A Salute to a Great Statesman
THE JEWISH NEWS
20, 1951
Detroit Jewish Chronic le commencing with issue of July
Incorporating
Member
American the
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 35.
Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription $5 a year. Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6. 1942 at Post Offic,, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March
), 187.:
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Edit< r and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Circulation Manager
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
read
This Sabbath, the eighth day of lyar, 5719, the following Scriptural selections will be
in our synagogues:
portion, Ezek. 44:15-31.
Pentateuchal portion., Entor, Lev. 21:1-24:23. Prophetical
Licht Benshen, Friday, May 15, 7:30 p.m.
May 15, 1959
Page Four
VOL. XXXV, No. 11
Jewish Center: Important Historic Phenomenon
Formal dedication of the new Jewish
Community Center, on Meyers Road at
Curtis, set for the week of May 20-28,
is accompanied by an increasing interest
in its functions, as evidenced by the
membership growth to a total which now
exceeds 10,000.
This is a phenomenal development.
Not many Jewish communities are able
to boast of so large an enrollment in a
community venture. The attainment of it
by the Detroit Jewish Center even before
the formal dedication of the new build-
ing is a tribute to its leaders and to its
staff.
The Jewish : Center idea, which is be-
ing encouraged nationally by the Jewish
Welfare Board, - is not a new one. It
began with the Young Men's Hebrew
Associations. It has expanded from a
physical culture project to an educa-
tional ideal.
* *
for Judaism, and for Jewish educators and
scholars in America.
"The National Jewish Welfare Board, along
with such other national non-political, non-sec-
tarian Jewish organizations as Bnai Brith, Ha-
dassah, and Jewish Publication Society, has
before it a remarkable opportunity, in fact, a
duty and a task that it should be proud and
■■■ ••••- ■ .--
;
eager to embark on, namely, to take active
parts in deepening and extending the speci-
fically Jewish culture that has already begun
to develop before our very eyes. This is no
voYAGE MO GOOD LUGO
platitude, no cliche. As Americans and as Jews,
we stand on the threshold of what will come
to be known in Jewish history as the American
and Israeli Epoch. We and our descendants will
derive the benefits from this development in
proportion to the part that we actively play
in it. The lives of our children and children's
1
children will be much better integrated as
Benjamin Siegel has chosen the events of the second century
Jews and as Americans than any preceding
of the present era, when Hadrian ruled the Roman Empire, as
generation.
"May the day come very soon, as it will, the basis of the theme for his novel, "The Sword and the
when American Jewish culture will have ac- Promise," published by Harcourt, Brace & Co. (730 5th, N.Y. 17).
To understand the reason for his having chosen that period,
quired real identity and substance, and the
National Jewish Welfare Board will be able it is necessary to quote the author, who said: " 'The Sword and
to point to itself with pride as one of the the Promise' came about because of my own great curiosity
about a period of time and the peoples in it. Sam Johnson- or
notable factors in that achievement."
*
*
somebody said the best way to find out about a thing is to
about it. So I did."
While Dr. Orlinsky spoke mainly of write He
woven a very interesting story around the character
the emergence of new encouraging trends of Bias, has
a young Greek physician who was enslaved by the
in Jewish educational activities, he has Romans, whose forehead was branded, who. escaped after his
indicated that there is a link between master was killed accidentally.
-
the progressive efforts in our schools and
In the course of his flight, he met a Jewish merchant, Gadi,
universities with those in our community who named him Dathan and enabled him to travel away from
centers: The programs that are now ma- Rome. He tortured himself on hot coals to remove the brand
turing in our own center provide proof of slavery from his forehead, but later he was pursued by a
of the rise of activities that will justify Roman who recognized him and sought to return him.
In the interim, he met and lived with Jews, learned -the
the costs incurred and will be a tribute
Jewish way of life, killed his pursuers, went to Palestine and
those
whose
aspirations
were
on
so
to
high a level as to bring to realization the there became one of the Bar Kochba fighters in the rebellion
Rome.
tremendous undertaking represented in against
The search for knowledge about Jews, the many parables
our new Jewish Center.
that are told by the Jewish merchant, Gadi, and the part the
The emphasis that is placed on youth former Greek who escaped from Roman slavery played in the
activities gives our new Center remark- bloody battles against Rome, combine to make an excellent story.
able status. Furthermore, the adult edu-
Bias-Dathan circumsized himself during the difficulties he
cation prop- ram is so extensive as to encountered with the Roman, the Searcher, who was pursuing
recommend it highly to our entire corn- him. The inner debates he conducted about Jews and Judaism,
the Jewish position that was outlined to him, indicate that the
munitv.
-
Cultural
and physical projects are author had made a deep study of Jewish history of the period
which he became interested. Siegel's mastery of Jewish par-
receiving equal consideration in the plans in
stood him in good stead and has enlivened his work.
that are being formulated for the more ables The
problem of Jewish identity, by way of circumcision, and
than 10,000 Jewish Center members. A the question
of "what is a Jew" are touched upon in this well-
glorious future is in store for our new told story.
center, and a dedicated staff already is at
"A Jew is one who lives by the Law," is the manner . in
work to guarantee the benefits we await which a definition is framed for the hero of the story.
Bias-Dathan falls in love with a Jewish girl who believes that
from the center movement. We share in
the hope for the acquisition of real iden- her father was a Roman who had seduced her mother on the
- city and substance for our people through night of her marriage. The girl, Naamah, is a loyalist who, in
this important Jewish communal effort. the course of a meeting with Rabbi Akiba, who was one of Bar
followers, recited the Psalm "By the rivers of
In this spirit we congratulate the Center Kochba's as chief
an expression of loyalty to the Jewish revolutionaries.
leaders and staff and wish them suc- Babylon"
The meetings with the Bar Kochba leaders provide additional
cess in all their undertakings.
interesting action for the story that is so full of acitivity from
beginning to end.
"The 'Sword of the Promise' is one of the better novels
written in recent years. It reveals the author's literary skill•and
Ore and timber, automobiles and air- his excellent research work in gathering facts and fiction for
novel.
•
planes, implements of peace and instru- the
Benjamin Siegel, who was born in New York in 1914, left
ments for defense, are manufactured in college at the age of 18 and began to write a novel. He saw
service in North Africa and Italy in World War II, sold a story
Michigan is one of the most important to Collier's in 1946 and has since had his work published by Sev-
vacation areas in the country.
enteen, Esquire, Argosy, Saturday Evening Post and other maga-
It is a great manufacturing state and zines,
•
• - • ■
"American Jewry is maturing. It is de
veloping concepts and institutions and quali-
ties that are distinctively its own. Thus it is
now a commonplace that one of the unique
features of American Jewish life is the Jew-
ish community center, a phenomenon not read-
ily discerned in Jewish history previously.
"Or take the field of Jewish education. The
earlier, purely secular tendency of many Yid-
dish schools has given way to a more sympa-
thetic approach and appreciation of the Jew-
ish past. The Reform movement in America,
which once contented itself with a one day
Sunday school, now increasingly supports a
minimum of three dayS a week of Hebrew
school for its children and youth, in addition
to Adult Jewish education. The growth of the
all-day schools is further evidence that a num-
ber of parents want a maximum Jewish educa-
tion for their children, alongside the regular
public school education. All these are re
tions
Lions of a healthy, growing Jewish life in
America, and no less important they indi-
cate that far from being a fossil of an extinct
civilization, the American Jew, democratically
and Jewishly educated and minded, is re-
sponding vibrantly to the challenging stimuli
of the American scene. This means that the
need for educators and teachers is becoming
increasingly urgent.
"The same, at long last, now holds true
also in the area of Jewish scholarship. Never
before have Jewish scholars been needed in
this country as now, and this need will con-
tinue to grow greater. The existing higher
Jewish institutions of learning, • the Dropsie
College, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
it has many important schools of higher
of Religion, the Jewish Theological Seminary,
Yeshivah College and University, Brandeis Uni-
learning.
versity, the several Hebrew colleges in Boston,
What is more important is that in this
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago,
state are being advanced the highest
and elsewhere, are in constant need of younger
ideals of good will and inter-racial and
men to replace the older men on their facul-
inter-faith cooperation.
ties. Even more, several secular universities
These are the things to be emphasized
are opening departments of Hebraic, Judaic,
during the observance of Michigan Week,
and Semitic Studies, and Jewish scholars are
May 17 - 23.
filling these posts. I have in mind New York
May the high ideals which have moti-
University, Cornell University, Wayne State
UniYersity, University of Wisconsin, University
vated the pioneers and which have
of Kentucky, and University of California. We . brought progress to our state continue
here can no longer depend on European Yeshi-
to forge ahead in the years to come—so
vot and Gymnasiums and universities to pro-
that the perennial observance of Michi-
duce our Jewish scholars; neither can Israel
gan Week may be cause for rejoicing by
fill the gap. We must educate our Jewish schol-
all our citizens.
ars ourselves. There is indeed a great future
-
—
•
Era of Bar Kochba in New
Novel 'Sword and Promise '
In an address in New York recently,
accepting the Annual Frank L. Weil
Awards from JWB for himself and in
behalf of Irving Edison, Col. Harry D.
Henschel and Rabbi Nathan Witkin, Prof.
Harry M. Orlinsky elaborated on the two
ideas—the Jewish Center movement and
the need for an expanded Jewish educa-
Aional program. He stated in the course
of his address:
—
•
Michigan Week
our state.
First Prayer Book
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright, 1959, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
It is believed that the first prayerbook was printed on April
7, 1486, by the famous Soncino printers in Italy. In subsequent
years many errors crept into the Siddur. In 1868, Seligman Baer,
a German scholar of Jewish faith, carefully compiled a corrected
text which is the basis of most all of the printed prayer books
after that time.
The prayer book was first translated into English in Eng-
land in 1738. Since the authorities in London representing the
Jewish community frowned upon such a translation, the author
used a pseudonym. In 1766 a second English translation was
made. The English Jewish authorities still opposed this effort
and so the translator had it published in New York.