THE DETRO IT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, September 19, 1958
urely Lornmen
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
The Enigma of the Sabbatical Year (Shemittah)
A UPI report from Jerusalem that an Arab sheikh became
the biggest "landowner" in Israel for a single year—as of last
Sunday—must have puzzled many readers.
The cabled report from Israel stated that—
'In accordance with Jewish religious injunctions, Orthodox
Jews 'sell' their land to a non-Jew during the Sabbatical year.
The Sabbatical year occurs every seven years.
"On Sunday, which will mark the beginning of the Jewish
sabbatical year, Sheikh Abdullah Mohammed Abu Kishk will be-
come the fictional owner of thousands Of acres of land 'sold' to
him for the year. The sheikh, who comes from a long-established
family from Petah Tivak, near Tel Aviv, owns considerable land.
"Jews who observe the sabbatical year are supposed to re-
frain from working their lands during the year. Since this is
not practicable in most cases, they 'sell' the land to a non-Jew
and thus continue working on land that, technically, is not
Jewish-owned."
This may sound inexplicably confusing even to Jews who
are now so far removed from an injunction which called for the
cessation of agricultural activities. The Biblical command is
that "six year thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt
prune thy vineyard ... But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath
of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the Lord . . . "
(Lev. 25:2-7).
One of the provisions of the Sabbatical year (Deut. 15:1-16)
provides also for the cancellation of debts. While the regulations
were especially practiced from the fifth century before the
present era, Hillel, in the first century of this era, found them
so oppressive that he created the Prosbul—a document to be
used in preventing annulment of debts in the Shemittah year
of release.
Now, ancient rules that are hardly applicable to modern
living, are being imposed upon a segment of Israel's population.
The tragic irony of it is that the resort to the sale of the land
to a non-Jew—in the current instance to the wealthy sheikh—may
give the impression of being a sort of a trick to prevent the
hardships that are inevitable and whose emergence are admitted.
Similar practices, resorted to before Passover, in the matter
of the sale of hametz to a non-Jew, also have been criticized,
justifiably from our point of view.
Such recurrences of applications of old practices create
issues that often divide our people in matters that should be
curable and solvable. While attempts have been made in Israel
to provide Shemittah solutions by agricultural means of changing
types of crops and in other scientific ways, it would be well to
arrive at a more workable solution that could be arrived at by
the reconvening of a Sanhedrin patterned after the old, tradi-
tional rabbinical assemblies. Unfortunately, on this score, too,
even the orthodox are divided—and some orthodox leaders have
said that they will never sit down together with Reform and
Conservative Jews at a Sanhedrin at which they would thus be
compelled to give the impression of thereby recognizing even
the very existence of Reform and Conservative principles.
Thus, problems of a religious nature continue to plague
Israel and Jewry. Perhaps the rising generation of young Jews
will bring us nearer to the solution of such problems.
The Travesties of International Relations
If it were not so serious. the Middle East situation surely
would be recorded as the hugest satire ever perpetrated on
mankind.
For a number of years, the moribund Arab League was
laughed at in official circles. It was ignored and treated as a
nuisance. Nov, out of Extinction, the Arab politicians once again
arisen to become a tool of Nasserism. The Arab League attempted
to dictate candidates for the presidency of the United Nations
General Assembly and the previously ridiculed oppressors of
their people in Arab lands suddenly have become a world power.
Now, this League is ditching its former leaders. Dr. Charles
Malik, Lebanon's chief UN delegate, who formerly was among
the leaders in the anti-Israel attacks at the UN, had been told
that he no longer has the support of the Arabs for the General
Asssembly presidency. His election to the General Assembly
presidency was a welcome rebuke to the Arab-Soviet bloc..
A new dictatorship has arisen in the Middle East. It does
not limit its interests to its own area. It criticizes the United
States policies in he Far East. It resorts, opportunistically, to
every scheme at hand to win the favors of Soviet Russia, when-
ever such favors can be used to pressure the Western powers
for the gains that may be made by the new Arab empire.
The mollycoddling of Nasser by United Nations leaders
has added to the irony of the international comedy. All the
concessions made to Nasser have not tempered the actions of
the power-crazed Egyptian dictator. Even the UN Secretary
General, Dag Hammarskjold, was humiliated on his recent
visits in Arab lands.
Nasser also has tried to fool his people and others who are
giving him an ear into believing that the trouncing given him
by Israel was due to superior strength of the Israelis. He has
said so, and even in relation to Israel victory against seven Arab
nations in 1948 he now claims that Israel had superior arms. Is
history being so falsified as to give a dictator the power to blot
out truth?
President Eisenhower warned against a repetition of Munich
tactics and experiences, in his address to the nation on the
question of the Far East. A Munich role already is being en-
acted also in the Middle East. If it is dangerous for the Far East,
it is equally dangerous for the Middle East !
In the warning against Nasserism, we therefore say again
New Year Wishes to Israel; Messages Issued
World .Jewry; Ben-Gurion Asks for Aid
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The
entire diplomatic corps, with
United States Ambassador Ed-
ward B. Lawson acting as dean,
called on President Ben-Zvi
last Friday to extend felicita-
tions on the Jewish New Year.
Lawson conveyed his and his
colleagues' good wishes to the
President of Israel, the govern-
ment and the people and ex-
pressed their hopes for Israel's
continued development, prosper-
ity and peace in the year ahead.
Jews of Israel and through-
out the world were assured in
a special holiday message
from Israel's Ashkenazic Chief
Rabbi, Dr. Isaac Herzog, that
"Israel has nothing to fear in
the current crucible of change
if we maintain the distinctive
character and tradition which
marks us out among the na-
tions." He called upon all
Jews for "faithfulness to the
timeless tradition which has
been the mainstay of all the
ages."
Israel's Sephardic Chief
Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim called
in his message for "the
strengthening of the spiritual
ties between Israel and the
Jewish communites in the
Diaspora." Stating that the
year now ending "has seen
wonderful demonstrations of
the warm affections held for
Israel by Jews throughout the
world," Rabbi Nissim ex-
pressed the hope that "the
next decade will find the
House of Israel yet closer
united."
President Ben-Zvi, in a New
Year's message, extended the
best wishes of the people of Is-
rael "to all our brethren of the
House of Israel, wherever they
may be, to all who seek the wel-
fare of the State of Israel and
help in furthering the State's
progress and in gathering with-
United Hebrew Schools Names Dr.
Wiesner as Education Consultant
The appointment of Dr. Naph-
tali A. Wiesner as educational
consultant for the United He-
brew Schools was announced by
Albert Elazar, superintendent
of the schools.
Dr. Wiesner will supervise
classroom procedures, assist in
curriculum de-
velopment and '
serve as con-
sultant on
classroom
problems. He
will also assist
in the prepa-
ration of cur-
ricula and syl-
libi, city-wide
achievement
tests and edu- Dr. Wiesner
cational measurement stand-
ards. In addition, he will par-
ticipate in the teachers — in-
service training program of the
Hebrew Schools.
Dr. Wiesner comes to Detroit
from Boston where he served
as education consultant for the
Bureau of Jewish Education for
six years. Prior to that he was
with the Bureau of Jewish Ed-
ucation in Toronto, also as con-
sultant.
He is a graduate of the He-
brew Teachers College, Jewish
German Trade Unions
Demand Disclosure
of Nazi Pensioners
BONN, (JTA)—West German
trade union leaders are pressing.
for publication of a complete
list of government pensioners
in the belief that scores of for-
mer Nazis, including some of
the most notorious war crimi-
nals, are enjoying the govern-
ment bounty to the extent of
some $3,000,000 a year. They
accuse government officials of
suppressing the list to avoid a
scandal.
Two pamphlets published by
the Lower Saxony district of
the trade union federation claim
that former Grand Admirals
Karl von Doenitz and Erik Ree-
der, who were sentenced at Nur-
emberg to imprisonment as ma-
jor war criminals and have
since been released, each re-
ceive a pension equivalent to
$600 a month.
Former Field Marshal Erwin
An Athletic Club ; A Singer and Yom Kippur
Milch, who promoted experi-
There is an athletic club in the downtown Detroit area from ments leading to the death of
whose doors Jewish leaders have scrupulously stayed away in many prisoners at the Dachau
protest against its anti-Jewish discriminatory rules.
concentration camp, receives a
Regrettably, some Jewish leaders, and a few rabbis, recently monthly pension of nearly $400
broke the rule of shunning the club.
The former private secretary to
And on Yom Kippur, a prominent Jewish opera singer will Field Marshall Hermann Goer-
make that club his headquarters for a floor show.
ing, S.S. Col. Erik Grietzbach,
Oh, Mammon! Oh, Mammon! l'ow quickly weak mortals is paid a monthly pension of
yield to thee out of vain glory!
more than $300.
Theological Seminary of Bres-
lau, Germany, and fulfilled his
requirements for a doctorate at
the University of Basel, Switz-
erland in education, phycholo-
gy, philosophy and Semitic
philology.
After doing clinical work in
child psychology in Switzerland,
he came to the U.S. and re-
ceived a Ph D degree from the
New School for Social Research
in New York. He was among
the first recipients of a fellow-
ship for "indepedent research
and creative work in the fields
of social studies and Jewish
thought," instituted in 1954 by
the Conference on Jewish Ma-
terial Claims Against Germany.
In addition to the above-
mentioned duties, Dr. Wiesner
will teach in the Midrasha, the
College of Jewish Studies of the
United Hebrew Schools.
in its boundaries the scattered
sons of our people."
He declared that the task of
the Jewish people "for the corn-
ing decade" was "the restoration •
of our people and the building
up of our homeland." Noting
that the current Jewish year
came to a close with "a call for
peace" from the "lofty heights
of the General Assembly" of the
United Nations, the President of
Israel said: "We are all in need
of genuine peace, in particular
our people, building its future
not on the foundations of hos-
tility and bloodshed, nor on
plans for the ruin of others and
domination by the sword" but
on the foundations "of the
equality of man as man, in the
spirit of our prophets."
Prime Minister Ben-Gurion,
in a message to American
Jewry released through the
United Jewish Appeal in New
York, said that the people of
Israel joined him in sending
the "warmest Rosh Hashanah
greetings and best wishes for
the year ahead. Recent events
in the Middle East have un-
derlined the stability of Israel
and its unswerving dedication
to rehabilitating a people and
deevloping the land while
neighboring states have un-
dergone violent upheavals."
He warned that "the danger-
ous implications of those events
to the security of Israel cannot
be ignored. We have therefore
been obliged to take rapid and
costly steps to strengthen our
security. But this has had neces-
sarily to be at the expense of
urgent needs connected with the
absorption of masses of immi-
grants requiring additional re-
sources. I am sure that our good
friends in the United States
whose support of UJA is so de-
voted will recognize the urgent
needs of the moment and will
do their utmost to enable us to
absorb and advance the welfare
of our immigrants without in-
terruption."
Eisenhower's Unfamiliarity
With the Position of Israel
BY MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1958, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
WASHINGTON—Does President Eisenhower lack knowledge
of the Israel position?
Persons who talked with him recently describe the Presi-
dent as unfamiliar with Israel's case. His attitude has been
characterized as "disinterested" and "uninformed."
This contention is supported to some degree by Mr. Eisen-
hower's most recent public statement on Israel. He recalled
efforts to secure Arab and Israel approval to the Johnston Plan
for development of the Jordan River "so that both Arab countries
and Israel could get great benefits from that river." He added
that "neither side apparently could ever accept the political
consequences of what both knew to be a very fine economic
development."
The truth is that Israel accepted the Johnston Plan. The
Arabs rejected it because Israel would share its benefits.
Sources close to the President later revealed why he made
such an incorrect statement. One reason advanced was that Mr.
Eisenhower feels the Arab-Israel dispute must be viewed with
strict "impartiality" with the United States avoiding taking sides.
Such involvement, in the reported Eisenhower view, would
facilitate Communist propaganda among Arabs that "Zionist
imperialism" is backed by America. Therefore, a tendency
emerged to equate blame and even, as in the Sinai-Suez war,
to take the Arab side.
Washington insiders believe that Mr. Eisenhower has de-
liberately sought to avoid personal contact with the Arab-Israel
problem. He has delegated authority to Secretary of State Dulles.
He accepts without question Mr. Dulles' decisions.
Mr. Eisenhower has on occasion at foreign policy dis-
cussions indicated sharp impatience when attempts were
made to explain Israel's case. He wanted to pass on to what
he considered more important matters.
Former President Truman met frequently with Israeli diplo-
mats, Zionist leaders, and heads of Jewish organizations. In fact,
he was so interested he asked James G. McDonald, first U. S.
Ambassador to Israel, to send the White House duplicate copies
of all McDonald's reports to the State Department.
The meetings of President Eisenhower with Israeli diplo-
mats and Jewish leaders have been rare. This is partly attributed
to the President's health. The number of appointments granted
by the White House was reduced as Mr. Eisenhower decided
to pass on many burdensome problems to members of his
official family.