THE DETR OIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, Sep tember 12, 1958

Purely Commentary ProZ,itp.

The Prayers for Many Bounties
in 5719 in This Troubled World

A new year must commence in confidence,
and a Rosh Hashanah even more so. A spiritual
Jewish year should be inaugurated with a sense
of assurance, with faith that the world will be
bettered, that there will be an end to the in-
humanity of man to man, that mankind will be
elevated to the highest ranks of justice and
righteousness.
It is all the more regrettable, therefore,
that we must face the oncoming year 5719
with great misgivings.
There are disturbing elements in so many
areas! The American scene is replete with
challenges. Overseas, the peace continues in
jeopardy and the minutest spark can enkindle
another world war. The threats to Israel have
not diminished.
These existing conditions are creating a
tenseness that will intensify the anxieties over
the events that will transpire in the year ahead.
*
*
Only the very blind and very deaf must have
failed to recognize a decline in the status of
this great land of ours. Democratic ideals have
not been enhanced by the stand taken on the
question of segregation by our Southern fellow-
citizens. And only the politically immature do
not see the rebuffs that have come to the
United States from many nations on the inter-
national arena.
Our weakened position in the Middle East,
the lack of firm policies in dealing with the
Iron Curtain countries and the undue conces-
sions that have been given to oil magnates and
to oil producing slave - trading countries are
causes for saddening concern.
We are compelled to begin to doubt the
values of foreign aid programs. Instead of gain-
ing friends, our country now counts an increas-
ing number of enemies. Nations whom we have
built up militarily are now threats to our se-
curity. Peoples whom we have tried to educate
now are propagandizing against us.
The "al het" list—the list of sins for which
we ask forgiveness—on the Day of Atonement,
could well include the sin of inadequacy
of some of our responsible government officials.
We pray that they will be guided to more
sound judgments so that the errors of the past
few years should never again be repeated.
*
*
*

There is the natural concern over the fu-
ture events as they will affect the European,
Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries.
Many nations live on the brink of war. A
large portion of the globe is perched on a keg
of dynamite. The very peoples who hide under
the cloaks of peace propaganda—the Commu-
nist-dominated lands — continually instigate
suffering peoples against each other and in-
spire hatred towards the West. Instead of ele-
vating the standards of backward nations and
cementing kindly feelings among peoples, we
are witnessing war- and hate-instigations.
How long can this last? How soon will the
statesmen of the world begin to think con-
structively and act realistically to cause the
peoples of the world to appreciate the blessings
of this earth, rather than be parties to suspi-
cions and hatreds?
We can add another prayer to our liturgy:
that diplomats should be granted the wisdom
necessary for just statesmanship.
*
*
*
We will be praying for Israel and her

security. Surrounded by hostile peoples, denied
the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, our Israeli kinsmen face many dan-
gers. They are threatened with extinction. Is-
rael's trade routes are blocked. She is begrudged
the right to welcome suffering Jews from coun-
tries of oppression as new settlers.
She needs our help, and the coming year
should be marked by a reaffirmed kinship from
Jews everywhere, especially from the United
States.
Embattled, threatened with strangulation,
we must help Israel economically — with our
investments, with our philanthropic gifts. The
weakening of Israel will mean also the weaken-
ing of the democracies of the world. War
against Israel may spell war for all mankind,
in view of the sad involvements in the war-
clouded area in which she lives. When we
strive for a secure Israel, we therefore also
aim to contribute towards peace efforts for the
entire world.
*
*
*
Among the causes for concern must also
be listed the future status of Jews throughout
the world, the spiritual position of American
Jewry and the freedoms of our kinsmen wher-
ever they may live.
There are evidences of a resurging anti-
Semitism. The segregation issue in the South
has brought about attacks on the Jews in the
South. Our people in Southern communities
are under threat from the segregationists and
under challenge from their Jewish heritage to
reject pressures from the bigots, even though
their synagogues and centers have been dyna-
mited and their courage has been called into
action.
We have reason to be concerned about the
indifferences that often creep in when our
communities are called upon to strengthen their
spiritual forces. We have made very little prog-
ress in advancing our educational media, and
we have yet to learn that our cultural responsi-
bilities must become our major duties in Jew-
ish life.
*
*
*
Yet, these very setbacks in human rela-
tions and in international developments should
be signals for the remobilization of all demo-
cratic forces in order to strengthen libertarian
principles.
It is for the very reason that liberalism has
declined, that it becomes necessary to create
new courage in efforts to make democracy
function without hindrance.
The stifling of human thought and the
evidences of oppression in backwards countries
in Asia and Africa and behind the Iron Curtain
should give new meaning to our faith in
democracy as opposed to totalitarianism and
dictatorships.
*
*
*
There is much to pray for, and a great deal
to be attained to remove the anxieties that
trouble us on the eve of the New Year 5719.
Recognizing our responsibilities, we should
be able to contribute a great deal towards the
alleviation • of want, in the removal of dangers
to our existence as constructively-functioning
communities, in efforts for peace, in the pro-
grams in behalf of Israel and in the advance-
ment of our spiritual values.
We pray that the hopes for justice and
righteousness, for better understanding among
peoples, for the peace of the world, should be
fulfilled.
May the year 5719 be truly a good one
for all mankind!

Changed Jewish Patterns Bring Stronger Community

By ISIDORE SOBELOFF

Executive Vice-President,
Jewish Welfare Federation

The last decade has seen the
crystallization of a broad devel-
opment which has been grad-
ually taking place since the
United Jewish Charities was
organized in 1899. This develop-
ment is taking place simul-
taneously• in three parallel
areas:
1. The nature of the Jewish
community has changed. It is
no longer made up of the
Americanized and the foreign
born; the rich and the poor; the
benefactors and the clients. The
members of the Jewish com-
munity of America, and certain-
ly of Detroit, with rare excep-
tions, fit in the great middle
class. All of them together now
recognize and discharge with
equal interest • their responsi-
bilities at home and' abroad—
in Detroit and in Israel —
through their membership in
the central community.

2. Parallel with the change
in the Jewish population has
been a change in organization—
in the structure of the Jewish
Welfare Federation. The few
hundred contributors at the
turn of the century have be-
come some 26,000 contributors
of the present. The handful of
Board members who discussed
every "needy case" among them-
selves and visited each "client"
personally out of his benefac-
tion, has developed into a
board of governors of 68, with
a broadly representative mem-
bership. It includes 14 member
agencies providing for the aged,
child care, health services,
camping, vocational services,
community relations, recreation
and culture, Jewish education
in a planful way with a broad
social perspective. All of this
program is carried on with a
sense of assurance - of Jewish
survival.
3. A third stream of change

which parallels the other two
is the change in the nature of
the services. From services to
the poor, the undernourished,
the unlearned, individuals and
families with social problems,
we have gradually shifted to
major emphasis on services for
the average family; from social
services to communal services;
from welfare services to enrich-
ment services, leisure time ac-
tivities, cultural, educational,
Jewish identification services
and programs which enrich the
lives of ourselves and our chil-
dren.
The central theme of these
parallel developments is that we
have grown into a community
characterized by the phrase "by
all of us together for all of us
together."
The ties of membership in
the Jewish community create a
common purpose which easily
cross the lines of social and
economic differences.

ITJA Helps Israel Settlers

Immigrants pour into Israel daily, leaving countries of
oppression and fear behind them. The United Jewish Appeal
now shoulders the major part of the burden of immigration
absorption in Israel.

Red Attacks on Weizmann's
Integrity Called 'Calumny'

Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News

JERUSALEM.—A spokesman
for the Weizmann Institute on
Wednesday branded as " calum-
ny" Soviet press charges that
the late Dr. Chaim Weizmann
"appropriated" Soviet discov-
eries and inventions in the field
of chemistry.
The spokesman, in his com-
ment, noted that Israel's first
president, who had been a world
famous chemist, had never vis-
ited the • Soviet Union. It was
suggested that the latest Soviet
smear was part of the Kremlin's
anti-Israel campaign aimed at
diminishing the unabated desire
of Soviet Jews to emigrate to
Israel.
Visitors to .the Soviet Union
have returned with reports that
Soviet Jews take great pride in

•

Israel's scientific achievements.
The Weizmann Institute
spokesman pointed out that Dr.
Weizmann emigrated from Czar-
ist Russia in 1900 and visited
Russia for family reasons and
on Zionist missions few times
but never after the Bolshevik
revolution. The spokesman said
Dr. Weizmann had no access
whatever to Soviet research
projects.
He said the only explanation
he could think of for the Soviet
attack on Dr. Weizmann's in-
tegrity was that the memory of
Israel's first President is widely
revered until this day among
Soviet Jews." Adding that Dr.
Weizmann became "a legendary
figure" to the Jewish commu-
nity in Russia, the spokesman
said that Moscow was "now
making an attempt to destroy
the Weizmann legend there."

Another Year of B uilding Together

By JUDGE THEODORE LEVIN

President, Jewish Welfare
Federation

The year 5719 brings us
close to the 60th anniversary of
the organized Jewish community
of Detroit. It is a credit to the
founders of our communal orga-
nization and a comfort to us to
know that we have the instru-
ment which they created to
serve us in the fulfillment of
Jewish life and the people to
give it meaning in each genera-
tion.
This instrument, the United
Jewish Charities and its suc-
cessor organization, the Jewish
Welfare Federation, has had the
continuous benefit of the in-
terest and the contributions of
men and women who accept
increasing reesponsibility in be-
half of their fellow Jews and
for the benefit of their own
families and community.
The organized services of .
the Detroit Jewish community
were strengthened markedly
in 1957-58. Participation in
the rescue and rehabilitation
program for world Jewry and
the resettlement program in
Israel was continued at an
impressively high level de-
spite the obstacles placed in
our way by the economic re-
cession. The Federation en-
joyed another year of success-
ful experience as a commun-
ity instrument for fund-rais-
ing, planning and budgeting.
Our participation as an orga-
nized community in the national
life and world problems of Jew-
ish people was integrated with
a parallel interest in develop-
ment of our own communal ma-
chinery and programs at home.
This year will bring to frui-
tion the hopes for an impres-
sive new Jewish Community

Center Building at Curtis and
Meyers Road to house a pro-
gram for children, adults and
the aged in all walks of our
community life, and will re-
flect their interests in asso-
ciation with each other and in
cultural expression through
drama, music, literature and
art. We anticipate that this
institution will accelerate our
continuous efforts for a better
and richer Jewish life for our-
selves and our children.
Adjacent to the new Jewish
Center there will be a new of-
fice building for the Jewish
Family and Children's Services.
A few miles away, at Sinai Hos-
pital, construction will begin on
a new wing containing an out-
patient department and more
than 100 additional hospital
beds. These advances in our
service facilities, and in the
programs which they house for
our kinfolk, for our neighbors
and for ourselves are a source
of great satisfaction to us as an
organized community. They are
symptomatic of our progress.
Since the end of World War
II, Detroit has consistently
raised more money in its annual
campaign than any other com-
munity of less than 100,000 Jew-
ish population. We maintained
this record in 1958 by raising
almost $5,000,000 under the
leadership of Max M. Fisher,
our campaign chairman.
A community's record of cam-
paign performance and of serv-
ice flows out of the feeling of
its members and contributors
toward the programs and causes
which they are joined together
to support. The officers and
board of governors of Federa-
tion are dedicated to strengthen
and enrich these programs in
the New Year.