THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS—Friday, January 15,

Purely Commentary

What's the Sense in Sending Emissaries?

Jewish organizations have begun to send emissaries
to Bonn to confer with Dr. Konrad Adenauer and other
West German officials on the issues involved in the
recrudescent wave of anti-Semitism.
We see no sense in such procedures.
If all the past conferences with Adenauer and other
German leaders failed to stem the tide of hatred, then
the solution must be found in other directions. They
can be searched for from the desks of the American
Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the
Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith and other move-
ments. They can be done over the telephone — and per-
haps the activities should be extended through the
church pulpits and radio and television airways.
We repeat the question: what's the sense in sending
emissaries, when the anti-Semitic sin is so evident and
its crime is admitted? The Jewish organizations wouldn't
think of sending emissaries to every capital of the world
where the anti-Semitic sparks have been causing con-
flagrations. Yet, spokesmen for Jewry are trekking to
Bonn on missions that appear to us useless, fruitless and
senseless.
It is high time that we reserved our 'energies for
activities on the home fronts, for international educa-
tional purposes, to enlighten our own people on the need
for the retention of calmness as well as for the strength-
ening of the courage with which we always meet trage-
dies and external attacks.
Insofar as the worldwide anti-Semitic catastrophe is
concerned, the responsibility for its eradication, and for
the removal of all the causes that lead to hatred of our
people, lie upon Christianity. We can point the finger
of accusation at the guilty, and we can mobilize the
forces of decency against them, from where we operate.

Cause
for Panic . . . Unity
Vital for Jewry

There is No

By Philip
Slomovitz

were repudiated by as much vigor by Christians as they
were repulsed by Jews.
The Royal Oak attacker met with rebuke and he
abandoned his radio hate campaign.
Hitler •came, and the world warred against him. Now
his followers are trying to reintroduce his poison.
In-between these occurrences, there were many anti-
Semitic incidents, there was an avalanche of anti-Semitic
literature. Only the stupid could possibly dream of de-
stroying Jewry.
Now we are again reminding our. neighbors that
anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem, that it should
be — as we believe it is being recognized as — the
concern of the non-Jewish world.
This is a time for prayer that. there should be a re-
awakening of the realization that what is threatening the
Jewish people today may be the threat to the entire
world tomorrow; that bigotry is not an isolated deadly
germ that affects a handful of people; that it is a menac-
ing symptom of an illness that must be cured, else the
entire structure of civilization will collapse.
It is not, of course, Christianity alone that owes a
duty to find a positive cure that should be as close to
permanency as possible, but Mohammedanism as well.
Where the anti-Jewish poisons are being spread by Mos-
lems, the responsibility reverts upon our Arab cousins
to fumigate them, else they, too, may collapse if the
structure of decency crumbles as a result of harm done
to Jewry.
Jewry will survive the present storm, just as we
have weathered the most serious ones in our history. We
may even emerge spiritually stronger as a result of the
errors of our neighbors. It is those of our neighbors who
are committing the crime of anti-Semitism for whom we
have chief concern. If they do not cure themselves from
the virus of hatred and bigotry, they and their children
will suffer with those whom they now seek to harm.

Plans Set for
JWF Institute
on Wednesday

Headline speakers at the Jan-
uary Institute of the Women's
Division of the Jewish Welfare
Federation, Wednesday, at the
Jewish Center, 18100 Meyers,
will be Prof. William Haber, of

Bernstein

Prof. Haber

the University of Michigan, and
Philip Bernstein, executive di-
rector of the Council of Jewish
Federations and Welfare Funds.
Dr. Haber will open the Insti-
tute at 10 a.m., by telling his
audience how their families can
benefit from advances in the
social services and Bernstein
will discuss Jewish needs over-
seas, with reference to Israel,
In truth, it is humanity's fight against the in-
at the afternoon session, reports
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humanity of man to man.
Mrs. Isadore Winkelman, Insti-
tute chairman.
One of the ways by which we should condemn the Israel Is Off the Front Page
There were some interesting views on the selection
criminals—whether they • are in Bonn or Berlin or Dublin
Bernstein, active in Jewish
or Washington or New York or Stockholm or Vienna, of news for the front pages of Jewish periodicals in communal service for more than
recent
years.
20 years, has been associated
whereVer they may be—is by our determined will and
For many years, Israel occupied the top position with the CJFWF since 1943,
our readiness to retain our dignity, and by reaffirming

our allegiance to our Jewish heritage. This_ is not only in news headlines, and there were many who tired of it.
Many of the Jewish editors hoped for important
our strongest weapon: it is one that has never been dulled
and always has led to triumph in our battle for survival. news to replace the Israeli cables-en- the front pages.
While this commentator also sought other avenues for
emphasis, his search was accompanied by a prayer—that
Indeed, we must always remain vigilant, lest the bigots
it
should not be the tragedy of anti-Semitism that will
should'gain even more ground than they already are occupying
replace Israel as top news. That is why news about
today . .
It was not so long ago that a house painter nearly brought Jewish educational advances always received priority at
our hands.
the entire world to the brink of destruction .. .
Now his disciples are painting swastikas on tombstones . .
Now, the negative has occurred: the story of bigotry
Let us beware of the spreading insanity ..
is replacing the news from Israel. Does that make the
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former critics of Jewish headline-writers happy? We
doubt it. Nevertheless, the undesired and the tragic has
Stop Pulling in Different Directions
happened. Anti-Semitism again dominates the headlines.
There is only one target in the present anti-Semitic (Once
again, Jews are News, in the most negative form.)
campaign: the Jew. Therefore, it is high time that there
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should be an abandonment of competing movements
pulling in different directions. Each one looks for an
opportunity to send emissaries to Germany, to issue
statements, to act as Jewry's spokesman.
Jewry needs one spokesman: one chosen from the
entire people, in matters involving our security.
Several months ago, we published an appeal by
James N. Rosenberg, the venerable New York Jewish
leader, for the abandonment of divisive methods in
Jewish ranks. He called for the unification of Jewish
movements and for the creation of a single force to
speak for Jewry.
Now is the time to revive his appeal. We endorsed
it then, we favored it in the days of the American Jewish
Conference, we uphold the idea in principle now.
*

A Suggestion to Cartoonists

Many pages of news space have been and continue
to be devoted to reports that come from all parts of the
globe of the spread of anti-Semitism.
We have a suggestion for cartoonists who desire to
summarize the world tragedy in the shortest amount of
space that is required for a cartoon:
Just reproduce the world's map and paint on it the
swastika, since hatred has encircled the universe. Then
quote for the culprits the Ten Commandments and re-
mind them that it is their victims' gift to all humanity,
and primarily to Christianity.
If this does not put the guilty to shame, what else
will?
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The Local Swastika-Painters.

If there are any in our midst who are beginning to
yield to panic as a result of the several minor incidents
of anti-Semitism in our midst, let them review the
events of the past 40 years.
The early 1920s began with pogroms in Poland.
There were a few Poles who tried to humiliate their
Jewish neighbors in our own community. They remained
a defeated minority.
Then came the attacks from Dearborn, Mich. They

Dr. Haber, professor of eco-
nomics at the U. of M., special-
izes in manpower, industrial re-1
lations and social security prob-
lems and has had wide experi-
ence in these fields. At one time
he served as labor manager in
the Chicago clothing firm of
Hart, Schaffner and Marx.
He is chairman of the Bnai
Brith National Hillel Commis-
sion which administers the Hil-
lel Foundations for Jewish
youth on the campuses of the
American colleges and universi-
ties. As president of the Ameri-
can ORT Federation and of the
Central Board of the World
Dr. Alvin Johnson's 85th Birthday
During the tragic years of the Nazi persecutions, Dr. Alvin ORT Union he works with peo-
Johnson, the founder of The New School, in New York, took the ple in 19 countries, including
lead in establishing a special committee that was engaged in Israel and North Africa to help
guide vocational training.
rescuing scholars from the bestialities of Hitlerism.
For many years, he defended the rights of the oppressed
Mrs. Benjamin E. Jaffe, In-
and he was always in the front ranks of those who spoke up stitute co-chairman, says that
against tyranny.
women have been asked to reg-
His great services to the causes of justice and freedom for all ister for one of three workshop
peoples were recalled last week when he was honord on his sessions, "N ew Images in
85th birthday. It was an occasion for the Jewish community Health," "New Images in Fam-
to recall his valiant services in behalf of the oppressed.
ily Living," and "New Images
It is a distinct privilege to join with his many friends in Education and the Arts,"
in . greeting this distinguished scholar and libertarian on his which will be conducted after
birthday.
Dr. Haber's talk. •

Midrasha Institute to Be on Theme of
'Messianic Ideas .; Lectures for 1960
Dedicated to Theodore Bargman's Memory

Albert Elazar, superintend-
ent of the United Hebrew
Schools, announced this -week
that the fourth annual Midrasha
Institute this year will be con-
ducted in March, on four suc-
cessive evenings, on the theme
"Messianic Ideas and Move-
ments in Jewish Life."
A generous gift from Mrs.
Theodore Bargman makes it
possible for the Midrasha, the
College of Jewish Studies of
the United Hebrew Schools,
to offer these lectures without
charge, this year, but partici-
pation still will be limited to
a group registering in ad-
vance, Elazar stated.
The year's lectures will be
dedicated to the memory of
Theodore Bargman, in whose
tribute Mrs. Bargman made her
gift to Midrasha.

Elazar stated that the lectures
will be heldin the audito-
rium of the
Esther Ber-
man Branch
of the United
;Hebrew
Schools a n d
that the pat-
tern of the
last three
years — of
T. Bargman question and
answer and discussion periods
by the lecturer and the audi-
ence, after the guest speaker's
address—again will be followed.
The lecturers and their topics
this year will be:
March 9—Dr. Moses Hadas,
professor of Greek and chair-
man of the department. of Greek
and Latin at Columbia. Univer-
sity—"Messianism: the Hellenis-

tic Background."
March 16—Dr. Israel Kazis,
rabbi, Temple Mishkan Tephila,
Newton, Mass.—"Messianism in
the Age of the Talmud."
March 23—Prof. Shelomo Gel-
tein, visiting professor of Arabic
at the University of Pennsyl-
vania, on leave from the He-
brew University — "Medieval
Messianic Movements."
March 30—Dr. Jacob B. Agus,
rabbi, Beth El Congregation,
Baltimore, Md.—"The Messianic
Ideal in Modern Times."
Institute registrations will
commence next week.
The planning committee for
the Midrasha Institute consists
of Mrs. Carl Schiller, chairman;
Louis LaMed, Rabbi Milton
Arm, Lawrence Aronsson, Rob-
ert Kasle, Mrs. David Schachter
and Rabbi M. Robert. Syme.