Best Words for "Brotherhood"
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish. Chrolacle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member, Assn. English-Jewish Newspapers, Mich. Press Assn., National Editorial Assn.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich.,
YE 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 8, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor and Publisher
VOL. • XXXVI. No. 25
Section B, Pages 8 and 9
Pulling Together
If ever there was occasion to "pull
together"—for Brotherhood—it is right
now.
We have witnessed a series of dese-
crations in recent weeks. Christian houses
of worship were among those daubed with
Nazi symbols. Synagogues were be-
smirched with
vile insignia,
a n d tombstones BROTHERHOOD WEEK
were smeared
with swastikas
and overturned
in Jewish ceme-
teries.
These a r e
only repetitions
of vile practices
that were in evi-
dence for many
year s in Ger-
many and else-
wher e. For a.
number of
years, after the
defeat of Hitler,
there were syna- -
gogue and cemetery desecrations in Ger-
many and elsewhere, and the ugliest type
of anti-Semitism was in practice in this
country.
Synagogues have been bombed in the
South, in our own country, during the sad
era of "revolt" against the Supreme Court
decision for desegregation in our schools.
In the nation's capital, anti-Semites
are at work and vile literature has clut-
tered the desks of members of Congress.
The Jew-baiting elements have invaded
the quarters of legislators in all states in
the Union, and the danger of a spread of
hate in this great land becomes real.
The vile propaganda of the bigots
has been extended to churches as well
as to synagogues. Here, for example, is
the evidence of swastika-daubing on St.
John's Catholic :-.1W77.
church in Ypsi-
lanti, Mich. A
statue on the
grounds of this
church was knock-
ed down and glass
over a sign was
broken. The
ehur c h' s pastor ••
said he believed it
was the work of
juveniles. Whoever
was responsible
was inspired by
hate, and such
tactics, if not coun-
ter-acted, may give
to the anti-Semites
and the anti-Cath- WI°
.
olics and anti-01"
Negroes the encouragement they seek in
their dastardly activities.
Is 'it any wonder that men of good
will are concerned, that rational-minded
Americans of all faiths have expressed
their indignation over these acts?
It is because of acts like these, and
of the shocking desecrations of syna-
gogues, including the throwing of a bomb
at a Kansas City synagogue, that Arch-
bishop Karl J. Alter, of Cincinnati, in his
capacity as chairman • of the administra-
tive board of the National Catholic Wel-
fare Commission, speaking for his entire
commission, issued this statement:
"The widespread eruption of religious
and racial bigotry recorded in recent press
dispatches has not only shocked the whole
civilized world but calls insistently for a
vigorous and public repudiation of the evil
by all right -m inded citizens.
"The defilement of various synagogues,
February 19, 1960
for Brotherhood
churches, schools, and other buildings with
derogatory symbols has revealed the existence
of racial hatred. It has not been confined to
any one group.
"Speaking for the Administrative 'Board
of Bishops of the National Catholic Welfare
Conference, I wish to declare our sympathy
with those who have suffered injury. On be-
half of the Bishops I express our detestation
of any and every kind of hatred and bigotry,
no matter what its source or against whom it
may have been registered. We call on all
citizens, whether Christians or Jews, and on
all those who love truth and justice, to protest
privately and publicly against further mani-
festation of bigotry in all its aspects and in
whatever form it may be expressed."
-
0
*
Courtesy Washington, D. C. Stilt
The spread of insane daubing of for-
eign symbols on public buildings can
become a real menace, unless the idea of
true Brotherhood is adopted by all Amer-
icans — unless the spirit of Good Will
-- becomes real
By C. ALLEN HARLAN
and is imbedded
Brotherhood Chairman for the
in the thinking !
State of Michigan .
of our people. It I
For six generations, the Harlans have stood up for and are
will be recalled proud to be counted on the side of human dignity. Over 60
that the Star of , years and 60 million heartbreaks ago, Justice John Marshall
David — the • Harlan was a lone voice in the wilderness in these sentiments:
Magen David — "The constitution is color blind and neither knows nor tolerates
was painted on ! classes among its citizens."
In recent years, with the pressure building up from with-
churches in New 1
, the Americans have been forced to acknowledge that we
York. That was out
are as far away from our democratic ideal as ever, and this
without doubt has brought about a resurgence of action and progress. The
an act of anti- Supreme Court accepted Justice Harlan's dictum, and now, on
Semites intend• every front, men of good will are concerning themselves with
ed further to this problem. Progress is being made, but many problems remain
discredit the to be resolved. In this work, the Round Table of Christians and
has made a contribution of considerable significance. That
Jews of America Jews
the Round Table would tender me with this position of honor
and to give the and responsibility is sobering and challenging. I accept it with
impression that the conviction that there is work to be done; with the
it was a Jewish edge that in the field of human relations are the greatest of
+ (h.
*****44* acu
o f vengeance ! all frontiers.
I am sure we all believe that high up in the thin air. native
As further evi -
the stars, is the kind of a world where muscle and machine
deuce. of the ex - to
might must bow to the beauty and reality of dreams.
tent to which de-- and Over
this mountain top, guilded by the first light of the
- and where the last glimmer of the evening lingers
merited people morning
will go was the and plays, is the shrine of dreamers.
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln left their foot-
painting of the
Soviet hammer prints , upon its summits. Yet the fullness of our democratic
and sickle on ideals has not been attained. For those who would scale this
top what roadblocks and detours loom ahead! The
t h e Massachu - mountain
very thought of the difficulties of this path up the highway
gy
Engineer
setts Institute of Technolo
leaves us as pale as the dogwood at daybreak.
an
I to human
Building at Cambridge, Mass. It was called' a America with all its vaunted achievements, poses itself
n
0. areas of human
an act of pranksters, but pranks must
civilizations.
ctivait
h lizattilot
of
ear
the
tw
of -a This is thiegm-
o f attainment
bu t this
just
as
never be permitted to take the form 0..
e f
destruction that leads to Nazism. It is nity attained beckons us on to our ultimate destiny.
only by total repudiation of such acts by i is our goal. Some unknown poet captured this challenge in
sentiments:
all elements in our population that a halt these lofty
"Americans young, Americans strong
can be called to pranks of destruction and
The world awaits your rising song
delinquencies of sick-minded, w hethel
Americans strong, Americans young
The song of songs is yet unsung!"
they are young or old.
Brotherhood Week, to be inaugurated
on Sunday, offers an opportunity for the • High Cost of Prejudice
introduction of uninterrupted efforts to
By LEE HILLS
check the mania of destruction and to
Executive Editor, Detroit Free Press
commence a new era — unending, con-
and Other Knight Newspapers
tinuing throughout the year and the years
Perhaps no other problem facing humanity is so in need
to come. and not limited to a single week
—to fulfill the hope of Good Will among of solution as the bigotry, latent and active, which besets men
nations. It has existed ever since ancient times.
men, of true Brotherhood for all and and Ever
since 1934 a mighty force in Brotherhood Week
among all.
sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews
• Brotherhood Week's slogan is "be- has been added to other efforts to promote real Brotherhood.
The NCCJ has as one of its stated purposes . . "the estab-
lieve it . . . live it ... support it." Let it
of a social order in which the religious ideals of
be interpreted in the spirit of the rnes- lishment
brotherhood and justice shall become standards of human
sage
that
has
been
issued
by
President
•
relationships."
! Eisenhower:
In simplified form the creed of NCCJ may be summed up in
"As Americans, as fellow human "giving to others the same dignity and rights one claims for
beings, we share a common brother- himself." person, except perhaps those who pride themselves upon
hood. . . . In our land and around the their No
prejudices, can for one moment doubt the high cost to the
world such a spirit can advance the human race in the lack of Brotherhood.
highest hopes of the family of man."
That bigotry and intolerance do exist is one of the saddest
commentaries on man and the social order, particularly in a
basis
for
all
brotherhood
is
to
The
which prides itself in its high standards of economic and
be found in the Bible, in Malachi 2:10: Nation
progress.
"Have we not all one father? Has not political
We spend billions for material and physical means with
one God created us?" Let it serve anew, which to wage defense, and even as we do this there is a can-
starting with this Brotherhood Week, and cerous ill of hate and prejudice driving us in some degree.
continuing for all time to come, as a
A nation girding its loins against any aggressor must first
guide against bigotry, as a clarion call have completely cohesive forces in the realm of the spirit and in
the brotherhood of its people.
for good will never to be eradicated.
TheChallengeof Human Dignity