Rabbi David Polish, Reform
leader and author of "The
Eternal Dissent," will discuss
"Values and Commitments for
Our Day: a Liberal Rabbi's
Point of View" 8 p.m. Wednes-
day at the Esther Berman audi-
torium.
This will be the second in a
series of four Midrasha lectures.
The first, a historical analysis,
N
RABBI DAVID POLISH
was given Wednesday by Dr.
Judah J. Shapiro of the Na-
tional Foundation for Jewish
Culture.
The second Institute lec-
turer is the founding rabbi
of Cong. Beth Emet, Evan-
ston, HI. His book "The Eter-
nal Dissent" deals with the
meaning of Jewish history
and has been praised by such
scholar - authors as Maurice
Samuel and Reinhold Nie-
buhr.
A graduate of the University
of Cincinnati and the Hebrew
Union College, Rabbi Polish
holds a doctor of Hebrew let-
ters degree and the honorary
degree of doctor of divinity. He
is a visiting lecturer at Garrett
Theological Seminary, a college
for the training of Methodist
ministers, and is frequent con-
tributor to many Jewish and
Christian journals.
Rabbi Polish is former chair-
man of the liturgy committee
of the Central Conference of
American Rabbis, past presi-
dent of the Chicago Association
of Reform Rabbis and organizer
and first president of the Chi-
Cago Board of Rabbis, includ-
ing the entire rabbinate of
the community.
Co-author of a "Guide for Re-
form Jews," he has written sev-
eral plays.
*
*
*
Opening the series Wednes-
day with a historical analysis of
the changing concepts of Jewish
values, Dr. Judah J. Shapiro,
asserted that the modern Amer-
ican Jew "is far more the pro-
duct of Christianity than of Ju-
daism.
"We have not assimilated
so much as Judaism has as-
similated," he said. "People
are people. What we do be-
comes Jewish behavior; what
we value becomes Jewish
values."
Dr. Shapiro, secretary of the
National Foundation for Jewish
Culture, pointed out that most
of Jewish history was seen in
the 19th Century "through the
windows of a Christian Europe."
In Protestant countries, he
said, Jews benefited from the
economic and social gains of the
Industrial Revolution. The Pro-
testant ethic and the accom-
panying Enlightenment are re-
flected in America; the Sunday
school, for example, is a Pro-
testant phenomenon of that per-
,
iod, Dr. Shapiro said.
When the early Jews had their
L homeland, he went on, "their
civilization (economic part of
life) and culture were insepara-
ble." There was an authority to
order adaptations in their way
of life, to conform with the
times. "Some of the things we
talk of as law had their origin
in realities," he said.
With the loss of the home-
land, however, came the split
between Jewish civilization
and Jewish culture. ("There is
no Jewish way of earning a
living, so Jewish values don't
pertain here, for most peo-
ple."
Quoting Barrows Dunham in
his "Heroes and Heretics,"—in
which orthodoxy is defined as
the preservation of organization
and heresy as the "pursuit of
truth"—Dr. Shapiro said in this
society, orthodoxy is stressed
over truth. "Yet, if truth is a
value, then organization can't
take precedence over truth."
"In our society we don't per-
mit heresy. The heretic of integ-
rity believes he has the answer
to problems of the entire group.
How can you have unity if every
Jew has a voice?"
With the definition of Jewish
culture as "the accumulation of
every answer there has ever
been to the question: How am
I different from non-Jews?" Dr.
Shapiro cited the first area
where values may have rele-
vance to the Jew today. "There
is no more important value than
the definition of the Jew's dif-
ferences from the non-Jew .. .
and each must define it for him-
self."
Other areas were: "To what
extent can we say the bene-
fit of every individual in so-
ciety is of concern to us?" For
example, the Jewish day
school as an "evasion of inte-
gration."
"To what degree is a Jew
Jewish when he is alone—with
his books, with his thoughts?"
"To what extent is the Jew
who is engaged in making a liv-
ing prepared to sacrifice for
Jewish belief?"
"To what degree are we pre-
pared to reestablish Jewish life
to the extent of allowing change
with society? To what degree
is your personal behavior and
soul-searching related to mod-
ern life?"
Ford Foundation Grants Are Boosting
149 Scientific-Research Projects in Israel
The agricultural mystery of
centuries — How the ancient
Negev city of Avdat could sup-
port a thriving population—has
been solved, but now Israel is
seeking ways to use this ancient
knowledge for modern use.
"Run-off agriculture", only
one of the methods being
studied by Israeli scientists, is
described in the 1964 report on
Middle East projects of the
Ford Foundation.
Some 149 scientific-research
efforts in Israel in many . fields
are supported by the Founda-
tion. Water resource projects
are but a part.
Pass Laws in
Soviet Russia
•
•
(From the London Economist)
"Man is made up of a body,
a soul and a passport," runs an
old Czarist saying that dwells
on the importance of identity
papers in a police state. Older
Russians may have been re-
minded of this quip by the dis-
cussion launched 10 days ago
in' Pravda and Izvestia of a pro-
posal to replace the existing
"internal passport" by an iden-
tity document that will record
the holder's past performance
at work. Labor cards have long
existed in the Soviet Union, and
at one time were an essential
paper. Even now, when a Soviet
citizen changes his employment,
he must in theory produce his
labor record. But the new pro-
posal, made in the names of a
Ukrainian deputy and two steel-
workers from the Donbas, is
that the labor record should be-
come every citizen's main per-
sonal document. The discussion
itself is an interesting illustra-
tion of the problems facing the
present regime which, although
it has relaxed many Stalinist
constraints, still wants to keep
tabs on people.
The assistance. which totals
$2,496,650 since 1953, is de-
signed to help Israel make
the best use of her substan-
tial corps of trained scientists
in the development of her
limited natural resources.
A number of the Foundation-
aided research projects in Israel
deal with agriculture, accord-
ing to the report. "The prospect
that the country will have to
farm with increasingly brackish
water has attracted many scien-
tists to the problem of raising
the salt tolerance of basic crops,
the report says.
In the case of Avdat re-
search, two farms modeled on
those of early times have been
constructed in the arid land—
one at Avdat, the other in near-
by Shivta. Using the ancient
method, with networks of chan-
nels in the hillsides to lead rain
water into fields on the valley
floors, scientists are growing
fruit trees, pasture plants, ce-
real crops and a variety of
vegetables.
Other projects deal with the
growth of desert plants and
their built-in "rain gauge",
with aquifiers, or water-bear-
ing layers of rock, and man-
made devices concerned with
water use. The latter includes
a compact, solar-powered tur-
bine motor and a perfected
sprinkler, being developed at
Hebrew University and the
Technion, respectively.
Since the nation's water re-
sources are already 90 per cent
exploited, scientists more and
more are turning to the ques-
tion of how saline water, found
underground in relatively large
quantities, might be made use-
able. At Beersheba's Negev In-
stitute for Arid Zone Research,
a small pilot plant has been
designed for desalination of
brackish water.
The reverse of conventional
methods, it takes out the salt
and leaves the water. Thus,
much less energy is required
for brackish water conversion.
The Negev has an estimated
100 million cubic meters of un-
derground water now too saline
to use, so the system's potential
impact is enormous, according
to Institute director Joel
Schechter.
IF YOU TURN THE
T•CIO (1
•It
171 i
UPSIDE DOWN YOU WON'T
FIND A FINER WINE THAN
Milan Wineries, Detroit, Mich.
WANTED: HOUSE PARENTS
For A Study Home, Handling 4 to 6 Youngsters
under care of a social agency. Desire flexible, adaptable adults
with understanding and skill in caring for children. Will consider
a competent unattached woman. Good Salary, living quarters,
and maintenance. Husband can continue outside employment.
Wife to take charge of family residence and work closely with
agency social workers.
Contact: DAVID GOLDBERG, Supervisor, Jewish Family and
Children's Service, 10801 Curtis, Detroit 21, Mich. DI 1-5959.
Gold and Fire
BY PHILIP M. RASKIN
Magicians came to Pharaoh.
And Moses a lad of three:
Pharaoh, this boy, in his man-
hood
Will set his slave people free.
The stars forbade rebellion,
If you do not guard your own,
This Nile-rescued sapling of
Goshen
Will wreck old Egypt's throne
Said the King: "We shall test
him
In a manner proven of old,
With a platter of coal fire,
And a platter of glittering
gold.
May the test decide and tell us
Whether the star-hosts err.
If he touch the gold he shall
perish,
If the coal, his life we may
spare.
So the platters were brought,
and Moses
To the gold uplifted his head,
But an Angel detoured his
fingers
And touched the fire instead.
Tell your husband
you made them yourself.
Since then dreamers and poets,
We are told by the Rabbis of
Old,
Are drawn to the fire of heaven
Instead of earth's glittering
gold.
Tax Commissioner Mortimer
Caplin was a college boxing
champion.
(Just don't forget to throw out the empty box).
AVAILABLE AT FROZEN FOOD CABINETS EVERYWHERE.
1 1 — THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Frid ay, April 10, 1964
Rabbi David Polish to Offer
Liberal View at Institute;
Dr. Shapiro Opens Series