'' • JEWISH NEWS bicorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road. Detroit 35. Mich.. .VI. 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 Editor and Publisher Advertising Manager FRANK SIMONS City Editor Sabbath Hazon Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the sixth day of Ab, 5716, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: . Pentateuchal portion, Devariin, Deut. 1:1,3:22. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 1:1-27. Pentateuchal portions, morning, Deut. 4:25-40; afternoon, Ex. 32:11-14, 34:1-10. Prophetical portions; morning, Jer. 8:13-9:23; afternoon, Isaiah 55:6-56:8. Licht Benshen, Friday, July 13, 7:49 p.m VOL. XXIX. No. 19 July 13, 1956 Page Four Intermarriage: Deterrent to Successful Unions Giving "Eight Reasons Why Marriages Go Wrong," in an article in the New York Times Magazine, Prof. James H. S. Bos- sard, of the University of Pennsylvania, lists intermarriage as a contributing fac- tor to the possibility that 40,000 of June's 175,000 marriages are likely to fail. Prof. Bossard's views on the religious aspects in successful — or unsuccessful — marriages are worthy of study. We quote him: Intermarriage between cultural groups can be a strain on both parties. This is the inevitable price we pay for the heterogeneity of our population and the diversity of our cultural strains. Among such marriages, the most important in their effect are those be- tween members of different religious groups. The number of interfaith marriages is large, and it is _ increasing. Recent studies show that half of the marriages involving Ro- man Catholics are mixed marriages, valid or invalid, and that the percentage has been in- creasing steadily since 1910. A study made for the United Lutheran Church shows that 58 per cent of its members marry outside of their church and that there has been a marked increase in such marriages since 1936. Mixed marriages are looked upon with disfavor by the leaders of all organized church bodies. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has declared that mixed marriages "are contrary to the tradition of the Jewish religion and should therefore be discouraged by the American rabbinate." The attitude of the Roman Catholic Church is definite and uncompromising; it considers in- Valid any marriage involving Catholics that is not solemnized in a religious ceremony under prescribed conditions. Within the last two decades, several Protestant denomina- tions have been taking an increasingly firm stand on mixed marriages. It is unfair to argue, as is sometimes done, that the concern of the church is purely one of self-interest, growing out of fear of losing members. It is true that persons con- tracting mixed marriages tend to drop away from their respective churches and are some- what less concerned than usual with the religious rearing of their children. But there are other reasons for the' attitude of the vari- ous churches. Their leaders, for example, have long known what recent sociological studies verify. Three such studies (Landis, Bell and Weeks), covering a total of 24,184 families, show that there are approximately three times as many divorces or separations in Catholic-Protestant marriages - as there are when the marital partners are of the same faith, and about four times as many when a Catholic father is married to a Protestant Holy Days Bond Drive Appeals in synagogues, in support of the Israel Bond drive, have become an established tradition during the High Holy Days. Detroit's congregational leaders went on record, during the visit here of the national Israel Bonds' High Holy Day cam- paign. chairman, Adolph Hamburger, for the continuation of this tradition. A considerable income in Bond sales is always assured by appeals during the Holy Days, especially in view of the inevitable condition that many people can be reached through the synagogues, only on the Holy Days. It is sincerely to be' hoped, therefore, that there will again be a hearty response to the Holy Day appeal; that all of our synagogues will participate in this effort and that proper advance preparations will be made to assure large advance sales dur- ing the High Holy Day period. This is one of the ways of giving Israel the en- couragement she needs in industrial devel- opment. mother. And here again the story of marital unhappiness is far larger than divorce and separation statistics show. Contemporary youth tends to be im- patient with the verdict of experience con- cerning mixed marriages. "We are broad- minded," they say. "We are quite willing to respect each other's religious beliefs. Besides, religion is not as important as it used to be." What these young people overlook is the real nature of religion and its role in life. Religion is not merely a set of beliefs; it is a way of living and of thinking. Roman Catholicism is a culture pattern, as we sociol- ogists put it; so is Judaism, or Methodism, or being an Episcopalian. Each religion has its distinctive set of values, as well as its forms of worship, and these reach over and express themselves in a minutiae of the daily lives of their respec- tive adherents. Eating fish on Friday is not a mere belief; it is a dietary institution. The observance of church holidays involves the organization of a family's leisure time. Perhaps the real wonder is not that mixed marriages often fail, but rather that so many succeed. An old Chinese maxim has it that every boy should marry the girl who lives across the street from him. The meaning is still clear: people of the same background and circumstances are most likely to find marital happiness with each other. The final paragraph is of particular interest in our discussion. The sharp con- trasts in beliefs, and the effects they have on families, are especially influencing fac- tors in mixed marriages. * * Translation by Ludwig Lewisohn Jacob Picard's Short Stories Two distinct elements distinguish the latest product of the Jewish Publication Society of America, "The Marked One and Other Stories" by Jacob Picard. The first, of course, is the fact that this book incorporates the best short stories by the distinguished writer.. The second is the distinction given the stories in the excel- lent translation by Ludwig Lewisohn and the illuminating introduction by the late Dr. Lewisohn. - Dr. Lewisohn treated this translation as a labor of love. This is evident in his essay and in the charm he had given the stories in his good translation. The reader acquires the respect that is due the narrator from the tribute accorded him in the Lewisohn introduction. The masterful German tales are made available, by the trans- lator who was himself a master of German, in the perfect English which the translator commanded. "A legendary air belongs to these stories," Lewisohn wrote. . . . Nor does this legendary air rob the, characters of either edge or passion. It is achieved by the employment of historic memory exercised at a given moment of time." They are the stories of Jews "exposed at this late age to the fires of persecution," Jews "who remember what they are and what their fathers were and how they came through the centuries to be what they are in this hour of the renewal of a tragic fate." First published in Germany in 1936, Picard's stories deal with the travails of Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first of his stories, "The Darkest Hour," appears last in the book because it symbolizes the era of recent Jewish sufferings. "The Marked One," "The Lottery Ticket," "The Wooer," "The Fish" and the other stories in this book are tales about simple people, people of faith and of struggle. The stories are representative of the simplicity, piety and depth in the life of the German Jew of the 19th and early. 20th centuries. As Dr. Lewisohn said in his introduction, "Ja- cob Picard has strongly, tenderly, beautifully rescued from a probable oblivion an entire world of our people and has added this community both to the realm of history and of the human imagination." The last story in the book deals with the famous Stadlan, Yossel of Resheim, of the 16th century. It has peculiar and pro- found relevance to events in Germany in more recent years. It is a good book, the stories are inspired and inspiring, and the reader has much to gain from them.. Several weeks ago, we pointed out in these columns that there is a marked in- crease in intermarriage between Jews and Christians throughout the world. The Jewish Standard of Toronto, quoting the figures we listed in Our analysis of the intermarriage problem — indicating the high rates of mixed marriages in British, Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick —resorts to consolation by stating: "One compensating factor that can be drawn from the statistics is that the three prov- inces which comprise the bulk of Canadian Jewry — Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba—. have the smallest rates of intermarriage." It is as if we were to say that there are fewer mixed marriages in Detroit thah in Saginaw; the reason being that there are more intermarriages in the smaller communities than in the larger ones where our young people have better opportuni- ties to meet co-religionists. In the case of the Canadian provinces, the more serious Z. H. Chajes' Noteworthy Work effort that is made against mixed marri- ages in a strong Catholic area like Que- bec's — thereby strengthening Catholic re- sistance to intermarriage — may be ac- Farrar, Strauss & Co. (101 5th, N.Y. 3), having taken over countable for the reduction in mixed mar- the East and West Library Series, has made available another riages among Jews. Talmud Guide fOr Students * * Mixed marriages carry with them not only the dangers to completely successful unions but also to the amity of the fam- ilies involved. None of us has the solution to the problem. Sons or daughters of very pious Jews have intermarried, and young Jews who hail from homes with the best spiritually Jewish backgrounds — includ- ing those of noted rabbis — are known to have taken as spouses mates of a different faith. There were intermarriages in the Zangwill, Nordau, Daiches and other equally well known homes. Therefore, since we do not possess the perfect solution, we must at least retain the hope that there will be no further increases in mixed marriages and that ef- forts to strengthen our cultural ties will militate against them. If we cannot ac- complish the impossible, we must at least strive for the possible—for the best results from the most serious efforts to give our youth the high type of Jewish training that will retain their Jewish loyalties. very important work, "The Student's Guide Through . the Talmud" by the noted scholar fof the last century, Zevi Hirsch Chajes. It was translated from the Hebrew, edited and critically annotated by Rabbi Jacob Shachter of Belfast, Ireland. The original edition, which appeared under the title "Mebo Ha-Talmud," Was published more than 100 years ago, but the text, formulating the authority of tradition, remains as valuable today as in the period of its first printing. Outlining the categories of Oral Law, which also is explained in relation to the Written Law, Rabbi Chajes' guide explains all the aspects of Talmudic scholarship. Scriptural ordinances are reviewed in detail and there are references to halachoth (customs) that were adopted by 'the Rabbis without any record in the Torah. The student, guided by Rabbi Chajes' work, will acquire authoritative knowledge about the Takkanoth (enactments), Aggadoth (narrations) and Gezeroth (decrees), and he will secure a thorough knowledge about the rabbinic rulings and ordinances affecting . Jewish traditions. There is an interesting chapter on Talmudic method of expounding names of persons. Other chapters deal with Aggadoth relating to the performances of miracles, parables, employment of numbers figuratively, etc. In addition to a biographical sketch of the eminent author, this volume contains the editor's and translator's valuable essay on "Talmudic Introductions Down to the Time of Chajes." This is a highly scholarly book that enriches Talmudie knowledge.