THE JEWISH NEWS Danger of Cut in the Middle 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 HYAMS City Editor • Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath. the twenty-first day of Tevet, 5725, the following scriptural selec- tions will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion: Exod. 1:1-6:1: Prophetical portion: Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23. • • • . • . -;•• Licht benshen, Friday, December 25, 4:48 p.m. VOL. XLVI, No. 18 Page 4 • " '• December 25, 1964 ve. - • . • • A Testimonial That Paid Off Well National organizations have resorted to the habit of glorifying persons who have been chosen for honors—as gimmicks that have become a poptilar way of capitalizing on behalf of worthy causes. The testimonial scheme is not always un- dignified. Very often it marks deserved hon- ors for a dedicated citizen. Since it always benefits a good cause it is not to be ridiculed. The New York Israel Bonds Committee recently resorted to a deviation: instead of honoring a rich man, it selected a distin- guished scholar, the chairman of the Bible department of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and the man who headed the committee of translators for the Torah, published by the Jewish Pub- lication Society of America—Dr. Harry M. Orlinsky. His selection was in itself a unique de- velopment in Jewish communal functions. The committee for the testimonial dinner in his honor was composed of scholars. It was inconceivable that such an event, for a mere professor, might enlist the rich and could possibly result in large bond purchases. Nevertheless, it was a notable event, and the remarkable result was not only the purchase of a substantial amount of bonds by the non- affluent members of the teaching profession but the fact that it naid off in the form of a most challenging address by the guest of honor. It isn't often that the text of a speech at a public function possesses the merit of being reprinted and distributed widely. Prof. Or- linsky's speech possesses that quality. It must be remembered that he was speaking at an af- fair that was utilized for the sale of Israel Bonds. It was akin to a fund-raising func- tion. But Dr. Orlinsky rose above the inani- ties that often mark the appeals for generos- ity. He utilized the occasion to anneal for the striving towards creating a Jewishly educated and oriented leadership. It was a remarkable address because it so well outlined the status of American .Jewry as a group that seeks to ransom itself by means of philanthropy. At the same time he proposed a solution to our shortcomings. We reproduce a major portion of what Prof. Orlinsky said at the testimonial dinner: e I do not know of a more significant combina- tion of factors in -the present state of Jewish affairs than the American Jewish community and the State of Israel; and the character of the American Jewish community and its attitude toward Israel will be determined increasingly— so far as it is in our own power as Jews to do so—by the Jewishness of the education of our community. For it is precisely the quality and quantity of the Jewishness of our American Jewish community that is—and that should be— worrying us today. The manner and rapidity with which the character and problems of American Jewry have changed within the past 40 years caught us all by surprise, and unprepared. After World War I and well into the Twenties, when the several millions of Jews that had come from Eastern Europe to this country and had begotten the first generation of American-Jewish brood, many, very many In our midst, saw before their very eyes, and so predicted, the beginning of the end of the Jewish community of America; they beheld the better part—"better" both in quantity and in quality—of this first generation clearly disap- pearing from within the framework of Jewish organization, and activity, and loyalty, and educa- tion, to a completely non-Jewish milieu. The attractions held out by the gentile, secular aspects •of American culture in all its phases proved much too strong—and why shouldn't it have?— for the tens and even hundreds of thousands of young, inquisitive, and talented Jewish men and women who were but one generation removed from the restrictions and inhibitions of the towns and even of the larger urban centers of Eastern Europe. This is the generation that was lost to us in every phase of Jewish activity: cultural, relig- ious, educational and political. This is the lost generation of the Twenties and Thirties. And so, it was agreed on all sides, the prognosis of Jewish continuity, of hemshech, in this country was very poor indeed. But then came the Forties and the Fifties. The entire world of . Jewry, American included, experienced such complete change as no people had ever known before in the vast expanse of human history. An entire center of Jewish society, the most cultured and learned and consciously Jewish center of the world, the European center, more than six million souls in quantity and un- measurable in quality, was wiped out, as though it had never been. In the wake of this unprece- dented catastrophe, another phenomenon, perhaps even more remarkable in the annals of history, flashed across the horizon of the globe, the emergence of the State of Israel after 1900 years of Jewish statelessness. The Jewish population of America, as of every part of the world, dejected by the holocaust of its immediate ancestor in Eastern and Central Europe, and guilt-ridden by its failure and inability to intervene in behalf of its parents and—addition- ally—depressed and bewildered and frightened by the increasing withering away of the Jewishness of the upcoming generation of Jewish youth, took hold of the State of Israel as the lifebelt of its salvation. It is now just over a decade since we have been supporting Israel—that is, since we have been doing what is worthwhile for us, what is good for us and giving us deep satisfaction—by way of investing in Israel through Israel Bonds, and by way of the United Jewish Appeal, and by way of visiting Israel, and by way of purchasing Israeli products; and the like . . . But for the many millions of Jews, the over- whelming majority of this country's Jewish citi- zenry, who reside here permanently, all this is not enough. A society does not grow in quality, in self-respect, merely by the act of contributing monies to causes dear to its heart; and American Jewish society is no exception. At one and the same time that we increase our financial invest- ment in and generate more intense affection for the State of Israel — we find ourselves beset by the fearful fact that we are not producing our suc- cessors, lay leaders and followers, Jewishly edu- cated: indeed, we are worried deeply about the future of the institutions and organizations we have labored so hard to create. For we have been rapidly becoming a philan- thropic instead of—and rather than together with —a Jewishly knowledgeable people. We have been finding it easy to forego learning by ransoming ourselves through philanthropy and investment in relation to Israel; we have been redeeming our Jewish ignorance through Israel Bonds and UJA and the like. And that, it would appear to me, is bad for Israel and bad for us here. For Israel can benefit from the American Jewish community, even more economically than hitherto and cul- TeacherTraining Implementation Urged in Volume on Counseling "Guidance and Counseling for Jewish Education" by Dr. Sheldon S. Brown, published by Bloch, critically reviews various problems faced by our educators. A number of years of study of child behavior, observed by the author, who presently is principal of Temple Beth El religious school in Lynn, Mass., resulted in this compilation of advice in the teaching of elementary school children who attend afternoon Jewish schools. The author, who received his doctorate in Dropsie College, dis- cusses here the problems that arise in enrolling children in schools after Bar Mitzvah, the manner of improving the school systems and devotes himself especially to a discussion of teacher training, the shortage of pedagogues and their recruitment. Approaching the problems through the presentation of case histories, Dr. Brown urges that encouragement to youngsters to enter the teaching profession should begin at the earliest possible time. Reviewing the backgrounds of some of the pupils under study, he suggests counseling for Bar Mitzvah. In his discussion of the in- fluence of the home on continuation of studies he declares: "Almost two-thirds of the homes reflected positive attitudes to- ward the children's religious education. In reference to those homes in which negative or indifferent attitudes seemed to prevail, the chil- dren of those homes also reflected similar attitudes at the end of the experiment. There appeared to be a positive relationship between negative attitudes found in their homes." He continues to indicate that: "A cause for the Bar Mitzvah problem all over the nation is the mistaken notion held by the 'lost generation of parents' who have deluded themselves into thinking that the Bar Mitzvah which lasts an hour or more is worth training for over a period of five years, more or less, so that relatives from far and near can Kleib Nachas. The parents of our school children are not alone responsible for creating this problem, for it is a product of the American Jewish milieu." Dr. Brown states that the effort of the American Association for Jewish Education "to help establish extension programs of Jewish teacher colleges is to be commended," but he adds that "more exten- sive availability of such. courses throughout the United States is a necessity and requires implementation immediately." turally to boot, only as its American Jewish counterpart develops a more comprehensive un- derstanding and appreciation of its long and varied past, along with the cultural creativity of con- temporary Israel. Thus, and only thus, will American Jewry assure, not alone its existence The works of the world's most distinguished theologians and but its existence as a worthwhile, creative Jewish center, in direct line with the other great Jewish philosophers are under review in an ably compiled work pubhshed by centers of the past; the Biblical, the Babylonian, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (383 Madison, NY17) under the title the Spanish, the Eastern European, and the "Philosophical Interrogations." Sydney and Beatrice Rome edited this Central European. We must work full speed ahead work and wrote the illuminating introduction in which they explain to accomplish in the next few decades what the the nature of their work. They point out that the seven authors and great Jewish communities that preceded us the majority of the querists who are participants in the discussions achieved only after two and three and four "are concerned far more with substantive than with methodological centuries. This is no light task; but neither is it results," that "they have withstood every assault by positivists and a task to be treated lightly. It is, indeed, the behaviorists to deny them the right to enter the universe of meaning," most urgent task confronting us today, the educa- that "they are innovators and moderns who speak for and to Mir tion of our young as knowledgeable Jews, ready times." Martin Buber, John Wild, Jean Wahl, Brand Blanshard, Paul to assume leadership in our community 30 and Weiss, Charles Hartshorne and Paul Tillich are the theologians and 20 years hence. 7 Philosophers, Theologians Participate in Interrogations This speech would be spoiled by further comment. It incorporates a challenge to all who recognize the need for knowledgeability in our ranks, and primarily in Jewish leader- ship. After reading Prof. Orlinsky's speech, testimonials may be ridiculed a bit less. Per- haps the limelight will be shifted from the bankers to the teachers: because here was one teacher who courageously analyzed American Jewry's shortcomings with great dignity. We are deeply indebted to Dr. Orlin- sky for the great service he has thus rendered to American and world Jewries. philosophers who are queried in the discussions in this book conducted by more than 100 interrogators. The interrogation of Martin Buber was conducted by the leading authority on Buber's works, Prof. Maurice S. Friedman of Sarah Lawrence College. Participants in the discussion on "The Philosophy of Dialogue" included Prof. Walter Kaufmann of Princeton, F. H. Heineman, Emmanuel Levinas, Walter Blumenfeld, Perry LeFevre, Friedrich Thieberger, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessey, Malcolm L. Diamond, Maurice Nedoncelle, David Baumgardt, William Ernest Hocking, Kurt H. Wolff, Arthur A. Cohen, and a number of others. Especially valuable in this discussion, in addition to the views expressed on social philosophy and religion, was the analysis of educational standards. A conclusion emphasized by Dr. Buber was that there are far too few good teachers. The project fulfilled in this volume is one of the most impressive in the philosophic-theologic areas..