In Shadow of Nation's Capitol THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 Member American Association Editorial Association. Published every Friday by The Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription $5 a Entered as second class matter 8, 1879. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher of English--Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Jewish News Publishing Co. 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, year. Foreign $6. Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertising Manager CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Circulation Manager FRANK SIMONS City Editor Sabbath Rosh Hodesh Tammuz Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the thirtieth day of Sivan, 5720, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portions, Korah, Num. 16:1 - 1 8:32, 28:9-15. Prophetical portion, Is. 66:1 - 24. Licht Benshen, Friday, June 24, 7:53 p.m. Second Day Rosh Hodesh Tammuz, Sunday VOL. XXXVII. No. 17 Page Four June 24, 1960 Tracking Down Nazi War Criminals It is becoming increasingly clear that Argentinian as well as West German au- thorities knew all along that Adolf Eich- mann, the arch Nazi criminal, was alive and was residing in Argentina under an assumed name. Why wasn't action taken to have him tried for master-minding the extermina- tion of six million Jews and millions more of non-Jews? The answer is that complacency, lethargy and indifference had set in; that too many people were ready to forget what had happened in Nazi Germany; that the sacrifices that were made by the democratic nations in order to de- stroy the menace of Hitlerism appear to have been partially in vain. But the world was a mere step away from falling under the heels of a group of perverted dictators. Unless the mem- ory of the struggle remains strong and is retained by history, we will have lost the war. The actions of Argentina and of those who would deprive Israel of the right to try Eichmann are as if the war really was lost by the democracies; as if Argen- tinians and some Germans had a perfect right to hide Eichmann. It is to this atti- tude that objections must be raised. Either the memory of the Nazi crimes is kept alive, else we are in danger of the resuscitation of Nazism. There are those who fear that Eich- mann might be given the supreme pen- alty, and opponents of capital punishment therefore are skeptical about , Israel's right to try the Nazi beast. Israel has abandoned capital punishment — except for those guilty of the Nazi crimes or of treason to the state. Yet we believe that if there is a single spot on earth where Eichmann has a chance to escape the death penalty, it is in Israel. The Eichmann case raises the ques- tion of punishment for other Nazi crimi- nals. Last week a request was made in Stuttgart, Germany, by Hermann Lang- b eim, secretary of the International Auschwitz Concentration Camp Commit- tee, for the formation of an international commission to track down Nazi war criminals. There is no way of knowing how effective such a committee would be, but the mere fact that such a proposal has been made is an indication that the desire to keep alive the memory of the Nazi crimes has not vanished. That is all to the good—as a means of striving to avert the horrors and tragedies of everything akin to Hitlerism. . Higher Bar Mitzvah, Programming Standards The summer is a time for planning. Congregational and organizational activi- ties cease to a degree, but the challenges of the entire year are so immense - that those who are responsible for the spir- itual and cultural planning in our com- munities must utilize all available means to assure highest standards for all the functions of a good community. There have been improvements in the past year or two in our organizational programming. Resort to low-grade vaude- ville acts has been reduced to a minimum and 'cultural activities of a public nature are now of much higher quality. This is only the beginning. If un- dignifed programming is definitely to be abandoned in our communities, those in charge of planning for them must do the arranging early, they must select the best available entertainment material, the finest type of lecturers, the positive inter- preters of Jewish traditions. Only by pro- viding the best training for adults as well as the youth, only through the most dig- nified educational methods, can we pos- sibly hope to attain the goals of creativity that we need for wholesome Jewish sur- vival. Similarly, the time has come for re- vised planning in our schools and con- gregations in the training of Bar and Bas Mitzvahs. These two high marks in the life of many of our youth, in addition to consecrations and confirmations, call for providing the most extensive preliminary educational curricula for our youth. It is essential that a Bar Mitzvah, a confirma- tion and related stages should become steps leading towards extended learning rather than to their abandonment. In the programs that have been de- veloped to lead towards Bar Mitzvah, our congregations already have set a require- ment of four years of Hebrew school studies. Now there is a movement afoot to extend the preliminary Bar Mitzvah requirements to five years. It is to be hoped that the Hebrew schools and the cooperating congregations will respond favorably to this proposal. Such a plan may not be easy to attain. There may be some parents who will balk at it. And there already have emerged "competing" private teachers whose "pro- duction methods" for the training of Bar Mitzvahs should be viewed as menacing to the long-range teaching programs in our communities. In proposing the development of a five-year pre-Bar M i t z v a h intensified school requirement, instead of the pres- ent four-year program, Albert Elazar, superintendent of the United Hebrew Schools, warned of the emergence, on a mass scale, of private teachers who are impairing the community's quality of Jewish education. He said that such teachers, by taking four or five children on a block to provide cut rate teaching, are not developing a well-rounded Jewish education for our youth. Adding to the problem is the encour- agement that has been given to such competitive teaching methods by a hand- ful of congregations which have made it possible for Bar Mitzvahs to be observed without the preliminary four-year re- quirements. By encouraging the produc- tion training for Bar Mitzvahs, the few uncooperative synagogues have rendered a disservice to our communal educational programs. It is of the utmost urgency, therefore, that the requirements should be ex- tended, as Mr. Elazar and many who are backing his program have suggested. It is to be hoped that parents and congrega- tions will cooperate in assuring adherence to such an extensive educational program. The coming weeks, although they are reserved for vacations, should be utilized for the advancement of our educational aims. They should be put to good use in advance programming by congregations and organizations. They should be util- ized by our educators to set into motion the means necessary for the intensifica- tion of our educational aims. Through such serious efforts, we can assure the attainment of the highest goals to which we aspire in our educational activities. 'Giants of Justice Portrays 14 Great Jews ; Vorspan's Book Foresees Better Jewish Future Albert Vorspan, director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism of the Union of American Hebrew Congre- gations, whose "Justice and Judaism," co-authored jointly with Rabbi Eugene J. Lipman and published by the UAHC, attracted wide attention, is the author of another volume that is certain to merit equal, if not even wider, circulation. His new book, "Giants of Justice", also published by the UAHC, is the story of 14 "great American Jews of this country and their contributions to social justice." It has the additional value of an interesting introduction and a splendid essay, "The Path Ahead," in which Vorspan explains his selections and evaluates the destiny of the American Jew in the years ahead. The selection of "Great Jews" is worth studying. The book begins with Simon Wolf, subtitled "Court Jew." Wolf was a distinguished intermediary who knew many presidents and who spoke effectively and with dignity- in behalf of Jewry. Louis Brandeis is the subject of an article subtitled "From Assimilation to Zion." That, too, denotes the - manner of ap- proach in evaluating the great jurist and Zionist. Louis Mar- shall is called "the last of the Shtadlanitn." There may be general agreement on the labelling of Marshall as a "shtadlan"—the type of self-appointed spokesinan for Jewry whose self-assumption of representation was denounced by those who pleaded for the democratization of Jewish life. It is -doubt- ful, however, whether shtadlanut has really ended. Nevertheless, the Marshall essay serves a valuable purpose and is interestingly written. The other subjects and the manner in which they are de- fined—thus indicating the values attached to the book's heroes—. are: Lillian Wald—Angel of the East Side; Albert Einstein— Poet of Science; Stephen Wise—God's Angry Prophet; Henry Monsky—Gambler in Futures; Henry Cohen—The Heart of Texas; Henrietta S'zold—Mother of a People; Edward Israel— Young Religious New-Dealer; David Dubinsky—Jewish Worker; Samuel Mayerberg—Crusader for Civic Decency; Abraham Cron- bach—"Voice in the Wilderness"; Herbert Lehman—Public Servant. Are the Jews a nation, a religion, a nationality, a culture, a civilization, a problem?, Vorspan asks in his introduction."His answer is: "Whatever definition of the Jew is conjured up, one soon comes face to face with a characteristic which amounts almost to one of the stigmata of the Jew: a passion for justice . . . The desire to build a better world has sunk deep into the chromosomes, the bones, the blood, the memory, and the sow of the Jew ... " What of the future—of "the path ahead"? In view of cer- tain declines in Jewish ethical practices, in the assimilation of the Jew into the thinking of the majority in the land, Vorspan admonishes his readers that "religious ethics has been the genius of the Jewish people," and he declares: "This legacy has not been vouchsafed to the rabbis alone, Every Jew, whether he wishes it or not, is heir to the tradition. But the tradition itself can be sustained only if the American synagogue can rise to the needs—and the opportunities—of our generation. If the Jews can banish the fat complacency and peace-of-mind smugness which clings to many synagogues like incense and instead, make the temple a powerhouse of Jewish learning and ethical action; if Judaism is presented as an affirma- tive commitment to a way of living and not as a timid and bloodless • form of Jewish `church-going'; if synagogues pioneer in a Judaism which is not easy and comfortable but lean and hard; if synagogue programs are built not around magicians, beefsteak dinners, rummage sales, and theater parties, but are rooted deeply in Judaism in all its blazing power and glory; if Jews once more rejoice in their distinctiveness and express their ethical values not merely by the words of their lips but by the work of their hands—then the future of American Jewry will be neither Orwellian nor millenial. It will bear the seeds of promise of a better Jewish community and a better world."