Hanging Out A New Shingle

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

SIDNEY SHMARAK

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selection
This Sabbath, the twenty seventh day of Adar, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Wa-yakhel, Pekude ha-Hodesh; Exod. 35:1-40:38, 12:1-20. Prophetical
portion, Ezekiel 45:16-46:18.

Licht benshen, Friday, March 22, 6:28 p.m.

VOL. XLIII. No. 4

Page Four

March 22, 1963

Obstacles to American Unity

At a number of local and national
conferences concern has been expressed
over the -alleged increase of anti-Semitism
among the Negroes in this country.
Several manifestations of prejudice
towards whites—mostly Jews—have been
reported in Harlem, and at meetings at
which there were eNchanges of views
registering experiences in Negro-Jewish
relations, Negro spokesmen were frank
in their expressions of either outright
prejudices against Jews or of evidencing
suspicions of Jewish attitudes.
There is due cause of amazement over
such a development on the American
scene, especially since Jewish ranks are
filled with ardent advocates of absolute
racial equality. It is from Jewish ranks
that much of the help has gone towards
causes aimed at the advancement of civil
liberties. Why, then, the emergence and
spread of anti-Semitism among Negroes?

Especially disturbing is the sensa-
tional "revelation" which assumes the
aspect of a "charge" made in the Am-
sterdam News, the leading New York
Negro newspaper, that Jews dominate the
New York public office-holding field. The
sensational headlines over that alleged
expose read: "High Level Protestants
Meet—Secret Study Says Jews Control
City's Top Jobs—Hold 53% of Top Posi-
tions." The story itself claimed that this
"revelation" was "explosive," that while
New York City's population is "about 48.4
per cent Catholic, 26.4 Jewish and 23 per
cent Protestant," it is the Jews who have
captured most of the public jobs.
A spokesman for the Protestants, to
whom the "revealing study" was ascribed,
promptly repudiated the implications in
the Negro newspaper's "explosive" atti-
tude, and expressed profound regret that
the purpose of the study should haVe
been distorted.
The Rev: Dr. D. M. Potter, executive
director Of the Protestant Council of New
York, stated that the purpose of the study

was "not to criticize any group but to
encourage more active Protestant respon-
sibility in civic and government voca-
tions," and he added:
"Such unfortunate journalism in-
creases tension and misunderstanding
and serves to weaken the cause of
democracy and interfaith cooperation."
It is in line with this latter statement
that vve wish to judge the entire unfor-
tunate issue.

This is a time for inter-faith and inter-'
racial cooperation, and not for dissension
or for divisiveness in American ranks.
Great progress has been made in the
direction of amity and good will, and any
attempt to distort truth; or to be moti-
vated by jealousies, suspicions and greed,
can only serve to disrupt the spreading
attitudes in the direction of- cooperation
and good citizenship.
The Negro newspaper, in its unreason-
able approach to the issue, has done at
least one thing:- it has undermined the
basic principle of merit, on the strength
of which Negroes and whites, Christians
and Jews, should have the right to obtain
public jobs. If Negroes should qualify
for all available jobs in hospitals, or in
judicial positions, or in the post office,
they should have them. But if that were
the case, there would be an obligation
upon all other elements in the population
similarly to aspire to such jobs and so to
prepare their people that they would
qualify for them.
By sowing seeds of suspicion and
hatred, all that can possibly be accom-
plished is to destroy whatever unity has
been attained, to set us back in move-
ments to establish indestructible good
will, to extend racial equality, to assure
liberties and just rights for all.
The Protestant leaders already moved
in the directions of setting the record
straight. Now it is up to the offending
newspaper in Harlem to abandon its
policy of encouraging suspicion among
the citizens of New York.

On April 1 Ballot: Our Children's Future

Two recommendations, to be voted
upon on April 1, carry with them the
gravest responsibilities that have faced
our citizens for many years.
If our school system is not to be
crippled, if the fire-traps presently in use
are to be replaced with modern buildings,
the proposals that will appear on the bal-
lots at the election . that is fast approach-
ing must be adopted.
It would be most heartening if the
requests for millage increases were ap-
proved overwhelmingly. Then , it will be
said that our citizens are deeply con-
cerned in the education of- their children,
that our community is anxious to wipe
out whatever handicaps stand in - the way
of removing delinquencies from our
midst. It is by providing the best means
for the education of our • youth that we
can hope for the emergence of a whole-
some generation of Americans.
An oft-repeated charge not to be
overlooked is that there is, in practice,
in Detroit, a segregation of races; that
the colored are discriminated against
and are isolated in schools with lowered
standards; that there are unwritten
laws which perpetuate bigotry and
biased practices.
In a well-ordered society, such prac-
tices have no place. The oft-repeated seg-
gregation charges may be greatly exag-
gerated. But it stands to reason that if

we are to have a wholesome community
we must provide the best educational
facilities for all elements in our midst,
and if some areas have been neglected,
through the perpetuation of dilapidated
school buildings, the proper corrections
must be made promptly.
For that purpose, a sacrifice must be
made in the form of higher. taxes—to
provide for the needed school facilities.
But it must not be viewed as a sacri-
fice but rather as a serious civic duty.
Either we have a properly trained youth
whose moral standards will reject the
temptations that hitherto have ap-
pealed to the less affluent and drove
them to delinquencies, or we shall be
paying a much heavier price for the
care of our youth. And then it may be
entirely too late to cone with situations
that are now so easily curable.
Unfortunately, as has already been
deplored in these columns, there are too
many among us who are motivated by a
desire to reduce taxes at the expense of
the community's most vital needs. To
overcome the negative that stems from
the opponents of the school proposals,
those who strive for the improvement of
our school system should mobilize their
forces so that a strong vote may be as-
sured for the vital provisions which must
be adopted in the best interests of com-
munity wholesomeness.

3,000 Quotations, 400 Authors

Talmudic and Yiddish Sayings
in 'Viking Book of Aphorisms

An. aphorism is something terse and pithy, powerful in its
wisdom and its influence when used properly.
It is not an epigram, and two noted experts, W. H. Auden,
an authority on poetry and poetic writing and the editor of
several anthologies, and Louis Kronenberger, the American critic
and novelist, explain it in their personal selection, "The Viking
Book of Aphorisms," published by Viking Press.
Prefacing the more than 3,000 quotations from 400 authors,
including other sources, such as the Bible, the Talmud, Yiddish
sayings, etc., they describe aphorismS as "essentially an aristo-
cratic genre of writing."
"The aphorist," these two authors tell us, -"does not argue or
explain, he asserts; and implicit in his assertion is a conviction
that he is wiser or more intelligent than his readers. For this
reason the aphorist who adopts a folksy style with 'democratic'
diction and grammar is a cowardly and insufferable hypocrite."
The two authors state that "an epigram must be amusing
and brief, but an aphorism, though it should not be boring and
must be succinct in style, need not make the reader laugh and
can extend itself to several sentences."
Several examples of the author's selections will prove their
points. For instance, in the section on "Love, Marriage and
Friendship," they went to the Talmud for this one: "A child
tells in the street what its father and mother say at home."
In the same section, there is the Yiddish proverb: "A man
too good for the world is no good for his wife," and Heinrich
Heine is credited with "The music at a wedding procession
always reminds me of the music of soldiers going into battle."
And in the same chapter is the realistic Yiddishism: "The
innkeeper loves the drunkard, but not for a son-in-law." Here;
also, Disraeli is quoted: "The magic of our first love is our
ignorance that it can ever end"; and Sigmund Freud's: "The
credulity of love is the most fundamental source of authority."
In the compilation under the heading "The Professions" is
the well known Yiddish proverb: "Don't ask the doctor; ask the
patient."
Heine is extensively quoted under the heading "History."
In the "Action" section Disraeli is represented by the saying:
"The more you are talked about, the less powerful you are."
About "action," Heine said: "The initiator dies—or turns traitor."
There are other selections in this department by Martin Buber,
Heine and a score of others.
"What's left over from the thief is spent on the fortune-
teller," is a Yiddish saying about "Human Vices." Describing
"Human Folly," there are a number of Yiddish proverbs: "A
fool is his own -informer"; "the shlemiehl lands on his back
and bruises his nose," "send a fool to close the shutters and
he'll close them all over town."
"Religion and God" includes the Yiddish aphorism: "Truth
rests with God alone, and a little bit with me." Other Yiddish
selections in this section are: "If God lived on earth, people
would break his windows"; "What makes ,God happy? Seeing a
poor devil find a treasure and give it back;" "God will provide-
ah, if 'only He would until he (Ides so !"
Among the other Yiddishisms in this rich collection are:
"Sleep faster, we need the pilloWs."
"If the rich would hire other people to die for them, the
poor could make a wonderful living."
"Truth is the safest lie."
"A flatterer must not lose his temper."
" 'For example' is not proof."
"The Viking Book of Aphorisms" is filled with wise sayings,
puns, proverbs that will delight the reader. The many distin-
guished personalities who are quoted are the authorities on
opinions and wisdom. Auden and Kronenberger have produced
a truly magnificent collection that will serve as entertainment
and enlightenment for those who will share in this compilation
of wisdom.

