Hanukah at the Center

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
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, 1952, 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 Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twentieth day of Kislev, 5717, the following Scriptural selections
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Veyeshev, Gen. 37:1-40:23. Prophetical portion, Amos 2:6-3:8.
First Hanukah light, Wednesday,' Nov. 28.

will

Licht Benshen, Friday, Nov. 23, 4:47 p.m.

Vol. XXX. No. 12

Page Four

November 23, 1956

'Forward to Peace:' Sensible Road for Mankind

"It is_better to be judged wrong in life
than right in death," Ted Kollek, Israel
Premier David Ben-Gurion's chief per-
sonal representative, explained Israel's
stand for life, while on a few hours' visit
in Detroit.
There are encouraging evidences that
Americans who understand the situation
now fully understand this viewpoint. Kol-
lek presented a grim picture of conditions
in the Middle East. Israel was to be turned
into a gas chamber. The Egyptian feday-
een, whose Jordanian and Syrian counter-
parts still are carrying on their destruc-
tive activities, had planned to poison wells,
bomb crowded synagogues and theaters,
create a crematorium out of Israel.
Israel acted first. The result is that
Egypt's dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser, in
spite of his boastfulness, emerged "a mili-
tary nitwit," as he was described by the
foreign correspondent, William H. Stone-
man, in a cable from Gaza.
There is little sense in boasting. The
fact that Israel did not even take the
trouble to take many Egyptian prisoners—
according to Stoneman most of the 40,000
Nasser troops still are "wandering in the
desert"—proves the superior military skill
of the Israelis. Is it any wonder? The
Egyptians have nothing to fight for but
hate; Israel fights for life.
In the interest of justice and of eventual
peace in the world—Ben-Gurion proved
his genuine statesmanship when he told
Edward R. Murrow in his television inter-
view that was broadcast to this country
last week that peace and justice are the
major needs in the world and that neither
can work without the other—in the interest
of justice, it is important that new empha-
- sis should be placed on the assertion made
by Israel Ambassador Abba Eban, in his
address to the United Nations on Nov. 1:

- "Our signpost is not belligerency, but
forward to peace. Whatever Israel is
now asked to do for Egypt, must have
its counterpart in Egypt's reciprocal
duty to give Israel the plentitude of its
rights.
"Beyond the moment when fire will
cease, the prospect must be not one of
unilateral claims by one party against
the other. The horizon must be of peace
by agreement, peace without maritime
blockades in the Gulf or in the Canal,
peace without frontier -raids • or corn-

Golda Meir's Visit

•

.

The visit here next Monday of Israel's
Foreign Minister Golda Meir augurs an
occasion of major importance on our cal-
endar.
Mrs. Meir played a major role in di-
plomatic relations during the past three
weeks. Her note to United Nations Sec-
retary General Dag Hammarskjold, accept-
ing the UN decision for the withdrawal of
Israel's troops from the conquered Gaza
area, set forth Israel's hopes for peace.
Her firm stand in defense of Israel's
dignity and honor has given her great dis-
tinction in an hour of crisis.
She comes here now to provide the
encouragement the Jews of America need
in a grave period in history, when it is so
vital for economic survival.
Coming here in behalf of the Israel
Bond drive, Mrs. Meir should receive the
sort' of response that Israel needs in an
hour of need: in the form of a practical
message, through large Bond purchases,
that all of us will help uphold Israel's
. .
hands.
In welcoming Mrs. Meir to Detroit, may
we express the hopethat Detroit Jewry's
response to the Israel Bond appeals now,
and to the United Jewish Appeal's calls

for action later, will be most generous.

mando incursions, peace without con-
stant threats to the integrity or inde-
pendence of any state, peace without
military alliances directed against
Israel's independence.
"Egypt and Israel are two people-
whose encounters in history have been
so rich and fruitful for mankind. Surely
they must take their journey from this
solemn moment towards the horizons
of peace."
The major need, Israel's objective in
these trying times, is clear. It must be a
road to peace. This objective represents
a serious challenge to our own Govern-

ment. Either dictatorships are strength-
ened by permitting them to gain footholds
in the Middle East—by encouraging the
Nasser elements—or serious efforts are
made to get the Arabs to sit with the
Israelis at peace conferences,
There are such excellent opportunities
to attain peace, as Ben-Gurion and his
associates have indicated. All Israel asks
is peace. The Arabs seek an entire people's
— Israel's — exterminaton. Iraq's saber-
ratting in Beirut last week proved it. The
nations of the world insist that they stand
for peace and for the protection of Israel's
security. Now is the time for them to
prove that they mean it.
Now is the time for our Government,
for President Eisenhower and our State
Department, to prove to Israel and to the
world that our peace asseverations are
sincere aims. There can be no other ap-
proach to world amity than the rejection
of dictatorships and the insistence that
peace alone is the guiding spirit of man-
kind.

Haven of Refuge?

President Eisenhower's announcement
that 5,000 visas, for entrance in this coun-
try, will be issued to victims of Com-
munism in Hungary, has aroused some
speculation.
Dr. Isidor Lubin, New York State In-
dustrial Commission and chairman of the
N. Y. State Committee on Refugees, has
informed Governor Averill Harriman that
a fifth of the visas this country could have
issued to victims of Communist persecu-
tion in Eastern Europe and other immi-
grants may never become available. He
predicted that the three-year law, under
the special Congressional Act on Refugees,
expiring on Dec. 3„ would be 39,000 to
44,000 short of the 209,000 goal.
Meanwhile, appearing before the House
Committee on Un-American Activities, in
Washington, the son of the late President
Theodore Roosevelt, Archibald Roosevelt,
encouraged further tightening of the Mc-
Carran-Walter Immigration L a w. C o n-
trary to all liberal thinking, he opposed
proposals by President Eisenhower and
spokesmen for all parties and all religious
faiths in ;this country for the "liberaliza-
tion" of the existing law. We wonder
Whether T. R. would have had pride in
his son's thinking on the subject.
After all, this is the great land of free-

dom, the haven of refuge for the op-
pressed of the world. What is happen-
ing to this status that has made America
great?

On his recent visit here, Ted Kollek,
the young Israeli leader, referring 'to
President Eisenhower's directive for 5,000
sufferers from Communism to be admitted
to this country, said it sounds "a bit
ridiculous," in view of the fact that Israel,
even in hours of real challenge and a state
of war, welcomes that many every month.

`Haven of refuge?'
It is a title of honor to be preserved by

this great country, and its new status is a

matter for real concern.

This poster is part of the decorations brightening Jewish
Centers affiliated with the National Jewish Welfare. Board.

`Visas to Freedom'

The History of HIAS

For two generations -of Jews, the word "HIAS" acted like
magic. Immigrants who had come to this country starting with
1882 found warm welcome from representatives of various
Jewish groups, starting with the Hebrew Emigrant Auxiliary
society, whose work was taken over by similar groups during
the following years, and the idea of which—that of Hachnosas
Orchim—materializing in the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant
Aid Society—later known as HIAS—in 1902.
While HIAS is only 54 years old, the ideals which motivated
its work are much older. The story of 74 years of cordial wel-
comes to immigrants is told in a fine history of HIAS, "Visas
to Freedom" by Mark Wischnitzer, the well known Jewish his-
torian. The book has just been issued by World Publishing Co.,
2231 W. 110th, Cleveland 2.
Well illustrated, with a commendatory introduction, this
book gives a. warm account of American Jewry's generosity, of
the interest shown by our people in this country in newcomers
to our shores, of the devotion among settlers here to relatives
and friends who sought haven in America.
The Hebrew Sheltering House was the immediate predeces-
sor to HIAS, and the groups that preceded it helped establish
the foundation for the present worldwide immigrant aid move-
ment. The idea of issuing this history developed during the Am-
erican Jewish Tercentenary celebration. The entire story is a
history of the men and women who built HIAS, of the leaders
who headed the organization as presidents, of the Jewish or-
ganizations that assisted it in its growth.
It also is a review of the eras during which it functioned—
the periods of Russian, Polish and German emigrations to this
country, It also is the story of methods and means of approach,
the manner in which HIAS befriended newcomers and cheered
them during the early days of friendliness in this country. It is
the story of intercession in behalf of unfortunates whose status
was uncertain with officials in Washington and at ports of
entry. It represents an important chapter of the history of the
Jews in America.

Adele Wiseman's 'The Sacrifice'

Adele Wiseman, 28, a Winnipeg Jewish social worker, who
now is associated with a Bnai Brith group, the Stepney Jewish
Girls' Club in London, has attracted a lot of interest with her
novel, "The Sacrifice," published by Viking Press.
The press of the country rates the book so high up on the
list of newest literary creations that some newspapers featured
reviews of it on the front pages of their book review sections.
The reader must take into account the fact that this is a
"first novel." When a "first" gains attention on so wide a scale,
the young author must be declared as having "arrived" im-
mediately.
"The Sacrifice" is a story about an immigrant family in
Canada. The title of the book is directly linked with the Biblical
story by the use of names. Abraham is the father. His son in
the tale is Isaac. The wife and mother is Sarah. Abraham and
Sarah's two older sons, Moses and Jacob, were killed in a Polish
pogrom. Isaac and his parents escaped, found a home in Canada,
struggled, the father pursuing his work as a butcher.
There also is a Laiah in the story—a modern Jezebel who
plays a tragic role.
Isaac, goes to work, studies at night, teaches children Hebrew
and prepares them for Bar Mitzvah. He is not a believer, but
he rescues the Torah from a fire that destroyed the community's
synagogue, and he later dies of the burns he sustained.
Abraham's life becomes more and more tragic. He pays a
visit to Laiah, whom he murders in a form of exorcism that is
in reality a fit of madness. It is clear that it was unpremeditated.
This reviewer questions the validity of analogies between
the Biblical Abraham-Isaac sacrifice story and Miss Wiseman's
narration, being made by other reviewers. We view these com-
parisons as figments of the reviewers' imagination.
In reality, "The Sacrifice" lacks the great Jewish element of
hope and confidence, of a happy outlook on life. Miss Wiseman's
story is all tragedy. But in Jewish life, regardless of .the extent
of sorrow, there is no such thing as endless despair. Miss Wise-
man's is only that.
She has written her story well. Her human tragedy holds
the reader's attention—and that, after all, is the test of a good
novel. But it lacks the Jewish wholesomeness for which we shall
search in her next book.

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