THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, June 26, 1959 — 40

Christian Scholar's Manuals for Study of Anti-Jewish Proposal Rejected
Biblical Hebrew Reissued by U. of Chicago by Southfield Property Owners

same , meaning; and not only
these things (i.e. the following
chapters), but the Law itself
and the Prophecies and the rest
of the books, convey a different
meaning when spoken in their
original (language).' All who
would enter into the inner sanc-
tuary of the Hebrew spirit must
first equip themselves with the
linguistic key. The chambers
to which it furnishes access are
spaciously splendid to a degree
that can never be appreciated
by one who has not seen them.
"The Hebrew mind must re-
main largely terr:d incognita to
him who does not know its
native language. That the first
steps in the learning of that
language may be made simple
and may represent actual prog-
ress in the mastery of the Old
Testament in its own idiom is
sufficient reason for sending
out the Harper Method and
Manual in a new edition."
The Manua/ reprints Prof.
Harper's preface to the second
edition of his book, written
Sept. 1, 1885, in which he ex-
plains the inductive method—
to gain an accurate knowledge
of some of the "facts" of the
language, to learn the prin-
ciples they illustrate and to
apply them.
The revised edition of
"Elements of Hebrew by an
Inductive Method" contains
Prof. Harper's preface to the
book's sixth edition. He had
indicated that he laid no
claim to originality as con-
cerns the material employed;
that "there is indeed little
room for originality in this
line," but that "in the matter
of arrangement he confidently
believes that a kind of help
is here afforded the student
which cannot be found else-

In 1883, there appeared a
most interesting "Hebr..w
Manual," for the study of
Biblical Hebrew, written by the
first president of the University
of C h i c a g 0, Prof. William
Rainey Harper.
This textbook was reprinted
in a second edition, but for
many years was unobtainable.
It has now made its appear-
ance again, and two volumes—
both by the late Prof. Harper
—"Introductory Hebrew Method
and Manual" and "Elements of
Hebrew by an Inductive
Method"—have been issued by
the University of Chicago Press
(5750 Ellis, Chicago 37), as
popular-priced paperbacks, at
$1.50 and $L75 a copy.
These two important text-
books were revised by Prof. J.
M. Powis Smith.
Prof. Raymond A. Bowman,
in a fare-word which appears
in both volumes, acclaims
the inductive method em-
ployed by Prof. Harper, points
out that the grammar, as pre-
sented in "Elements of He-
brew," "can be grasped and
retained easily," that the
"essential principles are enun-
ciated soundly" and that it
"is neither oversimplified nor
belabored with involved and
wordy complexity." Prof.
Bowman adds:
"Judiciously and carefully re-
vised by Prof. Smith, these
books are regarded by many as
still the best tools for the learn-
ing and teaching of Biblical
Hebrew."
Prof. Smith's preface con-
tains this interesting statement
about the study of Hebrew:
"It is inevitable that Hebrew
should suffer some loss' of ad-
herents; and it is-well that such
as have no special aptitude for
linguistic study should expend
their energies in fields that are
for them more productive. But
as long as the Old Testament
remains one of the great his-
torical documents of the Jewish
and Christian faiths, there will
ever be many who will seek
to obtain a scholar's control of
the literary sources of their
historic beliefs. As the prologue
to the Wisdom of Sirach says,
`When things spoken in Hebrew
are translated into another
tongue they have not quite the

where."

The eminent Christian schol-
ar's inductive lessons provide
a complete course of study in
Hebrew grammar through word-
lessons which acquaint the stu-
dent with a knowledge of the
language as well as of the
grammatical rules and usages.
The many study exercises assist
in acquiring a knowledge of
the Hebrew language.
In the Manual is included a
portion of the Hebrew text of
Genesis with the nekudot (punc-

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The Jewish Community Coun-
cil discloses that an _effort by
some members of a Southfield
property owners association to
bar Jewish residents of the sub-
division from membership has
been rejected.
At a meeting of the Roseland
Woods Civic Association, a pro-
posed amendment to the con-
stitution would have limited
membership to residents "who
are not of Jewish nationality
and/or members of a Jewish
family." Requiring a two thirds
vote for passage, the proposal
failed of a majority, and a sub-
sequent move to reconsider was
overwhelmingly defeated.
Spokesmen in favor of the re-
ligious restriction referred to
"an understanding" with the
developers of the subdivision
that it would remain a "gentile
neighborhood," and they noted
that lots in the area had been
made available to Jewish pur-
chasers. It was on this basis
that the constitutional change
was urged. Members of the as-
sociation who spoke against the

Italian Court Upholds Girl's Return
to Catholicism; Was Jewish Convert

GENOA (JTA) — The Court
of Minors handed down a de-
cision in the case of a 1'7-year-
old girl who was born a Cath-
olic, was converted to Judaism,
then decided to re-enter Cath-
olicism, holding that she has a
right to choose her own relig-
ion.
The effect of the ruling is
that the girl, 17-year-old Alfon-
sina Sanguineti, has been given
the right to be a Catholic in
spite of objections by her fam-
ily.
When Alfonsina was 9 years
old, her mother married Gilles-
eppe Sanguinetia, a laborer,
who had had himself converted
to Judaism. Alfonsina's mother
and the woman's two daughters,
including Alfonsina, took on the
Jewish religion.
The family left for Israel,
stayed there several years,
then returned to Italy. Alfon-
sina refused to go to a Jewish
school, where she had been sent
by her mother and step-father,
enrolling instead in a Catholic
institution. The suit was
brought by the parents who in-
sisted she was Jewish.
The Court of Minors here has
held that Alfonsina's convers-
ion to Judaism at the age of 9
"has no meaning" because she
was too young to make a choice.
At her present age, however,

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A Visit to Eloth
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(Published by Brit Ivrit Olamit)
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Elath, the most southern settle•
ment in Israel, celebrated its tenth
TtPkt birthday some months ago.
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decided—my wife and I—to visit it.
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From the airport at Lydda we
flew for an hour and a quarter and
1 473,7.1 1 173 71 nvtn ItP7.4 reached Elath. I did not recognize

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tuations), and another excerpt
without the nekudot. There
are Hebrew-English and
English-Hebrew vocabularies of
words appearing in Genesis and
word lists with their transla-
tions.
"Elements of Hebrew" is de-
voted to studies of orthography
and etymology—letters, vowels
accents, syllables, consonants,
etc.; and pronouns, verbs and
nouns, etc.; as well as para-
digms in all their aspects.
These two volumes for the
study of Biblical Hebrew is an
outstanding contribution to He-
braic studies by one of the most
distinguished Christian schol-
ars of the last century. The re-
issue of the two volumes is
most welcome even today, when
so much emphasis is placed on
modern Hebrew as it is used
in Israel. The methods de-
veloped by the late Prof. Har-
per can stand in good stead
even now, and Hebrew language
students remain indebted to
Prof. Harper for his great
works.

the place. I saw streets and houses,
hotels and restaurants—a real city.
"I remember," my wife said, "Your
trip to Elath shortly after the estab-
lishment of the State. When you
returned home you were completely
covered with the dust of the road."
"Yes. Then we travelled from
Beersheba to Elath in twelve hours,
on a dirt road."
In the street we met many ac-
quaintances who had also come to
the celebration, including our friend
Yosef from Tel Aviv.
"I did not come (fly) by plane,"
Yosef told us. "I travelled by car
on the new road."
"How was the trip?"
"Excellent! From Tel Aviv we
travelled in less than five hours
on a very good road. Every year I
come to Elath to spend my vaca-
tion here. In my opinion it is the
most beautiful place in the coun-
try!"
I turned to my wife and said:
"Perhaps we shall come here, too,
next year, to spend our vacation
here?"
"An excellent idea!" my wife
agreed immediately. "I believe that
I. too, am falling in love with
Elath!"

the court ruled: "The choice of
one's own religion is such a
delicate matter that, even if the
parents have a right to guide
their offspring toward their
own religion, no coercion
should ever be used."

addition of a religious clause
declared that this action contra-
dicted Christian religious teach-
ing, and cited the position of the
late Pope Pius XII that "spirit-
ually, we are all Semites."
One member, a World War II
amputee, related his battlefield
experiences to make the point
that Americans fought together
in defense of the country with-
out regard to religious differ-
ences. The meeting adjourned
with the agreement that the
members of the association
would abide in good faith with
the decision that was reached.
The announcement of the
meeting stated the purpose for
which it was called and recited
the language of the proposed
constitutional amendment. Prior
to the meeting considerable con-
cern was expressed by lay and
clerical leaders of the Christian
denomination in the area. An
official of the Wage Earner,
Catholic trade union publica-
tion, was at the scene distribu-
ting leaflets which condemned
religious discrimination. Prot-
estant leaders likewise let their
concern be known.
Lawrence W. Crohn, Council
president, and William Cohen,
chairman of the community re-
lations committee, asserted that
the association's vote was "an
affirmative and constructive ad-
vance against bigotry."
The Roseland Woods Civic
Association is in an area lying
west of Southfield Road and
south of Nine Mile.

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me'

(Copyright, 1959
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Israeli Echoes

The grievances voiced in Israel by Philip Klutznick, and
other American Jewish leaders, concerning the lack of knowledge
by Israelis of Jewish life in the United States, have had their
effect . . . Israel is beginning to pay more attention in the press
and in schools to educating Israelis on the importance of Ameri-
can Jewry as the largest Jewish community in the world . . .
Some Israeli newspapers have come out with special articles
devoted to stressing the need for a better understanding by ..
Israelis of American Jewish life . . . An excellent job in this
respect was done by Omer, Israel's popular daily newspaper
which is published by the Histadrut and enjoys a large circula-
tion . . . The editor of the newspaper, Don Pines, has been in
the United States and knows the inside of American Jewish life
extremely well . . . His slogan now with regard to American
Jewry is: "We are brothers; let's know each other!" . . . Under
this slogan he wrote an excellent leading article in a special
edition of Omer devoted to American Jewry . . In this article
he stresses that there are no "givers" and no "takers" in the
relations between American Jewry and Israel . . Both are
benefiting each other and both need each other . . . Pines ad-
vances a number' of practical suggestions for the purpose of
strengthening the ties between the Israelis and the Jews in the
United States . . . Among other things, he proposes the publi-
cation of a newspaper in English, Hobrew and Yiddish to serve
as a bridge between Israel and Jevis in other countries . . •
Also an exchange of visitors, translation of the works of Hebrew
writers into English, and other steps which, he is certain, would
lead to a better understanding of Israelis by American Jews
and of American Jewish life by Israelis.

Jewish Education

Last week we introduced in this column the typical teacher
in the American Jewish weekday school, based on data com-
piled by the Commission for Study of. Jewish Education in the
United States . . . Today we present the typical teacher in the
Jewish Sunday schools . . . -There are 9.559 teachers in the
Jewish one-day schools, and about two-thirds of them are
women- • . . Most of them were born in the United States . . .
They are between 20 and 40 years of age, and about '72 percent
of them are married and have children . . . They receive from
$15 to $45 monthly for teaching two to three hours per week
on Sundays . . . About 84 percent of them come from homes
in which Yiddish was spoken, and more than half of them come
from Orthodox families . . . About 57 percent are still able to
speak Yiddish, but only 23 percent know Hebrew . These
Sunday school teachers — who teach more than 45 per cent of
the 553,600 children enrolled in all types of Jewish schools—
have a very elementary Jewish education, but in general edu-
cation they are probably college graduates . . . They are more
likely to be continuing now their general education than their
Jewish education . . . Jewish teaching is not their main occu-
pation, which may be: teacher in a public institution, housewife,
some professional pursuit, or student . . . Only 23 percent of
them have Jewish teaching licenses, but 80 percent of them
expect to remain in their present posts . . . About 80 percent
are affiliated with a congregation, either Conservative or Reform.