THE JEWISH NEWS
His
Master's
Voice
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National
Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 85,
Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription 85 a year. Foreign 86.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Offic,, Detroit, Mich.. under act of Congress of March
3, 1871,•.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the third day of Kislev, 5719, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synogogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Toledot, Gen. 25:19-28:9. Prophetical portion, Malachi. 1:1-2:7:
Licht Benshen, Friday, Nov. 14, 4:54 p.m.
VOL. XXXIV. No. 11
Page Four
November 14, 1958
The Hate Sheets Challenge the U. S.
In the heated debates that marked the
November 1958 election that is now part
of the interesting record of American
political thinking and action, an impor-
tant issue played an important role. It
was the use that was being made by some
candidates of anti-Semitic pamphlets that
were distributed in several states, includ-
ing California and Michigan.
We are certain that some candidates
made use of hate sheets unsuspectingly,
but they are not to be excused for having
made such blind use of hate-instigating
pamphlets.
* *
What bothers us much more is that
so little attention has been given until
now to the flood of hate sheets with
which bigots have been swamping Fed-
eral and State officials in recent years.
A number of members of both Houses
of Congress, who were instrumental in
calling attention to the distribution of
Kamp hate brochures in California and
Michigan, have been telling us about the
avalanche of anti-Semitic and anti-Catho-
lic literature that invades the Nation's
capital; and members of both Houses of
the Michigan Legislature frequently send
us copies of anti-Semitic hate sheets
which clutter their mails.
* * *
Since this is not a new occurrence,
we must ask why the liberals who so
genuinely oppose the spread of bigotry
have been so inactive in the battle
against all displays of prejudice. Now
there is idle talk about legislation to bar
hate literature from the mails, and there
is a genuine feeling that such a law might
turn into a_double-edged sword that could
hurt the honoroble and honest pamphle-
teers as much as the spreaders of hate.
Such legislation might be turned into a
weapon for political bias by one party
against another, especially in areas where
one party predominates.
But the question remains: what is
being done to offset the hate that is
being germinated?
* * *
A serious challenge faces the Ameri-
can people. The hate sheet besmirches
our most sacred ideals. It negates the
basic principles of Americanism. It must
be fought with the strongest weapon at
hand: the truth about and the reality of
our democratic way of life. The fight
against bigotry must not be limited to
pre-election periods alone. It is an all-
year-round job which should begin the
moment our Congress reconvenes.
*
*
*
Meanwhile, however, President Eisen-
hower has--unwisely, we believe—ruled
out the possibility of a White House
conference to deal with the problems
created by the bombings in the South.
But Senator-elect Kenneth Keating, of
New York, in compliance with a cam-
paign pledge, has made a personal study
of the tragic Southern situation, together
with Senator Jacob K. Javits, the other
Republican Senator from New York, and
it is quite clear that the Administration
in power is not united on the question
and may be in a quandry over possible
action to be taken to prevent the spread
of un-Americanism that has hit religious
and secular institutions.
Thus, "the sin of anti-Semitism", as
such bigotry had been labeled by the
late Pope Pius XII, the guilt of racial and
religious prejudice, remains to plague us.
Rabbi Emmet A. Frank, of Alexandria,
Va., whose courageous repudiation of
Southern prejudices made him a target
of segregationists and forced the cancel-
lation of one of his addresses that was
scheduled by an Unitarian church, took
occasion, in another commendable ser-
mon, to condemn racism.
In his recent sermon, Rabbi Frank
took note of the claim that "a large num-
ber of people profess a segregationist
policy," and he had this to say:
"Since when do numbers legitima-
tize sin? Sin is sin, regardless of num-'
hers. Since when would we legitima-
tize stealing because it would be widely
practiced? Since when would adultery
become the righteous way of life be-
cause it would be widely practiced?
"Since when does a 'massive resist-
ance' program of inequality and sup-
pression of a group of God's children
become legitimate or godly because
large numbers follow its intolerant doc-
trine?"
If all religious teachers in the South
were to speak up in a similar vein, we
could begin to hope for an end to segre-
gation and to racial and religious bias.
*
*
*
Arnold Forster, the general counsel
and national civil rights director of the
Anti-Defamation League, in a report on
conditions in the South, which he called
"a new field for an old (anti-Semitic)
game," reaches the following conclusions:
"There are about 40 organized anti-Semitic
groups operating within the South today.
About 15 of these, perhaps, are only paper
fronts which do mail distribution of hate mate-
rials. All these'groups are to be found among
three general classifications of organizations
fighting desegregation—white citizens councils,
the Klans, and other extremist movements.
"The anti-Semitic elements within these
classifications are pumping a fresh supply of
hate from the North into the side-streams of
Southern life. Conde McGinley's outrageously
anti-Semitic Common Sense is particularly in
evidence in the South.
"For some years now anti-Semitic organiza-
tions had been developing a furtive character
in the United States. In fact, to one extent or
another, organized anti-Semitism in the United
States seemed almost to have gone under-
ground. In the South today a reverse process
has set in. At public meetings conducted by
John Kasper, expressions of anti-Semitism are
loud and raucous. In other places, too, there
seems to be open defiance of what had been
a growing tradition of tolerance for all re-
ligious-minority groups. One Sunday this sum-
mer, for example, there was simultaneous
picketing by extremist groups at the White
House in Washington, D.C., the Atlanta Con-
stitution in Georgia and the Louisville Courier-
Journal in Kentucky.
"To date, the more extreme anti-Semitic
utterances and activities in the South have
been rejected by the great bulk of the Southern
Press and Southerners themselves.
"But in the charged atmosphere of the
South today, tense and troubled over deseg-
regation, the professional anti-Semite has
found a new, huge marketplace for his wares.
No matter how remote his 'charges are from
reality, they are made persistently and shrilly."
This analysis of the existing condi-
tions indicates that the national Jewish
organizations are on guard against the
further spread of the horrors which al-
ready have disgraced America.
By being on guard, by encouraging
our legislators to act, by encouraging re-
ligious leaders to speak up fearlessly
against bigotry, we can hope to defeat the
menace that is threatening not only the
South, but the entire land.
The process of education and of erad-
icating hate is all-too-slow. But we must
keep vigil, and remain active. Else, the
bad experiences will grow worse.
Dr. Eisenberg s Interesting
`Story of the Jewish Calendar
Why is the Jewish calendar different from the civil calendar
all of us use in dating our correspondence and our business
transactions?
Dr. Azriel Eisenberg provides a simple but very complete
answer in a book for young people, "The Story of the Jewish
Calendar," published by Abelard-Schuman (404 4th, N.Y. 16)-
It must not be considered, however, as merely a book for
youngsters, since adults are as keenly interested in the answers
to the question of the development of
the Luah—the Jewish calendar—and the
Jewish lunar year, based on the moon's
movement around the earth.
As a background, Dr. Eisenberg tells
the story of two boys who are watching
for the new moon in Jerusalem. Out of
it develops a story that explains im-
portant elements in Jewish traditional
observances.
In the course of his narrative, Dr.
Eisenberg explains the Rosh Hodesh,
how the Shofar was blown in olden
times to herald the beginning of an-
other month, and he relates the aban-
donment of the observance after the
destruction of the Temple.
Describing the determining point of
Dr. Eisenberg
a new month, the molad, Dr. Eisenberg
points out that Rosh Hashanah may not fall on Sunday, Wednes-
day or Friday. But in the year 4681-921 on the general calen-
dar—it was expected that the molad for 4684 would take place
on Saturday after midday and that would require postponement
of Rosh Hashanah for two days. Whereupon Rabbi Ben Meir
allowed an extra 35 minutes after noon for the molad in 923.
It created a great controversy, and Rabbi Saadia was among those
who bitterly opposed Rabbi Ben Meir. Some observed the calen-
dar according to one of the scholars, and others according to the
opponent's calculations.
This important incident is related in Dr. Eisenberg's book.
Rabbi Saadia, he writes, wrote a book outlining his views and
"has always been considered by the Rabbis and scholars of later
centuries to be 'father and founder of the science of the
calendar.' "
Many other interesting descriptions of the Sabbath and the
festivals are incorporated in Dr. Eisenberg's book. His "The Story
of the Jewish Calendar" is truly an important work for young
and old alike.
Year-Book 1958'
a Storehouse of Information
'
Statesman ' s
A vast storehouse of information, 'about every State in our
Union and all states throughout: the world, is incorporated in
"The Statesman's Year-Book 1958," published by St. Martin's
Press (103 Park, N.Y. 17).
Edited by S..11. Steinberg (Ph.D., F. R: Hist. S.), this volume
contains all the basic data, statistical and historical, about every
state in the world. It has the latest information about social
welfare, finance, religion, education, communications, banking,
weights and measures, governments and constitutions.
"The Statesman's Year-Book" has become an indispensable
guide for delegates to the United Nations, newspapermen,
librarians, religious leaders, industrialists and bankers. It is
a sort of "must" for all who desire data about the nations
of the world.
There is a valuable chapter on Israel, and the data on
Soviet Russia refers to a Jewish Autonomous Region in the USSR.
Israel's governmental set-up and other data are evaluated in
the Medinat Israel—State of Israel—chapter. Local government
councils are described, and there are explanations of Israel's
area and population, immigration, religion, education, social
welfare, the courts, finance, defense, commerce and industry,
agricultural activities, communications, currency and banking
and weights and measures. Diplomatic representatives are listed,
and there are a number of book references.