Sukkot—Thanksgiving 1960
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating 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,
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
8, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Circulation Manager
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Yom Kippur Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: Morning, Lev. 16:1-34, Num. 29:7-11; afternoon, Lev. 18:1-30.
Prophetical portions: Morning, Isaiah 57:14-58:14; afternoon, Jonah 1:1-4:11, Micah 7:18-20.
Sukkot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: First and second days, Thursday and Friday, Lev. 22:26-23:44, Num.
29:12-16.
Prophetical portions: Thursday, Zechariah 14:1-21; Friday, I Kings 8:2-21.
VOL. XXXVIII.
No. 5
Page Four
September 30, 1960
Yom Kippur—Shofar's Call for Justice
Teshuva, the repentance to which we
On the eve of the great Day of Atone-
ment, we take account of our actions in resort in this sacred period, was defined
the years that have gone by. We make by Maimonides thus: "That the sinner
resolutions. We resolve to devote our- should forsake his sin, remove it from his
selves towards the assurance of justice thoughts, resolve never to repeat it, be
for all peoples. ashamed of the past transgressions and
The blast of the Shofar during the make confession with his lips."
Days of Repentance symbolizes the re-
Thus, Teshuva means more than
minders of the sanctity of these days.
mere resolutions: it calls for a return to
Maimonides formulated the values of
the Shofar's blasts by stating in his God. It admonishes mankind to be dedi-
cated to justice for all humanity.
famous Code:
"Arise ye sleepers from your sleep This is the idea inherent in Teshuva
and ye slumberers from your lethargy and in the principles of Yom Kippur:
awake; Scrutinize your deeds and return that all of us must strive for justice and
in repentance. Remember your Creator kindness for all. This is the duty that 'It Isn't All Mink'
—those who forget the truth in the trifles confronts us. It is a sacred obligation
of the hour and waste all the time on with which we begin a New Year—an
emptiness and vanity which neither profit objective that must become the basic
nor save. Look to your souls and mend principle for humanitarianism for all
your ways and deeds .. ." humanity.
Experiences Under Nazis Told
by Distinguished French Jewess
Will Russia Permit a Jewish'Exo us ?
An acclaimed authority on Soviet
policies and on the Jewish position in the
USSR, writing under a pseudonym in
Commentary magazine, predicts Russia
will abandon its anti-Jewish program and
will "open the gates for a Jewish exodus."
This is an interesting augury. The
writer points out that there is a profound
contradiction in Soviet treatment of the
Jews, and, claiming that "the Soviet lead-
ers consider their Jews to be security
risks," he states:
"The Soviets feel that they cannot permit
the revival of a Jewish culture since this would
involve the re-establishment of Jewish institu-
tions and the consequent renewal of Jewish
organizational life. Yet the obvious corollary of
such a policy — the forcible assimilation of
the Jews — would require abolishing the Jew-
ish 'nationality' and putting Jews on a par with
Russians or Ukrainians. To do this, however,
the regime would hive to cancel the 'nation-
ality' paragraph in the internal passport —
which would mean permitting the Jews to
trickle back into exactly those 'security sensi-
tive' positions from which they have just now
been so painfully removed."
While it is encouraging to know that
Russian Jewry eventually may be rescued
from the sad position in which it finds
itself under the rule of an anti-Semitic
administration, it is disheartening to hear
again that Soviet leaders look upon Jews
as "security risks." Furthermore, it is
discouraging also to read, in the Com-
mentary article, that it is "unlikely" that
the Soviet policies will be altered and that
"a more liberal outlook toward the Jew-
ish minority" will be adopted by the
Soviet authorities. In fact, we are told,
"Soviet Jews face a steadily deteriorating
situation." That is why, the writer con-
cludes, "Soviet authority will ultimately
find it easier to open the gates for a
Jewish exodus than to go on pursuing a
policy which is cumbersome, embarrass-
ing, and in contradition to the official
ideology."
All one can do is hope that the views
of the Commentary writer are logical. The
Soviet leaders have not been known to
be "embarrassed" by anything, and es-
pecially in relation to the "Jewish mi-
nority" they have been arrogant and
abusive. The Commentary article states,
in describing the present status of USSR
Jewry:
"Many synagogues (and private prayer
meetings as well) have been forcibly closed
during the last two years. Soviet Jews have
also been systematically removed from leading
political, security, and economic positions over
the past decade. The percentage of Jewish
university students has fallen from 13.5 in 1935
to a present 1.5, and the percentage of Jewish
deputies in the two houses of the Supreme
Soviet is down to .2 from 4.1 in 193'7. Not one
Jew is to be found in the leading cadres of the
Red Army or the Soviet diplomatic service and
the 250 members and alternates of the Central
Committee of the Soviet Communist Party now
include only one known and one presumed
Jew."
Jews in the Soviet Union, like their
loyal fellow Jews in other lands, are un-
questionably devoted to their country of
which they are patriotic citizens. Yet,
Jews were considered by the USSR as
security risks "whenever the Soviet
Union haS been in conflict with same
part of the world where Jews live in full
equality," and in such instances, the Com-
mentary article states, "Soviet Jewry has
immediately suffered the kind of treat-
ment usually accorded to potential fifth
columns."
The tragedy of Russian Jewry is very
great indeed. It is not diminishing, and
the only hope for our kinsmen in the
Soviet Union is emigration. There is no
doubt that Israel will welcome them. Now
all we can hope is that the augury just
made will materialize and the rescue
efforts will commence very soon.
East-West Struggle
The unfortunate East-West conflict
has been brought to our very doorsteps.
The fact that the United Nations func-
tions in our land has made it possible for
the dictators to come here and to spout
their venom.
That, however, is part of the blessings
of democracy. As long as even the
enemies of our way of life can have their
say in the open, instead of boring under-
ground in secrecy, there is hope that the
humanitarian ways of freedom-loving
peoples will emerge the victors in the
present struggle for justice.
President Eisenhower spoke the
minds of the people of this land with his
firm and pragmatic declarations before
the United Nations. There is a minority
in the world organization that is intent
upon destroying whatever good that has
emerged from the last destructive world
war. But while there is a platform, at
the United Nations, for the nations of the
world, we must have faith that there also
will emerge from it international coopera-
tion on the side of democracy and against
attempts to totalitarianize the universe.
Gillette Spanier is a famous name in fashion circles. She
is the Madame La Directrice of a world-renowned fashion house
in Paris. Her experiences in fashions accumulated as a result of
her activities in England as well as in France.
It is not only as directrice of Balmain that she gained fame as
manager of a world renowned fashion house. She tells of her work
as "shop girl" in Fortnum and Mason's in London. Hers was a busy
life and the tale of a fashion expert would in itself make a good
story.
She does just that in her splendid book, "It Isn't All Mink,"
which has been published by Random House. It has, however,
far greater value for its description of life in France during
the Nazi occupation. With her husband, Dr. Paul-Emile Seidmann
—both are Jewish—she went through the agonies of seeing
France desecrated.
* * *
The Seidmanns played their roles well during the occupa-
tion. They escaped many dangers and finally saw the triumph
of the allies, not only against the Nazis but also in -defiance of
the collaborationists who are excoriated in "It Isn't All Mink."
Noel Coward, in an introduction to this "sparkling " auto-
biography of a woman of style," tells how he encouraged Ginette
to write her story which tells her experiences "amid the mount-
ing horrors and perils of German occupation."
Mme. Spanier describes her childhood, her family back-
ground, her father's dislike for the Germans dating back to the
conquest of Alsace, her activities in England where she acquired
British citizenship although Paris-born.
During the war, she was never separated from her physi-
cian-husband. She shared with him all the dangers under the
Nazis. When the Hitlerites came to France, "suddenly came the
thought that we were Jews. This was a question that never
affected me in any way up to then. Never in my life had the
least thing occurred to make me conscious of a racial problem,
and the German attitude towards Jews since the Nazi rise to
power had not touched me as it should have. But now we were
to fall into the hands of those same Nazis, with their fanatical
hatred of Jews and their cruelty and their organized sadism."
* * *
Many heartrending occurrences are recalled in the Spanier
story. The horrors visited upon France and its people are part
of her stirring account, and the manner in which some French--.
men collaborated with the Nazis causes the reader to be as
revolted as was the author of this interesting book. She tells
how her husband was apprehended on one .occasion: "There was -
a loud tapping on the door. Police . . • papers . . . Are you a
Jew? Paul-Emile answered yes. The French plain-clothes police-
man examined our identity cards as we sat up in bed. 'But I see
you are French,' he said, and added, `Je m'excnse, Monsieur.'
Poor France, to what depths she had sunk!"
Mine. Spanier tells how the Jews of France were being
rounded up, how the Nazis .acted and how when dangers increased
in Nice, where they at first found escape, they "decided to move":
because "anyone who seemed Jewish had been arrested."
As they travelled on, they were forced to change their
names so they would "not sound Jewish or foreign," and they
became for the duration the Spaniets.
* .* *
They were constantly on the lookout not only for the Nazis
but also the collaborationists: "Only one thought enveloped
Paul-Emile and me like a black cloud. We were Jews."
But while there were the collaborateurs there also were
the maquis with whom the Seidmanns worked, and there was
a day of rejoicing when the Americans came, and with them
liberation.
In "It Isn't All Mink" Mine. Spanier tells of the time she and
her husband suffered starvation, how they were lacking in suit-
able clothing, how they were saved by ingenuity and how they
stuck together, finally bicycling their way out of the Nazi-
occupied territory into the area re-conquered by Americans. It
is a document to be added to the evidence against the Nazi
record of terrorism and brutality.