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 Rd., Detroit, Mich. 48235;
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
, Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ SIDNEY SHMARAK
Editor and Publisher
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-ninth day of Adar, the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues.
Pentateuchal portion: Levit. 9:1-11:47. Prophetical portion: I Samuel 20:18-42.
Licht Benshen, Friday, April 10, 6:49 p.m.
VOL. XLV. No. 7
Page Four
April 10, 1964
Does Fair Play Have a Role in USSR?
Is Soviet Russia truly sensitive to
criticism? Will the appeals that emanated
from the Conference on Soviet Jewry,
held early this week in Washington,
reach the ears of reasonable men in the
USSR who may recognize not' only the
injustice of the spreading anti-Semitic
campaigns among the Russians but also
the utter futility of perpetuating injus-
tice?
There is a heritage from czarism in
Communist Russia that has left its ugliest
marks upon a people that has thrown
away the shackles of one type of tyranny
only to retain the fetters, of the mind.
The vilest elements of bigotry seem to
have turned the Russians, who have been
freed from serfdom under supreme mon-
archs, into slaves of hatred that had been
taught their parents and grandparents
by those who misled their thinking in
the churches, who directed them towards
plunder and murder in order to divert
their attentions from the misdeeds of the
czarist rulers. The new generation of
Russians is yet to learn the very lessons
of their own Communist ideologies in
dealing with their fellow men, with the
Jews who shared with them the suffer-
ings under czardom as well as the dan-
gers of a struggle for political freedom.
Now political ideology is in itself being
transformed into a brutal form of treat-
ing people whose roots are in Russia, of
forcing Jews whose a.icestry in Russia
is several centuries old to think of them-
selves as a people apart because they are
singled out for indignities and discrimina-
tions.
It is .never right to condemn an en-
tire people. Even all the Germans can not
be lumped into a single entity to be
blamed for the Nazi crimes: there were
and there are Germans who abhorred the
atrocities. So, also, is the case with the
Russians. It would be a total calamity if
all Russian were to share the anti-Semi-
tism of Stalin, the bias that is being per-
petuated also under Khrushchev, the pre-
judices that predominate in Russian cir-
cles.
Yet, there seems to be an official
tone in the anti-Jewish attitudes in Rus-
sia. There is a revival of tip. medievalism
that prevailed in the Russia of the czars,
and among the shocking evidences of
bigotry and prejudice there has been
repeated recrudescence of medievalism,
the revival of the ugly ritual murder lie,
charges. of speculation against Jewish
octo- and nonagenarians — actions that
could be attributed only to distorted
minds.
Because there are decent elements
in Russia, because the sense of justice
can not be totally dead in any land, even
the most backward—and Russia certainly
is not in that category scientifically—
we raise the question: is there a chance
for fair play to become a part of Russian
thinking and acting, whether the appeals
that have been sent to Russia on behalf
of our kinsmen, for minimal privileges for
the observance of Passover on the eve
of the festival, two and three weeks ago,
and now, from the Washington confer-
ence, for a restoration of cultural and
human rights; or are these pleadings once
again to fall on deaf ears?
No one can possibly remain immune
to appeals that come not only from those
who act in behalf of kinsmen but also
from other faiths. The protests against
USSR anti-Semitism, the appeals for jus-
tice for Russian Jewry, have been di-
rected to the Kremlin by all religious
elements in this land. We hope they will
be heeded. Should they be ignored, we
must recognize the responsibility of con-
tinuing with the condemnations of Rus-
sian anti-Semitism, of carrying on the
battle for justice for our fellow Jews in
the Soviet Union, until the hearts of the
Russian people are softened and there is
a recognition of the basic rights of three
million of their Jewish fellow citizens.
Will International Protests Move Moscow?
Nothing more horrid than the vile
Julius Streicher obscenities could pos-
sibly be imposed upon an innocent and
misinformed public. Yet caricatures sim-
ilar to those that appeared in Streicher's
Stuermer in the Hitler days have made
their appearance in a country that calls
itself a part of the civilized Soviet Union.
The Soviet-styled anti-Semitic pro-
paganda exposed last week by the Jew-
ish Telegraphic Agency, in its expose of
the publication "Judaism Without Em-
bellishment" issued by the Ukrainian
Academy of Science, reveals the depth
of depravity to which even academicians
have sunk as a result of the shocking
spread of anti-Semitism in the USSR.
Even the Communist New York daily
Morning Fr e i h e i t, which follows the
Kremlin line closely, saw fit to demand,
editorially, that the book should be
stamped as anti-Semitic by the Commu-
nist leaders. The Freiheit has itself final-
ly become horrified by Ukrainian anti-
Semitism and stated:
"Of concern here is not only the writers
(of the article in the Kiev newspaper). Of con-
cern here is that official circles in the Soviet
Union must take a good look at the anti-Semitic
character of the book. One is concerned about
means that must be taken against those who
are guilty of compiling and publishing the anti-
Semitic 'Judaism' book, as we already indi-
cated in an earlier editorial on March 22. The
tragic issue of the book shows how necessary
it is to strengthen the campaign against anti-
Semitism, against the remnants of anti-Semitism
from previous eras—of Czarist days, of the days
of the Nazi occupation, and of the days of the
Stalin cult.
"There are reports that the anti-Semitic
`Judaism' book has been taken out of circula-
tion. That's fine. It is also good that the book
was issued originally in a small edition of only
12,000 copies. But it is necessary that the anti-
Semitic nature of the book be recognized; that
those who are guilty shall be punished; that
the penalty imposed on them be made public,
so that the entire world will know.
"Insofar as Moscow and Kiev reacted in
regard to the 'Judaism' book—that is a positive
development. But, at the same time, it must
be emphasized that the answer is far from
satisfactory; that further steps must be taken;
that, together with punishment for the guilty,
is necessary to initiate a broad campaign of
enlightenment about anti-Semitism and a de-
cided struggle against the remnants of anti-
Semitism."
Nov Available as a Paperback
Wouk's 'This Is My God'
Herman Wouk counts among his best-selling books one he
had written for the purpose of explaining Jewish traditional prac-
tices and religious observance. His "This Is My God" topped the
best sellers for 29 weeks when it first was
published in 1959. Now it is available as a
paperback, in a popularly priced edition
issued by Dell Publishing Co. (750 3rd,
NY17).
Wouk's book was written in answer to
an inquiry from a friend as to an available
book that deals with Hanukah, and his
friend said his need is "purely for culture,
you understarnd, not for religion!"
Thereupon the popular author pro-
ceeded to write about the manner in which
Jews survived, the Jewish historical back-
ground, the Sabbath and the festival.
Wouk
In the course of presenting his outline
of "This Is My God," Wouk also gave his views based primarily
on traditional aspects, of prayers, the synagogue, the Talmud, the
authoritative writings that guide Jewry, - the emergence of Israel,
the dialects used by Jews, etc. In fact, all aspects of Jewish life
are covered in Wouk's "This Is My God."
Judaism Interpreted in .
'Meet the American Jew
Symposium by 11 Scholars
Eleven spokesmen for a variety of aspects of Jewish
life were invited to participate in a symposium that has
been published by Broadman Press (127 9th Ave. N., Nashville„
Tenn.) under the title "Meet the American Jew."
Compiled and edited by Belden Menkus, who was assisted
by Rabbi Arthur Gilbert—,both members of the staff of the
National Conference of Christians and Jews—this volume aims
at providing non-Jews with an understanding of Jewish ideas.
Broadman Press, in a preface to this book, points out that
Belden Menkus, who had been a records management analyst
for the Baptist Sunday School Board, proposed that Jews them-
selves should introduce the American Jew to the average
Christian because Christians "still have a limited understand-
ing of the contemporary religious community." It is in order
that neighbors should know one another, that Christians should
know the difference between Orthodox and Reform, how Zionism
fits into Jewish plans, and other related matters, that the
work came into being.
Baptist concern in these questions is described in a "re-
sponse" to the publishers' preface by Rabbi Gilbert. Conced-
ing that Christian groups were responsible for an atmosphere
in which anti-Semitism flourished "prior to the trauma of Hitler,"
Rabbi Gilbert states that "frequently, sole responsibility for
the crucifixion was placed on the head of the Jews, and it relates
how Christians opened their doors for conversations with him
and he commends "the growing sense of shared humanity that
Baptist concern has occasioned."
Rabbi Joseph R. Rosenbloom commenced the symposium in
"Meet the American Jew" with an article on the American
Jewish community. Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Judaism
are evaluated in essays by Rabbis Oscar Z. Fasman, Alvin J.
Reines and Mordecai Waxman, while Dr. Ira Eisenstein ex-
plains Reconstructionism.
Dr. Arthur Herzberg is the author of the article on Zion-
ism; C. Bezalel Sherman formulates the position of the un-
The Kremlin has yielded to the pro-
testations that have come from many
quarters, especially from Communists
themselves in many lands, against the
outrageous Ukrainian product, and an
official USSR statement repudiates the
book. Does this prove that the Soviet
leaders are indeed sensitive to criticism? affiliated Jew; and there are essays by Philip Jacobson, Man-
In that case, perhaps the appeals that heim S. Shapiro, Albert Vorspan and Benjamin Kaplan on
have emanated from the Washington con- Judaism and Church-State Relations, the Sociology of Jewish
ference will bring results and there may Life, Jews and Social Justice and Social Equality.
be a meeting of minds "on the highest
The value of the essays for Christian readers is self-evident,
level" with Soviet leaders to put an end but the book has equal merit for Jews who would have the
to the discriminations that are making opinions of coreligionists on major Jewish movements, traditions
second class citizens of the Jews in Russia. and established social principles.