The DO 6i - to a Better World
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 Asso-
. *tailor'
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich., VE.
8-9364. Subscription $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
FRANK SIMONS
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
City Editor
° Sabbath Scriptural Selections
our
This Sabbath, the ninth day of Elul, 5715, he following Scriptural selections Will be read in
synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 21:10-25 :19. P rophetical portion, Is. 54:1-10.
- Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 26, 6:56 p.m.
VOL. XXVIi, NO. 25
Page Four
August 26, 1955
Our 'Bill of Rights' Under Scrutiny
On Oct. 3, the U. S. Senate Subcommit-. country to fight for the idea and to refuse
tee on Constitutional Rights, under the chair- to permit any dent to be made into the demo-
manship. of Senator Thomas C. Hennings, cratic clause that keeps the state free from
Jr., of Missouri, will commence public hear- religious pressures.
is unfortunate that opposition to the
ings on the subject of the proper interpreta- religious
tion of the first clause of the First Amend- idea of separation of church and state should
ment to our Bill of Righti, _which reads: be so evident, so frequently, and especially
"Congr e ss shall make no law respecting. from Catholic sources. A typical example of
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting; such an attack upon the separation idea will
the free exercise thereof." be found in the Aug. 13 issue of the Pilot,
These hearings will be a serious chal- the official organ of the Boston Archdiocese,
lenge to all who are concerned that the where we read, under the heading "McCol-
principle of separation of church and. state lum Ruling Allows Atheism in U. S. Schools,"
should be adhered to. It is • our contention that: The superintendent of _the Cincinnati
that the challenge is directed especially to archdiocesan schools, Msgr. Carl J. Ryan,
the religious leaders in this country who speaking at a panel discussion at Miami Uni-
should be the first to fight for the established versity, t '0., declared that if an educator were
American ideal, in order that the fear of "to teach atheism' or attack religion. there
religious pressure upon government, or would be "no legal way to stop him.' He add-
ed that this fact is "making the opponents of
governmental interference with _religion,
religion a privileged group" because they
should never materialize.
can "halt the teaching of religion in the
* •
After the Constitution of the United schools."
If this were true, our country would
States .*.as adopted 166 years ago by the
have collapsed spiritually long ago, consider-
first U. S. Congress, it- was- felt thLt a more
explicit program was needed, to assure in- ing that the separation policy has been in
force more than a century and.a half. During
dividual and state rights. The result was
—
col- the lifetime of our Republic, many atheists
the adoption of the "Bill l of Rights'the
were heard from, and many of them had
lective name given to the first ten amend= held important public office. Some of them
ments to the Constitution. _
were Presidents of the United States, al-
Now the Congressional subcommittee seeks though a number of them, upon assuming
data on the beliefs of - the people of this office, became church members. In no in-
country as to the proper observance and stance, however, do we know of an atheist
correct interpretation of the First Amend- who had undertaken publicly to attack the
v
ment, and the following - eight questions
ha - e American way of life or to abuse the re-
been incorporated , in a questionnaire- feelings of his fellow-men. Nowhere
pared for that - ourriose:
"d6-46- :find evidence of intrusion of atheists
1. Name, affiliation and identification of into our public school system.
person answering% •
*
*
2. A Yes or No anSwer is asked to this:
it is our contention that the teaching of
"Do you regard the phrase 'make ,no law religion is a private matter, to be pursued
respecting an establishment of religion' as a by parents in the home and by religious
prohibition against any direct or indirect groups in their houses of worship after
Government aid to churches or religious school hours. Those who choose to provide
sects? Or do you regard the language as ban- for their children full-time religious instruc-
ning preferential treatment of any pagticular tion are at liberty to enroll them in parochial
church or religious sect while permitting schools, and such liberties must not be in-
Government aid to religion generally or to terfered with. But such rights must not be
the various churches and sects on a non- used to force upon the community at large
discriminatory basis?"
religious instruction within our school sys-
3. "Do you believe the free exercise of tems in which children of all faiths must
religion protects atheists in
a meet on equal ground—therefore on a non-
disbelief in reli
gion?"
sectarian basis: therefore, without the ming-
4. "Do you consider that the United
ling of church with state, of fusing religion
States Supreme Court is correct in inter-
with the accepted curricula of our schools.
preting the religion clause in conjunction
We believe, also, that religions will
with the Fourteenth Amendment as con-
prosper more—as they have in recent years,
stituting a prohibition against acts by state
contrary to the pessimism expressed by the
and local governments as well as against
Catholic prelate who was quoted in the Pilot
acts by- the Federal Government?"
—when there is no interference from the
5. "Have you observed any significant state. We believe also that the moment a
instances in recent years of a denial of the
foothold is gained within our schools for
rights expressed in the religion clause?" Cor-
religibus instruction—even if it is limited
respondents are asked to list instances if
to "release time" teachings—an avenue will
the answer is "yes."
be paved for the destruction of the ideal es-
6. "(a.) If your answer to Question five
tablished by the First Amendment. Then we
is yes, do you consider such instances you may cease to be a free democracy and we
cite as routine problems in the course of life
may be endangered by the same influences
in a democracy which can be handled satis-
which have led to the establishment of re-
factorily by the courts? (b.) Or do you con-
ligious castes within governments in deca-
sider them as evidence of a tendency to per-
dent countries in Europe and in Asia. This
mit erosion of the rights expressed in the
must never be permitted. The task of all,
religion clause?"
,
who recognize The importance of the First
7. "If you have checked 6b do you think
Amendment in our "Bill of Rights" to our
that the tendency could be corrected or
existence as a great nation, is to fight for
eliminated by some Congressional action?"
its protection. They must let the Senate Sub-
If the answer is "Yes," correspondent is
committee on Constitutional Rights know
asked to specify the nature of such Con-
their views.
gressional action.
8. "Speaking generally and "considering
the deep emotional nature of religious be-
Organization of a Detroit Caravan to
liefs, do you feel that the present state of
Israel represents another step in the direc-
affairs in the United States with respect to
tion of stimulating increased interest in Is-
rights in the religion clause is: excellent,
rael on the part of- our community's leaders.
good, fair, poor?"
.
Planned under proper guidance, with an
Because there are continuing dangers itinerary that will include the most impor-
tant Israeli centers, the participants in the
that the separation idea may be destroyed by
elements who do not appreciate or fail to, Caravan will have an opportunity to gain a
understand the basic American principle in- better understanding of Israel's needs and of
the Jewish state's relationship to Jewish
herent in the First Amendment, we choose
communities throughout the world.
to answer the last question first. In view of
Such a tour should serve as a stimulus
the frequent recurrence of threats to - the
to greater efforts in behalf of the Allied
separation principle, we are not prepared
to answer""excellent," but we are ready to Jewish Campaign, as well as other move-
say unhesitatingly that the present state of ments that are active in Israel's support.
Formation
of the tour -is . a commendable
affairs is good. We believe it will remain
,
good because there are enough people in this und6rtalKing.
•
Caravan to Israel
Dr. Marcus' Splendid Book
'Memoirs of American Jews
American Jewish historical episodes are excellently recon-
structed in the first volume of Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus' "Memoirs
of American Jews: 1775-1865," the newest of the Jewish Publication
Society's books. This book throws new My "
light on the development of the Jewry
of our country.
By means of travel notes, diaries, pen-
sion records, apologiae of an autobiog-
raphical nature and court-martial pro-
ceedings, Prof. Marcus presents an in-
formative as well as an entertaining story
about American Jewish pioneers. As the
director of the American. Jewish Arch-
ives at Cincinnati, as well as professor
of history at Hebrew Union College-Jew-
ish Institute of Religion, Dr. Marcus has
made a. careful search for historical ma-
terial, and this new volume adds glory
to an already splendid record of achieve-
ment in his field of history and research.
Dr. Marcus explains that most of the
Dr. J. R. Marcus
59 memoirs—which were selected from
80-odd available at the Archives—were written in :English; some in
German and in French. We are also informed: "Adolphus S. Solo-
mons ascribed Yiddish phrases to Lincoln, but that was poetic license
- on the authors part. Mr. Solomons was just trying to be cute."
Much light is thrown on American history in these Memoirs,
yet they are part of Jewish experience, the distinguished -author tells
us. "The division between general history and the history of the Jew
in the United States is frequently arbitrary and artificial," Dr.
Marcus writes. "Every aspect of Jewish life here is part of Ameri-
can life, even the perennial hustling of Rabbis.Lees,er and Wise to
create new congregations."
The reader will learn from,Prof. Marcus. the status of the im-
migrants in the years covered by his book, the -type of people who
came here, the incentives for their coming -here, the _countries- they
came from. Their beginnings were as peddlers, many of whom were
greatly disillusioned, many of whom had, succeeded, some tried to
colonize as farmers a0er . their disappointments. in peddling.
The claim that the Jewish peddler was a- cultural force is
discounted. Dr. Marcus states: "They were foreigners who spoke
little or no English; th-y were frequently miserably unhappy.
What. cultural values could they bring to the Mitsissippi planter
or to_the successful Massachusetts farmer who subscribed to three
or four American. newspapers and magazines? . . . At most,
through the goods which he supplied, the peddler helped main-
tain and possibly further the American standard of living. He
served a useful purpose as a purveyor of goods not ideas."
The religious and social aspects of the Jewish- settlers, their ac-
culturation and assimilation, their participation in the life of this
country are described in remarkably interesting -
There are notes on anti-Jewish prejudices, with special refer-
ences‘to the memoirs of two of America's famouSlevis,. the publicist
Mordecai Manuel Noah and Captain Uriah P. Levy,- of :the United
States Navy. The reader will be amazed -to learn that the man who
was . primarily responsible for the separation - of church and state
idea, President James Madison, and his • Secretary of State,. James
Monroe, "removed Noah from his office as consul at Tunis,- primarily
because of his religion."
Jewish life in this country during the Civil War finds a .special
echo in the author's introduction and in some of the memoirs.
"Southern particularism, nullification, seceSsion„ slavery, and the
Civil War are the themes of many .of the annalists whose writings
are now published for the first time - Dr...marcus states
works, their thoughts, their prejudices, are facets of the social and
cultural life of an emerging America ending with the close of the
Civil War in 1865."
-
s vOlume are: Three
Among the personalities incorporated in thi
Generations of Cohens, a Pennsylvania Family; Mordecai Sheftall,
of Georgia; David Salisbury Franks, soldier and courier; Captain
Mordecai Meyers, veterans of the War of 1812; Uriah Phillips Levy,
the Navy's stormy petrel; Mordecai Manuel Noah, politician, play-
wright, writer, the first American Zionist; Raphael Jacob .Moses,
Southern romantic; Joseph Jonas, the first Jew to come to Ohio;
Alfred Mordecai, brilliant West Pointer; Ellen MordeCai, an idyllic
story of a Jewish woman's life on a Virginia farm; Joseph Lyons,
Southern diarist; Clara . L. Moses, who reminisced about life in
Natchez, Miss.; Haimon Philip Spitz, pioneer Maine merchant; Wil-
liam Frank; Pilgrim Father of Pittsburgh Jewry; Louis Stix, humble
merchant who became a millionaire; Jesse Seligman, financier;
Henry Seessel, typical German Jewish immigrant; August Picard,
artisan.
Each memoir carries with it a story of great merit. In each is re-
fleeted the pioneering spirit. Combined, they 'form . an important
story about American Jewry. Dr. Marcus has helped enrich the
American Jewish, bistosy ko,okshelf
with his "Memoirs of American Jews."
TeMciltelIVY,