THE JEWISH NEWS Is Khrushchev Expecting You? 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 35. Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription $5 a year Foreign $6. Entered as second class matter Aug. 6. 1942 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March 6, 187:... PHILIP SLOMOVITZ SIDNEY SHMARAK Editor and Publisher Advertising Manager CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Circulation Manager FRANK SIMONS City Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the sixteenth day of Elul, 5719, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Ki Tabo, Deut. 26:1-29:8. Prophetical portion, 60:1-22. Licht Benshen, Friday, Sept. 18, 6:19 p.m. VOL. XXXVI. No. 3 Page Four September 18, 1959 He who feels in his heart a genuine tie with the life of his people cannot possibly conceive of the existence of the Jewish people apart from "Queen Sabbath." We can say without exaggeration that more than Israel preserved the Sabbath, the Sabbath preserved, Israel.—Ahad Ha-Am DELEGATION afi u.S. JEWRY Center Should Reverse Sabbath Stand No one is infallible. Individuals make mistakes, and communal organizations can err. Of course, it is human to err. It is much more important and much more human to be able to correct errors, to admit mistakes and to reverse imprac- tical and unwise decisions. We view the Jewish Community Cen- ter of Detroit as being in that position at this time. . The board of directors of the Jewish Center last week legislated on issues in- volving the Sabbath: The directors of the Center voted to. negate a long-established policy of Sabbath observance in the Cen- ter facilities and by the Center staff. By its action last week, the Center's board of directors has, in fact, taken a stand that can strike destructively at the most sacred symbol of our faith. We therefore urge that the Center should repeal its action of last week, that it should annul the decision to operate the Center's facilities on the Sabbath anti - it should return to a policy of full respect for the Sabbath day. physical education program on Saturday afternoons, it definitely launches into activities that are unrelated to the spirit . of the Sabbath. Then it becomes an activ- ity competitive with existing commercial enterprises, and such practices should not be condoned in a Jewish community. *.* * . Much can be said with regard to the one o'clock Saturday opening hour. It Noteworthy Demographic Study may be argued that by opening the Center at that hour the Sabbath observers are still given the opportunity to attend syna- gogue services on Sabbath morning and then participate in Center activities.. What a prescription for oneg shabbat! It says to Thanks primarily to the efforts of Dr. Nehemiah Robinson, the synagogue attendant, young or old: go to services, then run back to us fcir a its director. the Institute of Jewish Affairs of the World Jewish Congress has compiled, and has issued in a 78-page volume, play or a massage! "The Jewish Communities of the World," a valuable study We are not suggesting that the com- related to the demography, political and organizational status, mencing hour should be changed: what education, press and other factors of Jewish life in Jewish we are saying is that the Center either communities everywhere. will honor the Sabbath or it will not, and This survey contains all the available facts, offered in brief that it can not honor it at all unless the and readily accessible form to students of Jewish affairs, about traditional observance of closing the communities in Africa, the Western American hemisphere, Asia, facilities until sunset is adhered to. Australasia and Europe. * * * The succinct information thus provided fills an important There are certain principles that are need. The data incorporated here is not only about well- Jewish life and which are not established communities, those that are functioning under con- It may be argued that the program basic in for dispute among the three prin- ditions of freedom, but also about countries behind the Iron on the Sabbath, as -envisaged by the matters cipal religious groups in Jewry. Conserva- Curtain and in Moslem lands. Center's board of directors, will, in effect, Orthodox and Reform, alike, adhere Some of the data is so new that it will amaze even the be in the form of an oneg shabbat; that tive. to the idea that the Sabbath is a major best informed Jews. Who, for example, knew that there are it will by a cultural program during which institution in our existence; that without two Jews, both high officials, in the British protectorate of story-telling to children, informal drama- it Jewry may Basutoland, in Africa? not be able to survive. tics and songfests will be conducted to We learn that there is a single Jewish family in Monrovia, One of the most distinguished religious make the Sabbath pleasant for the youth. leaders in Reform ranks, the late Dr. Leo the capital of Liberia. This sounds like a good contribution to Baeck, stated it unequivocally in an ad- In Ghana, there are 20 Jews, all traders and professional Jewish cultural efforts. It could be argued dress he delivered on Jan. 20, 1935: people who live in the country's capital, Accra. They conduct that such programs will draw the youth Holy Day religious services in private homes. "There is no Judaism without the away from undesirable places, and would There are temporary but no permanent- Jewish residents Sabbath." substitute for the Saturday afternoon The Sabbath is not a partisan matter, in Nigeria . . . The three or four Jewish families in Lourenco movies which draw so many of our and it is therefore to be hoped, in the Marques, Mozambique. have a synagogue. where Holy Day services children. best interests of retaining the dignity of are conducted for South African vacationers . . . Less than Practically and realistically speaking, our communal activities, that the leaders 80 Jews reside in the territory of Swaziland .. . such a claim is pure fantasy. If the Cen- in the movement to revoke the Center's We could go on ad infinitum to quote from this important volume, to indicate how Jews are spread worldwide in many ters can not draw delinquents away from decision of last week should be laymen, undesirable places evenings and during and that Reform spokesmen should be practically unknown centers. There are 100 Jews on the island of Barbados in the six days in the week, it will not do so by even more active in this regard than their a story hour on Saturday afternoon. If Conservative and Orthodox fellow-citizens. Western Hemisphere. They have a branch of WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organization) and Hebrew courses for the Center truly desires to create a Sab- The most sacred Jewish institution— bath atmosphere for children who can be the Sabbath—must be preserved. It children. There are 4.000 Jews in Bolivia, 130,000 in Brazil, 246.000 induced not to go to the movies on Satur- should be protected, respected and hal- Canada, 30,000 in Chile, 9.000 in Colombia. 300 families in days, they should be able to establish lowed. We pray that it should not be in Costa Rica, 750 in Curacao, 1,400 in Ecuador, 250 in El Salvador, spiritually-inspired cooperative programs desecrated, and we appeal to the board 130 in British Guiana, 250 in Hawaii, 100 in the French colony with synagogues on late Saturday after- of directors of the Jewish Community of Martinique, 26,500 in Mexico . . . noons, And if there is need for dramatics, Center to reverse a decision we view as There are 180 Jews in Trinidad, 500 in Surinam, 50,000 in it should be fulfilled on week-days. unwise and harmful to our communal i Uruguay, 5,000 in Venezuela and only 60 in the Virgin Islands. When, however, the Center opens its unity. The Asian account is interesting and enlightening. Here Dr. Robinson's Compilation: 'Jewish Communities of World' Communal Unity in Educational Programming The recent survey of conditions in American Jewish schools, conducted by the American Association for Jewish Edu- cation, placed emphasis on the importance of congregational cooperation with the established school systems in our com- munities. In our community, important steps were taken 10 years ago, in an agree- ment then reached by the United Hebrew Schools with Congregation Adas Shalom, for cooperative sponsorship of the daily Hebrew classes conducted in the syna- gogue. The renewal of that agreement, for another 10 years, just announced, is a recognition of the importance of such cooperation in the best interests of our educational programs. By working to- gether, the Hebrew Schools and the con- gregation have eliminated duplication, they have assured the securing of the ablest available teachers and they • have established a policy for a standard cur- riculum for our children. In the intervening years since the agreement was made between Adas Sha- lom and the United Hebrew Schools, other synagogues . have entered into similar agreements with the local school system. These were realistic steps in the direction of sound educational methods and more economical functioning for all the schools involved. The United Hebrew Schools and the congregations cooperating with them are to be commended for pursuing such a proper program leading toward the ad- vancement of our educational efforts. are a few facts at random: There are 100 Jews left in Burma out of a total of 2,150 in 1939. Cambodia has 1,500 Jews; there are 10 in Ceylon, 120 in Cyprus, 200 in Hong Kong, 25,000 in India. The status of Jews in Moslem countries is revealed in many of. the facts in this compactly collected source of information. The Australasian and European sections are equally as interesting. While the United States of America portion of the study also is brief—a page and a half of the book are devoted to our country—there are many facts in it that will enlighten the reader. There are figures about the status of Jewish education and the Jewish press. The figures show that there are 3,367 schools in the U. S. with an attendance of 553,000- 47 per cent of the pupils attending afternoon schools and about eight per cent the Yeshivoth Ktanoth (all-day schools), with '7,000 in the Yiddish schools. "The Jewish press," the compilation states in the U. S. section, "consists of three news agencies, three Yiddish dailies, 56 weeklies, 13 fortnightlies, 46 monthlies, 16 bimonthlies, 29 quarterlies, 12 annuals and 25 other periodicals in English, Yiddish and Hebrew." One of Jewry's most distinguished scholars, Dr. Robinson has made a very valuable contribution to Jewish knowledge with this book, and the World Jewish Congress' Institute of Jewish Affairs is to be commended for publishing it.