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THE JEWISH NEWS
Under the Shadow of Terror
Incorporating. the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
ALGERIAN S'IREET SCEN
Member American Association of English—Jewisb 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 $5 a year. Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under act of Congress of
March 8, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
TH E JEWISH QUARTER)
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the thirteenth day of Adar I, 5722, the following Scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Tezawweh, Exodus 27:20-30:10. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 43:10-27.
Licht Benchen, Friday, Feb. 16, 5:48 p.m.
Vol. XL. No. 25
Page Four
February 16, 1962
Brotherhood: Our Common Goals as Americans
"Freedom and Liberty in Action" is
Meanwhile we hope that George
the definition which Lee H. Bristol, the Washington's ideal of "to bigotry no
1962 chairman of National Brotherhood sanctions" will serve as the guide to
Week, gives to the idea of American Brotherhood and as the ultimate goal
Brotherhood, to be symbolized by the for all men of good will. It was in his
Brotherhood Week celebration, Feb. 18 message to the Newport, R. I., Jewish
to 25.
Congregation that President Washington
President Dwight D. Eisenhower had wrote: "Happily the Government of the
the right approach when he said, during United States, which gives to bigotry no
one of the sanction, to persecution no assistance,
.years of his requires only that they who live under
SAIENnall :; : . Presidency, its protection should demean themselves
0:.:mlnunt .,,$-Nwhen he was as good citizens."
In this declaration, an 18th and not
it the honorary
chairman o f a 20th century - sentiment, was incorpo-
Brotherhood rated the basic principle of democracy
Week, that "our abundant plains and and freedom. It is because the Govern-
mountains would yield little if it were ment of the United States does not sanc-
not for the applied skill and. energy tion bigotry that we have the security
of Americans working together as fellow under which all Americans live today.
citizens bound up in common destiny." Dangers arise for a nation's citizens when
The question is: how -can we best bind the government. becomes bigoted. It is
these skills and energies ' to serve our under banners of bigotry and intolerance
common goal as Americans?
—within the Soviet orbit, which is a mere
The "binding" must be rooted in continuation of the rule of Czarism, and
democracy, and within the democratic under the medieval rule of Moslem coun-
orbit we must be prepared to face the tries—that .our kinsmen were deprived
dangers as well as to accept the benefits of their huinan rights. But in democra-
that go with freedoms.
cies, where it would be considered a
Abraham Lincoln - had an important crime for a government to sanction
definition of democracy when he said: bigotry and persecution, there is a jus-
"As I would not be a slave, so I would - tified feeling of security because it is in-
not be a master. This expresses my idea conceivable that, even under cruellest
of democracy. Whatever differs from this, conditions, a government like ours ever
to the extent of the difference, is no would enact discriminatory legislation.
democracy."
Yet, under rules like ours, a Rockwell
When we speak of Brotherhood, we can propagate Nazism and religious big
therefore also have in mind Democracy ots can encourage hatreds. Fortunately,
—and in the combination of Brotherhood they are isolated, their numbers are
and Democracy we often face the prob- small and the overwhelming sentiment is
lem of bigotry engineered by people who for dignity and honor and the type of
maintain the same right to democratic tolerance that does not mean mere
action as those who propagate good will. enduring our fellow men but respecting
We strive for Brotherhood under the them and treating them like brothers.
slogan "Believe It ... Live It ... Support
This is really the true meaning of
It.' Yet it is not always attainable, even Brotherhood: that we should learn to
in a free land like ours—especially be- treat one another like Brothers, and
cause this land is as free as we struggle that we should never permit anything
to retain it. Because under freedom we akin to injustice and intolerance to creep
even grant the right to speak to the into our legislative codes. For such
bigoted, in the hope that out of the liber- \ Brotherhood we strive — and - for such
ties grahted them will come, eventually, Brotherhood we should labor unto the
a recognition- of the justice and the.liberty end of days, starting rather than ending
for which we strive.
with, Brotherhood Week.
WWIIMPROOD WIEN • FAres, PA de • I/W.10.46mm al CU.= oil is
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Malben—One of Molar Campaign Beneficiaries
looms
In planning their contributions to the oppression. There are crippled, incapaci-
Allied Jewish Campaign, members of our tated, mentally unbalanced among the
community will do well to take into con- refugees. It is in their behalf that Malben
•sideration the functions of one of the comes forth to provide vitally needed help.
great and very effective agencies that There are times when ambulances have to
benefit from our drive — the Malben, meet immigrants at Lydda airport or the
whose name is taken from the initials of Haifa Harbor to take them to Malben
the Hebrew letters that stand for "Insti- hospitals and homes. Many of them have
tutions for the Care of Handicapped Im- been aided in displaced persons camps in
migrants." A major project of the Joint Europe or the Moslem mellahs. For more
Distribution Committee, a chief bene- than 12 years, Malben has been a rescuing
ficiary of the United Jewish Appeal, force for these unfortunate people for
which receives more than half of our whom the JDC agency has provided care,
campaign income, Malben relieves Israel homes and means of becoming productive
of responsibilities which would have stag- in the institutions financed with funds
gered the young Jewish State if this raised by the UJA.
agency were not in existence.
Malben functions at an annual budget
The entire world is becoming daily of $10,000,000. In 1960 the number of
more aware of several of the major prob- patients cared for in Malben institutions
lems affecting mankind, especially those rose to $47,000. Psychiatric care has been
of the aged and the mentally handicapped. provided for the mentally ill, and there
Malben provides relief in both areas. has been set up a method of providing
UJA funds enable newcomers to Israel loans for some of the Malben patients who
who are not handicapped physically or are able to conduct small business ven-
mentally to become integrated into the •tures. Aid is given to the blind, the mute,
country's economy. Homes and jobs are the deaf, the invalided.
provided for them and their children are
This is one of the great agencies that
enabled to secure a good education. But benefit from our Allied Jewish Campaign
there also are sick, aged, mentally afflicted dollars. Remember Malben as you plan
among those who must leave the lands of your gift to the great campaign currently
their birth which have become lands of in process in our community.
Kindred Peoples' Cooperation
Judaism and Islam' Points to
Two Faiths Meeting Ground
'
Dr. Erwin I. J. Rosenthal, in the newest addition to the Popular
Jewish Library series of the World Jewish Congress, "Judaism and
Islam," published by Thomas Yoseloff (11 E. 36th, N. Y. 16), con-
tends that "the meeting of Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages
produced one of the most interesting and important, epochs of
Jewish history," and declares:
"The Jews participated in a kindred culture and civilization
which by far surpassed in depth and spiritual power anything
they had known since the days of Hellenism. The Jews adopted
the Arabic language of their conquerors and. with it many a
form and quite a few ideas. And yet, despite all assimilation to
the Muslim mode of life and to Muslim ways of thought, the
Jews under ISlam maintained, even enriched, their distinctive
character as Jews with a vigor and determination hitherto
unknown."
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*
Taking into account the current Arab-Israel strife, Dr. Rosen-
thal, who argues that there has not been an anti-Semitic feeling
towards Jews among Arabs, believes: "Muslim consciousness will
largely deterrr:ne whether or not long-term self-interest will bring
the Arab states nearer to Israel. On the Jewish side, more than
a return to the ancient homeland, more than a physical return to
the cradle of the religious Semitic civilization is needed. One of
the preconditions for a positive solution of the present conflict
is the conscious realization on both sides that to a large measure
they share a good deal of common ground in the religious ordering
of their lives in the past, and that much of their cultural achieve-
ment in the past spring from the same spiritual roots."
Biblical influences upon Mohammed, the acceptance of Abra-
ham, Moses and other Biblical leaders as prophets of the Muslim
faith, and the inclusion in the Islamic faith of some Jewish prac-
tices and legends are outlined by the author in proof of his thesis.
While - Mohammed rejected the Jewish dietary laws, "which
he considered a punishment for the Jews, he retained the pro-
hibition on eating pig, blood and carcasses and decreed ritual
slaughtering of animals permitted for human consumption. Mus-
lim slaughtering corresponds exactly to Jewish Shehitah."
"Islam," Dr. Rosenthal writes, "has not only entered into the
inheritance of Hebraic culture in religion and ethics but has also
become heir to the culture and civilization of Hellas . .. The reli-
gious and the 'secular' sciences of medieval Islam have stimulated
Jews within its boundaries to prodigious feats of intellectual en-
deavor which resulted in the first systematic presentation of Jewish
religious and ethical values . . . -At the same time, in the field of
the religious sciences and religious poetry Islam has stimulated
and guided Jewish thinkers and teachers."
*
*
*
Dr. Rosenthal goes into detail to show how Jews and Muslims
advanced- medicine, 'science and philosophy. He describes the
religious freedom accorded the Jews by pointing to the establish-
ment of the office of the Exilarch at the court of the Caliph in
Bagdad, and he reviews the activities and achievements of Saadiah
Gaon and others in that era.
He lists, and describes the accomplishments of noted Jewish
physicians, medical writers, astronomers and mathematicians, in
describing, "the share which the Jews have in the dissemination
of scientific and medical knowledge throughout the far-flung Mus-
lim empire. He describes the role played by Maimonides and other
great Jewish scholars.
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'5
*
What of the future? He describes the beneficial role of Israel
and mentions the fact that "the total of 856,000 Jews in the Middle
East and in North Africa in 1950 had fallen to approximately 150,-
000 in 1959," mainly through settlement in Israel, and he declares:
"Once these hundreds of thousands have become an integral
part of the new community rapidly shaping its own style of living
in the Middle East, they will be able to contribute to the under-
standing of the modern Arab mentality which is so essential a
preparation for the dialogue to come between Israel and the Arab
states."
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