THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, 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 CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
Business Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
Russian
Sabre
Dance
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-sixth day of Tevet, 5724, the following Scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Exod. 6:2-9:35. Prophetical portion: Ezekiel 28:25-29:21.
Licht l3enshen, Friday. Jan. 10, 5:02 p.m.
January 10, 1964
Page Four
VOL. XLIV. No. 20
Campaign Chairmen and Community Duties
Detroit's Allied Jewish Campaign soon
will be under way and the time is at hand
for the mobilization of all available forces
to assure success for the task of providing
the major funds for the most pressing
overseas needs, as well as for the upkeep
of all of the local and national cultural,
recreational and social services agencies.
With the selection of the year's cam-
paign chairmen, the initial organizational
efforts in enrolling leadership have been
put into motion. Now it becomes neces-
sary, in addition to assuring the enroll-
ment of the ablest men and women for
the major tasks in guiding the campaign,
to obtain the cooperation of several thou-
sand workers who must secure contribu-
tions from close to 30,000 people who are
potential givers to the great cause that
calls for a generous response.
With Charles Gershenson and Al Bor-
man, last year's co-chairmen, again at the
helm, and Mrs. Jerome Hauser as head of
the Women's Division, it is a foregone
conclusion that the community's ablest
men and women will lend their names
to leadership and to positions as volun-
teers in the ranks.
As in past years, a thorough educa-
tional campaign again will be in progress
to enlighten our people on the needs that
call for help. There is a continuing vast.
migration movement out of lands of op-
pression into Israel. These tens of thou-
sands must be aided to find their roots
in the Land of Israel. The crises in many
lands have not yet been hurdled. There
are so many to be helped in Moslem
countries, in Eastern Europe, in the lands
wherein the wholesome Jewish communi-
ties that existed before the Hitler era
either have vanished or still call for the
surviving residents' rehabilitation, that
their cry for help must not be ignored.
There are tens of thousands of refugees
in France and in other countries who are
awaiting either rehabilitation or urgent
help to assist them in becoming firmly
established in new homes.
Let it be understood that Israel more
than shares in this great effort, that the
Jewish State provides the major means
for the settlement of large numbers of
people. But the Jewish State, handicapped
by threats from her hostile neighbors,
constantly in danger of the war threats
that come from Cairo and other Arab cap-
itals, must think first in terms of self-
defense. The philanthropic responsibili-
ties are, therefore, mainly ours, and the
campaign about to be launched aims to
provide the help necessary for those in
dire need to escape the indignities that
are being hurled at them in so many
backward areas.
Our Allied Jewish Campaign is a vital
instrument for the continuation of the
major Jewish educational efforts, mostly
in our community schools and also na-
tionally. The funds we raise provide the
means wherewith to train our youth for
good citizenship, for an understanding
and appreciation of their Jewish heri-
tage. Without these media our community
will be impoverished.
Let us mobilize, therefore, to make the
forthcoming campaign one of the most
successful in our community's history. It
is a duty that involves security for our
kinsmen and self-respect for all of us
who share responsibility for a dignified
Jewish survival.
Dr. Sidney Steiman, who now holds a pulpit in Indianapolis,
who is director of the school of religion at the University of
Indiana, has produced a most valuable book on the Maharil. It has
just been issued by Bloch Publishing Co. under the title "Custom
and Survival."
So comprehensive is this study that the eminent scholar, Dr.
Nahum N. Glatzer, of the Brandeis.University department of Near
Eastern and Judaic studies, pays the author a compliment for
his work in the following foreword:
"Rabbi Jacob ben Moses ha Levi Moelin of Mainz, known
as the Maharil, was one of the most influential personalities
in the West-European Jewish community in the second half of
the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries. Affectionately
referred to as the 'master of ceremonies of Ashkenazic Jewry,'
he set out to rebuild the ancient communities which had been
so sadly affected by the ravishes of the Black Death (1348-
1349), the ensuing persecution from without and the disorgani-
zation and discouragement within. In attempting this labor of
reconstruction he directed his effort toward the cultivation of
the Minhag, time-honored religious usage. By restoring the
dignity of the ancient customs, by lending them added author-
ity, within the total framework of religious life, Maharil wished
to imbue the spiritually impoverished communities with
stronger piety, deeper sense of order, continuity and tradition.
"Dr. Sidney Steiman has made an important contribution
to Jewish historical scholarship by reconstruction of the life
Work of Maharil; by presenting a coherent picture of the Ash-
kenazic Minhag as it took shape in the school of Maharil
and his disciples, Zahnan of St. Goar and. Jacob Well, rabbi
in Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Erfurt; and, finally, by viewing
this work against its historical background. Besides a thorOugh
acquaintance with the source material, Rabbi Steiman's research
which is currently observing an important required much circumspection, discernment, and last but not
anniversary, has rendered and continues least, a profound love for the subject matter.
"The author. has indeed succeeded in introducing both the
to give so many valuable services to
student of Jewish life and thought and the intelligent layman
America and to Jewry that its status has
to one of the seldom treated, and often misunderstood, chap-
grown with the years.
The Seminary has had the support of ters in religious history. Dr. Steiman's work helps to . clarify
one of the main factors in the spirit of intense, fervent, warm
such distinguished leaders as the late piety
characterized Ashkenazic communities in the cen-
Louis Marshall and the late Senator turies that
following the activity of Maharil."
Herbert H. Lehman. Those now assisting
Dr. Steiman's contribution towards an understanding of the
in the Seminary's functions contain the Maharil's role in Jewish history assumes a two-fold significance.
names of many of American Jewry's most His book offers biographical data on the great rabbinic scholar
prominent leaders.
and reviews thoroughly the teachings of the Maharil.
By honoring the four rabbis for their
As the author indicates, "The teachings of the Maharil have
century of service, Detroit Jewry also re- been presented and evaluated so as to give the reader an insight
affirms its interest in one of the great into the function of custom (Minhag) in the life of .medieval
institutions of learning, and the Con- Jewry, as well as to determine the Maharil's influence on and
usage.of Ashkena-
servative affiliates thereby also reassure Contribution to the .Minhag Ashkenazi Religious
great authority of the
zic
Jews
to
our
own
day
still
reflects_
the
support for the Seminary.
Maharil." .
Of special interest is the author's reference to the Maliaril's
resort to the sermon. We learn that the Maharil did preach, that
his sermonic material "deals with clarifying Minhagim," that:
"The Maharil took advantage of the sermon to teach.the
raising of the vast sums that are neces-
people
moderation and temperance. Ina sermon before Pass-
sary to assure the fulfillment of the
themselves from Over-
philanthropic obligations to the many new over, he exhorted the people to restrain
tWO . Sederini. Iii another
and
excessive
drinking
at
the
eating
immigrants who are flocking to Israel, sermon, he recognized the importance of the women of his day
away from persecution.
and even permitted them to -recline at the Seder along with
The lodal Israel Bond leaders have an the men."
ambitious program for the current year.
In another sermon the Maharil emphasized that "repentance
They have set a goal of $2 million for does not mean simple confession but restitution as well. It is not
1964. Judging by the experiences of the enough 'to say 'I have sinned; I . will not do this anymore.' frue
past two years, there is ample reason to repentance means to return what has been improperly taken and
believe that their aspirations will be ful- to rectify the wrong that has been done."
The Maharil's views on the festivals and celebrations, on
filled. The responsiveness of our com-
study
and learning and on community relations are evaluated
munity has been at so high a level, that
Steiman, who asserts:
Israel is certain to gain from the philan- by Rabbi
"The survival of Ashkenazic Judaism was achieved _through
thropic spirit of Detroit Jewry as well as the efforts of the Maharil and his successors to define and estab-
the readiness to participate in the sound lish the Ashkenazic Minhag. Custom is the poetic translation of
Israeli investments. Detroit Jews have religious values in daily living. The establishment of a Minhag
played important roles in the establish- (time-honored religious usage) in medieval Germany proved to
ment of industries in Israel, and they be a determining factor in the survival of Ashkenazic Judaism.
have, at the same time, participated in Unquestionably, this was survival through custom."
Dr. Steiman has rendered a most valuable service with his
the community-wide Bond sales. The rec-
evaluation of the Maharil's role in such survival.
ord is a. most creditable one.
Tribute to 4 Rabbis... Honors for the Seminary
Honors to be accorded here, on Jan.
20, at a dinner sponsored by the Detroit
Friends of the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary, to four of its distinguished graduates
—Rabbis Morris Adler, Benjamin Gorre-
lick, Moses Lehrman and Jacob Segal—
are in themselves sufficiently significant
to merit the entire community's attention.
Together, the four rabbis have rendered
more than 100 years of service as spiritual
leaders, in Detroit and, prior to their corn-
ing here, to several other communities.
Of added significance is the fact that
these men represent a great movement in
Jewry—Conservative Judaism—and have
been ordained in one of the world's most
important Jewish theological seminaries.
The Jewish Theological Seminary,
Detroit's Impressive '63 Israel Bond Success
Detroit's very noteworthy Israel Bond
sales record for 1963 attests to efficiency
and devotion which assisted the local
organization in advancing the needs for
investments in Israel.
The sale of more than $1,700,000 in
Israel Bonds during the past year is a
tribute to the leadership and management
of the Israel Bond Organization. It also
is an indication of the community's
realization that investments in Israel are
vital in the effort to assure industrial ex-
pansion that will enable many of the new-
comers to find employment and will
create opportunities for new industries to
find root in Israel.
Israel Bond purchases are among the
most important supplementary tasks in
our aid to Israel. Now, having completed
such a good year for Bonds, our com-
munity must turn its attention to the
Allied Jewish Campaign, to assure the
Maharil's Role in Ashkenzic
Survival Told in Steiman Book
-