THE JEWISH NEWS
Israel on Guard
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 Pos t Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
FRANK SIMONS
Circulation Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-first day of Tammuz, 5717, the following Scriptural selec-
tions will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Mattoth, Numbers 30:2-32:42. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah
1:1-2:3.
Licht Benshen, Friday, /July 19, 7:45 p.m.
VOL. XXXI. No. 20
Page Four
July 19, 1957
Hillel's Admonition Applicable to USSR
The seventh verse of the second chap-
ter of Pirke Aboth (The Sayings of the
Fathers) contains the most brutal inter-
pretation applicable to Communist deeds,
while, at the same time, serving as a
warning of things to come. This is the
verse referring to Hillel's admonitions:
"He once saw a skull floating on the
face of the water, and said to it: 'Be-
cause thou drownedst others, they have
drowned thee, and in the end they that
drowned thee shall themselves be
drowned." ("Al da'atift atifukh, v'sof
in'taifoyikh y'tufun.")
In "Darkness at Noon," Arthur Koest-
ler, whose personal experiences with Com-
munist Russia gave him reason to speak
with authority about Communism and the
Russian leaders, similarly indicated such
a development: one set of dictators dom-
inates, a younger element arises to chal-
lenge such domination and resorts to
purges, then a third generation comes to
the fore to resort to another purge. It is
one purge after another—and one would
be foolhardy to expect happier develop-
ments from the extremist dictatorship.
In fact, somewhere in Russia there is
a monument to a young child of about 10
who had betrayed his father to. the Com-
munists. He had reported that his father
spoke ill of the Kremlin, and the father
was executed.' To avenge the cruel deed,
neighbors slayed the youngster and he
became a Communist martyr. This is remi-
niscent of the worst days of Hitlerism
when children spied on parents to report
their "misdeeds" to the Storm Troopers.
So - it is in Russia! And from such a
Russia one need not expect mercy or just
dealings.
*
*
The purging of Kaganovich, who was
the only Jew in a high position in Russia,
must be viewed only as part of the devel-
oping Russian scheme of domination
rather than as another act of anti-Semi-
tism. There was anti-Semitism in Russia
in the days of Kaganovich's glory as an
important figure in the Kremlin, and he
did not or could not do anything to stop
it; and we would be expecting the impos-
sible to ask for an end of anti-Semitism
under Nikita Krushchev, whose anti-Sem-
itic violence has matched that of Stalin.
In the revealing "Notes for a Journal"
by Maxim Litvinov, which was published
in 1955 by William Morrow & Co., the
former Soviet Ambassador to the United
States spoke of the attitudes towards Jews
by Communist leaders, including Kagano-
vich. Litvinov recorded in his notes that
(Lazar Moiseyevich) Kaganovich opposed
the appointment of a Jew to a government
post and Litvinov asked him if he favored
introduction of the numerus clausus. Kaga-
novich's reply was that he did: not an
official but "a self-imposed limitation,"
and Jews should also "avoid holding prom-
inent positions in a country of secular
anti-Semitism." Litvinov thereupon re-
minded him of Ilich's (Lenin's) reply to
Trotsky, who feared taking the chairman-
ship of the Council of People's Commis-
sars because he was a Jew and possibility
of the charge that the Soviet is in Jewish
hands. Lenin laughed: "They say in any
case that we are all Yids .. ."
* * *
From the Litvinov memoirs we learn
that Kaganovich thereupon blamed Trot-
sky for the new wave of anti-Semitism
and said: "In my opinion, all Jewish mem-
bers of the party should be Trotsky's de-
clared and convinced enemies, if only to
show that there is no such thing as a Jew-
ish clan and that we are all loyal to
Stalin . . ."
Under such circumstances, what could
one expect from Kaganovich, and how
ti
many tears should one shed over his ex-
pulsion by the new dictator of Russia?
1'
*
*
Litvinov made additional comments on
Kaganovich:
". . . I reflected that he was reasoning
like my uncle, a rabbi in Bialystok who
always used to say before the Revolution
that the only way to stop the pogroms in
Russia was for Jews to become fanatical
monarchists. But my uncle was the prod-
uct of many centuries of Ghetto life while
Kaganovich is a member of our Instantsia
(Politbureau) and a prominent leader .. .
". . . He (Kaganovich) divorced his
Jewish wife and married a Muscovite from
a merchant family ... He may eventually
find himself summoned to appear before
the C.C.C. for having baptised his child
. . . Strangely, the assimilation of Jews in
anti-Semitic countries always takes such
ugly and funny turns .. ."
Indeed, the ugly and funny turn al-
ready has taken place, and the baptism
is one of fire and brimstone!
And so, we admonish our people not to
expect miracles in Russia, and not to be-
lieve that the new purges mean an end
to anti-Semitism. Krushchev and his co-
horts will have to prove their "good will"
and humanized intentions by direct action
which must include reasonable applica-
tion of their claims to fairness to the
entire Jewish community in Russia.
Shortly before the latest purge, a dele-
gation of French Socialists was told _ by
Khrushchev that Soviet leaders have no
intention of permitting the revival of the
use of the Yiddish language in Russia.
In an article in Realites, the French
magazine, one of the members of the dele-
gation, Pierre Lochak, quoted Khrushchev,
as saying that it is considered natural for
Soviet citizens to resent the aspiration of
Jews to occupy high place in the Soviet
Union.
Another Russian leader, the former
First Deputy Premier Mikhail G. Pervuk-
hin, who was among the group purged by
Khrushchev, was quoted as drawing a dis-
tinction between Jewish intellectuals and
"our own intelligentsia."
With reference to Yiddish, the Rus-
sians emphasized that it is not needed, that
Jews speak Russian, that all efforts to
keep a Yiddish theater functioning have
failed for lack of an audience.
This contradicts assurances given
American visitors in Russia that Yiddish
book and newspaper publishing and the
Yiddish theater would be revived.
Especially distressing is the distinction
that was drawn between Jews and "our
own," an indication that unfriendly atti-
tudes towards Jews exist in Russia.
In spite of it, Khrushchev sought to
emphasize that there is no anti-Semitism
in Russia, that he himself has a half-
Jewish grandson.
Thus, all indications are that conditions
in Russia are not pleasant for Jews, whose
future is uncertain, whose status is
insecure.
Yet, there are denials that there is
anti-Semitism in Russia! For public con-
sumption, Soviet leaders condemn group
hatred. In practice they continue to pur-
sue Czarist Jew-baiting policies.
*
*
Therefore we say that developments in
Russia must be watched with the utmost
caution; that it is impossible to place too
much faith in the Soviet rulers; that the
"darkness at noon" has not vanished; that
those who drowned others are themselves
drowned. Is there hope in the knowledge
that those who are drowning others will
themselves be drowned? Time continues to
hide many secrets from us.
Understanding Minorities
Clarified in New Book
'
"An increasisng awareness that group relations problems
represent one of the basic enigmas of our tithe" has motivated
the compiling of a series of important essays which seek to
clarify the issue, in "Understanding Minority Groups," edited
by Dr. Joseph B. Gittler and published by John Wiley and Sons,
440 4th, N.Y. 16.
Gittler points out in his preface that majority-minority
tension is the most serious aspect of the problem.
The essays incorporated in this volume—presenting Catholic,
Indian, Jewish, Negro, Japanese and Puerto Rican views—were
papers originally given at the University of Rochester Institute
on Group Relations.
In a concluding essay on "Understanding Minority Groups,"
Dr. Gittler points to the sociological concept of marginality as
being helpful and explains that "marginal members of society
are those who find themselves accepted in some situations and
rejected in others.'f. He states that an "important aspect of minor-
ity-majority group relations is the phenomenon of strong minority
group identification as an adjustment to and a defense against
majority group prejudice and opposition."
Curiously enough, Dr. Gittler finds that "group identifi-
cation in some instances leads toward prejudice against other
groups by members of the minority group. It may provide a
form of group-centricism that cuts its members off _from the
wider opportunities which they seek."
The first of the principles of reducin,g intergroup tensions,
Dr. Gittler writes, "is adequate and accurate information about
the peoples we are studying." Also: there is need to know "the
group's cultural roots."
This book's editor declares that "honest disagreement is
healthy and productive. It has been woven into the fabric . of Our
own country almost from its inception."
An introduction by Cornelius W. de Kiewiet, president of
the University of. Rochester, states that while "the power of
intolerance and discrimination in America is still considerable,"
the recent Supreme Court decisions on race prejudice make open
debate unavoidable, and he finds comfort, in the essays in "Under-
standing Minority Groups," "that men of different persuasions
and skills thought it important to work together on this unfin-
ished business of human cooperation."
The essay on "The American Jew" in this volume is by Dr.
Oscar Handlin, who has written extensively in the past three
years on the history of American Jewry. Dr. Handlin describes
the character of the American Jew as a group "in the light of
its adjustment and development within the American context."
His article reviews the stages of development and change in
Americah Jewry, the position of the three religious groupings
and the Zionist developments.
He points out, as he has on several other occasions in other
eesays, that the status of Zionism has changed with the emerg-
ence of the State of Israel. He asserts that "the overwhelming
majority of Zionists now began to understand that they had not
been in exile and that the United States was indeed their home."
This is the sort of interpretation that already had aroused re-
sentment against Dr. Handlin's attitudes, it being the contention
of American Zionists that at no time had they viewed this coun-
try as other than their rightful homeland.
In its totality, this book, ably edited by Dr. Gittler, should
serve to inspire further study of the vital issues involved in group
understanding in this country.
New Yiddish Book: 'Black and White'
A Review by BORIS SMOLAR
The views I expressed last week on the newly published
modern Yiddish publishing house "Kval," and the first two
books it published, have elicited considerable interest . . . This
is evident from inquiries I received asking how to get in touch
with the publisher who has demonstrated his courage by
investing money in, a Yiddish publishing enterprise at a time
when the opinion exists that Yiddish books are not being read
. . . I can now recommend another excellent book in Yiddish
which has just made its appearance in this country . . . This is
a volume of short stories by Richard Feldman, published by
the Central Yiddish Culture Organization in New York under
the title "Shwartz un Weiss" ("Black and White") . . The
author, a leading Jewish personality in South Africa, depicts
life in South Africa—both the life of individual Jews and of
the Negro in South Africa . . He feels deeply about the
natives in South Africa and his short stories about them
reflect this feeling . . There is a lyrical tone in his writing
which evokes sympathy toward the South African natives . . .
Many of his stories are of the type written by Somerset Maugham
—exotic, provoking and of absorbing interest . . If they were
published in English, they would be considered a "find" by
lovers of good literature ... The author, who writes in English as
well as in Yiddish, has chosen to write them in Yiddish because Of
his love for his mother tongue.