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Boris Smolar's
'Between You
... and Me'
(Copyright, 1964, Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
The . Pope's Encyclical
Jewish students of the text of Pope Paul's first encyclical are
far from happy over the Pontiff's references to the Jewish people . . .
They expected to find a hint there as to the Pope's attitude toward the
proposed Jewish decree which is to come up before the Ecumenical
Council next month . . . They anticipated that he may indicate his
backing of the sentiments of his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, with
regard to having the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus removed from
the Jewish people . . . Instead, they found an invitation to the Jewish
people for a dialogue on the basis that the Christian religion is "the
only true religion" . . It is true that Pope Paul went out of his
way to declare in his encyclical that the Jewish people are faithful to
the Old Testament which the Christian Church accepts as a part of
the Christian religion . . . But it is known that the Pontiff makes a
distinction between the God of the Old Testament and the God of
the New Testament . . . He emphasized this difference during his
rencent pilgrimage to Israel when he visited Nazareth . . . He then
chose the occasion to reassert the ancient polemical tendency that
contrasts "the Old Testament Lord of Justice and Fear" and the "God
of Love of the New Testament" . .. This, despite the fact that Biblical
scholars assure us that the Old Testament conceived of God in terms
of love as well as justice . . Some in the Jewish community, who
were aware of the Pontiff's utterance in Nazareth, considered this
episode of relatively minor significance, albeit it tended to mar a
clear image of Pope Paul . . . Their estimate of the Pope will now,
after his encyclical, be decisively affected by his position on issues
of specific Jewish interest . . . Most symbolic of this will be his
action or inaction on the proposed Jewish decree which is now
before the Ecumenical Council . . . What Pope Paul does or does
not do with regard to this Jewish decree will be determinative for
generation as to how Jews will think of him . . . By his forth-right
condemnation of anti-Semitism, but especially by backing those bishops
in the Ecumenical Council who insist on the rectification of the age-old
accusation that the Jews as a people are collectively responsible through
all time for the death of Jesus and therefore are an accursed people,
will Pope Paul VI be judged . . . His first encyclical contains no
indication as to what is on his mind with regard to these subjects
which are so important for normal Catholic-Jewish relations.
*
*
From the Book of T obit . . . a Father's Advice to a Son
In "The Wisdom of Israel,"
edited by the late Lewis Browne
and published by Random House
as a Modern Library book, appears
the following under the title "The
admonition of Tobit."
In a preface to this admonition,
Browne wrote:
"The Book of Tobit is a quaint
didactic novelette written origin-
ally perhaps in Greek by a devout
Jew living — again perhaps — in
Egypt, some time in the second
century B.C. The following passage
taken from Chapter 4 (verses 3 to
19) is typical of the 'Wisdom
Literature' which was so popular
in Israel throughout this period."
The admonition follows:
So Tobit called to his son and
said:
"My boy, when I die, bury me,
and do not neglect your mother;
provide for her as long as you live.
Do what is pleasing to her, and do
not grieve her in anything. Re-
member, my boy, that she faced
many dangers for you before your
birth, and when she dies, bury her
beside me in one grave. All your
life, my boy, remember the Lord,
our God; do not consent to sin and
transgress his commands. Act up-
rightly all your life, and do not
walk in the ways of wrongdoing.
"For if you do right, prosperity
will attend your undertakings. To
all who act uprightly, give charity
from your property, and do not let
your eye begrudge what you give
to charity. Do not turn your face
away from any poor man, and
God's face will not be turned away
from you. Give to charity in pro-
portion to what you have; if you
have little, do not be afraid to give
sparingly to charity; for then you
will lay up a good treasure for
yourself against a day of adversity;
for charity will save you from
death, and keep you from going
down into darkness. Charity is a
good offering in the sight of the
Most High for all who give it.
"My boy, beware of any immor-
ality. First, take a wife who is of
the stock of your forefathers; do
not marry an alien, who does not
belong to your father's tribe, for
we are the sons of the prophets.
Remember, my boy, that Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our
forefathers of old, all married
wives from among their kindred,
and were blessed in their children,
and their posterity will possess the
land. Now, my boy, love your kin-
dred, and do not disdain your
brothers and the sons and daugh-
ters of your people and refuse to
marry one of them. For such dis-
dain leads to ruin and great dis-
tress, and worthlessness brings loss
and great want, for worthlessness
is the mother of famine. The wages
of any man who works for you, you
must not retain overnight, but you
must pay him immediately. If you
serve God, you will be rewarded.
Take care, my boy, in all that you
do, and be well disciplined in all
conduct. Do not do to anyone else
what you hate. (This is one of the
earliest appearances of the Golden
Rule in Jewish literature. L. B.)
Do not drink wine to the point of
intoxication; drunkenness must not
go with you on your way. Give
some of your bread to the hungry
and of your clothes to the naked.
Give all your surplus to charity,
and do not let your eye begrudge
what you give to charity. Scatter
your bread on the graves of the up-
right, but do not give to sinners.
"Ask advice of every wise man,
and do not think lightly of any
useful advice. Always bless the
Lord God, and ask him to make
your ways straight and your paths
and plans prosper."
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*
American Echoes
While the encyclical of Pope Paul brought no hint as to his attitude
toward the removal of the "God-killer" stigma from the Jews as a
people, it is known that in Washington a good deal of interest is being
displayed in government circles on this issue . . . Washington is tak-
ing note of the rumors that the proposed Jewish decree at the Vatican
has been weakened as a result of certain pressures within the Vatican
. . . Note is at the same time being taken of the fact that Pope Paul
indirectly indicated to American Jewish Committee leaders that he
shares the view of Cardinal Spellman that rejects the collective guilt
of the Jewish people for the crucifixion of Jesus . . . The question
posed is: Will he use his influence at the Ecumenical Council next
month with the conservative bishops there who oppose deicide clarifi-
tion, or will he permit a situation which will give the conservative
wing of the Ecumenical Council the opportunity to filibuster the
proposed Jewish decree? . . . As I already indicated several weeks
ago, all the American cardinals and bishops—with the exception of one
in Los Angeles—are for complete exoneration by the Ecumenical
Council of Jewish people from the charge that they are collectively
responsible for the death of Jesus . . . Even without waiting for a
declaration by the Ecumenical Council, the Catholic Church in the
United States carried out at St. Louis University a three-year study
of Catholic religious textbooks with a view of eliminating from them
negative or biased references to Jews . . . The study, completed this
summer, offered recommendations for avoiding distortions and bias
in teaching about Jews . . The findings of the St. Louis University
study have received, for the most part, an open-hearted and self-
critical response from the American Catholic community . . The
superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of New York
and the Diocese of Brooklyn issued a statement assuring "Jewish
friends in the community" that there is no bias against Jewish people
in the textbooks used in the Catholic schools of New York City, which
are being attended by more than 400,000 children.
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Non-Jew's View on Jewish Creativity
By REV. JAMES PARKES
The story of the Jews embodies
the longest period of continuous
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thousand years the Jews have
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in the Jewish people there was
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outside; and the cultures and re-
ligions of the world were always
pressing in on them .. . The place
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"It would be better to have no
laws at all than it is to have so
many as we have." —Montaigne
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
•10 Friday, August 21, 1964
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