Investigate Him .. .
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish 1\ -,e1,vspapers, 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, 1942 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-seventh day of /yar, 5718, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuch& portion, Behar-Behukotai, Leviticus 25:1-27:34. Prophetical portion, Jere-
miah 16:19-17:14.
Licht Benshen. Friday, May 16. 6:59 p.m.
VOL. XXXIII. No. 11
Page Four
May 16, 1958
Still a Great Allied Jewish Campaign
The drop in income, for the 1958 Al-
lied Jewish Campaign, is saddening to all
who had hoped that the contributions for
the settlement of many more thousands
of dispossessed Jews in Israel would be
within the standards of Detroit Jewry's
generosity, and that additional sums
would be forthcoming for the upkeep of
the scores of local and national agencies
as well as for other overseas causes.
The goal could not be obtained. Suffer-
ing from an economic depression that has
hit our community harder than any other
in the land, perhaps it was to be expected
that the former standards of giving could
not be measured up to. This, however,
was just the year in whiCh it could have
been proven that people who are accus-
tomed to giving tax deductible dollars
also are prepared to give out of capital.
This may be harsh judgment. After all,
no one has a right to judge another per-
son's ability to give, just as no one has
either the power or the right to dictate
the amount of giving by his neighbor.
But the needs are so great, and there are
so many of our fellow townsmen who are
difficult to reach, that we wish it had
been possible to secure perfect coverage
— and perfect giving.
Nevertheless, insofar as the campaign
had gone, it was, again, a marked triumph
for a good community. It was, after all,
another year of $5,000,000 giving, and it
still retains our community on top of the
list of generous American Jewish com-
munities.
Max M. Fisher, as chairman of the
campaign, labored diligently, and the
directors of the drive, under the leader-
ship of Isidore Sobeloff, did their level
best in a trying year. The entire cam-
paign organization was composed of dedi-
cated men and women who pleaded for
causes in whose purposes they believe
implicitly.
From the point of view of efforts
exerted, it was another great campaign
year. It is regrettable that there was a
drastic drop in income. But we must
make allowances for one bad year in a
decade. Surely, the interest that enthuses
all of us in Detroit Jewry will lead us to
a return to highest standards in the year
and years to come.
Meanwhile, the heads of the drive
deserve commendations for what they
had achieved. They . labored well and
they have the gratitude of our entire
community. •
A Great Event in Honor of Israel's Anniversary
Another event scheduled in honor of
Israel's tenth anniversary—the dinner on
"Freedom's Stake in the Middle East"
to be held Monday evening in New York
— calls for special notice.
The list of speakers, each of whom
represents an important segment in the
human structure that had aided Israel in
the past decade, lends great significance
to this event.
On top of the list is the distinguished
chairman of the American Committee for
Israel's Tenth Anniversary Celebration,
former U.S. Senator Herbert H. Lehman.
With him on the program will be Mr.
Justice Felix Frankfurter of the U. S.
Supreme Court, who played an important
role in Zionist activities in this country
in the years when the late Mr. Justice
Louis D. Brandeis was the head of the
American Zionist movement.
Also on the program are two eminent
Jewish leaders — Israel's Ambassador
Abba Eban and Dr. Nahum Goldmann,
president of the Jewish Agency.
The other two speakers will be two
eminent American liberals, Dr. Henry
Steele Commager, historian and author
and Columbia University professor, and
Lewis Mumford, the noted writer and
educator.
If it is true that "the history of the
world is the history of great men," then
the story of the event scheduled for Mon-
day evening is the story of great leaders
who will pay honor to Israel on the cur-
rent important anniversary.
It is thanks to the vision of men like
those who will share the platform at the
Waldorf-Astoria in New York on Monday
evening that Israel was able to gain
strength and to build a new State in
marked dignity.
There will be scores upon scores of
events during the current year, in honor
of Israel's birthday, and the personalities
who will share in them will lend signifi-
cance to the occasions. That, undoubt-
edly, will be the case in New York on
Monday evening.
Appalling Rise of Anti-Semitism in Germany
In a report submitted to the annual
meeting of the American Jewish Commit-
tee by the head of its European office,
Zachariah -Shuster, it was revealed that a
grave situation still exists in Germany
where anti-Semitism is rising.
The report showed that of the people
polled in Germany about 39 per cent of
the Germans "were definitely anti-
Semitic" with most of them in the post-35
and in the post-50 age groups. The highest
percentage of anti-Semitism exists in the
rural areas, particularly in small towns.
The poll showed that in addition to the
39 per cent who are definitely anti-
Semitic, 25 per cent of those questioned
had no anti-Semitic attitude 7 per cent
were philo-Semitic; 29 per cent were con-
ditionally anti-Semitic.
Pointing out that 18 Arab-German so-
cieties currently are functioning in Ger-
many, Mr. Shuster said that large ele-
ments of the German population "are still
harboring deep prejudices and animosities
against Jews." He said that although the
Arab-German societies "have the ostensi-
ble aim of developing German - Arab
friendship, they are actually dissemi-
nating anti-Israel material which often
becomes undiluted anti - Semitic
propaganda."
There was a more hopeful note in his
report that there are forces in Germany
which recognize the danger and "are do-
ing their utmost to overcome its inimical
effects." He cited these as: Chancellor
Adenaur and his government, the Social
Democratic Party, and the Trade Unions.
There is no doubt that Dr. Konrad
Adenauer and many of his associates can
be depended upon to do their utmost to
check the tides of prejudices and neo-
Nazism. But in the main the picture is
not a pleasant one. The seeds sown by
Hitler have borne evil fruits. The world
still must be on guard against the rebirth
of a dominating Nazi spirit. • Jewry cer-
tainly has to be especially watchful lest
the poison of Hitlerism should again
start to spread in Europe and elsewhere.
Dr. Birnbaum's Nusah Sepharad Mahzor
Pre-Eminence for Prayer Book
Dr. Philip Birnbaum has enriched liturgical literature with
his numerous commentaries. His siddurim and mahzorim are
among the very best compilations of holiday, Sabbath and daily
prayers, his translations are splendid and his interpretations very
scholarly.
He already has produced Siddur Ha-Shalem, Mahzor Ha-
Shalem, Sabbath Prayerbook, Sabbath Prayerbook with Trans-
literations, Sabbath Prayerbook with Torah Readings, Selihoth
for the First Day and the Passover Haggadah.
In addition, Dr. Birnbaum's books include "A Treasury
of Judaism," which has been found most valuable by an Hadas-
sah study group in Detroit; Ethics of the Fathers and Maimon-
ides' Mishneh Torah abridged with English notes.
Now the Jewish liturgical library is further enriched with
his two-volume "Mahzor Ha-Shalem Nusah Sepharad"—the com-
plete Mahzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, according to
the Sephardic traditions. This translated and annotated work
was published, like his previous books, by Hebrew Publishing
Co. (79 Delancey, N. Y. 2).
There is a great deal of merit to this Holy Day Mahzor. The
new aanslations Of the prayers offer vast improvements. Dr.
Birnbaum, in • his scholarly introduction, shows the differences
between the old and the new translations. There is, for instance,
the Kol Nidre, in the two translations:
The Old Translation
The New Translation
All vows, bonds, devotions,
All personal vows we are
promises, obligations, penal-
likely to make, all personal
ties, and oaths: wherewith we
oaths and pledges we are. like-
have vowed, sworn, devoted
ly to take between this Yom
Kippur and the next Yom and bound ourselves; from
this Day of Atonement unto
Kippur, we publicly renounce.
the next Day of Atonement,
Let them all be relinquished
may it come unto us for good:
and abandoned, null and void,
lo, all these, we repent us in
neither firm nor established.
them. They shall be absolved,
released, annulled, made void,
and of none effect: they shall
not be binding nor shall they
have any power.
Thus, "a strange puzzle," as Rabbi Birnbaum describes the
old one, is eliminated from the prayerbook.
Through-art his new compilation, he has resorted to simplic-
ity and thereby has rendered a real service.
The chief value in the new Mahzor is that it helps to
preserve all the traditional Sephardic prayers. A tremendous
amount of labor and research has gone into this work, but it
would have been impossible without the great knowledge pos-
sessed by the compiler and interpreter.
Use of the prayerbook and ability to follow the service is
made much easier by Dr. Birnbaum's approach and translation.
Furthermore, the powerful spiritual force inherent in the pray-
ers becomes more intelligible in this Mahzor and its translation.
Especially significant about this work is the series of foot-
notes in which Dr. Birnbaum explains the 'piyyntim. He makes
them readable and understandable, and the Biblical phrases in
the prayers exert greater influence upon the worshipper. Be-
sides, Dr. Birnbaum has included in his books biographical notes
of the payyetanim, the authors of the piyyutim.
The publishers make this statement in their announcement
of the ..ppearance of this new work:
"One of the serious problems confronting rabbis and educa-
tors is how to make the service of the Synagogue meaningful to
the worshiper. Leaders of orthodox congregations are giving
ever-greater attention to the need of providing the younger
generation with a prayerbook that would make the services on
the High Holydays intelligible and inspiring.
"Worshipers using this edition will be grateful to Dr. Bin.=
baum for enabling them to participate in the services WI the
sacred season in an intelligent manner. They wilt appreciate
our efforts to provide a format that is easy onr, the eyes and
esthetically satisfying. They will rediscover the amazing beauty
and depth that has given the High Holyday Vrayerbook a place
of prominence in Jewish life."
This reviewer strongly endorses thi514 assertion. Dr. Birn-
baum has done just that to give the Malv.or a pre-eminent place
lin Jewish literature and on our book syi'elves.