N 1 Zeitlin Says Howlett Misguided by
Faulty Translations Into Believing
• Essenes Had Influenced Christianity

$360,000,000 German Restitution Law
In Effect; Must File Claims by April 1

x.

I BONN, (JTA) — After many
The Rev Duncan Howlett, I found in the Manual of Dis- years of delay, the last major
Boston Unitarian Minister, is cipline and it occurs nowhere piece of West German legisla-
GT4
the author of another of the in Judaism.' Upon this he con- tion concerned with compensa-
0.3
challenging books about the cludes that the source for the tion for Nazi victims, the $360,-
Dead Sea Scrolls. Published author of Matthew's Gospel was 000,000 Federal Restitution Law,
under the title "The Essenes an Essene.
entered into force through pub-
E.1 and Christianity," by Harper
"Rev. Howell did not produce Aication of the, text in the Fed-
•
& Bros., Rev. Howlett's book the parallel passage in the eral Gazette.
A
deals with the Essenes as a Manual of Discipline. I question
The law, which deals with
• F.T4 sect that had great influence if there is such a passage. I
6.4 upon the early Christian times. believe we have the right to ask identifiable Jewish property
The author contends that him to produce such a passage confiscated by the former Ger-
"Christianity did not succeed in the Manual of Discipline, but man- Reich during the Nazi era
ko Judaism, but that both religions it should be in Hebrew and not in either West Germany or in
*-1 share a common ancestry in the a copy of the too many faulty Berlin, prescribes that claims
▪ religion of ancient Israel. The translations. He makes a rather ; must be submitted by April 1,
distinction between the Old and extraordinary statement when 1958, and in certain cases within
the following year.
the New Covenant—the Old and he says that "it occurs nowhere
Compensation will be paid for
else
in
Judaism."
As
a
matter
•
the New Testament--of which
'e4 the early Christians made so of fact, parallel ideas do occur Jewish belongings "Aryanized"
.7-; much was not really original in the rabbinic, karaitic, cabalis- by the German Reich or by the
with them. It was a develop- tic literature. Was he qualified former Prussian state, by the
German state railways and by
▪ ment- of a concept the Essenes to make such a statement?
"On page 158 he writes as the state postal system. Mainly
had worked out by which to
justify their separation from follows, 'The Sabbath rules in affected, in addition to real es-
the official religion of Israel." the Torah are no less severe and tate, are securities confiscated
Rev. Howlett states: • "Until precise than those recorded in during the war, or else "sold"
the discovery of the Dead Sea the Damascus Document." Ac- by the Jews of Germany and
Scrolls, the Essenes were dis- cording to the Torah, a Jew had Austria to pay the billion-mark
missed by our ablest scholars no right to walk out of his "fine" exacted by the Hitler
as a shadowy sectarian group place on the Sabbath Day. Ac- Government in November 1938,
of Ascetics in Israel in the time cording to the Damascus Docu- after the Paris assassination of
of Jesus. Now we know that ment, a Jew had the right to German Embassy attache von
Christianity germinated, took walk two thousand cubits out- Rath.
The jewelry, silver and gold
root, and enjoyed its first side of the city on the Sabbath
growth in Essene soil. And we Day. His lack of knowledge of that had to be delivered up for
know that Christianity itself, Judaism of the Second Com- almost nothing at the same time
in the beginning, was essenic monwealth is apparent through- is, as a rule, also within the
out his book. On page 51 he scope of the law. Its provisions
in character."
Here, too, Dr. Solomon says, 'By this time the men of also apply to furniture, house-
the Hellenistic party had come hold effects or luggage shipped
Zeitlin, of Dropsie College,
to
be known at the Sadducees.' abroad by emigrants from Ger-
editor of the Jewish Quarterly
Review and an outstanding The Hellenistic party was never many and, due to the German
invasion of neighboring coun-
authority on the era of the known as the Sadducees.
"Rev. Howlett did not base tries, later intercepted en route
Second' Commonwealth, dif-
his statements on facts but ap- by the Nazis. Works of art and
-
fers.
parently sought to captivate the machinery seized in non-Ger-
In the current issue of the imagination of the reader by man countries by organs of the
Jewish Quarterly Review, Prof. inventing fanciful theories as German state fall under the law
Zeitlin, writing on "The Dead when he suggested that the if it can be shown that the
Sea Scrolls: Fantasies and Mis- Essenes were manufacturers of looted objects were brought to
translatiOns," stated:
linen. It seems that be was mis- Germany itself.
Rev. Howlett states that the guided by faulty and deceptive
The law stipulates that all
authors of the scrolls were translations."
payments are to be completed
Essenes and that they had a
before 1963. Amounts up to $4,-
great influence on the origin Sephardic Chief Rabbi of'.
750 are due by the spring of
of Christianity. Among the'dOc- London Visits Brazil;
1959. Of claims running to high-
trines of Christianity are belief Honored in Sao riaulo
er figures, half the sum is pay-
in resurrection, • the • future
I SAO PAULO, Brazil, (JTA) able before 1961. The second
world, and reward and punish- I
— The Sephardic Chief Rabbi, half of these larger claims will
ment, but these are not referred
Dr. Salomon Gaon, of London, be scaled down in such fashion
to in the scrolls. The terms, Son
of Man and Son of God occur spent a few days here as part of that the total expenditure for
a current mission to organize, the West German treasury does
frequently in the New Testa-
consolidate and _c oordinate not exceed. $357,000,000, the
ment, but they are not men-
Sephardi:6 communities on the level to which the Federal Re-
tioned in the scrolls. This un- American continent.
A recep-
doubtedly demonstrates that the tion was given in his honor by public has restricted its overall
early Christians had nothing in Samuel del Giglio, president of liability. A few million dollars
common with the authors of the the Sephardic community in this more have been allotted to a
"hardship fund," from which
scrolls. Furthermore, the term
City. _It was attended by Leon
Essenes never occurs in the Feffer, Israel Consul, and lead- awards can be made available
New Testament. If the Essenes ers of the Jewish community.1 to applicants who, because of
technical reasons, are ineligible
really had such a strong influ-
ence on early Christianity it is
strange the gospels never refer
to them. All this did not con-
cern Rev. Howlett. One won-
ders if Rev. Howlett read the
scrolls in the original. On Page-
22 he quotes a passage from the
Manual of Discipline the trans-
lation of which he gives as
follows:
" 'And all who have offered
themselves for his truth shall
bring all their knowledge and
strength and wealth into the
community of God, to purify ,
their knowledge in the truth of
God's statutes, and to distribute
their strength according to the
perfection of his ways and all
their property according to his
righteous counsel.'
"An 'one with a sufficient
knowledge of Hebrew -would
recognize that Rev. Howlett's
translation is faulty.
"On page 174 Rev. Howlett
quotes a passage from Matthew
(18.15-17): `If your brother sins
against you, go and tell him
his fault between you and him
alone. If he - listens to you, you
have gained your brother. But
if he does not listen, take one
or two others along with you,
that every word may be con-
State of Israel Development Bond dollars are being used to
firmed by the evidence of two develop and expand Israel's industrial enterprises, including the
or three witnesses. If he refuses Jerusalem Light Bulb Company, which manufactures most of
to listen to them, tell it to the the country's incandescent electric lamps. Israel Bond funds,
church; and if he refuses to which have been utilized by the bulb company to improve and
listen even to the church,_ let modernize its operations, are enabling the plant to increase
him be to you as a Gentile and production for home and export consumption. Shown above
a tax collector.'
at one of the initial stages of production is a plant worker,
"Rev. Howlett ,commented as who is washing a rack of empty glass globes before they are
follows, 'The same formula is placed on the assembly line.
.
•

,

under the terms of the new law.
No claims can be submitted
with respect to Jewish property
confiscated in East Germany,
I
the Saar, the areas now under
Polish or Soviet administration
and in the countries overrun by
Hitler Germany. _ Nor does ih
e
law apply to "Aryanizations"
whose beneficiaries were Ger-
man individuals, corporations or
municipalities. If such Nazi-era
transactions were concluded un-
der duress, they fall under resti-
tution legislation imposed by
the Western Allies nearly ten
years ago, which compels the
return of formerly Jewish-own-
ed real estate, businesses, furni-
ture, art objects, etc., either to
the original owner, to his heirs ,
or to a heirless-property organ-

ization.

This earlier restitution pro-
gram encompaping all "Aryan-
ized" Jewish property, with the
exception of assets sequestered
by the German Reich itself, has
already been completed to the
extent of better than 90 per-
cent in West Gerfnany and of

Coming in the

about 65 percent in West Ber-
lin, where the machinery was
set in motion at a later date.
Some 475,000 restitution claims
were filed by Jews and other
Nazi victims and all but a few
thousand have been settled.

Jewish Architect -Wins
Prize for His Plan of
New Knesset Building

JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Jeru-
salem architect Joseph Klarwein
was awarded first prize in a
competition for the construc-
tion of a new Knesset building,
for which the late Baron ames
de Rothschild donated 6,000,000
pounds of the cash assets of the
Palestine Colonization Associa-
tion of which he was president.
Klarwein's plans were chosen
from among 40 submitted to a
special committee comprising
six experts and seven members
of Israel's Parliament. He re-
ceived a prize of 7,500 pounds
while 15 others got awards
ranging from 1,100 to 1,300
pounds.

TIMES!

FAITH In ACTION

Jerusalem Light Bulb Co. Increases
Production with Help of Bond Funds

braham Lincoln, whose faith and actions saved the union of the
A United
States, let it be known at various times that:

"Without the assistance of the divine Beirig ... I cannot succeed.
With that assistance, I cannot fail.... The purposes of the Almighty
are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail
accurately to perceive them in advance.... Take all of (the Bible)
upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will
live and die a happier and better man."

INSPIRING TO
JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE

FAITH IN ACTION was born of artist Howard Brodie's
own rich religious experience. Hi's new strikingly illustrated
feature, presented at a time when Brodie's artistic talent

is at an all-time peak, is based on his experiences as a
man of action, and upon his wide reading. See this truly

inspirational, non-sectarian, living religious art feature.

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Beginning Aug. 3 in the

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