Friday, October 25, 1963—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-2
Purely Commentary
Civil Service Jobs—The Climate in the Post Office
It is an incontestable fact that a revolution is now being
experienced in business and industries. There are drastic changes
in the ranks of the middle class, small businesses have been or
are being gradually wiped out, and employment opportunities
are no longer what they were a decade ago.
Young Jews are affected more seriously than others because,
until recently, they sought opportunities in small businesses, as
salesmen and store managers. With the collapse of this type of
business, our young people must seek opportunities elsewhere.
Those who enter the professions, the men and women with
a college education, those who qualify as teachers and in other
university-trained jobs, are fairly secure. But not all are either
qualified for college studies or are able economically to seek a
higher education.
One of the avenues towards which our youth now must
direct their attention is the civil service. More of our young men
and women will have to turn to government, state or city jobs.
They must begin to think in terms of entering public service,
else their employment opportunities will diminish even more
drastically.
In this period of tension, while we are battling for the rights
of the Negro to have equal employment opportunities, let us not
overlook the fact that young Jews are in the same boat, that
there is a class of young people in our midst without freedom to
acquire the security that goes with good and well paying jobs.
Our civic-protective and social service agencies would do
well to look into this problem and not to ignore it, as it seems to
Several Vital News By Philip
Developments . . . Jobs, ,„;
atomovitz
Bnai Brith, Vatican
Arab states which viewed such a declaration as being not only
pro-Jewish but also pro-Israel. The Weigel statement was toned
down in an attempt to deny it, but it was a fact that the "tabling"
of the plan to act against anti-Semitism at the Ecumenical Coun-
cil did result from Arab pressure. If such pressures are again to
be exerted, the acts of justice reported from Rome may be de-
layed indefinitely. But the mere fact that there is talk about it
is a factor to the good. As long as people speak of justice and view
it as an obligation, justice will, in the course of time, be enacted.
*
Edmond Fleg's Deep Jewish Interests
Edmond Fleg was a great poet, a distinguished novelist and
essayist and a devoted member of the French Jewish community.
One of his noteworthy works was "Why I Am a Jew," which,
in a translation from the French, in 1929, by the late Mrs. Ste-
phen S. (Louise Waterman) Wise, attracted wide attention in
the English-speaking world. Mrs. Wise also translated his "Prom-
ised Land" which was the result of an interesting experience by
the eminent author. He had gone to what was then, in 1933.
Palestine, with the intention of writing a biography of Jesus.
That's when he had occasion to witness the great Zionist experi-
ment to which he had already given his interest and devotion,
and there emerged, instead of a story on the founder of Chris-
tianity, an account of the work of the Jewish pioneers.
He related in "The Promised Land" that a Catholic priest
complained to him about the Halutzim that "they are dancing on
the streets of Jerusalem!" It was, to the churchman, a sacrilege.
But it was not so to Fleg, who saw in the dancing the emergence
be ignored.
of a new life for Jews.
What, really, are the opportunities for job placement for
These and similar experiences denote the life of a great Jew
young Jews in government services?
who dedicated himself to Jewish causes while serving the French
The September issue of the organ of The Postal Alliance,
community with dignity and with honor. He lived to a ripe old
the organization of postal employees, carried the following table
age, and he labored nearly to the very end to create literary
indicating the breakdown of personnel in the employment of the
gems. His name will be recorded indelibly in our history.
Detroit Post Office:
*
*
*
Personnel of the Detroit Post Office According to Racial and
Ethnic Groups—As of June 30, 1963
Caucasian Negroes Jews Spanish Indian Oriental TOTAL
7568
18
3
21
3747 105
3674
18
16
2
1
135
125
10
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
122
2920
234
33
161
67
50
34
21
7
5
4
1
2
2
13
1 -
4
2
80
7
691
2493
315
31
46
13
6
7
3
8
2
2
3
1
1
1
3
16
2
817
5525
557
70
215
83
58
44
25
7
5
5
1
2
1
1
These facts may come as a shock. The percentage of Jews
in the population of Greater Detroit is approximately 4 per cent.
Why are there so few Jewish employees in the local Post Office?
In 1937 there were approximately 250 Jews in the local postal
service. Why has that number declined to less than half?
Is it possible that the proper climate does not exist in the
Post Office to make it sufficiently inviting for Jewish applicants?
We do a lot of researching into many problems — intermar-
riage, synagogue affiliations, education. Employment is equally
as serious, if not an even more serious problem, than many of
the issues to which public funds are devoted. A study should
be made of employment possibilities for Jews, of the reasons for
so small a percentage of Jews in municipal, state and federal
positions. Our young people must, in larger numbers, seek op-
portunities in public jobs, and unless we establish their avail-
ability as well as the fitness of Jewish applicants for them, we
may face great difficulities in assuring economic security for
large numbers in our midst.
*
*
*
'De Catholicorum Habitudine ad non-Christianos et
Maxime ad Judeaos' . . . Ecumenical Council Schema
Thanks to the determined advocacy of Augustin Cardinal
Bea, the 82-year-old Catholic dignitary, a fourth chapter of a
theme on ecumenism—the term for the new movement toward
unity among Roman Catholics, Protestants and other Christians—
has been prepared for distribution from Rome. It is being called
"De Catholicorum Habitudine ad non-Christianos et Maxime ad
Judaeos"—"On the Catholic Attitude Toward non-Christians and
Especially Toward Jews."
It is doubtful whether this schema will be debated at
the present session of Vatican Council II. Vatican spokesmen
already have denied that such a statement has been prepared. But
Bea's insistence on discussing it gives the theme significance.
The very brevity of the Bea document—if it can be attrib-
uted only to the German-born octogenarian—lends added impor-
tance to its contents. The firm declarations that the Jews are
not to be blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus, that anti-Semitism
is disapproved by the church, that the Roman Catholic church
must not forget that Jesus and the apostles were Jews, tend to
remove the symptoms that caused hatred for Jewry during the
Christian era.
It remains to be seen whether or not the highest authorities
in the Catholic church will go to such lengths as to recognize the
Jewish position and to render justice to it; and of even greater
importance, because it poses the more serious question, is
whether Catholic clergy everywhere will adhere to the schema as
proposed at the current Ecumenical Council. The fact remains
that while great Catholic dignitaries, including the titular heads
of the Roman Catholic church, were speaking of "the sin of anti-
Semitism," many priests were leaders in anti-Semitic movements.
This was true in the past few years in Argentina and there was
evidence of it in other countries, especially in Eastern Europe.
Fortunately, it was least evident in this country and in Italy.
It will be recalled that earlier this year, during the session
of the National Community Relations Advisory Council in Atlan-
tic City, the Jesuit ecclesiologist, the Rev. Fr. Gustave Weigel,
revealed that action on a proposal to condemn anti-Semitism at
the Ecumenical Council was postponed due to pressure from the
The Death of a Newspaper
In the same week that the 39-year-old New York Mirror shut
its doors and left 1,600 people without jobs, an old-established
English-Jewish weekly went out of business. The Jewish Ledger
of New Orleans was 68 years old. It served its community well
for many years and although it had declined content-wise in
recent years it nevertheless was a communal organ, and its death
must be viewed as a calamity.
The New Orleans weekly did not create an unemployment
problem. It was a one-man operation—Editor Abe Slabot's re-
sponsibility. It was not among the good English-Jewish weeklies,
but that may have been the fault of a community that may not
have recognized its great need to have an organ that must pro-
vide it with the vital Jewish news of the world.
In the editorial "Death of The Mirror," the New York Times
stated: "The Mirror was no ornament to the profession; but it
did have its own character, it did appeal to nearly a million
readers a day and it did add some variety to the city's press." It
must be said about the New Orleans English-Jewish weekly that it,
too, was "no ornament" to Jewry and to the Jewish press. But it
could have been made an ornament, and the community it served
didn't make it possible.
It has been pointed out that the Mirror commenced with an
idea of providing 10 per cent of news content with a 90 per cent
emphasis on entertainment. No Jewish newspaper can afford to
have it other than the reverse percentage-wise. The New Orleans
paper was unable, in its shrunken state, to play the role of a
good newspaper. Now that it is no longer circulating it is possible
that the community itself will undertake to fill the gap. Perhaps
some interested people will ask Abe Slabot to revive his paper
so that his community will not remain voiceless. But even a
temporary gap is tragic. The death of the Ledger is symbolic of
what has been happening in the newspaper world in the past
decade. Many papers have gone out of existence, the Yiddish
press is declining all-too-rapidly, the English-Jewish press suf-
fers from a lack of well-informed editorial personnel. This is a
critical period in the cultural life of Jewry, and the death of the
New Orleans paper serves as another warning to American Jewry
not to permit its best instruments for the creation of vitality in
Jewish life to be destroyed.
4:
Dedicate School
Honoring Keidan
On Thursday evening, the De-
Board of Education dedi-
cated the new Harry B. Keidan
Elementary School at 4441 Col-
lingwood.
The new school, named for
the prominent jurist, provides
capacity for 1416.
Budget for this school is
$1,600,000 and it was designed
by Suren Pilafian & Wheeler,
Backer & Associates. Color
scheme for the Keidan School
is orange and off-white and al-
troit
LATE JUDGE KEIDAN
though it is an unusually large
elementary school its scale is
reduced by grouping classrooms
and educational functions by
age groups around a central
court.
The late Judge Harry B. Kei-
dan was one of Detroit's most
distinguished Jewish leaders.
He was among the most active
and most devout personalities
in Congregation Shaarey Zedek,
was especially interested in
Jewish education and was de-
voted to the United Hebrew
Schools, and was famous na-
tionally as an abritrator who
exerted all his efforts to avoid
litigations and public scandals.
Israel Tells UN
Regional Tensions
Must Be Eased
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y.,
Israel advised the United Na-
tions that the thaw in East-West
relations resulting from the
limited nuclear test ban treaty
will not of itself guarantee
world peace unless steps were
also taken to eliminate "regional
tensions."
Without naming the Arab
states surrounding Israel and
their hostility to the Jewish
State, the Israeli delegate, Gid-
eon Rafael, told the United Na-
tions that "the amassing of arm-
aments in one area, accompa-
nied by a refusal to settle dis-
putes by peaceful means, cre-
ates tensions whose repercus-
sions are felt beyond the con-
fines of the area itself. This
nourishes actual and potential
international tensions, and frus-
trates the efforts to advance
worldwide disarmament."
The statement was made by
Rafael in the General Assem-
bly's Political and Security Com-
mittee during a debate "on the
urgent heed for suspensions of
nuclear and thermonuclear
tests."
Pointing out that Israel signed
the nuclear test ban treaty on
the first day it was opened for
signature, Rafael said that while
the pact "should inaugurate an
era when the atom will serve
man's life and not threaten his
very existence, "it was neces-
sary to take a number of simul-
taneous and interrelated steps.
Bnai Brith's 120th Birthday
Philip Klutznick, the very able American Jewish leader
who remains the most dynamic guide of the great Bnai Brith
movement, appropriately pointed to the "traditional span of life
—120," referred to in the Bible and very frequently quoted by
Jews who wish each other a life of "until 120" ("biz hundert-un-
tzwatzig"), as being applicable to the Bnai Brith.
Jews everywhere share with Bnai Brith members the joy
of being able to mark so important an anniversary. Bnai Brith
has played so vital a role in our life, it has contributed so much
to philanthropy and to civic-protective efforts, and it is now in
the process of ding so much towards the advancement of Jewish
cultural aims, that whatever encomia are directed towards the
movement and its leaders can express the respect and admiration
of those who pass out compliments only in a limited degree. The
movement is large in membership, and therefore reaches a vital
part of American Jewry. It is wide awake to its duties to our
faith, to the needs of Jews everywhere, to Israel.
May the hands of the Bnai Brith leaders be strengthened
and may the vast Bnai Brith membership continue to benefit
from the advantages the movement offers. A strong Bnai Brith
will, surely, also redound to the benefit and glory of all Israel.
*
Zion!—it was necessary to fight
for the city to the bitter end and
Dov Joseph and the 'Faithful City'
One of the most dramatic events that preceded the establish- to defend it!
Dov Joseph will be here on
ment of the State of Israel was the battle for Jerusalem. It was
the most difficult of Israel's struggles to retain the more than Nov. 7 as the guest of the De-
60,000 Jews who then—in 1948—resided in the New City of troit Israel Bond Committee, at
a dinner inauguarating a new
Jerusalem as citizens of the new State.
- The Jews in the Old City were destroyed. They were driven effort for the sale of Israel
out and not a single one of them was left. That might also have Bonds. He may tell the story
happened to the Jews in the New City, had it been permitted to fall of that battle anew. Whether
he does or not, however, he is
into the hands of the Jordanians.
It was to avert wholesale slaughter and to assure security for to be welcomed here as one of
the residents of the New City of Jerusalem, in addition to protect- the distinguished builders of Is-
ing Jewish rights there and the obligation to keep Jerusalem within rael, and as such we join in wel-
the Jewish State—without Jerusalem there could hardly be a coming him.