THE JEWISH NEWS
20. 1951
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July
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,
VE 8-9364. Subscription S5 a year. Foreign .6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March
I, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CARMI - M. SLOMOVITZ
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
the follow-
This Sabbath—the concluding day of Hanukah—the second day of Tebet. 5720,
our
sy
nagogues:
Scriptural
selections
will
be
read.
ing
portion, 1 Kings 7:40-50.
Pentateuch-a-1 portions, Gen. 41:1-44:17, Num. 7:48-53. Prophetical
• Licht Benshen, Friday, Jan. 1, 4:53
VOL. XXXVI. No. 18
Page Four
p.m.
January 1, 1960
Source of Evil--Revival of Bigotry
It is difficult, if not impossible, to
Evil forces are at work again, spread-
battle
against such venom-spreading
ing anti-Semitic venom and utilizing for-
methods.
mislead
uninformed
people
in
geries to
Meanwhile, in Cairo, the forgeries that
spurious efforts to split the American
people into conflicting and warring forces. first appeared in Russia under the title
This is especially the case with the cam- "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and
paign that has been launched by Mercury have since been picked up as weapons
against the Jews by anti-Semites through-
Magazine.
At the same time, an ancient forgery out the world, are being made available
to uninformed, often ignorant masses.
is being revived in the Middle East.
Mercury Magazine's nefarious cam- Thus, Jews are painted as demons who
are out to control and to destroy the
paign against the Jewish people has taken
world,
and only the reasonably sensible
on such shocking proportions that it car-
"The Illustrated Book of Jewish Knowledge," by Edith and
are able to see through the lies, unless
ries with it a real danger to American
counter-propaganda of an effective nature Oscar Tarcov, with illustrations by Adam Simone, published by
unity.
Friendly House Publishers (65 Suffolk, N. Y. 2), is a miniature
Arnold Forster, of the Anti-Defama- is made available to the misled masses. encyclopedia.
tion League of Bnai Brith, reveals that It is obvious that it would be utterly im-
Incorporating the basic facts about Jews and Judaism, the
Mercury is distributing copies of the mag- possible to fight anti-Jewish propaganda authors offer, in concise form, definitions of many terms, about
in
Cairo
under
existing
conditions.
many people—about our holidays, customs and ceremonials; about
azine wherever a large public can be
The sources whence these new anti- religious and Biblical terms and historical data—ancient and
reached. The millionaire-ownership of the
magazine apparently makes it possible Jewish campaigns stem are the same: they current.
It starts with Aaron and ends with Zugot (peirs), "the two
for the magazine, which was at one time are those that were in evidence in Russia scholarly
religious leaders who presided over the Great San-
in
=the
early
part
of
this
century
and
in
a liberal organ of public opinion, to get
hedrin." •
Royal
Oak
20
years
later.
They
were
into quarters that could not be reached
It devotes a page to The Hebrew Aleph Beth, explains the
by anyone trying to dispute its false repudiated time and time again, yet there Apocrypha, Aramaic, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, the Tribes, and
are always new elements of destruction to all related subjects in Bible and history.
propaganda.
Books of the Bible—The Tanakh—lists all the Scriptures
Forster relates that an investigation pick up the threads of hatred anew. And
conducted by a leading American airline the numerically small Jewish people must in their various divisions.
The Calendar and Astrological Symbols for the Jewish
revealed that Mercury was being sent to remain on guard lest this propaganda
and other tabulated facts and figues are instructive.
planes for use by travelers, although no should assume proportions that will make Months
.Similarly valuable are the lists of Kings of Israel and
it
more
difficult
to
expose
lies
and
to
Subscriptions had , been entered for the
establish truth 'among reasonable people. Jnitah. Another important chart lists -the sages in the Talmudic
-
magazin(4_
-
'Illustrated Book of Jewish
Knowledge' Is Encyclopedic
JNF Accounts for _Noteworthy Achievements
When the supporters of the Jewish
National Fund convene on -Sunday, at the
annual sessions being held for an account-
ing of the movement's aims, aspirations
and accomplishments, they will hear
many heartening reports of attainments
of great significance. '-
Only a few days ago, the JNF was
able to point to one of its latest construc-
tive efforts as one of the most strategic
for Israel—the building of the highway
between Jerusalem and Beersheba. It has
been indicated that this new road not only
will cut travel distance between the Holy
City and the capital of the Negev,-but will
also be strategic in Israel's economic
development and in the country's de-
fense.
The JNF continues to be in the very
center of activities in Israel. Its afforesta-
tion program, its important role in the
building of water pipes from one end
of the country to the other, its pioneering
efforts in encouraging cooperative farm-
ing, have elevated the movement to a
position of deep admiration and genuine
love by all Israelis and world Jewry.
The manner in which the JNF is held
in high esteem by Jews everywhere was
demonstrated last week with the an-
nouncement of a $15,000 bequest by the
late Lionel S. B. Shapiro, war corre-
spondent whose novel "The Sixth . of
June" won high awards and was made
into a movie, and whose other published
1,vorks elevated him to. a -high position in
the literary world. The sad experiences
American Jewry -has had with prominent
writers, who became estranged from
their people, made such a generous be-
quest even more vital as a realization
that Major Jewish aspirations are not
being totally abandoned by our brilliant
young men.
It is the popularity of the Jewish
National Fund that has made it accept-
able in all Jewish ranks. It served as the
foundation for the activities by the
entire Jewish people in behalf of Pale-
stine's redemption. It has continued to
be a vital force in Israel's upbuilding. It
retains that vitality in the progressive
efforts for Israel's further development.
These are some of the developments
in the JNF's status that will be reviewed
Sunday at the annual JNF conference. It
is an event that is annually looked for-
ward to by the large number of JNF
supporters, and it will again undoubtedly
prove a fruitful assembly.
Top 1959 Story
There is a tradition among news-
papers to select the most important story
of the passing at the time of its reckoning.
We view the Study of Jewish Educa-
tion in the United States, which was con-
ducted in behalf of the A m e r i c an
Association for Jewish Education by Drs.
Alexander Dushkin and Uriah Z. Engel-
man, as the most challenging 1959 story.
The AAJE Study showed our short-
Instead of relaxing the stranglehold on
comings
in the field of education. It
Israeli shipping through the Suez Canal,
the United Arab Republic has extended . indicated that "American Jewish school-
it in defiance of international obligations. ing is like a shallow river, 'a mile wide
These tactics have not deterred the and an inch deep'."
This is the type of information that
World Bank from approving a large loan
should
set us on guard against our more
to the UAR, with the endorsement of the
Big Powers, including the United States. serious enemy—the internal danger of
A major crime is thus being con- ignorance.
Because of the validity and impor-
doned. Protests from members of both
tance
of this warning, we view the AAJE
Houses of Congress seem to be of no avail.
How long can such flaunting of basic Study as representing the most important
Jewish story of the past year.
international rights continue?
The Suez Crime
book
The maps and illustrations add, to the merits of this
which will serve as an encyclopedia for youth and as a faetr
provider for those who desire more abbreviated explanations of
Jewish terms than they would seek in the much larger ency-
Clopedias.
I
/
•
Bryks A Cat in
the Ghetto
'
"A Cat in the Ghetto" by Rachmil Bryks, a survivor from
Nazism whose accounts of the war tragedies are now providing
the facts for a full understanding of the world war holocaust,
is a saddening tragedy that describes in grimmest terms the
sufferings of Hitler's victims.
Published by Bloch, "A Cat in the Ghetto" is an account
of the ghetto of Lodz from which Bryks had survived. The
story has been called "tragic humor unique in world literature,"
and it has even been suggested for dramatization as a tragi-
comedy. It is doubtful, however, whether large audiences could
accept the horror of the ghetto's emaciation, in spite of the
triumph of Jewish warm-heartedness over the horrible trends
that existed out of want for food in the age of hunger and
desperation.
There are three other stories in this challenging work
by an able Yiddish writer who has emerged from the ghetto—
"Sanctification of God's Name," "Berele in the Ghetto" and
"A Cupboard in the Ghetto."
An interesting evaluation of Bryks' writings is given in the
introduction by Prof. Sol Liptzin. There is a letter of com-
mendation for the book by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Bryks had written a volume of poems in 1939, but the
Nazi onslaught ended his career when he found himself behind
barbed wires in the Lodz ghetto. He was sent to Auschwitz in
August of 1944, but he survived the Nazi persecutions, was
liberated by the American army on May 2, 1945, and was taken
to a hospital for treatment. He has since then written hiS
accounts of the Auschwitz extermination camp. He was brought
to New York in 1949 by YIVO. His works are being translated
into Hebrew, Polish, Swedish and German as well as into English.
Calls Misquotations of Scrolls
`Degradation of Learning
Tradition, a journal published by the Orthodox Rabbinical
Council of America, in its Fall, 1959 issue carries a communica-
tion from Prof. Solomon Zeitlin, of Dropsie College, charging that
many of the claims of those who claim that the Dead Sea Scrolls
belong to antiquity represent a "degradation of learning."
Dr. Zeitlin states in his communication:
"The vast literature on the Dead Sea Scrolls shows not only
that the authors were unfamiliar with the period to which they
ascribe the Scrolls, but it also manifests the degradation of learn-
ing. Some professors who have never dealt with the history of
the Second Jewish Commonwealth and rabbinics became 'au-
thorities' overnight in order to be counted among the authorities
on the Dead Sea Scrolls. They supported their faulty hypotheses
by quoting rabbinic literature which they misunderstood, while
others quoted sources which are nonexistent."