THE JEWISH NEWS
Trying to Balance the Scale
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 f,6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1952 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Rosh Hodesh Tanimuz Scriptural - Selections
This Sabbath, the thirtieth day of Sivan, 5717, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
.
Pentateuchal portions, Hukkat, Numbers 19.1-22:1, 28:9-15. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 66:1-24.
Licht Benshen, Friday, June 28, 7:53 p.m.
VOL. XXXI.
No. 17
Page Four
June 28, 1957
Israel's Quest for Religious Toleration
In the interest of world peace, and for
the sake of better understanding of their
problems among all peoples, lies should
be exposed promptly, before their evil
effects take root.
In Israel's case, there are so many mis-
representations that serious responsibili-
ties rest upon the young State's Jewish
kinsmen, wherever they may reside, to
expose them to light.
One of the most shocking of the recent
libels leveled at Israel was the spread
of a Saudi Arabian accusation that Israel
fleet units were maneuvering in the Gulf
of Aqaba and threatening the Moslem pil-
grimage to Mecca.
Israel not only has declared these
charges to be totally unfounded, but sees
in the Saudi Arabian accusations, made
in complaints to the United Nations Se-
curity Council, "an attempt to introduce a
spurious religious issue." Israel, on the
contrary, offers to assist Moslems who em-
bark upon holy journeys to Mecca and is
"anxious that her citizens of the Moslem
faith should be granted the right to visit
holy shrines in Arab countries, since, till
now, they have been denied this privi-.
lege by Arab governments."
An Israeli spokesman revealed in his
statement that Arab governments have
until now not permitted Israeli Arabs to
participate in the annual pilgrimage to
Mecca.
In his letter to the President of the UN
Security Council denying categorically the
charges against Israel, Ambassador Abba
Eban pleaded that all littoral states of the
Aqaba Gulf should "do everything in
their power to ensure the continuance of
the present peace and tranquility" of the
Gulf, and made this assertion:
"... The government-of Israel regrets par-
ticularly that the government of Saudi Ara-
bia should have seen fit to inject a religious
issue by stating that the 'location' of the
aggressive acts' which it alleges have oc-
curred 'engulf the traditional land and sea
routes of Moslem pilgrimages' to Mecca. The
government of Israel, so far from interfering
in any way with the traditional pilgrimage,
has declared its desire to place all possible
facilities at its disposal. Never on a single
occasion has Israel prejudiced the Mecca pit-
grimage in any way, nor has she any inten-
tion of doing so."
Since the issue involves the cherished
desire of all people of good will to spread
the ideal of religious tolerance, this state-
ment should be given the widest circula-
tion. It is deplorable that a religious issue
should be added to the numerous other
problems that trouble the Middle East,
and it is to be hoped that Israel's plea for
tranquility should be heeded.
* *
The Mecca pilgrimage question was
raised recently in Jerusalem, and the
Foreign Minister of Israel, replying to a
question about Israel's attitude to Moslem
`A Piece of Blue Heaven'
pilgrimages, pointed out:
"With the increase of shipping and air
travel the facilities of the Gulf of Aqaba
lost its importance as a transit route for Mos-
lem pilgrims. This is known to every pros-
pective pilgrim. The latest exact figures at
my disposal date back to 1952. In that y'dar
from roughly 160,000 pilgrims only about
3,500 passed through Aqaba and Wadi Sir-
han. In years after that the percentage of
pilgrims choosing this route even decreased.
Our attitude to sacred Moslem pilgrimage
is one of deep respect and we are therefore
prepared to encourage the use of Aqaba as a
route and lend the pilgrims every possible
assistance."
On the contrary, the Associated Press
reported from Amman that Jordan's King
Hussein and Saudi Arabia's King Saud
issued orders to Moslem pilgrims travel-
ing to Mecca to avoid the Gulf of Aqaba
"for safety reasons." They who create dif-
ficulties in an area that should serve as a
free international waterway are those who
issue safety warnings! What a farcical situ-
ation, which seems to mislead the innocent
—all because the powers who make up the
United Nations will not speak the truth
out of fear of retaliation from the Soviet
and Afro-Asian blocs.
Israel's position has been placed on the
record, both at the UN and in Jerusalem.
-Now, if the Arab nations will respond in
kind, by offering cooperation in establish-
ing
relations, for religious as
well as economic and diplomatic coopera-
tion, a great day will come for mankind.
When will the world powers, under UN
direction, be ready to enoourge it?
Decline of Frate rnity Bias in U. S.
In an interesting evaluation of the de-
cline of fraternity bias in the United
States, the Anti-Defamation League, in a
report just published, included informa-
tion about two major Michigan universi-
ties, as follows:
University of Michigan: The student- gov-
ernment ruled that Sigma Kappa Sorority
had violated the university's anti-discrimina-
tion regulations when it suspended its Cor-
nell and Tufts chapters for pledging Negro
girls. The sorority lost its appeal before • a
university Board of Review. The sorority
faces suspension and permanent removal
from the campus, or may be put on proba-
tion.
Wayne State University: College of Edu-
cation has adopted policy of non-recognition
of student groups that discriminate on
grounds of race, religion or nationality.
Of special interest in the ADL report
is the emphasis placed on the fact that:
"The current movement against fraternity
discrimination has been principally cOh-
tered in the student body. Undergraduate
members of local chapters have taken the
lead in the struggle for a non-discrimina-
tory policy. They have risked the loss of
their affiliations by challenging and defy-
ing the leadership of their nationals. But
they have received strong support from
college officials and numerous alumni."
This is most heartening. When rejec-
tion of bias emanates from memberships
rather than leaderships, it indicates the
dication that fair play is not dead as a
value of grass root democracy. It is an in.-
major instrument in defense of the demo-
cratic ideal of equality.
Thus, abolishment of bias in fraterni-
ties, coupled with the gradual elimination
of discrimination in housing and in other
fields where prejudice was in evidence
until now, is a step in the direction of
perfecting our way of living to fit per-
fectly into the American scheme of liberty
and justice for all.
Welcome NAACP
The convention of the National Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of the Col-
ored People, is worthy of more than
passing - interest.
NAACP symbolizes an oppressed peo-
ple's struggle for freedom. In its ranks are
enrolled white as well as colored people
—all of them concerned that there should
be an end to racial barriers in this free
land and that the liberties guaranteed us
in the Constitution should be applied to
all, without distinctions.
Tremendous progress already has -been
made in the attainment of the desired
goals in the past decade. NAACP may
well take pride in its attainments. -Much
more is yet to be achieved, and the present
convention undoubtedly will outline cur-
rent objectives at_the sessions in our com-
munity.
We join in commending the NAACP
on its efforts and in wishing it a successful
convention.
Tale of Christian Good Will,
Rescue, Poison and Suicide
Abraham Margolian rises to new heights as a novelist
with his latest work, "A Piece of Blue Heaven," published by
the New Elizabethan Publishing Co., 315 Queen St., Fredericton,
N.B., Canada. .
It is rightfully' called "a poetic novel." It is a combination
of straight story-telling intermixed with prose poetry.
The major factor of value about it, however, is the story
itself, the narrative about Jews caught in the Nazi trap in
Amsterdam, many of whom were sent to concentration camps,
some of whom tried to escape, a number of whom found refuge
in Christian homes.
Thus, it is almost a sequel to "The Diary of Anne Frank"
Like the Anne Frank story, it reveals the humanitarian attitudes
of Amsterdam's non-Jews who risked their lives to place Jewish
friendS in hiding in their attics.
. Margolian's story is about Christians as well as Jews, about
a former Jewess who became a Catholic nun and who was
offered asylum together with Jews because the Nazis looked
upon her as a Jewess.
"A Piece of Blue Heaven" also reveals how some Jews
carried tiny ampoules of poison in order to end their lives
if they were finally caught for transportation to concentration
camps, rather than to fall into the hands of Nazis.
Thus, it is a tale not only. of survival but also of planned
suicides.
This also is the tale of extortions and briberies, of the
functions of the Jewish Councils under the Nazis, of the Jewish
Card-Index that was kept by the Nazis for the selection of
Jews to be sent to their death.
The interspersed prose poetry is worth studying. One of
the Jewish characters in the story points to a spot in Amsterdam
where the first Portuguese synagogue must have been, and at
this point the author interjects:
Three hundred years ago they gathered here,
and carrying the Scrolls of the Law they marched
and danced along the water's edge. Nowhere
did the Jews enjoy so much freedom as here
in Amsterdam! The world was civilized then!
One of the most powerful incidents in the entire narrative
deals with the demand by a Nazi sadist- that the Jews under
his domination, who "stood in scattered groups, like a great
congregation before the gate of Hell," sing for him. "The 300
folk stood motionless and rigid, like a MUSeitill of stone
sculptures." But suddenly one of them beaan to sing the
Hatikvah. They all joined. Those who did not know the words
hummed the tune. They sang on and on, repeatedly. Then—
"They took up the -melody again, and again, as though the
song, like hope and faith, had no end. The SS robot became
visibly annoyed.
"'Stop! Stop! Darned pack of Jews!' he screamed. Trembling
with anger, he departed. After a while he returned. 'What
kind of a song was that?' he demanded suspiciously.
"'An old love song,' a woman answered."
There is power to this story, just as there is to the entire
novel, by Abraham Margolian. His "A Piece of Blue Heaven"
serves the great purpose of keeping alive the memory of a
tragic era; of exposing the beasts in that era; and of calling
-attention once again to the men with hearts, the Christians who
came to the aid of Jews.
Take It or Leave It .. .
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
A young Christian Arab had received a scholarship from the
Rotary Club in Israel to study at John Hopkins University at
Baltimore. Since the scholarship was not sufficient to cover his
full expenses, the young man decided to look for additional in-
come through a part-time job. His first contact was a Baltimore
rabbi. Since he was an Israeli and knew Hebrew well he won-
dered whether he couldn't get a part-time job in the Hebrew
School of the congregation where the rabbi was spiritual leader.
Pleased with the general qualifications of the applicant, the
rabbi inquired whether the young man was an Orthodox, Con-
servative or Reform Jew. When the young man replied "I am
Orthodox" the rabbi remarked with a good deal of surprise in-
his voice that this was the first time he ever -met an Israeli
young man who professed orthodoxy. Quickly, the young man
replied "Greek Orthodox."
This item is culled frorn the Israeli newspaper Maariv.