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THE JEWISH NEWS

This Is the Only Road to Peace

Friday, August 3, 1956—THE DETROIT JEWISH

Incorporating 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..
tom. 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 twenty-seventh day of Ab, 5716, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Re-eh, Deut. 11:26-16:17. Prophetical portion, Is. 54:11-55:5.
Rosh Hodesh Elul readings of the Torah, Tuesday and Wednesday, Num. 28:1-15.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 3, 7:30 p.m.

VOL. XXIX. No. 22

Page Four

August 3, 1956

The'Pariah in Jewish Organizational Life'

For several years, a debate has been
conducted heatedly in Jewish ranks over
the tactics of the American Council for
Judaism. Those who have been outraged
by the anti-Zionist and anti-Israel ma-
neuvers of a small group of people who
have gone so far as to advocate a boycott
of the United Jewish Appeal and to ac-
cuse American Jews who supported Israel
of being disloyal to our country, called
for public repudiation of self-styled Jew-
ish spokesmen. Christians who align
themselves with the just cause of a secure
Israel have felt themselves equally ma-
ligned by this destructive group who, un-
fortunately, choose to speak as Jews.
There were others who advocated a
"treatment of silence." Equally distressed
by the activities of an element that num-
bers less than 15,000 in a total American
Jewish population of more than 5,000,000,
those who favored "silent treatment" be-
lieved that it should be considered be-
neath the dignity of honorable people to
deal with pariahs who have joined hands
with Arab propagandists in an effort to
destroy Israel.
But the Council for Judaism (in his
book "Jewish Leaders," published by
Bloch, the venerable Orthodox Jewish
leader, Dr. Leo Jung, charges that this
Council "is un-American, un-Jewish, and
has no counsel or significance to offer) has
gained a hearing in the White House, has
been given space for its diatribes and
falsehoods in the American press, and has
influenced American legislators. There-
fore, it had to be exposed for its vileness,
treachery and misrepresentations.
Actually, it already has been exposed.
As far back as in June of 1948, the late
Dr. Leo M. Franklin, who was one of
Detroit Jewry's most distinguished lead-
ers, and who was a founder of the Council,
resigned from the group. Rabbi Franklin,
in his letter of resignation, addressing
Lessing J. Rosenwald, the misled and mis-
guided member of the distinguished Amer-
ican Jewish family, who then was presi-
dent of the Council, wrote:

"I believe that the time has come
when, for the sake of world Jewry, the
American Council for Judaism, if it is
to continue, must definitely shift its
emphasis from that of mere opposition
to Jewish nationalism to the positive
support of every legitimate effort to gain
for the Jews of the World the rights of
citizenship in every democratic country,
including Palestine. Short of this, the
Council, in my opinion, has no further
reason for being. For a long time, I have
been convinced that the policy of the
Council has been negative and at times
even destructive rather than spiritually
constructive, and with such a policy I
cannot be in sympathy.
"In these crucial times internecine
strife among Jews is no less a threat to
the survival of our people and our faith
than is the onslaught of our avowed
enemies. By the recognition of this truth
and only thus can we Justify our loyalty
as Americans and as Jews."

Others also had quit the un-American
and un-Jewish group. The late Rabbi
Louis Wolsey, also one of the Council's
founders, resigned from the group at about
the same time that Dr. Franklin had left
it. He, too, urged the Council to "dissolve
and fdrge ahead in the creation of a real
land of Israel."
Now, an honorary vice-president of the
Council, Rabbi Irving F. Reichert, of San
Francisco, not only has abandoned the
group but charged that "today it is vir-
tually a. pariah in Jewish organizational
• life."

One point in Dr. Reichert's letter of
resignation deserves special consideration.
He accused the Council: "While professing
neutrality toward the United Jewish Ap-
peal, it has sought to cause it embarrass-
ment and injury."
Dr. Reichert was being nice. The Coun-
cil had gone so far as to urge an "investi-
gation" of the U4A activities by our Gov-
ernment. It embraced Arab propagandists
and the vilest of American anti-Semites
in a campaign aimed at destroying the
UJA. Rabbi Reichert knows this to be so.
In June, he found it necessary, in repudi-
ation of the Council, to write to the San
Francisco Jewish Community Bulletin re-
pudiating "the intrasegeance of Arab hos-
tility" and appealing earnestly in behalf of
the. UJA. He said he was prompted by the
shocking anti-Israel statements by Arab
spokesmen to double his contribution to
the Welfare Fund. It was a direct condem-
nation of the policies of the Council whose
ranks he was soon to abandon.
It is not a pleasant story. The un-Jew-
ish-un-American Council, whose role must
be described as anti-Jewish and anti-
American, to whom Fair Play is anathema,
has !larmed not only Israel but all Jews
who see fit to protect the defenseless peo-
ple of Israel. It has been responsible for
injecting suspicions of Jews in certain of
our Government quarters. It has inter-
fered with progress in striving for peace
in the Middle East. It stands condemned
as worse than a pariah. Its ugly role is
exposed in all its vileness among Jews.
Let it be equally and frankly exposed
among all Americans who surely will re-
ject injustice and unfairness in our land,
where Fair Play is a major humanitarian
principle.

,
Jolting Washington

Some faces are blushing, as a result of
the expose of the Nasser tricks and the
crudeness with which the Egyptian dicta-
tor is playing his anti-American game. He
and his cohorts are finding an easy way
out of accepting blame for the withdrawal
of the American offer for aid in the Aswan
Dam project: by blaming "Zionist influ-
ence" for the State Department's act.
Those who know how difficult it has
been for Zionists to reach Secretary of
State Dulles' ears in their pleas for Israel
will recognize the jest in such a charge.
Meanwhile the Middle East remains far
removed from peace. Failure to provide
Israel with adequate arms is aggravating
the issue.
An editorial in the Toronto Globe and
Mail advances important admonitions to
the Western powers. Under the heading
"Fill Israel's Arms Orders," this important
newspaper stated:

"The Arab states would like nothing
better than the elimination of Israel and
will the quicker find excuses to further
that ambition if the young Jewish State

is left in a defenseless condition. Can-
ada's role should be to fill all orders
received for arms from the Israel gov-

ernment, within our capacity to produce
and deliver. Such a policy would tend to
delay, rather than to promote, armed
conflict . . . If unrestricted shipments of
Canadian arms to Israel succeeded in
jolting Washington into adoption of a
positive policy, the outlook for peace in
the Middle East would be improved."

•

Interesting Guide for Educators

Ancient Israel's Elementary Schools

Many facts throwing light on ancient Jewish educational
methods are now available in an interesting book by Dr. Eliezer
Ebner. This volume, "Elementary Education in Ancient Israel—
During the Tannaitic Period (10-220 C.E.)," published by Bloch,
will serve as a guide to students of educational problems, to
educators in charge of communal school systems and to laymen
who are struggling with plans for the advancement of educa-
tional programs.
In outlining the principles and conditions of elementary
Jewish education in Palestine in the first two centuries of the
common era, Rabbi Ebner states that he has reached the belief
that it was in the era he describes that "the foundations of orga-
nized elementary education on a democratic basis were laid and
its structure developed."
A review of the cultural-historic setting of the Tannaitic
period is presented for an understanding of the reasons for the
development of an adherence to education. "The leaders of Jewish
life in Tannaitic times showed great zeal in the popularization of
learning," Rabbi Ebner states. "They believed that an intensive
program of education, rooted in a broad democratic basis and
beginning at an early age level, would ensure the observance of
the commandments, foster the spirit of piety and strengthen the
bonds of national unity."
The author of this book states that "The belief in the divine
character of the Bible led to the following educational principles:
1. unchangeability of curriculum, 2. early indoctrination, 3. Torah
study a lifelong pursuit and 4. popular scope of education."
Of special interest is this assertion: "The stability and
continuity of the study program under all circumstances was
demonstrated in the post-Bar Kochba years, when the study of
the Torah had been prohibited by the Romans. It was then
decided on the highest rabbinic authority, that the study of the
Torah must go on, regardless of any consequence, including
capital punishment."
Dr. Ebner traces the development of the Jewish elementary
school to the year 70 B.C.E. He states: "While the urban residents
made the establishment of the elementary school possible, a
number of factors contributed to make the first children's school
in Jerusalem an actuality: 1. The example of Greek and Roman
schools,. 2. the growing complexity of the teaching of the Written
Law in the light of the Oral Law interpretation and 3. the
reorganization of Jewish life under Pharisaic- leadership."
He adds: "The fact that not all boys received an elementary
education is indicated in the existence all through Tannaitic times
of the group of Jews called 'Am haAretz.' Literally translated
`Am haAretz' means 'People of the Land' and it referred origi-
nally to the farmer. In the course of time this name came to be
applied to any Jew who was either ignorant or negligent in the
observance of the commandments."
There was recognition of the need to pay teachers for
instructing the children, although some applied a stigma to it.
Rabbi Ebner outlines the school organization of olden times—
classroom equipment and locale of the school, the use of textbooks
not to conflict with the sanctity of Sacred Scrolls, the age level
and school hours, free vacation periods. The curriculum of the
time is subjected to thorough analysis. In addition to the study of
the Aleph Bet, minors were expected to recite the Eighteen
Benedictions and to recite grace after meals. In early schools,
Greek was taught until the rabbis decided against it. "The claim
of knowledge for its own sake, Jewish education accepted only
for the study of the Torah."
Educators will find interesting reference to flogging. Some
teachers in olden times were more affectionate, others strict and
impatient. One teacher is quoted as advising: "If you flog a child,
do it only with a shoe strap."
Dr. Ebner has made an important contribution to the study

Can Washington be "jolted" into chang-
ing its attitude on the arms-for-Israel
question? We pray that the realization of
the Nasser menace will tend to encour-
of Jewish education with his interesting book.
age such a jolting.