THE JEWISH NEWS
OUT
Gilt
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspaper, Michigan Press Association, National Edi-
torial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Pub lishing 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 Po st Office, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March
8, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fifth day of Sivan, 5721, the following Scriptural selections will be read in
our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Bamidnu-n., Num. 1:1-4:20. Prophetical portion, Hosea 2:1-22.
Shavuot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: Sunday, Ex. 19:1-20:23, Num. 28:26-31; Monday, Deut. 15:19-16:17,
NUM. 28:26-31.
Prophetical portions: Sunday, Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3:12: Monday, Habakkuk 3:1-19.
Licht Benshen, Friday, May 19, 7:31 p.m.
VOL. XXXIX. No. 12
Page Four
May 19, 1961
Shavuot Links Israel with Torah
When God was about to give the Torah to
Israel, He asked them, "Will you accept My
Torah?", and they answered, "We will." God
said, "Give me surety that you will fulfill
its ordinances." They said, "Let Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob be our pledge.". God
answered, "But the Patriarchs themselves
need sureties. Did not Abraham show lack
of faith (Gen. 15:8), Isaac a love for My
foe Esau (Mal. 1:3), and Jacob a want of
belief in My protection" (Is. 40:27)?
Then Israel said, "Let the prophets be
our sureties." He replied, "The prophets
have sinned against Me" (Jer. 2:8). Then
Israel said, "Our children shall be our
sureties." God said, "Such pledges will I
indeed accept."
Straightway the Israelites brought their
wives with their children, even infants at
the breast, even babes yet unborn. He said
to the children, "I am about to give the
Torah to your parents; will you pledge your-
selves that they will fulfill it?" They said,
"We pledge ourselves. Then God rehearsed
command after command, and to each in
succession the children promised obedience.
_ How do we know that it was on the
sucklings and babes yet unborn that the
giving of the Torah was based? The Bible
says, "Out of the mouths of babes and suck-
lings- has strength been based" (Ps. 8:3),
and the "strength" which God gives his
people- is yorah (Ps. 29:11). So it is that
when Israel neglects the Torah, God de-
mands the penalty from those who have
been given as sureties, as it is said, "You
forgot the Torah of your God; I, also I,
will forget your children" (Hos. 4:6). Why
does the Biblical text say "also I,? God says,
"Also I am grieved for them, the children
to whom the parents have not taught Torah,
who say daily, 'Blessed be the Lord who is
blessed for all eternity.'"
Shavuot, as the Festival of the Giving
of the Law and its acceptance by Israel,
is the time for re-dedication to learning,
to the strengthening of our spiritual
values, to stock-taking relevant to the
duties we owe our children in preparing
them for a wholesome and creative life.
This is the season of the year when
many of our children are graduated from
their elementary schools and are prepar-
ing for higher studies. This is when the
great task arises of seeking to encourage
as many of the young people as possible
to aspire to higher studies Jewishly as
well as in the civic and public areas.
It is only the minority of our youth
that pursues higher Jewish studies, yet
we must give serious consideration to the
importance of that minority in Jewish
life. Many of them, upon entering college,
tend to abandon Jewish interests. There
remains the serious problem of how to
retain their Jewish interests or how to
inject such interests where they do not
already exist, among young men and
women in our universities. -
Too often, Jews who have attained
high status in life become indifferent to
Jewish needs. All-too-often, such indiffer-
ent men and women return to - our fold
in time of tragedy, during calainitous
happenings. We must strive to introduce
the positive in Jewish inducements for
our sons and daughters, rather than to
await their devotion under negative cir-
cumstances.
*
*
On Shavuot these problems should be
re-examined, in the interest of attaining
the best results in our quest for highest
standards in educational programming.
We must keep in view the links that have
been forged between Jewry and its des-
tinies as a spiritual entity.
In his splendidly edited Siddur, the
traditional prayer book, Dr. David deSola
Pool has inserted the following English
translation from Tanhuma, Vayiggash 2,
relevant to the unity of God, Israel and
the Torah: ,
This is more than legend. This is the
reality of Jewish tradition, which expects
perpetuation of Jewish learning by the
children. That calls for encouragement
from and guidance by parents. It is the
way of linking Israel with Torah.
Shavuot reminds us of these links. It
is a time for re-evaluation of our duties
to our children's spiritual and cultural
needs. It is a time for re-dedication—and
the way to mark the festival is through
such dedication.
A Cry of Anguish from Jerusalem's Beth Ha-Am
In the crowded Jerusalem court room ;
on May Day, a cry of anguish_was heard
for the first time, after three weeks of
submission of testimony against Adolf
Eichmann.
It had been expected. It was believed
that many people would break down as
their wounds were being reopened in the
telling of the story of Eichmann's crime.
At last it happened. It is not permit-
ted in the dignified Israeli court room,
but a Hungarian Jew who had suffered
in the Belsen concentration camp shouted
"murderer" at Eichmann and demanded
that he be hanged.
In the hearts of hundreds of thousands
of survivors that cry of anguish has been
uttered many thousands of times, as the
story of the cruelties is being recounted.
And as the tales of cruelties and
degradations are being retold, the tragedy
that is acknowledged is that Hitler,
through Eichmann and his other hench-
-
men, has really accomplished his aim.
He- destroyed German Jewry, he came
near to attaining the goal of eradicating
all Of European Jewry, had he won the
war he. might have stretched his arms out
to us.
Now Israel is attaining a goal set for
the historic trial in the Beth Ha-Am. In
the hearings against Eichmann, the
Israeli court, is giving a complete account
of the 12 years of brutalities and indig-
nities imposed upon our people.
It is in the course of these procedures
that anguish is heard, that the bleeding
hearts are crying out for justice — the
sort of justice that demands an end to
genocide, a cessation of brutalities, an
assurance that inhumanities of men to
men shall never again be repeated. The
attainment of these aims will redound to
the benefit of all humanity which must
be served honorably through the historic
Eichmann trial.
The Wise Men of Helm'--Real
Delight in Its Hebrew Text
Two factors splendid narration and fine illustrations — com-
bine to make the Hebrew stories of Helm, "Hakhmey Helm,"
("The Wise Men of Helm"), published by the United Synagogue
Commission on Jewish Education (3080 B'way, N. Y. 27), an
outstanding work for children.
Told in Hebrew, by Ben Aronin, and illustrated by Gabe
Josephson, this attractive book has great fascination.
Gimpel ben Mendel, Berel Ha-Shamas, Motel, Yosel, Pinhas
Ha-Pikeakh (the shrewd Pinhas) and other characters made
famous in the Helm stores appear here in all their glory. The
caricatures of them make them emerge in their proper setting.
It is, of course, a most humorous account. Ben Aronin
tells the tales well. He has caught the spirit of the Helm-men
and he narrates the tales with the same power of entertainment
that they contained in Yiddish.
The ,special value in this Hebrew set of Helm stories is
that the difficult words are explained at the bottom of each
page in English translation. Thus, in addition to being a work
of entertainment, it also serves the purpose of a textbook for
those desiring to perfect their Hebrew.
The reader of "Hakhmey Helm" will find great delight
in the description of how the Helmites paid respect to the
Torah. They'll get many laughs in reading "Questions and Rid-
dles," "No Sooner Said Than Done," "Every Wall Faces the
East," and the other tales.
Indeed, "Hakhmey Helm," in Hebrew, deserves the rating
of being a true delight—as entertaining as their Yiddish
originals.
New Novel:' 'At Jericho Walls
'
In "At the Walls of Jericho," published by Bloch, Israel I.
Taslitt resorts to fiction in describing the Biblical story of the
fall of the ancient city to the Hebrew army led by Joshua.
Taslitt draws upon the book of . Joshua. He describes the
experiences of the two Hebrew spies, Caleb and Hur, and the
role that was played by the Egyptian woman, Rahab, who hid
the spies.
Rahab also played her role during the Hebrew assault on
Jericho. The march around the city by the Hebrew army caused
confusion, and there were some who . advocated tearing down
the walls and thereby appeasing the invaders.
The walls fell due to the attack and the Hebrews captured
Jericho. The Ethiopian prince Malou was the hero of the strug-
gle. He also was the martyr.
The brilliant leadership of Joshua is emphasized in this
novel. The Book of Joshua 'is, of course, the source for the
novel's background.
The author concludes his tale on a patriotic note: "Thus
did Jericho, the City of Palms, fall before the people of
Israel . . a city proud and wealthy, trusting in gods created
by men and in walls that human hands had .fashioned. It fell
before a people with a mission to perform, a mission that was
to bring to the world a way of life based on the word of God
at Sinai, to make the idols vanish from the earth, and to :bring
about a better world through the kingdom of God."
Wouk's 'This Is My God' Out
as a Doubleday Paperback
The controversial book by Herman Wouk, "This Is •lNly God,"
has been issued as a paperback 'by Doubleday.
This best-seller, which has been under discussion in religious
ranks in Jewry for many months, appears in its entirety in the
paperback.
The title is derived from The Song of Moses (Ex; 15:2): "This
is my God, and I will praise Him; The God of my father, and I
will exalt
"This Is My God" is Wouk's faith—his explanation of his
adherence to Orthodox Jewish tenets. But it does outline also all
of the other religious Jewish 'tendencies and therefore serves as a
textbook on Jewish religious practices.