THE fffiltOroU -1
THE EWIS
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,
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan
SIDNEY SHMARAK
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
HARVEY ZUCKEREERG
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty ninth day of Shevat, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentatettchal portion. Mishpatim: Shekalim: Exod. 21:1-24:18; 30:11-16. Prophetical por-
tion, 11 Kings 12:1-17, i Samuel 20:18-42, 1.1. Kings 11:17-12:17.
Licht benshen. Friday, Feb. 22, 5:55 p.m.
VOL MAI. Na. 26
Page Four
February 22. 1963
Midrasha and WSU Semitics Lecture Series
if
and the impact of the Talmud on Jewish
r ' ,,i pit e Qove rvet
life will be analyzed. -
The Wayne State University Semitics
90
Ustet States vt)Oicb (si\es lo b'
Lectures usually deal with important
archaeological and language developments
stioctioDA perseefftioqN ,isststaw,requires
and this year, as in the past, considerable
enlightenment is to be expected from the
o.! .c tatibt wbo teiv6 under its proteetton
addresses by eminent scholars and the
participants in the discussions.
toga deTea5 tberDseives as good citizeos"
Midrasha's lecture series again is
OfOR.4E. WASfftwow
made possible by the generosity of Mrs.
Theodore Bargman, and the gifts of Tom
and Abraham Borman are assuring the
continuation of the Wayne State Univer- Documentary Wealth Enumerated:
sity lectures. The generous donors are
to be commended for the cultural pro- `The Jewish Literary Treasures'
grams they are providing a community
Dr. Harry M. Rabinowicz, who hails from a Polish Hassidic-
that possesses many people who are eager
rabbinic family, a graduate of Jews' College and the University
to learn.
Continuation of two very vital lecture-
discussions here on a communal basis
should hearten all who are anxious to see
the strengthening of adult education
programs.
Renewal of the Borman Lecture Series
at Wayne State University, under the
direction of Prof. Abram Spiro, chairman
of the WSU Department of Semitic Lan-
guages and Literatures, and the continued
Midrasha Institute activities sponsored by
the College of Jewish Studies of the
United Hebrew Schools. provide media
for evaluation of important Jewish sub-
jects.
Midrasha's lectures this year will deal
with the Talmud. Noted scholars have
been secured to address the four sessions
at which Talmudic lore will be reviewed
Silence Cannot Erase Nazi Crimes
■.■
The World Jewish Congress' review
of the implications in the polls concludes
with the assertion:
"The percentage of those in favor of a
democracy increases with the size of the
community and the extent of education;
the same, in reverse, is true of the per-
centage of those having no opinion."
This is, of course, a most encouraging
report. However, it fails to explain the
belatedness in rounding up Nazi crimi-
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1960 1962
nals, the frequent soft-pedaling of refer-
Democracy
(includes "Republic,"
ences to the past, the failure to introduce
"present form") 57 66 70 67 69 66 74 67
record of the Nazi
Monarchy 11 10 10 8 a thorough
5 5 5 historical
2
Authoritarian
crimes in textbooks.
1
2
3
2
4
4
7
regime
8
4
1
5
3
1
3
2
1
Indifferent
While the West German attitudes on
23 15 13 20 21 21 18 26
No opinion
the
past are, in the main, consistently anti-
too tao 100 100 100 100 100 100
there is a subtlety about some offi-
The fact that only one in a hundred Nazi,
cial
actions
that is depressing.
would like to see a Hitler-type regime
But what is especially deplorable is
and that 2 percent hope for a return
to the Kaiser-type monarchy is further ex- that the Hitler germs have seeped into
plained, in the World • Jewish Congress the thinking of so many bigots in coun-
analysis, in an indication that the latter tries outside Germany that the effects of
belong mostly in the oldest age group. the Nazi teachings can neither be for-
WJC states that the clear-cut decrease in gotten nor can they be ignored. It is on
the percentage of monarchists and advo- this score that Germany could be of
cates of authoritarian rule from 11 to greater service to the democratic way
2 and 8 to 1 in the two respective cate- of thinking—by constantly reaffirming
gories, in the years 1953-1962 is offset its opposition to every vestige of bigotry
to some extent by the "no opinion" re- that can possibly be linked to its evil
sponse which also has increased. Does heritage. Silence can not erase the stains
that have been left by the Hitlerites.
this denote. silence?
Details of polls taken in recent years
in Germany on the question "What form
of state do you regard as best for Ger-
many?," made public by the World Jewish
Congress, pose some very interesting
problems.
Conducted by the sEMNID-Informa-
tion Center in Bielefeld, the equivalent
of the Gallup poll, the results on the
preferred forms of government for the
past eight years are given as follows:
13abi Yar - - Poet's Regrettabie About-Face
For a time there was a feeling that a
ray of light had begun to shine on the
Soviet horizon. When Yevgeny Yevtu-
shenko wrote his famous poem, "Babi
Yar," it was interpreted as a demonstra-
tion by Russians, who had awakened to
action against bigotry, in condemnation
of the prejudices that were in evidence
under Stalin.
When Yevtushenko was joined by
other Russians to protest against anti-
Jewish practices, the feeling•grew that a
new era may have begun among the in-
tellectuals in. the Soviet Union.
It is difficult to understand why the
Russians should have hushed up one of
the most tragic occurrences under the
Nazis, when tens of thousands of JewS
were lined up to be shot, many of them
to be buried alive, at Babi Yar. Instead
of keeping alive the memory of the Babi
Yar martyrs and of making a shrine
of that area as a warning against future
recurrences of anything resembling
Nazism, Russia practically forbade access
to that mass grave.
Yevtushenko brought to light the Babi
.
Yar tragedy. He linked it with the emerg-
ing Soviet anti-Semitism and he brought
a new humanitarianism into Russia.
Now, however, he has revised his
famous poem. On his visit in Paris, he
admitted that he made changes in it "in
order not to furnish a bludgeon for our
enemies." He stated, when interviewed
in Paris, that he originally wrote the poem
to show that ``anti-Semitism is one of the
seeds of fascism everywhere in the
world." But the moment it became too
applicable to the Soviets Yevtushenko
appears- to have been "induced" to make
changes in his indictment of anti-Semitic
prejudices. He is no longer the protagonist
of the humanitarianism that rejects hatred
and bigotry. Like others in Russia he now
follows an established line set by Com-
munist apologists that "every nation has
its fools," that "anti-Semitism is no more
of a problem in Russia than it is in many
other countries."
The weakening; of
. Yevtushenko's atti-
lode is a weakening of the moral forces
that had suddenly appeared on the hori-
zon in Russia.
of London, who now holds a pulpit in London, has compiled most
interesting data about famous collections in "The Jewish Literary
Treasures of England and America," published by Thomas Yose-
loff (11 E. 36th, N.Y. '6).
Pointing out that wherever Jews went they established
libraries, schools, academies and synagogues, which became
"armories that strengthened and protected the Jew against the
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," Rabbi Rabinowicz
quotes the Talmud: "The Shekhina accompanied Israel into
exile." He then proceeds to list some of the literary treasures.
In his description of the collection in the British Museum, he
mentions the valuable collections that were gathered by W. W.
Shapira as a manuscript on Deuteronomy that was later declared
a forgery. The rare material in the British Museum, Hebrew
texts, the Gaster collection, unusual catalogues and other works
are revelatory.
Among the very significant manuscripts in England are
those to be found in ,the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Early
historical works among them date back 300 years. Rabbi Rabin-
owicz states that the collection of Rabbi David Oppenheimer (1630-
1714), an Australian Jew, purchased by Oxford, "made biblio-
graphic history."
Cambridge, in England, possessor of the Geniza documents,
deciphered by Dr. Solomon Schechter, is called in this book
"the World of the Geniza." This chapter is a valuable contribution
to evaluative documentation.
Cambridge University Library's development, its catalogues
and contents are of another definitive chapter in this book.
Dr. Rabinowicz also describes the London Jews' College Library, and
its rare books. The London Beth Harnidrash Library also has many
historic works. It is the story of the famous Woburn House in London.
Interestingly enough, the author says about it that it "is a wandering
library, which has moved from place to place and yet remained static. -
In the course of more than 120 years it has in fact depreciated, and is
actually poorer today than when it, was acquired from the executors of
Chief Rabbi Hirschell in 1845."
. There are Jewish literary treasures in this country, and Dr.
Rabinowitz commences his description with the library of the
Jewish Theological Seminary. He reviews the Israel Solomons
collection and its rich contents, the documents relating to Anglo-
Jewry, the prints of the Paris Sanhedrin that was convened by
Napoleon in 1807, caricatures of Anglo-Jewish leaders, cabbal-
istic and other works.
A chapter is devoted to the Elkan Adler collection in the
Seminary in New York and he commends the establishment in
1953 of the Louis Ginzberg Microfilm Memorial Library at the
Seminary.
Other unique aspects of the Seminary collections, mentioned
by Rabbi Rabinowicz, are Biblical manuscripts, commentaries,
responsa, documents relating to the Marranos and the French
Revolutionary period,-medical volumes, prayerbooks, dedications
and miniature books.
YIVO. Institute for Jewish Research and its Jewish Record Office,
their various collections, the files dealing with the Nan atrocities, files
about noted scholars, rabbis and Jewish leaders receive due attention.
The amassing by VIVO of material on the inter-war years. JDC and other
data, are described here, and the work of the Jewish Record Office is
given special attention. -
Then there are descriptions of the valuable collections in the New
York Public Library, in the Columbia University Library, Yeshiva Uni-
versity Library and the New York University Jewish Culture Foundation.
In the latter, thanks to the efforts of Prof. Abraham Katsh, are to be
found material about Hungarian Jewry, Arabic and Hebrew material and
the Russian Geniza.
Hebrew Union College Library and the collection at the
Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Dropsie College Library,
are other repositories of great literary treasures described in
this volume.
Because many. Christians were responsible for the gathering
of rare Hebraic literary data, the chapters dealing with the
Hebraic traditions at Cambridge, Mass. (Harvard) and the Yale
University Library in New Haven, Conn., are important addenda
to Dr. Rabinowicz's study.
His book gains in stature through the inclusion of a large
number of illustrations of historic manuscripts, testaments, let-
ters, histdric libraries, personalities and other items. This volume
has great merit and throws light on the immense literary, treas-
ures stored in the great institutions of learning in Britain and
the United States.