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.