A Skyscraper for 1957
THE JEWISH NEWS
Ittecorporating -the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National
Association.
Bditorial
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
$, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOV ITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOV1TZ
Advertising Manager
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Parap Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twentieth day of Adar, 572 0, the following Scriptural selections will be
read ka our synagogues: .
Pentateuchal portions, Ki Tissa, Ex. 30:11-34:35, Num. 19:1-22. Prophetical. portionfi, Ezek.
36:16-38.
Licht lienshen, Friday. March 18. 6:23 p.m.
VOL. XXXVII—No. 3
Page Four
March 18, 1960
for Israel
B-G ts Visit--Seeking mier Justice
Ben-Gurion's request, while he was
If the visit in this country, during the
past week, and in England during the cur-
rent week end, of Israel's Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion will accomplish the
purpose of bringing to the fore the vital
issues involved in the increasing threats
to the existence of the Jewish State, the
distinguished Jewish leader's absence
from his duties to his state and his people
will have been fully justified.
There was a breathing spell in the
shocking campaign that was conducted
against Israel during the several weeks
of swastika daubing insanities in many
countries throughout the world, includ-
ing our own. But even during those tense
weeks Arab propagandists saw fit to snipe
at Israel and Jewry.
In recent weeks, utilizing the inci-
dents on the Israel-Syrian border and the
abortive attempt that was made by the
Arab League to inspire anti-Israel activ-
ities on the basis of unjustified claims
that Israel was diverting the waters of
the Jordan River to the detriment of the
Arabs, the attacks on Israel have in-
creased in venom and in volume.
* * *
Troubles are mounting, and it is a
source of deepest regret that many peo-
ple who usually show sound judgment in
viewing international affairs become bit-
terly biased when Israel is involved. In-
stead of studying the issues, many are
yielding to Arab and pro-Arab propa-
ganda. There is a total lack of under-
standing of the Jordan River issue, and
those who are condemning Israel, includ-
ing a number of editorial writers, have
failed to look at the record and to ascer-
tain that Israel concurred in the Eric
Johnston Jordan Valley Development
Plan, promulgated on behalf of the U. S.
The fact that the Arabs stymied his pro-
posals was revealed by Johnston himself
in an article in the New York Times
Magazine, Oct. 19, 1958, in which he
stated:
"After two years of discussion, tech-
nical experts of • Israel, Jordan, Leb-
anon and Syria agreed upon every de-
tail of a unified Jordan plan. But in
October, 1955, it was rejected for po-
litical reasons at a meeting of the Arab
League. Syria objected to the project
because it would benefit Israel as well
as the Arab countries. Three years have
passed and no agreement has yet been
reached on developing the Jordan."
Herein is exposed the entire crux of
the problem. Eric Johnston devoted earn-
est efforts towards developing a plan that
would benefit the entire Jordan Valley
area. But instead of utilizing an opportu-
nity to benefit their people, the Arabs re-
jected the plan "for political reasons," in
order to make certain that no benefits
accrue from it to Israel. That has been
and remains Arab League policy, and the
sufferers from their policies are their own
people as much as—if not more than—
the Israelis.
It is because of such attitudes that the
people of the Middle East are forced to
continue to devote a great deal of their
energies to arming for defense, rather
than to continue to search means of im-
proving the impoverished status of Arab
League-dominated countries.
* * *
In spite of all available evidence that
Israel seeks peace, that the Israelis are
striving for mutual accord in the Middle
East, the avalanche of anti-Israel com-
mentaries in recent weeks has been most
appalling. For example, in spite of Pre-
in Washington, that the world powers
should strive to guarantee peace in the
Middle East by guaranteeing the present
borders in the countries involved in the
crisis there, an important newspaper like
the Christian Science Monitor, whose edi-
torial policy usually is sound, has fallen
prey again to an argument based on "Is-
raeli aggrandizement." Even most of the
Arab extremists have ceased talking
about such alleged aggrandizement, for
lack of proof. But a great newspaper has
swallowed the propaganda line, hook,
line and sinker!
The poisonous injections that have af-
fected the thinking of many Americans,
vis-a-vis Israel, have resulted in a mock-
ery of justice. Diplomatic courtesies have
been scoffed at. Arab diplomats have
gone so far as to protest the visit in this
country of Premier David Ben-Gurion-
an unheard-of practice in inter-govern-
mental relationships. Even the visit of
Soviet Ambassador in Israel Michael Bo-
drov to Israel's Foreign Minister Golda
Meir, to inquire about Ben-Gurion's trip
to the United States and England, could
hardly be considered courteous, in view
of the comfort that is constantly being
given by Soviet Russia to anti-Israel prop-
agandists. And although Secretary of
State Christian Herter, who, after all,
was prevented by illness from meeting
with Premier Ben-Gurion, said he saw
nothing wrong in the protest of the 10
Arab envoys who visited with him to
forestall any advantages Israel might gain
from Ben-Gurion's visit at the State De-
partment, it will be difficult to convince
justice-loving and fair-deal-seeking Amer-
icans that the Arab anti-Ben-Gurion visit
at the State Department carried with it
even a semblance of diplomatic dignity.
* * *
While many Arab dignitaries have been
received in Washington and at the United
Nations, Premier Ben-Gurion's visit
marks the first occasion on record that a
responsible representative of a foreign
government should have been attacked by
another government and its representa-
tive for sending an emissary to this coun-
try. In Washington, the Embassy of the
United Arab Republic declared that Pre-
mier Ben-Gurion's Washington visit would
create an impression that the United
States did not oppose Israel's "attacks" on
the Syrian border: It was a cute way of
emphasizing this unproved charge, of
taking the issue out of the UN agenda
and of bringing it into the American
orbit the war-mongering Arab propa-
ganda.
Fantastically enough, the UAR accusa-
tion charged that the Ben-Gurion visit is
part of a "world Zionist" scheme "to ef-
fect a deterioration in the relations be-
tween the Arab people and the American
people"; that the Ben-Gurion visit was in-
tended to pfepare the West for further
"expansion by Israel" and "to inspire
fanaticism in the AmeriCan Jewish minor-
ity in order to mobilize their resources
to working against the Arabs." It is an
amazing approach and it has, unfortun-
ately, succeeded in infiltrating into the
thinking of molders of public opinion.
That is why we hope for practical re-
sults from the Ben-Gurion visit in the di-
rection of proper clarification of issues
and the emergence of truth in viewing
Israel's position. There have been en-
tirely too many misrepresentations in the
past. Israel and her spokesmen deserved
the courteous hearings that were given to
Ben-Gurion.
Rabbi Plaut's The Jews in
Minnesota — First 75 Years
•
Jewish scholars in a number of American cities have under-
taken the task of writing the histories of their communities. A
number of such historical compilations already have made their
appearance. The Jewish Publication Society published the history
of Philadelphia two years ago. The Utica, N. Y., story was pub-
lished recently. There are plans afoot to publish the history of
Detroit Jewry.
An impressive work in this field of research is the new
volume issued by the American Jewish Historical Society (3080
Broadway, N. Y. 27) on "The Jews in Minnesota—The First 75
Years," by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut.
In a sense, the Minnesota story is a vital part of the history
of the United States, in view of the important role played in
American history by a number of the .characters delineated in
this volume.
The most important American Jewish family history re-
corded in this interesting book is that of the descendants of
Mordecai Manuel Noah, the eminent American who served as
U. S. Consul in Tunis and who dreamt of establishing a .Jeigiih
State, actually setting up a foundatiOn for it near Buffalo.
While his dream never extended beyond the stage of planning
and of establishing "a foundationx" he is rightfully considered
the first American Zionist.
Rabbi Plaut's book provides a record of the early Jews in
Minnesota, the first rabbis, their successors, the institutions they
established, the "spiritual journeys" of Reform, Orthodox and
Conservative Jews, the battles against anti-Semitism and the
contributions by Minnesota Jewry towards the advancement of
the highest American ideals of justice and equality.
Women's place in the state's history is given a due ac-
counting.
In an Epilogue, Rabbi Plaut declares that "as the 1920s
marched toward climax and calamity . . . the gap between old
and new settler had narrowed; soon it would disappear • alto-
gether . .. The leadership of the community was passing into
new hands; soon a different corps of men of varied backgrounds
would come to the fore. Jews had begun to plan together and
build together for their common needs . . . The old neighbor-
hoods were thinning out. As they deteriorated they would be
overtaken by the process of urban renewal and people would be
moving farther away from the center of town. Jewish religious
life had been built on solid foundations . . . Jews had learned
their first lessons in fighting against bigotry. In the years to
come this struggle would take them into the broader arenas of
civil rights and human relations."
These are conclusions and analyses that can undoubtedly
be applied to most American Jewish communities. Research men
in many of them will find Dr. Plaut's book a valuable guide in
the preparations of histories of their respective Jewish centers.
Holiday Tales for Children,
'Told by Light of the Moon'
To the making of books about our holidays, for young
and old, there seems to be no end.
The newest of such books is Charlotte Bronstein's "Tales
of the Jewish Holidays—As Told by the Light of the Moon," with
illustrations by Art Seiden, published by Behrman House, 1261
Broadway, New York 1.
There is an interesting approach here, the author comment-
ing with an explanation about the Jewish calendar and the
lunar year.
In addition to the explanation of the Jewish calendar and
of the Ten Commandments, Mrs. Bronstein then proceeds to
relate, in fine style, the Sabbath, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur,
Sukkot, Simhat Torah, Hanukah, Tu b'Shvat, Purim, Passover
and Shavuot.
While the narratives are lively, there is some doubt as to
whether the approach is not too complicated for the younger
readers and a bit too childish for the older boys and girls.
The accompanying illustrations surely fit best for younger
readers.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Bronstein has rendered a service with
her new book.