Purely Commentary

By

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Israeli Officials Visit Vatican to Plan
for Papal Expedition to Holy Land Shrines

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

President Zalman Shazar will
Fischer declared Wednes-
day in an official statement greet the Pontiff on his arrival
that it was necessary "to af- in Jerusalem, and will present
firm that the pilgrimage of him with a special gold medal
Pope Paul to the Holy Land showing the map of Israel and
has an exclusively religious bearing in Hebrew and Latin
significance as he himself has words an inscription: "I visited
declared." Israel." Similar bronze medals
The envoy said that he had will be presented to the cardi-
received instructions from the nals accompanying the Pope.
Israel government to clear in Meanwhile, government au-
Rome all technical details of thorities have instructed the
the Pope's visit and of the se- Public Works Department to
curity of the Pope and his en- start immediately certain re-
tourage while they were in Is- pairs needed to make the Pope's
rael on January. He added that visit easier and smoother. The
Kollek and Nahmias had come repairs will include the road to
to Rome to assist him in those Mount Zion as well as roads
details, concluding that "any leading to certain churches and
political interpretations" given monasteries that the Pontiff
to his contact with the Vatican may want to visit. The Cabinet
or the presence of the two Is- has voted a special allocation of
raeli officials "be it in a posi- funds for repair work in Naza-
tive or negative sense are with- reth, the city which the Pope is
out foundation." certain_ to visit.

ROME — Maurice Fisher,
Israel's ambassador to Italy,
called Tuesday on the Vatican
Secretariat to discuss details of
the Pope's visit to Christian holy
places in Israel during his pil-
grimage next month to the holy
land.
Pope Paul Sixth will be in
Israel on Jan. 5.
Israeli Police Chief Joseph
Nahmias and Teddy Kolleck,
Director General of the Israeli
Premier's Office, arrived in
Rome Tuesday to assist Fischer
in working out the details for
the Pontiff's visit to Israel.
The details of the Pope's visit
to Israel as disclosed here indi-
cated he would cross the Jor-
dan-Israel frontier near Jenin in
Jordan and Megido in Israel,
where he will meet President
o-
Shazar. The road the Pope will
use has been closed to traffic
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Boris Smolar's
since 1948.
The Day Schools and Their Supporters
The Pontiff will continue on
Growing endorsements for the Day School idea compel a
to Nazareth and visit the Ca-
comparable increase in concern over this type of Jewish school.
thedral of the Annunciation
Not only the Orthodox backers of the Yeshiva form of edu- there. He will celebrate mass
cation, but the Conservative group, which has been urging the
and then receive local ecclesi-
introduction of Day Schools in our educational planning, and a astical authorities in the pres-
number of prominent Reform Jews now are backing the progres- ence of the Bishop Hakim of
(Copyright, 1963,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
sive all-day school system as the best means of assuring the
Nazareth. The Pope will then
maximum in Jewish studies for the select who can be enrolled
visit Mount Tabor and Caper-
Political Talks
naum near Lake Tiberias, the
in the Day Schools.
The Jordan-to-Negev water project—one of the biggest de-
We refer to those who will attend Day Schools as the select
Mount of the Benediction and
velopment
projects which the State of Israel has undertaken—is
because our public schools must not be tampered with and as a
the northern corner of the
`matter of seriously accepted citizenship duties the Jewish com-
lake—all in Israeli territory. now coming more and more to the forefront in political talks
munity will strive to protect them and to assure their survival
He will visit Mount Zion at behind the scenes, as Israel is ready to start the first part of its
as the basic elements in our democracy. But there will always dusk and then enter the Jor-
be a small group for whom it will be necessary to provide the dan-held Old City of Jerusa- operation . . . Begun in 1954, the giant project is the outcome of
type of elementary Jewish education that will give them the lem through the Mandelbaum the determination of the Israel government to settle the Negev
maximum training, and for these select either their parents or Gate separating it from New and to make it possible to establish agricultural colonies there,
the community will have to assure the necessary means for the Jerusalem.
as well as to develop cities and industrial enterprises . . . About
sustenance of the specialized schools.
Precise details of this time- $100,000,000 has been invested in this scheme, which will draw
At the recent convention of the Union of American Hebrew table were elaborated Tuesday
Congregations, in Chicago, two Reform rabbis, who joined the night by Fischer,. Police Chief water from the Jordan River and from Lake Tiberias, and carry
it through mountains and valleys in immense pipes to the
ranks of supporters of Day Schools, said that the graduates of such Nahmias and Kollek.
schools "are moving into ranking positions in the Jewish com-
The arrival of the Israeli offi- Negev . . . The Arabs object to this scheme because they do not
munity and they are enriching Jewish religious life."
cials and the • conferences with want to see the Negev made fertile for Israel and because they
We are a bit skeptical about such glorious appraisal. It is the Secretariat touched off spec- do not want the waters diverted from Northern Jordan . . . They
still too early to judge the results of Day School training with ulation in the Italian press
such optimism. But it is reasonable to expect that this appraisal about the political status of Je- have long threatened to go to war, if Israel goes through with
will, indeed, be the ultimate result of Day School teachings.
rusalem. The Israel embassy her plan; now they have handed the matter over to their military
The Day School movement gains special attention in here dismissed such comments experts . . . Israel takes the stand that this is purely an internal
at groundless, noting that the affair . . .• There have been talks on this matter with Adlai
Detroit. Here, the Hillel Day School has shown such marked
progress that its objectives are especially acclamatory. From a Pope was visiting the Israeli Stevenson, United States Ambassador to the United Nations .
school enrollment of 29 in 1958, in a single class, Milers classes part of Jerusalem on his return
The U.S._ position has been that it will support Israel's right to
have grown to a kindergarten and the first six school grades, to Jordan.
divert Jordan .River water so long as Israel does not take a
and a student body of 165. The high standards of teaching and
the childreh's acceptance of the Hillel program are, of course, close to the Netuei Karta in larger share of the river's total flow than was allotted to Israel
even more important.
New York who had painted under the American Johnston plan . . . This plan was approved
Such attainments help advance the Day School cause. , swastikas on the buildings of by technical experts of the Arab states as well, until they were
While, as already stated, such an educational. system is for
the Israel Consulate- in that city overruled by the Arab League Council on political grounds . . .
the select, its importance emerges as_ unchallenged. . .
and engaged in the spreading
All of the latest developments in the direction of Day of malicious calumny concern- Israel has given firm assurances to the United States that it
Schools must lead our communities towards a greater apprecia- ing religious persecution on the will abide by the limits contained in the Johnston plan . . . The
tion of their 'values and a lessening of their depreciation which part of the government of Is- first stage of the Jordan-to-Negev water scheme, now ready for
was a previously accepted community policy. There will have rael.
operation, would provide 160 million cubic meters of additional
to be an increase in support of such schools, and in the course
"The Cabinet rejects these water- a - year; - the second stage, set for 1965, would raise this to
of time Day Schools undoubtedly will become welfare funds' outrageous slanders and dis- 220 million cubic meters . . In the final stage, around 1968,
graceful acts and hereby ex- the amount would rise to over 300 million cubic meters annually.
beneficiaries.
The Jewish community remains, however, unalterably op- presses the disgust of the cit-
Golden Jubilee
posed to Federal aid to parochial schools, and all the help izens of Israel at such deeds.
Jewish labor in the United States 50 years ago was far from
that is needed for schools other than those in our public school
"The government -of Israel
system must look for support either from parents who choose to will safeguard mutual tolerance, maintaining any Zionist sentiments . . The great majority of
place their children among the select in the search for a Jewish freedom of conscience and reli- immigrant Jews at that time—most of them working in sweat-
education or from the Jewish communities. Within the orbit of gion and will prevent all reli- shops under unbearable conditions—were primarily interested in
Jewish communal planning, such a firm policy can and does fit gious or antireligious coercion improving their lot . . . They were closer to being Socialists than
in alongside with the admiration that is due for those who strive from whatever quarter it may Jewish nationalists . . . Political Zionism in those years was
generally a young movement, and had practically taken no roots
to give our children a solid and sound Jewish educational found
come."
This is a commendable as- in the :United States . . . However, there were in New York a
tion in a progressive all-day school system.
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sertion. It is high time that dis- number of Jewish thinkers among the immigrants who advanced
honorable and "outrageous slan- the idea of Socialist Zionism . . . They were a very small group,
Suspicions . . . Eve and Adam . . . and Adam's Ribs
ders" should not be handled and their ideology found not wide echo among the thousands and
There is so much suspicion in the world!
thousands of Jewish newcomers which every ship from Europe
But it always existed, as is illustrated by this old but ever-new with silk gloves.
poured onto the shores of New York . . . Far from being dis-
There
does
remain,
however,
story:
the serious problem of Israel's couraged, this small group of Zionists-Socialists decided to
Adam was late for supper and Eve was furious.
theocratic tendencies resulting establish a Zionist Socialist fraternal Order . . . Thus the Farband-
_"You were out with another woman," she charged.
"But, honey," pleaded her lover, who was setting a precedent from the rejectiol of Conserva- Labor Zionist , Order was established 50 years ago . . . Jewish
in his defense for the many generations that were to follow him. tive-Reform practices and the fraternal orders were in those years very popular in this country,
"There can't be another woman. You and I are alone in the refusal to recognize representa- and counted tens of thousands of members . . . However, the
tives of these groups or their Farband—which .now celebrates its Golden Jubilee—had hard
world."
ideas and the banning of what- going . . . It started with a membership of several hundred, and
"I don't believe you," shouted Eve.
Exhausted from the argument, Adam fell asleep. Whereupon ever tenets they may adhere to. its growth was especially hampered by the outbreak of World
This must change in the course War I . . . Even three years after the war was over, when the
Eve leaned over and began to count his ribs,
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of time. Israel does not dis- large Jewish immigration was resumed, Farband had no more
criminate against any other reli- than 6,500 Members . .. Today the Labor Zionist Order has a
Rebukable Zealotry
membership of over 35,000 . . . As the organization • grew, it
There is a zealotry in and out of Israel that deserves severest gion, but it does curb modern- developed a program of Jewish cultural activities in this country
ized versions of Judaism. That
rebuke.
and a wide variety of action for Jewish development in Palestine
Violence always inspires violence, and the religious extrem- creates a natural resentment in
Maintaining a - number of cultural institutions, and being
ists in Israel certainly invited counter-attacks when they resorted Conservative-Reform ranks. . in . the
forefront of the Histadrut campaign in the United States,
to stone-throwing upon vehicles passing through their residential Would that it were possible for for which it raises about $750,000 a year, the Farband is also .
areas on the Sabbath. By the same token, the League for the a Sanhedrin to convene and to
in raising funds for the Jewish National Fund and other
Abolition of Religious Coercion instigated disturbances by their rule on possible reformation in active
Israeli drives • .. Its members also contribute about $2,000,000
Jewish
tenets.
Only
through
a
own resort to unnecessary demonstrations. That's what always
Sandhedrin can we envision a a year to the United Jewish Appeal, and about $300,000 for
happens: spite begets spite.
Jewish cultural causes in this country . . . The driving power
What was to have been a sympathetic demonstration by the change of heart in Orthodoxy in the Farband has been for years Louis Segal, its general
and
the
adoption
of
tolerant
religious fanatics in New York drew a deserved rebuke from the
views towards their less devout secretary, who is also a member of the executive for the Jewish
Israel Cabinet which has adopted unanimously this declaration:
Agency and of the "President's Conference."
"The Cabinet has heard a report on the activities of elements brethren.

Rabbi Adler's 25th Anniversary in Detroit

Rabbi Morris Adler's 25th anniversary as Congregation
Shaarey Zedek's spiritual leader is drawing into the ranks of
those who will honor him men in high ranks in public life—our
Governor, the most prominent city leaders and heads of many
Jewish and civic movements.
Such participation echoes the eminent rabbi's numerous activi-
ties in scores of the most important movements for the better-
ment of man and for the advancement of Jewish causes.
It stands to reason that Dr. Adler is a notable leader in
religious ranks. He is one of the most prominent Conservative
rabbis. He is among the most prominent graduates of the Jewish
Theological Seminary and also had studied in the Orthodox Rabbi
Isaac Elchanan Yeshivah.
He plays an important role in Zionist ranks, as a former
president of the Zionist Organization of Detroit, and is active
in many pro-Israel causes, and especially the Detroit Allied Jewish
Campaign.
His role as a labor arbitrator in the UAW-CIO ranks, his
civic leadership, his efforts in behalf of civil rights, place him
- in a role of eminence in our community.
It is natural, therefore, for all of us, Detroit citizens, to join -
in honoring Dr. Adler and in congratulatirig Congregation Shaarey
Zedek on the noteworthy event in the rabbi's honor on Jan. 4.

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Between You
... and Me

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