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.