Weekly Quiz
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright, 1964, Jewish Telegraph
Agency, Inc.)
When did the first Jewish
schools come into existence?
While education was indeed of
primary importance to the people
of Israel, it is difficult to deter-
mine the exact date of the appear-
ance of the first schools. From the
Bible it seems that the education
of the child was the responsibility
of the parents. ("And thou shalt
teach them diligently unto thy
children," etc. During the wander-
ings in the wilderness, some mode
of instruction from the Almighty
himself, and later passed it on to
the elders, etc. There seems to be
some archaeological evidence that
there was some kind of instruction
in the land of Canaan, even before
the Israelites arrived there. Of the
Egyptians, Diodorus writes "As to
the general mass of the Egyptians,
they are inst?ucted from their
childhood by their fathers. It
seems that among other early
peoples, even if there were schools
they were only for the privileged
few. What stands out among the
Jewish people is the ordinance
made by Shimon ben Shetach of
the first century before the Com-
mon Era, who made it compulsory
for the community to have a
school. Presumably attendance at
these schools was required. This
may very well be the beginning of
the public school for Jewish chil-
dren. Interesting is the fact that
it was not only religion that was
taught, even though Ezra's assem-
bly had made the people recognize
the "Book of the Law of Moses"
to be the norm of their lives. They
were also taught arithmetic and
geometry especially because these
sciences were important for know-
lerge of calendar dates and agri-
cultural laws.
* •
Why do Jews look for "Miz-
rach" before beginning their
prayers?
-
"Mizrach" is the name for the
"east." Jews in this hemisphere
offer their prayers facing the east
because that is the direction in
which one would look from here
if he wanted to face the city of
Jerusalem and the Temple. Facing
east during prayer is one of the
means ordained by the rabbis with
which to unify the prayers of Jews
everywhere. By having all Jews
face one central point when pra-
ing, our prayers become com-
munity prayers and thus have more
merit and grace before the Al-
mighty. Furthermore, this practice
of facing the Temple of Jerusalem
has been important in keeping our
faith in the rebuilding of the
Temple and the restoration of Zion
throughout the centuries of Dias-
pora.
Nursery Begins Monday
14 Congregations Honored With Israel Bond Awards
NEW YORK, (JTA)—A gift of
$1,000,000 has been made by Henry
Kalman, a prominent businessman
and Jewish leader, to the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine of
Yeshiva University, for the estab-
lishment of an institute for cancer
research.
At the Israel Bond "Toda Raba" Concert where
14 congregations were presented with awards for
their leadership in the Israel Bond High Holy Day
Appeal and other synagogue centered activities, in-
cluding dinners and leadership receptions, are from
left: Dr. Harry Newman, president., Beth Abraham;
Joseph Sulkes, first vice president, Beth Aaron;
Hyman H. Karp, president, Beth Joseph; Harry
Blitz, president, Young Israel of Northwest Detroit;
Dr. Manuel Feldman, president, Beth Moses; Rev.
Wolf Gold, vice president, Young Israel-Greenfield;
Nathan Sharon, president, Bnai Moshe; Isadore
Starr, president, Mishkan Israel-N u s a c h Hari-
Lubavitcher Center; David Silver and William
Hordes, representing Ahavas Achim; Norman Allan,
president, Adas Shalom; Sol Lessman, president,
Young Israel of Oak-Woods; Benoit Gorge, presi-
INCLUDING EL AL JET ROUND-TRIP
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dent, Gemiluth Chassodim; Judge Nathan J. Kauf-
man, co-chairman, Israel Bond Congregational and
High Holy Day Council; Jack J. Kraizman, first vice
president, Bnai David; and Harry Cohen, past presi-
dent, Shaarey Zedek. Rabbi Jacob E. Segal wel-
comed the audience on behalf of Adas Shalom,
which led the nation in the 1964 High Holy Day
Appeal. More than 300 attended the concert held
in the Adas Shalom Social Hall. Mrs. Morris L.
Schaver, chairman of the Israel Bond Women's
Division. thanked the- volunteers who worked on
High Holy Day collections, and introduced Sidor
Belarsky, world-famed singer, the guest star. Mrs. J.
Stewart Linden, chairman of the Israel Bond fashion
festival, led in the singing of the national anthems.
Mrs. Rebecca Frohman was Belarsky's piano accom-
panist.
Weber's 'Sociology of Religion' Lacking Basic Commentaries
"The Sociology of Religion" by
Prof. Max Weber, issued as a pa-
perback by Beacon Press, is an old
book, the author having died in
1920 in Munich. Yet it retains a
measure of interest in theological
circles.
Reissued in a translation from
the German by Ephraim Fischoff,
the paperback has an introduction
by Talcott Parsons who considers
the Weber viewpoint "the most
crucial contribution of our cen-
tury to the comparitive and evolu-
tionary understanding of the rela-
tions between religion and society,
and even of society and culture
generally."
Weber's references to the Jewish
legalistic views on the socio-eco-
nomic order does not meet fully
with established views based on
scholarly studies through the ages.
He states that "the relationship of
the Jewish religion to both wealth
and sexual indulgence is not in the
least ascetic, but highly naturalis-
tic," that: "Nor did Judaism forbid
the uninhibited enjoyment of life
or even of luxury as such, provided
that the positive prohibitions and
taboos of the law were observed."
Further on Weber wrote: "By
contrast, the Jewish law applying
to strangers, which in practice was
the pariah law of the Jews, enabled
them, notwithstanding innumerable
reservations, to engage in dealings
with non-Jews which the Puritans
rejected violently as showing the
cupidity of the trader."
What the Weber attitude over-
looked was the set of commen-
taries that avoid injustices. With-
out commentary Jewish law is
not properly evaluated.
The next session of Beth Abra-
ham nursery will begin Monday
for children age 3 1 2 to 5. For in-
formation, call the offices, UN
It is especially interesting to
1-6696.
note the following in Weber's work
of nearly half a century ago:
il
Einstein Medical College
Gets $1,000,000 Gift
"The Puritans, like Paul, reject-
ed the Talmudic law and even the
characteristic ritual laws of the Old
Testament, while taking over and
considering as binding—for all
their elasticity—various other ex-
pressions of God's will witnessed
in the Old Testament. As the Pur-
itans took these over, they always
conjoined norms derived from the
New Testament, even in matters
of detail. The Jews who were ac-
tually welcomed by Puritan na-
tions, especially the Americans,
were not pious orthodox Jews but
rather Reformed Jews who had
abandoned orthodoxy. Jews such as
those of the present time who have
been trained in the Educational
Alliance, and finally baptized Jews.
These groups of Jews were at first
welcomed without any ado whatso-
ever and are even now welcomed
fairly readily, so that they have
been absorbed to the point of the
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October 30, 1964-11
absolute loss of any trace of dif-
ference. This situation in Puritan
countries contrasts with the situa-
tion in Germany, where the Jews
remain—even after long genera-
tions—`assimilated Jews.' These
phenomena clearly manifest the
actual kinship of Puritanism to
Judaism. Yet precisely the non-
Jewish element of Puritanism en-
abled Puritanism to play its spe-
cial role in the creation of the
modern economic temper, and also
to carry through the aforemention-
ed absorption of Jewish proselytes,
which was not accomplished by na-
tions with other than Puritan or-
ientations."
It is clear from this that Prof.
Weber viewed a major issue on
the surface, that he did not fully
understand the Jewish positions
either in America or in Germany.
One wonders what he would have
written had he lived in Nazi Ger-
many—how he would have changed
at least the above quoted reference
to the "assimilated."
The new institute, which will be
named for Kalman, will occupy a
floor in a new health research cen-
ter now being completed on the
campus. Kalman who is a founder
and member of the board of over-
seers of the Einstein College, is
also a member of the board of
trustees of the Jewish Child Care
Association and the Jewish Memo-
rial Hospital.
This Week's
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EXPERT ALTERATIONS
AND DRESSMAKING
"He who gives food to a small
child, must tell its mother."—The
Talmud (Sabbath, 10b).
RADOM
TAILORS
P'EYLIM
22141 Coolidge
So. of 9 Mile
for strengthening
of Torah
Group of
CLOTHIERS
& CLEANERS
OPEN:
Mon., Tues., Wed. 8 fo 7
Thurs., Fri., Sat. 8 to 9
ECEPTION
Honoring Volunteers and
Friends of Histadrut
Hon. Yeheskel Bamea
Morris L. Schaver Auditorium
'19161 Schaefer Hwy.
Special Guest:
Israel Consul for Information
Services & Press. Chicago, III.
Associate National Director
National Committee for Labor Israel.
Cantor Simon Bermanis
Congregation Ahavas Achim