THE JEWISH NEWS The Purim Message Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 cD co c•-• „ 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.