Label Katz Succeeds Klutznick as
Near Eastern Impacts on Western Presidents'
Conference Chairman
Civilization Emphasized at 3-Day
, .
Wayne State untverstty Conclave
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
The conference is a group of
NEW YORK—Label A. Katz, 17 presidents of national orga-
of New Orleans, president of nizations that concern them-
Bnai Brith, was elected Tuesday selves with American Israel af-
as chairman of the Conference fairs. It was established six
of Presidents of major Amer- years ago as an informal assem-
In the constant diffusion of ican Jewish organizations. He bly, with Dr. Nahum Goldmann,
Near Eastern impacts on when we look at our time-pieces
western civilization were the to tell the hours, the minutes, culture, much of subsequent succeeds Philip M. Klutznick, chairman of the Jewish Agency
basis of more than a dozen and the seconds; when we break progress must be traced to the former president of Bnai Brith. for Israel, as its head. Prelimi•
nary steps to formalize the
scholarly addresses at the three- up our natural sciences into Near Eastern peoples, he said,
group were accomplished last
day conference held at Wayne their component disciplines; and declared that "the Old Test-
State University under the when we probe the babel of ament must be seen against the
year, when Klutznick, then pres-
ident of Bnai Brith, was elected
sponsorship of the Department tongues with the tool of lin- backgound of the entire Middle
conference chairman.
of Near Eastern Languages and guistic analysis; and when we East, within the framework of
write our official documents, the Judeo-Christian pattern."
Literatures, May 8-10.
In an acceptance statement,
"The people of Israel
Directed by the head of the our treatises, our literary crea-
Katz commended the "voluntary
department, Prof. Abram Spiro, tions, and our private letters— believed in the Prophets, and if
nature" of the Presidents Con-
the conference sessions attract- when we do these and many it had not been for the world
ference.
ed scores of Detroiters who par- other things, we utilize, of the Prophet and the Rabbis,
He said the conference had
ticipated in the discussions that whether we know it or not, the a substantial part of modern
in past years "demonstrated its
results
of
an
immemorial
ex-
thought would not have come
followed the lectures.
value as a forum where diver-
Dr. William F. Albright, periment in living in which into being," he said. Speaking
gent organizational loyalties
former head of the Semitics ancient Mesopotamia played a of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic
committed to common goals
Department at Johns Hopkins major role throughout the first philosophies, he referred to the
can coordinate their efforts and
"irrepressible Dead Sea Scrolls"
University, was chairman of half of recorded history.
strength and thereby achieve
and
the
importance
of
their
dis-
the conference. Dr. Albright
"This system outlasted the
the highest degree of Jewish
delivered two of the principal parent civilization itself, as well covery.
unity, in keeping with the vol-
conference addresses and was as its numerous clients and suc-
"We have not escaped our
untary character of the Amer-
the final speaker at the con- cessors. Thanks to its influence historic heritage," he added,
ican Jewish community.
cluding session Tuesday eve- on the Bible and its stimulus to "and the more we try to es-
Last month,- Klutznick an-
ning.
Greece, it eventually entered cape the more we become en-
nounced a set of policies adopt-
Rabbi Morris Adler, spiritual the mainstream of Western civ- meshed in it."
ed by the 17 presidents that
leader of Cong. Shaarey Zedek, ilization."
Prof. Arthur D. Nock, of Har-
provides the conference with a
who introduced the speakers
At a dinner meeting given vard University, joined in
basid formal structure as a
Sunday evening, at the opening at Wayne State University on thanking those responsible for
LABEL KATZ
forum for consultation and co-
session, told the audience that Monday evening, in honor of the conference.
operative action.
conferences such as this were the visiting lecturers, by Al
Dr. James Muilenburg, in one
The 17 constituent organiza-
comparable to those which took and Tom Borman, sponsors of of the addresses at the opening
tions in the Presidents Confer-
place during Adar and Elul, the Borman Near Eastern session of the conference on
ence are:
during the Babylonian Captiv- WSU Lecture Series, Prof. Sunday evening, discussing the
ity. Called Hadshei Ha'Calah, or and Mrs. Albright were pre- influence of the Old Testament
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, American Jewish Con-
"spiritual honeymoons," these sented with a Borman gift of on American Democracy, de-
The Henry Meyers Memorial gress, American Trade Union -Coun-
conferences allowed the com- luggage, on the eve of their clared:
Library of the Jewish Center cil for Labor Israel, American Zion-
ist Council, Bnai Brith, Hadassah,
mon people to sit at the feet trip to Israel.
"The Bible has exerted a pro- of Detroit was on of 23 Jewish Jewish
Agency for Israel, Jewish
of the scholars of the academy.
Prof. Speiser made the pre- found influence upon the moral community libraries to receive Labor Committee, Jewish War Vet-
erans, Labor_ Zionist Assembly, Miz-
With this, Rabbi Adler invited sentation in behalf of the Bor- consciousness of Western civil- citations from the Jewish Book rachi-Hapoel
Hamizrachi, National
the audience to delve into the mans to Dr. and Mrs. Albright ization. It has been the disturb- Council of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisor y
Council, National Council of Jewish
"Mother Book of Western Civil- after brief remarks by Dr. er of the human conscience. It Welfare Board.
Women, Union of American Hebrew
ization."
Spiro. Dr. and Mrs. Albright has quickened man's sense of
The awards, given to libraries Congregations, Union of Orthodox
A major address was deliver- responded, and Prof. Albright responsibility. More than any meeting the Council's stated Jewish Congregations of America,
Synagogue of America and
ed Monday evening by Prof. explained that they plan to body of literature, sacred or criteria for a Jewish library, United
the Zionist Organization of America.
Ephraim A. Speiser, of the spend four months in Israel. He profane, it has been the con- were made at the annual meet-
University of Pennsylvania, on said he had a happy year on a stant reminder that every man ing of the Council held May 11
"The Enduring Legacy of Mes- visiting professorship at the stands before the same bar of in New York.
opotamian Law." He was intro- Jewish Theological Seminary an ultimate justice. It has led
Philip Roth, whose collection
duced by Bishop Richard Em- in New York and that he had him to confess that he has done of short stories, "Good-by Co-
*.s7inn
rich. Describing law as the real an invitation from Dr. Nelson what he ought not to have done lumbus" won the National Book
backbone of society, Dr. Speiser Glueck to be the visiting direc- and has not done what he ought Committee prize of $1,000, was
maintained that the source of tor of the new Union Hebrew to have done. It has reminded the recipient of the $250 Harry
law was from Mesopotamia, College-Jewish Institute of Re- him of his frailty, the evil pro- and Ethel Daroff Memorial Fic-
-1 1.tr;
;"17- 77PI '40
contrary to claims of the legacy ligion Institute of Archaeology pensities of his heart, but also tion Award for the outstanding
that he is a creature created in work of fiction of Jewish in-
of Roman law.
in Jerusalem.
1117'2
=in t7tz•nni
chel
:• :
TT
I T T :
"In Israel, as in Mesopot-
Dr. Winfred Harbison, WSU the image of God, that he is terest written and published in
amia," he said, "man was not vice president, also addressed called to a high destiny, a fu- the U.S. in 1959.
ri4it trg;:itri ,sr n
the source of the law but the the dinner meeting.
ture for which he may dare to
servant." He added that "our
Dr. Spiro, in his address at hope.
"P`P'41N7T1
vi Tt
Heuss Confers with
legal records are unmistakably the luncheon meeting on Mon-
"The conflict that is being
,t31,'Nrirr)
rins7;,1
Mesopotamian." He added that day, declared that "the various waged in the world today is es- Leaders of Israel
"legal documents in Greece and types of ancient Jewish litera- sentially religious, between two
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
,17173'? 174')
Rome did not appear until ture cannot be studied in isola- sets of values and beliefs. We
JERUSALEM — Dr. Theodor
much later, and by then Meso- tion from one another because have all come to see the tre-
n"P riP ltgti
potamian cuneiform law had they all emanated from Pales- mendous fascination and appeal Heuss, former West German
already retired into history." tine and throw light on each that Soviet Communism has for president, toured Monday prem-
tP7.?
ntgx
, Ir177?7 11 PPrm
`7.
Dr. Speiser said:
vast populations on the earth. ises of the Yad Vashem, the me-
other."
morial
authority
for
the
victims
"When we of today reckon
trAntg
ttiri
,nxtr 741 47inri '217
But
at
the
opposite
pole
stands
Prof. Spiro urged that a deep-
our years by the sun, our weeks er interest be taken in the Western civilization and all the of Nazism, where documents are
wpir•ryl
T
vitn
by the moon, and identify our Talmud.
things in it which we cherish preserved on the holocaust in
weekdays after the planets;
At the closing session of most dearly. The presupposi- which six million Jews were
•nr1.7Pn
the conference on Tuesday, tions of the democratic way of murdered. The Yad Vashem al-
Dr. Albright paid a compli- life are religious and are de- so helps West German and
New Judaica Post
other courts in providing evi-
ri4Finn
ment to Prof. Spiro by stating rived from the Scriptures."
Prof. John L. McKenzie de- dence and finding witnesses for
that the latter's address was
Has Historical Data
watt
"t#4; .ngri 1 7.r3 L?
clared that "we understand his- the trials of Nazi war criminals.
A sketch on Pawel Finder, "one of the unifying elements tory as the actions of man in
Prime Minister Ben-Gurion
rxv. piv otti anatti vInri
heroic resistance fighter dur- of the conference."
Tuesday conferred with Dr.
In one of the concluding ad- society," and declared:
ing the Nazi occupation of Po-
"The record of these actions Heuss.
O t'L.PP,R7 7 1 . 1%.11 '21,7 trli7 Tr17.4
land, is the subject of an article dresses, Dean Victor Rapport, is intelligible only in so far as it
by Detroiter Eli Grad in the of Wayne State University's
;pp ,nv -rt? rrtpn71
current issue of Judaica Post, College of Liberal Arts, ex- is one; and the philosophy of Hebrew Corner
history affirms that history is
pressed
thanks
to
all
the
parti-
a journal printed here on phil-
rrp, ktrinn ,rr.nn)
cipants and announced that Dr. a unified process. The earliest Scientific Council
atelic Judaica.
Speiser will be the chairman view of history as a process
Some time ago the Prime Minis-
Finder, who was honored by of next year's WSU Near East- which is known to us is the Old
rlYi4 .nAnn'r 174'2 IT.Yr;
ter's Office set up a Council for Sci-
the Polish government in 1951
entific
Affairs, which is different
Testament
conception
of
his-
ern Conference.
'212
,r1,1p.ir;
1121i
from existing scientific institutions,
with stamp imprint, died on
Dean Rapport was praised for tory as moving towards an esch-
as the Hebrew University in
Nov. 14, 1943, after eight his vision in having facilitated atological term—that is, a term such
Jerusalem, the Technion (Institute
r3,1- .1r4
na .n 4n
Technology) and the Weizmann
months of torture by the Nazis
produced by non-historical of
the conference.
Institute for Science which are
failed to obtain information
Judge Wade McCree was forces. The unity of history known throughout the world.
,I11171 trVIP.w? w.nri
about the underground.
The special task entrusted to this
chairman of Tuesday's sessions, rests in this view upon the term Council
is the utilization of science
Grad establishes F i n d e r' s at which Dr. Joseph Schacht, of established by God, the lord of for the urgent
`'pii tr TrT-47 rIPIy?re 7
needs of the State.
Jewish background through Columbia University, and Dr. history. The process of history
In Beersheba the Council has es-
nt.t4in orzit.t nxt) wr.th
an Institute for Negev Re-
Prof. B. Mark, director of the Albright were the speakers.
is essentially a tension between tablished
search. Scientists who live there are
Jewish Historical Institute of
Dr. Schacht stated that the God moving man towards the engaged in studies of climatic con-
11'7 7
, 1
1 21:11-1
.
ditions and are seeking to know
P oland, who claims that Finder West benefited from Moslem term and man resisting the what
sort of food, clothing and
even visited Israel (then Pales- writers and pointed out that the movement."
housing are most suitable for inhab-
Mirt?'P'
"P4
of the Negev. In addition they
tine) before World War II.
Prof. Hans S. Guterbock, of itants
first Latin translations of Arab
are studying what plants flourish in
In the same issue of Judaica works were by Jewish scholars. the University of Chicago, the Negev. They are also seeking a
`2tg rlylp5:4 ttjtint4
solution to the water problem and
In his summation, Dr. Al- pointed to the Near Eastern in- have
Post is an article by Philip
achieved the sweetening of salt
tzirptgri
nrliz
Slomovitz, editor and publisher bright pointed to 5,000 years fluence on Greek civilization. sea water (that is to say: the extrac-
of excess salt by a physical
On Monday, Prof. Rudolph tion
of The Detroit Jewish News, of continuing Near Eastern
process). In addition they are mak-
nt-)r) nt.tti ;11;1=7.r) '2? .
on the topic, "Before the Swas- influence upon Western civil- Anthes, of the University of ing experiments with the utilization
solar energy for purposes of re-
tika was a Genocidal Haken- ization. He declared that the Pennsylvania, in describing the of
frigeration and heating. All this
.n471 ninpz?
kreuz." The article is a con.: Near East was the oldest gifts of Ancient Egypt to the work will make an important con-
to the development of the
densation of an editorial which focus of civilization in the West, said that the idea of the tribution
Negev.
(2-1,71.7 nip mil
previously ran in The Jewish world and therefore was "the soul's immortality originated
Translation of Hebrew column
published
by
the
Brit
Ivrit
Olarnit.
with
this
people.
cradle
of
civilization."
News.
Meyers Library
Gets JWB Award
■
0