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Purely Commentary
B-G, Kennedys and
Dynasties . . . Hebrew
. Suburbia
Studies .
By Philip Allow Anti-Semitic
Slomovitz Group to Hold Public
Meeting in London
and especially the best relations with our neighbors—those who
A story current in Israel inquires as to the difference be- will live next to us and those who may displace us in areas
tween the country's Prime Minister and the Messiah, and the we now occupy.
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answer is: Ben-Gurion refuses to go and the Messiah refuses to
Language Studies ... Hebrew ... Tehillim
come.
In his provocative and thought-provoking address given to
While there is a certain amount of ungraciousness towards
the architect of Israel's statehood in this story, it has some rele- the audience that gathered at the annual dinner of Yeshiva Uni-
vance to the developing situations in which B-G, the darling of versity, in Detroit, U. S. Supreme Court Justice William 0.
Israel and of most Jews everywhere, has been so intemperate and Douglas complimented the foreign students in this country as
so obdurately stubborn in his criticisms of Zionism and Zionist being "mostly talented people," and commented that they speak,
in totality, "languages, many of which we are as yet not able to
leaders. .
Israelis can feel relieved on at least one score: unlike the teach."
He then expressed the regret that "we Americans were so
Kennedys in the United States, at least he is not trying to build
up a family dynasty. Ben-Gurion's son is an able diplomat. He has long isolationist that we neglected world languages." He stated
represented his country well in Canada, the United States and to that "the most distressing statistic for the year 1961-1962 is that
whatever posts he has been assigned in recent years. But while over 50 per cent of our high schools offer no foreign language,"
Ben-Gurion is certain to be relieved of his post very soon, his and added:
successor may be Levi Eshkol or Moshe Sharett. but not his son.
"If we really mean to compete in the ideological contest,
In this country it is different. There is puzzlement galore—in
we must become the linguists of the world. For unless we are
Washington and in Boston—in fact, throughout the land—over
world linguists, we will not be able to man the faculties of the
the Kennedy name. Will the Kennedys take over—in the White
schools of the new nations. And it is in the classrooms overseas
House, in the Senate, in the Justice Department? Inez Robb per-
that the crucial ideological contests will be won or lost. For
tinently quoted a Democratic Congressman who said: "God forbid
every foreign student here we must have ten or a hundred or
the sisters (of the Kennedys) should develop political ambitions."
a thousand teachers abroad. Preparation of teachers for over-
This is all in the political game in a democracy: one year it
seas work requires mastery of several dozens of languages we
is Ben-Gurion, the next it can be some one else; in one era it was
are not yet equipped to teach."
the Roosevelts who were accused of building up a hierarchical
If the Douglas idea is to win supporters, Hebrew will no
dynasty and now it is the Kennedys. Then the rulers in both doubt be one of the languages that will benefit. As a member of
domains go to the polls and overnight there are other heroes and the family of nations, Israel has an ancient language to offer
the people once again become the rulers. Thank Heaven for to the world, and statesmen in many lands will have to learn the
democracy!
tongue that was once considered sacred—Lashon Hakodesh—but
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which is today as much vernacular as it is Scriptural.
.
Integration
.
.
.
'Ghost
Street'
Suburbia
In many lands there are people today who are learning
Speaking at a session of the National Conference of Jewish Hebrew. There are many representatives of the African nations,
which
have friendly diplomatic relations with Israel, who have.
Social Service, in Atlantic City, Sidney J. Vincent, assistant
director of the Cleveland Jewish Community Federation, pointed mastered Hebrew; and representatives of Western countries—
out that the entire Jewish population of Cleveland has moved Americans, British, French and others—are among those who
into the suburbs and he revealed that while Jews conduct their have learned Hebrew to be able to represent their governments
businesses and professional activities and are active in the social in the Jewish State.
An interesting reference to Hebrew is made by a brilliant
and political life of _Cleveland, their residential move has had
writer, and an outstanding student of the Bible, Mary Ellen
far-reaching effects.
The present status of "Cleveland" Jewry was described by Chase, in her new book, "The Psalms for the Common Man,"
which has been published by W. W. Norton Co. (55 5th, N. Y.)
Vincent as follows:
"Cleveland is now, for all practical purposes, a city with-
While this able Christian writer on Biblical subjects modestly
asserts that her book "is not intended for the specialist in Hebrew
out Jews and therefore presents classic and naked form
the problem of the responsibilities—if any—of the Jewish
literature studies," she has incorporated her commentary so many
important subjects related to the Psalms that non-Hebraists as
community to the mother city from which it is now physically
well as Hebraists will find her book most informative.
removed, but in which it retains a profound stake.
one
percent
of
-
Miss Chase evidences an understanding of the value of the
Last fall our survey revealed just over
Hebrew language in expressing the opinion that the revised
Jewish children in Cleveland proper-250 out of more than
versions of Bible translations "the poetry of the Old Testament
16,000. In the high schools we could hardly find any Jewish
. . . misses the rhythm, the stress, of the Hebrew original."
students and it is generally, if not literally, true that not a
Miss Chase malte*Ais interesting conjment upon Hebrew as
single Jewish, child will graduate^ from the Cleveland school
a language in an explanatory note to her book on the Tehillim-
system—this June or next.
"We have more than two dozen synagogues—but only one
the Psalms.
of any size at all in Clevelsisd proper . . . All the Jewish
"The Hebrew language,:.. unlike modern European lan-
agencies have moved to the suburbs, with the exception of
guages, which many persons are able to read, is virtually un-
our Federation, the vocational service, the hospital, and a
known except to Biblical scholars and to fortunate Jewish
home for the aged which has already bought suburban property
people who have been trained in it either in the new State of
for its new building.
Israel or in other lands. To the vast majority of readers of
"For a century, Jews played a major role in the city's
English the Psalms are actually looked upon as English
political life, but there is now, for the first time, no Jewish
poetry, as indeed they become in the Authorized Version.
member on the 33 man City Council, one octogenarian on the
Regrettable as it is that they cannot be read in their original
Board of Education (who has served for decades) and, with
form except by comparatively few persons, it is fortunate, at
the notable exception of the judiciary, no elected officials of
least for English-speaking people, that we possess them in so
any kind . . .
beautiful and, on the whole, so accurate a translation."
"And what is the situation of the central city that must
Yet it is evident that Miss Chase is envious of those who
somehow get along without resident Jews? It is a city tor-
know Hebrew, to be able to enjoy the beauty of the Psalms in
mented by overwhelming problems. Two of the five major
their original forms. What her commentary on the Psalms does
downtown department stores have gone out of business in the
in addition to its informativeness is to suggest to Jewish readers
past year. The second major commercial artery begins to look
more than to all others what marvelous opportunities they have
like a ghost street . . ."
to enjoy Scriptures by mastering the language that is part of
The Jews of Cleveland, according to Vincent, are helping
cultural heritage.
to prevent further deterioration of the city and to promote their Language
study is being made a must for Americans, as
rehabilitation, a committee on public welfare is planned and part of the vital need to strengthen our position among the na-
informal meetings have begun with a -group of Negroes. On the tions of the world. Perhaps Hebrew will benefit from the surge
score of the latter inter-racial activities, Vincent commented:
"What emerged, among other insights, was that their primary towards language study.
Ben - Gurion and the Messiah . . . Kennedy and a Dynasty
interest was economic—and secondarily, political. It was hardly
social at all, nor was there much concern with integration."
The Cleveland experience is worth studying by our own
and other communities which had begun to experience move-
ments towards the suburbs. Detroit Jewry may well take into
account the situation that developed in our neighboring city of
Cleveland.
We certainly are far from the Cleveland position of being
entirely out of Detroit. The majority of Detroit Jews still live
within the Detroit city limits, and it is hardly conceivable that
the situation will change very radically too soon.
Nevertheless, we have already experienced rapid changes
in neighborhoods—from the near-downtown to Hastings, to Oak-
land, to 12th Street, to Dexter, to the Northwest—and in the
latter area there already are evidences of further movements.
If it had not been for the recession and for economic handicaps
we might already have witnessed the deterioration of another
neighborhood.
Because Cleveland's movement towards the suburbs began
not two decades ago, as in. Detroit. but 40 years ago, the com-
plete transfer of the Jewish population from the city to the
suburbs has been completed. Perhaps that is why there was not
"much concern with integration." That part of the report puzzled
us: how can we possibly overlook the urgency of integration
and its inevitability? In Detroit integration may be the ultimate
solution: at least, it would be a hopeful one.
The other Cleveland revelations evoke an echo here: the
ghost streets, businesswise; the transfer of synagogues, the pos-
sible effect of the suburbian movements upon politically-minded
people who have ambitions at the polls.
While the Cleveland situation seems to be radically different
from our own, it is worth studying in comparison with our needs
and with the possible transformations that may emerge in the
immediate years to come. Perhaps we can benefit from Cleve-
land's experiences in assuring, in suburbia, the best possible
environments for our youth, the most effective educational media
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
LONDON — A British cabinet
minister indicated Tuesday that
the government did not intend
to ban a meeting of the "Na-
tional Socialist Movement" which
will have as its slogan—"Free
Britain from Jewish Control."
The proposed meeting, to be
held in London's Trafalgar
Square on July 1, prompted
Deputy David Weiztmann to ask
whether consideration had been
given to the wisdom of giving
permission for the meeting of
the Fascist, anti-Semitic organi-
zation.
Lord John Hope, Minister of
Works, replied that the "normal
practice" was to allow any or-
ganization to hold a public meet-
ing "without inquiring about its
political, social or religious ob-
jectives," provided the Police
Commissioner did not raise ob-
jections.
The Minister added that he
was "sure it would be wrong for
me to go beyond enforcement of
the law which would amount, in
fact, to political censorship."
West German House
Passes Bill to Aid
Austrian Compensation
(Direct
ThJTA TeleiYPe Wire
Jewish New s)
to
BONN—The Bundestag, lower
house of parliament, passed
finally legislation ratifying the
German-Austrian agreement of
last spring, under which West
Germany is pledged to provide
$80,000,000 to help finance Aus-
trian compensation to various
categories of former Austrian
nationals who had suffered per-
secutions under the Nazi occu-
pation of Austria. The bill was
passed without debate.
The Austrian' portion - of "the
total compensation has not yet
been determined by the govern-
ment in Vienna. The Austrian
parliament has adopted a num-
ber of bills, each dealing with
a specific part of the overall
indemnification program.
It is certain that Jews will be
among the beneficiaries of the
overall program, but the num-
ber of Jews to benefit has not
yet been determined by Austria.
It was pointed out here that
a possible indication of the
ratio of Austrian payments to
German financing is the last bill
passed by the Austrian parlia-
ment last week. In that bill„
Austria undertook to pay a sum
in the range of $1,500,000 to
Germany's share of about $24,-
000,000 for one part of the over-
all program.
4,000 Jewish War Veterans Expected
to Attend National Convention in Detroit
Plans are nearly completed
for the 1962 national convention
of the Jewish War Veterans in
Detroit, it was announced by
Harry Harrison of Atlanta, Ga.,
national convention chairman
and Lawrence Gubow, conven-
tion corporation president.
It is anticipated that 4,000
members will converge here
Aug. 26 to Sept. 2 for the 67th
annual convention. Headquar-
ters for JWV activities will be
in the Sheraton Cadillac Hotel,
while JWV Auxiliary activity
will be located in the Statler
Hilton Hotel.
Several nationally prominent
speakers are scheduled.
Some of the discussion topics
are the "Radical Right" and
"Arab-Israel Relations."
A special package deal for
delegates includes a number of
free extras. They are a Detroit-
Chicago baseball game, national
president's luncheon, national
commander's banquet, Bob-Lo
Moonlight Cruise, a number of
local tours, a visit to the Michi-
gan State Fair, "Las Vegas
Nite" and "Early Bird Night."
This year's convention theme
is "Bring the family." In order
to encourage members to bring
their families, arrangements
have been made for children
under 14 years of age to occupy
the same room with their par-
ents free of charge. Baby sitters
and special children's activities
will be available during the
entire week.
Because . of the anticipated
heavy registration and limited
quantities of tickets to some
events, delegates and guests are
urged to make their reserva-
tions as soon as possible. Rooms
will be assigned on a first-come,
first-served basis at both hotels.
For registration information,
write Jewish War Veterans, Na-
tional Convention Corporation,
4095 W. Davison, Detroit 38.
Germans Forbid Children to Watch
Anti-Nazi Documentary TY Films
BREMEN (JTA)—West Ger-
mans are forbidding their chil-
dren to watch television or
films which depict the facts of
German history under the Nazi
regime, according to a survey
here by the Breman Radio and
Television Authority.
The study showed that many
young German s, in the age
brackets between 10 and 15,
were ordered by their parents
not to watch the series of 14
TV programs, aired last year,
entitled "The Third Reich."
The series had been hailed as
a documentary with high edu-
cational value.
The Bremen broadcasting au-
thority added that German tele-
vision and film coverage of the
Adolf Eichmann trial in Israel
had also been ' "verboten" to
youngsters by parents- who did
not want them to knoW too
much about the Nazi atrocities.