Book 'In the Midst of Plenty' Stirs
Fight on Poverty i n This Country
"Poverty in the midst of plenty
is a paradox that must not go un-
challenged," the late President
Kennedy warned, and President
Johnson is pursuing his policies of
warring against poverty.
The problem is splendidly eval-
uated in a volume just issued' by
Beacon Press, Boston, "In the
Midst of Plenty — The Poor in
America," by Ben H. Bagdikian.
Those who live "amidst plenty"
will be astonished at the facts re-
vealed here.
Lack of housing for hordes, poor
nourishment, low incomes and a
score of related problems are re-
viewed in this excellently compiled
study.
Bagdikian reveals: "The millions
of the poor who are Negroes carry
the extra burd'en of discrimina-
tion against their skin. This takes
from them the technique of quiet
success by which other ethnic
groups in the past have overcome
prejudice. The Negro has no
chance quietly to become a suc-
cess selling vacuum cleaners door-
to-door in the better neighbor-
hoods, or to fake his way in a
white collar job, or to slip unno-
ticed into a skilled occupation."
Among the revelations are that
that native American poor of the
1960s "are worse off in some ways
than the foreign immigrants of
two generations ago." The study
elaborates:
"Both came practically penni-
less, went into the worst hous-
ing, got the worst jobs, and suf-
fered the isolation and discrim-
ination that comes to the impov-
erished stranger. But the for-
eigners had their own culture
and countrymen and history to
give them assurance while they
were being shunned by the new
culture. In the old days if a
man was disdained as a *op' or
a quick' or a `kike' he or his par-
ents knew that there were a
time and a place in which the
Italians ruled the world and cre-
ated a great culture, or the Irish
wrenched freedom from the
world's greatest power and de-
fended their Roman Catholic
Honor Gottlieb Hammer
for 25 Years' Service
to Judaism and Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) — Gottlieb
Hammer, executive vice-chairman
of the Jewish Agency for Israel,
Inc., was honor-
ed by prominent
Jewish leaders at
a luncheon tend-
ered to him at
the Del monico
Hotel on the oc-
casion of his com-
pletion of 25
years' service to
the Jewish cause
and State of Isr-
ael. A personal
message from
Israel's Prime
Minister Levi
Eshkol, address-
ed to Mr. Ham-
mer and lauding
Hammer his activities on
behalf of Israel, was presented to
him at the luncheon by Nahum
Shamir, Israel's Economist Min-
ister to the United States.
Speakers at the affair included
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of
the Jewish Agency; Louis Pincus,
treasurer; Mrs. Rose FI alprin,
chairman of the American Sec-
tion of the Jewish Agency; Myer
Weisgal, chairman of the Weiz-
mann Institute. They all stressed
Mr. Hammer's devoted service. Dr.
Dewey D. Stone, chairman of the
Jewish Agency, Inc., who presid-
ed, emphasized Mr. Hammer's ab-
ility and initative in the work of
the Jewish Agency. Mr. Hammer,
replying, spoke of the 25 years
Jewish communal life in the United
States, in which he participated
and touched upon the needs which
American Jewry will have to meet
in the next 25 years.
1
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday. June 19. 1964
7
faith, or the Jews shared the
making of modern civilization
and survived the suffering mil-
lennia with learning and art.
The lash of prejudice made its
scars, as it always does, but there
was some psychological solace in
one's own history and bitter sat-
isfaction that the tormentor was
so ignorant he didn't even know
this history. But the Negro
called 'nigger' or turned away
with a crocodilian 'Sir,' and the
Alabama white sneeringly called
`hillbilly' hear this from their
own countrymen. From the viper
within the nest there is little
room for retreat."
Conditions in Detroit and en-
virons are among the studies made
and recorded in Bagdikian's note-
worthy book. It serves as an en-
couragement in the battle this
country is now conducting against
the shocking elements of poverty
that are such a scourge on our
nation.
The Practice of
Reciting ‘Shema'
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright, 1964, Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
The "Shema" is recited in the
early part of the morning serv-
ice besides its recitation during
its regular part of the service.
This practice came about due
to the persecutions in the days
of the neo-Persian King Yezdi-
gird II in the fifth century. Be-
ing a follower of the Persian
belief which are dualistic in
nature he was naturally in-
censed with the Jewish belief
in Monotheism. The Shema,
which is the Jewish profession
of faith in one God, was some-
thing which was specifically
outlawed among other things
during his regime. To insure
the carrying out of his decree,
he stationed guards in the syna-
gogues during the morning
hours during which the Shema
was permitted to be recited
according to Jewish law. These
guards remained at their posts
until the third or fourth hours
of the day which represent the
hours during which the Shema
may be recited and morning
prayers rendered. When this
time was over they left. What
they did not count on was the
cunning and perseverance of
Jewish leaders who improvised
the recitation of the Shema in
the very early morning part of
the prayers which was then said
at home before departing for
the synagogue, as well as dur-
ing the additional late morning
prayers which are added to the
service on Sabbaths and holi-
days, at which times the guards
had already left. During both
of these occasions the Shema
was recited in an abbreviated
form. Even after the evil de-
crees were removed, Jewish
leaders saw fit to retain these
occasions of the recitation of
the Shema to serve as a re-
minder of the persecution of
those days as well as the marty-
dom with which Jews persisted
in carrying on their historic
traditions one way or another.
The prayers that precede and
follow the Shema during its re-
cital in this early morning part
of the service are those which
martyrs would recite before ac-
cepting the extreme act of sac-
rifice in giving their very lives
for the principles in which they
believed. These prayers are still
recited every morning. First
they remind us of ancient mar-
tyrdom. Second, they make us
mindful of the fact that no prin-
ciple is worth having unless it is
worthy dying for. A Jew, espe-
cially, must always start his
day of prayer with the under-
standing that he should always
be ready to sacrifice—his time,
his money and sometimes even
his life in order to preserve
that which was handed down to
him by devoted and loyal an-
cestors who often paid for this
- heritage with their own lives.
Negev Developments Strong Identification With Judaism Displayed
With Aid of Bonds
by Jewish Students in French Universities
In the new development areas
of the Negev, recent immigrants
are building their own homes in
a housing construction program
financed with the aid of Israel
Bonds. Since the establishment
of the Israel Bond program thir-
teen years ago more than
300,000 housing units, most of
them for new immigrants, have
been built in various parts of
Israel. Housing, as well as the
establishment of new industries,
irrigation, and the development
and settlement of unpopulated
areas, are being stimulated by
Israel Bonds, whose 1964 goal is
$85,000,000.
With more than two square
miles of fresh water for every
three square miles of land, Michi-
gan -has a greater proportion of
fresh water to land than any other
state, province or country in the
world.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish
university students in France are
showing a strong, positive identi-
fication with Judaism and a grow-
ing desire to learn more about
Jewish history and traditions, ac-
cording to a survey made public by
the American Jewish Committee.
The French survey is one of ten
such studies being carried out in
five countries as part of an ex-
tensive investigation of postwar
Jewish life and attitudes in west-
ern Europe. The studies are being
conducted by Community Service,
an agency created in 1958 by the
American Jewish Committee's For-
eign Affairs Department, the Alli-
ance I sr a elite Universelle of
France and the Anglo-Jewish Asso-
ciation of England.
Jewish youth in_ France today
are "ready and willing to assume
their Jewish identity," the sur-
vey concluded. Of those queried,
94 per cent give an affirmative
answer io the question, "Do you
consider yourself Jewish?" with
more than two-thirds of this
percentage asserting further that
it was "essential" to them to
be Jewish.
About three-quarters of the stu-
dents condemned attempts to hide
Jewish origins, and 62 per cent
disapproved of conversions to
other religions.
The report emphasized that such
identification with Judaism "rep-
resents a sharp reversal of the
attitudes of previous generations
in France, when there was a strong
tendency to drift away from Juda-
ism."
The survey was made at the
University of Paris, where Jews
comprise more than 6 per cent
of the student body in the four
colleges studied — law, human-
ities, science and medicine.
At two-and-a-half, Matthew Eckert is in the driver's seat;
and we helped put him there. His father, Raymond Eckert,
picked out a new car. And like most of us ... needed some
money to buy it with. So the dealer suggested an auto loan
from Detroit Bank & Trust. No problem. Ray Eckert had
heard about our quick OK's and low interest rates. He got
the loan. He bought the car. He's happy. So are Mrs. Eckert
and the other Eckert children. Drive carefully, Matthew.
The practice of religion is not
considered essential to being Jew-
ish, according to the responses of
about 80 per cent of the youth,
including many who regarded
themselves as religious. A small
proportion, about 10 per cent, at-
tend synagogue regularly, while
some 40 per cent go to services
about three times a year, although
more than half fast on Yom Kip-
pur, the Day of Atonement.
Columbus' Contemporary
Rodreguez, a noted Jewish phy-
sician who lived in Portugal about
1500, was a personal physician of
Don Juan II who was a friend of
the Jews. Rodriguez was one of
the two physicians who examined
Christopher Columbus' claim for
the support of his plans to dis-
cover India by a western route.
In 25 Different Outfits
Tony Curtis and his wife, Chris-
tine Kaufmann, star in "Wild and
Wonderful," a fluffy French-style
comedy produced in Hollywood by
Harold Hecht, in which Miss Kauf-
mann wears 25 different outfits,
running the garment gamut from
sables to shorts.
Want ads get quick results !
MORTGAGES
APPLICATIONS FOR
VA or FHA
ARE NOW BEING TAKEN
On New or Existing Homes
QUICK SERVICE
Phone Us Today
FRANKLIN
MORTGAGE CORP.
I
Approved FHA Mortgagee
915 First National Bldg., Det. 26
WO 3-4890
DETROIT
BANK
Er TRUST
MEMBER FDIC