THE JEWISH NEWS
ee-
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
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
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CHARLOTTE KYAMS
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City Editor
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This Sabbath, the seventeenth day of Tammuz, 5724, the following Scriptural selections will be
in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Num. 22:2-25:9. Prophetical portion, Michah 5:6-6:8.
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June 26, 1964
A Rabbi's Despair and the Need for Unity
Dr. Leon Feuer of Toledo, in his presi-
dential address at the annual convention of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis,
protested against the "hodge podge" of a
multiplicity of American Jewish organiza-
tions and called for a study of the structure
of American Jewish life.
His criticisms are certainly well taken.
He is justified in his criticism of duplicity
in Jewish life and in the over-organization
of our communities which leads to confu-
sions. But when he criticizes the investments
that are being made in the construction of
large buildings he may have overlooked the
fact that Jewish centers are not the only
super - glamorized factors in expenditures
resorted to in the process of emphasizing a
brick-and-mortar Judaism.
In his speech in Atlantic City, Rabbi
Feuer decried the "millions upon millions
of dollars which go into building funds and
the operation of scores of Jewish centers
which have been imposed upon Jewish com-
munities all over the country, while those
institutions which are dedicated to the reli-
gious and intellectual enrichment of Jewish
personality, to the preservation of Jewish
traditions and values go begging for a pit-
tance, and no one has yet rationally explained
what these centers contribute toward the
survival of Judaism."
*
*
*
If this criticism is justified, if centers
are being "imposed" upon our communities
while "religious enrichment" is being ig-
nored, there should be a thorough reevalu-
ation of our communal activities. But Rabbi
Feuer may come into conflict with some who
already contend that too much money is
spent on temples and synagogues and that
there should be a halt to the glamorous
building complexes in that area as well.
The synagogue indisputably occupies the
major place in Jewish life. But that priority
in no sense reduces the importance of the
community centers which have become vital
factors in our programming. It would be sheer
folly to abandon the centers or to look upon
them as unproductive of many basic contri-
butions to Jewish existence. Some years back
there were charges that the centers sponsored
programs without Jewish content. There have
been drastic changes that have obviated such
criticisms, and if there still are some centers
in which Jewish programming is minimal
the situation can be corrected by positive
approaches. But shortcomings are not elimi-
nated by undermining the foundations of the
institutions suffering from them.
*
*
*
Dr. Feuer did not limit himself to the
centers. He also made this comment:
"Jewish rescue, rehabilitation, and re-
settlement in Israel and elsewhere are and
always will be deeply and traditionally Jew-
ish in their claim upon us, but can one say
the same for many of the myriad collateral
appeals which often attach themselves to
these major causes?"
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read
Licht benshen, Friday, June 26, 7:53 p.m.
Page Four
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Sabbath Scriptural Selections
VOL. XLV. No. 18
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One must look at the record to realize
that the overseas and pro-Israel funds also
have diminished. Criticisms of the nature
espoused by Rabbi Feuer are seldom helpful.
If anything, they provide excuses for re-
duced giving under one pretext or another.
The fact is that there are large funds pro-
curable for all causes, that while we are a
generous people we have not scratched the
surface in seeking vitally needed funds for
religious and cultural purposes at home and
relief and rehabilitation abroad. What is
especially lacking is a proper approach to
the overwhelming majority of American
Jews who are yet to be reached for their
adequate gifts.
*
*
*
Rabbi Feuer is entitled to a platform
for his views and we readily give it to him
by quoting his charge that there has been
"a kind of blackmail" and pressure upon
Dr. Howard M. Sachar, director of Brandeis University's Jacob
rabbis "not to speak out" if they attempt
to evaluate "causes and organizations in Hiatt Institute in Israel, author of two previous noteworthy books,
relation to their real Jewish significance." "The Course of Modern Jewish History" and "Aliyah: The People of
Israel," has produced another outstanding volume, the contents of
He stated: "We rabbis have earned the right which
are certain to draw wide attention and to be referred to for
to express ourselves forthrightly, since no
many years to come as valuable historical material
one can deny that most of us have been
about Israel.
more than generous in our leadership and
His "From the Ends of the Earth, The Peoples
support of the worthy and urgent Jewish
of Israel," published by World, is filled with so
Imany fascinating stories about men and events of
causes of our difficult and tragic time." If
the current period in Israel's history, that it may
this is true, then the indicted are not those
well be viewed as one of the most significant
—whoever they may be—who are exerting
addenda to the story of Israel's development.
pressures but the spiritual leaders who are
It is replete with facts about nearly every
yielding to pressures. If our synagogues are
facet of life in Israel. A typical example is the
free then the rabbis must act in freedom,
concluding chapter, "The Prophet." It is much
and it is inconceivable that there should be
more than a mere account of Ben-Gurion's interest
anything approaching "blackmail" or cen- Dr. H. M. Sachar in the Negev. The many people involved in that
sorship by congregants.
development, the conditions accruing to it, the hopes for the future,
We are rather inclined to the view that make this as much the story of prophecy as of the prophet.
It is in large measure the story of a former Detroiter: "Gershon
our communities are prepared, as Rabbi
Segelman was a chunky, blue-eyed American in his early forties.
Feuer asks, that there should be a program
A trained agronomist, he had come to the Negev in 1946 as a
of guiding our young Jews towards some
kibbutz member, and later joined the Dead Sea Works as director
"sense of proportion as to what is and what
of market research."
is not vital and important," while restoring
This is an introduction to a career that is replete with accomp-
"a sense of Jewish values." We concur with lishments in agricultural research. It is part of a fantastic tale about
him that:
the activities of pioneers in southern Israel.
Then there is the story of parents, of an adoption case—a famous
"It will take courage to differ with and
if necessary to oppose the financial power event of 1952 when two men who later figured in the Eichmann trial,
structures and their regiments of profes- Judge Moshe Landau and the prosecutor Gideon Hausner, also were
sionals in our communities and on the na- involved in that incident.
And there is the Lavon case. Dr. Sachar does not reveal the
tional scene. I appeal for that courage and
names of the people whose involvements would expose a case of
honesty and I believe that our people are
high state security. But the details of Affair Lavon are told more
ready for it," the Rabbi concluded.
succintly in this book than they have ever been told before.
But the rabbis have been expected to
There are, indeed, many explosive matters in this book, which is
lead the way towards such an approach. We at once sociological, political, religious in many of its approaches, in /
expect the rabbis to possess the courage the numerous details it relates about people and events.
Much is said now about archaeology, but Sachar's "The Archae-
they invite and to display it. Accusations,
in a time of crisis—and we are treated so ologist," the story of Yigael Yadin, is both an account of explorations
often to panicky cries about diminishing and of Israel's military history and the serious efforts at research
Jews, Jewry and their ancient land.
Jewish loyalties that this era emerges as one about "From
the Ends of the Earth," which was intended as a sequel to
of internal crisis — seldom solve any prob- "Aliyah," depicts
the settlement of Israel and the settlers, the leaders
lems. By working together, rabbis and lay- of the state, the common
folk and the geniuses who made Israel a
men, congregants and spiritual leaders, edu- leader in the Middle East, a contender for a due share in world affairs,
cators and students, we can properly set our an object of enmity but a seeker of justice and peace with its neighbors.
house in order. But first we must assert a
Dr. Howard Morley Sachar, who is the son of Dr. Abram L.
sense of realism and work in harmony. We'll Sachar, president of Brandeis University, has, in his own rights,
be helpless and hopeless if we persist upon emerged as a distinguished author, an able storyteller—for every
seeing visions of "blackmail" where it does chapter in his new book reads like a novel—and an authoritative
historian. "From the Ends of the Earth" adds immensely to his status
not exist.
letters.
-
ERE&
Dr. H. L. Sachar's 'From the Ends
of the Earth' Enriches Israel's
Sociological, Historical Studies
as a man of
How Bonn Can Prove Good Intentions Study of 'The Ascent of Man
latter a
Conflicting reports from Bonn keep us
guessing as to whether or not the guilt feeling
in Germany is vanishing or whether a sense
of responsibility has penetrated into the
minds of old and young — the old who are
seeking to hush up the crimes and the young
who either do not know or do not wish to
acquire full knowledge about their parents'
roles in the worst atrocities recorded in his-
tory.
The more recent survey showed that anti--
Semitic incidents are decreasing, but the rise
in the circulation of anti-Semitic periodicals
points to the emergence of a strong neo-Nazi
movement.
West Germany has many opportunities to
evidence its earnestness in the oft-repeated
expressions of faith in an allegiance to newly-
affirmed democratic principles. One way of
showing its good intentions is by awarding
the reparations that are yet to be repaid to
many of the sufferers from Nazism. Another
form of atonement is Bonn parliament's duty
to prevent its scientists from assisting Egypt
in its atomic research aimed at Israel's de-
struction.
Alexander Wilf and Samuel Merlin, Revisionists, the
former member of the Israel Knesset, have combined their resources
in the writing of "The Ascent of Man," published by Thomas Yoseloie
(11 E. 36th, NY16). It represents a study of man's evolution as a
"moral species" and touches upon many of the tragedies that have
afflicted mankind, including the Nazi holocaust.
Many old philosophic ideas are demolished and Darwin's is called
"inconsistent." There are critical evaluations of "bourgeois prejudices."
Since Jews did not then have a territory, the Nazi crime and the
extermination of 6,000,000 Jews is therefore ruled out as having had
political aspects. The two authors describe the Nazi terror instead
as an "experiment in genetics."
The Ascent of Man" views morality In its organic-evolutionary
sense. The Wilf-Merlin study will be found intriguing and thought-
provoking.
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