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-
eiation
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 S5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-third day of Elul, 5715, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Dent. 29:9-31:30. Prophetical portion, Is. 61:10-63:9.
Licht Benshen Friday Sept. 9, 6:31 p.m.
VOL. XXVIII. No. 1
September 9, 1955
Page Four
North African Jewry Must Be Rescued
"Tomorrow may be too late" was the
warning of responsible leaders in their ap-
peals in behalf of the Jews of Morocco and
Tunisia.
Only a short time ago, the irresponsible
anti-Zionists of the Council for Judaism had
tried to confuse the thinking of American
Jews with assertions that North African
Jews are secure in their present positions.
Recent events substantiate what we have
known all along: that those who stand in the
way of liberty are blind to reality.
It is fortunate that there is an Israel to
save these people, and it is to Israel's
credit that, in spite of all her difficulties,
. she is ready to take in all Jews who are
under the ,heels of oppression.
In this respect, world Jewry owes a
great debt of gratitude to David Ben-Gurion.
He, more than any other man, has insisted,
Our Neighbors Did It'
"Everything is finished for us here.
There are 2,800 of us left, and we are all
ready to leave."
This statement was made by a leader of
the Jewish community of Magazan, in South-
ern Morocco, in behalf of the men, women
and children who were crowded in a sports
stadium on the outskirts of that town, await-
ing a reply from the Israel government to
whom they appealed for immediate transfer
to the Jewish state.
Eight Jews were killed and 30 wounded
by fanatical MorOccans who stormed through
the Magazan Jewish section and remained
there on a rampage for 36 hours. Hysterical
women led the crowd as they killed people
and „burned stores and homes. One Jewish
woman, who managed to escape the mad-
dened and bloodthirsty crowd, saw her home
in flames and reported: "It was our neigh-
bors who did it. We had been living next
door to them for twenty years."
That's how it has been in lands of op-
pression—in Russia and in Poland and in
North African countries: "our neighbors did
it." That's what we are trying to avert in
free lands, where wg , are trying to teach
people to live in harmony, side by side.
In the meantime, the North African
tragedy is great and the problem remains
grave. These people must be taken to Israel,
at once, as a life-saving measure. It is the
blessing of our time that Israel is here to
rescue the downtrodden and oppressed. And
while Israel rescues lives, mankind must
continue to strive for such moral and spiritual
uplifting that will teach neighbors to live in
harmony and to guide the stronger to refrain
from killing the weaker.
LaMed Professorship
The LaMed Professorship of Jewish
studies, established at Wayne University by
Mr. and Mrs. Louis LaMed, finally has taken
root. Beginning with this semester, the
courses to be offered under this grant will
be conducted by a full-time professor.
When the professorship first was estab-
lished a year ago, in celebration of the Amer-
ican Jewish Tercentenary, it was found
necessary to offer the courses in Jewish
history and communal trends by guest lec-
turers. The appointment of Dr. Isaac Rabi-
nowitz as Associate Professor at Wayne Uni-
versity, to be in charge of the courses, places
the new venture on a basis of equality with
other subjects taught at Wayne.
Both the university and the sponsors of
the courses are fortunate to have been able
to secure a man as well trained for the posi-
tion as Dr. Rabinowitz. His coming here un-
doubtedly will inspire greater interest in
Jewish scholarship. The two courses he will
offer—in Jewish history and Jewish philos-
ophy — should attract many registrants
among undergratuate and graduate students
as well as non-matriculated students of
Jewish affairs.
In welcoming Prof. Rabinowitz, we again
commend the LaMeds for their thoughtful
gift. It may well prove, in time, to have been
the outstanding achievement of the Amer-
ican Jewish Tercentenary Year in Detroit.
with determination, that—as he declared at
a Moshav Gilat ceremony last week—"des-
pite all obstacles we will bring in Jews
from North Africa and then those of the
other countries of the Diaspora."
Now it is the duty of the free Jewries
throughout the world, especially American
Jewry, to back him up in his practical
stand. Must we wait for tragedies to make
a reality of kibutz Galuyot—the ingathering
of the exiles? All of us, Israel and her kins-
men everywhere, must act promptly, for,
tomorrow it may be too late.
Second Volume of 'Memoirs'
Our New Buildings
An interesting analysis of our communi-
ty's capital investment program, in the con-
struction of new buildings for our Centers,
Hebrew Schools and Camps, is scheduled for
publication in our next week's issue. It will
enlighten Detroit Jewry regarding the prog-
ress that has been made in improving the
various communally-sponsored programs.
Other important Detroit groups have
recognized the need for buildings in which
to house their manifold activities. Chief
among those who have realized the ambition
of possessing their own homes and thereby
improving the efficiency of their programs
is the Detroit Chapter of Hadassah. Another
important movement that is undertaking a
building program is the Jewish National
Fund Council of Detroit.
Hadassah, whose important contributions
towards Israel's development stand high in
the record of the rebirth of the Jewish State,
has reason to look forward to vastly en-
larged functions as a result of the organiza-
tion's end of "homelessness"—if rentals of
inadequate quarters may properly be refer-
red to in such a term.
In congratulating Detroit Hadassah upon
its entrance into its new building on Seven
Mile Road and Murray Hill, and its dedica-
tion of the new building on Sept. 11, we are
fully aware of the women's Zionist organiza-
tion's activities not only in behalf of Israel's
health program, but also its interest in cul-
tural and civic-protective causes. Hadassah
strives to develop educational programs and
to train a well-informed membership. It
takes an interest in democratic American
movements and in efforts to protect Israel's
position. For all these programs, Hadassah
needs the facilities in which the movement
has begun to function, and it has earned the
entire community's blessings on the occasion
of the dedication of its headquarters.
Similarly, the Jewish National Fund,
which functions in behalf of all Zionist or-
ganizations as the agency that sponsors
Israel's reafforestation, the new state's water
development projects and the settlement of
newcomers on land which remains the prop-
erty of the entire Jewish people, needs the
building which is contemplated on the lot it
has recently acquired as a gift from one of
its supporters. All such efforts should serve
to encourage greater effort for Israel and
increased interest in local educational activi-
ties.
There are, of course, frequent murmur-
ings in opposition to the vast construction
programs in our communities. We hear the
criticism of those who believe that the con-
struction of new buildings diverts funds
from important causes to brick and mortar.
But the sponsors of building plans counter
such attacks with assertions that their gifts
for public buildings are being given as extras
—in addition to their charity gifts. In the
instance of the Zionist construction programs,
the criticisms assume a different form. The
contention is that all Zionist groups should
have combined their forces to acquire large
enough quarters to house the activities of
all groups, on a cooperative basis. When we
learn truly to get together cooperatively in
our community, perhaps this, too, will be
possible. But it is evident at this time that
such an accomplishment — if the fantastic
dream of internal unity can become a reality
—has been relegated to the future—and if
we are to continue to see developing popu-
lation movements, perhaps such a "future"
is not far off.
Dr. Marcus Reconstructs Stories
Of Isaac Leeser, Other Notables
The Jewish Publication Society has released the second volume
of Dr. Jacob R. Marcus' "Memoirs of American Jews, 1775-1865,"
and we now have the complete set of the eminent historian's ex-
cellent collection of biographical and autobiographical sketches of
noted American Jews. The first volume already has been reviewed
in this column.
Among the most *interesting sketches in the second volume
is that of Dr. Isaac Leeser, whom Dr. Marcus calls "without doubt
the most important and most influential American Jewish religious
leader in the ante-bellum period."
"It was he," Prof. Marcus writes about Rabbi Leeser, to
whom he refers as 'American Jewish Missionary,' "who was
responsible for the first American Jewish publication society, the
first Jewish theological seminary, and the first over-all national
American Jewish association of congregations: the Board of Dele-
gates of American Israelites. American Jewry owes much to this
man, who was its prime builder. If Isaac Mayer Wise was able,
in the second half of the nineteenth century, to organize large
groups of American Jews, it was in no small part due to the
pioneering work of the tireless Philadelphia minister."
Dr. Leeser was the editor and translator of prayer books and
the translator of the Bible for Jews. A number of the most interest-
ing of Rabbi Leeser's memoirs are incorporated in this book: "New
Jewish Settlements," "New York," Synagogue Congregation in New
Orleans," references to Baltimore and Cleveland and other reports.
are included here.
Isaac Mayer Wise, "Organizer of American Jewry," is among
the other leading personalities whose memoirs 'are in this book.
We also read about, and from the works of Simon Wolf, "Am-
bassador to Washington;" Oscar Solomon Straus, "A German Im-
migrant to Georgia;" Isidor Straus, "A YOung Confederate Busi-
nessman."
Also included in the second volume are: Abraham Kohn, New
England peddler; Philip Sartorius, southern merchant; Julius Weis,
peddler in the deep South; Jacob Hirschorn, volunteer in Mexican
War; Aaron Hirsch, Arkansas merchant; Toby Edward Rosenthal,
California artist; Henry Stern, Milwaukee merchant; August Bondi,
Kansas freesoiler; Max Maretzek, impressario; Morris Shloss, '49er;
Sophia Goldsmith, "The Story of a Courtship;" Leopold Mayer,
Chicagoan in the '50s; Michael Kraszewski, "A Brush With Bandits;"
Isaac A. Meyer, "Bad Luck Incarnate;" Amelia Tillman, "Frontier
Days on the Upper Mississippi."
The titles themselves reveal the great variety of subjects cov-
ered, the places embraced, the various fields of endeavor of charac-
ters who emerge in interesting and historical fashion. The collection
helps us understand America and provides us with greater knowl-
edge about the history of the Jews in this country in the 90 years
1775 to 1865.
Dr. Marcus and the Jewish Publication Society have rendered
a real service with this two volume set of fascinating "Memoirs."
Synagogue Described as 'Living
Reality in Book by Holisher
Proper: arrangement of material and wise selection of photo-
graphs combine to give special status to "The Synagogue and Its
People," by Desider Holisher, an attractive volume published by
Abelard-Schuman (404 4th, NY 16).
The more than 200 illustrations in the book serve an important
purpose in assisting the reader who gains a lot of knowledge about
Jews, the synagogue, religious customs and ceremonies.
Preceding the chapters which. describe the early American
Jewish congregations—starting with New York's Shearith Israel
and its rabbi—Dr. David deSola Pool—the author devotes a chapter
to "The Heritage of the Jews." A good understanding of Torah
Judaism is provided in this section. The author points out: "A re-
ligion of human rights and cooperation, of individual freedom with
strict moral laws for the subordination of the self to the common .
good, of practical rationalization to foster advancement and of
universal brotherhood to ensure peace for mankind, Judaism has
decisively contributed to the spiritual foundations of the American
nation whose pattern of life is rooted in these principles."
A very valuable chapter in the book is devoted to "The Cele-
bration of the Sabbath. Mr. Holisher describes the Sabbath customs
in all their - details. He outlines the observance of the day of rest
in the home, in the synagogues, from start t© finish—explaining
the Sabbath services, the Kaddish, benedictions, etc.
The functions of rabbis, laymen, community centers when they
are a part of the synagogue; the Bar Mitzvah ceremony; holiday
celebrations; ceremonial objects and artcrafts—these and many more
subjects related to Judaism and synagogue services are outlined in
this book.
Mr. Holisher has accomplished his aim: to present the synagogue
as "a living reality."