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 48235 Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7. Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Advertising Manager Business Manager CHARLOTTE H.YAMS City Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the sixth day of lyar, 5724, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues. Pentateuchal portion: Levit. 12-1-15:33. Prophetical portion: II Kings 7:3-20. Licht Benshen, Friday, April 17, 6:57 p.m. VOL. XLV. No. 8 Page Four April 17, 1964 Israel's Sixteenth Anniversary Today is Israel's 16th anniversary on the Hebrew calendar. The event, marked by ceremonies in Israel yesterday, to be honored at celebrations by Jewish com- munities throughout the world during the coming few days, once again calls for a re-evaluation of Israel's achieve- ments, for a study of the Jewish State's status as a member of the family of na- tions, for an accounting of that nation's relationships with the Jews of the Dias- pora, primarily with the American Jew- ish communities. The achievements recorded by Israel are among the most amazing ever cred- ited to any people. A desert has been transformed into a veritable garden— wherever Jews had the opportunity to strike their roots in the ancient home- land. Vast industries have been estab- lished there. Hordes of new settlers have been brought to the land and have been rescued from lands of oppression, and tens of thousands more continue to pour into Israel yearly. The assurance of a haven for the dispossessed and the perse- cuted remains as an offer by Israel to the 500,000 more Jews in numerous lands who need to be replanted in the environ- ment of freedom in Israel, and much larger numbers than that are yet to be provided for in Israel when the Iron Curtains are lifted and opportunities are offered for departure by Jews from Communist countries. * * * Large-scale settlement of m i g r ants from countries where they are being humiliated for their Jewishness remains a major activity in Israel that calls for worldwide Jewish cooperation. In this sphere of action, American Jewry remains a vital factor, without whom activity can be stilled, whose financial assistance is a most necessary element in building homes for the newcomers, in providing jobs for them, in assuring an education for their children and medical care and security for all of them. Israelis provide for the country's defense from their tax funds, but the welcome sign for the im- migrants must be installed by us. This is where the United Jewish Appeal enters and where our responsibility becomes apparent in the Allied Jewish Campaign. It stands to reason that investments in Israel are as vital as the philanthropic dollars. Without our participation in establishing industrial enterprises in Is- rael, without our aid in the Israel Bond drives which have elicited so much enthu- siasm in many ranks, Israel's economy would be weakened. Of course, these activities continue without interruption. Yet, the leaders of world as well as Israeli Jewries have reiterated in recent months that Ameri- can Jewry is not fulfilling its duty in the measure of our communities' ability to provide for the minimal requirements of bringing new settlers to Israel. While investments have grown, the philan- thropic dollars have diminished. This is a development to be viewed seriously, and if we are, indeed, to provide for an- other half million new settlers in the coming decade, there must be a proper re-evaluation of the shortcomings in our cooperative efforts with Israel. * * * On this score, it would be well to take into account the failure to assure a per- fect understanding between Israeli and American youth. It was assumed earlier in the history of Israel as a new nation that there were strong links between Israeli and American Jews. But it has become apparent that there is a lack of understanding, that there are often in evidence suspicions that should be avoid- ed and must in time be eliminated. In the interest of Jewish creativity, of posi- tive action and cooperation, the two Jew- ries must learn to understand each other. It is not enough to shout jubilations and to sing Hatikvah on Israel's anniversary. The feeling of mutual good will must be cemented by feelings of genuine kinship that takes into accounts achievements as well as shortcomings, that tries to im- prove upon the former and diminish the latter. * * * The celebration of Israel's anniversary must take into account the dangers that confront our fellow Jews in that small and embattled country. Enemies still sur- round Israel and the neighboring coun- tries are in the constant process of saber- rattling. Israel is a minority and must devote most of her energies in strength- ening her defenses, while her neighbors are receiving vast amounts of military supplies from the Soviet Union. As we join in marking Israel's 16th year of national autonomy, we must take this factor into consideration, and we must resolve to be of aid to Israel, should it become necessary at any time to plead that nation's cause with our own Govern- ment and with those who, with Israel, form a nation of nations within the United Nations. When we convene in our community, this Sunday evening, to mark Israel's anniversary, let us take into account all the areas in which we can be of help. By lending our financial assistance, by investing in Israel, by providing aid for the new settlers, by encouraging good will among brethren, we can best share in the joy of acknowledging the great achievements of the People and the State of Israel. Always on Guard -- Against Barbarians During the Eichmann trial, the most hardened among the observers of the proceedings in the Jerusalem courtroom were moved to tears when witnesses de- scribed the cruelties that were practiced by the Nazi beasts upon innocent children who were torn from the hands of their mothers and were led to their destruction. It is no wonder that such a sense of horror was expressed in Frankfurt last week when the brutalities against chil- dren were depicted in the testimony against one of the accused at the Nazi trial. Yet, we still hear people—Jews among them — who complain, because they do not possess enough strength of character to bear the truth, that too much is being published about the trial. By the same token, only the panicky are worried over the results of protests against Soviet anti-Semitism. But those who read history aright know: unless the truth is told and retold, we may always be in danger of seeing a recrudescence of the Nazi crimes. But upon all of us devolves the duty always to expose the crimes, always to be vigi- lant against their recurrence. Dr. Rosenberg's 'America Is Different' Predicts for Jewry Emerging Increased Vitality Dr. Stuart E. Rosenberg, rabbi of Toronto's Beth Tzedec Syn- agogue, author of several popularly-acclaimed books and con- tributor of a column to a number of newspapers, is an optimist. Evaluating conditions in American Jewry, describing the develop- ment of many movements in this country, in his new book, "America Is Different," published by m.F. Thomas Nelson and Sons (18 E. 41st St., '""' N.Y. 17), Rabbi Rosenberg approaches ., his subject in a positive mood. In his foreword to this volume, which is subtitled "The Search for Jewish Identity," Prof. Salo Baron welcomed Dr. Rosenberg's "attempt to discuss dis- passionately but nevertheless search- ingly, the relative position of Jewish secularism and Jewish religious thought in the evolving communities of this con- tinent." There are affirmations of Rabbi Rosenberg's views of these additional statements by Prof. Baron: Rabbi Rosenberg "Not only has the synagogue in its organized form begun to reassert its leadership over the traditional secularist organs pri- marily dedicated to philanthropies and defense, but the entire coloring of Jewish life has assumed an increasingly religious tinge . . . He (Dr. Rosenberg) brings to bear on this study the equipment of a well-trained historian and that of a student of religion who for several years has taught comparative religion to a host of university students. This combination enables him to examine, in a more penetrating fashion than has hitherto been the case, the innovations that American seculariSm had brought into Jewish life after the settlement of the European Jewish masses in the United States and Canada and why this phase of American-Jewish history is now drawing to a close." Throughout this thesis, Dr. Rosenberg emphasizes that "Amer- ica IS Different," and he reaches the conclusion that "for Jews it can yet be magnificently different." His optimism is in evi- dence when he quotes, towards the end of his study, the famous statement made in 1907 by the late Prof. Israel Friedlaender who predicted a future American Israel "deeply rooted in the soil of Judaism . . . a sharply marked community . . . trusted for its loyalty, respected for its dignity, esteemed for its traditions, valued for its aspirations . . ." Dr. Rosenberg sees American Jewry becoming less an ethnic and more a religious group.' He maintains that all American ethnic elements "have been increasingly absorbed by the religious content," and he adds: "This development has helped to make the Christian church of today stronger religiously, not weaker; each year, new church units are bridging the religious splits once caused by ethnic differences of language and national custom. But if not for Jews, for Judaism there is the danger that in such an America it may become estranged from its own historical nature. For, unlike Christianity, Judaism is the religion of a specific people: the Jewish people. Much of its religious cus- tom, culture, and tradition is interwoven with the national history of the Jews. Judaism is thus not a church with a body of doctrine and a system of theology: it is, in effect, the national, religious civilization of the Jewish people." Thereupon he makes this important statement: The American Jew "does not want to be different from the others, because in his life-style he is an American—and does not feel different. Clearly, whatever he will receive from his tradition will be as American as it is Jewish, for both Jews and Judaism have under- gone profound changes in response to the unique American expe- rience. And yet, not despite but because of these truths the special ethnic character of Judaism poses what sometimes can be an embarrassing question: can Judaism, in an America that is different, retain its own unique character and serve as a spiritual influence in the lives of Jews who do not feel different? Can Judaism help them to remember? Thus far, with some lapses, it has . . ." He pursues the problem from this point on, touches upon the intermarriage issues, discusses the synagogue's status, kashrut, Zionist Jewishness and other factors in Jewish life, and, in the main, while taking into account the negative and threatening elements, he believes that the Jew of this country: "Alive to his dilemma as an American Jew, and seeking to define himself in more spiritual terms, he may yet, consciously and wittingly, pour new and enriching ethnic content into his Judaism, and thus find new and vital spiritual meanings in his Jewishness."