THE JEWISH NEWS
The Purim Message
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
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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 $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
Advertising Manager
Business Manager_
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, Sabbath Zakhor, the eleventh day of Adar II, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues.
Pentateuchal portion, Wa-yikra and Zakhor, Leviticus 1:1-5:26, Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Propheti-
cal portion, 1 Samuel 15:2-34.
Licht Benchen, Friday, March 16, 6:21 p.m.
• Vol. XLI. No. 3
Page Four
March 16, 1962
Our Community's Call to Action
CC
C ampaign Opens Tuesday
After a number of weeks of prepara- give to our communal school system, the
tions and pre-campaign meetings, during continued aid to the Jewish Community
which nearly half of this year's goal has Center, the support for the Home for the
already been pledged, the Allied Jewish Aged and Sinai Hospital, and the numer-
' Campaign will be declared officially in ous national movements which look to us
progress, inaugurating the community- for encouragement and assistance.
wide solicitations, at the public meeting
Continued support of the many causes
at the Jewish Center, next Tuesday eve- included in the drive must be viewed by
ning.
all of us as part of our daily budgets—as
The objectives of the drive should be part of the duty to provide the means
well known by now. The goal of without which our community can not re-
$5,90-1,000 includes the regular support- taro its status as an entity in Jewish life.
ing funds for 55 agencies that include the
So much needs to be done, by as large
local educational, health, social welfare a volunteer force as possible, to secure
and recreational causes, and a special the minimum campaign goal, that not a
fund of $1.200,000 that is to go exclusive- single member of our community can
ly to the United Jewish Appeal, as an possibly be excluded from responsibility
addition to the U.JA allocation included in providing the funds so urgently
in the regular fund. needed. There is a great need for volun-
The latter emergency need is especial- teer workers, and there is the additional
ly vital at this time, when so many people urgency of assuring generous increases
need to be rescued from areas of persecu- over last year's contributions, in order
lion. Its inclusion in the current drive that the increases needed for local causes
serves as a challenge to our people not and the special fund for the UJA should
to forsake those who must escape in- be assured.
dignities and for whom new homes must
Tuesday night's opening campaign
be provided. in Israel and in such western rally is, therefore, a time for serious con-
countries of freedom where havens are sideration of our duties, an occasion for
being made available for a portion of the dedication to a great goal. May the appeal
oppressed. that will be sounded at Tuesday's gather-
'While keeping in view this dire need, ing strike listening ears and warm hearts,
our community must remember also the so that our community may recorded
rmitine obligations—the support we must among the most generous in the land.
Purim: Israel's Faith in Survival
A carnival spirit again will pervade
Our communities—our homes, our schools
and synagogues — Monday evening and
Tuesday, when we will observe the fes-
tival of Purim. Few occasions on our
calendar have been as joyous, as inspiring
to confidence that Israel is indestructible,
as admonishing to our enemies that every
Haman must meet his doom.
Even in times when the dangers to
Jewish existence were very great, when
the Damocles sword swung over Jews in
communities that were threatened with
extinction, greatest comfort was derived
from the Purim story, and the festival
served as an inspiration to renewed faith
that the People Israel is destined to 'sur-
vive. While the word God does not appear
even once in the Book of Esther, the
festival is -linked to the faith that the
Almighty will not abandon Israel and that
our people will triumph over bigotry.
In ancient and medieval times, when
Jews were isolated, when discrimination
was the rule rather than the exception,
rescue from oppression was viewed as a
miracle. Therefore, the special Purim
prayer in our prayerbooks is "Al Ha-
Nisim" — "For the Miracles"
and it
asserts:
"We give thanks to Thee, 0 Lord
our God, for the miracles, for the res-
cue, for the mighty acts and saving
deeds, and for the battles which Thou
hast waged for our fathers in those days
at this season. In the days of Mordecai
and Esther, in Shushan, the capitol,
when the wicked Haman rose up against
them and sought to destroy, to slay and
make to perish all the Jews, both young
and old . . . on the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month, which is the month of
Adar, and to take the spoil of them for
a prey — then didst Thou in Thine
abundant mercy bring his counsel to
nought, didst frustrate his design, and
return his recompense upon his own
-
head . . ."
Purim has a great appeal to young
and old alike, and its linking to,. our chil-
dren is especially vital. There is a legend
that when Mordecai learned of Haman's
sinister plan to destroy the Jews, and as
he walked mournfully from the king's
palace. he met a group of Jewish children.
He asked them what Biblical verses they
learned that day:
One of the youngsters replied: "Be
not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the
desolation of the wicked when it
cometh." And another quoted: "Let
them take counsel together, but it shall
be brought to naught; let them speak,
but it shall not be carried out, for God
is with us."
H. J. Schonfield's .'History
of Biblical Literature
Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield, whose Biblical studies are based on
his archaeological research in the Middle East, is the author of
a most informative book, "A History of Biblical Literature,"
issued as an original paperback — not available in any other
edition — by New American Library of World Literature (501
Madison, N.Y. 22). -
This compact work contains an examination of the origin,
authorship and authenticity of the Bible, based on recent dis-
coveries, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, on related literature in
the light of historical events.
The books of both the Old and the New Testament are
examined. The noted author has delved into all the Prophetical
works as well as the Pentateuch, and the writings that have
become sacred to Jews and Christians.
His study includes an evaluation of Hebrew, the Old Testa-
ment language, and he describes its development from the
Phoenician scirpt and the use of Aramaic characters.
He points out that the Old Testament "has come down to
us in Hebrew, with some minor portions in Aramaic in books
subsequent to the Babylonian Exile."
"While the Hebrew language underwent a process of evo-
lution, and at different stages borrowed from Babylonian,
Egyptian, Aramaean, Persian, etc., there is nothing in the
evidence to suggest that any part of the Old Testament, other
than the Aramaic passages, was ever composed in any other
language than Hebrew," Dr. Schonfield states. "If this is the
case, it means that in considering the transmission of the
text we do not have to entertain the possibility of any action
having suffered by translation from another tongue in which
it was first written."
He points out that "with the exception of the Samaritan
version of the Pentateuch, the only translation of the Old Testa-
ment of antiquity and authority is that which is known as the
Septuagint."
Documentary sources behind the Old Testament, the events
that influenced Hebrew documentary history, New Testament
sources and the events that influenced them, Scriptural Canons
and the interpretation of canonicity are among the important
elements in Dr. Schonfield's study. He states, in his analysis of
the reading of the Law and the inclusion of Psalms in liturgy:
"After the destruction of the Temple in C.E. '70 it was
inevitable that the Bible should be treated with much greater
reverence than it had enjoyed previously, and that was con-
siderable. Even the blank edges of a manuscript of the sacred
text were regarded as holy. And if the script had become so
blurred that only 85 letters remained legible it was still holy,
and contact with the scroll defied the hands. To safeguard the
exact transmission of the text the letters, words, and verses
were counted, and the work of the Scribes and later Masoretes
Hearing these replies, Mordecai, ac- to secure conformity in reading and exposition of textual
cording to the legend, gained confidence curiosities continued until the close of the Middle Ages."
While the entire volume is one of only 225 pages, it assumes
that the Jews would be saved.
an encyclopedic character by virtue of the brief analyses of all
It is the
faith of our people that has of the Scriptural works, of the Major and Minor Prophets, of the
helped keep Israel alive. Purim strength- Christian Books, the archaeological finds and the Dead Sea
ens this faith. It does it in a spirit of joy, Scrolls, of the Books Between the Testaments — the Apocrypha
and as such it defies all Biblical criticism and Pseudepigrapha.
An important service of enlightenment about Biblical litera-
which expresses doubt in the festival's
authenticity and makes it even more auth- ture is rendered by Dr. Schonfield through this valuable paper-
back.
entic by the spirit and confidence of a
believing people which again prepares to
exchange the greeting: "Happy Purim !"
Landau's 'Length of Our Year
Ineffective Guide
A Community Calendar is being issued
by the Jewish Community Council to
guide local organizations not to conflict
in arranging their programs. Yet, there
has been a regrettable overlapping of
events that has created chaos. This week
alone, two noteworthy lectures took place
on the same evening. Such conflicts often
affect attendance. Let it be known that
if the Community Calendar has become
ineffective, the fault is not the Jewish
Community Council's, but that of the
sponsoring organizations who fail to co-
operate in an important communal effort.
"Length of Our Days — Focus on Judaism and the Personal
Life," by Rabbi Sol Landau, of Wilmette, Ill., published by Bloch,
is a collection of the author's lectures and sermons on a variety of
issues and on Jewish ethical teachings.
Under discussion are such subjects as love, intermarriage,
prayer, the changing rabbinate, missionarizing and others.
On the question of intermarriage he states that opposition to
it "is not due to a sense of superiority, nor a matter of segregation
per se." He declares: "The educational program of the synagogue
must explain that the struggles for group survival and religious
commitment are involved. Attention must be drawn to the psycho-
logical and sociological rebellion which is often the underlying
cause for intermarriage. In all of this, it will be understood that
belief in democracy and opposition to intermarriage are com-
patible."
Rabbi Landau's essays are thought-provoking and his book
serves a good purpose as an evaluation of Jewish customs and
beliefs.