Things to Do in the Fall

THE JEWISH NEWS

Iitcorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association, National
Editorial Association.
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.
Ehtered 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

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

• SIDNEY SHMARAK

Circulation Manager

Advertising Manager

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-seventh day of Ab, 5720, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Re'eh, Deut. 11:26-16:17. Prophetical portion, Is. 54:11-55:5.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 19, 7:09 p.m.

VOL. XXXVII. No. 25

August 19, 1960

Page Four

We Must Learn to Live Together

When the problems involving "chang-
ing neighborhoods" began to multiply, the
appeals that came from most quarters
was: we must learn to live together. In
some quarters there were attempts to
create "mixed neighborhoods." In the
main, however, the live together hopes
did not materialize.
How far can a community go in endur-
ing a state of panic involving what may
be called "intrusions" into certain areas
by peoples of differing faiths or color of
skin?
The law dictates that there can be no
discrimination. This is now the estab-
lished rule of the land, by the irrevocable
decisions of the United States Supreme
Court.
Our two political parties vied with
each other to ascertain that strong civil
rights planks were included in their plat-
forms. Yet, in practice, there is a fear
that creates havoc, and there are panicky
outbursts that render only evil.
*
*
*
Antedating the current civil rights
program there were, of course, other is-
sues and situations that resulted from
class differences. Prior to the Negro-
white issue there was the Christian-Jewish
issue. Jews were barred from certain
areas, and the moment they invaded them
—as soon as they "intruded"—the non-
Jews displayed the "for sale" signs on
their properties. Then, as now, it was as
much a question of property values as of
racial and religious differences. Then, as
now, it also was a class struggle.
Somewhere, in another area in Detroit
that was hitherto kept intact as "white,"
a Negro family has managed to gain a
foothold. Is there going to be another
period of flight? How far can one go? Are
we on the path of establishing iron cur-
tain barriers against our fellow - Ameri-
cans? And — is anyone secure within a
ghetto, whatever its coloration, whoever
its residents, white or black, Jew or
Christian?
*
*
*
This is neither an appeal for stronger
civil rights programs nor a propagation
of miscegenation. It is introspection. Rec-
ognizing that the problem exists, we must
find a way to live within the conditions
of our time. Taking into account the
obligation that was so eloquently ex-
pressed in ancient Jewish tradition—that
diva d'malkuta diva—that the law of the
land is sacredly the law of the inhabitants
of the land—we must respect the rules
set up for us by the representatives we
have chosen to govern us. Additionally,
there is the human element.
Both, the law and the human element,
combined, demand of us that we refuse
to be parties to the spread of panic which
any neighborhood
has forced so

changes in the life time of the average
citizen of this generation.
*
*
Many arguments will be offered.
There has been a spread of crime, and
some areas have practically become "out
of bounds" because of the attacks and
robberies that have taken place there.
But there are criminals among both
whites and blacks, and it is senseless to
approach the need for the elimination of
crimes by calling it a race issue: it is a
human issue, involving the minds of
people, most often caused by poor
housing, inadequate education, social and
economic conditions.
The solving of these ills is so great a
responsibility, affecting all of us, that it
must not be confused with "neighbor-
hood" problems. Sooner or later, we must
learn to live together, and it is best that
it should be sooner.
*
*
*
Out of the "changed neighborhoods"
problems has emerged an issue of in-
heritance of controversies. In one of the
areas that has, in the main, been aban-
doned by Jews, there remains a structure
that served first as a Hebrew school, then
as a branch of the Jewish Centers, and
on occasions as a synagogue. A cry and
hue has been raised that the building
should be maintained, that it should
.function for the older folks in the area.
Community needs dictate that such
proposals should be viewed realistically.
Our community has established adequate
centers in several areas. One immense
center has been sold, and a much more
elaborate one has been established. There
is a magnificent branch in the suburban
area. In the meantime, groups of older
people are being transported regularly
to existing centers for specialized pro-
grams arranged for them. But to demand
the impossible, to ask for the burdening
of the community by continuing activities
in an area where only a handful of Jews
remain, is unrealistic and impractical.
*
*
*
This is only one of the many property
problems that have emerged from the
changing neighborhoods issue. The many
new synagogue and school structures
erected in the suburban areas point to
the financial burdens that accompanied
the "flight" from area to area.
In the course of time, such problems
will be solved when people will decide
to retain their residential neighborhoods.
That can result only from learning to
live together.
The problem as we have just stated
it may not be as . simple as it sounds here.
Nevertheless, a way must be found to
reach a solution. That's communal re-
sponsibility. It is a human duty. It
happens also to be the law of the land.

,

Israel's Pipeline: Triumph Negates Abuse

The most amazing phenomenon of our
time is the venom that is felt against
Israel and the lack of fairness that is
often in evidence when Israel's position
is discussed.
A typical example is the correspond-
ence of George Weller, whose anti-Israel
sentiments were heard on numerous oc-
casions. Reporting from Nicosia, Cyprus,
about the Israeli oil pipeline, to which he
refers as "an interocean pipeline carrying
oil 200 miles acress the Negev," he calls
it "Israel's baby Suez Canal."
That's an utterly ridiculous descrip-
tion. It's a pipeline that is defying Nas-
ser's restrictions imposed on Israel, and

it should be treated with great respect
and admiration as the accomplishment of
a small nation that is progressive and
industrious and refuses to be stymied by
a dictator.
Weller may or may not be right in
stating that Nasser's stand against Iran
is a result of his resentment against
Israel's triumph in the Negev and its
success in establishing the oil pipeline.
But it is interesting to note in his report
that the pipeline will mean an annual loss
to Nasser of $40,000,000 in canal profits.
Israel deserves acclaim as the great
democratic factor in the Middle East. The
abuse often hurled at her is totally un-
worthy when resorted to by Americans.

Jewish Stories by USSR Writers
• in Random House Paperbacks

Random House has just issued a paperback edition of "An
Anthology of Russian Literature in the Soviet Period — From
Gorki to Pasternak."
Edited, translated and annotated by Bernard Guilbert
Guerney, this Modern Library Paperback has special interest
for Jewish readers.
Included in this interesting collection of short stories are
two by one of Russia's best known Jewish writers — Isaac Im-
manuelovich Babel. They are: "A p h o n k a Bida" and "The
Awakening."
The anthology contains also "The Master's Prophecy Con-
cerning the Destinies of the Tribe of Judaeans," by Ilya Gri-
gorievich Erenburg.
Also in the volume are: "Panopticum," by Andrei Michael-
ovich Sobol, and "The Death of Yun Fa-Fu," by Ruvim Isaievich
Fraerman.
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak is represented in the volume
by "March," "Wind," "Star of the Nativity" and "A District in
the Rear."
Of added interest is the concluding section, "A Quota of
Soviet Saws and Sayings." The editor's explanatory foreword is
a brilliant essay on Soviet literature.
Of major interest among new Random House paperbacks
is "Totem and Taboo—Resemblances Between the Psychic
Lives of Savages and Neurotics," by Sigmund Freud, an au-
thorized translation with an introduction by Dr. A. A. Brill.
Random House has also published the following additional
Modern Library Paperbacks:
"The Art of Scientific Investigation," by W. I. B. Beveridge;
and "The Analects of Confucius," translated and annotated by
Arthur Waley.

Dr. Isidore Epstein's 'Judaism'

"Judaism," by Rabbi Isidore Epstein, one of the most dis-
tinguished Anglo-Jewish scholars, has been issued in a paper-
back by Penguin Books (3300 Clipper Mill Rd., Baltimore 11).
Concerning itself "essentially with Judaism as a religious
and a distinctive way of life," this valuable study is presented
within the framework of 4,000 years of Jewish history.
While it is not a history, it nevertheless has the merits of
historical analysis.
It goes back to the very, beginning—to Abraham; continues
with "Israel's selection" and carries the theme through to the
present with a discussion of "The Jewish State and Judaism."
There is great merit in this scholarly work in its reviews
of the faith, ethics, virtue and religious observances that are
imbedded in Talmudic Judaism.
Rabbi Epstein sketches Jewish philosophy. He offers a
concise explanation of the Kabbalah and the influence of Jewish
mysticism on the non-Jewish world. "The Kabbalah," he states,
"appealed greatly to the leaders of the Reformation who found
in its mysticism a potent ally in their opposition to medieval
scholastic society. Christian mystical movements were particu-
larly attracted to the Kabbalah because it furnished them with
much valuable material for their esoteric pursuits; and it is
to the Kabbalah that modern occultist movements turn in their
efforts to place the whole of knowledge on a new basis."
There is a vast amount of information in the chapter "The
Contribution of Medieval Rabbinism." Equally important is the
discussion of modern movements in Judaism—Haskalah, Zionism
and other recent developments.
The emergence of Israel and the Messianic vision, he
states, "is identified in the mind of the Jew of today with the
purposes of God for Israel, and through Israel for the whole of
humanity. Down all the ages the Jew has felt deeply his
integral relationship with mankind as a whole. In the self-
same spirit the new-born Jewish State feels that the vindication
of the Jewish faith and hope of thousands of years is destined
to prove of extreme significance for all nations of the world
torn by crises, tensions and the fear of wholesale destruction."
Thus, he declares, "the noblest Jewish minds have seen
Jewish nationalism not as an end in itself, but as a means
for the maintenance of Judaism and its glorious Messianic ideals
of perfection for the benefit of the whole human race."