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 CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Business Manager Editor and Publisher CHARLOTTE HYAMS SIDNEY SHMARAK City Editor Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections day of Tammuz, the following Scriptural selections This Sabbath, the syna gogues: will be read in our synagogues: Pentatenchal portion: Num. 25:10-30:1. Prophetical portion: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3. Licht benshen, Friday, July 3, 7:52 p.m. July 3, 1964 Page Four VOL. XLV, No. 19 An End to Illiteracy in Israel Because they could not write. their names, 16,000 people in Tel Aviv resorted to thumb prints in the last census. This is not an overwhelming number in the city's population of 500,000, and as Itzhak Navon, who was in charge of the census-taking, stated, "16,000 people do not set a cultural pattern." Nevertheless, even an infinitesimal fig- ure pointing to illiteracy in Jewish ranks creates so unusual a situation that it is a cause for concern. The troublesome fact in Israel is that 12 per cent of the population now is illiter- ate. There was a vast rise in the number of people who can neither read nor write as a result of the large influx of Oriental Jews into Israel. * There are some surprising factors in the number of illiterates in Israel. Of the native- born, 2.9 are illiterate; 3.5 of the Eastern European immigrants and 43.4 of the new- Comers from Asia and Africa are among the illiterates, and the latter figure accounts for the over-all 12 per cent figure for illit- eracy in Israel. Among the Arabs in Israel, 51.7 per cent are illiterate, and the women form the majority among all illiterates. It is no wonder that there is such serious concern not only in Israel but among Israel's friends everywhere that the elevation of the educational standards of Israel should be made a major objective among the new settlers in the .Jewish state. In order to elim- inate cultural backwardness. in the interest of raising the standards of the new citizens of Israel who have come from Afro-Asian countries, the best school facilities mist be provided, and an eniiali7ation of standards must he aimed at through the creation of a vast chain of secondary schools. * ,' In many respects, Israel already -has made great progress in the advancement of its educational system. In his very significant book. "Crisis in Black and White." pub- lished by Random House, Charles E. Silber- man thus evaluated Israel's experiments and the Jewish state's examples in cultural areas to other nations: My proposal to extend public education down to the nursery level is not nearly as extreme as it sounds. Israel, with a standard of living only about one third that of the United States, has already adopted such a policy, and is in the process of establishing nurseries for the Oriental Jews as the means of acculturating its new im- migrants in a single generation. The government has formally adopted a policy of preferential treat- ment, called "state protection." Compensatory edu- cation begins at the prenatal level, when amateur social workers visit the pregnant mother and the father; among other things, they teach the parents how to play with the children, and leave a set of toys which the government lends the family for a period of a year or so. The government is rapidly establishing free nursery schools so that the Orien- tal youngsters can begin school at three; the curriculum closely resembles the one Martin Deutsch is developing. Help does not stop at that point, however. The Israeli educators have tried to isolate the critical Points in intellectual development. The first is the nursery-school years; the second is the first and second grades, when the children learn to read. The Israelis are convinced that anyone, even the mentally retarded, can be taught to read. The problem, as Dr. Moshe Smilansky, pedagogical adviser to the minister of education puts it, is simply one of adapting the method of instruction to the state of development in which the child comes to school. Three years of intensive work have convinced the Israelis that 80 to 85 per cent of the Oriental youngsters can be brought up to the expected reading level. The third critical point at which Israel's Orien- tal youngsters need help is the junior-high period (ages twelve to fourteen); they receive up to eleven hours of additional instruction a week, in order to help them adjust to the more complex curriculum they begin to receive, and to help them prepare for high school. In addition to the extra instruction given to all the Oriental youngsters, the govern- ment has adopted a separate program for the most academically talented: the top 25 per cent. The object, quite explicitly, is to encourage the develop- ment of an intellectual elite among the Oriental students—to create a group that will go through high school and the university without difficulty and then move into positions of responsibility in government, in business management, and in the army, thereby demonstrating to the rest of the Oriental community as well as to the Western Jewish community that Orientals DO have the capacity to move to the top of Israeli society. While this compliments Israel in serious efforts to maintain the traditional Jewish standards for learning and to explore new areas that will lead toward the solution of problems that arise often out of the modern speeds with which peoples and nations labor, it leaves partially unsolved the serious prob- lems related to the secondary educational needs. These, too, must reach the high stan- dards that have been attained in the primary educational fields. And the Silberman study does point out the problems created by the two standards—among 0 c c i d e n t a l s and Orientals—in evidence in Israel. It has been pointed out that standards of civilization are deter mined in settle- ments remote from the main centers of pop- ulation, on Israel's borders with Arab states, were two-thirds of a village population, com- posed of Oriental Jews, is illiterate. Such a condition is considered intolerable, and Is- rael's leaders are seriously coping with the problem. The recent assignment of 63 girls, mem- bers of Israel's armed forces, to prepare for teaching careers among these illiterate ele- ments is a step in the right direction. * * * American Jews are sharing in the new tasks of seeking an end to the status of il- literacy figures among immigrants from Arab countries. A progressive Hebrew high school has been established at the Hebrew Univer- sity in .Jerusalem by the National Council of Jewish Women, with the aid of the Detroit. chapter. A high school is soon to be established in Jerusalem with funds provided by the Emma Schaver Foundation of Detroit. The Stollman family of Detroit has un- dertaken to finance a high school at Bar- Ilan University. Both Detroit gifts are continuations of generosity on the part of the Stollmans and the Schavers. They are creditable not only as philanthropic gestures but as evidences of ap- preciation of the needs which must be ful- filled if the tasks on behalf of Israel are to be practical and realistic. There is evidence that United Jewish Appeal leaders are striving to make the rais- ing of the standards of Israel's educational system among their main objectives. The announcement made at the United Jewish Appeal dinner in New Y o r k, on June 3, by Israel's Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, of the plans for a - special effort by 'WA to provide a large fund for the ex- pansion of Israel's secondary educational system, was one of the very important deci- sions relating to the great need to solve a serious problem. These are steps in the right direction, and it is to be hoped that illiteracy, gen- erally unknown in Jewish ranks, will be com- pletely wiped out in Israel. Notable Hassidic Tales Compiled in D. L. Meckler's 'Miracle Men' David L. Meckler, one of the best known Yiddish writers in this country, is not the first to introduce Hassidic tales to English readers. Yet, his "Miracle Men," the collection of tales about the Baal Shem and his Hassidim published by Bloch, is unique in its style, in the type of narrative that enhances the movement that was founded by Baal Shem Tov. The folk idea predominates in these stories. In the Meckler nar- ratives we are presented with new approaches to the folklore that made Hassidism so popular in Jewry. It is the contention of Meckler that Hassidism "still smacked of the messianic," even after the debacle of the Shabbatai Zevi movement. His introductory essay to "Miracle Men" is a brief but a very succinct interpretation of the Hassidic idea. He makes this interesting comment about the acceptance of Hassidic folklore: "The importance of the Hassidic tale lies in the fact that the Hassid not only believes in its veracity, but also regards it as part of his worship to repeat or hearken to the old stories. To the Hassid these legends are not for entertainment, but for spiritual uplift. The account of the Baal Shem's ascent to heaven and his entrance into the palace of the Messiah (one of the tales in this volume) is actually regarded as containing the secret of the deliverance of the Jewish people." A variety of themes gives the Meckler volume its special merit. Many factors in Jewish life are reflected in these stories, as are, equally as well, the ideas and the personalities that had elevated Hassidism to its accepted influence and importance. Thus, the talisman, which has been so vital in Hassidic practices, as the means of restoring a family's happiness, is recorded in one of the stories. The Baal Shem plays his role in many of the tales, and "The Cabalist" offers a solution to a mystery and, as the first story in the book, serves as an introduction to the charm that marks all of the 25 narratives. Indeed, the tales deal with miracles, and each is marked by the inspiration that stems from Hassidism. There are revelations, giants are the sources of some of the the Jewish search for new homes, the zeal of the Hassid—these arc ‘ many more elements in Hassidism are implanted in the Meckler There are echoes of the anti-Semitic movements, and the manner in which Hassidic lore upheld the Jewish spirit is similarly incorpor- ated in these tales. David L. Meckler, presently editor-in-chief of the Day - Jewish Morning Journal, has rendered a distinct service with his gathering of the Hassidic tales for English readers. His "Miracle Men" will in- crease an understanding of Hassidism. More Intergroup Efforts Urged to Solve Problems of Prejudice In "Tolerant Personality," published by Wayne State University Press, Prof. James G. Martin of Northern Illinois University presents the results of research into problems of tolerance and intergroup ten- sions, the existing prejudices and the forces that are striving for their removal. Explaining the attitudes of all elements in our population, DT. Martin at one point asserts that "Jews are generally more tolerant towards other groups." He acids: "Within Protestantism, the rule seems to be that the more liberal the theology the less the prejudice towards minorities." The vital lesson to be learned, Dr. Martin declares, "is that gross inequality and intolerance are self-destructive. This is as true in South Africa as it is in Alabama, as it was. in Czarist Russia . . . The only reliable and legitimate means of gaining esteem and respect for oneself is, in the long run, to be willing to grant it to others equally deserving." He asserts that "what is needed is more attention to the problems of intergroup relations . . . The content of education can also con- tribute to the encouragement of tolerant attitudes . . . Learning- foreign languages in the elementary schools should have some worth- while effect; it may be to little avail, however, if the teacher is in- tolerant. Prejudice is contagious and can be conveyed by subtle cues."