Friday, February 7, 1964—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-4
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. Subscriputon $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ SIDNEY SHMARAK
Editor and Publisher
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-fifth day of Shevat, 5724, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues.
Pentateuchal portion: Exod, 21:1-24:18; 30:11-16. Prophetical portion: II Kings 12:1-17.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Feb. 7, 5:36 p.m.
VOL. XLIV. No. 24
Page Four
February 7, 1964
Iraqi Jews Face Grave Danger
There were 120,000 Jews in Iraq prior
to 1950. Before the Sinai Campaign in
1956 there were 45,000 Jews there. Now
only about 5,000 remain and their status
has become so precarious that the Ameri 7
can Jewish Committee and other groups
have been compelled to register protests
with the Iraqi Embassy in Washington
against the impending new dangers that
face those who had chosen to remain in
Iraq.
The remnant of that once-very-pros-
perous Jewish community is now required
to register—within a period that is to end
in March—submitting proof of being of
Iraqi nationality. Those unable to prove
it will lose all their rights, and all their
possessions will be confiscated. The new
law enacted in December also requires
all Iraqi Jews, whether they now reside
in Iraq or elsewhere, to register. This
means that those who have left Iraq but
may still have possessions there will lose
their worldly goods.
A correspondent of the Jewish Ob-
server and Middle East Review of Lon-
don, writing from Cairo, describes the
anti-Jewish mood in Iraq and the new law
as follows:
"The law is a pretty fierce one if
you know the background of the Jews
who stayed in Iraq. Most of them hold
some foreign passport for reinsurance,
and many have none at all. They are,
as a whole, fairly well-to-do.
"They must now report within ten
days to a special department set up for
this purpose and prove their Iraqi na-
tionality. If they succeed in this, they
get a special identity card, the equival-
ent of the yellow star, which they must
at all times carry with them. A whole
range of further restrictions on them
will be announced soon.
"But what happens to those who
cannot prove Iraqi nationality — even
when they considered themselves Iraqi
nationals? This applies particularly to
those who have lived longest in Iraq
and never bothered much about proof
of their Iraqi nationality.
"All Jews who cannot provide satis-
factory evidence of their. Iraqi status
will be considered as aliens and will
have all their property impounded. And
then what—?
"The new line seems to be to equate
Israel with and Jews. They all
go together. The only exceptions are
those Jews who openly denounce Zion-
ists and Israel."
The type of propaganda that is being
spread from the Arab capitals is des-
cribed by the correspondent from Cairo
in the following shocking revelations:
"In Akhbar-el-Yom, a kind of Arab News of
the World with a very large circulation
throughout the Arab world, the owner-editor,
Mustapha Amin, said again in a long article
that the Zionists had assassinated Kennedy,
that Ruby was a Zionist agent, and that the
Zionists were planning to kill the Pope on his
journey, either in Israel, or—more likely—in
Jordan. Then they would blame the Arabs.
"Another, particularly unsavory develop.
ment which ought not to be underrated, is the
move to embroil the Copts and Eastern Chris-
tian Churches (with an eye on Nazareth) in
this conflict against the Jews.
"Mustapha Amin, who is an intelligent and
worldly editor, must feel rather ashamed at
having to put out this kind of stuff. He has
probably not felt so bad about anything since
he abandoned his close friend Farouk and
joined Neguib when Farouk was desperately
looking to him for help and joined Neguib."
The question may well be asked: What
next? How are we to overcome this type
of propaganda? How can such lies be dis-
puted when they reach an audience that
is otherwise unapproachable?
It is sad to admit that protests are in-
adequate, that condemnations addressed
to the Iraq Embassy will no doubt fall on
deaf ears. Regrettably, there is little to be
expected from official American quart-
ers where from the answer always comes
that our Government can not intercede
in the internal affairs of another nation;
and the United Nations is usually impo-
tent in such matters when large blocs of
Asian-African combines have to be dealt
with.
How fortunate that most of the Iraqi
Jews had fled and found haven in Israel!
ORT's Expanded Refugee Aid Program
Under the able leadership of Dr. Wil-
liam Haber, its international president,
ORT — the Organization for Rehabilita-
tion Through Training — has embarked
upon a program of assistance to the
200,000 Algerian and other North Afri-
can Jews who have swelled the Jewish
population of France, making French
Jewry the largest Jewish population in
Western Europe and the fourth largest
in the world.
The newcomers in France need train-
ing to enable them to become self-sus-
taining, to prevent their turning into
pariahs in a community that has wel-
comed them as French nationals.
ORT's importance as the vocational
trainer of otherwise unskilled Jews there-
by emerges anew. Those trained by ORT
are enabled to find their rightful places
in society through the practical ap-
proaches offered by the great movement
that began when Jews in Russia needed
retraining. The continued efforts of ORT
in Israel and now in other parts of the
world, particularly in France, enhance its
status as a powerful Jewish rehabilitating
agency.
J PS's 'Breakthrough' Raises
Some Questions of Negative
Attitudes of Jewish Writers
Emphasis on the term contemporary in the sub-title to the
new Jewish Publication Society volume, "Breakthrough," explains
a possible deviation from JPS policies in producing a book that
deals with the works of writers whose products have caused re-
sentment in readers' circles and reviewers' ranks. JPS explains
that "Breakthrough" is "A Treasury of Contemporary American-
Jewish Literature." And the contemporary writers often resorted
—as charged against Roth, Fiedler and others—to delineations
that are uncomplimentary to Jews.
"Breakthrough" was edited by Irving Malls, author and uni-
versity lecturer, and Irwin Stark, author and university professor.
Their evaluative introduction reviews the trend in literature in
which Jewish writers are involved. Their contention is that
American-Jewish writers have "enriched the central current of
American literature in the present decade," and that their con-
cerns are "predominantly ethical and social rather than meta-
physical and theological."
Their selections will meet with conflicting viewpoints.
The inclusion in the fiction section of stories by Bernard
Malamud, Isaac Rosenfeld and Paul Goodman will no doubt
be applauded, but in view of the negative attitudes of some
of the others in this group, JPS emphasis on works that are
not with positive Jewish approaches may meet with serious
objections.
It may well be asked why Charles Angoff and Isaac Bashevis
Singer were not included in the fiction part of the book. In the
commentaries in "Breakthrough" and in the introduction, Singer
is mentioned. But—is Angoff too Jewish for the two editors?
While the question is purely hypothetical, it needs to be posed.
Then there is the poetry section. There is no dovbt that
among those in "Breakthrough" are some of the best names of
the ablest poets of our time. But their positive Jewishness is
subject to question here, too.
Then there is the non-fiction section. Here we have refer-
ences to Maurice Samuel who must be quoted on major Jewish
literary attitudes. But—why is Samuel not included in the works
chosen for this treasury? Is he, too, too Jewish for "contempo-
rary" recognition?
There are literary critics in this grouping whose attitudes,
as they were expressed in symposia and in commentaries on
Jewish life, are shockingly negative. Arthur A. Cohen is, perhaps,
the most positive in the group. Some of those who are repre-
sented here belong to the Henry James cult—and it does not
seem to matter to them that James has been exposed as a vile
anti-Semite.
(See review of "Henry James and the Jacobites" by
Maxwell Geismar—published by Houghton Mifflin—in Jan.
10 issue of The Jewish News).
The major shortcoming is due to omissions much more than
commissions.
For the first time, JPS has something to explain for having
sponsored a volume with contributors who are known for their
negativism on Jews and Judaism.
Pasternak Chorus Provides
A Basic Campaign Goal: Another $4,000 000
Jewish Welfare Federation leaders arriving at campaign figures, because it Treasury of Hassidic Song'
,
have indicated, at the annual budgeting
conference held in December, that in
order to meet the minimum local needs
and to provide an adequate sum for over-
seas relief and rehabilitation efforts, this
year's Allied Jewish Campaign income
must exceed the $5,000,000 mark.
Setting the pace for the campaign,
75 of the largest contributors pledged a
sum that nearly approximated a third of
the minimum requirements.
This means that at least another
three and a half million dollars must be
raised from 23,000 or more contributors.
This is a rather unrealistic way to
always takes a handful to match the thous-
ands. But it is not as unpragmatic as it
sounds. The fact is that there are many
whose gifts should be larger than they
already are on record and that there
should be many more contributors than
have already been enrolled.
On such bases, the raising of another
$4,000,000, we should rise to new heights
in our campaign.
With as good beginning as has been
made by the Pace Setters, let us hope
that this now will be the overall campaign
goal—to raise another $4,000,000 on top
of what has already been pledged.
The Velvel Pasternak Chorus of New York superbly renders
Hassidic melodies. In a recording, "A Treasury of Hassidic
Song," produced by Collectors Guild (507 5th Ave., NY17), this
chorus offers music that will thrill and will recreate the love
that is so widespread for the songs of the Hassidim.
The Hebrew title of the recording is "Od Yishoma," one
of this record's 19 selections, based on the first verse from
Deuteronomy 33:5.
Except for one traditional Nigun—song without words—and
the Rikud (dance) Rebbe Elimelech, the selections are based
on liturgy and Scriptural selections.
With Herbert Rothgarber as arranger and accompanist;
B. Barr and J. Bauer, soloists, this record, produced by B. and H.
Stambler, a husband-wife team, is, as the title asserts, "a
treasury of songs," enriching Jewish possessions and providing
delight for every home acquiring it.