THE DETROIT JEW ISH NEWS -- Friday, August 3, 1962 —

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Purely Commen tary

Senator Hart's Courageous Stand on School Prayers
During the hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee on proposals to amend the Constitution and to nullify
the Separation principle in the First Amendment, Senator Philip
Hart of Michigan took a very courageous stand.
Himself a devout Catholic, he apparently differs with most
of his coreligionists who expressed anger over the Supreme
Court ruling against the injection of religious teachings in our
schools. •
Senator Hart took a firm stand in defense of the Supreme
Court, and he has expressed this view on the controversial issue
and on the Supreme Court ruling:
"I do not believe that the decision will harm the religious
education of any child. If a youngster comes from a devout
family, the prayer in public school would comprise only a
tiny fraction of his religious experience. Indeed, the decision
may have the excellent effect of encouraging family prayer.
Surely any child will find that prayer is more warm and com-
forting at the family breakfast table than at the school desk.
And this need not be a bland, homogenized, please-everyone
type of prayer which a school board neeessarily would attempt
to evolve inasmuch as the public school classroom contains
many denominational attitudes.
"As an individual, I believe strongly in the necessity
for an education which includes religion. Prayer is an element
in this attitude. I do not believe, however, that in a public
school class I should use the prayer of my denomination and
the religion of my faith for those who may share neither. Con-
versely, I would not want my children to be exposed to another
form or rote in a public school classroom."
This attitude spells courage and an honorable approach to a
serious issue that has temporarily divided sentiments in this
country. The firmness of the stand taken by Senator Hart and a
group of serious-minded liberals will surely help preserve the
basic American idea inherent in the First Amendment to our
Constitution.

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• •

When the Sabbath Turns Into a Mere Saturday

Serious efforts are made in many American Jewish com-
munities to preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath. In the main,
there is respect for the traditional Jewish Day of Rest, and few
would deny that even an occasional diversion from the tradi-
tional path causes considerable harm to the Jewish position.
In most communities, there is an established policy of asking
that election days should not be set on Jewish holidays and cer-
tainly not on the Sabbath. There is the inevitable plea that
university examinations should not be set on Jewish festivals. '
Yet, there are dissenters who undermine this policy, which
is usually respected by non-Jews who concur with requests of
Jewish spokesmen that balloting and examinations be deferred
to days on which Jews can act without compromising their re-
ligious beliefs.
Thus, the Houston English-Jewish weekly, in a leading
editorial recently, appealed to its readers: "You Should Vote
Saturday . . ."
Aside from the fact that a Jewish paper sees fit to become
actively involved in politics—the paper in question appealed
in its editorial for support for its preferred candidates—the '
Houston periodical's editor transgressed by encouraging the
desecration of the Sabbath. Adding to the amazement over
such an experience is the fact that the transgressing editor is a
national Bnai Brith leader.
Is it merely in the South that the Sabbath is at issue?
*
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•

Universal Messages in Louis Untermeyer's Poetry

Louis Untermeyer has written or edited more than 70 books.
Many anthologies compiled by him are used as college textbooks.
At present he is consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress.
From his major works, which he himself considers his best,
Untermeyer has selected an impressive collection for inclusion
in his newest book, "Long Feud," which has been published by
Harcourt, Brace & World (750 3rd, NY 17).
The title for this is taken from his poem "Long Feud"
which appears about the middle of this book, the following being
the opening, the second, and the sixth and final stanzas:
"Where, without bloodshed, can there be
A more relentless enmity
Than the long feud fought silently.

Between man and the growing grass.
Man's the aggressor, for he has
Weapons to humble and harass . .

Having exhausted every whim.
He stretches out each conquering limb.
And then the small grass covers him.
Inspired by an advertisement in an Israeli paper which
read: "King David Hotel, Jerusalem, offers Tea Dances Wednesday
and Saturday, Aperitif Concerts every Sunday, and Cocktail
Parties in the Winter Garden," Untermeyer wrote "Jerusalem
Delivered," a humorous commentary in which we read in part:
`Once more the tribes are nimble,
Once more the Jews rejoice . . .

Rebekah trots with Aaron,
Deborah treads the earth,'
Fresh as the Hose of Sharon
With evening gowns by Worth

Add Gilead to Gomorrah;
Fling torches through the dark;
Dancing before the Torah,
With cocktails at the Ark! . . ."
Most delightful is "Jewish Lullaby," the first stanza of which
reads:
"'ladle, 0 husha,
And lull-lullaby;
No mother in Russia
Is prouder than I.
You stumble no longer
Soon you will run,
And you will grow stronger
Than Samson, my son . . ."
"Eve Speaks," "Disenchantment," "Burning Bush" and a
more of other items attest anew to the genius of Louis Unter-

By Philip
Courageous Senator . . .
Sabbath Issue . . . Poetry
. SIOMOVitZ
of Louis Untermeyer

meyer, to his poetry that enchants and continues to inspire the
reader who can turn to his selections time and again without
tiring at repetitive reading of them.
Among the very powerful ironic pieces in this book is
Untermeyer's "Shylock, Christian," a dialogue between Shylock
and Tubal, in which Tubal admonishes Shylock, "There was a
time you sang a different song," and S'hylock advises him: "Turn
Christian, you will profit by it." He enumerates the benefits of
abandoning the faith under which he was persecuted. He tells of
Jessica's return, having "left the fool she married" to keep his
books, "mine more than ever," because
"I am made to feel I am their equal!
Because, by Solomon, these merchants think
That, being one of them, I have forgotten
My pride, which is both refuge and rebellion,
Everything but the passion to possess;
Crying, like them, 'My Gold! My Gold! My Gold!'
Slaying each other for a pennyweight.
Thus, clutching at their loot, lye seen them die,
Their fingers drenched in Christian blood, the cry
Of Prophets and Religion at their lips.

0 father Abraham, what we Chsistians are!"
Such is the power of this great poet. He captures many
moods, and his poetry emerges as a great universal message. In
"Long Feud" he has incorporated many such messages. He con-
tinues to be a great delight for every lover of the poetic lines.

Professorial
Kindness Brings

U-M $25,000

.

Student fondness for a pro-
fessor proved fruitful for the
University of Michigan recently.
Abraham S. Hart, a 1917 grad-
uate of the U. of M. and retired
executive of Hart, Schaffner and
Marx, clothiers, willed $25,000
to the U. of M. in memory of the
late Louis A. Strauss, whom he
described as a "gentle professor."

"For 45 years, he was a de-
dicated teacher who also found
time to do numerous little, name-
less acts of love and kindness,"
Hart wrote.
"Strauss advocated ardently,
the theory of liberal education
rather than, or at least prior to,
concentrated specialization."
As directed, the income from
the gift will be used to establish
an annual English department
fellowship in Strauss' memory.

47 Arrests Result in 30 Fines for Mosleyites
and Anti-Fascists in Manchester; Labor Party
Requests Commons Take Action on Racist Events

MANCHESTER, England,
(JTA)—Police arrested 47 per-
sons here following clashes be-
tween Sir Oswald Mosley's Brit-
ish Union Movement and anti-
Fascists heckling an open-air
rally organized by the Mosley-
ites.
Anti-Fascists showered the
Mosleyites with tomatoes and
eggs, and the clashes continued
for some time after the rally
had ended. Sir Oswald himself
was seen stumbling during the
fracas. The anti-Fascists formed
a cordon to prevent the mem-
bers of the Mosley movement
from parading through the cen-
ter of the city.
Thirty persons were fined
varying sums from 2 pounds
($5.60) up in magistrate's court
here as a result of the arrests.
Eight defendants, including
Geoffrey Hamm, secretary of
the Union movement, pleaded
not guilty and obtained ad-
journments for their cases.
The prosecution praised the
police authorities for prevent.
ing "more serious trouble," de-
claring that it was due to "com-
mendable police action that a
very, very serious disturbance
did not erupt." One of the men
fined was a Jew who told the
court "it was people like those
who conducted this rally who
caused the death of 6,000,000
of my people during the war."
• • •
LONDON, (JTA)—Urgent re-
quests that the House of Com-
mons discuss proposed legisla-
tion making dissemination of
racist and hatemongering mater-
ials a criminal offense were ad-
vanced in Parliament by several
members of the Labor Party.
Fenner Brockway, who intro-
duced the bill, requested that
Ian Macleod, leader of the
House, reconsider his previous
decision against discussing the
bill. Mr. Brockway pointed out
that such a debate has become
timely "in view of recent events
and expressions of public opin-
ion." He was referring to the
open-air meetings held by Sir
Oswald Mosley's British Union
Movement.

YIVO's New Study of
U.S. Communal Life

The YIVO Institute for Jew-
ish Research is conducting a
study on the role of Jewish
women in Jewish communal life
in the United States. The sur-
vey, to be conducted by YIVO's
Commission on Research, is un-
der the aegis of Leibush Lehrer
and will be completed within
a year. The study is expected
to reveal an amazing extent of
participation by Jewish women

in communal affairs.

Mr. Brockway insisted that
"in view of racist discrimina-
tion and racial incitement
against various communities in
Britain, more serious than slan-
der or libel, legislation must
make such activities a criminal

offense." He was supported by
several other Laborites, includ-
ing Sidney Silverman. The latter
told the House: "The agitation
which is being worked up is be-
coming a really urgent matter
and daily more dangerous."

Boris Smolar's

Between You
... and Me'

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
(Copyright, 1962,

Jewish Moods:
What is the outlook for Jews in the United States? .. . Today
the Jews in this country are aware that they have attained a
higher degree of well-being than any group of Jews in all history
... However, no less important an organization than the American
Jewish Committee finds it appropriate to give a word of caution
to American Jewry . . • Dr. John Slawson, the executive vice-
president of the organization, and its theoretician, points out that
although there is no law of history which makes it inevitable that
American Jews shall ultimately be exposed to decline, there is also
no warrant for assuming that security and prosperity must be
eternal . .. He warns that the long history of the Jews reveals
drastic plunges from the heights of dignity, security and affluence
to the depths of discrimination, persecution and even extermina-
tion . . . He recalls the status of French Jewry 75 years ago, on
the eve of the Dreyfus case, and of German Jewry under the
Weimar Republic . . . He even contrasts Soviet Jews in the first
decade after the Bolshevik revolution with Soviet Jewry in the
past 15 years ... He admits that in France, Germany and Soviet
Russia there were a number of indigenous circumstances respon-
sible for Jewish distress that are lacking in the United States .. .
But he sees no danger for the Jews in the United States . . . He
stresses that there is today a warm hospitality toward difference
in the United States, encouraged by President Kennedy . . . And
he does not believe that American Jews, at least in the foreseeable
future, will have to be Jews simply because of hostility from
without or fanaticism from within . . . He sees a good future in
the United States for an indigenously American Judaism . • . He
calls for fostering self-knowledge and self-understanding among
American Jews, young and old, but he strongly opposes the for-
mation of "centralism" in Jewish community life . . . Jews, he
believes, should be permitted to select those organizations which
best express their American Jewish interests and their particular
points of view . . . He advocates collaboration of Jewish organi-
zations on a voluntary basis, as autonomous entities, but with no
"superimposed" over-all umbrellas.

U.S.

New UJA Effort:

The United Jewish Appeal of New York is now deeply en-
gaged in an effort of vital importance to the long-term future of
the aid programs financed by the UJA in Israel and in other
countries . . . The effort was launched at a ;meeting of 100 promi-
nent bankers, accountants, lawyers and insurance men at which
a Legacy Development Committee was formed to secure contribu-
tions to the UJA through charitable trusts, bequests and insurance
policies .. . The committee is now disseminating information on
legal, insurance , and tax principles involved in estate arrange-
ments and methods of contributions to the UJA by those who,
while continuing their present support of the annual UJA cam-
paigns, may also wish to make provisions for future support ..
The information discusses how bequests in wills, use of life insur-
ance policies and charitable trust arrangements can serve this
purpose and offer many advantages to the donors . . . It points
out that, because many years will undoubtedly elapse between
the time a will is drawn and final settlement of an estate, it is
advisable that a bequest to the UJA be unrestricted as to the
purpose for which it can be applied . . . It recommends especially
the creation of a trust whose income would go to a surviving
relative for his lifetime and whose principal would go to the

United Jewish Appeal.

