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May 24, 1963 - Image 2

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Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1963-05-24

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THE DETROIT JEWIS H NEWS — Friday, May 24, 1963

Purely Commen tary

Jewry and Its Law—Shavuot and the Torah's Guardians:
Is There Hope for Torah and Learning in the Diaspora?
There has been much celebrating of our festivals • by giving
emphasis to the delicious foods especially linked with our holidays.
The blintzes on Shavuot are unavoidably popular. They even
served as a means of providing a political interest for a candidate
for the Governorship of our Empire State.
For those who are concerned with cultural survival and
spiritual. revival, there are other interests. We must give some
thought to the Torah. We must concern ourselves with the Law
that came down to us from Sinai.
This is a new era for our people. Only a minority of Jews
now live in fear of corporeal existence. With the rebirth. of the
State of Israel, with an influx of large numbers of Jews into the
free environment of the Holy Land, the overwhelming number
of our people lives in freedom. Can they, under freedom, perpetu-
ate the Law without hindrance, without fear of being lost to
Jewry through assimilation?
During the tragic years of constant waves of perSecutions,
when there were pogroms in Czarist Russia, when most Jews lived
in fear for their lives, the great Zionist leader, Dr. Shmarya Levin,
who was a member of the Russian Duma, whose literary works
remain among the most distinctive, wrote on "The People and
the Law" and in an evaluation of the lesson of Shavuot saw
security for Jewry's spiritual treasures only in independent state-
hood for our people. He wrote:
A nation is not born in a day, neither are its laws made
in a day. The history of nations and their laws is a long,
uninterrupted chain of development, of internal growth, con-
tinuously assuming new forms, in accordance with conditions
of time and place, under the influence of external and internal
factors. That is why there can be no final edition of a code
of laws, as there can be no finality in life itself. All this,
however, is true only when a people lives on its own soil,
and can freely express its own spirit; when a people is master
of its past and future, and is not subject to dictation from
without. In such a healthy and normal condition, whenever
there is a conflict between the people and its laws, life itself
brings about the necessary reconciliation; whatever needs to
be amended is amended, whatever needs to be expunged is
expunged; all that is superfluous, that is obsolete, that has
been rendered useless, is sifted out by the conditions of life.
The people aims at perfection, but progresses, towards that
goal quietly and slowly. When it becomes necessary to replace
an old law by a new one, it does not hesitate to do so, for
the change is natural, and there is harmony in the conditions
that produce the change. The people itself has created the
old law, and it creates the new law. The alteration is made
in accordance with the people's tendencies and ideals. The
people adores both the old and the new, regards both as
sacred. Our old sages said, "Regard not the law as old, but
as if you had received it this day from Mount Sinai"; and
also, "Every future interpretation of the law by a competent
student is to be regarded as though it had been revealed
on Sinai." These utterances clearly illustrate the healthy
character of a spiritual development which is not impeded
by external obstacles. But a different picture is presented
when a people labours under a foreign yoke, and is no
longer free to select or reject, to incorporate or to expel,
in accordance with its particular tastes and tendencies. And
still greater is the difference when a people is driven from
its land and lives in remote exile, when it is compelled to
fit itself to a strange environment, and adapt its life to
strange laws. In such conditions it has no choice but to spend
its creative energy in defending the spiritual acquisitions of
its past, which it created in the period of its independence.
The future is no longer its own; it is in the hands of others.
The past thus becomes doubly sacred; and what has been
acquired in the past is sealed with the stamp of finality, lest
it be lost. So we sealed our Mishrah, our Talmud, and even
works of later periods. The present came to be regarded as
secular, profane; the acquisitions of the past became for
that reason the more precious. The older the spiritual acquisi-
tion, the more sacred it is. Thus the connection between the
past and the present expression of the people's spirit is cut
off. That which is old is not only old, it is an antiquity. We
must regard it with respect, but we cannot give our entire
lives to its study, its development, its interpretation, for it
has no direct bearing upon the course of our present life.
The result is a terrible searing of the soul of our people,
a spiritual exile which is much more painful than the physical
exile, the wanderings from land to land. The people is com-
pelled to find its soul-nourishment in alien sources. It can
find comfort only in its past. It lacks a present, and cannot
build a bridge to its future, for in the present it is not master
of its own fate. Perhaps not every individual member of the
people feels the smart; but the people as a people groans
under the burden of this internal affliction, and strives to
free itself and gain independence. -
When the people gains its freedom, it will shake off all
the dust and the mud that have besmirched its soul and body
during its wanderings in exile, and will take the reins of life
in its own hands. Then we shall need no special guardians
to guard the treasury of our past. The entire people will be
the guardian and the creator of its old as well as of its
new life. It will continue its life, responsive to new demands.
Its life will be free, and its laws will no longer be embalmed,
but living and fruitful. There will naturally be parties with
different views and outlooks on life; but there will be no
unbridgeable gulf between them, for they will be united in
one central purpose, which will not permit the different sec-
tions of the same people to become estranged from each
other, as East is from West. The people will return to its
former healthy state, and the defensive apologetic attitude
engendered by the conditions of exile will give place to a
free and normal creative spirit.
For many of the devastated areas whose Jewish communities
have been destroyed and whose Jewish populations, have vanished,
these views still are valid. For many kehilloth only Israel holds
out hope for a wholesome existence. But what about the free
Jewish communities in the United States, in Canada, in England
and several other countries? Are we helpless and is our position
hopeless without help from Israel?
It is our deep conviction that Dr. Levin, who was without





Shavuot and Priority for
Jewish Education in Our By
Communal Planning
SIOMOVitZ-

Philip

doubt one of world Jewry's very brilliant thinkers and students
of history, who knew and understood American Jewry perhaps
better than any other European, would- have altered his views
under existing conditions. As matters stand today, all of Jewry
would be menaced if the views held by Dr. Levin were to retain
their validity today: because American Jewry can not and will
not be transplanted; because all of world Jewry must look to
the largest Jewish community in the world for encouragement
not only in time of physical need, not merely for philanthropic
funds, but also for spiritual guidance.
Therefore we reiterate the confidence we have that out of
American Jewry will develop, as the years progress, a culturally
creative element that will make great contributions towards the
revival of spiritual values in Israel. We even hold to the view
that out of American Jewry will stem leaders and scholars who
will help guide even the State of Israel.
We have not yet reached that stage. We are still giving
priority to philanthropy. But this is a passing phase in our
history. We are in a state of transformation. If we did not have
faith in the temporariness of the era of materialism and of
indifference to Jewish values in Jewish ranks we would already
view our position as lost and our people as being defeated
by strange codes.
We view Shavuot as a festival that will yet lead us to great
heights, that will beckon us to new heights, that will cause us
again to look heavenward—to Sinai and its teachings. We hold
to these views because we believe in the indestructibility of Israel.

*

The Late Chaim Lieberman
Chaim Lieberman, a member of the editorial staff of the
Jewish Daily Forward, was a most interesting person. An able
writer, an outstanding educator, he became very devout and
was one of the most religiously observant . of all the Yid-
dish writers.
While he wrote primarily in Yiddish, he also authored
many articles and a book in English. As a Columbia University
graduate and as a deep student of literature he had mastered
English as well as Yiddish and Hebrew.
One of his books, "Strangers to Glory," was an excoria-
tion of the Council for Judaism. In another book, "The Chris-
tianity of Sholem Asch," he condemned what he termed was
the Christological attitude of the late Yiddish novelist who at
one time served with him on the staff of the Forward but
whose articles, while accepted and paid for by the Forward for
many years, were denied space in that Yiddish daily.
A strong defender of Orthodox Judaism, Chaim Lieber-
man was a staunch traditionalist. He observed all the traditional
Jewish laws, prayed three times daily, in tallith and tephillin,
and was consistently devout.
He was, indeed, one of the very distinguished Yiddish
writers of our time, who fought courageously for the views
he propagated.
The Late Prof. Hugo Valentin
Another recent loss to Jewry was the death of Prof. Hugo
Valentin of Sweden. His books on the history of anti-Semitism
and on Zionism were noteworthy scholarly studies. He was the
president of the Swedish Zionist Federation from 1930 to 1953
and his contributions to the cause of Jewish national redemp-
tion were outstanding. He was among Stockholm's most dis-
tinguished leaders and his loss is to world Jewry as well as
to the Jews of Sweden.



Shavuot.Qutz

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

(Copyright, 1963,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Why do the pious ones stay
awake all night during the
first night of the Shavuot
holiday? (This year, Tuesday
evening, May 29.)
The source for this .is the
Zohar who writes that "The
pious of golden times would
not sleep on this night; but
would occupy themselves with
the (study of) the Torah." Some
claim this is done because of a
condition which prevailed on
this night during the event of
the Revelation of the Torah at
S i n ai which the festival of
Shavuot commemorates. The
Midrash tells us that the people
of Israel were asleep on .this
night and the Almighty had to
send Moses to awaken them
before he could give them the
Torah. According to this ex-
planation the various passages
recited from the Torah during
this night are called "Tikkun"
because the word comes from a
root which means "to fix or to
amend." The Zohar claims that
this night has a mystic connota-
tion in the sense that a spiritual
fusion takes place between the
Almighty and his chosen people.
There are later commen-
taries who claim that the re-
quirement to stay awake all
night may be reminiscent of the
original commandment in the
Bible (E xodus 19:11) which
asked the men to separate from
their wives on the night before
the acceptance of the Torah so
that they be totally committed
to Deity upon the act of receiv-
ing the . Torah.
The day of Shavuot is both
the birthday and the day of the
passing of King David. Thus,
those in Israel who can, make
the pilgrimage to his tomb so
as to visit his resting place on
his Yahrzeit, the same as the
grave of a parent is visited
on the Yahrzeit. It is for this
same reason that some claim
we read the Book of Ruth on
that day, since the book gives
the geneology of King David,
who was a descendant of Ruth.

Top French Leaders Pledge Support
of Israel's Security in Middle East

PARIS (JTA) — A meeting
here attended by more than 100
top French government leaders,
to mark Israel's 15th annivers-
ary, became a forum at which
specific pledges were made by
the officials to support Israel's
security in the Middle East and
its hopes for continued trade j
ties with the six European Com- ,
mon Market countries.
The pledges followed an ad-
dress by .Walter Eytan, the Is-
raeli AmbaSsador to France,
who warned that Israel faced
perils from both its Arab ene-
mies and its European friends.
The meeting, sponsored by the
France-Israel Alliance, was at-
tended by such leaders as Mau-
rice Schumann, president of the
French National Assembly's
Foreign •Affairs Commission;
Gaullist party leader Raymond
Schmittlin, Defense Minister
Pierre Mesmer, Interior Minister
Roger Frey, Finance Minister
Valery Giscard De Staing, Gas-
ton Palewsky, Minister for Nu-
clear and Scientific Research,
and others.
Eytan, who had just re-
turned from conferences in
Israel with Prime Minister
Ben-Gurion and Foreign Min-
ister Golda Meir, said that "for
the first time, three states—
all members of the United Na-
tions—have formed a federa-
tion whose constitution openly
proclaims it is aimed at the
destruction of another state,
Israel, which is also a member
of the United Nations." He

added: "and the United Na-
tions is doing nothing about
it."
Eytan told the glittering as-
semblage that "even without the
United Arab Republic Federa-
tion, peace is in danger because
Egypt itself is the main aggres-
sor and Egypt is well provided
with arms and weapons of de-
struction by the Soviet Union,
while another country gives
financial assistance." The "other
country" was understood to be
the United States.
He then warned that there
was "another danger, that of Is-
rael being caught between the
Arab boycott and a de facto cus-
toms boycott by its European
friends. The success of Israel's
negotiations with the Common
Market, which are due to begin
May 27, depends exclusively on
the political directives which will
be given by the governments of
the six member states. If such
directives will not be forthcom-
ing, the talks will bog down.
French influence can be a de-

cisive factor in the negotiations.
We count on it."
Reassurances were promptly
provided. Schumann said that
the 1950 Tripartite Declara-
tion of the United States,
Britain and France, guarantee-
ing the existing Israel-Arab
borders, was now "more bind-
ing, more urgent and more
imperative than ever before."
Schmittlin pledged that the
"weapons which Israel received
yesterday" from France "and
uses today, will not be lacking
tomorrow." Mesmer declared
that he greeted the Israel de-
fense forces "which have given
ample- proof of their courage and
service to the state." Gen. Pierre
Koenig, chairman of the Alli-
ance, recalled President Charles
de Gaulle's toast to Israel in the
summer of 1960, when he called
Israel "our friend and ally."
Gen. Koening added that "the
presence here of so many and
such important French personali-
ties shows that this toast still is
alive and valid."

Christians See Israel as Third Force
Between Communism, Democracy

NEW YORK (JTA) — Israel
offers the world a third alterna-
tive—in the choice between the
Soviet system as against democ-
racy—because the Israeli pat-
tern could be applied to under-
developed nations, Dean Al-
fange, well known attorney, told
the annual meeting here of the
American Christian Association
for Israel, this weekend.

Statesmen of the free world,
said Mr. Alfange, should study
the Israeli pattern, since "Israel
has made a notable contribution
in a critical area of the cold
war." Israel, he maintained, of-
fers "a third alternative" be-
tween Communism and democ-
racy, "a pattern of life which
offers decent living standards
plus the essential freedoms.

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