Purely Commentary •
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W
Israel's Ambassador Abbe Eban appropriately titled the last
chapter in his book, "Voice of Israel," (horizon Press), "The
Tenth Summer." On the eve of the tenth year of the miracul-
ously-developed State, objective students of world affairs stand
in awe as witnesses of a remarkable development. It is unending
and courageous.
Describing the new developments and the mounting chal-
lenges to Israel, especially in relation to the new flood of
immigrants, Frank Gervasi, in a cable from Jerusalem to the
New York Post, stated:
"Israel echoes to the sound of carpenters' hammers, the
growl of concrete mixers and the slosh-slosh of masons! trowels.
The country is in a frenzy of building and new towns and vil-
lages are springing up everywhere, particularly in the northern
Negev. Some 10,000 homes are under construction and as many
more are projected but there will still be a housing shortage this
year and for some years to come.
"For Israel is growing, faster than its most fervent Zionists
ever dreamed it would, than its more practical planners had
anticipated or desired or its enemies realized. The steady 2,000-
to-4,000-a-month flow of immigrants of the past four or five
years- has once again become a flood.
"Their numbers are taxing the country's economic resources
to their limit and some government economists frankly admit
that they have not yet figured out just how the cost of transport-
ing refugees to Israel and housing and feeding them until they
become productive citizens is to be met.
"Only 55,000 immigrants were expected in 1957, roughly the
number received in 1956. Both were already "big years" com-
pared to 1955 (36,000), 1954 (17,500), 1953 (10,500) and 1952
(23,500). Israel is preparing to receive at least 100,000 and prob-
ably as many as 120,000 this year, although only 55,000 were
budgeted. 'Where the additional money is coining from', one
Jewish Agency official admitted, 'we don't know'. .
"It is known that some 250,000 Jews are literally 'sitting on
their suitcases' in certain countries of Eastern Europe, North
Africa and the Middle East awaiting exit permits. Thousands of
Others are waiting in Asiatic countries and just the other day
there was a -hint in a speeCh - by Premier Ben-Gurion that the
soviet Union may allow .some of its estimated 2,000,000 Jews
to leave for IsraeL" ,
The newcomers are arriving "with empty poCkets," but the
',overwhelming number of Israelis welcome the new immigrants.
According to Gervasi, the Israelis -!-!know that even if" the oldsters
;among the newcomers are not altogether happy in a new and
rigorous environment whose -watchwords are 'work' and isacri-
,fice', their children become good Israelis practically overnight,
:and that the serious busineSs of building a nation will go for-
Ward." •
But there are a few grumblers among the old residents who
task: "Why did they wait?" "They could have come with
all of their money a few years aka. But no. They were assimi-
lated, they thought. Nothing could ever happen to them. They
-.1were citizeri=„iMoit of thern, only come novil:ftiq,*ave their skins,
*lot to build a country of their own: And when they get here
they expect to have everything that we've spent years to
achieve ... " • ' .
.,4t.-These are the words of a minority. The Israelis in the main
a./there to the principle of the "ingathering of the exiles." Their
are great. They will need three times -the sums that
A e being contributed towards Israel's upbuilding and for the
r
Ate
:integration of the newcomers. An outlay of $300,000,000 is
'irequired,-and it is difficult to foretell how, the obligations will
,be met.
Friday, May 3, 1957
O
ti
.
Israel—on the Eve of 'Tenth Summer'
It is to the credit of American Jewry that the response
this-year is greater than ever. Detroit's marvelous campaign,
the:. new high record set here by the Allied Jewish Campaign,
is a compliment to our community's recognition of the immense
-1104S of the hour.
It is little Israel, however, that carries the major burdens.
The obligations are not only financial. There are political ob-
stacles that will call for courage in facing up to a desperate
situation.
We belieVe that Israel will meet the challenges of the future
as she did those of the past. Boats carrying the White - and Blue
flags will ply the high seas, they will risk passage through the
Suez, in spite of the shocking double talk that is heard in dip-
lomatic quarters whence now emanate appeasements of Nasser.
The Tenth Summer commences with uninterrupted activity
in Israel, with opposition from 50,000,000 hostile neighbors, with
failure by the great mowers to live up to pledges to guarantee
Israel's security and _ independence. Israel alone defends her
freedoms. A people that believes in miracles and creates them
can not be destroyed.
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Nasser, the Foe of Christians
Unfortunately, the complacent. Christians, who negligently
overlook the necessity of checking the rise of Nasserism, overlook
the fact that NaSser is as much the foe of Christians as he is
of Jews.
The Chicago -Tribune's correspondent in Cairo, Larry Rue,
recently cabled this report-to his paper:
"Of the 23 million Egyptians, an estimated 1,850,000 are
Christians, some of- whom fear they face an unhappy time under
the dictatorship of President Nasser.
"Since`. the goVernment began to `Egyptianize' businesses and
industries and thus eliminate foreign ownership and administra-
tion, it has- been discriminating against Christians in filing va-•
cated postions.
"Despite superior abilities, Christians were' not acceptable
in filing the jobs created by the forced departure of 'enemy
aliens'—British, French and Jewish individuals in the various
sequestered enterprises they have owned and operated."
Larry'Rize was not alone in sounding this warning, in spite
of denials of its seriousness by some Christians in Egypt. The
New York Herald Tribune correspondent, Barrett McGurn, Who
has been expelled from Cairo, recently warned of the dangers
of the Moslem policies to Christians, of the dangers faced by the
Copts, of the restrictions on the employment of Christians in
Egypt, of the dangers of the :"Egyptianization" campaign.
"Worry among the Christians will take long to dissipate," Mc-
Gurn warned.
How long will Christianity wait before joining hands with
On the Eve of Israel's
Tenth Summer . . . American
Jewry's Generous Kinship
By Philip
Slomovitz
J.WV Golden Book
to Be Dedicated
This Sunday
the liberal forces, and with the Israelis, in uprooting the _danger
that keeps the Moslem masses in oppression and the non-Moslems
Rabbi Morris Adler, a past
in fear of
lives?
national chaplain of the Jewish
* * *
War Veterans, will deliver the
'Double Standard in Our Humanitarian Acts'
dedicatory address at the Gold- -
The refusal of our immigration authorities, under- the di- en Book Dedication by the Mich-
rection of the U.S. Attorney General's office, to admit a fair igan. Department of JWV, set for
number of Jewish refugees from Egypt into this country, has 2 p.m., Sunday at the Memorial
evoked a protest from the president of the Arnerican Jewish Home on Davison.
The address will be part of
Committee, Irving M. Engel. In a letter to the New York Times,
ceremonies culminating five
he wrote:
years of compiling a permanent
"The explanation as to why this Government is prepared history of Michigan's Jewish war
to admit refugees from Hungary but not from Egypt is con-
dead in World War II and
fusing. It suggests that a double standard is involved in our Korea.
humanitarian acts."
Dr. Richard C. Hertz, chaplain
The mere- recording of such a rebuke to our Government of the state JWV, will present
marks a sad day for America and Americans. Engel stated in the invocation to the event, at
his letter, in which he outlined the American Jewish Committee's which Mrs.- Emma Schaver will
proposal for "compassionate concern for the victims of oppres- sing the national anthem.
Other speakers will include
sion": "America's tradition of asylum and its responsibility as
leader of the free world requires us to act speedily in this Frank - McDonald, president- of
matter." At the moment, however, the "tradition of asylum" the Allied Veterans Council in
stands abused and, unhappily, totally abandoned. What a sad, Wayne County, Lawrence Gu-
sad-day this is for the American ideals of providing asylum for bow, state JWV commander,
Mrs. Jack Schwartz, ladies' aux-
the persecuted!
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iliary president, A. Albert Sugar,
president of the JWV Memorial
The Crucifixion Libel: Another SadOccurrence
Home Association, and Circuit
The TV program, directed by Robert Montgomery, which Court Judge Victor Baum, who-
pictured Pharisees as a "hypocritical" sect that demanded Jesus' will represent Pov. - Williams.
life, was another sad experience for us. By reviving the old
The color guard will be com-
crucifixion libel and by suggesting, as the play did, that Jews prised of Harry Michael,Michael
were responsible for Christ's death on the cross, the TV facilities, Budz and Eugene Moy, of the
were used to destroy a basic ideal of fairness in treating reli- Allied Veterans Council; Samuel.
gious subjects.
J. Rhodes, president of the Jew-'
An historical truth, that crucifixion was a Roman, not a ish Community Council and hon-
Jewish practice; the fact that Jewish law -made it very difficult orary president of the JWV.
for capital punishment to be put into effect, was ignored in the Memorial Home,'4 will be toast=
treatment of the crucifixion story in the TV program.
master at the - event.
Following the dedication, the
The characterization of the Pharisees in the drama under
discussion was contrary to fact. The Pharisees were no more Golden Bookrwhich is hand let-,
bloodthirsty' than any other Jewish religious sect, even if they` tered and illuminated 'and con.
were more extreme in their practices. ,The "hypocrites" were thins biographical information
exceptions to the rule. One of the Mishnaic commentaries and photographs of the Jewish:
(Sotah 22b) contains the-following: "King Alexander Jannaetis individuals who fell in the two
said to his wife: 'fear neither the Pharisees nor the non- wars, will be on permanent dis
Pharisees, but the painted (the hypocrites) who resemble the play , in a specially designed
Pharisees'." Inherent in this is the admonition that there are - case in the Home. -
hypocrites among all groups, just as exist among all peoples.
But the blanket condemnation of all Pharisees was an unfortu-
nate invention, a shocking condemnation, which an American
group has utilized to revile all Jews by implication that a group
of Jews had demanded Jesus' life.
A number of meetings have
We—wish to register our protest against the shocking mani- been scheduled by the Detroit
Israel Bond Organization as it
festation - of' bigotry - over a ' nationwide television hookup:
* * *
‘prepares to intensify -its efforts
for the sale of Israel Bonds. in
Isidore SObelOWs 20th Annivirsary
the coming months.
Any mention of Detroit's assistance, to the United Jewish
David Safran, chairman of
Appeal and to Israel must be linked with the activities here of the steering committee, has an-
the able director of the Allied Jewish Campaign, Isidore Sobeloff. nounced a meeting of the exe-
The concluding dinner meeting of the local campaign was cutive committee in his horne,.
partially turned into a testimonial tribute to Sobeloff on the oc- 19421 Parkside, for 8:30 p.m.,
casion of his 20th anniversary in this community. Local and na- May 13.
Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, chief
tional leaders, who presented him with tokens of friendship, took
note of his brilliant leadership, of his able direction of Detroit's executive officer , for Israel
community affairs and of the manner in which he had helped Bonds nationally, who is now
to elevate the standards of Detroit Jewry's social service activities. leading a delegation of Israel
Sobeloff is • without question the country's ablest Federation Bond leaders from the U.S, and.
executive director. He has a keen understanding of Jewry's needs, Canada to the Jewish state, will
and he possesses the ability of Moulding leadership. He has es- return in time to address the
pecially succeeded in bringing, into the community's set-up many meeting in Safran's home.
young men, some of them now working side by side with their , A leadership brunch has been
scheduled by Mrs. Philip Helf-
parents in behalf of our educational, social service and recreation- man, chairman of the Bond
al agencies. By his many .attainments, he has earned all the Women's Division, to be. held
honors accorded him on his 20th anniversary in Detroit.
at 10:30 a.m., May , 20, at Adas
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Shalom Synagogue.
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The Dead Sea Scrolls Issue Still on Agenda
Mrs. Avis Shulman, national
Interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls is growing. Many books have women's leader, will outline the
been published on the subject, there are debates on public plat- events that have taken place
forms and in the press and keen interest is being shown in all in Israel during the last sev-
eral months and the role that
archaeological undertakings.
The subject gains added significance in the lengthy and the Bond -drive will be expected -
illuminating article in the Jewish Frontier by Dr. Robert Gordis to play in the changing status
who stated that it has become "clear how much larger than was of the country.
previously imagined is the debt that Christianity owes to the
Labor-Zionists to Hear
mother faith of Judaism."
"Thus," Dr. Gordis wrote, "the Dead Sea Scrolls are an in- Expert on Immigration
valuable source for a deeper understanding of the spiritual roots
Daniel Brisker, an Israeli who
of Western man."
has been involved intimately
with immigra-
At the same time, however, a Reuters report from Jerusalem
tion and ab-
stated that "the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Qumran region
of
s orption
of the Judean wilderness are said to suggest an error in the Old
immigrants to
Testament." The Reuters story credits the Rev. Jozef M. Milik,
the Jewish state
"a member of a team of eight international scholars preparing to
will be the
publish translations of the Dead Sea documents," as having said
principal
"that one small Aramaic scroll, entitled 'The Prayer of Naboni-
speaker at a
dus,' reveals the apparent biblical -error."
meeting of the'
This, in a sense, negates the statement by Dr. Gordis and
Labor Zionist
once again creates doubts relative to all the-references made, in
'0 g an i z a tion,
relation to the discovered scrolls, to both Christianity and Juda-
a t 8 p. m.,
Thursday, in
ism.
the LZ
Indeed, the entire subject should be reviewed by scholars.
stitute,.
19161,
It calls for. deep study, if the truth regarding either authenticity
Schaefer.
or antiquity is to be definitely established. But it certainly is not
Brisker, for-
a subject to be bandied around by amateurs,
mer represent-
Brisker
The Dead Sea Scrolls issue has been debated by amateurs. It
ative of the
has become a topic for discussion not by scholars but at public Jewish Agency in the United
rallies where it was treated as entertainment rather than a. sub- States, will spark an open dis-'
ject for research. Dr. Solomon Zeitlin has objected to such com- cussion of the critical problems
monplace assignments. We share his view, and it is our convic- facing the State of Israel, the
tion that archaeologists and people in position to study the issue Allied Jewish Canipaign and its,
should deal with it and not the man in the street who is not- Emergency Rescue Fund, estab-
lished to save 100,000 refugees..
qualified to •pass judgment -upon the scrolls.
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Local Bond Drive,.
to Open Campaign
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