Friday, June 7, 1957 -- THE DETROIT JEW ISH N EWS-2
Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Holy Scriptures versus Dead Sea Scrolls
We took occasion, a short time ago, to reject the dragging of
the Dead Sea Scrolls issue through the mire of popular pulp mag-
azines and superficially shallow discussions of them by Unin-
formed discussants.
This issue belongs in the realm of scholarship. Only well-
informed historians and archaeologists are in position to analyze
the scrolls and to debate their antiquity.
But when the subject is utilized for "programming," thereby
sensationalizing the issue, an important debate is turned into
sham and farce.
The question may well be posed: do those who seek to sen-
sationalize the issue know the Holy Scriptures? It would be wiser
for program-planners to acquaint themselves and their audiences
with existing Scriptural material that enables them to review our
Bible, and also to become acquainted with Jewish history. By
going to Dead Sea Scrolls before mastering Holy Scriptures and
Jewish history, they make a Mockery of Jewish scholarship.
The need for wholesome programming has been emphasized
on numerous occasions. We reiterate such a need, but not at
the expense of NA Tholesome approaches to vital topics. When the
uninformed pose as authorities on a subject like the Dead Sea
Scrolls, that has divided opinions among the limited number of
authorities on the issue, they destroy wholesomeness in program
planning.
Polish Courts, Prosecutors, Police Officials
Exposed for Publicly Allowing Anti-Semitisus
LONDON, (JTA) — Perhaps
the boldest admissions as yet
made public . about anti-Semi,
tism in Poland came to light in
official reports received here
from Warsaw. They bring evi-
dence given before the Polish
Sejm (Parliament) Commission
on' Internal Affairs, showing
that courts, prosecutors and po-
lice officials condone anti-
Semitism, wink at discrimina-
tions practiced against Jews,
shut their eyes to the dismissal
of Jews from their jobs, -and
`impose difficulties on , Jews
seeking the right to emigrate
to Israel.
The evidence was given by
Hersch Smoliar, chairman of
the Association of Jewish Cul-
tural Organizations; and Dr.
David Sfard, executive secre-
tary of the Association. Both
pleaded with the members of
the Sejm for tightening of laws
which presumably forbid anti-
*
William Chornsky's Comment on Zeitlin and the Scrolls
Bonn to Indemnify
Jews for Properties
'Aryanized' by. Nazis
Semitism and for bringing prac-
Praising the government's
tices into line with the laws.
"correct and humane policy"
of permitting Jews to emi-
"There are countless in-
grate to Israel, Mr. Smoliar
stances," Mr. Smoliar testi
told the Parliamentary Com-
fied, "in which prosecutors,
mission that, often, customs
militia officials and police
and passport officials refuse
have failed to act promptly
to permit the repatriates to
or with sufficient vigor
leave for Israel "where they
against the anti-Semitic hooli-
wish to join relatives."
gans. The courts are too mild
in their treatment of anti-
Many of the repatriates, he
Semites and have created the declared, have found; upon
impression that the Polish coming to Poland, that their
people need not observe the relatives had already departed
laws protecting all minorities for Israel, but they are being
in Poland."
forced to stay on in Poland, al-
Attacking the "limitless ar- though denied housing and
rogance and impudence" of anti- robbed of opportunities to find
Semites, Mr. Smoliar told of work.
Jews losing their jobs and of
The chairman of the associa,
suffering many indignities as tiOn also implied, in his testi-
well as economic repressions.
mony, that government subven-
He called upon*Parliament to tions for the maintenance of
establish new cooperatives for Jewish shrines in Poland have
the re-employment of jobless been curtailed or cut off re-
Jews, and for the formation of cently. He appealed to the Com-
credit associations to help . fi- mission for special government
nance remodeling of homes for funds to conserve the site of
Jews in Poland recently re- the Warsaw Ghetto - and the
patriated by the Soviet Union. Jewish cemetery in Warsaw.
,
In his highly scholarly work, "Hebrew: The Eternal L:ang-
nage," published by the Jewish Publication Society of America,
Boris Smolar's
Dr. William Chomsky, the noted Jewish educator, has a note on
BONN, (JTA)—The Bunde-
the Dead Sea Scrolls and on the position taken by Dr. Solomon stag, Lower House of the West
Zeitlin. He states:
German Federal Republic, ap-
"This discovery raised a storm of controversy among proved an amended law pro-
scholars. Some of them hold that these manuscripts antedate viding payments totalling $357,-
000,000 in restitution for Jewish
the Nash papyrus and were written during the Maccabean
period, while others vigorously challenge the extreme an- property confiscated by the
(Copyright, 1957,
Nazi Government. The measure,
tiquity of the scrolls and date them from the medieval period.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 131e4
passed by the •undesta.g once
In the light of the orthography in the Biblical texts and,
particularly, of the artificial and corrupt Hebrew style in the before, had been sent back to Educational Trends
original non-biblical texts, the possibility of their belonging a committee at the request of
There are at present about 300,000 Jewish children in New
the Federal Council, the Upper
to the period of the Second Commonwealth is extremely
York alone who receive no Jewish education whatever, it was
doubtful. The sopheric tradition, guided by the injunction of 'lo House, which raised some tech- established
in a study published by the Jewish Education Asso-
Asso-
toseph alaw," which was then, most likely, already in effect, nical objections. Now it is ex- elation .
The study financed by the New York Federation of
the Council will approve
would have prevented copyists from interpolating such a pected
the law in June, and the leg- Jewish Philanthropies, is the first of its kind to be conducted
plethora of vowel-letters in the biblical texts-. There must have islation will probably go into in the city which has the largest Jewish population in the world,
been at that time a more or less accepted pattern of ortho-
effect in July, ending a seven- . It reveals that of 415,000 Jewish children of school-age in
graphy in biblical texts intended for use in synagogues and
year
in the enactment of ic.ew York, only 128,000 are attending all types of Jewish schools
schools, from which scribes would hardly have dared to de- this delay
legislation. . Considering that about a third of them are registered with
viate. Furthermore, the writers of the original texts in these
to Sunday schools, where very little is taught, the emerging pie-
The law pertains only
scrolls would have employed, in that period, either Aramaic,
Jewish property "Aryanize& ture on Jewish education is far from encouraging, despite the
or a much more natural mishnaic Hebrew, as a medium of self- by the former German State or fact that the number of pupils in Jewish schools today is larger
expression. There is, to be sure, evidence of ignorance of the former Prussian state rail- than it was several years ago . . The study establishes that
Hebrew during the Second Commonwealth, as is proved by
ways and state postal system about half of all the children receive their Jewish education
some isolated inscriptions of the Bet_ -Sha'arim necropolis. It
in. West Germany and in both in Orthodox schools, 25 percent attend Conservative schools, •8
is conceivable that a person ignorant of Hebrew would never-
percent are registered with Reform schools and the remainder
theless prefer a Hebrew inscription on a tombstone. But it is parts of Berlin. It does not af- with Yiddish schools . . . In the city, Orthodox schools occupy
fect
seizures
of
Jewish
property
quite inconceivable that such a person would undertake to
in East Germany, in the Saar, the first place in the number of pupils, in .the suburbs they
write an important document in Hebrew, with which he was
Or in former German areas now occupy the last place . . . Ninety percent of the children in New
unconversant, in a style different from the one in vogue among
under Soviet or Polish admire- York suburbs receive their Jewish education in Reform or Con-
the circles employing the language.
istr ation. servative schools . .. Two-thirds of all the pupils are boys due
Thousands of Jews have ob- to the fact that their parents want .them prepared for Bar
"These scrolls are, accordingly, more likely to be dated from
the early medieval period and to be traced to Karaitic sources. rained judgments against the Mitzvah . . . In the suburbs, 40 percent of the pupils are girls.
The Karaites were not influenced by the rabbinic interpreta- German Reich in pressing *
tion of the injunction 'Lo toseph alaw,' and they had no qualms
claims for "Aryanized" prop` Communal Echoes
about adding vowel-letters in the biblical texts. Similarly, the erty, but have been unable to
The question of whether the congregations are "killing" their
Karaites, as well as the early ‘paytanim,' . were wont to write collect until now. Under the rabbis by the demands they make on their time and nerves has
in this loose style characteristic of the original 'Megillot' new legislation, restitution will aroused a good deal of discussion . . . I have received numerous
(scrolls) coining new_ words and constructions arbitrarily, be made for securities confis- letters taking issue with an assertion by two Detroit physicians
without regard to rules of grammar and syntax. On the basis crated by the Nazis during the who claim that the demands on the modern rabbi endanger his
of the available evidence, one is led to conclude, with Prof. S.
war as well as for a billion- health . The argument is advanced that some rabbis are too
Zeitlin, that these scrolls were written, in the main, by ignor-
mark "fine" imposed by the ambitious and play a leading role in public life instead of being
ant scribes, from memory or dictation, as far as the biblical Nazis on Jews of Germany and merely spiritual leaders ... Some of the authors of the letters
texts are concerned, during the early medieval period." '
Austria in 1938 after the as- express the opinion that no rabbi. would be "killing himself" if
This is an interesting addition to the discussion about the sassination in Paris of Ernest he limited his activities to the spiritual needs of his congrega-
antiquity of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Prof. Zeitlin has a strong von. Rath, a German embassy Lion . . They point out that the functions of a rabbi should
backer in Dr. Chomsky. Those who are concerned about accuracy attache. be purely spiritual and that political work is not a part of his
The legislation sets up a duties . . They believe rabbis should do everything possible
in biblical research and earnest approaches to historical facts
may now well ask, again, whether all the fuss over the scrolls schedule of payments, with the to stimulate their laymen to be active in civic and communal
was justified, and — if Drs. Zeitlin and Chomsky and their last of the payments due in affairs but that they themselves should remain in the back-
supporters are correct — whether their opponents have not 1962. Claims will have to be ground and devote their time to spiritual guidance . . . Instances
filed not later than April 1, are cited to show that some rabbis step into positions which
inflated an exaggerated issue.
1958. - should be held by lay- leaders, thus hampering the work of de-
We add these comments as emphasis to the points we have
veloping lay leadership in American Jewry .. . Whether these
already made:
assertions are true or not, it is certain that the rabbi can do
Teachers
Placement
1. That Dr. Zeitlin must be given a platform, among scholars,
much for his health, as well as for the spiritual needs of his con-
to present his contentions, in the interest of accuracy; and.
Bureou Formed Here
gregation, if he were to consider himself a spiritual leader alone,
Bernard Panush, chairman of leaving general leadership to the laymen,
2. The subject should be kept within the sphere of scholar-
ship and should not be juggled by amateurs in the interest of the Directors Council of the Inside Jewry
Religious Schools of Metropoli-
sensational programming.
tan Detroit, announces appoint-
I just finished reading Chaim Lieberman's "Strangers to
•
•
ments of the following chair- Glory"—a book aimed at exposing the "Judaism" of the Ameri-
men of committees:
can Council for Judaism. . . Lieberman, a journalist of high
A. Almi—Eminent Yiddish Poet and Mystic
Rabbi Max Kapustin, corn- reputation and himself an Orthodox Jew, analyzes the philosophy
We join heartily in greeting the eminent Yiddish writer and mittee on teachers placements. of the Council for Judaism and asserts that the Council's
"reit-
poet, A. Almi, on his 65th birthday and the 50th anniversary of All persons applying for posi- gion of Judaism" is "a pious fraud" . . . He calls it "heresy,
his literary career.
Lions as school teachers are ad- calumny, and plain mockery, not only from the standpoint of__..
Almi is the adopted name of Eliahu Chaim Shops. One of vised to obtain an application Judaism. but from that of Christianity also" . .
-takes' issue
the ablest Yiddish writers of our time, he has distinguished froth Rabbi Kapustin at Hillel with the Council's "blustering patriotism" . . He points out that
himself as poet, translator, student and interpreter of the works House of Wayne State Univer- the average American Jew is fully confident that America ap-
Of Baruch Spinoza, biographer of many outstanding world leaders sity. preciates the fact that whoever remains faithful to his ancient
Rabbi Joseph Hirsch, to de- loyalties can be trusted to be faithful to his new ones, for there
and one of the mainstays in the public relations department of
the United Jewish Appeal. '
sign a standard transfer form, is faithfulness in his heart. . The American Council for
so - that pupils transferring from Judaism, on the other hand; does not seem to possess the same
He can be credited with a score of other appellations. He is
a mystic. He is a vegetarian. He is an authority on oriental one school to another will have peace of mind, Lieberman stresses He questions the Council's
philosophies, He is the author of 2)5 books, three of them in pertinent scholastic information understanding of the tine: universalism of Judaism; and asserts
transferred to their new school that "when it comes to Judaism, the Jews of the Council are
English.
in a uniform manner. not even proper Gentiles" . . The book shows no mercy to
R was heartening ito read the 'tributes to his journalistic
Walter Farber, committee on the Council for its "divided loyalty" theory which is the core of
trecolnplishments in a special issue dedicated "to his birthday teachers standards.
the Council's anti-Zionist propaganda and which has also been.
and to the 50th anniversary of his literary efforts in Freie
Max Chomsky, chairman of condemned by the American Jewish Committee and the recent
Arbeiter Shtime, which is perhaps the most literary Yiddish the survey committee, reported national convention of Reform Jewry The volume is written
periodical published in this country. We heartily join in these that there are 5,000 students in from the viewpoint of an Orthodox Jew, but it will also be read
tributes and wish to slaw* the jay of greeting our able confrere the religious schools of Detroit, with interest . by Conservative and Reform Jews opposing tha
and good friend.
with about 200 teachers.
AJC's philosophy.
'Between You
... and Me'