THE JEWISH NEWS
UJA'S Light of Hope
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,
AWL, VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eleventh day of Kislev, the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Wa-yeze, Gen. 28:10-32:3. Prophetical portion, Hosea 12:13-14:10,
Hosea 11:7-12:12.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Dec. 7, 4.43 p.m.
VOL. XLII. No. 15
Page Four
December 7, 1962
UJA's Dramatic 25 Years
What would ordinarily be a simple
fund-raising celebration has turned into
a most dramatic event of historic sig-
nificance.
The 25th anniversary of the United
Jewish Appeal, which first was most ap-
propriately marked by numerous events
in Israel—the UJA's major beneficiary—
and which will be observed throughout
the coming year in the United States,
where its immense funds are being gath-
ered, has taken on significance commen-
surate with the gigantic humanitarian
accomplishments of this movement.
Formed in 1939 to meet the emergen-
cies that arose under Hitlerism, the UJA,
since January of that year, until the end
of 1961, raised a total of $1,367,000,000
in contributions from American Jews. It
is estimated that nearly 3,000,000 of our
kinsmen were assisted by the rehabilita-
tion, rescue, relief and reconstruction ef-
forts of the various agencies supported
by the UJA in Israel, in Europe and in
Moslem countries.
It is because the UJA again is be-
coining so vital in the present period of
storm and stress, in this era of a newly-
emerging despair for our people in sev-
eral countries, that this major fund again
becomes the great rescuing element for
hundreds of thousands of Jews. Once
again, UJA Must meet challenges that
are assuming overwhelming proportions,
and its quarter-century history is worthy
of review in order that there should be
a full appreciation of the immensity of
the goals attained and the duties to be
faced.
*
A brief review of UJA's progress
should lead to a fuller understanding of
the fund's assumption of its position of
leadership in Jewish philanthropic efforts.
New heights in fund - raising were
reached during UJA's first six years of
existence, from 1939 to 1945, when a
total of $126,000,000 was raised for the
relief of the victims of Nazism. With the
defeat of Germany and the realization by
Jews in free countries, especially in the
United States, of the plight of the dis-
placed persons in camps that were estab-
lished for thein after the war, a new goal
was attained: the sum of $188,284,000 was
raised nationally in 1946 and 1947.
Then came the year of the liquidation
of the DP camps, and in 1948 alone the
sum of $147,305,000 was contributed by
American Jews. The rebirth of Israel
added to the accumulating glory of the
UJA and the sum of $280,000,000 was
raised from 1949 to 1951.
These high standards for giving con-
tinue, and the new crises make it neces-
sary for UJA to carry on on a scale as
large as that which made this fund the
great rescuing force for Jews in lands of
oppression.
*
UJA's anniversary brings to light
many interesting factors, and the most
important is the one that leads us to the
sad realization that even with the great
attainments too many of our people re-
main outside the ranks of participants
in its great efforts.
American Jews who participated in
the first UJA anniversary celebration in
Israel soon learned that the Israelis them-
selves, whose status was raised by the
UJA functions, were in the main unaware
of UJA's role in Jewish life. Many of
them conceded that, at best, less than
half of American Jewry appreciates UJA's
position sufficiently to provide for its
needs.
The 25th anniversary of UJA brings
us to a new challenge: that of bringing
into our fold that large element in Jewish
life that has not as yet joined in its su•
preme efforts.
When discussing the national UJA ac-
tivities, it is vital that Detroit's share in
UJA work also should be understood.
Always in the lead as one of the three
or four communities in the land with
the largest gifts to UJA, Detroit Jewry
has gained a place among the most gen-
erous cities. Our generosity may even
have served as a guide for sister commu-
nities in the U.S., and we are soon to
commence another campaign in a spirit
of confidence that we shall never shirk
responsibility towards our less fortunate
brethren.
Even in this good community of De-
troit, however, there are many who are
yet to be reached to fulfill their obliga-
tions to world Jewry and to Israel with
their gifts to the UJA. It is to those who
have lagged behind, as much as to those
who must again mobilize for renewed ac-
tivities for UJA, that the current UJA
anniversary appeals at this time.
Abraham Geiger's Theology
Reform Judaism Evaluated
A REVIEW BY DR. SOLOMON B. FREEHOF
ABRAHAM GEIGER AND LIBERAL JUDAISM — The Challenge of the 19th
Century; by Max Wiener; translated by Ernest J. Schlochauer; The
Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1962; 312 pp., $4.50.
In our times, psychology is much more popular than -philoso-
phy. Hence general interest in famous men is concerned not so
much with their ideas as with their personality. We use the
expression, "public personalities" and "their image." So our
reporters, interviewing famous men, always ask personal ques-
tions about childhood, family, ambition, etc. This results in a
fairly clear picture of the man's individuality. This sort of
personal picture has been almost impossible to obtain of the
men of the early nineteenth century, especially of those who
lived in Germany. Their chief interests were philosophic ideas.
Their public utterances were in the realm of ideas. They would
scorn to mention personal matters except, perhaps, in intimate
correspondence with family and friends. Therefore these men
of the early nineteenth century remain as impersonal mouth-
pieces of ideas and not as living personalities.
Certainly the usual picture of Abraham Geiger, one of the
greatest of the founders of Reform Judaism, is but a shadow-
sketch, for we have generally received, so far, a mere voice of
doctrines and controversies. Yet he was a vital personality,
belligerent yet courteous, scholarly yet practical, subject to many
disappointments yet constantly capable of courageous recovery.
His personality certainly needed to be ressurected for our
century.
This has been magnificently achieved in this book by Max
Wiener, former rabbi of Berlin, who died in the United States
in 1949. His biographical sketch with which the book begins
occupies eighty pages. Then follow Geiger's intimate letters with
his closest friends, excerpts from his scholarly books, articles
in the magazines which he founded and maintained, and a se-
lection of excerpts from his sermons. Thus Geiger's own words,
molded by the sympathetic .evaluation of Max Wiener, have
created an appealing human picture of this vital personality,
whose whole aim in life was to bring Judaism up to a status of
high general respect through a study of its historical evolution
and - with the ultimate purpose of furthering the emancipation
of the Jews and of Judaism itself. This is a memorable book.
No one dares to forget what has hap-
pened; there should not be the slightest
myopia towards What is happening in sev-
eral parts of the globe, calling for new
undertakings for relief and rehabilitation;
there must be continued vision for the
realization of the challenges and the dan-
gers that face Jewry today.
To meet the challenge and to avert
danger, UJA remains on the scene as a
symbol of Jewish generosity and our
people's sense of duty to our kinsmen.
The only way to retain our glory as a
humanitarian folk is giving new strength
to UJA: it is the only way of marking
the beginning of a new era of activity
during which we may hope to see the
consummation of relief efforts resulting
from the abandonment of cruelties in the
lands whence Jews must escape, and the
attainment of peace in the Middle East Concise Compilation
to assure Israel's safety.
*
*
*
While the UJA anniversary celebra-
tion already began in Israel a month ago,
the formal inauguration of the observance
of the 25th year of the great philanthropic
fund will take place at the annual UJA
conference in New York this week-end. It
will mark the commencement of a historic
event for American Jewry which has af-
fected the fate of hundreds of thousands
of people.
In our own community, the celebra-
tion will be observed during the forth-
coming Allied Jewish Campaign.
Our local efforts traditionally begin
with the budgeting conference of the
Jewish W elf are Federation, this year
scheduled for Dec. 16. That day will mark
the beginning of the coming year's ac-
tivities in behalf of Israel, as well as for
the continuation of the activities to which
we are dedicated in the fields of educa-
tion and social services. Once again De-
troit will be faced with challenges to
fulfill serious obligations. The responses
of the past offer assurances that this com-
munity will not fail to live up to its re-
sponsibilities.
'NewJewish Encyclopedia' Has
Special Merit for the Youth
Edited by Rabbi Abraham Burstein, with the assistance of
a group of well-informed scholars, "A New Concise Jewish En-
cyclopedia" has just come off the press of Ktav Publishing House
(65 Suffolk, N.Y. 2).
While the title contains the term "concise," this is a greatly
abbreviated work and will have value only for very young people
who are not prepared to delve into more extensive compilations,
important historical and biographical data. It begins with Aaron
and concludes with Zugot (pairs), referring to the scholarly
leaders of the Sanhedrin.
Assisted by Gerald Blidstein, Nathan Goldberg, Edith Tarcov,
Oscar Tarcov and Stanley Wexler, as contributing editors,..this
new encyclopedia is the result of a serious effort to incorporate
the most important historical data, with emphasis on the great
Jews of all ages, while, at the same time, including modern
names—such as Weizmann, Einstein, Lipsky, David Lubin and
many others.
Religious terms are scrupulously defined and various eras in
Jewish history are evaluated—briefly, of course-, -to enable the
editors- to include nearly 1,500 items in their compilation.
For the youth and for adults who seek information without
delving into great details, this encyclopedia has some merit. But
it must be emphasized that it is an incomplete work.
Rabbi Burstein, a native of Cleveland, was educated at
Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He
is the author of a number of books of stories and is known also
as a book reviewer.