With Liberty for All
THE JEWISH NEWS
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 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
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the seventeenth day of Tamm•tz, 5721, the following Scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Balak, Num. 22:2-25:9. Prophetical portion, Micah 5:6-6:8.
Shivah Asar b'Tammuz (Fast of Tammuz) will be observed on Sunday.
Liche Benshen, Friday, June 30, 7.53 p.m.
VOL. XXXIX. No. 18
Page Four
June 30, 1961
Independence Day: Heritage at Stake
When the founders of our Republic
proclaimed their conception of freedom,
185 years ago, they drew upon Holy
Scriptures. They were inspired by the
teachings of the Hebrew prophets, by the
admonitions to re-
spect the rights of
strangers living in
our midst, by the
ideals of j us tic e
which motivated
the actions of the
sages of old.
That is why it has been said that the
American structure has been held to-
gether "by Hebraic mortar."
As we prepare to celebrate another
Independence Day, 185 years after the
.bells of liberty were rung on this conti--
nent, we again rededicate ourselves to
'the proposition that "all men are created
,equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and
the Pursuit of Happiness."
In our rededication, we are obligated_
also to take into account the duty to
perpetuate these ideals and to prevent
the intrusion of inimical forces which
interfere with the fulfillment of the
American dream.
The picture today is, unfortunately,
somewhat marred. There still revel in
our midst elements for whom the idea Of
total freedom for all is strange, who do
not recognize the application of the Inde-
pendence Day goal to all men. There still
are among us groups—regrettably they
still speak for majorities in a handful of
our States—who would draw distinctions,
among men when racial or credal ele-
ments are involved.
Therefore, the bell does not ring too
clearly on this Independence Day. Deep-
rooted prejudices interfere with its intel-
ligibility. There is a hollowness that mars
the perfect tones that are necessary for
the proclamation of total freedom in our
land.
If our celebration of Independence
Day is to be true to our American heri-
tage, we . must seek new ways of elimi-
nating prejudices. We must pledge anew
to be true
*****
to - the
ideals that
were enun-
ciated 185
years ago.
There still is a struggle, after nearly
a century of civil warfare, when brothers
fought brothers on this continent, be-
tween Northern and Southern States, be-
tween the ideas that triumphed in the
Civil War and the backwardness that
approved of human slavery. The struggle
is being fought again in certain areas of
our land. Let us hope that the bigotries
that have survived a century of struggle
between ideas will soon disappear, and
that there will be no need to speak of
them when we celebrate Independence
Days.
The law of the land now proclaims
equality for all, regardless of race or
creed, in schools, in public places, in the
search for employment, in the choice of
restaurants. Let us hope that very soon it
will be unnecessary to resort to police
protection to assure safety for those who
strive to guarantee adherence to these
laws. Then we shall truly be able to
celebrate Independence Days in full
American glory, and we shall then, as a
people, be above reproach:
,Dangers That Loom on Israel's-Horizon
New dangers seem to be looming on
,the horizon for Israel. There are veiled
threats from Arab quarters, it is reported
that Italian Premier Amintore Fanfani's
visit in this country was intended partly
to induce President Kennedy to seek
closer relations with Nasser, the Arabs
claim that Kennedy has sent them many
friendly messages in advance of the
Ben-Gurion visit in this country, and the
hints of a rift between the United Arab
Republic and Soviet Russia top them all
as part of a scheme to enhance the Arab
role in world affairs.
Added to these developments are con-
flicting reports that President Kennedy
had proposed that the Arab refugee
problem be solved by admitting 25 per
cent of them into Israel and by the ab-
sorption of the remainder into a number
. of countries, including the United States.
In the course of time, the truth will
emerge. It soon will become known, no
doubt, what position our own government
will take on the refugee question, whether
our President will assume the role of a
mediator in earnest and to what degree
the East-West conflict will affect Israel
and the Middle East.
Will the purported rift between Nasser
and Krushchev tend to bring Nasser
closer to this country? Will that in any
way affect Israel-American relations, or
will it tend to create an atmosphere lead-
ing to better chances for peace between
Israel and the Arab countries?
It is impossible for any informed per-
son to be too sanguine in the matter. The
intransigence of the Arab leaders has
created a state of pessimism. While Ben-
Gurion and others often speak about the
inevitability of peace between Israelis and
Arabs, hopes for realization of amity are
presently very remote. Only if President
Kennedy and heads of other democratic
governments should step in and attempt
to secure definite action may anything
approaching peace be attained.
Meanwhile, what is definitely known
is that Arabs are arming to the teeth, that
Nasser has secured heavy armaments and
much aircraft from Russia—in spite of
the purported UAR rift with the USSR—
and danger looms on the horizon for
Israel.
It is fortunate that Israel knows the
situation and is preparing for all eventu-
alities. Only through such preparedness
can the dangers to Israel be averted and
an all-out war, which would menace the
peace of the world, be prevented. From
this point of view, the peoples of the
world, regardless of where they may be
located, should be grateful to Israel that
she is preparing militarily in order to
have peace for herself — in that way
assuring peace for the rest of mankind.
Irresponsible Act
Regardless of the merits of the objec-
tions to the opening of the Jewish Com-
munity Center on Saturday afternoons,
the dragging of a purely Jewish matter
into our courts must be considered as
utter irresponsibility.
The blundering individual who has
asked for an injunction against the
Center's decision has indicated a lack of
faith in orderly negotiations, and thereby
has rendered a disservice to his people.
Leftwich's 'The Golden Peacock'
'Treasury of Yiddish Poetry
.
Joseph Leftwich long ago has gained _recognition as an au-
thority on Yiddish literature. He has translated many important
works, including Yiddish poetry, and has been responsible, per-
haps more than any other Jewish writer, for popularizing Yid-
dish literary works. •
A native of Holland, he has lived since childhood in London,
Where he was educated. --He has worked for Yiddish publica-
tions, has served as a JTA correspondent and has represented
Israeli and other newspapers in England.
His "Yisroel," an anthology of Jewish stories, has attracted
wide attention.
Now we are presented with another great anthologiCal
work—his "worldwide treasury of Yiddish poetry" which Thomas
Yoseloff. (11 E 36th, N. Y. 16) has published under the title
"The Golden 'Peacock."
All the great Yiddish poets are represented in this -iinpon
taut work. Russian, Israeli, Galician, Polish, American,-Eng-
lish, Romanian" and other poets are included. Folksongs, too,
are a part of this significant anthology.
The present volume is an enlargement and a revision of the
earlier work, under the same title,. which appeared in 1939.
Leftwich seeks to bring "the delight of Yiddish poetry to many
new readers, not only -Jews." He succeeds well in "The Golden
Peacock."
"The specific Jewish • life of the Yiddish-speaking Jews,"
their symbolism, ways and customs, are discussed in the scholarly
foreword in- which Leftwich reviews also the opinions of other
noted authorities on the first edition of hiS book and on other
aspects of Yiddish literature.
Leftwich 'retains confidence that Yiddish will -continue to
exert a strong influence upon Jews in Many lands.
"While I am concerned with the future, and much more
with the present of Yiddish poetry, I have not lost sight of the
past, the distant past," Leftwich states. He. states that he is
always anxious to emphasize that Yiddish poetry is not "modern"
in the sense of having begun with the 19th century renaissance,
and he therefore has included in his collection the works of 18th
century Hassidic rabbis as well as those of Eliauh Bahur of the
16th century "as a reminder of the beginnings of Yiddish poetry."
"Yiddish poets in America," Leftwich writes; "are worried by
the problems of survival, the survival of their . Yiddish language,
but also the physical Jewish survival of their own stock, their
children and their children's children . For after all, it is the
survival of Jews as Jews that matters.."
"The Golden Peacock" begins with a section of the works
of "The Great Figures." Included in this group are: Abraham
Reisen, Ch. N. Bialik, I. L. Peretz, Zalman Schneour, Yehoash,
Morris Rosenfeld, Moishe Leib Halpern, Halper Leivick and
-Mani Leib.
Well known names are included in the various other lists.
Abraham Liesin, Aleph Katz, Zischa Landau are among the
Americans whose poems are in this book.
A Detroiter, the late Ezra Korman, is represented by
three poems—"Late Summer," "Sewing" and "The Ari."
In the folksongs section are included a lullaby, a cradle
song, children's and other poems.
Leftwich not only compiled and edited this book, but also
translated the poems he selected for inclusion in it.
"The Golden Peacock" is dedicated "To the Yiddish poets
who will be writing Yiddish poetry fifty years hence."
Scholem's 'Jewish Mysticism'
Issued as Schocken Paperback
One of the great Jewish classics, "Major Trends in Jewish
Mysticism," by Prof. Gershon G. Scholem, has issued as a
paperback by Schocken Books, Inc. (67 Park, N.Y. 16).
Prof. Scholem, of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, commenced
his study of Kabbalism more than 20 years ago. His great work
on Jewish mysticism is as timely and as important today as it was
when it first .appeared in 1941.
Schocken Books, the world famous publishing house, enhances
its standing as publisher with its ventures into the paperback field.