cr, ci ct 4> ti >7; os — I to W z CC • cf) rt. ti O Ca 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. • • • 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 • « • 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.