Purely Commentary
By ,PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Enforcing Bar Mitzvah Standards
ComrQunities throughout the land are watching the manner
in which the Jewish community of Detroit will enforce the new
program of raising the higher standards set for Bar Mitzvah
observances.
There are some, skeptics who are questioning how it will
be possible to compel parents and children to live up to the
requirements of five years of preliminary Hebrew §chool
studies. before • a boy will be able to observe his traditional
Bar Mitzvah. _
Apparently, the responsibility will be that of the synagogues
more than of the schools. If the 28 congregations will insist
upon the high standards now set for Bar Mitzvahs, the program
will become • workable.
The major obstacles are certain to come not from the chil-
dren but from "compassionate" parents who may- become overly
concerned about the overworked darlings who are to be called
upon to attend Hebrew _schools much sooner than they had
planned.
Parents never seem to be worried too much about the violin
or piano lessons. They get panicky when Hebrew studies are
involved. Now the parents will be in training: they are about
to learn that the Hebrew school is as vital as the conservatory
or the private music teacher.
Hats off to the courageous people who have taken steps
to set high values on Jewish education. May their hands be
strengthened, with the aid of an understanding community, in
raising high the Values we set on our, heritage.
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•
Rockwellites Held on $10,000 Bail;
ld To
to Aid U.S. Nazis
tucieni
Ara
ast
PHILADELPHIA, (JTA) — size of the bail and said that Canberra, capital of Australia,
Three supporters of American Rockwell had given him $30 reported that both Prime Min-
Nazi party leader George Lincoln befOre the incident "to pay the ister Robert Gordon Menzies and
Rockwell were arrested here and customary fine." The other Nazis Minister of Immigration Alexan-
held for $10,000 bail each after were 'Raymond D. Goodman, .28 der R. Downer had ordered their
a clash which broke out when of Arlington, and Schuyler Fer- American 'consulates to withhold
any visa application that might
they demonstrated against the ris, 46, of Falls Church, Va. -
showing of the film "Exodus" at
ItOckWell announced -- in have been filed by Rockwell;
the Boyd Theater here. Rockwell, Washington that he had been pending decision by Australia's
who had threatened to come him- 'invited to.. address a May Day highest officials Downer was
self to picket the film, did not rally at Sydney, Australia, ar- quoted as saying: "Australia de.
show up.
ranged by. the Australian Na- tests all political. extremists. If
fads show that this man is a
Sixty-four anti-Nazis were also tional Workers party. He said the
Nazi or neo-Nazi, he would be
arrested along with the Rock- thit the group is affiliated with most
unwelcome in our land."
wellites; however, all but three an international Nazi organi-
A Defense Department spokes-
of these were summarily re- zation known as the World
leased. Two of the three anti- Union of Free Enterprise Na- man in Washington announced
that Army Specialist Fifth Grade
Nazis, Jules Christine and Ben- tionalist SocietieS.
jamin Corner, were held for
Subsequently, the right-Wing Daniel Honaker, who partici-
court in $300 bail on charges of Australian Nationalist Work- pated in picketing activity of
carrying concealed we a p o n s. ers party withdrew its - invita- Rockwell's Party, had been dis-
The third, Mark Charleston, was tion to Rockwell. In explaining charged from the service "for the
fined $10 and costs for disorder- the withdrawal, Arthur Smith, convenience of the- Government."
Nationalist party leader, de- Honaker filed a suit in U.S.
ly conduct.
with Rockwell
Ralph P. Forbes, 20 of Arling- clared: "Our invitation has District as Court,
his "cOunsel," in an
ton, Va., one of the three Rock- caused too much trouble and, acting
effort to prevent his discharge.
well 'supporters who were if we had persisted in it, we But the court dismissed Hona-
,charged with rioting, inciting to would have antagonized the ker's suit, and upheld the Army._
riot, conspiracy and breach of the Government."
Dispatches received here from The discharge was put into effect.
peace, expressed surprise at the
An Editor's Unwise Complacency .
The author of the letter that appeared in the Detroit News,
suggesting that the old City - Hall be converted into a synagogue,
came to see us.-
Charles W. Turberville, of 9762 Holmur, is a letter carrier.
He has many Jewish friends. He is also a letter-writer. He
showed us responses to his letters from Jewish leaders—national
- and local—to indicate his sincerity.
He really believes that a synagogue. should be built in the
_ downtown area.
Fantastic, you say, and so it is—thus turning a bit of
naivete that sounded like a jest into sort of an anomaly.
But it doesn't happen to be so amusing. The days of super-
sensitiveness are over for Jewry, yet, there are suggestive
methods used by bigots of dragging back into the discussion of
anti-Semitism such nonsense as "Jewish control" of everything
under the sun. Turberville is convincing when he avows sincerity
in what he wrote, but- that did not justify the printing of a
naive letter that proposes that our city should turn over
to a group that comprises 5 per cent of its population an im-
mense structure. No Jew would think in such grotesque terms,
and just because a non-Jew hatched the idea did not justfiy
notoriety for unwisdom."
So—With due credit for sincerity to the author of the letter,
we hold to the view that the Detroit News editor was lacking
in good judgment in printing it. His "explanatory" letter to
objectors, a copy of which has been forwarded to us, fails to
justify his position, even when he calls to witness "friends of the
Jewish faith." We are not impressed by his complacent state-
ment to the protestors that "about four letters" arrived in his
office with complaints against the Turberville letter. "About"
means "approximately"—and it must have taken a great _effort
to count four—and then stop! We can provide him with over-
whelming complaints that reached our office, to indicate that
there is a much larger count of objectors to his action—numbers
• that would surely run into more than the three-figure numeral.
In proof of our continuing objection, we could quote from
Mr. Martin S. Hayden's 'explanatory" letter to show wherein he
erred. Let it suffice, however, with 'a reiterated expression of
hope that a great newspaper editor's future judgment will be
Much wiser. _ _
*
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*
,
No Tear - Shedding for David Ben - Gurion
- Don't shed - any tears, either for Israel or for David Ben-Gurion.
The State will carry On, and its in-again-out-again Prime Minister
will have his name indelibly linked with it. But if Ben-Gurion should
decide, now or later, definitely to retire from leadership, - he will be
replaced and the affairs of state will go on regardless of who is at
the helm.
The only thing anyone need regret is that there should have
been blunders of the type that called for Pinhas Lavon's resignation.
The only cause. for sorrow is that both Ben-Gurion and Lavon were
parties to- a public, scandal.
When a State emerges as well-functioning as- Israel did, it
should feel secure, even when blunder§ are of a major character.
The feeling among many Israelis is that a nation—any nation—
can make mistakes, and Israel should be granted the privilege of
Making blunders as well as of doing great deeds. •
NeverthelesS; there are always jitters when espionage is in-
volved, and when spying is pursued irrationally, it is deplorable
for anyone, big or little. Israel's blunder in 1956 was .deplorable.
The Change in the State's leaderShip is a minor matter compared
with that error.
,
-
f .
* *
Dorothy Thompson-the Wise and the Embittered
DorothY'Thompson was a great woman. She was one of Amer -
lea's ablest writers, an excellent reporter, an accomplished foreign
correspondent, an eloquent public speaker.
• There were occasions,.in her colorful public career, when she
rose to great heights—as an opponent of Hitlerism and as a sup-
-
porter of the Zionist cause. • _
But she became embittered during the latter year of her life,
and she became an apologist:for the Arabs, a defamer of Zionism,
an organizer of the anti-Israel Friends of• the Middle East.
The embittered elements in her marred a . good .record. She
could have been helpful in humanitarian efforts involving both
Israelis and Arabs, but she instead chose to follow a path of such
hatred towards Israel and Zionism that the good she had done was
erased from her record:
Those of us who had known her in her wiser days Considered
her reversed position. in relation to Zionism _a most deplorable
occurrence. ' -
Seek Student Support
Rabbi Stollman Reports Increased
Interest in Religion in Israel
Reporting to the large gather.
ing of Mizrachi and other ortho-
dox leaders here on his recent
visit in Israel, and on the 25th
World Zionist Congress, Rabbi
Isaac Stollman emphasized the
significance . of Israel's "search
for religious and. spiritual
values."
The report meeting was ar-
ranged by Mizrachi - H a p o el
Hamizrachi and the Council of
Orthodox Rabbis:
Rabbi •Stollman said that his
special interest in Israel was to
study the religious and spiritual
life of Israel, and he declared:
literature... Scholarly research
of the highest caliber is the
daily routine and activity of
many institutions, and par-
ticularly that of Mosad Ha-
Rav Kook, which has already
issued more than a thousand
new and old works.
"As a Mizrachist of many
years it did my heart good to
see this growth and renewal.
What we are witnessing today
is the result of many years of
planting and sowing. One of
the prime examples of vision
and dedication is the Bar Ilan
University in Israel which was
envisioned and founded by the
"One manifestation of the late Dr. Pinchas Churgin. This
growing interest in religion is university, dedicated to the sci-
the increase of `minyanim' - ences, humanities and Judaica,
and religious services in kib- with more than six hundred
butzim of every ideological young men and women in at-
shade. There is evident today tendance, is a vivid example of
the strongly-felt need to give the inspired a n d inspiring
`national' Jewish holidays a growth of the spiritual life of
religious significance. This Israel."
quest for religious identifica-
tion was evident during the
High Holy Days, when prac-
tically every kibbutz — in-
cluding the 'non-religious' —
had some minyan in which
the veteran settlers also par-
ticipated, even if hesitatingly."
-Rabbi .S teo 11 m a n said that
"From the heads of the State
of Israel to the worker on the
farm, there is a universality of
interest in the Bible, Jewish
history, Mishn a, Talmud,
archaeology and Jewish phi-
losophy and thought." He said
"This quest for. content and
value is apparent everywhere.
Although the yeshivot will play
an increasingly important role
: in the years ahead, it is distress-
ing to learn that few yeshivot
can adequately look after more
than half the young people that
seek entry. The Mizrachi-Hapoel
Hamizrachi has established a
network of yeshivot throughout
Israel but these cannot satisfy
the demand which far exceeds
the present means. There is a
dire shortage of funds and fa-.
cilities, both for the old as well
as. for the. new 'yeshivot."
WASHINGTON, (JTA)---L-Arab
college students, who are in the
United States on temporary visas,
were disclosed to have circulated
notices to at least 20 universities
in the United States which
urged fellow Arab students to
"join the American Nazi party
in its efforts to stamp out an
insidious group" and to demon-
strate against the Israel-based
film, "Exodus."
The notice was posted on the
bulletin board of Tufts Universi-
ty at Medford, Mass., near Bos-
ton, and at a number of other
universities and colleges. The
notice was believed to have been
circulated also in the Chicago
and Philadelphia areas.
Urged in the notice to support
George Lincoln Rockwell, the
Arab students also were told to
fight American sympathy for
Israel, which was described as a
`Monster ... preparing to attack,
her Arab neighbors with atomic
weapons . . . We must make sure
that the State of Israel cannot
make war on its upright neigh-
bors, the Arab neighbors."
■•■ •04.0041•1•4341 ■ 41.6 ■0■41■ .0-1•11•1431 ■ 041111.041111•143 ■ •••,0 ■0■0•1 ■04111111■041■ 041!0■0■0■••■
0•101■0,/
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
...and Me'
.
I
I.
(Copyright 1961,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Communal Challenges
The decline of the Jewish communal schools and the grow- •
ing predominance of congregational schools is preSeriting a _
number of serious problems to Jewish communities .. . Ninety
percent of the Jewish schools today are under congregational
auspices . . . This means a growing fragmentation of Jewish
education based on ideological differences. .. . The Council of
Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, central organ of the-.
Jewish communities, feels that organized communities have a
stake in improving the quality and the extent of Jewish educa-
tion . . . The Council is therefore now studying the problem ,
of how community planning can be developed to deal effectively.
in improving the level of ethication without interfering with
ideological differences . . . The basic idea behind this study is
—"separate schools, but communal planning" . The Jewish
Federations have, over the years, developed methods for strength-
ening communal programs through community planning and
financing . . . The CJFWF seeks now to establish, how tech-
niques that are utilized in planning for higher standards for .
other Jewish communal services could be applied to Jewish
education . . . This poses the question of - what the Jewish Fed-
eration can do to foster coordination in education among ideologi-
groups . . . There is also the question of attracting-and re-:
"A veritable t orrent ;of-
books is being published in taining pupils in the Jewish schools, since the number of
Israel," Rabbi Stollman re- drop-outs by children after only a year or' two continues to 'be
: ported. "The creativity of Is- very high . . . Can the Jewish Federation in each city be of any
. rael today surpaises that of help in studying this problem in behalf of all the schools to
. many generations of the past. discover basic causes and suggest methods of prevention? . • .
. Among the hooks being pub- Since only a tiny fraction of teen-age youth attended any Jewish
. lished are those that have. schools, in what way can Federations help attract extended
been out of print and no attendance to the-high school level? What can Federation do
longer obtainable except for to prOvide high quality teacher training for all the Jewish
the rare copy in some Euro- schools in the community, since there is an acute shortage in
pean library. I personally met trained. teachers? What about grants from the local Federation
a goodly number of young to establish scholarships for training Jewish educators as part
scholars who are preparing of a long-range plan? . . . These and similar questions are now
old manuscripts for print and being examined to establish ways in which Jewish Federations
who ,have been . editing old ., can relate themselves to the _ special challenges which Jewish
clas4cs s' Of o u r traditional
educition faces. —