Friday, December 6, 1963—THE DE TROIT JEWISH NEWS-2

Purely Commentary

Herbert H. Lehman—Man of Great Courage

Herbert H. Lehman was one of the most courageous men of
our generation.
A man of great dignity, kind, generous to extremes, he had
one especially valuable quality for a person in public life: he
was fearless.
It was especially in evidence when he confronted the vast
majority of the United States Senate in his opposition to the
viciously unjust McCarran-Walter Immigration
Act. He was attacked personally at the time.
He was accused of utilizing the franking privi-
leges for personal needs.
Nothing deterred him from his pursued
task of rejecting unfairness, of accusing the
sponsors of the bill of the most bigoted in-
tentions.
Then came the problem involving the block-
ades of Israel by the• Arab states, and again
he took the lead, during discussions on the
foreign aid bills, to demand justice for Israel.
The leadership he gave to America, the
assistance that came from him to the down-
trodden, the help he had given to the Joint H. H. Lehman
Distribution Committee, the United Jewish Appeal, Hadassah, the
Hebrew University, the Jewish Theological Seminary and many
other causes, attest to a glorious lifetime.
He was one of the very great men of this entire century.
Of him it will, indeed, be said that a giant has fallen. that Amer-
ica loses one of its noblest sons, and Jewry is bereft of a saint.
Blessed be his memory!

Max M. Fisher in a Position of National Leadership

Detroit's top community figure, Max M. Fisher, has been
assigned a most important national task that will lead him to
top national leadership.
In his new role as associate national chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal, Mr. Fisher is on the road to becoming, within a
year, it is hoped, the national general chairman of the UJA.
This is a mark of recognition of his devoted services to
Israel, of his aid to the distressed and dispossessed, of his deep
interest in Israeli investments—above all, it is an acknowledge-
ment of his leadership abilities.
Our community is honored, to have one of its favorite sons
chosen for so high a national role in behalf of a great cause.

The Pope at the Holy Places

An historic event is about to be enacted. Within about three
weeks, the Vatican leader, Pope Paul VI, will visit the Holy
Places in the Holy Land. He will go to Nazareth. Perhaps he
also will visit the New City of Jerusalem in the course of his
pilgrimage to the Old City that has been separated from Israel.
What will this visit mean for the peace of the Middle East
and for the world?
Will the Reigning Bishop of the Catholic church have an
opportunity to discuss the Israel-Arab issue and to strive for peace
in the embattled Middle East?
It is doubtful. On a two-day visit, all that can be expected of
the eminent churchman is that he will visit in and pray at the
holy shrines.
Would that he could devote time to the cause of peace in that
area! Would that all who are associated with him in church mat-
ters think in some measure of the needs for peace. But . the
Pope's statement has been qualified to emphasize that politi-
cal aspects will be obviated. And the peace of the Middle East
must have political connotations.
Therefore, all that can be hoped from the sensational visit
is that it will influence people to think in terms of amity, of
turning to spiritual rather than military aspirations, of aiming to
convert the sword into the plowshare.
But these have been the hopes of dreamers! When will
dreams become realities? We live in hopes, and for the attain-
ments of the great humanitarian goals all who pray for peace
will bless the spokesmen for any faith that can attain the ulti-
mate goal of justice and amity.

The Highest Type of Resistance

Much has been and continues to be said in the debates over
what has been termed a "lack of resistance to Nazism:' on the
part of Jews during the tragic years of the holocaust.
In his review of Josef Bor's "The Terezin Requiem" (which
also was reviewed in our columns on Nov. 1), in the New York
Times, Elie Wiesel, himself a survivor from Nazism, author of
several books, including one that described his experiences in
Auschwitz and Buchenwald, had this to say:
"Why did the Jews allow themselves to be led to the slaugh-
ter house like cattle?" is a very popular question these days,
but tiresome because it is so often asked and almost never
asked properly. Armed resistance (if you have arms) is merely
one kind of resistance, to which admittedly the Jews did not
often resort. Nor do cattle. But spiritual resistance, unremarked
if not unrecorded in cattle, is another quite legitimate kind of
resistance, by no means the least effective.
"The Terezin Requiem" would indicate that spiritual re-
sistance was largely present in the ghettos. In Warsaw, the
writer, Ililel Zeitlin, went to his death shrouded in his prayer
shawl with a copy of the Zohar under his arm; in Galicia, the
rabbis marched singing to the grim execution pits. At Auschwitz,
millions of Jews celebrated Rosh ha-Shanah; at Monowitz, hun-
dreds of Jews would arise an hour before roll-call in - order to
share the single pair of tefillin (prayer phylacteries) smuggled
into the camp by a Pole at the cost of 10 rations of bread.
Is it like this that cattle go to the slaughter-house, singing
the Requiem of Theresienstadt, refusing to bow before their
executioners? Has there ever been anything else that raises
the dignity of man to a higher power than continuing to discover
these things a full 20 years after the holocaust, the unbroken
pride of victims so indifferently abandoned to their fate by
what we choose to call humanity and continue to regard as
civilization?
Indeed, there is a higher type of resistance which Hannah
Arendt could not understand. Elie Wiesel has given the proper
answer to the charge of non-resistance. "The Terezin Requiem,"

Lehman's Courage ...
Evidence of Jewish
Resistance to Nazism

By Philip
Slomovitz

Sharp Change in
Aliyah Noted in
Sixteen States

(Knopf), as indicated in our own review, powerfully indicates how
a group of musicians in Terezin defied, in their way, the Nazi
spirit. There is need for physical resistance, but there is equal
During the last 20 months of
glory in the spiritual force when it makes itself felt as in the
"requiem" preparations and in the defiance of great men who activity of the midwestern of-
have died with the Shema on their lips and with their heads fice of the Jewish Agency Ali-
held high.
yah Department, located in Chi-
cago and servicing 16 states of
Abraham Sutzkever . . . Resistance Leader
the area, a significant change
Not only did Nazism destroy a third of the Jewish people in
the 12 years of Hitler rule in Europe: the holocaust also created in the trend towards Aliyah is
reported. The number of people
a frightful charge of lack of resistance against the victims.
Instead of pointing a finger at the world's statesmen for their approaching in person the small
guilt in having permitted Hitlerism to go as far as it did, without Jewish Agency office has in-
explaining why peoples 100 times the numerical size of Jewry creased from an average of 60
also had failed to resist, Jews are singled out for blame.
a month in the spring of 1962
Regrettably, the guilty accusers often are themselves Jews. to 300 a month during the last
It is so important, therefore, that proof of the heroic re- year.
sistance which in many instances surpassed the heroism of the
In July and August, • 1963,
most gallant in the last war should always be brought forward. more
450 individuals in-
A resistance leader will be Detroit's guest on Dec. 19, when quired than
on Aliyah each month.
the local Histadrut campaign will sponsor a special function in The number
of people inter-
his honor. The hero whose resistance will be acknowledged at viewed in the larger
Jewish pop-
that time is Abraham Sutzkever, the eminent Yiddish poet who ulated towns in the
midwest
fought with the partisans against the Nazi hordes in the Polish tripled in comparison
to last
forests, joined in derailing trains and raiding arsenals and later year.
appeared as one of the Jewish witnesses at the Nuremberg War
A breakdown of the appli-
Crimes Trial.
Sutzkever now is an Israeli citizen. He has earned much cants by categories reveals that
credit for having secreted the Vilna library archives which he not more than 15% are of the
reclaimed after Germany's defeat, making it possible for valuable retiring age, while over 60% are
in the 20 - 50 age group. Those
documents to be stored in Israel.
Sutzkever is especially remembered for his "Siberia," a lyric in the working age are usually
poem he wrote in 1936. It was published in book form in 1953 and professionals, skilled people and
in 1961 UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural middle class businessmen. Young
Organization) issued it with illustrations by Marc Chagall. A verse people going to the Kibbutzim,
Universities or Yeshivos, con-
from this poem, entitled "Siberian Spring," reads:
stitute about 20%. These young,
The air above the wilderness of tundra
individuals, in spite of the orig-
Resounds with the beating of variegated wings.
inal plan to stay six to twelve
Stretch upon stretch, the ground below is melting
I months in Israel, extend their
Like a mirror which overflows its frame,
stay. Those who return to the
As its edges fill with sprouting green.
United States come back to Is-
The wet snow sings a farewell song
rael, some within a year, others
Of sparkling, winging flakes.
after two to three years, after
The roaring rains that follow awaken in the child
college graduation.
An urge to catch the chasing streams,
Rising like a bird above the woods and rocks
In 1959, 600 Americans set-
And high into the open wastes of air,
tled in Israel, 900 in 1960, 1,500
He reaches out towards a new day of holy festival.
in 1961, and close to 2,000 in
It is to Histadrut's credit that Abraham Sutzkever is being 1962.
brought here to tell the story of his role in the battle for freedom.
Zionist leadership of the va-
Histadrut opened its campaign here next Tuesday in the pres- rious Jewish communities in
ence of a no ther distinguished leader, Itzhak Ben-Aharon, the midwest have become more
Hashomer Hatzair youth organizer, a Knesset member who traces involved in work for Aliyah, and
his role as a fighter for Israel's freedom to the time when he great enthusiasm is noticed. The
risked his own freedom by facilitating the entrance into Israel of general shortage of manpower
thousands of immigrants who were considered "illegal" by the in Israel, practically in all pro-
British, by opposing British rule and fighting for Israel's inde- fessional lines and sills, makes
pendence.
actually everyone with a posi-
Detroit is privileged to have two such distinguished guests tive background in this country
fit for Aliyah, the report states.
through the Histadrut's campaign planning.

National Advisiory Council Issues Plan
to Guide Groups in Community Relations

Recommended policies a n d
positions on many major cur-
rent issues affecting Jewish
community relations, together
with recommended programs for
advancing those policies, are
presented in the 10th annual
Joint Program Plan for Jewish
Community Relations just issued
by the National Community Re-
lations Advisory Council.
The plan was developed co-
operatively by the six national
agencies and 69 community re-
lations councils comprising the
NCRAC, including the Detroit
Jewish Community Council.
The judgments znd program
recommendations are advisory.
Each agency adopts, modifies
or rejects any of the recommen-
dations, according to its own
needs.
The plan ranges broadly
over many areas of concern:
civil rights, civil liberties, re-
ligious freedom and separation
of church and state, overt
anti-Semitism here and
abroad, the radical right, inter-
religious relationships, the
Middle East, American immi-
gration policy and others.
Overshadowing all other de-
velopments of the past year in
their significance f o r Jewish
community relations, the Plan
says, has been the expanding
struggle for equal rights.
While declaring that the Jew-
ish community is not in any
sense responsible for the con-
duct of individual Jews, the plan
recommends that, "in appropri-
ate cases," Jewish employers,
realtors and ethers be coun-

seled "with a view to interpret- "strenuous objections to the pro-
ing to them the importance of duction in some Catholic publi-
conforming their business prac- cations has been coupled in a
tices to the requirements of number of instances with identi-
equality of treatment and op- fication of the (American)
portunity."
producer as Jewish," the Jewish
At the same time, the state- organidations declare that any
ment points out that some Jew- intervention with the producers
ish merchants and others, will- in an effort to dissuade them
ing to make concessions to from going ahead with their
Negro demands, have been pre- plans would be contrary to their
vented by threats of retaliation policies.
by segregationists. They lack
Discussion American policy
information about relevant laws, in the Middle East, the Jewish
procedures and resources that organizations conunent that
would help them to counter such "hitherto it has been heavily
threats and take actions "con- influenced by concern for pos-
sistent with the advancement of sible inclination of the Arab
equality," and Jewish agencies states toward the Soviet
should give them such informa- Union, should American ac-
tion and other assistance, the tions displease them." The
Plan says.
Jewish groups deem this con-
Endorsing the civil rights
cern "excessive," and assert
legislation pending in Con-
that "it has had an immobiliz-
gress, including the fair em-
ing effect upon United States
ployment provisions and
diplomacy."
enlargement of authority for
They call upon the govern-
intervention by the Attorney ment to apply the full weight of
General in civil rights cases, American influence "to require
the Jewish organizations say of the Arab states that they give
they will use their resources a tangible demonstration of
to the fullest to interpret the their commitment to peaceful
need for such legislation.
resolution of differences among
Federal aid for public educa- nations by entering into
tion is approved by the plan, genuine peace negotiations with
but such aid for church-related Israel."
schools at all levels, including
The Plan backs the legisla-
colleges and universities, is op- tion proposed by President Ken-
posed.
nedy to abolish the "national
"The Deputy," which develops origins quotas" in the present
the theme that the late Pope federal immigration code and to
Pius XII failed to take steps replace it with a method of
that might have saved many issuing immigration visas based
more Jews from Nazi annihila- on national needs, individual
tion, is considered in a censor- characteristics and the princi-
ship category. Noting that ple of "first come first served."

