The Same Hounds as in Germany
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
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the first day of Adar, 5717, the following Scriptural selections will be read
, in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Num. 28:1-15, Ex. 25:1-27:19. Prophetical portion, I Kings 5:26-6:13.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Feb. 1, 5:29 p.m.
VOL. XXX—No. 22
'
Correct
Page Four
February 1, 1957
What Is Wrong Confirm What Is Right'
In his second inaugural address, Presi-
dent Dwight David Eisenhower included
a prayer. We applaud the sentiments of
our President in which he stated:
"May we pursue the right—without
self-righteousness.
"May we know unity—without con-
formity.
"May we grow in strength—without
pride of self.
May we, in our dealings with all
people of the earth, ever speak truth and
serve justice.
"May the light of freedom, coming to
all darkened lands, flame brightly—until
at last the darkness is no more.
"May the turbulence of our age yield
to the true time of peace, when men and
nations shall share a life that honors the
dignity of each, the brotherhood of all."
We join in this prayer—for a "true time
of peace," for dignity and brotherhood.
That is what we have been pleading
fdr. It is to this end that we owe to our
President our devotion to the cause of jus-
tice and of peace.
In the course of our dedication to the
principle that we "speak truth and serve
justice," we are aware that these ideas
embrace the entire world. A lack of truth
and justice anywhere on earth may seri-
ously affect our own status on this conti-
nent. The world is too small for isolation-
ism, and our Government, by its leadership
in the United Nations, has affirmed and
reaffirmed it.
On this basis, we address ourselves once
again to our leaders in Washington for just
treatment of Israel in the present Middle
East crisis and for avoidance of double
standards of morality. The lives of nearly
2,000,000 people are at stake in that area
under conditions which say to Israel that
she must evacuate strategic points without
assurances to her own security-
* * *
We recognize the multitude of problems
Involved in the Middle East situation. We
know the seriousness of the Suez Canal
crisis. We are aware of the threats to world
peace from Soviet - intrusions in that area.
But we also know that international justice
is not meted out on the basis of penalizing
the smallest of the nations. We therefore
challenge those who, although they are
fully informed about the continuous
threats to Israel since the state was
founded, nevertheless are appeasing the
true aggressors while penalizing the real
sufferer: Israel; while yielding to the pres-
sures from the combined Soviet and Afro-
Asian blocs, they pursue policies that point
a dagger at Israel's throat.
Therefore, in the spirit of President
Eisenhower's prayers for peace and jus-
tice, we protest against such double-stand-
ard policies of his appointees—our repre-
sentatives at the United Nations; and of
the unrealistically harsh policies of our
State Department vis-a-vis Israel. On this
score, we invoke the sentiments expressed
in another prayer at the Presidential in-
auguration. Dr. Edward L. R. Elson, pas-
tor Of the National Presbyterian Church,
Washington, where President Eisenhower
attends services, stated in his invocation at
the inauguration:
"Almighty God, our Creator, Re-
deemer and Judge, who hast given us
this good land for our heritage, make
sacred to this solemn hour of dedi-
cation.
"Correct what is wrong, confirm
what is right."
We join in wholehearted endorsement
of these sentiments. God has given us for
our heritage a great and a good land. And
He also has blessed us with basic principles
which make it possible for Americans to
join in saying: "Correct what is wrong,
confirm what is right." In conformity with
this principle, we say to our President that
the policies pursued by his administration
toward Israel were and are wrong; that
they need correcting; that in the spirit of
the basic American ideals of justice and
fair play they must be changed.
The people of this great land have
shared the great pride of knowing that all
decisions are subject to change. We have
changed policies with administrations. We
also have witnessed changes in viewpoints
and attitudes even in the midst of an ad-
ministration's term of office. We know
that the views of a minority in the Su- I
preme Court often became the accepted
policies of a majority in the course of time.
•
* *
These things need be said in answer to
those who are either horrified by criticisms
or are too frightened by governmental
policies to utter criticisms. We reject such
attitudes as wrong and un-American. It is
our conviction that Robert G. Ingersoll had
the proper definition for patriotism when
he said: "He loves his country best who
strives to make it best."
Our demand for a change in American
policy toward Israel is such an attempt
to make our country best. But collabora-
tion with Communist Russia and with
slave-trading Saudi Arabia won't accom-
plish that purpose.
The time has come for an end to blun-
ders. Our generation has the obligation of
remembering the Fuehrer and Il Duce. A
world war was fought to prevent the
spread of the poisons they carried in their
systems. This generation has the new duty
of avoiding conditions which may tend to
create another dictatorial system. We are
not as frightened as those who believe that
Nasser already is such a dictator. His fate
will be that of every man who seeks to
oppress his fellow-men. What concerns us
much more is the generation he is poison-
ing.
That, too, is our fault. By pampering
him, by appeasing the Arab overlords who,
instead of bringing progress to their op-
pressed peoples, are keeping them in sub-
jection, we are assisting in the spread of a
poison that threatens to harm, nay it may
even destroy, the entire world. It is against
such a menace that we protest—and we
do so believing that the weakness of the
Dulles policies, or the lack of a definite
Dulles policy, is basically responsible for
the courage that has been acquired by the
would-be destroyers of human liberties.
* * *
It is not too late to change a policy that
lacks realism, to return to the path of jus-
tice, to strive for peace.
Early in November, Henry Cabot Lodge,
Jr., our delegate to the United Nations,
introduced a resolution that would have
led to negotiations for peace between Arabs
and Jews. What has 'happened to that
resolution?
Ever since the creation df Israel, spokes-
men for our Government have reiterated a
policy affirming and reaffirming that Is-
rael is a reality. Only a few days ago, Liv-
ingston T. Merchant, the U. S. Ambassador
to Canada, said, addressing the Canadian
Club in Montreal, that any settlement of
the Middle Eastern situation "must accept
the fact. that Israel is a country here to
stay." This is American policy. Are we
adhering to it by rejecting attempts to
assure Israel's existence?
The answer to the last, question, unfor-
tunately, is • no. Therefore we return to
the thesis pronounced by Dr. Elson: "Cor-
rect what is wrong, confirm what is right."
Apply this to the Middle East. Grant it
as a right to all Americans to criticize our
Government, so that this great land may
benefit from the devoted sentiments of
citizens who love it best because they
strive to make it best.
Stories by Eminent Israeli Writers
'Tehilla, Other Israeli Tales'
Israel's most distinguished novelists and short story writers
are included in a splendid collection of narratives.
Published under the title "Tehilla and Other Israeli Tales,*
the volume was published by Abelard-Schuman (404 4th, N Y 16).
Samuel Joseph Agnon, whom many consider Israel's out-
standing novelist, is the author of the "Tehilla" title story. Tehilla
is a 104-year-old woman who recalls that her family - objected to
her marriage to a Hassidic youth. She prepares to take with her
to the Great Beyond a jar with a message of apology to the suitor.
With the Old City of Jerusalem as the background, and Torah-
inspired characters as the heroes, this tale takes on special sig-
nificance.
The brief biographical note on Agnon, as well as on the other
writers whose works are included in this book, was written by
I. M. Lask, a well known Jewish writer who settled in Israel in
1930.
The publishers explain that a committee of eminent writers
in Israel, established by the Jewish Agency to encourage trans-
lations from Hebrew literary works, assisted in the preparation.
of this book. The stories were selected by the committee's chair-
man, Yitzhak Shenhar.
Of the nine authors represented in this volume, six are still
active and three are • no longer among • the
living. Of the latter, Moshe Smilansky, one ir
of the most eminent Palestinian pioneers, is
the author of "Barhash" in which he depicts
Arab village life. Smilansky undoubtedly was k
one of the best informed men in Palestine on
Arab folkways and his stories, as indicated
in this one, lead to an understanding of Is-
rael's cousins and neighbors. -
Yitzhak Shami, • author of "Hamamah — A
Tale of the Arabian Desert," died in 1949.
Asher Barash, author of "In Marburg," died
in 1953. Smilansky
The other authors include the now well-known novelist,
Hayim Hazaz, who wrote the story "The Wanderer." In this folk
wk:‘ 'NI% tale he describes how the burial place of
an ass became hallowed as the tomb of
a holy man.
The other authors and their stories
are: "The First Kiss" by Moshe Shamir,
"Man and Wife" by Yehuda Burla and
"David's Bower" by Yitzhak Shenhar.
"Man and Wife" is a splendid tale of
a courtship. It is related entertainingly,
revealing the author's fine sense of
humor. "David's Bower" touches upon
the problem of the Christian Jews in.
Israel.
All the stories combine to offer a new
understanding of modern Israel. While
they do not deal with the current prob-
Hayim Hazaz
lems of Israel's fight for survival, they
touch upon enough issues to give value and strength to the
collection.
•
Signs of Our Troubled Times
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
Copyright 1957, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate-
Nasser's illusion of grandeur has reached a point now where
he not only believes he can dictate' poltical but also business
terms to the United States. This head of a quasi bankrupt state
is now telling the U.S. it must accept Egyptian pounds of ques-
tionable value for exports or else lose the trade. You can be
sure that the level headed American exporters will be less
perturbed by Nasser's threats than the coterie of so-called Wash-
ington statesmen who seem to tremble everytinie Mitzraimland'S
dictator shows his inordinately small fist.
Public Opinion
If letters from readers reflect public opinion, John Foster
Dulles should be on his way out from the State Department.
At least this is the conclusion on the basis of letters which
appeared one day last week in the New York World-Telegram,
a newspaper whose editorial policy has been none too friendly
to Israel. Of six letter writers almost all blamed Dulles for the
Middle East fiasco and demanded his resignation. A most cizitical
evaluation of Dulles came from the Washington correspondent
of the New York Herald-Tribune, a pro-administration paper,
who said he sat through almost three hours of Dulles testimony
before a congressional committee without grasping what the
Secretary of State intended to convey.