THE JEWISH NEWS

The Kennedy Pledge: Top Priority

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

Member American Associatiun 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.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March
8, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG

Editor and Publisher

Advertising Manager

Business Manager

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eleventh day of Shevat, 5721, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Beshalah, Ex. 13:17-17:16. Prophetical portion, Judges 4:4-5:31.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Jan. 27, 5:22 p.m.

VOL. XXXVIII. No. 22

Page Four

January 27, 1961

Nazi Tactics Adopted by Morocco

Nazism is not dead. It is now in evi-
dence in its cruellest fashion in Morocco,
where the most shocking methods of
brutality are being practiced against the
Jewish population.
The remaining 250,000 Jews in Mo-
rocco now live under the threat of ex-
termination. Kidnappings, forced con-
versions, imposition of a state of fear are
the gifts of the Moroccan government to
a quarter of a million people who are
desperately holding on to life in the hope
that the tyrants will relent and will at
least permit them to emigrate to Israel.
But not only is exit from this medieval
country denied to them: the unfortunate
Jews of Morocco are unable to correspond
with their relatives in Israel, since the
suspension of postal and telegraphic com-
munications between Morocco and Israel.
The victims of cruelty can not even mourn
their dead and must display jubilation in
their daily lives in order not to indicate
that they are protesting against their gov-
ernment's actions.
The frightful disaster that struck the
43 Moroccan Jews who perished on a
boat that was transporting .them to Israel
caused great shock and drew attention to
the guilt of the Moroccan government
which must be held responsible for creat-
ing conditions. that forced the escapees
from persecution to seek hazardous means
of reaching Israel. But instead of evincing
regret, the government of Morocco is cold-
blooded and is intensifying the persecu-
tion of Jews.
Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel's Foreign Min-
ister, thus described the position of
Moroccan Jewry:

"A regime of persecution brings down frus-
tration and despair upon its Jewish citizens.
Basic civil rights which are given to every man
are arbitrarily denied to the Jews of Morocco,

in contravention of solemn undertaking given
by that State when it attained independence
and was admitted to the United Nations Organi-
zation. Freedom of movement and emigration
does not exist for Jews. Postal and telegraphic
communications between Jews who live in Mor-
occo and their families in Israel have been
severed by the Government of Morocco. Jewish'
schools are being progressively taken over. Jew-
ish families live in constant dread of detention!
and assault, of kidnapping and violence. An
atmosphere of terror and insecurity, both physi-
cal and mental, prevails among the quarter of
a million Jews of Morocco, and it is no wonder I
that they seek to flee for their lives and join
their near and dear ones in Israel. They take
flight in full knowledge of the dangers that lie
in wait for them, but the authorities of Morocco
leave them no choice. I wish to express our
intense horror and pain at the tragedy, and our
profound sympathy with the grief of the be-
reaved families. Together we must shoulder
the burden and extend to the Jews of Morocco
every ounce of our help in their struggle for
their fundamental human rights. I appeal to
the nations of the world to direct their earnest
attention to the wantonness from which the I
Jews of Morocco are suffering. I hope that, in
their righteous struggle, the Jews there will
find faithful helpers, so that the gates of Moroc-
co may be opened for those who wish to
depart."

Will an appeal to the conscience of the
world bring even meager results? Morocco
is a signatory to the United Nations' Dec-
laration of Human Rights, but she has
violated the principles of the declaration
so often, and she has adopted Nazi meth-
ods so readily—apparently at the behest
of Egypt's Dictator Nasser, who seems to
have so much power over the nations in
his bloc—that there is cause for deep
concern. It is no wonder that Moroccan
Jewry is in a state of despair.
All efforts must be exerted to compel
an end to brutality.

Rabbi Klein's 'Seder Avodah'
Prayerbook Retains Traditions

In 1951, Rabbi D. Klein, of Congregation Adath Jeshurun,
Elkins Park, Pa., issued his first "Seder Avodah"—a service book
for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
A new edition of "Seder Avodah," with a new translation
and additional supplementary prayers, has just been released,
having been printed by Maurice Jacobs Press of Philadelphia.
"Seder Avodah," intended for the Conservative syna-
gogues, seeks, according to Rabbi. Klein, "to retain the
warmth of the traditional service."
He applies to the new edition his earlier explanation that
this prayer book is intended for Conservative synagogues, "al-
though theologically, it may be said, to represent a less• tradi-
tional point of view than that which obtains generally in the
printed ritual of the Conservative camp in American Israel."
Nevertheless, even the traditionally orthodox will find
much merit in this prayer book, especially in the splendid trans-
lations, nearly all of which are Rabbi Klein's.
Rabbi Klein has translated into Hebrew a number of poems
and prayers that were written in English. In this service book
there also are incorporated several Hebrew prayers that were
composed by Rabbi Klein.
"In both instances," he explains, "the editor was guided
by a two-fold desire—on the one hand to pay -tribute to the
sacred tongue which is finding renewed, living expression in the
land of our forefathers, and on the other hand to give expres-
sion to the hope shared by many that the Synagogue in American
Jewry will in another generation be better acquainted with
the tongue of the traditional liturgy and of the Hebrew Bible
under the influence of Israel reborn."
In Rabbi Klein's "Seder Avodah" there are new services
for memorials and the Shofar, the Martyrology and the Neilah.
The clarity of the services, the prayer book's excellent
topography, the choice of fine type for both the Hebrew and
English texts, combine, together with the commendable trans-
lations, to make this an outstanding addition to the noteworthy
Jewish holy day prayer books.

Hasty Actions Have Led to Confusion The History of Buffalo Jewry
When a statement by David Ben- later, speaking before the governing body

Gurion, incorporated in his address at
the 25th World Zionist Congress, in Jeru-
salem, was taken out of context, it cre-
ated an unsavory furor because spokes-
men for the major Jewish organizations
in this country did not have the patience
to await the complete text. The entire
outburst in this country was such a fiasco
that it reacted unfavorably upon Ameri-
can Jewry.
In his comment on the outburst, our
Jerusalem JTA correspondent, Eliahu
Salpeter, challenged the wisdom of the
outburst of anger and stated::
"The excited reaction in America
raises the grave question of whether it
is a healthy phenomenon, when a large
and respected community, such as the
American Jewry, suddenly gets so ex-
cited over a headline in a newspaper
(be it even the respected New York
Times) that it cannot wait to find out
what was actually said and in what
context. Does this extreme nervous-
ness befit a community which is ap-
parently the most prosperous and most
flourishing in all the history of the
Jewish Diaspora?"
We concur with Salpeter and we
therefore find it necessary to link the
shocking explosion of anger with another
very unwise statement by one of the
men who was responsible for creating a
foolish issue out of a portion of Ben-
Gurion's speech.
One of the men who found it neces-
sary to fume over the expression of "god-
lessness" contained in Ben-Gurion's
speech was Dr. Joachim Prinz, president
of the American Jewish Congress. A bit

A Review by BORIS SMOLAR
of his organization, this gentleman found
Jewish communities in this country are becoming more and
it necessary to propose the dissolution
interested in compiling and publishing their own histories
of the Zionist movement. He argued that more The
latest contribution in this field has now been made by
• •
the establishment of the State of Israel the
Jewish Community of Buffalo . . . A very impressive record
has fulfilled Zionist purposes and that of the growth of Jewish communal life in Buffalo is presented in
what is needed now is "a new and dy- "From Ararat to Surburbia" just published by the Jewish
namic movement to preserve Jewish Publication Society . . . The Buffalo community, although only
peoplehood and create an independent 150 years old, has a very interestng and colorful story to tell
and positive link between A m e r i c an about itself .. . And this story is well told by Selig Adler and
Thomas E. COnnoly, two professors at the University of Buffalo
Jewry and Israel."
. . • It includes the story of Mordecai M. Noah and his . famous
man
who
was
a
We wonder whether
Ararat plan—the plan to establish a territory for Jews in the
so irrational as to be a party to the fiasco Niagara area . . . The ceremony of proclaiming Ararat as "a City
that was created over a rather insignifi- of Refuge for the Jews" actually took place in September 1825
cant portion of Ben-Gurion's address is . . At the time when Mordecai Noah brought to a climax his
qualified to judge what is and what is not dream of the establishment of "an American Zion" on Grand
dynamic in a movement that is to create Island in the Niagara River, Buffalo was a village of 2,500 souls
"positive links" between American and among whom there were very few Jews . . . Today there are in
Buffalo about 25,000 Jews, many of whom live in the suburbs .
Israeli Jewries.
The president of Bnai Brith, Label The progress made by the Jews in Buffalo and their communal
is traced by the authors since 1814, when the city .
Katz, was the first to repudiate Dr. Prinz's institutions
of Buffalo was mentioned for the first time in Jewish history .. .
proposal as being ill-advised.
The story of Buffalo Jewry and its achievements is actually the
Dr. Prinz, as a Zionist, and as a Jew- story of many other Jewish communities in this country . . . It
ish leader who undoubtedly seeks Israel's I is told in a way that makes interesting reading not only for Jews
welfare and American Jewry's amity, in Buffalo arid those interested in American Jewish history, but
should have given a second thought be- also for Jews in general . . . The book is perhaps the best volume
fore acquiring the notoriety his statement of local Jewish history ever compiled by a Jewish community in
has given. He made front page copy, and this country.
thereby he may have, once again, be-
clouded the issue. He has become a part-
ner to an unsavory effort to deny the
"A Jewish Child Is Born." by Rabbi Nathan Gottlieb, contains
validity of Zionism, to cause people to
forget that it was the Zionist movement much of merit. It deals with the laws and rites of circumcision
that gave birth to Israel, to overlook and with the naming of children. It includes a history of the
rite and explains Jewish laws relating to adoptions,
Zionist potentialities as a great educa- circumcision
conversions, the role of the mohel, and other regulations.
tional instrument.
Included in the book are prayers at circumcisions, for parents,
The president of the American Jewish grandparents and the sandek.
Congress acted in ill-advised fashion. We
This book will be found to be of special value by those seeking
have no hesitation in branding his utter- Hebrew names for children. Thirty pages in this book are devoted
ances as irresponsible and as unworthy to lists of Hebrew names and their applicable English names.
A valuable glossary also is appended to the book, published
of a man who plays an important role in
by Philosophical Library, giving it additional value.
Jewish life.

4

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'A Jewish Child Is Born '