Undercover 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 CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager CHARLOTTE HYAMS SIDNEY SHMARAK City Editor Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the twelfth clay of Sivon, 5724, the following Scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues. Pentateuchal portion: Num. 4:21-7:89. Prophetical portion: Judges 13:2 25. - Licht Benshen, Friday, May 22, 7:34 p.m. VOL. XLV. No. 13 Page Four May 22, 1964 World's Fair Management's Great Blunder Whatever the result of the distressing situation that has been created by the inva- sion of an anti-Jewish sentiment into the World's Fair displays, it is evident that the management was careless and that the blun- der is ascribable to the president of the Fair, Robert Moses, and his associates. The rules of the World's Fair Corporation contain the following Article XVI: "The Fair Corporation will not permit the operation of a concession or an exhibit which reflects discredit upon any nation or state or which bears a misleading geo- graphic appellation." Even if such a rule had not been inserted in the corporation's statutes, it should stand to reason that an abuse against another peo- ple should not have been permitted by a nation that seeks to make capital against a neighboring country. There is no doubt about the seriousness of the controversy that was aroused by Arab intransigence. Unless the mural in the Jor- danian pavilion that appeals to hatred against Israel and Jewry is removed, irreparable harm will continue to emanate from the World's Fair and will negate the slogan of the Fair, "Peace Through Understanding." It is equally evident that the Arabs will not yield too readily to the demands for the obliteration of the slur against Jews in its pavilion. The Fair's management, through an inexcusable oversight, has rendered a great disservice in an area that was intended to create good will. Humanitarian Appeal Yeshiva U. — National Tasks, Local Function Yeshiva University, already having emerged as one of the great institutions of higher learning in this country, has em- barked upon a program of expansion that is assuring it the desired facilities for the in- clusion of new projects that have become vital in university planning. As part of the $30,000,000 development program in its "Blueprint for the Sixties," Yeshiva University is soon to erect a 15-story science building, to include facilities for ad- vanced physics studies, a computer center and chemistry and biophysics laboratories. It will be used for the higher studies in mathematics, a field in which Yeshiva Univer- sity has emerged among the world's leaders. Under the leadership of Dr. Samuel Bel- kin, the Jewish university, which has emerged from the Yeshivath Yitzhak Elchanan, the orthodox theological seminary which remains an affiliate of Yeshiva University and con- tinues to ordain orthodox rabbis, has risen to great heights. A group of dedicated Detroit Jews, who are annually inspired to provide assistance to this university by the leaders of the group, who include David Goldberg, Tom and Al Borman, and many associates, assists in the great project. It is a mark of great pride that former President Harry S. Truman, whOm we acclaim on his 80th birth- day, should have accepted the honorary chair- manship of the committee which this year is sponsoring a Yeshiva University dinner here, on June 2, in honor of Benjamin Levinson. There is no doubt that Detroit again will respond generously in support of Yeshiva University. Becker Amendment and U.S. Common Sense For a time, it looked as if a real danger threatened an established American tradition of the separation of church and state. The organized campaign in support of the Becker Amendment gave the impression that if taken to a vote the proposed amendment would carry overwhelmingly. That's what happens when a God-issue is created, when those who insist upon adherence to the First Amendment to our Constitution are called godless because they favor the 8-1 decision of the United States Supreme Court against the reading of prayers in our public schools. There was injected the fear that the issue might arouse a new wave of anti-Semitism, simply because Jews are supporting the stand taken by the Supreme Court. But we must have faith in the common sense of Americans, and we do believe that the sense of fair play among the people of this land would not stand for an emergence of bigotry resulting from differences of opinion on a major American issue. The issue revolving around the Becker Amendment and its attempt to negate the Supreme Court's ruling inspired an editorial in the New York Times in which the following views were given: Much of the testimony has been more emo- tional than enlightening, but the hearings are performing a valuable function. They are demon- strating the extreme difficulty of marking out the proper boundaries between church and state, and they only serve to emphasize the danger of Con- gressional interference with the existing status. The Supreme Court was not declaring itself against prayer or religion when it found the prac- tice of leading schoolchildren in devotions to be in violation of the First Amendment. The Court was simply saying that, under the principle of separation, it is not up to state officials to say which prayers shall be read, if any. That is up to the individual. It was easy for many outraged persons, in Congress, the pulpits and elsewhere, to denounce the Court. But the problems the Court actually had to consider in the school prayer cases do not permit simplistic answers. For example, can praying in the classroom really be termed "voluntary" when most children will naturally conform to the teacher's wish? How is a community to decide which religion's prayer will be read—by majority vote of the community, or in each school? Or should there be a "nondenominational" prayer, and if so, who is to write it? Just to state such questions is to indicate the divisiveness that would result from allowing local school authorities to enter the realm of religious devotion. The hearings have also brought out that much of the quite genuine resentment against the Supreme Court's decision stems from misunder- standing. The Court did not foreclose singing of the national anthem, or continued use of the motto "In God We Trust," or any of a dozen other imagined horrors that have been evoked at the hearings. Neither the Constitution nor the Supreme Court has outlawed God, the Bible, the Lord's Prayer or anyone's religion. If the testimony proves nothing else, it proves how unwise it would be to begin now to tamper with the First Amendment. No one can be sure what the effect of some of the proposed amendments would be. Even Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who was most critical of the Supreme Court decisions, counseled the Judiciary Commit- tee not to endanger our tradition of religious liberty by amending the Constitution. And leaders of the major Protestant denominations expressed opposition to "jeopardizing our long-cherished freedom to worship God as conscience dictates by tampering with the First Amendment." We agree. Of course, all who view the situation ration- ally agree. But the danger from a pressure group that has enlisted overwhelming support for action to nullify the First Amendment must be met with equal force, and those who are concerned that the separation principle should be upheld must let themselves be heard. Our members of Congress should know how we stand on this issue. Although we believe that the hearings on the proposed Becker Amendment will prove the proposal's fal- lacies, we still urge that there should be an ex- pression of opinion against it. UNICEF'S Dramatic Story Told in Each and Every Child' UNICEF—The United Nations Children's Fund—now chaired by Mrs. Zena Harman, a member of the Israel delegation to the UN— directs its appeal to the humanitarianism of the nations of the world in behalf of needy children everywhere. A photographic exhibition by UNICEF is incorporated in the large-sized paper-covered brochure. "Each and Every Child," published for UNICEF by World Publishing Co. It is a deeply moving story. It depicts the wants of many chil- dren, it portrays the hunger that afflicts many of them and the HI- nessses that must be cured with UN aid. In a preface to this pictorial account, Maurice Pate, UNICEF executive director, emphasizes civilized people must "be moved by the sight, or even the thought of a sick or hungry child," and he declares: "It is sometimes hard for the reason of Man to grasp the urgent necessity of helping such a child . . . in fact, 800 million such chil- dren throughout the world . . . each differing from the others in his special problems, but all sharing the same basic needs. "UNICEF, during its 17 years of service to humanity, has helped light a candle of hope in the dark of the world's needs. There are many ways to help the children of the developing countries. Some millions of people are already participating, including many who will see this pictorial report. Still more are needed. We hope that the picture in this book will remind you that every child is a challenge to every parent who wishes the world to be better for his child than it was for him." "Each and Every Child" is, indeed, a most touching story which must move all peoples to respond to UNICEF and to aid the effort to provide a better life for the indigents portrayed in this pamphlet. An 18th Century Moralist David Hume 'On Religion' David Hume, 18th Century moral philosopher and epistomo16 46 ._ authored essays on religion and their impact on that age. The paper- back, "Hume on Religion," issued by World Publishing Co. (2231 W. 110th, Cleveland 2) as a Meridian Book, contains his essays "The Natural History of Religion," "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" and "My Own Life." Edited by Richard Wollheim, this paperback also contains Hume's statements on suicide, on superstition and enthusiasm, on immortality of the soul. In his introduction, Wollheim credits Hume with modesty and anti-materialism and with acceptance, explaining the latter: "The posi- tive content of 'true religion' for Hume was the acceptance of life as it it is, for what it is. And this in turn meant the rejection of any attempt to go beyond or behind it and to explain it, whether this be by ref- erence to the transcendental entities of metaphysics or by reference to the deities of religion. Both kinds of explanation are ultimately as harmful as they are presumptuous: with this further qualification, • < that the explanations of religion, because of all that is associated with them in the way of belief and injunction, are by far the more serious menace to the more reasonable conduct of life. As Hume expressed it in the 'Treatise': 'Generally speaking, the errors of religions are dan- gerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.' " Hume, while not rude in his observations, nevertheless, in his description of the origin of theism, wrote: "Thus, the deity, Jacob, became their Jehovah and Creator of the world." Making a comparison of religions, Hume contended that there was a resemblance between the Jewish and Egyptian faiths. "It is very remarkable," he wrote, "that both Tacitus and Suetonius, when they mention that decree of the Senate, under Tiberius, by which the Egyptian and Jewish proselytes were banished from Rome, expressly treat these religions as the same; and it appears, that even the decree itself was founded on that superstition." But there was no further attempt to prove such likeness.