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April 08, 1960 - Image 2

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1960-04-08

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

2

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, April 8, 19 60 --

Purely Commentary

Passover has a multitude of assets. It is not only the libertarian banner-
bearer for mankind: it has the merit of serving as a unifier of families, since
no other festival draws •relatives together as closely, thanks to the beauty of the
Seder ceremonies; it manifests mankind's hopes for peace, because it stems from
an era of conflict during which our ancestors were striving for amity and
security. ,•
The festival's lessons are bitter ones. In spite of the repetitious cravings for
liberty, there is a great lack of it throughout the universe. While we articulate
about freedom, the color line is drawn in many areas of the world, and in a
portion of it scores of black men Were killed in recent - rioting; and the religious
differentiations have not yet been wiped out.
While we speak of peace, there is no peace to boast about. There is an
East-West struggle that often creates panic. Its immediate result is that the
democratic nations spend much more of the taxable income for weapons and
for defense than for education and for the protection of the health of the people.

Failure to attain peace often borders on the appalling. A typical example of
disillusionment was in evidence among the youth last week.
An Israeli girl was one of the participants in the annual New York Herald
Tribune Forum and the subject under discussion was "The World We Want."
The Israeli, Tamar Liebes, replying to the question "How can we expect to be
able to do something for the world if we doubt our own powers?", posed by a
Philippine representative, deliverd this speech:
"The hardest thing for me when I come home, I know now, will be a feeling
of an opportunity lost. Although I know it could have been different. I met an
Arab boy, and found out that we have the same aspirations, that we two want
peace. After this, I have to come home where the situation has not changed,
where a war can break out any day. Maybe if all of Israel and the U. A. R. had
been Forum delegates, we could have come to an agreement. It seems absurd
to think that during twelve years a million people sit in refugee camps, and
nothing, absolutely nothing moves in the direction of solving their problem.
"The neighboring countries continue to say that in order to achieve peace,

Passover's Never-Slackening
Aspirations for Peace and for
Freedoms for All Mankind

By Philip
Slomovitz

we have to take the refugees back. And we continue to say that our country of
not even 2,000,000—already 10 per cent Arab—can't take in another million
Arabs.
"Now that I have seen the conflict in our ways of thinking in all its sharp-
ness, I am much less hopeful than I was before. I never thought as much about
the conflict as I have here. In fact, here I lost hope (which I had before I came,
perhaps a childish one) that here will be peace my lifetime. Unless there is
a very drastic change we will have to continue a life which is a constant tension,
a constant preparation for war. But I see no hone of such a change, so how can
I remain hopeful? I can look only to a future of getting more arms, putting most
of our effort—which is needed for so many more important things—into military
defense."

It is this type of disenchantment with the realities of life that mars the
faith we would like to instill in our fellow men. Regrettably, the chances for
peace in the world have lessened, the conflicts among peoples have multiplied,
and in the strivings for liberty we are daily starting from scratch.
But instead of minimizing the significance of Passover, such existing condi-
tions serve to multply the festival's values.
If it is as difficult to attain freedom and peace today as it was 35 centuries
ago, the validity of the battle for higher values in life has not diminished.
If the struggle for peace is as serious today as it was in the days of the
Pharaohs, at least we are better fortified with reasoning to oppose war and to
strive for amity among individuals as well as among nations.
The lesson of Passover remains challenging. The festival's aspirations and
guiding principles continue to admonish us that the struggle for freedom
never slackens, that human aspiration for justice is never-ending.

*

*

*

An Israeli teen-ager came to our land to find a hope for peace, but she

ended up by saying that she "lost hope." That is a despairing development not
merely for a young girl, but for all of us. A youngster came here to look for
kinship with boys and girls of her own age from many lands. She found an Arab
who shared her hopes for peace, but she began to realize that nothing has been
done to solve the refugee problem, that while there is talk
of peace they are mere words. The future she is confronted with
is one of "getting more arms." Wherein lies the solution to this
problem that borders on danger to all humanity?
It was the Israeli who extended a hand offering peace. It
remains an unaccepted gesture. It is even safe to say that
among ourselves, when '7,600 Americans met at the White House
Conference on Children and Youth last week, that so far even
that activity ended in mere talk. We remain split on the question
Perform this Ritual after the Third of the Four Ceremonial Cups, just before the of religious differences—the church-state issue and the injec-
door is opened for the symbolic entrance of the Prophet Elijah. All rise, and the tion of religious issues in the political campaign are evidences
of prevailing troubles; there is no unity on racial issues—North
leader of Seder recites the following:
and South still are at loggerheads over many problems; and there
are other matters that divide us.
English rendition of the
Hebrew:
It is normal to have differences; but it is abnormal that
nr, 0, 74 t7,17; human beings should continually battle over elementary matters
1;1 nt: 10,177 15 ,17-p rT
On this night of the Seder
, V1?o
we remember with reverence
human rights; and it is such issues that cause wars—
mvi-rkt n12ia; involving
140 y-iz-j ntvt 7.7, to.1
and love the six millions of
internal ones among the citizens of a single nation, external
our people of the European
that lead to international tragedies.
.T1 J19P tr.r)Vt4) ones And
exile who perished at the
so, on Passover, while we speak of freedom and hope
. hands of a tyrant more
for peace, we are beset by challenges that create a restlessness
wicked than the Pharaoh
1;i1 ten 'ion D-rr.RD, lzt? :inTo ,r1, ?01? r1w7 -1;-1 nn that results from too little hope for a certain peace.
who enslaved our fathers in
n..Altr.
Egypt. Come, said he to his
,9/01, trO4 o'CI:$ '0'1171;11 D'P'.??1? 1:17n
4 PVT11.
Much of the difficulty comes from a lack of courage. If the
minions, let us cut them off
United Nations had possessed a measure of power to effect peace
-)t?P?1
1'4471
.10rnio
from being a people, that
'40
n:P11
nkt 17t2r-14 19 07.1'171?12Q 326q
in many areas of the world—including the Middle East—there
the name of Israel may be
might have been an end to arms races and to war panics,
tr,94 13 .12. 761$ 131?* But
remembered no more. And
the UN neither displays such power nor utilizes it. In fact,
they slew the blameless and
ricpt21 its Secretary General returned empty-handed from his negotia-
pure, men any' women and
,007tOrip 1 71.7 oVv Inon •1747;:rntry41 hititm
tions with UAR President Abdel Gamal Nasser. Thus, "freedom
little ones, with vapors of
10;17 o7p o,;-11 of the seas" has become a farcical term, "Peace" is burlesqued,
Inoiprin
o7; 117 ,9'1 onxii7
poison and burne'l them with
and the suffereres, are the peoples of the Middle East: instead
fire. But we abstain from
inn al 71t ~~ 1 ito0 'In t?
111297 an teli2rFT 12';1 . 13't?tr,i of benefitting from proper planning for their health and educa-
dwelling on the deeds of the
tion, they are pawns in Nasser's strivings for power.
evil ones lest we defame the
'4P.P.7 71117r? trt.A7PY7 DV
Similar tragedies exist in other parts of the globe. That is
arr-r1; D'P' 1:7 47.11 13';:ftg,
image of God in which man
why
mere talk of freedom is a sham, unless it can be accom-
was created.
D; 171.7 17tntr -rim; nty-174 N47 000;1 panied
by an assurance of amity.
Now, the remnants of our
*
*
people who were left in the
n-r0; o74 ritt 0,01-tp7 innv o ,ppl.ppol
We boast of American freedom and democracy at a time
ghettos and camps of annihi-
when religion has become a major issue in this year's Presiden-
lation rose up against the
.rrtnr.? tial
campaign. What some people view as a lack of confidence
wicked ones for the sancti-
in the influence of the Vatican is, in reality, a lack of self-con-
fication of the Name, and
All sing AN( MAAMIN ("I Believe"),
fidence. With faith in the power of our American traditions, we
slew many of them, before
the song of the martyrs in the ghettos and liquidation camps:
need never fear the injection of foreign influences into the
they died. On the first day
American political system. If we can live—as we do—in peace
of Passover the remnants in
and cooperation with our Catholic fellow-Americans, on local
the Ghetto of Warsaw rose
:70?Firtkr; 71912t MIRA.; 1'145
and statewide bases, there is no reason for fearing the loss of
up ..gainst the adversary,
711'
7;
DV
9tAl
l'PLIQ '471 1
such mutual amity on a nationwide basis. The injection of a re-
even as in the days of Judah
ligious issue in the campaign is a most regrettable development,
the Maccabee. They were
and it should be eliminated with great speed.
lovely and pleasant in their
lives, and in their death they
If a Catholic issue can be injected into a political campaign,
A-ni ma-a-min be-e-mu-no sh'le-mo
were not divided, and they
so can a Jewish one. Let us, therefore, take this into considera-
brought redemption to the'
B'vi-as ha-mo-shi-ah, v'af al pi
tion: there are repeating campaigns of bigotry in the world, and
name of Isrral through all
anti-Semitism has been a menace in many lands. We do not be-
She-yis-ma-mey-ha,
im
kol
ze
a-ni
ma-a-min
the world.
lieve the savagery of Nazism will happen here for a single major
And from the depths of
reason; that anti-Semitism is threatening only when it is official
their affliction the martyrs
anti-Semitism. It is menacing in Russia because it borders on of-
I believe with perfect faith ficial approval there.
All sing ANI MAAMIN ("I
lifted their voices in a song
It was a world tragedy under Hitler because
in the coming of the Mes- it was the approved German
Believe"),
of faith in the coming of
policy. We have faith that it can not
siah:
the song of the nmertryrs
the Messiah, when justice
become official in this country. Therefore, we have faith in Amer-
And
though
he
tarry,
none
liquidation
and
in
the
ghettos
and brotherhood will reign
ican democracy.
the less do I believe!
camps:
among men.
Thus, if Catholicism can be made an official issue, so also
can
Judaism, and other faiths and movements; and it is the
avidabite
duty of liberty-loving people to oppose the injection of religion
MIN
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wor mom= mums am
11111111111•111111111.11 MIMI NW .1W.1111111.1111•1•1111111r A- I NINI
IMO MX mmr-ass
into politics.
owe mom am rimu Immo MEI 411•11•1111.1111'
. • tam= am
*
*
WU- ---- %co
CI- Ni was-win a- till vstatl'IMIS a-. NI
%gib(
These are the issues of our time—and they stare at us
bluntly as we sit ourselves at the Passover Sedorim. We are con-.
MO =I MI
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strommai..
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1111E9111111•11.11111.41116 ft/WM IMIIINNIMI 1•11111 MIN
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fronted by hope for retention of our freedoms, but they are
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111 ■ 11111111
MINIM MIMI MB
01111=111
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ANI
threatened by delayed peace and the injection of bigotries into
our daily experiences.
MAAMIN
It is the striving for peace on a par with freedom, the aspi-
la mem.
Wamiii ■ EILINVINIMIIIIii
ration for unbiased political atmospheres, the hope for an end
I :LAW AP' wriesimmormirs
if "JE
zoir AN NI tamissw
"I Believe"
Alm mom
■1/MP.
imMIENNEhrIERI J•II•Ww.
INGAAL ■ IONIINNINIIIM ■ E
to racial and religious bigotries, that emphasize the goals of our
V+• as pia-
sfir crS, a- rti lima- 14i ix y'.
liberty-aspiring Passover.
It is in the hope of attaining these ideals some day—may
our_
Nolisio MI MIMI NM 1•111111111111111111.1
■ 11
they come true in our own time !—that we extend the hearty
1,,
AllMisi
g ■ Ll t
i r...

MOIMMINI
wishes for a Happy Passover to all our kinsmen, and to all man-
a- Id --144aa- ► int
kind with whom we desire to share such humanitarian attain-
u
Yti
maa.14 ■ 47$14i ttata- — tixin
ments.
of Remembrance Issued by Seder Ritual Committee, 15 East 84th Street, New York 28, N. Y.

Seder Ritual of Remembrance for Six Million
Jews Who Perished at the Hands of the Nazis
and the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

n0.0 -

o -

M 13

.

Ritual

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