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,. . Purely Commentary
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By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
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Rabbi Mordecai S. Halpern Outlines Stand on
Issue of Jewish Programming in the Centers
Under date of May 18, Rabbi Mordecai S. Halpern of
Congregation Beth Shalom sent the following communication to
the editor of The Jewish News to clarify his views on the Jewish
Center programming issue, as it was analyzed in the last two
issues in the Purely Commentary column and in a letter signed
by three Detroit Jewish Center leaders:
A week ago I read your°.
answer—namely, the end never
justifies the means.
6) Things are never all or
nothing at all in life. The ques-
tion is one of emphasis and
degree—re programming of a
Jewish institaion. This is the
disturbing element re our cen-
ter. (Parenthetically I may add
that I would prefer to see our
children have their recrea-
tional and sports activities to-
gether with their non-Jewish
neighbors, which means we
should support our general
community centers.)
7) Finally, it would be good
for everyone to read the article
of Mr. Carl Urbont, the director
of the 92nd Street Y.M.H.A. of
New York City.
It would be unfair, unwise,
and unkind to answer all of
the questions raised in the two
articles of the Jewish News
(May 11 and May 18).
Suffice it to say, our syna-
gogues have much to do to im-
prove their own qualitative pro-
The 'Philosophy' of Capital Punishment
There seems to he a foregone conclusion that the verdict
as
of the Israel Supreme Court, when it hands down its ruling on
X
Adolf Eichmann's appeal against the death sentence next Tuesday,
a;
mi will be to uphold the judgement of the Jerusalem District Court
•es
that the arch murderer is to hang for his crimes against the
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W. Jewish people and against humanity. Then there is certain to "commentary" column re my tional membership." There is no
I follow another long delay — Robert Servatius' resort to time — article and those of my col- competition for the "same" con-
and much of it is being allotted to him by Israeli regulations — leagues published in the spring stituents.
r.n
issue of "Conservative Juda-
3) Our Detroit gentlemen
before he lodges his appeal with Israel's President Itzhak Ben-Zvi. ism" relating to the issue of
write, "The Center never pur-
G.4 The President of Israel also is expected to bide his time before
Jewish
Centers
in
America.
ported
to be a religious insti-
Z there is to be the final ruling in the historic case. The Eichmann
My personal response is that tution in the narrow sense of
1::: Case therefore remains a long-drawn-out affair.
cn •Under circumstances even minutely related to Eichmann's you thoughtfully aired the basic the term." We do not ask that
ri crime, in England, the Nazi would long ago have been executed. points made in our article — it be narrow. However, we do
• It is doubtful whether the case would have dragged as much in although there seems to be ask that it be a religious insti-
some misunderstanding of facts tution in the broadest sense of
E. this country.
the term. A Jewish Community
But because justice is so speedy and death for criminals. and emphasis.
O
that
is
institution
Messrs. Gershenson, Frankel Center
c4 certain under British regulations, the capital punishment issue
has been revived there, and the possibilities are that it soon will and Keidan, in today's issue of founded on the principle of
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your newspaper, seem to have Judaism as a religious civiliza-
be abolished.
1 =1
wIn Israel, it was necessary to drag the Eichmann Case because somehow not read any of the tion could be a blessing. As
F it is so vital that the world should know — and never forget
articles under discussion. They presently constituted in Detroit,
the horrors that were perpetrated during the Hitler Regime. There then proceed to attack straw it is not.
are entirely too many Nazi sentiments uttered to this very day to men that don't exist.
4) It was amusing to me to
justify indifference or forgetfulness.
1) Nowhere in my article find that nowhere in their let-
Yet, there is a vast difference of opinion on the type of did I say that "the Detroit ter did the above gentlemen re-
punishment that is to he meted out to the criminal. There is a Center had opened all of its spond to my simple requests:
strong feeling, both in and out of Israel, that Eichmann should facilities on the Sabbath." On "Warmly, Jewish motivated gramming.
hang. But there remains another feeling, in minority ranks, that the contrary, if the worthy personnel, programming that
It seems to me that what is
the historic Jewish stand against capital punishment should not be gentlemen would take the deserves the name Jewish be- needed is not articles, misstate-
altered, that a record of opposition to murder, even when legalized, trouble to read what was writ- fore it . . ." This, it seems to ments and anger but rather
should not he marred.
ten, they would find (page me, is the crux of the entire direct discussion around a
As the hour draws near to the final court action, on May 29, 22-23, point 16) a clear descrip- problem. The absence of re- table, within a community to
both sides are expressing their views, some very vehemently. A ti on of those activities not oc sponse to it raises some inter- see what we can all do to-
typical example of the passions that seethe in human hearts and curring on the Sabbath.
gether, in your own words, Mr.
esting questions.
animate people is the viewpoint that was printed prominently in
5) Regarding your question, Slomovitz, "to perfect so coop-
2) There is not the slightest
the current issue of The Nation. A letter in that issue by Hans
erative a spirit between the
Meyerhoff, Of Berkley, Calif., teacher of philosophy at the Uni- feeling of competition on the "What are we to say to the two (synagogue and Center)
versity of California and editor of "Philosophy of History in Our part of any synagogue for Cen- group—small as it may be— that it will effectuate the no-
ter memberships. Were Messrs. that is still antagonistic to Is-
Time." reads in part:
blest aspirations of a culturally
"I have heard it suggested that Eichmann means Ichmann; Gershenson, Frankel and Kei- rael and Israeli institutions, but
productive communal program."
that is "I, man" or Everyman. Whether true or not, let it be so! dan to have read my article, which concurs in gifts to Israel
Sincerely yours,
Let Everyman go to the gallows because Eichmann is guilty. they would find on page 24, in order that their own hobbies
MORDECAI S. HALPERN,
That makes symoblic sense; for who is not guilty in the death "Lest there be misunderstand- that are included in the Allied
Rabbi,
of the six million and who would escape a hanging if he got what ing, not one synagogue in Oak Campaign should be cared
Congregation Beth Shalom
Park lacks sufficient congrega- for?"—our answer is a Jewish
he deserved?
'So let him have his death which belongs to him. Let's forget
about Eichmann and remember the six million he helped to
kill. I.et the day of his hanging be a Day of Remembrance in
.Jewish history. Let the day he saved for posterity, a memorial
to destructive fury and deliverance, a Passover in our own time.
Let us gathor as .Jews in Israel and throughout the world — yes,
CINCINNATI, (JTA) —The Sandmel, provost of the Hebrew course to historical scholarship
let Israel consecrate the ritual on the day of his death: let us come
Cincinnati Enquirer, one of this Union College—Jewish Institute is totally useless. So too is the
together. march to the Tomb of the Unknown Jew, light a collective
city's leading daily newspapers, is of Religion, as declaring that appeal to conscience, or to Jesus'
candle, and remember the dead in silence and sorrow. Let his
under fire for presenting a the Enquirer article was guilty summary of the Golden Rule , or
death bear witness to our faith in life."
of "a complete lack of academic to any standard of ethics or
Prof. Meyerhoff has, regrettably, linked to his understandable lengthy report on a talk by the
approach." Dr. Sandmel added justice."
sentiment a proposal that smacks of the brutal and medieval. He president of the Cincinnati Bar
Dr. Sandmel added that there
would have us create a symbol for hatred to match the hater. He Association, which revived the that crucifixion was a Roman
ancient canard that the Jews ! form of punishment and that, were also Christians "in abun-
would drag Jewish memorials down to a low level.
:"for those Christians for whom dance who recognize the circum-
There is only one instance of an observance on the Jewish were responsible for the cruci-
there is meaning or satisfaction stances that the anti-Jewish tone
calendar that refers to the punishment by death of a culprit who
fixion of almost
Christ.
The
Enquirer
had plotted to destroy the Jewish people. In the Purim story devoted
half
a page
to a 'in blaming Jews of 2,000 years of the New Testament is the
ago for something which tran- product of an age and a set of
Haman is hissed and Jews rejoice on that minor festival because
condensation of the talk by Fran spired, and who enjoy exacting conditions" and that "these
cis L. Dale, with the comment 1
a calamity that faced the Jews of Persia was averted.
But the death of Haman was ordered not by the Jews but by that Dale has given the talk Ifrom Jews of our day, or from Christians deny that anti-Jewish
'their children, some penalty for sentiment is a necessity for the
Haman's superior, King Ahasuerus. It is true that in the Purim "almost 600 times."
the transmitted guilt, the re- Christian faith."
story the order was given that Jews could retaliate by killing
Dale was quoted as declaring:
those who had themselves planned to be the Jews' killers. But "If our Lord's enemies were to
that fabled account is not recorded as part of a planned Jewish succeed in their plans to destroy
program to fit into a Jewish tradition. The established ancient Him, they had to gain His con-
Jewish law, which should apply to Israel, calls for extreme viction before both the Jewish ;
caution before even an acknowledged murderer is put to death. and Roman authorities." The at-
Ei•hmann's guilt is unquestioned and admitted. Yet, there re - Itorney was quoted as adding
mains the challenge to our sense of honor as a people—whether 'that "in one, He was convicted
we can condone a state's ordering the death of a person rather I of blasphemy by the Great San-
than seek another method of punishment. hedrin and sentenced to death.
Whatever the final decision, we can not accept the proposal In the second, He was charged
of Prof. Meyerhoff. The Warsaw Ghetto revolt on the Passover of before Pontius Pilate with trea-
1943, the numerous other occasions when Jews resisted tryanny, son and acquitted." -
are -occasions for proper observance of a sacred event, but not
The American Israelite, Jew-
the time when a man is ordered to die for a crime. We must
remember the dead, but only through their heroism. It is the ish weekly published here, de-
martyr we memoralize, not the criminal. And if we remember the clared that it was "shocked be-
martyred we won't forget>those who imposed the martyrdom on yond words that a newspaper en-
joying the tradition long attrib-
an entire people.
uted to the Enquirer would lend
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its columns to the dissemination
An Opportunity to Plan Improved Jewish Programming
of these historic innaccuracies,
Rabbi Mordecai S. Halpern's statement in response to this which have caused thousands
Commentator's analysis of the Jewish Centers' method of pro- upon thousands of innocent Jew-
gramming, as it was considered in a symposium in the Con- ish men, women and children to
servative -Judaism magazine, and the subsequent assertions by be slain by zealots—religious and
three Detroit Jewish Center leaders, should be viewed as a political."
sound contributions to the issue under discussion.
The Israelite cited Dr. Samuel
There should come forth an admission that the major hope
el
Cincinnati Enquirer Charged with
Reviving =Christ Killer' Inaccuracy
Cong. Beth Aaron's Affiliation
Renewed with Hebrew Schools
and aspiration for any institution to which is appended the name
Jewish must he for the highest goals of programming.
If such an admission should ever be lacking, there will
result a betrayal of the goals of public Jewish institutions.
If we admit the aim to raise the standards of Jewish educa-
tion and to set our goals high in guilding our community to-
wards a thorough understanding and appreciation of Jewish
values, then there should be no objection to any effort to review
our communal educational aims. Unless we deny that the Jewish
Center belongs in the sphere of educational media, we should be
prepared from time to time to review our programs, with the
f`, aim of raising their standards.
Let us welcome an opportunity to inject into the Jewish
renter programs the highest ideals. We need not fear discussion
frequent review of our communal needs—as long as there is
the earnestness to provide for our community the finest type of
service, garbed in the highest Jewish traditions.
Brazil Academy Gives
Medal to Israeli Prof
RIO DE JANEIRO, (JTA) —
Professor Saul Adler, chairman
of the department of biology at
the Hebrew University, Jeru-
salem, was awarded a medal here
by the Brazilian Academy of
Medicine.
He -was cited for his "disting-
uished contribution" toward com-
bating leischmaniasis, a disease
caused by a variety of the proto-
zoan parasite, prevalent in this
country.
Beth Aaron Congregation and the United Hebrew Schools
renewed an affiliation relationship for a second ten year term.
Shown at the signing ceremony, from left to right, are: seated,
David Safran, treasurer of the United Hebrew Schools; Rabbi
Benjamin Gorrelick, of the Beth Aaron; Joseph Lovy, president
of Beth Aaron Congregation; Philip J. Gilbert; standing:
Charles Salinsky, Albert Elazar, superintendent of the United
Hebrew Schools; Zvi Berke], executive director of Beth Aaron;
and Isadore J. Goldstein, executive secrtary of United Hebrew
Schools. Beth Aaron is the third synagogue which has renewed
its arrangements with the United Hebrew Schools in which a
community Hebrew school is housed In the synagogue school
facilities. In addition to substantial economies for both the
synagogue and the school, this arrangement has made possible
the development of a city wide Hebrew school system, well
housed, staffed by full time professional Hebrew teachers
and serving every area of the city and suburbs.