Our Synagogues' Holiday Planning See Page 19 * HE JEWISH A Weekly Review Opening of Our Community Schools See Page 28 VOLUME 28—No. 1 Moral Right to Self-Defense: * Israel Fights for Her Freedoms The American Way of Jewish Events Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper—Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle 27 1 7 100 W. 7 MILE RD., Detroit 35—VErmont 8-9364—September 9, 1955 Commentary, Page 2 $4.00 Per Year, Single Copy 15c 'Profound elief' Is Felt Over Easing of Middle East Tensions; Egypt, Israel Censured by MAC Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News U. of M. Hillel Crisis Averted Leonard Simons Spearheads Effort Leading to Mortgage Burning Dinner on Sept. 14 The security of the Bnai Brith Hillel Foundation Build- ing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is being assured, thanks to the speedy action taken by a group of public spirited Jews who stepped in to rescue the building from a financial crisis. Leonard N. Simons heads the group of interested people who undertook to avert a crisis when it became known a few days ago that a $130,000 mortgage on the - building was in default. Built at a cost of $430,000, the Michigan committee for the U. of M. Hillel Foundation found it difficult to raise the $130,000 due on the mortgage. Ben Bras- ley of Pittsburgh, who originally gave $55,000 toward the building fund, declared himself ready to donate an additional $15,000— rovided the mortgage was wiped out before Rosh Ha- shanah. Isidore Sobeloff, di- rector of the Jewish Welfare Federation, was informed about the emergency situation and he, in turn, called on Mr. Simmons Leonard N. Simons and urged him to interest his • friends in the issue and to make a serious effort to solve it. Neither an active' Ben Brith nor a U. of M. man—as • Mr. Simons explained—he nevertheless became the rescu- ing angel of Michigan's Hillel Foundation. Within one week, his dynamic try at the issue went so far that there will be a mortgage burning dinner at the Standard Club, in the Sheraton Cadillac Hotel, next Wednesday evening. Mr. Simons',.,already has secured Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld, national director of the Bnai Brith Hillel Foundation, as a guest speaker for the dinner. He hopes to have U. of M.'s President Clarence Hatcher as an- other speaker, and he seems confident_ that by that time, or at that time, enough money will be raised actually to wipe out the mortgage and indeed to 'burn it" at the dinner. Back of this effort is the interest- ing story of Mr. Simons' dynamic try at an issue that for a time appeared hopeless. The people who were re- sponsible for the construction of the i building seemed unable to cope with the situation. But Mr. Simons, having undertaken the job, was adamant. He Dr. Lelyveld secured more money from Bnai Brith leaders, he re-enlisted the efforts of Irwin Cohn, Abe Kasle, Sidney Karbel, Osias Zwerdling of Ann Arbor and many others. He gave a large personal gift, and the others added to their gifts. He succeeded in reducing the $130,000 sum to $33,800 in a week's time, and last Friday afternoon he called the interested people together to plan additional strategy. The meeting on Friday ended with a shortage of only $24,900—and this is the sum that will have to be raised by next Wednesday—or on Wednesday, to make the dinner a mortgage-burning ceremony. Now that the story is told and the dinner arranged, Mr. Simons hopes that Bnai Brith members,_ U. of M. graduates and parents of "M" students, as well as all who are inter- ested in assuring the safe existence of the Michigan Hillel, will come forth with gifts to provide the sum necessary to herald the news that the crisis has been averted. The men who helped solve the crisis, under the chairmanship of Leonard Simons, included his partner Lawrence J. Michelson, Irwin Cohn, Max Osnos, Abe Kasle, Emil Stern, Jason Honigman, Sidney Karbel, Louis Schostak, Harold Shapiro, Harold Goldberg of Pontiac, Louis Glick of Jackson, Emmanuel Harris, Maxwell ospey, Harold Kaplan, Max Fisher, Judge William Friedman,. avid Miro, Harry Yudkoff, Dr. William Haber and Osias Zwerd- ng of Ann Arbor., LONDON—British Foreign Office officials Tuesday expressed their 'profound relief's that Israel's accidental border crossing in the Gaza area, in violation of the new cease fire agreement had not led to untoward results in disturbing the truce. Official cricles indicated here that there had been far more concern over the Israel border situation than had been revealed in official British expressions during the past. week. The savage outburst of violence on the Israel-Egyptian frontier during the last two weeks served as a strong reminder here that the border guarantees contained in the tri- partite declaration, and those proposed by S ecretary of State Dulles in his recent Middle East policy speech, were not sufficient to restrain Arab marauders or Israel retaliators. A significant feature of the past fortnight has been the almost unanimous acceptance by the British press of the fact that Israel had no alternative but to retaliate against the Egyptian "commando" attacks. Egypt has been largely regarded by the press and by weekly journals of opinion as the villain in this particular piece, and the bulk of cri- ticism for disorders of the past two weeks was laid at Egypt's door. The Egyptian press is still boasting about Egyptian "commando" raids on Israel ter- ritory "evidently with the encouragement of the government," the Times of London re- ported from Cairo Tuesday. The correspondent added that the press is "representing Is- rael as having been forced to sue for peace." MAC Rules Both Egypt and Israel Guilty of Attacks JERUSALEM—Both Egypt and Israel were found guilty Tuesday in the clash on Aug. 22, near Mefalsim, on the Israel-Egyptian frontier, which touched off a series of battles which took more than a hundred lives in the past two weeks and almost termin- ated the Israel-Egyptian armistice. Egypt was condemned for having precipitated the incident by attacking an Israel patrol and also for having shelled the settlement of Nahal Oz. Israel was condemned for having captured the Egyptian military p ost which had opened fire on Israel. - The double censure was voted by the Israel-Egypt Mixed Armistice Commission in a 14-hour "emergency" session which began Monday and concluded Tuesday. The com- mission first heard the Egyptian complaint over the incident and then the Israel counter, complaint. Major Francois Giacommagi, chairman of the commission and member of the United Nations Truce Observance Organization, first voted with Egypt to censure Israel over the incident and then voted with Israel_ to censure Egypt. Maj. E. L. M. Burns, head of the truce organization, did not attend the session. The incident arose when an Egyptian military post opened automatic and shell fire on a routine Israel patrol moving along the d' rnarcation line inside Israel territory. The Israel patrol was caught on a flat terrain with no cover from Egyptian fire. In order to extricate the patrol, Israel authorities dispatched reinforcements in half tracks. They captured the Egyptian post, disarmed its garrison and held the point for two hours before withdrawing. An. Egyptian officer and three soldiers were killed in the encounter and nine were wounded., The Egyptians then directed heavy gunfire on the settlement of Nahal Oz. Two Israel soldiers were wounded by shellfire. The Egyptian complaint, which receive d priority in the commission's discussions, (Continued on Page 2) In Search. for Truth Regarding the Hebrew Scrolls Scholars Deny Antiquity of Documents Interest is deepening in the viewpoint of Dr. Solomon Zeitlin, of DroPSie College, editor of Jewish Quarterly Review, who maintains that acceptance of the recently-found Dead Sea Scrolls as belonging to the pre-Christian era is a "falsification of history." Support of Prof. Zeitlin's view, as pre- sented in The Jewish News on July 22, was expressed by Rabbi Mortimer J. Cohen, of Philadelphia, in a communication published in the Sept. -.2 issue of The Jewish .News. Dr. Zeit- lin's position also is upheld by a number of people in Israel who are skeptical about the authenticity of the Seriphs, and by Dr. G. R. Driver, Fellow of Magdalen - College and Pro- fessor of Semitic Philology at Oxford Univer- sity, England. Dr. Driver's analysis is incor- porated in a 50-page brochure, "The Hebrew Scrolls, From the Neighborhood of Jericho and the Dead Sea," published by Oxford University Press, London. Dr. Zeitlin will pursue his scathing de- nunciation of the views of those who credit the Scrolls with belonging to the first cen- tury before the present era in the second portion of his analysis, in the October issue of Jewish Quarterly Review. His forthcoming 65-page article, entitled "The Propaganda of the Hebrew Scrolls and the Falsification -of History," charges the Scrolls with being "worthless for Jewish history" and renews his claim that they were "written by sec- tarians in the medieval period. He states that the $250,000 price paid for them by the Hebrew University is "exorbitant" and he adds: "It was a great waste of money, but this is their affair. But the fact that they plan to build 'Heikhal HaSefer', 'Shrine of the Book,' is disturbing. Have these 'idols' (The Hebrew Scrolls) become to be a veritable religion to them? According to the Israeli press one prominent biblical scholar was not included in the committee of the 'Heikhal HaSefer-'—be cause he in part -rejected the antiquity of the scrolls: Is any one who questions their an- tiquity to be considered a heretic and guilty of lese majeste? This is indeed disturbing." Pointing out that the original price asked'' for the Scrolls was a million dollars, and quot- ing Prof. W. F. Albright, of John Hopkins University, who maintained that the $250,000 price paid for them was a "bargain," Dr. Zeit- lin states in the JQR October article: "If the scrolls really belong to the time of the Second Commonwealth, they are worth millions, par- ticularly since it has been maintained that this Isaiah Scroll was the very one from which. Jesus read when he was given the book of •Isaiah to read in the synagogue at Nazareth. A quarter-million is indeed a low price even for the one scroll Of Isaiah, since it was used by Jesus. Dr. Albright gives the reason for such a low price, 'You perhaps ought to thank Dr. Zeitlin's incredible propaganda against their antiquity, which has long since been proved to the hilt by further excavations.' I never indulge in propaganda. I based my conclusions against the antiquity of the scrolls on scien- tific research. In spite of the proPaganda it which Dr. Albright and others engaged in the daily press and radio, to uphold the antiquity of the scrolls, no responsible institution here or in other countries was interested in buying them. Many institutions had been interested in them when they first were brought to America, but later they were reluctant to buy them. The (Continued on Page 28)