THE JEWISH NEWS

PAYEIN

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., YE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

BY HENRY LEONARD

SIDNEY SHMARAK 'CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the twenty fifth day of Kislev, the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Pentatecuhal portion, 1Va-yeshev; Hanukah, First Day, Gen. 37:1-40:23, Num. 7:1-17. Pro-
phetical portion, Zechariah 2:14-4:7.

Licht Benshen, Friday, Dec. 21, 4:46 p.m.

VOL. XLII. No. 17

Page Four

December 21, 1962

Detroit's Share in New JPS Bible

When distribution of the Jewish pub-
lication Society's newly translated Bibles
commences within a month, Detroit Jews
will assume an important role as the
earliest supporters of the historic under-
taking.
First to inaugurate the movement of
introducing the plans for a revised trans-
lation of The Torah (five books of Moses),
a group of Detroiters provided the initial
fund to finance the great effort, and they
will be the first in the land to receive the
inscribed first editions of the work.
This, therefore, is another tribute to
our community, whose generous constit-
uents are unfailing in their support not
only of major philanthropic needs but also
of the cultural aspirations of American
Jewry's major educational movements
among which the Jewish Publication So-
ciety must be included as playing a part
of greatest significance.

ered by sand now, but at the time of the
Exodus it was the Sea of Reeds, a marshy
area with considerable amounts of water
in many places. Thus, Yam Suf becomes
Sea of Reeds in the new Bible."
Because there may be some concern
over some of the Jewish attitudes towards
the new approach in the latest Bible
translation, it is interesting to note that
leading Jewish scholars, spokesmen for
all Jewish theological factions, have com-
mended the final text of the new trans-
lation. While Christians as well as Jews
have praised the translators efforts, it is
important that the sentiments of the Jew-
ish scholars should be known. The leaders
of the three branches in American Juda-
ism have declared themselves as follows
in expressing their commendations:

The new Bible translation—the first
since 1916, when the present Jewish Pub-
lication Society's text of the Holy Scrip-
tures was issued as the initial community-
sponsored Bible translation into English
—has been called "the most accurate
translation ever published in English."
The new text, now awaited with keen in-
terest by American Jewry, has received
special acclaim because of its faithful
adherence to the meaning of the Hebrew
of the Bible, and the explanation of-
fered for the attainment of such a
splendid result for the first time is
given in the following official statement:

"This new translation rides on the crest
of a tide of archaeological. discoveries in the
Holy Land and neighboring countries that
has enriched our knowledge of the Bible im-
measurably. In the past few decades, literally
thousands of writings, laws, codes and other
documents have been unearthed in the Near
East—with the result that in some respects
we know more today of Babylon in the time
of Abraham, or of a small town like Nuzi
some two centuries before Moses, than we
know about the Paris or London of less than
a thousand years ago.
"This new knowledge has given us a better
understanding of the languages and customs
of these ancient civilization and cultures. It
has cleared up much of the confusion that
existed previously, for there were—and still
are—many passages in the Hebrew text where
the meaning of the words was obscure and
uncertain."

The noteworthy result of the last
seven years' efforts of the scholars who
were engaged in the task of revising the
Bible translation is the result of the par-
ticipating theologians' thorough knowl-
edge of Hebrew, their scientific skill at
aiming for accuracy and their resort to
thorough research in their objectives.
It is pointed out that they even turned
to medicine in dealing with the injury
sustained by Jacob in his encounter with
the archangel, in Genesis 32, and the new
translation states that Jacob's "hip socket
was wretched at the thigh muscle" rather
than the "strained thigh hollow" in the
older translation.

No change was made merely for the
sake of change, the translators assert, and
the objectives were those of accuracy,
with emphasis on clarity.
Advance announcements about some
of the changes have caused concern over
the translation of "Yam Suf" as Sea of
Reeds." The editorial committee explains:
"Geographic and geological scholar-
ship have concluded that the point of
passage of the Israelites in their flight
from Egypt was not the Red Sea, but
somewhat further to the north where
the Suez Canal is today. This area is cov-

Dr. Samuel Belkin, president, Yeshiva Un-
iversity: "I congratulate the Jewish Publica-
tion Society on the publication of its new
translation of the Bible. The translators
have faithfully followed the Masoretic text
and at the same time have made full use of
the latest results of Hebraic scholarship and
research in their work. This new translation
has an additional advantage. The translators
have tried to, and largely succeeded, in cast-
ing their translation into the forms and idiom
of present day English, which should render
it more pleasurable and understanding for
the modern reader. This is a significant con-
tribution to Jewish scholarship and the Jew-
ish community."
Dr. Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor, Jewish
Theological Seminary: "The new translation
issued by the Jewish Publication Society is
of the Hebrew scriptures which is being
an outstanding contribution to the literature
dealing with the Bible. The translators have
succeeded in bringing to bear on their work
not only the insights of modern scholarship
already available in so many publications,
but have added new insights which help to
give the latter a more intimate approach to
the Hebrew text than has been possible
through any of the earlier translations."
Dr. Nelson Glueck, president, Hebrew Un-
ion College: "The translation newly issued
by the Jewish Publication Society constitutes
a splendid response to American Jewry's need
for the Bible translated in English and taking
into account new scientific understanding.
Jewish life is, of course, unthinkable without
a clear understanding of the Torah. The
American Jew will be happy with this won-
derful English version of the Torah. I have
no hesitation in saying that the new transla-
tion belongs in the home of every Jew who
values the faith of Judaism and nurses hopes
for the Jewish future. The Jewish Publica-
tion Society deserves heartfelt praise for this
most recent of its many contributions to
Jewish culture in our country."

"Sorry Madam . but Chanukah
preceded Christmas this year."

Translated, Selected Essays of
Ahad Ha'Am in Paperback

The growing list of paperbacks issued jointly by the Jewish
Publication Society of America and Meridian Books of World
Publishing Co. has been enriched by the appearance of the
"Selected Essays of Ahad Ha'Am."
Translated from the Hebrew by
Sir Leon Simon, who has edited this
work and has written the introduc-
tion to it, the new paperback makes
available for the English readers the
views of the eminent scholar, Asher
Ginzberg, who wrote under the pen-
name Ahad Ha'Am, and who became
the leader of the advocates of cul-
tural Zionism.
The 81-year-old translator and
editor of these Selected essays, in a
new preface written for the paper-
back, calls attention to the fact that
half a century has elapsed since
the Jewish Publication Society ac-
cepted his suggestion for a volume
of Ahad Ha'Am's essays in an English
translation. He states that while time
has reduced the actuality of Ahad
Ha'Am's polemics against Herzlian
Zionism, "his conception of the func-
tion of Palestine as the 'national
Ahad Ha'Am
spiritual center' of a still dispersed
Jewish people is still—or rather is now more than ever—a live
issue; and his contributions to the exposition and illumination of
the distinctive ethical and religious ideas of the Jewish people are
as valuable today as they were two generations ago."
The present volume contains the historic essays by Ahad
Ha'Am—"Sacred and Profane," "Slavery in Freedom," "Priest and
Prophet," and more than a dozen more of his outstanding philo-
sophic works. They make the new paperback a most valuable
addition to English-Jewish literature.

There is no doubt about the immensity
of the Jewish Publication Society's task.
It has brought American Jewish cultural
efforts to new heights. We have a sense
of pride in knowing that our community
was the first to encourage this great work.
The fact that The Torah has been
accepted as a Book-of-the-Month Club
choice for February supplements the
deep interest that is being shown in the
historic accomplishments that elevates
the JPS to new cultural heights.
The day on which Detroit Jews will be
the first to receive the completed work—
the first editions of the newly-translated
JPS Holy Scriptures—will be an historical
event for our community.
This great task is only half finished.
Only The Torah has been newly trans-
lated. The JPS editorial committee now
faces the task of revising the translation
of the Prophets and the Writings. Let us
hope that those who, in our community,
pioneered in making a reality of the first
portion of the great undertaking now will
encourage the completion of the historic
task with gifts comparable to their first
pioneering effort.

Significant New Paperbacks

A number of new paperbacks, just off the press, deserve
attention.
From World Publishing Co. and Meridian Books comes a
John Stuart Mill volume, included in which are the noted
author's essays "On Liberty," "Utilitarianism" and "Essay on
Bentham," as well as the selected essays by Jeremy Bentham and
John Austin. They were edited, with an enlightening introduc-
tion, by Mary Warnock. The famous social scientist's views are
as applicable today as they were in their time, and this paperback
will be found of immense value by students of government, the
law, libertarian principles and issues facing the free world.

In view of the limelight in which rightists have begun to
appear again on the American scene, "Men of the Far Right,"
by Richard Dudman, has unusual merit.

Published by Pyramid Books (444 . Madison, NY 22), this
book about the conservatives in American life . deals with
Senator Barry Goldwater, George Sokolsky, Everett DirkSen,
Robert Welch of the Birch Society and others.

•
"George Lincoln Rockwell and his American Nazi Party
are worth mentioning only as a curiosity," Dudman states in
his review of rightists' activities.

Others dealt with in the volume are General EdWin A. Walker,
Gerald L. K. Smith, William F. Buckley Jr., Strom Thurmond,
Dan Smoot, Billy James Hargis and others.
From World Publishing-Meridian Books comes also • "A
History of the United States—from 1865 to the Present," edited
by Frank W. Klingberg. Under the general editorship of George
F. Scheer, this volume is part of the series of Meridian Doctt-
ments of American History. The only reference in this volume
to Israel is to the American role played in the Sinai . Campaign.
This history is a valuable addition to American historical
research.