1958—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-2
Friday, April
Purely Commentary:
Passover means freedom. It spells liberty, no matter how
literate or illiterate a person may be.
The mere fact that we boast of a holiday spirit that pur-
portedly marks one of the earliest revolts against slavery is in
itself a tribute to our people's traditions.
When celebrated in this fashion, the Pesach we commemo-
rate remains an integral part of the genius of Jewry.
You can dig into the past all you want. You can look for
as many scrolls as you wish. The basic, the most human element
remains: our adherence to a passionate desire for freedom, for
its retention, for its indestructible link with our history,
In his scholarly book on the history and traditions of Pass-
over, published in 1949, Dr. Theodor Herzl Gaster, professor of
comparative religion at Dropsie College, Philadelphia, asserts
that—
"Passover was already an established institution at the time
the Israelites came out of Egypt. The Bible itself implies as
much. For what it tells is not how the festival began but how it
came to be preserved. Its previous existence is taken for granted,
and the narrative seeks only to rationalize its survival in terms
of Israel's particular history . . . Beneath the historical veneer
it is not difficult to detect the contours of an older and more
primitive pattern. What the ancient writers did not know,
modern scholars can supply. For the fact is that when the
historical explanations are stripped away, the rites and cere-
monies of Passover as described in the Bible find parallels in
many parts of the world and fall into a pattern characteristic
of primitive seasonal rituals."
The "real nature and significance of the festival" is seen
by Dr. Gaster "to reflect in the successive stages of its develop-
ment those of Man's elemental quest for Freedom. It starts as a
festival of physical freedom—a crude and primitive ceremony
designed to free men, from year to year, from the hurt and
hazard of life and the mischief of Nature. It develops into a
festival of social freedom, commemorating the liberation of a
particular people from bondage. And it ends as a festival of
human freedom, celebrating the ideal of Liberty itself, of which
that liberation is but a symbol."
* * *
In view of this analysis, the article by Rabbi Charles E.
Shulman in the current issue of National Jewish Monthly, main-
taining that Passover predated the Exodus; that "the Israelites
began observing (the festival) when they were nomadic shep-
herds" long before they were led from Egypt by Moses; that
"the original emphasis of the Passover period as not on freedom .
but on the primitive wish for abundant flocks of cattle"—these
ideas hardly emerge as new. They already have been "revealed"
by students of ancient history.
Nevertheless, Rabbi Shulman surely will please his readers
with his statement that Passover was given'new meaning by the
liberation from Egypt.
In fact, we doubt whether the older—the primitive—func-
tions matter very much. What matters is freedom in the human
sense, and that has been perpetuated in the idea of Passover as
it will be re-absorbed at the Seder tonight.
* * *
What matters most is that the idea of Liberty should live
in the minds of men. It is when the Seder is transformed into
a mockery, when the festival is desecrated, when traditions are
abused and dishonored, that the people that claims it as its
festival of liberation is hurt and maligned.
Jewry's strength lies in the fact -that even when a minority
observed the festivals, even when only a handful clung to tradi-
tions, it was sufficient to guarantee survival.
The passionate desire for liberty has been inculcated in
the Jewish folk and gives it power and courage. Even if the
Passover were mere folkway, it still would retain its influence.
But it is its factuality that gives it added significance. It will be
proven tonight—and tomorrow night—in millions of homes, at
private and public Sedorim, at which the story of Passover, as
told traditionally, will be recounted, in answer to the youngest
child's Four Questions: as if the queries were uttered for the
first time and the answers given for the first time.
No amount of archaeological discoveries can displace a
folklore that is rooted in love for freedom.
Such a love is inherent in the Passover. We acclaim it again
as we greet the entire people on this Passover of 5718.
* *
The hero of the Liberation from Egypt was the greatest of
all Prophets, the Lawgiver Moses. Yet, nothing is said about him
in the Passover Haggadah. We should keep the Moses saga in
view as we speak of Passover and Liberation and the Freedom
of Man.
Much has been said and written about Moses. Many biogra-
phies have made him their hero. Perhaps the most inspired of all
tributes to Moses—with the exception of a few by men like Achad
H-Am—was the one that was uttered in 1878 by the founder of
the Single Tax movement, Henry George (1839-1897). The Young
Men's Hebrew Association of San Francisco had invited Henry
George, a Protestant, to deliver a lecture, and he chose as his
subject "Moses." George was then completing his "Progress and
Poverty." He must have been greatly influenced by Mosaic prin-
ciples. Therefore, in his address, he spoke of the dignity of the
individual, the land tenure and related questions.
George's lecture attracted such wide interest that he was
asked to deliver his "Moses" lecture in other parts of the United
States, in Canada, Great Britain and Australia. In the course of
his lecture he said:
It was not an, empire such as had reached full develop-
ment in Egypt, or existed in rudimentary patriarchal form in
the tribes around, that Moses aimed to found. Nor was it
a republic where the freedom of the citizen rested on the
servitude of the helot, and the individual was sacrificed to
the state. It was a commonwealth based upon the individual
—a commonwealth whose ideal it was that every man should
sit under his own vine and fig tree, with none to vex him
or make him afraid; a commonwealth in which none should
be condemned to ceaseless toil; in which, for even the bond
slave, there should be hope; in which, for even the beast of
burden, there should be rest. A commonwealth in which, in
the absence of deep poverty, the manly virtues that spring
from personal independence should harden into a national
character.
It is not the protection of property, but the protection of
...........
Human Element in the
Story of Passover . .
The Saga of Moses
By Philip
Slomovitz
humanity, that is the aim of the Mosaic code. Its sanctions
are not directed to securing the strong in heaping up wealth
so much as to preventing the weak from being crowded
to the wall. At every point it interposes its barriers to the
selfish greed that, if left unchecked, will surely differentiate
men into landlord and serf, capitalist and workman, million-
aire and tramp, ruler and ruled. Its Sabbath day and Sab-
bath year secure, even to the lowliest, rest and leisure. With
the blast of the jubilee trumpets the slave goes free, the
debt that cannot be paid is cancelled, and a re-division of the
land secure again to the poorest his fair share in the bounty
of the common Creator. The reaper must leave something for
the gleaner; even the ox cannot be muzzled as he treadeth
out the corn. Everywhere, in everything the dominant
idea is that of our homely phrase—"Live and let live!"
From the free spirit of the Mosaic law sprang that in-
tensity of family life that amid all dispersions and persecu-
tions has preserved the individuality of the Hebrew race;
that love of independence that under the most adverse cir-
cumstances has characterised the Jew; that burning patriotism
that flamed up in the Maccabees and bared the breasts of
Jewish peasants to the serried steel of Grecian phalanx and
the resistless onset of Roman legion; that stubborn courage
that in exile and in torture held the Jew to his faith. It
kindled that fire that has made the strains of Hebrew seers
and poets phrase for us the highest exaltations of thought;
that intellectual vigor that has over and over again made the
dry staff bud and blossom. And passing outward from one
narrow race it has exerted its power wherever the influence
of the Hebrew scriptures has been felt. It has toppled
thrones and cast down hierachies.
It is thus that they dignify human nature and glorify hu-
man effort, and bring to those who struggle hope and trust.
The life of Moses, like the institutions of Moses, is a protest
against that blasphemous doctrine, current now as it was
three thousand years ago— that blasphemous doctrine
preached oft-times even from Christian pulpits— that the
want and suffering of the masses of mankind flow from a
mysterious dispensation of providence, which we may lament,
but can neither quarrel with nor alter. Let him who hugs
that doctrine to himself, him to whom it seems that the
squalor and brutishness with which the very centers of our
civilization abound are not his affair, turn to the example of
that life. For to him who will look, yet burns the bush; and
to him who will hear, again comes the voice. The people
suffer: who will lead them forth?
This is how a great humanitarian was enchanted by the
story of Moses. Heinrich Heine similarly was deeply moved by
Moses' passionate quest for justice and humanitarianism.
As part of studies conducted of Passover, its message, its
ceremonials, its heroes, it would be well for our synagogues and
schools to institute courses on Moses the Prophet, the warrior
for liberty, the Law-Giver. Henry George and Achad Ha-Am
(Asher Ginsberg) would then be the most important authorities
quotable on the subject.
Remembering Jewish Causes in Wills
In a recent column on this page, our confrere, Boris Smolar,
the editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, called attention
to a project in Chicago as if it were a new undertaking by a
Jewish community.
In his "Between You and Me" column, Smolar wrote:
"The eyes of Jewish leaders in a number of communities
are directed toward an experiment in Chicago where the Jewish
Federation of Chicago has started an aggressive prOmotion cam-
paign to have Chicagoans include the Federation in their wills
. . It is preparing a handbook which will be mailed to Jewish
lawyers, selected non-Jewish lawyers, and trust officers of- banks
. . . Letters will also be sent to people of means asking them
for endowments and legacies for the Federation and its agencies
. . . Actually, the idea of securing such contributions goes back
to the late Chicago Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald . . . "
Julius Rosenwald's idea, first offered in 1929, was part of
a much wider trend, and it may well be that the movement to
propagate the inclusion of communal causes in last testaments
first originated in Detroit.
Your commentator has before him a copy of a pamphlet
entitled:
Concerning "WILLS"
Information for Lawyers
Regarding Charitable Bequests
It was issued on March 1, 1930, and was prefaced by a
message addressed "To the Members of the Bar," signed, in
behalf of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit by -Henry
Wineman, who was then its president.
Dr. John Slawson was the secretary of the Federation at
that time. The late Fred M. Butzel was then chairman of the
Federation executive committee. The late Milford Stern and
Judge Harry B. Keidan were the vice-presidents. Of the Fed-
eration officers who were then listed in this pamphlet on "Wills"
the only other living person besides Dr. Slawson, who now is
the executive vice-president of the American Jewish Committee,
is Meyer L. Prentis, who then was Federation treasurer.
Mere mention of the pioneering efforts for the inclusion
of charitable requests in wills would be incomplete without ref-
erence to the efforts of the late Joseph H. Ehrlich. More than
any other person in Detroit, he conducted a
campaign to encourage the writing of wills
and the inclusion in them of bequests to
worthy causes. Joe Ehrlich, whose able leader-
ship is remembered by many who date their
activities here to the '20s and '30s, then
had set out to contact trust companies and fel-
low-leaders in our community to secure support
for his views on a wide scale. He may have
antedated Rosenwald with his proposal, hav-
ing begun his campaign early in 1929.
The efforts of these men were not in vain.
Many bequests have since been made to our
Federation and its agencies, to causes in sup-
port of Israel, to the Jewish National Fund and The Late J. H.
to our Hebrew Schools. A revival of interest
Ehrlich
in the idea of making charitable bequests is
always in order. We have no doubt that this reminder, in this
column, again will serve a good purpose.
Beth El to Honor
Dr. Hertz on 5th
Anniversary
Temple Beth El will mark the
fifth anniversary of Dr. Richard
C. Hertz's occupancy of its pul-
pit with a special service on
Friday evening, April 11.
His intimate
friend, Dr.
Bertram W.
Korn, Rabbi
of Temple
Keneseth Is-
rael, Phil a-
delphia, w i 11
deliver the an-
niversary ad-
dress. A re-
ception f o r
Dr. and Mrs.
Hertz will fol-
low the serv-
ice..
Dr. Hertz
was ordained
Dr. Hertz
at Hebrew
Union College in 1942 and re-
ceived his Doctorate of Philos-
ophy at Northwestern Univer-
sity in 1948. From 1942 until
1947, he ministered to the
North Shore Congregation Is-
rael, Glencoe, Ill. During World
War II he was Chaplain in the
U. S. Army, attaining the rank
of Captain. From 1947 to 1953,
he was associate rabbi of Sinai
Temple, • Chicago.
Since coming to Temple Beth
El in 1953, Dr. Hertz has taken
an active part in Detroit's civic,
philanthropic and religious af-
fairs. He was elected to the
board of directors of United
Foundation of Detroit, United
Community Services, Michigan
Society of Mental Health, Boy's
Clubs of Detroit, Jewish Social
Service Bureau, Jewish Com-
munity Council and Detroit His-
torical Society. He serves on -
numerous public committees, is
currently vice-chairman of the
American Jewish Committee,
Detroit Chapter; in 1954 was
the American Legion's Depart-
ment Chaplain for Michigan,
and in 1956 was Department
Chaplain for the Jewish War
Veterans.
Dr. Hertz is a member of the
national board of American
Jewish Committee, Joint Distri-
bution Committee, Interfaith
Commission of Union of Amer-
ican Hebrew Congregations,
Alumni Association of the He-
brew Union College-Jewish In-
stitute of Religion, Committees
on Church and State and Rab-
binical Placement of the Cent-
ral Conference of American
Rabbis.
Rabbi Hertz has been a fre-
quent contributor to both schol-
arly and popular Jewish and
secular journals and has writ-
ten a number of books, includ-
ing "Education of the Jewish
Child," "This I believe," "Our
Religion Above All," "Inner
Peace for You," "Positive
Judaism," "Wings of the Morn-
ing."
He described his trip to Is-
rael in 1956 in a series of
articles for the Detroit Times.
His newest book, "Prescription
for Heartache," will be pub-
lished later this year.
Only Jewish MP
Re-Elected in Canada
MONTREAL, (JTA) — Leon
Cresthol, of Montreal, only
Jewish member of the last
Canadian Parliament, was re-
elected in the national elec-
tions.
He was one of the few Li-
beral Party members to sur-
vive the Conservative land-
slide which_ gave Conservative
Prime Minister John Diefen-
baker control of 80 percent of
the seats in Parliament.
On the eve of the election,
Diefenbaker paid courtesy
calls on two leading Montreal
rabbis, Shaie Hershorn and
Zemac Zambrowsky.