THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating the Detroit Jewish. Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 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 $6 a year. Foreign $7. Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher The Same Old Fez and the Same Old Trick SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG Advertising Manager City Editor Business Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the twenty-ninth day of Tishri, 5723, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Gen. 1:1-6:8. Prophetical portion, I Samuel 20:18-42. Licht Benshen, Friday, Oct. 26, 5:16 p.m. VOL. XLII. No. 9 October 26, 1962 Page Four Flight and Panic: Our Grave Problem Every large American community is confronted today by a serious problem involving the flight of groups, one from another. Whites at times seek escape from blacks, although peoples of all races, religions and differing colors should be able to live in amity in an American environment. But an uncalled for fear has been instilled — fear of people but pri- marily of a possible drop in property values — and a spirit akin to the tragedy of segregation has crept into our demo- cratic society. There is no doubt that the block-bust- ing tactics of some real estate operators are responsible for the worst develop- ment in the pattern of changing neighbor- hoods. There was a time, not so long ago, when children and grandchildren kept up a continuina tradition of living in the same neighborhoods as parents and grand- b parents, by beautifying their environ- ments and taking pride in their resi- dences. This continuity is being broken— by a method of destruction that results as much from a wish to escape from other elements moving into their neighborhoods as it does from a desire to move into "richer" areas. The former is as pro- nounced as the latter, and it represents a grave danger to many communities. For, how long can the flight continue? • Detroit is a typical example of a large community with changing residential pat- terns, and can be studied with a view to serving as a guide for many other cities. * * * At least a quarter of Detroit's popula- tion is composed of Negroes. They came here, as many others who are light- skinned did, seeking economic opportuni- ties. They found them here. The labor movement has aided them to raise their standar& of living. Now they must have better homes, and their schooling should be equal to those of their white fellow- citizens, else we shall have two classes of citizenship in contradiction to the Ameri- can way of life. The growth of the Negro population necessitates the assurance of proper pro- visions for good housing for them. It is inevitable that they should, move away from slums, that they should live among the whites. But a fear that is based on suspicions as well as prejudices, on hatreds as well as the generalization that those who have been freed only a century ago are not our equals, have created un- wise and uncalled for panics. * * * There is only one solution to the hous- ing problem, and that is the mixed neighborhood. It might have been attained more easily if it were not for the tele- phone squads that have been at work calling people in some areas to warn them that "something is happening on your street," implying that the blacks are com- ing and therefore you must sell through us and must move. If white and colored peoples were to make up their minds that they should and can live together, without creating ghet- tos for either one, then there would be no cause for panics. If that were the case then the two would, jointly, protect their neighborhoods, guard against vandalism and delinquents, inject in all residents a love for their homes and their environ- ment. But an element that has capitalized on the issue has entered into the drama to create the regrettable fears, and there enters the thought that property values will be affected when dark-skinned citi- zens move in. A number of neighborhood organiza- tions have been formed to counteract this trend which affects every aspect of Amer- ican life. These community groups must strive, together with their Negro fellow- citizens, to organize firmly for the reten- tion of the mixed neighborhood idea, dis- couraging fears, refusing to yield to panic; because the spreading of suspicions among neighbors will only aggravate the situation and will affect every aspect of American life. It is the block-buster, the spreader of 'Transition Years'—Goldstein's hate, the extreme rightist racist who en- dangers the basic American principles N.Y.-to-Jerusalem Experiences without realizing that when he seeks to undermine the home of a neighbor the Dr. Israel Goldstein, who has taken up residence with his color of whose skin is not like his own he wife, Bert—herself a leader among Zionist women—in Israel thereby also places dynamite under his and now holds one of the high posts in the Jewish Agency; who has held the presidencies of the Jewish National Fund of America, own home. * * • * Neighborhood changes have been fash- ioned in numerous ways. Some gentiles have fled from Jews, and some Jews have run away from others, including Negroes. The result—including the abandonment of expensive community buildings as well as homes—is too well known to need elaboration. Now there are suburbs to replace old neighborhoods, but in a city like Detroit, unlike a community like Cleveland whose entire Jewish population has moved to the suburbs, at least 65 per cent of the Jewish population still resides within the city limits. They will remain within the confines of Detroit if they are realistic enough to know that if they can escape from other Americans their chil- dren may not because the American way of life and the law of the land demands that all Americans should retain equality in all public functions, including housing and schooling. It it is the block-buster who is respon- sible for the sense of horror that has been instilled in the hearts of our citizens, he should be eliminated from the scene, he should be exposed as a menace to our democratic way of living. If it is ignor- ance that is causing people to participate in the flight from reality, they should be taught that we have nothing to fear but fear. If it is an inherited prejudice, it should be eradicated from our social spheres and our body politic. — Community leaders everywhere have a serious obligation—to guide our people way from their fears, to instill confidence in American principles, to discourage hatreds and suspicions. Unless a sense of unity and true neighborliness is instilled in the hearts of all our citizens, the entire land will be transformed into a vast region of bigotry that emulates the most prejudiced of the Southern states. Unless the visible dangers are avoided, we will be in an even worse state than this land was threatened. before the Civil War. Unless the fears are abandoned, we may be fighting another brotherly war, and the Emancipation Proclamation, the hun- dredth anniversary of the issuance of which has just been observed, will become a repudiated scrap of paper. The solution lies in the hands of rea- sonable citizens, and we wish to hope that nearly all of our fellow-citizens are rational and seek true brotherhood, and good neighborlines, all the days of our years. the American Zionist Organization, American Jewish Congress and other movements, including the Jewish Con- ciliation court; who was an United Jewish Appeal chairman and now is rabbi emeritus of. New York's Congregation Bnai Jeshurun, which he has served for 42 years, continues his activities in behalf of Jewry, Zionism and Israel. The extent of his activities is made evi- dent in the series of addresses he deliv- ered from 1960 to 1962, which he has incorported in a book entitled "Transition Years—New York-Jerusalem," published by Rubin Mass, Jerusalem, and distributed in this country by Bloch Publishing Co. Many aspects of Jewish life are cov- ered in this interesting collection, and a ntunber of countries, including the United States and Israel, are represented as the centers where Dr. Goldstein was inter- preting Jewish values and events. In an address in Chicago, he pleaded for Dr. Goldstein Jewish education as "priority number one, more than philanthropy, more than anti-defamation activities; that the maturity of the American Jewish community is to be judged by the position which its leadership assigns to Jewish education in the hierarchy of Jewish needs and Jewish values • . ." He did not minimize the significance of Zionism and, in an appeal, in Tel Aviv, in an address before Brith Rishonim—the organization of the early Zionist pioneers—he spoke of the necessity to extend Hebrew education, to advance Zionist rearing and teaching." Appropriately, Dr. Goldstein selected as the opening essay for his collected speeches, the prayer he delivered in the U.S. House of Representatives in commemoration of the 100th anni- versary of the first prayer delivered by a teacher of the JeWish faith in Congress—that of Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall. It was a memorable event that was followed by a Congressional luncheon at which Dr. Goldstein delivered an address that is part of this book. In an address at the UN Plaza, Dr. Goldstein proposed a "World Academy for Peace," and the text offers a great moral lesson. A Synagogue Council speech at Columbia University on trends in American Jewish life serves as a guide for action and for serious consideration of Jewish potentials. Discussions of religious leader- ship, tributes to eminent leaders, evaluations of Jewish nationalism and the events that marked the horrors of the holocaust form an extensive table of contents. His continued devotion to the Keren Hayesod, the United Israel Anpeal, the Jewish National Fund, the United Jewish Appeal and the major needs for funds for Jewish causes are reflected in a number of other speeches. His farewell speeches to the community upon his retirement from the rabbinate are deeply moving, and his farewell sermon is a classic. Opening his series of addresses in Israel is the address he delivered at the 25th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. At Herzlia he spoke about the survivors of the holocaust. He pleaded that the lessons of the tragedy should not be forgotten, and urged: "Jews, do not forget that we are one, that ehod is our battle-cry and password, one God, one people, one martyrdom, one consolation, one future." He devoted time to discussing the position of Americans in Israel, and there is an address he delivered before the Association of Retired Americans in Isral, at Ahkelon. Included also are addresses he delivered in Santiago, Chile, Paris, France, Amsterdam, Holland. "Transition Years" is a noteworthy volume that adds to the evidences of a glorious career by a distinguished leader.