll unless we
assume that it was composed in
a very late period. This assump-
tion is strengthened by the fact
that parentheses as well as con-
necting lines between two words
are used in this Scroll."
The contention of Dr. Yadin
that the Scroll "The Sons of Light
and the Sons of Darkness" was
composed in the Roman period
between the time of Pompey and
the last days of King Herod, "in
any event before the destruction
of the Temple," also is challenged
by Dr. Zeitlin, who writes that
Dr. Yadin "said that the name
Ashur referred to the Romans."
Professor Mazar questioned Dr.
Yadin and said that Ashur was
used to designate Syrians and not
Rom-ans during the Second Com-
monwealth. Dr. Zeitlin writes:
"There is no passage in any of the
literatures that have come down
to us, Pagan, Roman or Jewish,
which identifies Ashur with the
Romans. The Romans sometimes
were called Kitim but 'never
Ashur. If the author of the Scroll
really meant the Romans, how
could he expect his readers to
know that when he uses the term
Ashur he refers to the Romans,
since none of the writings of that
or any other period employed the
term Ashur to refer to the Ro-
mans. Furthermore, how can we
explain the names of other
peoples, like Uz, Hul, Maza, To-
gar, the sons of Arpachshad and
the Sons of Keturah? There were
no nations with these names at
the time of the Second Common-
wealth, and there were no Jews
who then belonged to tribes. All
the people who lived in Judaea
were called Judaeans, Jews."
Prof. Tur Sinai had questioned
Dr. Yadin regarding the word
nakhshir in the Scroll and ex-
plained that the word is of Per-
sian origin. Prof. Zeitlin there-
fore asks "how could an author
who lived during the Roman
period make use of one Persian
word which was unkown in Ju-
daea? Why is only One word of
Persian origin used? No other
Persian word appears in the
Scroll. Judging by other terms
and words used in it we may say
that the author did . use the Tar-
gumim, particularly the Targum
of 'Jonathan, which is of late
composition.
There are other passages in
the Scroll which indicate that
the author made use of the
Targum of Jonathan," Prof.
Zeitlin insists. "These contain

terms which are of a late
period."
"We can definitely state from
the instances given that this
Scroll is a very late composition,
and we can find no evidence
which would support the view
that it is of the Second Common-
wealth," Dr. Zeitlin declares.
Furthermore, Prof. Zeitlin writes:
"It has been suggested that
the Scroll is the work of the
Essenes, and one writer even
found evidence for this theory
because the Scroll mentions a
distance of two thousand cubits
from one standard of a camp to
that of another, and Josephus
is said to refer to such an ar-
rangement among the Essenes
in the Judaean desert. Josephus
never mentions a two thousand
cubit distance in connection
with the Essenes. The author
of the Scroll copied the refer-
ence to the distance of two
thousand cubits from the Mi-
drash Rab. of Num. 11, where
it is stated that the distances
from the standards of the camp
should be two thousand cubits.
"There is strong evidence
that the author of the Scroll
made use of the Midrash Rab.
of Numbers, which itself is of
the Middle Ages .. .
"To my mind this is indispu-
table proof that the author of
the Scroll made use of the
Midrash Rab. of Numbers and
the Targum of Jonathan which
are medieval compositions."
Prof. Zeitlin also charges that
it is fallacious to link the Essenes
with a Scroll that involves war-
fare because: "We know from
Josephus and Philo that this sect
was pacific and opposed war. It
is not true that there was a cer-
tain segment among them who
favored war. Josephus in listing
the different sects and groups
who opposed the Romans did not
include the Essenes. It is true that
there, was one named John, the
Essene, among the army generals.
We know that individuals often
do not follow party lines or sects
to which they belong. We have
had fighting. Quakers and cele-
brated generals who belonged to
the Society of Friends; if there
had been a group of the Essenes
who favored war, Josephus would
have so informed us."
Because the war described in
the Scroll "is said to have been
a real, not an imaginary one, and
therefore the Scroll has been re-
garded as very important not
only for the history of the Sec-
ond Jewish Commonwealth, but
also for the history of warfare,"
Dr. Zeitlin asserts emphatically:
"As we have shown from in-
ternal evidence that the Scroll
is beyond doubt a composition
of the Middle Ages, we can rest
assured that it records an ima-
ginary war and is a creation of
the fantasy of the author."
He shows that "many fictitious
narratives were written in the
Middle Ages, some by Jews," and
that many people gave credence
to such stories. He mentions es-
pecially the accounts of Eldad
ha-Dani, the stories in the Sefer
ha-Jashar and the fact that
"People in the Middle Ages, in-
cluding the Jews, were fond of
fanciful tales" which were often
so realistically told that many be-
lieved them to be true.
Dr. Zeitlin makes this chal-
lenge:
"There can be no question

that this Scroll is a late com-
position. It is -worthless for the
history of the Jews during the
Second Commonwealth and the
history of warfare. It is an ima-
ginary product of a Jew of the
Middle Ages.
"The authorities of the He-
brew University in Jerusalem
who announced to the world
the great 'discovery' before the
Scroll was published should

seek to refute my arguments.
They owe this to the scholarly
world. The refutation, however,
must be based, not on mere
opinions of scholars, but on
sources, since all my arguments
are supported by sources."
* * *
Another portion in Dr. Zeitlin's
forthcoming article in the Jewish
Quarterly Review refutes Pro-
fessor Sukenic's claims regarding
"The Thanksgiving Hymn s"
Scroll, and this one, too, Dr. Zeit-
lin argues, could not have been
a Second Commonwealth crea-

tion. He maintains that the words
in this hymn are not those of the
Hellenistic period but were ra-
ther used in Karaite doxolgy.
He asserts that in the Bible
the term odkha Adonai—"I thank
you 0 my Lord"—are used, and
not those of the Scroll, odkha
Eilai. He adds this to his chal-
lenge:
"I trust that my colleagues
of the Hebrew University who
proclaim this Scroll to be of the
Second Commonwealth will en-
deavor to refute me by show-
ing that this sentence odkha
Eilai occurs in the literature of

the Second Jewish Common-
wealth.
* * *

The third portion of his article
challenges Prof. Isaiah Sonne on
"The So Called Letter of Bar
Kokba. Dr. Zeitlin holds that "the
Hebrew text of the so-called letter
of Bar Kokba was unintelligible
and that it was inconceivable that
one who was considered a Mes-
siah by a sage like R. Akiba, was
semi-literate."
The fourth portion is a dispute
with Professor Albright, the emi-
nent Christian theologian and
Hebraist on the "philacteries
among the recent 'discoveries.' "
Here, too, Prof. Zeitlin holds that
the phylacteries were of a later
period and that professor Albright
erred in dating them among the
"discovered" Scrolls,
* *
Dr. Zeitlin plans to follow up
the July article in Jewish Quar-
terly Review with a refutation
of Edmund Wilson's article in the
New Yorker, in October.
The Wilson article, Prof. Zeit-
lin said, to this writer is biased.
He has made to us this very im-
portant statement regarding the
New York article that has attrac-
ted a great deal of attention:
"It seems the controversy
about the Scrolls is reverting
to a theological motif, and a

dangerous one, I believe. Wil-
son following Dupont-Sommer,
has injected a new twist and
invented a messiah, and says in
his article, 'Like him, He was
the Elect and the Messiah of
God, the Messiah redeemer of
this world . . . Like him, He
was condemned and put to
death. Like him, He pronounced
judgement on Jerusalem which
was taken and destroyed by the
Romans for having put Him to
death.' Are Wilson and Com-
pany not trying to put a new -
libel upon the Jewish people
to add to the old?"

Dr, Zeitlin said he was dis-
appointed in Wilson's article be-
cause it is one-sided.
* * *
Dr. Zeitlin takes exception to
many portions of Mr. Wilson's
article, and he especially makes
the following points:

"If someone were to claim
that a manuscript he had
found in a cave had been writ- -
ten by Shakespeare, and if the
ms. contained such words as
`Commies,' Fascists,"Nazi,'
`Reds,' Socialists,"Pinks,'
`telephones," and references to
laws which were enacted in the
time of Queen Victoria, would
any critic accept this ins. as
being authentic Shakespearean?
The Hebrew Scrolls contain
words coined in the Middle
Ages.
"To write about the Essenes
one must be well versed in the
historical background of the
Jewish people of that period.
One point in the case: Mr. Wil-
son says the Manual of Dis-
cipline is the work of the Es-
senes. In this Scroll the term
Messiah is mentioned, whereas
the Essenes did not believe in
and did not exact any Mes-
siah."

*

* *

Thus, serious challenges are
addressed to the Hebrew Univer-
sity's scholars and to Mr. Wilson.
Prof. Zeitlin's refutations reopen
the entire question and create a
demand for a thorough study of
the "discoveries" before they can
be accepted as having been writ-
ten in the era ascribed to them
by sellers and buyers.
Also See Commentary
on Page 2