Sukkot 1959

THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Pr.ess 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

I.8'h

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Edit( r and Publisher

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising Manager

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Circulation Manager

FRANK SIMONS

City Editor

Sukkot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: First and second days, Saturday and Sunday, Lev. 22:26-23:44, Num.
29:12-16.
Prophetical portions: Saturday, Zechariah 14:1-21; Sunday, I Kings 8:2-21.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Oct. 16, 5:31 p.m.

VOL. XXXVI. No. 7

Page Four

October 16, 1959

Sukkot—Festival of Inexhaustible Joy

In the traditional sukkah and during
the traditional procession of the lulavim
and esrogim which is part of the Sukkot
synagogue service, young and old derive
the great and genuine joy provided by
the festival of thanksgiving to be ushered
in this evening.
The palms and the myrtles which
serve as symbols of the festival were
evaluated in a poem by the eighth century
Hebrew poet, Eleazar Kalir, who wrote:
"Thy praise, 0 Lord, will I proclaim
In hymns unto Thy glorious name.
0 Thou Redeemer, Lord and King
Redemption to Thy faithful bring!
Before thine altar they rejoice
With branch of palm and myrtle-stem;
To Thee they raise the prayerful voice
Have mercy, save and prosper them.
Then overflow with prayer and praise
To Him who knows the future days.
Have mercy Thou, and hear the prayer

Of those who palms and myrtles bear.
The day and night they sanctify
And in perpetual song adore;
Like to the heavenly host, they cry,
`Blessed art Thou for evermore'."
Sukkot is a festival of thanksgiving.
Its message is accompanied by expres-
sions of thanks to the Almighty for the
bounties we enjoy.
In a sense, Sukkot is the first Thanks-
giving Day on record—a day on which we
are enjoined to be grateful for "the fruit
of goodly trees."
The happiness the festival provides
for children as well as adults, the signifi-
cance it lends to established traditions,
serve to elevate Sukkot to a place of vital
importance on the Jewish calendar. It is
a thrilling occasion for reaffirmation of
faith, for honor to tradition, for the en-
richment of Jewish life that stems from
an inexhaustible heritage.

Center Issue CAN Be Compromised

There is danger that the controversy
that has developed over the decision of
the board of directors of the Jewish Com-
munity Center to open the Center's facili-
ties on Saturdays may cause more con-
fusion than it will bring enlightenment
over the sacred - place the Sabbath holds
in Jewish life and tradition.
It is now being argued by the de-
fenders of the Center board's decision
that the opponents of the Sabbath opening
rule are preventing the introduction of
study groups and of genuine educational
efforts for our children. The argument
now is advanced that thousands of Jewish
children will be encouraged to go to the
movies on Saturdays rather than to turn
to the Centers for story-telling. songfests
and genuine Sabbath joys that fit into the
spirit of an oneg shabbat — of the joy of
the Sabbath.
Is there a road that leads to a compro-
mise, in order that whatever tensions may
have been created, whatever bitterness
may lurk over the issue, should be
averted?
It is of the utmost importance that
our community -should be kept intact,
that the unity about which we have boasted
for many Years should not be destroyed.
We believe there is a way out of the
dilemma. Taking into consideration the
sincerity which has motivated many mem-
bers of the Center's board of directors to
act in support of a Sabbath cultural pro-
rgam, we see a way of retaining a nlan
for Sabbath programming — provided it

is limited to the cultural aspects of com-
munal planning, provided that the physi-
cal facilities of a health club are kept at
rest on that day, and provided that the
proposed programs begin at a time when
the traditional period of family gatherings
after Sabbath services are not disturbed.
In cooperation with our synagogues,
it should be possible for the Centers to
introduce a program that will be in con-
sonance with the Sabbath spirit, by elimi-
nating resort to labor—to writing and
painting and similar proscribed activities.
The Center issue CAN be resolved,
by means of a compromise which calls
for complete elimination of the Physical
efforts involved, and by protecting the
status of staff members who must not be
compelled to add a Sabbath work day to
their routine schedules.
Under such a compromise, the intro-
duction of a strictly educational oneg
shabbat in the Centers must be a late
Saturday afternoon affair, to be Planned
in accordance with regulations that will
not violate traditions and will not intimi-
date sacred feelings or infringe upon our
heritn ac of the Sabbath as a day of rest.
If there is to be a compromise, as
we hope there will—in the best interests
of a community that cooperates in unity—
then it must be on the basis of accentance
of the most dignified Jewish traditional
practices. and in cooperation with the
spiritual leviers of our cnmmunitv wlince
guidance should not be shirked in
planning a genuine oneg shabbat.

Your Newspaper—Freedom's Textbook'

National Newspaper Week, now being
observed by the press of this country,
has for its theme the impressive explana-
tion that the newspaper is "freedom's
textbook."
While the newspaper primarily dis-
seminates news and keeps the public
aware of what is happening in its midst,
among its neighbors and throughout
the world, it also is the molder of public
opinion.
It is the newspaper's revelations about
the issues affecting us that arouse the
feelings of its readers and stir the senti-
ments of communities in support of
causes that are humane and in opposition
to developments that may harm the
people.
It is through the media of a free press
that people become aware of their needs,

of the imperative necessity of perpetu-
ating the principles of freedom of re-
ligion, freedom of speech, and the ele-
mentary rights won by mankind in a long
struggle.
The Jewish press has served and con-
tinues to serve these purposes. It has the
additional obligation of keeping its read-
ers informed about the status of their
kinsmen in many lands, some of which
still resort to medieval methods of per-
secution against which we must be on
guard if injustice is to be totally up-
rooted.
Indeed, the newspaper, when it is
free, is freedom's textbook.
Newspaper Week is a rallying time to
gather new strength in defense of this
great instrument for justice and equality
for all peoples.

50 Essays in Hebrew,English in
Rappaport's 'Jewish. Horizons'

Essays in Hebrew and in English, dealing with many
aspects of Jewish life, are included in "Jewish Horizons," a
thought-provoking volume by Dr. Solomon Rappaport.
Published by the Bnai Brith of South Africa, the book
is being distributed in this country by Bloch Publishing Co.
The 50 essays concern themselves with ethics, history,
literature, defense, education and issues involving race rela-
tions in South Africa.
In the Hebrew section, there are essays on Goethe,
Schiller and Mickiewicz in Hebrew literature, Plato and
Judaism, Buber, Elisheva, the Bible in Hebrew literature and
humor in the Aggadah.
The two essays on defense—devoted to Flavius Josephus
and Isaac Adolphe Cremieux—are splendid historical analyses.
In the articles on literature, Rabbi Rappaport concerned
himself with Morris Rosenfeld, Heinrich Heine, Edmond Fleg
and others. Many interesting facts will be found in "Christian
Converts to Judaism."
Especially informative are the essays about South African
Jewry. In "The Boer War in the Hebrew Press," Dr. Rappa-
port points out that, in "Dreyfus in Kasrilevke," "Sholem
Aleichem takes it for granted that the inhabitants of the
typical Jewish small town were familiar with the conflict
between Boer and Briton."
The author states that "the conflicting tendencies in the
Jewish reaction to the Boer War throw light on the complicated
character of the Jewish position in every issue of world policy."
In "Synagogue and Race Relations," Dr. Rappaport asserts
that "Jews, above others should disdain any Herrenvolk atti-
tude, and under the spur of religious inspiration, identify them-
selves with every struggle against injustice, ignorance, social
and economic discrimination." He declares" it is the duty of
the Synagogue to make the Jewish community sensitive to
social evils in their midst . . ."
"Jewish Horizons" is informative and is a splendid guide
to highest forms of Jewish living.

Hebrew Literature Evaluated

"Born in the mists of tribal history more than 3,000 years
ago, Hebrew literature belongs to the oldest living literatures
of the world," the new pamphlet by Eisig Silberschlag, "He-
brew Literature: An Evaluation," published by the Herzl Press,
states in its introductory pages.
The noted author evaluates the Hebrew literary creations
in all the eras of their emergence as a guide for mankind. He
reviews the Biblical period and comments on the Prophetic
works and other Biblical books.
In his discussion of the post-Biblical era, he states that
"the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls have shed a flood of light on
philosophical . and semantic aspects of Hebrew poetry." He
states that "in this period powerful Jewish centers developed
outside Palestine, notably in Alexandria where the Jews 'ad-
vanced the institutions and ideals and ways of life which
were to follow them into all the lands of their dispersion." He
adds, in his comments on the Talmudic creations, that "Law
and Legend, Halakah and Haggadah, remained the classical
manifestations of Judaism."
Silberschlag reviews the literary creations of the Middle
Ages as well as the modern period, and proceeds to review the
eras of nationalism and Israelism. He expresses the view that
the new state of Israel, "nourished by the dream of a new
culture . . . will justify itself when it converts that dream
into a reality and becomes the center of a new humanism".