WSU Press Issues Martin's 'Tolerant
Personality,' Volume Exposing Many
Manifestations of Bigotry in the U. S.

There was once a rabbi who
was so open-minded that he
could see every side of a ques-
tion. One day a man came to
him with the request that he
grant him a divorce.
"What do you hold against
your wife?" asked the rabbi
gravely.
The man went into a lengthy
recital of his complaints.
"You are right," he agreed
when the man finished.
Then the rabbi turned to the
woman.
"Now let us hear your story,"
he urged.
And the woman in her turn
began to tell of the cruel mis-
treatment she had suffered at
her husband's hands.
The rabbi listened with obvi-
ous distress.
"You are right," he said with
conviction when she finished.
At this the rabbi's wife, who
was present, exclaimed, "How
can this be? Surely, both of
the.-n couldn't be right!"
The rabbi knitted his brows
and reflected.
"You're right, too!"
Nathan Ausubel in "A Treas-
ury of Jewish Folklore."

Sylvia Rothchild
writes Fine Novel
About Jewish Life

among others — especially those
who come to participate in the
meal. If the ceremony is conducted
after the meal is over • and con-
cluded, then the meal was just an
ordinary meal and not a special
one tied to the event. If the cere-
mony is performed before the
meal, 'then those who participate
in the meal may not witness or be
impressed mrith the ceremony and
the objective of impressing them
is lost.
Some Kabbalists asserted that
one who partakes of the feast of
a Pidyon is considered as if he
had fasted 54 fasts. Some explain
this one the basis of the conten-
tion that if there was some flaw
in the circumcision arrangements,
it would take 54 fasts to atone for
it. Some derive it from Biblical
abbreviations. It. is a general con-
sensus among Jewish scholars that
the Almighty may more easily be
reached through good acts . with
glad hearts than throtigh penance
and self affliction. The road to
virtue is best paved with confi-
dence and joy, in doing the right
things in life. Thus, the occasion
of the meal in the course of which
the ceremony of Pidyon Haben is
performed.

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

(Copyright, 1964. JTA, Inc.)

A blessing is made over a cup of
wine by the Kohen at the cere-
mony of a Pidyon Haben (the re-
demption of the first born son).
A number of reason are offered
for this procedure. Generally
speaking, Jewish ceremonies such
as a circumcision, a wedding, etc.,
are performed with a blessing over
wine. The reason usually offered
for this is that ceremony includes
praises to the Almighty and praises
to Him are traditionally offered
over wine to indicate that we are
happy to praise Him. In the case
of the Pidyon Haben other rea-
sons are offered too. Some claim
that the wine is used as a means
of publicizing and spreading the
news of the incident and what it
signifies. Others claim that the
wine is used because the Kohen
traditionally blesses the child with
the threefold priestly blessing and
the blessing he invokes should be
offered with a "good heart." Wine
which gladdens the heart of man
is considered symbolic of the good
heart. The Zohar writes that be-
fore blessing anything else, one
must first bless the Almighty who
is the source of all blessing. Thus,
before the Kohen blesses the child
he must first bless the Almighty
Michigan has over 15 million
ADL Notes Huge Cost
and thus the wine is used to create acres
under protection from forest
a basis for first blessing the Al-
of Dixie Defiance, Says
(by making the benedic- fires and has one of the best low-
mighty
Law Can Save South
loss records of any state.
tion over the wine).
Federal civil rights legislation
The Pidyon Haben ceremony
gives Southern states a chance to traditionally performed in the
Personal Service. Experience.
Finest in Musical Entertainment
avoid the ruinous cost that de-
course
of
a
meal.
fiance has brought in the past, ac-
The purpose of the meal is that
cording to a report, "The Price We
and his
Pay." prepared by the Anti-De- it is to be a festive meal engaged
famation League of Bnai Brith and in for the sake of performing the
sacred commandment of Redeem-
the Southern Regional Council.
427- 9317
It documents the vast cost in- ing the First Born. The aim is to
curred by the South's resistance to spread the cheer and thanksgiving
equal opportunity, and itemizes the
price for discrimination in the
when you care enough to remember . . .
economy of Southern communities,
employment, legal procedures, edu-
cation, culture, and tourism.
Expenses range from the $17 bil-
lion loss in gross national product
estimated as the cost of discrimi-
nation against Negroes, to the
$138,429 spent for police overtime
LI 2-6373
and .equipment in Jackson. Miss.,
from late May through August
Weddings • Bar Mitzvahs • Home Portraits
1963, to combat demonstrations.

comes the majority. 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."
Anti-Semitic manifestations and
the status of Jewry are often taken
into account in discussing the bi-
gots, the "vitriolic attacks on race
'mongrelization,' " charges of the
"Jewish menace," etc. The author
comments on the psychological
temosphere in which the bigots
are involved.
"Analyzing anti-Semitic, anti-
Negro, and other such material,"
Dr. Martin writes, "one finds its
most persistent theme to be that
there is a vile conspiracy afoot,
engineered by minority groups. A
frequent allegation is that fluori-
dation programs are a conspiracy
to poison drinking water. The Ku
Klux Klan in Tennessee has even
attacked polio vaccination pro-
grams, presumably for the same
kind of reasons."
Tabulating the groups that
are affected by anti-Semitism,
the author states that "a signif-
icant relationship was found be-
tween anti-Semitism and
aesthetic, economic and political
values, but not religious values."
Sylvia Rothchild, married to a
In his evaluations of the exist-
doctor in the Boston area, mother
ence of intolerance, Dr. Martin re-
of three children, was the winner ports findings which indicate that
of an award for the outstanding
Jewish children's book in 1960. "Jews are generally more tolerant
Her full length novel, "Sunshine towards other groups."
Reporting on the spread of anti-
and Salt," published by Simon and
Schuster, places her in the ranks of Semitism and the resort to the
venomous "Protocols," Dr. Martin
modern novelists.
tells of the spread of propaganda
Possessing a fine style, "Sun- about the "learned elders, the
shine and Salt" is a splendid nar- Jews and their Gentile tools," and
rative that is based on conflicts states:
among generations. It is a tale
" 'Hate literature' amply demon-
about a New York girl who had strafes the readiness of the in
gone to New England with her • tensely prejudiced to believe
scientist husband and had all but almost anything. A mimeographed
abandoned her Jewish affiliations tract anonymously mailed to the
amidst a non-Jewish environment. sociology department at the Uni-
Her children were sent to a Jew- versify of Oklahoma and purport-
ish Sunday school, but that was mg to 'analyze' the notorious for-
the extent of her Jewish loyalties. fiery 'The Protocols of the Elders
Her father's death brought her of Zion' alleges that 'pink eyes' and
back home. Soon he mother came dysentery result from 'poisoned
to live with her. That's where the food cooked in aluminum.' This
conflict began — the mother's ob- publication also suggests that 'our
jections to her non-kosher home, food is tampered with in many
her manner of setting things in ways to bring about sickness and
order, her difficulties with the malnutrition,' and goes on to warn
non-Jewish neighbors.
that 'white and brown sugars are
The new environment in Pine- your deadly enemy.' The author,
view was not the the mother's with unintentional irony, adds:
liking. She preferred Mapleton, 'Using myself as a guinea pig, I
with its synagogue, its kosher proved to my own satisfaction that
butcher. Her daughter took her white sugar in coffee with homog-
there, she made friends, and won enized cream will eat your teeth
many admirers by her devotions. out, your hair and eyes. Eventual-
Then came a tragedy. Left alone ly it will effect (sic) the mind.' "
By exposing these inanities, Dr.
when her daughter, son-in-law and
Martin's
"The Tolerant Personal-
children left for a week-end vaca-
tion to the cape, she tried to ity," which serves as a guide for
prevent a demented boy from caus- better human relations, renders a
ing a fire, was herself thrown into valuable service in establishing
the flame, was adjudged to have the truth regarding the spread of
suffered a heart attack, but a tale bigotry.
"New Horizons of Economic
of heroism emerged in newspaper
Progress", the Franklin Memo-
stories.
rial Volume, was released by
The major element of courage
Wayne State University Press
was her deep interest in the syna-
this week. It was edited by Prof.
gogue in Mapleton, the friends she
Lawrence H. Seltzer. It is the
had made and inspired, in spite of
12th volume in the series of Leo
her illiteracy. She emerged saintly
M. Franklin Memorial Lectures
and courageous.
in Human Relations.
Out of it also developed an in-
Other new WSU Press volumes
creased evidence of anti-Semitism include:
in the Pineview community and
"The Persistence of Shakespeare
the awakening to reality by the —Essays in Honor of Prof. Robert
only Jewess to have been admitted W. Babcock," edited by WSU Prof.
to the community's historical Herbert Schueller. Essayists in-
clude Profs. Henry Peyre, Samuel
society.
The narrator's husband, always Holt Monk, Earl R. Wasserman
more responsive to her mother's and Herman J. Weigand.
"Culture and the Direction of
religious attitude, responded to
Human Evolution" is a sympo-
the call to membership in the
sium arranged and edited by
Mapleton community. He and his
Stanley J. Garn, with Albert A.
family were drawn closer to the
Dahlberg, John W. Crenshaw,
Jewish ranks. There was an awak-
ening resulting from the realiza- Harry J. Jerison, Samuel II.
Boyer, William Etkin and Theo-
tion of what the elder woman
dosius Dobzhansky as partic-
whose passing was so tragic had
ipants.
such fine qualities.
American Jewish Archives'
The fine style of the novelist
and her well-woven plot makes sources are among those utilized
her "Sunshine and Salt" a novel in data compiled by Henry Putney
Bees in "The French and British
well worth reading.
in the Old Northwest—A Bibliog-
raphical Guide to Archive and
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, July 24, 1964
27 Manuscript Sources."

A strong plea for the reduction
in racial and religious tensions,
for the spread of educational ef-
forts to assure proper tolerance,
is made by Prof. James G. Martin
of Northern Illinois University in
"The Tolerant Personality," just
issued by Wayne State University
\-- Th Press.
Dr. Martin points out that "the
•
\_
fanatic is dangerous precisely be-
cause he refuses to yield in his
viewpoint regardless of contrary
evidence."
"Rationalism a n d humanism
are the basic values which en-
courage tolerant intergroup at-
titudes," the author declares. He
emphasizes that "gross inequal-
ity and intolerance are self-de-
structive," and he states: "To
deny equal rights and oppor-
tunities merely on the basis of
such a factor as race will event-
ually result in a reversal of the
situation, as the minority be-

Blessing Over Wine at Pidyon Haben

When All Are Right

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