Still Straddlin- 0.- the Litre
THE JEWISH NEWS -
a •
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish' Newspapers. Michigan Press Association. National EditoAal
Association.
Published every Friday by - The Jewish News Publishing Co.. 17100 West Seven Mile Road. Detroit 35. Mich.,
VE. 8-9364. 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
FRANK •SIMONS
Editor and Publisher
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural -Selections
This Sabbath, the seventeenth day of 'wig', 5716, the following Scriptural selections
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Entor, Lev. 21:1-14:23.- ProphetiCal portion, Ezek. 44:15-31.
will
Licht Benshen, Friday, April 27, 7:08 p.m.
VOL. XXIX — No. 8
Page Four
April 27, 1956
War Flames Fanned by Dictators
Those with understanding of existing
world conditions, -and people with vision,
are taking a _special interest in the hap-
penings on Israel's borders which may
affect not only those who reside in that
area now but - the generations to come..
In order to cement good relations
among neighbors, and to assure peace
among nations, it is necessary that the
standards of peoples who live near each
other should be raised to high levels.
One of the major causes for the
troubles in the Middle East is the gap that
separates Israel from the Arabs, the dif-
ference in their standards,_ the contrast
between Israel's literacy and her neigh-
bors' illiteracy: - -
While only 6.9 per cent of the people
in Israel, above the age of five are illiter-
ate—including the Moslems residing there
and the new-comers from backward coun-
tries— UNESCO •(the United Nations Ed-
ucational, Scientific and Cultural Organ-
ization) and the UN Technical Assistance
Committee report the existence of shock-
ing conditions among the Arabs. Egypt has
reported to these UN agencies that 74.4
per cent of the Egyptians of the ages of
10 and older are illiterate. Iraq reports
that 89.1 per cent of its people, above the
age of 5, are illiterate. It is among such
people that anti-Israel feelings are flour-
ishing.
Here are some additional facts, re-
ported by UN agencies: Infant deaths per
1,000 live births are: Israel, 39.6; Iraq,
56.0; Jordan, 100.1; Egypt, 128.6.
There are 64 hospital beds in Israel for
every 10,000 in its population, and there
is a similar number in the most advanced
Arab country, Lebanon; but there are only
seven per 10,000 in Syria, 10 in 'Egypt, 12
in Iraq and 14 in Jordan.
There is one doctor for every 390 Of
Israel's population, as compared with one
for every 3,602 in Egypt, one for every
6,500 in Iraq, one for every 6,100 in Jordan,
one for, every 5,000 in Syria and one for
every 1,300 in Lebanon—the. latter again
being the most advanced among Israel's
neighbors.
Working together, striving for peace,
Israel and her neighbors could benefit
each other. Israel is in a position to inspire
the Arabs to truly high standards of liv-
ing, to advancement in cultural enter-
prises, to health improvements. But the
Arabs are too busy planning hatred; and
Israel must spend her energies for defense.
Besides, the world's powers are so
concerned with oil and with power politics
that basic needs in the Middle East are
forgotten: the basic needs being economic
and cultural cooperation, leading to peace,
and a humane outlook on life.
_ Will the Arabs recognize their real
needs? If they do, they will have to elimi-
nate dictatorships, primarily those in
Egypt, Jordan,.. Iraq and Syria; and the
dictators refuse to give up power and are
' concerned only with not losing their heads-.
That's the main reason for perpetuation
of a state of war and the difficulty in
-taming an immediate peace.
* * *
The cease-fire orders issued late last
- week by Israel and Egypt, as a result of
the negotiations conducted by UN Secre-
tary General Dag Hammarskjold, are
temporarily heartening. The fact that the
order includes a provision for the cessa-
tion of terrorist activities, in Israel • by
Egyptian-trained commandos has special
significance. •
But a truce is in itself only a pallia-
tive. It is a temporary measure which may
have little value—unless it will lead to a
permanent peace agreement. -
The conflict is far from ended. It
Continues as long as Arabs propagate hate,
as long as a war spirit exists, as long as
Egypt enforces a concentration. camp in
Gaza of Arab refugees who are prevented
from entering any. other territory, includ-
ing Egypt itself, except Israel, where they
are incited to wreak_ havoc and to com-
mit murders.
The flames of war continue to be
fanned by dictators. Will the United Na-
tions be strong enough to encourage peace
negotiations in order to attain permanent
amity? Without the permanency of peace
all truce agreements must be viewed as
temporary palliatives.
Jewish Braille
Braille Institute's 25th Anniversary
A most interesting anniversary was
observed this week. April 24 marked the
25th year of the Jewish Braille Institute
of America. •
The New York Times advance- report
on the celebration told so interesting a
story that we 'now let it speak for itself:
In Astoria, Queens, a 12-year-old boy is
studying for his bar mitzvah. Thousands of
miles away, in Los Angeles, a 14-year-old girl
is preparing for her bas mitzvah.
Here in the city and in other sections of
the country, aged Jews are listening to re-
corded stories. In Boston a rabbi is reading a
Hebrew Bible, while in Paris a 28-year-old
woman is saying, her prayers in a synagogue.
Ordinarily such cultural and religious ac-
tivities would merit little comment. However,
these people hive something in common=they
are blind.
The boy, the girl, the aged, the clergyman
and the Frenchwoman are just a few of the
thousands all over the world who are benefit-
ing from the free services of the Jewish Braille
Institute of America, 101 West Fifty-fifth
Street. The organization, which is dependent
on voluntary contributions for its work, will
mark its twenty-fifth anniversary April 24
at a dinner at the Commodore Hotel.
Through the years, the institute has be-
come the source of Jewish culture and learn;
ing for the blind. It issues The Jewish Braille
RevieW, a bi-monthly volume in Engl i.s h
Braille `offering' literary, cultural and religious
current events, short stories and
poetry.
It maintains a free library, a Children's
Supplement to the Review, prepares special
prayer books for confirmations and services in
Hebrew and English Braille, and Yiddish
"Talking Books" for the aged.
In 1950 the institute completed after five
years of painstaking effort a Braille edition
of the Hebrew Scriptures. The project also
entailed the development of the International
Hebrew Braille Code to supersede and replace
several regional Hebrew Braille alphabets that
had long been considered inadequate.
To carry on its work, the institute receives
financial. aid from the National Federation of
Temple Sisterhoods and the National Women's
League. Both groups also provide volunteer
workers. Dr. Jacob Freid is executive director
of the institute.
It is an important story, and it is
exciting because it is so human. --- -
Many things have been done by the
Braille Institute. Bibles and secular books,
newspapers . and magazine articles have
been transcribed into - Braille to enable
the Jewish blind to gain knowledge and-
to keep informed on world affairs. The
Braille Institute has performed a remark-
-able- task: Its leaders -have shown vision
in their efforts.
We.. congratulate them and we wish
them much. strength in their, future efforts
'in behalf of the handicapped blind.
Self-Portrait of a Great Rabbi
'Stephen Wise's Personal Letters'
Mrs. Wise
Judge Polier
Dr. S. S. Wise
James Waterman Wise and Judge Justine Wise Polier, chil-
dren of the late Dr. Stephen S. Wise, have combined their talents
to edit an unusual book: "The Personal Letters of Stephen
Wise." This volume, published by Beacon Press (25 Beacon St.,
Boston 8), constitutes, indeed, as the children of the great leader
state in their foreword, "a full and revealing self - portrait" of the
late and great rabbinical leader.
The letters began in 1899. They were written over a 50 year
period to his wife, Louise Waterman Wise, who was in her own
right a most distinguished American Jewish leader. The letters
appearing in this book include also messages sent to his children
and to his dear friend, the eminent Christian minister, Dr. John
Haynes Holmes, author of an introduction to this volume.
Interestingly, Mrs. Wise preserved all of her husband's let-
ters, thus accounting for their availability for this- fine book.
The book has special merit because it presents the thinking
of the great leader of the first half of 'our century, 'not only on
personal problems, but on many major world issues, -
We learn from the letters about Dr. Wise's friendship for the
late President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Theodor Herzl, Mr.
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, Dr. Chaim Wiezmann and scores of
others.
There is warmth in every letter. Dr. Wise was known for
his promptness in answering every letter he received. He in- .
corporated in his replies the dynamism that' distinguished him
and made him a personality to be reckoned with by Jews and
Christians.
In his introduction, Dr. Holmes speaks of Dr. Wise the great
orator, the man who, on foot, led parades against Nazism, who
spoke out for Israel, who defended all downtrodden.
As far back as 1900 he propagated Zionism. Jewish national
rebirth, the activities of the American Jewish Congress and the
fight against' bigotry were his major concerns. His interests in
them are graphically described in these personal letters.
• Dr. Wise's association with the late President Wilson, with
Nathan Straus and others are revealed in these posthumous
memoirs. There are numerous interesting comments 'on Weiz-
mann, Vladimir Jabotinsky and other controversial figures in
Zionism and in Jewish life.
He was especially outspoken in his - condemnation of anti-
Zionist rabbis.
These letters add to an understanding and an evaluation of
the history of American and world Jewries in the past half
century. "The Personal Letters of Stephen Wise," now the
property of all who read them, adds light on many issues and
leads to better understanding of the warmth of the man who
was unmatched' in his ,day as an advocate of Jewry's causes and
as an 'eloquent defender of the oppressed.
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