`Justice, Justice
Shalt Thou Pursue'
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Associations, National
Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing •Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,
Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription 85 a year. Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1952 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under act of Congress of
March 8, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Business Manager.
City Editor
Sabbath. Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the first of Shevat, 5722, the following Scriptural selections will be read in
our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Wa-era, Exod. 6:2-9:35. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 66:1-24.
Licht Benchen, Friday, Jan. 5, 4:57 p.m.
VOL. XL, No. 19
Page Four
January 5, 1962
Intellectuals' Positive Jewish Approaches
Several years ago, considerable inner
hurt was felt in the Jewish community as
a result of a rather negative response that
came from a group of Jewish intellectuals,
mostly authors of best selling novels, to
a series of questions as to their Jewish
attitudes.
Two years ago, a similarly negative
response came from a group of "angry
Jewish young Men," as they described
themselves, whose appalling Jewish views
were very disturbing.
These feelings are considerably as-
sauged by a new symposium — on the
subject "My Jewish Affirmation" — pub-
lished in the current issue of Judaism,
the American Jewish Congress quarterly
journal. The responses from 21 Jewish
college professors, painters, 'publishers,
authors and others indicate that in this
group there is a warm Jewish feeling,
that there are positive approaches to
Judaism and to Jewry among them, that
there is a genuine interest in Israel.
Some of the contributors to this sym-
posium have probed deeply into their
consciences. There were among them men
who had become skeptical but who had
returned to an admiration of the Jewish
traditions.
Thus, Prof. Marvin I. Shapiro of the
Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic I n s t i t u t e,
stating that he identifies himself "com-
fortably as a Jew," declares: "I regard
my commitment as a Jew as essentially
a search for the meaning of this emotion-
ally felt sense of conviction." Prof. Irwin
Weil of Brandeis University considers
himself "linked very strongly to all other
Jews in the world, wherever they live."
A former Detroiter, Prof. Daniel Ela-
zar of the Institute of Government and
Public Affairs of the University of Illinois,
accounting for his ability to look with
greater perspective at the two civilizations
in which he lives — American and Jewish
— affirms: "I feel that I and those with
backgrounds similar to mine have particu-
lar responsibilities toward the Jewish
people — to Israel as the cultural and
spiritual center of our Jewish civilization;
to Jewish communities in all parts of the
world, and particularly to the American
Jewish community."
Regardless of the views expressed,
whether it is the strong pro-Orthodox
attitude of Prof. Michael Wyschogrod of
Hunter College or _ the religiously skep-
tical of others, the importance of this
symposium is that there are no unneces-
sary apologies by the contributors, that
all feel a merging strength in their joint
American-Jewish loyalties, that the Jewish
attitudes are constructive. That makes
the viewpoints that were collected in this
discussion most heartening for all who
seek firm and positive roots for Judaism
in this country.
Jerusalem Can Always Be Peacefully Aglow
The more than 20,000 tourists and pil-
grims who peacefully crossed the Jordan-
ian and Israeli borders last week for
participation in the Christmas celebration
in the Old City of Jerusalem were a living
proof that peace can be attained and that
good will among all faiths need never be
disturbed.
An official of the Israel government,
while standing near the barbed wire at
the so-called Mandelbaum Gate, as the
pilgrims streamed from Israel into Jor-
dan, commented to a Reuters reporter
that the 1961 Christian holy day was
marked "by the most friendly atmosphere
in this No Man's Land since the Palestine
war of 1948 cut Jerusalem in two."
Israel at no time interfered with the
interchange of populations during the
sacred Christian period of the year, and
the "friendly atmosphere" could have
been assured from the very beginning,
had it not been for the war threats that
• have constantly been hurled at Israel..
Perhaps the 1961 experience will
serve- as an admonishment to Israel's ad-
versaries that ' warlike exhibitions are
unnecessary, that neighbors can live side
by side in the greatest harmony, that
peoples can benefit from one another.
Perhaps also the fact that so many
representatives of African nations were
among the pilgrims from Israel to the Old
City of Jerusalem may serve to open up
the eyes of Israel's neighbors to the possi-
bility and the desirability for peace. The
Jordanians had occasion to witness the
peaceful entrance of men and women'
from many nations from Israel into their
country, and their return to Israel for a
continuation , of their amicable relation-
ship with Israel. The Jordanians undoubt-
edly also were informed that only one of
Israel's 3,000 Christian Arabs who went
to Bethlehem for Christmas remained in
the Jordan territory — an 18-year-old girl
who on her visit in Bethlehem in 1960
became engaged to a Jordanian. That,
too, is an indication of a certain amount
of rootedness which gives permanence to
Israel's existence as a State composed not
only of Jews but also of Christians and
Moslems.
And so, if Jerusalem could be aglow
on the 25th of 'December, there •is_ no
reason why the glow of peace can not be
made permanent fOr the entire year —
and for all the, years to come — for all
the faiths for whom the Holy City abounds
in sacredness:
USSR Caricatures as Marks of Anti-Semitism
We are indebted to Jewish Minorities
Research of New York and the Contem-
porary Jewish Library of London for two
volumes which reveal the factual status
of the Jews in the Soviet Union as de-
picted in newspaper accounts. One of the
volumes contains reproductions of news
and feuilleton material in Russian; accom-
panied by many cartoons, and the accom-
panying volume includes their English
translations.
These news articles, covering half of
the 1960 USSR accounts in newspapers
and magazines about the Russian Jews,
.
contain many unbiased reports about
actual happenings involving_jews. But so
many of the feuilletons are so biased, and
so much of the material is so venomous,
that these reproductions point to a sad
state of affairs indicating an anti-Semitic
program involving all of the Soviet
Union.
The references to Israel and to Ben-
Gurion are especially biased, and the car-
toons include so many caricatures worthy
of a Streicher and a Goebbels, that the
factual account serves to discredit the
Communist rulers who speak so often, for
the record, against anti-Semitism.
Jewish Publication _Society Issues
First Volume of Prof. Baer's Classic,
'History of Jews in Christian Spain'
The Jewish Publication Society of America has just issued the
first of the•two-volume "History of the Jews in Christian Spain" by
Yitzhak Baer, in a translation from the Hebrew by Louis Schoff-
man.
This volume is certain to remain among the most important
of the great classics already to the credit of the society.
When this important historical account first appeared in
Hebrew under the title "Toledot haYehudim biSefarad hallotzrit,"
it was at once recognized and acclaimed for its greatness. The
task undertaken by the JPS to have it translated, and its selection
of the able scholar, Dr. Schoffman, of Brooklyn College, as trans-
lator, make it possible for the English readers, and for students of
history, to benefit from it.
The first volume is devoted tothe periods from the Age of
Reconquest to the 14th century. The reconquest age was the long
war of several centuries fought by the Christian Spaniards to
-recapture the Iberian peninsula from the Arabs. Jewry was deeply
involved in the struggleS _and the history at hand offers great
enlightenment on the occurrences.
Prof. Baer, now professor of history at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem, had spent more than a quarter of a century in
research leading up to the writing of his great work;
From Prof. Baer's story we learn about the beneficent years
for Jewry in .Christian Spain, until the emergence of anti-Semitism
in the middle of the 14th century.
His history shows that Jews were active in the Reconquest.
They fared well in Christian_ Spain and it was not until the end of
the 14th century and during the 15th century that the tragedies
were imposed upon them, resulting in either conversions or flight.
Describing the cultural attainments of Spanish Jewry, 'Prof. -
Baer shows how they had clung to Their Hebraic roots, how:
"They created for their people a national-religious lyrical poetry
of singular quality-- -new, yet old—and explained the meaning
of their People's fate."
Research in its deepest sense is in evidence in this authori-
tative work into which a great scholar has poured in his devotion
to the unearthing of all available basic, facts. His review of the
inner life of Spanish Jewry during the 13th century surpasses in
clarity and enlightenment anything that has yet been written on
the subject.
Prof. Baer throws light on the social life of the JeWs of the
era he reviews, on community organization and their taxes, on their
religious life, and the leaders of the era who pass in review emerge
in a new light and will be found of great interest in the scholarly
study under review.
The mysticism and social reforms evaluated by the eminent
author contribute additional valuable material to the story of
Spanish JeWry.
The seeds of disaster for Spanish Jewry became evident when
the enemies of the Jews began to gain ground. Boycotts of Jews by
Christians were introduced by the Cortes and the evil effects of
inimical laws began to be felt during the reign of John I (1379-90).
Jews had to choose Christian judges to try criminal cases and
discriminatory legislation kept multiplying. For a time, only in
Castille did the ancient Spanish way for Jewry remain unaltered.
The second volume of Prof. Baer's history, which will be
awaited with the keenest interest, will deal with 13th century
Aragon and with the 1492 EXpulsion of the Jews.
Pamphlet by Dr. Hertz:
'Faith in Jewish Survival'
"Faith in Jewish Survival," by Dr. Richard C. Hertz, contains
a series of essays by the senior rabbi of Temple Beth El on a
variety of subjects.
Drawing upon his experiences during his travels abroad,
and reviewing the past year's happenings as they affected world
Jewry, Rabbi Hertz expresses the hope, in the opening essay,
"Agenda for Jewish SurVival," that this will be a year of re-
dedication to the synagogue and that "man will triumph not
only over outer space but inner man."
In another article, "The Heroism of Our Generation," Dr.
Hertz reviews the Eichmann trial, the lessons of the holocaust
and Jewish martyrdom._ He pays tribute to the late Dr. Leo
Baeck and other heroes of our generation.
Four sermons he delivered during the last Holy Days con-
clude the pamphlet. Its publication was made possible by the
Henry Levitt Memorial Fund' of Temple Beth El.