Purely Commentary
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Coof n tjaans d t s.m.a n. sEh)aefricei n s e
SiOMOVitZ
N.Y. Igupreme Court
Rejects Jew's Claim
Against Sunday Law
or the people, because Israelis of the Jewish faith are in the
TRENTON, N. J., (JTA) —
majority there.
The New Jersey Supreme Court
In their clay, the Landsmanshaften, the many organizations
But it is ,not the question of intermarriage alone that must rejected the claim of a Jewish
that perpetuated the names of Eastern European communities and disturb
those who are interested that there should be rule
gave evidence of affections retained by newcomers to this country above reproach in Israel. There are the problems of worship, merchant that the state Sunday
for the people they had left behind, served valuable purposes. They Orthodoxy now restricting Reform and Conservative observers; closing law violated his rights
were effective - instruments for much good, for philanthropy and there is the issue affecting divorces, and a score of other as an Orthodox Jew.
In sustaining the law by a
social services. As long as there were Landsmanshaften, the com- matters.
4-3 vote, the New Jersey court
munities in whose names they were established had friends they
If Israel is to be strong, above reproach and truly a free cited a majority ruling by the
could look to in times of stress. ,
state,
regulations such 'as affect the Yaffe-Abdul matters will United States Supreme Court
Now, the communities thus honored have perished and the have to
be amended or abandoned. Other religious restrictions
Landsmanshaften are disappearing because the children of immi-1 should be removed from Israeli codes. It is doubtful whether that Sunday closing laws in
grants are not interested in the birthplaces of their parents and are ' a theocracy can- possibly be condoned by a majority of Israelis. other states did not violate the
rights of those who observes}
I
more concerned with the land and cities in which they live.
The inter-faith love affair now at issue brings the problem the Sabbath on Saturday! The
There have been mergers of such Landsmanshaften whose to the fore more seriously than ever before.
New Jersey law was adopted
memberships have dwindled so 'drastically and whose objectives
two years ago by referendum .
have declined so tragically—because of the holocaust created by
in 12 of the state's 21 countries..
the Nazis—that there is no longer a possibility of their survival.
It bans the sale on Sunday of
Two more Landsmanshaften merged here this week. Rovner
clothing, furniture, building
and Lachovitcher have now become one group, but their merger in
material and appliances.
no sense indicates hope for survival of even the merged organi-
The decision upheld the con-
The Center for the Study of , any practice that the minority re-
zations.
This new trend marks the rapid change in American Jewry's Democratic Institutions has re• gards as immoral. This might viction of David Fass, a West
communal structure. It is an inevitable result of an Americanization leased an 80-page "statement of. mean, for example, that those New York merchant who was
process that developed much more-rapidly than was to have been principles" summarizing the con- who are conscientiously opposed arrested for selling carpeting on
expected. It would have come in the course of time, but the East clusions of a four-year study of to flag-saluting as a form of idol- Sunday. He appealed the arrest
European communities might still have had offspring of their the role of religious institutions atry should be left 'free from on grounds that as an Orthodox
coercion; that those who are op- Jew, he had to shut his store
former residents to look to for comfort and sustenance had they in American life.
survived. The disappearance of Landsmanshaften may in a sense
The statement declares that posed to birth control should not on Saturdays, and that because
therefore be ascribed also to the holocaust. Nazism had reaped not the churches have a responsibil- be obliged to support it; that the Sunday law forced him to
only a bloody harvest among human beings but also culturally.
ity to act as a moral critic of those who see evil in gambling close his store on that day, he
Now our hope lies in legacies—in the hope that the generations American society, but that they should not be forcibly involved in was under economic disadvant-
age.
that have no interest in Landsmanshaften will not abandon the should seek to influence society a- national lottery.
Fass also contended that 'the
spiritual and cultural values that were inherent in the disappearing by persuasion and not by co-
"Where one group or another
community groups. The Landsmanshaften were not merely philan- ercion, economic pressure, or believes that controversial legis- law contained an exception for
thropic, or card-playing, or socializing and holidaying elements. political threats.
lation of this kind might be jus- those who observed the Sab-
They also brought with them to this country a love - for learning,
Robert Gordis, associate pro- tified by appeal to. the common bath on Saturday. Associate
a devotion to Jewish ideals, an interest in our traditions. If this fessor at the Jewish _Theological good, the merits and demerits of Justice John J. Francis, who de-
legacy will be passed on to the children, the memory of the Seminary of America, is among the ease should be weighed in the livered the majority opinion,
Landsmanshaften will be a value to be cherished.
the eight authors of the study. light of the total common good, said that the exception did not
*
especially the need for apply to _merchants who "open-
Single copies of Religion and including
peace and friendship be- ly expose to sale on Sunday,
Odd Comparison of Divided Jerusalem with Berlin
American Society are available civic
The issue of a divided Berlin has been likened by foreign without charge-by writing to the tween citizens of differing be- any goods, wares, merchandise
or other article."
correspondents to the situation in Jerusalem.
Center's headquarters, Box 4068, liefs."
The two world conflicts are hardly comparable. -In Berlin, Santa Barb a r a, Calif., or to
it is part of the East-West struggle. The Soviet Union is deter- I its New York City office at 133
mined to keep Germany divided, and the split of Berlin into East 54th Street.
Boris Smolar's
East and West sectors is part of the controversy. It is a world
The
statement
cautions
reli-
argument over Germany, and the great powers are involved here gious leaders against an "over-
in their determination to keep avenues of traffic clear in accord-
emphasis on sectarian interests."
ance with an agreement reached after the last war.
"When an American acts as a
It is different in Jerusalem, where two civilizations are
contrasted by the two portions of the Holy City—the Old held citizen, whether as officeholder or
by Jordan and the New that is the capital of Israel. On that simple voter, his obligation is to
(Copyright, 1961,
border United Nations representatives are keeping the two the whole society and not just
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
peoples completely apart, and while Israel admits travelers to the section of it that shares his
Propaganda Methods:
and fro, Jordan keeps a tight control of traffic and pre- own faith.
The Nazi propaganda technique of penetrating into the
vents Israelis from getting into the Arab territory. It is true that,
"Religious leaders who are democratic
press through "letters to the editor" is now being
by the same token, Arabs also are kept out of Israel. But that genuinely interested in the integ-
is part of the state of war that still is being enforced by all the rity of our national life will, widely used by extreme right-wing groups .. . It is being prac-
Arab countries against Israel. Christians who wish to visit Israel therefore, judge the whole rec- ticed by Arab propagandists in disseminating false and mislead-
are welcome via the Mandelbaum Gate, and Israel is willing to ord and entire platform of politi- ing information against Israel in American newspapers . .
permit Christians who hold Arab-stamped passports to visit the cal figures and candidates for Often one now comes across an Arab or pro-Arab "letter to the
neighboring hostile land. The Arabs, on the other hand, will public office, and not just their editor" in leading newspapers which lend themselves unwittingly
to being used as a tool by not checking- the facts contained
not honor any passport that has an Israeli stamp.
stand on issues of sectarian con- in the "letter" . . . A recent case in point is a "letter to the
In Jerusalem it is an unfortunate condition perpetuated cern .. .
editor" written by an Arab propagandist to the New York
by a war waged by Arabs against Israel; in Berlin it is • a conflict
"When voters are only inter-
on a glObal basis- involving the East and the West. Both are ested in whether a candidate will Times containing incorrect allegations on the legal -status of the
tragic, but the Israeli contest is more easily salvable—as soon help Protestants, .or Catholics, or Arabs residing in military zones in Israel . . . The highly respon-
as the Arabs are willing to sit at one negotiating table with Jews, then messenger boys in- sible New York Times, as well as any other serious newspaper,
Israelis and thereby eventually open up all avenues' for free stead of political leaders will sit would never permit any of their reporters to write a story
without checking and re-checking the facts . . . Yet they do not
traffic in the Middle East, thereby bringing peace to an em- in our legislative assemblies."
apply the same standard to "letters to the editor" which are as
battled area.
The statement emphasizes the widely read as some of the items carried in the news columns
dependence of the free society of the paper . . They print the "letter to the editor" solely
Tragedy of an Israeli Intermarriage •
on religious belief:
on the authority of the writer of that communication . . .
In an editorial entitled "Abdul's Jewish Yaffa," the Chris-
"Men who would remain politi-
tian Science Monitor last week commented as follows on the cally free have to stand on Later, if some of the readers find fault with the facts related
affair between Miss Yaffa Ajami, the Jewish girl, and her Arab groUnd above and beyond the in the letter, the papers also publish the reply, but by that time
the first letter has already achieved its purpose . . . It has been
lover, Abdul Rahim Majdaleh:
political; they need some basis
"There are various combinations of church and state. In for a sense of personal dignity circulated for days -and left the general readership under
the impression which the originator of the "letter" sought to
Israel the courts regulate marriage according to Jewish reli-
Other than that which comes convey . . . This is what the propagandist aimed at . . . Since
gious law and this prohibits civil marriage.
"A Jewish young woman,- Miss Yaffa Ajami, and an Arab, from membership in the body the alleged facts contained in the original letter have not been
politic. Many, if not most, Alfieri- checked for accuracy, the appearance of such communications
Abdul Rahim Majdaleh, would like tq marry to make a home
for their infant son. But if they do so under Israeli law (by cans find -that ground in the serves -some of the propagandists also for other purposes . .
Bible, in the traditions sustain,ed They can reproduce and disseminate the published letter, indi-
his adopting his wife's religion), they fear their child would
by their religious communities, cating the newspaper where it was published and thus using the
be kept, as it is now, in an institution, lest he in fact be
or
in. the perennial teachings of prestige of the paper for their purposes . . . The person receiv-
reared as a Moslem.
"Consequently, the young mother now is reported to plan their church. For them- it is re- ing such a reproduction would hardly suspect that the same
to become a convert to Islam in hope that a court then will ligion that finally makes the newspaper, several days later carried a denial or several denials -
from other letter writers . .. The newspaper, enjoying implicit
permit her and her prospective husband to have the child. stance of freedom reasonable."
The authors declare that a trust, thus unwittingly becomes a partner to the dissemination
This can scarcely be the result desired by those in Israel who
"solid basis for civic unity is of false and harmful propaganda . . . No wonder that Arab propa-
insist on laws that discourage an inter-faith marriage.
common to all the major faiths." ganda offices and extreme right-wing groups in this country—
"Some years ago a play called `Abie's Irish Rose' had the
longest New York run in theatrical records up to its time. It During all the decades of the which would find it very hard to place their propaganda in
dealt humorously but warmly with the problems of a Jewish- American experiment, Protes- the news columns of many Amerkan newspapers—have adopted
Irish couple. May it be that the difficulties of Abdul and tants, Catholics, Jews, and secu- the policy of penetrating the press through "letters- to the
Yaffa will create some sentiment for recognition of a civil lar humanists have found it "pos- editor" . . . The only remedy against such penetration is either
sible to live in peace under the to check the allegations in a "letter to the editor" when they
form of marriage in Israel?"
touch upon a controversial issue, or to permit the other side
Since the appearance - of this editorial, an Israeli - court American flag."
In a discussion of "Morals and to reply before the letter is published and then print the views
has ordered the return of the couple's child to the unmarried
mother who . had threatened to adopt the Moslem faith in the Law," the statement declaTes of both sides simultaneously, leaving it to the reader to make
order to be able to marry Abdul. But the court's ruling does that the birth-control laws in up his own mind.
not solve the "problem of Yaffa and Abdul. It serves, however, Massachusetts and Connecticut, Harmful Rumors:
The recent national elections in Israel have had their side-
to point anew to the aggravated issue of the involvement of once a "symbol of Protestant
Puritan dominance in New En- lines also among Jews in the United States . . . Harmful rumors
religious influences in state matters.
There are theocratic factors in Israel's regulations which gland," have become "a symbol are still being circulated among Jews in this country that the
forbid intermarriages. There are other issues, related to reli- of Catholic political power in election campaign has cost Israel tens of millions of dollars
gious influences in Israel, which interfere with basic freedoms. these states." These statutes, like . . I was asked to look into the matter and establish the
While intermarriages must be discouraged, for the sake of "America's experiment with Pro- facts . .. From what I learned, all the political parties in Israel
Jewry's survival, regulations that lead to theocratic domination- hibition, are tainted with the spent on their campaigning less than ten million Israeli pounds,
can not serve the purposes needed for strong statehood. An moralism that corrupts the law." amounting to about $4,000,000 in • Israeli currency . . . This is
"Unless a serious injury to the much less than the funds spent on any of the previous election
intermarriage in Israel can not possibly be as damaging as
one in the Diaspora. Here, even a single intermarriage is, to common good would result," the campaigns in Israel .. . It was the cheapest election drive be-
be deplored from the point of view of loss to our manpower; writers hold, "majorities should cause the government has introduced certain regulations limiting
in Israel even a dozen intermarriages can not harm the state not oblige minorities to follow campaign expenses.
Landsmanshaften Make Their Exit
4-Year Study Cautions Religious
Leaders on Sectarian Interests
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'Between You
... and Me'
.