incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

Member American Association of English-Jewish News.papers, Michigan Press Association, National
Editorial Association.
Published every Friday.. by The Jewish News PubldsTii•g Co., 17108 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 Congress•of March
3, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Editor and Publisher

Advertising Manager

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Circulation Manager

FRANK SIMONS

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, Shabbat Shubah, the sixth clay of Tishri, 5719, the following Scriptural
selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuch& portion, Dent. 31:1-30. Prophetical portions, Hosea 14:2-10, Micah 7:18-20.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Sept. 19, 6:42 pan.

Yom Kippur Scriptural Selections, Wednesday
Pentateuch& portions: Morning, Lev. 16:1-34, Num. 29:7-11: afternoon. -Lev. 18:1-30.
Prophetical portions: Morning, Isaiah, 57:14-58:14; afternoon, Jonah 1:1-4:11, Micah 7:18-20.

VOL. XXXIV. No. 3

Page Four

September 19, 1958

Atonement In a Sick World

.

Talk about Atonement! If there is
atoning to be done at this time, it is for
the sins of an entire world.
If we were to add to the sins for
which atonement is to be asked on Yom
Kippur, for the transgressions of human-
ity, the al het would be too long to be
covered in the time allotted . for the
prayers.
Although a United Nations has for-
tunately emerged from World War II,
the international organization thus far
has proven too weak to effect peace in
some of the troubled areas of the world.
True: the UN has assisted in avoiding
conflicts; but it remains too weak to in-
duce contestants to strive for peace. War
hysteria continues to harass all of us.,
and there is no peace for mankind.
The pent-Up international emotions
often affect our internal situations —
politically, socially, economically, spiritu-
ally. Therefore there is a tenseness that
reduces the happiness to which human
beings are justly entitled.
The confessional portion of the Yom
Kippur ritual enumerates the sins of
omission and commission. To it now are

added the supplications for forgiveness
for sins that arise from the problems of
our modernity.
It is one of the blessings of the Jew-
ish way of life that even the saddest
experiences, and the most solemn periods
on our calendar, are accompanied by the
element of hope. We never give up hope
for a better way of life -and for the im-
provements in the humanity of man to
man.
In the Jewish ethical teachings are
included the principles: "Man must not
become discouraged if he fails to see
any improvement in his moral qualities
even after much self-discipline." And
Rabbi Israel Salanter (1810-1833), who
was noted for his teachings of morality
and integrity, admonished us: "Calmness
of mind and temper is a great virtue;
we must never allow ourselves to be
ruffled even when the greatest misfor-
tunes befall us."
In such spirit, we gain heart on Yom
Kippur and retain confidence that faith
and devotion will guide us towards better
days, for ourselves and for our fellow-
men.

Our Youth and Our School Problems

Yom Kippur is as proper a time as
any for an evaluation of Jewry's cultural
needs and aspirations and for improve-
ments in our educational standards.
Consideration of the standards of our
schools and of the programs affecting
Jewish life need not be limited to
Shavuot or to specific days set aside as
so-called Education Months. If there are
shortcomings in Jewish programming
and in our educational curricula, and if
we are to atone for guilt in these areas,
let us take these responsibilities into con-
sideration in the reckoning of the most
sacred day of the year.
Even if we were to attempt to shun
such consideration, it was forced upon
us by the summer institutes that were
sponsored by Bnai Brith, whose youth,
at the AZA convention only two weeks
ago, issued a challenge to rabbis and edu-
cators about the type of schools they
prefer.
The trouble with the sensational chal-
lenge from the youth is that it generalizes
too much. It falls into the same groove
that has made the viewpoints of many
of our adults ineffective.
It isn't enough to speak of establish-
ing "a general program with the purpose
of studying needed improvements in
Jewish education." We have been doing
just that for a decade or more, and if
we have not succeeded we must get at
the root of the problem.
We certainly do not get to the root
of anything with such nonsense as that
uttered by one of the AZA leaders, that
"youth should insist on a curriculum of
Jewish education that is not simply a re-
hash of what has been learned earlier in
Sunday school."
*
*
*
When we speak of Jewish. education,
we no longer mean only the Sunday
school, although much good has been
achieved even through the minimal pro-
gram—the shorter period of study being
better than no study at all. In planning
our school prograths, efforts now are
being made to advance our needs, to en-
large upon the curricula, to improve

wherever possible. And even in the most
advanced form of study "rehash" is
often necessary, repetition being vital to
emphasis. -
*
*
*
Thus, youth has failed to come up
with even a semblance of a solution.
Perhaps it could not be otherwise. After
all, the problem posed is not youth's
alone but the entire community's. There-
fore we must retain faith that it is a
soluble problem, that we shall soon wit-
ness marked progress in our educational
efforts and that a way will be found to
relieve the stresses occasioned by the
major elements in the issue: the need
for better-trained teachers, the impor-
tance of building modern school struc-
tures, the acquisition of methods of
inspiring the pupils, in spite of the
handicaps under which most of them
study after public school hours, to be
deeply interested in Jewish topics.
There is the need, of c o u r s e, for
sufficient funds with which to finance
the type of schools aimed at. It is to be
hoped that the decline in income from
communal fund-raising efforts will not
seriously affect our school systems. Our
communities must see to it that educa-
tional efforts are given priority to all
other undertakings.
Insofar as our youth is concerned,
we owe them the duty of sharing with
them consideration of the problems
at hand, and of inviting them in on dis-
cussions of our educational programs.
There is much to discuss with our youth
—their escape from traditional observ-
ances, the decline in interest among them
in Jewish communal needs, the rise in
the number of mixed marriages. Perhaps
youth can provide a solution to the
limitations in their Jewish studies which
so often terminate with the Bar Mitzvah.
In any event, as long as young and
old discuss the status of Jewish learning,
there are increased opportunities to solve
them. If there is an al het the sin of
failure to correct errors in our cultural
programs—we believe that we are seeing
a new light and that solutions will soon
be at hand.

—

`Judaism and Truth . . . '

Walter Kaufmann 's ' Critique
of Religion and Philosophy '

Guided primarily by the Socrates principle that "the unex-
amined life is not worth living," Walter Kauffman has written
a challenging and informative work. In his new hook, "Critique
of Religion and Philosophy," published by Harper, he enters
into a thorough study of both.
Orthodox attitudes are challenged, but his reasoning must
lead to greatest interest in both religion and philosophy and in
greater understanding of many of the aspects in both.
He enters into a thorough analysis of "truth"—subjective
and objective—and he asserts that "religion is not concerned
with truths alone: feelings and practices are central in religion,
too." The distinction he draws between various types of truths
will add value to the approaches to the subject made by philoso-
phers as well as theologians.
The "Dialogue Between Satan and a Theologian" in the
chapter "Satanic Interlude or How to Go to Hell" is enter-
taining as well as enlightening, and the entire Critique con-
tains many witty elements.
Students of Judaism will find special interest in his dis-
cussion of "Judaism and Truth." The author contends that
. "Judaism. like Buddhism, is far less prone to come into con-
flict with specific scientific doctrines than Christianity . .
The primary concern in Judaism is with a way of life. This
way of life involves a strong sense of tradition and a deter-
mination to realize certain ideals. Both may well be stronger
than in any other religion. This unique directedness from a
historical past into a messianic future, from Mount Sinai to
justice for orphan, widow and stranger and the abolition of
war, has seved Judaism from death by ice and death by fire,
from freezing in awe of a rigid tradition and from evaporating
into utopian reverie."
Kaufmann continues to state: "It was Scripture that defined
this direction and, for more than two thousand years, nourished
the thought and imagination of the Jews. It was Torah which
in the wider sense is the whole of Scripture and in the narrow
sense the Five Books of Moses, and in neither case merely
nomos, 'the Law,' as Paul would have it. Surely, Genesis is
not a compilation of laws, but it received at least as much
loving attention as any other book. The Hebrew word Torah
means not law but teaching."
On the question of the traditional Jewish attitude toward
learning, Kaufmann illustrates his point by quoting the Tal-
mudic story about Hillel who climbed to a window on the
roof of a house of study and, covered with nine feet of snow,
was_ listening in on the learned discussions of Shmaya and
Ptollion.
Referring to Hassidism, Hassidic tales and the teachings of
Martin Buber, Kaufmann expresses the view that "Hassidism
was also deeply Authoritarian, and the Jewish opponents of the
Hassidim, the so-called Mitnaggedim, were put off as much by
the Hassidim's authoritarian cult of the Zaddik, the rabbi, as by
their touch of mystic libertarianism." He adds the explanation:
"Personal religious experience has sometimes played a
prominent role in religion—for example, in Hassidism—but to
prevent it from eroding the tradition, and to preserve a cherished
continuity, all religions have cultivated a strong authoritarian
undercurrent. Individual religiousness is possible without any
touch of authoritarianism; but no historic religion has dispensed
with it completely."
Scores of additional topics will inspire interest in this in-
teresting book. "Reason and aspiration," Freudian ideas, the
Mosaic theories about the Bible authorship, the wording of the
Sabbath commandment in the Decalogue and many other items
hold the reader's attention in this very scholarly work.

The `Tarcieum' of the Bible

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

(Copyright. 1958. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, inc.)

The term "Targum" is used to refer to a translation of the
Bible. In its narrower sense it has come to be used in referring
to Aramaic translations. Originally, because Hebrew ceased to
be the popular spoken tongue amongst the masses, an interpreter
(called a Meturgaman) was appointed who would stand next to
the reader of the Torah and translate every verse after it was
read. This, at first, was done orally, since there was a desire
to maintain the sanctity of the original Hebrew text. Later on
official standard texts of translations into Aramaic were made
which we have printed alongside of the Hebrew Bibles. When
Aramaic ceases to be the spoken tongue, this practice in the
synagogue ceased but is continued in many homes.

