Where Sabotage Doesn't Work

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

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising Manager

CHARLOTTE liYAMS

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the thirtieth day of Ab, the following Scriptural selections will be read. in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Dent. 11:26-16:17, Num. 28:9-15. Prophetical portion: Isaiah 66:1 24

-

Licht Benshen, Friday, August 7, 7:25 p.m.

VOL. XLV. No. 24

Page Four

August 7, 1964

'Frightened Men' Who Yield to Boycott

In his talks with British Foreign Secretary
R. A. Butler, in Moscow, the Soviet Premier
Khrushchev conceded that the principle of
non-dissemination of nuclear weapons should
be applied to the Middle East.
Coming so soon after his visit with Nasser
in Cairo, where the Soviet leader collabo-
rated in anti-Israel propaganda, the Khru-
shchev concession is important. It is an indi-
cation that it may be possible, by means of
high-level talks, actually to end the flow of
arms to the Middle East and thereby reduce
the war threats and the dangers that face
Israel.
Much more menacing to the peace of the

Middle East is the stepped-up boycott cam-
paign against Israel. There is a puzzling
amount of yielding to threats from the Arab
League in democratic countries, and the
fright in some industrial circles is an indica-
tion of a total lack of courage among many
Europeans who so readily submit to warn-
ings of "blacklisting" if they continue to
trade with Israel.
Already the British group that has yielded
to the Arab threats in the Lord Mancroft case
has been branded "a bunch of frightened
men." That's the role of all who submit to
the amoral boycott threats that emanate from
Arab sources.

Multiplying Tensions ... Urgent Need for Amity Separation Principle, Federal
Tensions are multiplying in this country. in need of help in their search for better
The 100-year-old prejudices persist in the homes and for proper training by reasonable
South. Race hatreds have increased in the men and women and not by panic-inspiring Aid to Schools, Church-State
North. Our large cities have become centers and riot-inciting rabble-rousers.
* *
of fear. There have been riots, and extremists
Problems in Villanova Volume
Responsibility
in
the
search for a better
—to use a term that has already been abused

—a term that has been utilized for political
flag-waving—have made use of their liberties
to browbeat their neighbors.
In the course of the tragedies that have
been meted out in the large comunities in
which rioting has occurred, there has been so
much emotionalism that many people have
stopped to rationalize about the issue. While
civil rights and equality now are the law of
the land and should be honored and re-
spected, those who had acted consistently in
support of justice and the elimination of prej-
udice have been abused. There have been
threats and accusations, and there is the
grave danger that political capital may be
made of the emerging tenseness.
That is why it is so urgent that all who
crave for good will, that freedom-loving peo-
ple who v a 1 u e their American heritage,
should aim at moderation and proper coop-
eration. That is why it is so vital to our in-
ternal peace that hoodlumism, whether by
white-skinned or colored, should be branded
as punishable, that lawlessness should not be
tolerated in this land.
* *
If the racial issue should become a major
appeal to the prejudices of American voters,
it will set back our basic American ideals
another century. By Congressional action
there has just been corrected a 100-year-old
crime. The enacted law of the land estab-
lished equality for all. It is the duty of all
citizens to labor to the end that the new and
long-belated law should be f ully imple-
mented.
This calls for the elimination of the causes
that create gangsterism, whether the hood-
lums are whites or blacks. In the striving for
equality for all Americans we are also pres-
ently in the process, thanks to President
Johnson's vision, of fighting poverty. In his
challenging work "Why We Can't Wait," Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. admonishes us that
there also are "millions of poor whites" who
are suffering from the same ills that afflict
his people—and he calls these millions of
whites "the derivative victims of slavery."
Let us not overlook this factor and let us take
into consideration the basic needs of the
country at large. We should be on the road
towards solving the problem not only of ra-
cial but also of economic equality, and the
issue must not be confused by prejudices.
When, therefore, we speak of the area
of housing, of proper education, of employ-
ment, it is one that affects all races, and it
must be solved in the interest of elevating
our people to higher standards. To accom-
plish this requires time, patience, under-
standing of the needs of the underprivileged.
Such problems demand abandonment of
brash, intemperate, impetuous leadership.
They call for guidance of the people who are

Villanova University Law School's Institute of Church and State
way of life, for amicable relations among all
citizens, rests upon all of us. They are as has, since its inception in 1955, provided a forum for "a free exchange
much the duty of Caucasians as of Negroes, of views between sincere and knowledgeable men." Its currently-
volume, "Religion and the Public Order — An Annual
embracing all faiths, and the action to be sponsored
Review of Church and State and of Religion, Law and Society," pub-
taken must be firm, dignified, nonviolent.
lished by Chicago University Press, proves the validity of the claims of
Jews have suffered in the riots in the the forum's merits.
North, just as Jews are suffering in the vise
Noted scholars of all faiths participated in the exchange of views
of the South where they are between the in this
volume, and a variety of subjects is covered. Not only the
devil and the deep sea. But wherever our matters revolving around the Church-State issue, but also marriage
kinsmen are they must remember the estab- laws (in this instance linked to the Biblical Covenant), Constitutional
lished Jewish principle of diva de-malkuta issues, church, state and universities, are among the many vital ques-
diva—the law of the land is our law. This tions covered.
applies, of course, to all citizens, and we must
Prof. Harold Stahmer, writing on "Defining Religion; Federal
work together to enforce that law—in this
Aid and Academic Freedom," makes the point that "In their
instance the law of equality, of civil rights—
`religious' enthusiasm to preserve a historical wall of separation
between church and state many in our nation run a very real risk
the law of humanitarianism.
of abridging the right of expression through the withholding of
But much more than this is involved. Too
funds to one among many intellectually viable and recognizably
often people are motivated in their thinking
accredited forms of commitment and concern."
by property values and by their personal
"Church and State: The Jewish Posture," by Richard L. Ruben-
sufferings. Because one loses financially in
the sale of his home is not a valid reason for stein, director of Hillel Foundations at several Eastern universities,
hating his fellow-Americans of another color. takes the position that more than principle is involved in Jewish
to Bible reading in the schools: "Apart from all questions
It would have been wise for Jews who have opposition
of version and translation to be employed, Christians and Jews do not
fled from certain neighborhoods to remain mean the same thing when they speak of the Bible. There can be no
there, by means of integration to protect the doubt that the New Testament cannot but divide Christian and Jew.
values of their homes. But, having changed This is going to happen in any event, but equity demands that insti-
neighborhoods, we should not penalize an en- tutions such as the public school, to which both Christian and Jew
tire community because of a loss in property are committed and which both support, not be used as instruments
of such division."
valuations.
Rubenstein contends that "historical Jewish experience has taught
Because some one has been mugged by a
gangster whose skin is of a different color us that the ideal of a government neutral in religious matters offers
is no reason for generalizing and blaming the the only hope for equality on condition for all men in a multi-ethnic
crime upon the entire differing race. Both and multi-religious community."
Discussing the separation principle, Dr. Robert Gordis
races are here to stay, and both must cement
expressed his conviction "that the current American practice is
their best feelings in the interest of Amer-
defensible both in practice and in theory and should continue
ica's highest principles.
to be maintained."
* * *
Rabbi Arthur Gilbert predicts that the shared-time proposal will
It is easy to preach in a matter that is as
careful study in the coming years. He says it should be
vital as the one that faces us during race receive
encouraged "chiefly because it will provide the public school an
rivalries. But it also is easier to offer advice opportunity to include within its discipline an enlarged number of
even when an individual is involved than to children and at the same time will remove from the public school
take advice. Yet, for the sake of the basic some of the pressure for teaching religion." His view is that the
human values all of us advocate, we must Supreme Court has already indicated that schools may not engage in
adopt objective attitudes. We must think in liturgical practice, that while the high court ruling is against reading
terms of the country's future, of our chil- the Bible as a devotional exercise, "it may teach about the Bible" and
dren's and grandchildren's roles in a mixed that it already is doing some of this work, 'but out of fear and
ignorance is doing it badly." He favors examination of proposals
community in which the Negro population which
make federal funds available to religious schools under
already has grown to more than twenty mil- certain will
conditions within the National Defense Education Act.
lion in the country at large and is increasing
An essay on books of religion calls attention to important Jewish
much more rapidly than our own. Regardless
of the ratios of population, we must live to- tracts.
On the matter of public funds for religious education, Dean
gether in amity no matter what our neigh-
Theodore L. Reller of the University of California School of Educa-
bor's background.
This justifies preaching. This demands tion declares:
first question that must be answered in approaching the
resort to fair play. It imposes upon the entire issue "The
of public aid to parochial schools is: What kind of a society do
country the responsibility of facing the issue we want? Only then can we decide on the best ways to expand public
fearlessly, with an aim of attaining the unity funds to achieve that society."
that must be cemented.
Many of the issues discussed, primarily the separation idea and
Indeed, we dare not be aimless. Rabble- the allotment of federal funds for religious education, provide data,
rousing must be rejected. The causes that gathered by experts, on major issues which have created so much
lead to fear must be uprooted. Lawlessness furor in recent years.
The Villanova volume adds considerably towards illumination of
must end. The honor and dignity of our land
must strengthen us in the belief that these issues which have been clouded previously. The differing viewpoints
offer background material on both sides of the -major- issue.
aims can and' will be accomplished..