THE JEWISH NEWS
Hanukah Story Re-Enacted
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-
Station
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich., VE.
9-9364. Subscription $5 a year, Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Editor and Publisher
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Hanukah Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions, Gen. 37:1-40:23, Num. 7:1-17. Prophetical. portion, Zech. 2:14 4:7.
Hanukah Scriptural readings: Sunday, Num. 1:18-29; Monday, Num. 7:24-35; Tuesday, Num.
7:30-41; Wednesday, Num. 7:36-47:
Rosh Hodesh Tebet and Hanukah readings of the Torah: Thursday, Num. 28:1-15,. 7:42 47;
Friday, N12711. 28:1-15, 7:48-53.
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Licht Benshen, Friday, Dec. 9, 4:43 p. m
VOL. XXVIII. No. 14
Page Four
December 9, 1955
Hanukah-Dedication to Faith and to Life
and spread light of liberty, brotherhood
Hanukah: means dedication. It is the fes-
tival that sterns from a- revolt against those
and peace among men."
who sought to force the people of ancient
This is an aim of men of Faith, -who must
Judea into idol-worship. It marked the Mac-
fight for their lives. It affects directly only
cabean triumph,against their people's Greco-
1,700,000 of the 11,000,000 surviving Jews,
Syrian oppressors.
but indirectly it challenges all of us. If big-
Thus, it is a - festival_dedicated to the_faith .. otry is to be permitted a free hand against
of Israel, and also to the defense of the lives
a small portion of our people in Israel, it
of the people of Israel.' _ - -
- surely affect all of us. We have helped
It has a special bearing in- our time. Once
in the liberation of the most sorely tried
again, Jews, who have been Liberated from
of our kinsmen; we are even now in the
oppression. and who have :found a haven in process- of liberating another quarter of a
their reconsecrated :land, .. are in danger. In million oppressed Jews in Moslem_countries
the ritual for Hanukah, in our Prayer Book,
who must find refuge in Israel; and we dare
we react:-‘:
not let the job remain unfinished.
"Gird us for battle_ against apathy, _ig
To complete the task of liberation, in the
norance and intolerance which still threat-
true spirit of the principles for which two
en to extinguish Thy-lamps and to destroy
world wars have been fought, we must strive
Thy altars. With the loyalty and zeal of
for. security for the modern Maccabeans
the Maccabees, may we overcome the dark
who are battling to defend their country
forces of tyranny,_ prejudice and hatred,
a-inst overwhelming odds.
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In I Maccabees 4.35 there is this telling
statement about the Maccabees: "They were
ready either to live or die nobly." This is
In a recent address in New York, Dr.
the position of the Israelis today.
Israel Goldstein, president of the American
Jewish Congress, pointing out that "the sinis-
The appeal of Mattathias will be found
ter influence of Soviet Russia has been in-
in I Maccabees 1:40-2:27, which should be
jected into the rigorous hazards which Israel
read with renewed interest in our time.
It reads:
has endured," deplored the fact that "what
is more threatening is the apathy and dupli-
"And King Antiochus wrote to his whole
kingdom, that all should be one people, and that
city of some of Israel's alleged friends."
each should forsake his own laws. And he sent
This may well be considered Israel's
letters unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah
major tragedy. While the Jewish State is
subjected to constant attacks by her neigh- that they should profane the Sabbaths and feasts,
pollute the sanctuary, and build altars and
bors, she also gets all the _blame. While
Russia is invading the Middle East as the temples and shrines for idols; and whosoever
shall not do according to the word of the king,
provider of arms to Israel's enemies, an un-
he shall die. And he appointed overseers over all
friendly world, instead of rising to the .y occa- the people, and he commanded the cities of
sion with aid for Israel's rescue, is blaming
Judah to sacrifice, city by city. And they did
the Jews for muddled development.
evil things in the land; and they made Israel to
Tragedy is a mild word to apply to such
hide themselves in every place or refuge _ which
a situation. If our friends remain apathetic,
they had. And they rent in pieces the Books of
the Law which they found, and set them on fire.
then they become parties to a plot to destroy
And wheresoever was found with any a Book
Israel. If there is to be peace in the world,
of the Covenant, and if any consented to the
then all libertarians must unite to protect
Law, the king's sentence delivered him to death.
the young Israeli state whose existence is at
"And in those days rose up Mattathias, a
stake in the present Middle Eastern crisis.
priest from Jerusalem; and he dwelt at Modin.
Where are our friends? Even in Our own
And he had five sons, John, Simon, Judas (who
ranks there are a few—fortunately they are
was called Maccabaeus), Eleazar, Jonathan. And
only few—Jews who are subscribing to a
he saw the blasphemies that were committed in
program that would not only truncate but Judah and in Jerusalem, and Mattathias and his
actually lead- to the total destruction of sons rent their clothes, and put on sackcloth and
Israel. Whatever forces may be mobilized in
mourned exceedingly. _
Israel's defense must come forth immedi-
"And the king's officers, that were enforcing
ately to avert a great tragedy.
the apostasy, came into the city Modin. And many
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of Israel came unto them, and Mattathias and
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Apathy of Friends
Buy a Bond Sunday
When the hundreds of volunteers proceed
to visit the homes of many thousands of
Detroit Jews, on Sunday, in their effort to
sell Israel Bonds, they, will be participating
in a nationwide National Action Day in be-
half of Israel.
Israel provides for her own defense mili-
tarily. But she looks to us for assistance in
her economic struggle that has become ag-
gravated by the encirclement of the small
country by seven saber-rattling enemy na-
tions. We owe to Israel a duty to assist in
bringing in helpless and oppressed fellow-
Jews fr\irn Moslem countries, where the lives
of Jews are no longer safe; and we have the
additional duty of providing the investment
dollars to make Israel economically strong.
This Sunday's National Action Day pro-
vides the opportunity for the fulfilment of
the latter duty. Under the leadership of
Phillip Stollman, Detroit Israel Bond chair-
man, great progress has been made in in-
creased Bond sales during the past feW
weeks. But the minimum quota of $1,000,000
set for Detroit for this year is still short
of a third of the total, and our good com-
munity will render service to Israel and en-
couragement to the Bond leaders by provid-
ing the $350;000 sum of Israeli investments
through Bond purchases on Sunday.
National Action Day is a call to service in
Israel's defense. Let there be a pouring
forth of interest on this day so that Israel's
fighters for liberty may feel duly encouraged
in their Maccabegkefforts on Hanukah Sun-
day.
his sons were gathered together. And the king's
officers spake to Mattathias, saying. 'Thou art a
ruler and an honorable and great man in this
city, and strengthened with sons and brethren;
now therefore come thou first and do the com-
mandment of the king, as all nations have done,
and the men of Judah, and they that remain in
Jerusalem; so shalt thou and thy house be in the
number of the king's friends, and thou and thy
children shall be honored with solver and gold,
and many rewards.' And Mattathias answered
and said with a loud voice, 'Though all the
nations that are under the king's dominion obey
him, and fall away every one from the religion
of their fathers, yet will I and my sons and my
brethren walk in the covenant of our fathers.'
And Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud
voice, saying, 'Whosoever is zealous for the Law,
and maintaineth the Covenant, let him follow
me.'
"Then they gathered together unto them every
one that offered himself willingly for the Law.
And all they that fled from the evils were added
to them, and became a stay unto them. And they
mustered a host, and pulled down the altars; and
they pursued after the sons of pride, neither
suffered they the sinner to triumph."
If sinners are not to triumph, if iniquity
is to be prevented from gaining an upper
hand, the modern Maccabees must be given
support in this hour of trials and tribula-
tions. American Jews can help with con-
tinued giving to philanthropic causes—to
the United Jewish Appeal and by supporting
the Israel Bond drive.
This is a time to act nobly in 'defense of
justice. And by succeeding for justice for
Israel, we shall also be advancing the just
cause of peace for all mankind. In this spirit
we extend hearty Hanukah greetings to all.
Great Scholarly Achievement
Dr. Saul Lieberman's l'osephta'
The current year's outstanding Jewish literary achievement is
in Hebrew. It is the interpretation and compilation of the "To-
sephta" by one of the world's outstanding Talmudists, Dr. Saul
Lieberman, dean of the Graduate
Department of the Jewish Theologi-
cal Seminary of America.
The first three volumes of "Th
Tosephta" already have made their
appearance. They deal with the first
of six sections concerned with agri-
culture. The other sections are de-
voted to family relations, holidays,
temple rituals, personal purity, civil
and criminal Jaw.
"Tosephta Zeraim" is the title of
the first book. It lists Dr. Lieber- .
man's chief conclusions to his com-
mentary and contains the recon-,
structed text of "The Tosephta" and
lists variations that have appeared
throughout the centuries.
The other two volumes, "Toseph-
ta K'Peshutah'!—"The Tosephta Ac
cording to the Original Meaning"—
include the complete text of Dr.
Lieberman's commentaries.
Dr. Lieberman
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"Tosephta" means "additions." This collection of laws • is of
equal value to the Hebraic law and is comparable to the impcirtance
of U. S. Supreme Court decisions in their relationship to our Consti-
tution. Similarly, the comparable "constitution" that is evaluated
in the "Tosephta" is the "Mishna." Both are the oldest and most
authoritative codes of the Talmud.
The Tosephta was compiled in the Third Century. It contains
the debates and the dialogues of rabbinic scholars who explored
life, law and culture. This great work is replete with Jewish folk-
lore, and there are numerous case histories to illustrate the discus-
sions of the many scholars who were engaged in the debates re-
corded in this great work. •
A previous attempt at a complete commentary on the Tosephta
was that of Rabbi David Pardo of Sarajevo, Bosnia, nearly 200
years ago.
It has been said that to produce a translation of the Tosephta
into unambiguous English would require a work three times the
size of the original 300,000 words.
Dr. Lieberman's work is indexed in Greek as well as in Hebrew.
and is fully annotated.
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Prof. Lieberman, who was born in Motol, Poland, in 1898, came
to the United States in 1940, when he joined the faculty of the Jew-
ish Theological Seminary. Be received his Smicha at the Slobodka
Yeshiva at the age of 18, received his M. A. from the Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem in 1931 and a D. H. L. from the Jewish The-
ological Seminary in 1942.
He is the author of numerous scholarly works, including "The
Talmud of Caesaria Jerusalem," commentaries on the Palestinian
Talmud and the Tosephta, "The Martyrs of Caesaria," "Hellenism
in Jewish Palestine" and many others.
Originally oral, the Tosephta contains the detailed rules for
the application of written laws of the Bible. Together with the
Mishna it is the most authoritative code of the Talmudic collection
of Jewish law.
It was most appropriate that Dr. Lieberman's first volumes of
the "Tosephta" should have been sent to Israel by the Jewish Theo-
logical Seminary. Israel's President, Itzhak Ben-Zvi was presented
with the volumes by U. S. Ambassador to Iskael Edward B. Law-
son, in Jerusalem. The American Ambassador then stated:
"It is most appropriate that the first copy of the latest and
finest edition of this work, which came forth out of Zion,
should be presented to the President of the Nation that dwells
therein."
President Ben-Zvi then pointed out that the first edition of the
Tosephta, printed in Venice in 1521, was ignored by scholars. He
emphasized that the new edition symbolized the links that, exist
between the peoples of the United States and Israel. He added:
"It does great credit to the United States and in particular
to American Jewry that the critical edition of the Tosephta has
been prepared and published in America. It is also indicative
of the encouragement given to Israel's scholars in the United
States,; a country which extends its aid to learned men, of all
nations in pursuit of research and learning."