Unwed Mothers--Growing Community Problem as Family Ties Loosen in 'Integrated Society' nothing of the older generation. It's not only in the United States; you'll find it in Israel, too." (The London Jewish community worried parents seeking "friendly has made no secret of its concern. by CHARLOTTE HYAMS "Thank goodness, OUR girls advice." He counsels one to two In 1963, the number of unmarried aren't like that!" such cases a week. mothers assisted by the Norwood This once was the almost- As Judge Kaufman notes, the Joint Committee for the Welfare exclusive claim of an almost- increase in Jewish illegitimate of Jewish Children reached an all- exclusive community. Jewish girls births has come largely from the time high: 109 new cases. Last middle and upper classes—one year, stated Harold Altman, chief were rarely "bad girls," and illegitimate births were virtually reason why few Jewish unwed officer of the committee, "the unknown. mothers come to the Jewish number was a little lower. But our But the community is no longer Family and Children's Service. welfare officers believe that more exclusive; it has become "in- Their parents are more likely girls are having abortions and not to send them to a private doctor, tegrated." And as American that morality is stronger.") morals have admittedly loosened, out of town—or out of the Lerner suggests a greater country—to have the baby. so have those of a new generation "sophistication" exists among Jew- Some can afford an abortion. ish girls today than their mothers of American Jews. Actual figures on illegitimacy Others may "hasten" their mar- ever knew. As parents have grad- among Jewish girls are non- riage plans. ually sacrificed their influence, the * youthful peer group has taken existent. It is still a well-kept secret which the Michigan Depart- Few have witnessed the trend over. There is more drinking, ment of Health can shed no light at as close a range as Mrs. Robert more cars, more unchaperoned on; birth certificates in this state Drews, adviser to unwed mothers parties. What is "socially. aware" carry no reference to religion. at Crittenton Home. becomes not the feeling of re- The number of Jewish infants The average patient is at the sponsibility toward family and born out of wedlock is admit- maternity home four months. On "keeping a good name." or even tedly small, compared to the her weekly visits, Mrs. Drews sees toward society, but what is popu- rate among the general popula- at least one Jewish girl; often lar with the crowd. Yet, to blame college and teen- tion. But it is growing—and there are more. alarmingly so—despite the fact "I've • been going there for six age rebellion for the upward that the Jewish population has years but I've never seen so many trend in illegitimacy is placing of our girls as in the past few blame where it does not entirely remained relatively stable. America's largest Jewish com- years." There is little mention of belong. munities are expanding services to religion at Crittenton, Mrs. Drews The theories are legion. Reuben Pannor, district direc- unmarried mothers, and in one said. However, "Some come to me for of the Los Angeles Vista Del year more than 425 - children were when they find out I'm Jewish." In 1964, there were four Jewish Mar Child-Care Service, said the placed in adoptive. homes in the girls who had Negro babies. "They young unmarried parents corn- larger of these coinmunities. Samuel Lerner, director of De- were lovely, intelligent girls—col- ing to his agency "almost seem troit's Jewish Family and - Chil- lege girls." The fathers 'were .to turn to sex for lack of other dren's Service, points out a de- equally bright, Negro young men occupation. We don't see many cided increase in adoptions of il- who didn't want "interracial mar- youngsters from homes where legitimate Jewish children over the riages." The, children were adopted parents are bringing in stimulat- by Negro couples. ing ideas and activities. And we past four years. The number handled through his Judge Kaufman calls the college don't see many teen-agers from agency is minimal (nine in 1963), years the "hump"—the period of • homes where religious beliefs but, once again, figures can lie. rebellion, "when they want to be are strong and religious training Lerner knows well that most un- super-duper liberals. The majority is important." A growing number of distress married expectant mothers take of girls I see are involved with their problems outside the Jewish non-Jews. Yet, after college, they calls have come to Judge Kaufman community where they feel there seem to return to the community." from rabbis faced with the same * • problem in "good homes." is less chance of discovery. * * The rising illegitimate birth These youngsters may be affil- rates in this country are only a iated with a synagogue, the judge Circuit Court Judge Nathan reflection of a "general rebellion said, yet what they lack is moral Kaufman is no longer with the throughout the world," accord- training in the home. "Orthodox juvenile court, nor is he under Oakland County jurisdiction. But ing to Mrs. Drews. "It's an children rebel, too; they may even epidemic of revolution among leave home—but not morally." more and more teen-agers in that One Mumford teen-ager con- area are being brought to him by the younger generation to accept Agencies See the Number Mounting • Despite Relatively Stable Population `Jeremiah' Translation Issued in Doubleday Anchor Bible Series; Prof. John Bright's Translation Compared With •IPS !Version A third in the series of 38 scheduled Anchor Bible volumes has just been issued by Double- day. It is "Jeremiah" and its trans- lator and commentator is Dr. John Bright. The first two volumes in the series, "Genesis" and "The Epis- tles of James, Peter and Jude," already have been reviewed in the columns. In his preface to "Jeremiah," Dr. Bright states at the outset that it is not intended as a commen- tary but as "a fresh translation in such a way that it can be read with understanding and apprecia- tion — even, it is hoped, by those who may have had no prior ac- quaintanceship with it, or with the Bible generally." The newest Anchor Bible, its translator adds, "is focused throughout upon Jeremiah's own words. It has . . . the single aim of allowing the prophet to speak (if that is not too patron- izing a way of putting it) over the gap of years and the bar- rier of language with as much charity as possible. The pro- phetic word is an ancient word but one, I am persuaded, that retains its relevance." In a 130-page introduction, Dr. Bright deals with several aspects in the life and the works of Jere- miah. He has preliminary words about Israel's prophets who to this day still "nurtan.- e the faith of those thousands who hear in them, no less than did ancient Israel, the word of their God." He reviews the background of Jeremiah's career in relation to the last days of the Kingdom of J u d a h; analyzes the structure, composition and major critical problems in the Book of Jere- miah; describes Jeremiah's life and message and has comments on the book's text and its transla- tion. It is interesting to note that his translation aims "to imitate the structure and rhythm of the original . . . as far as possible to produce lines of approxi- mately the same length as those of the original, and with the same number of accented sylla- bles." Although this work, by the au- thor's assertion and the publish- ers' intention, is not a commen- tary as such, each chapter is followed by an appropriate com- ment to explain the text. The extensive notes add greatly to the merits of this Anchor Bible. For an understanding of the comments, it is well to turn to one of them. After Chapter II, for example, described as "The Indictment of the Nation's Sin," Dr. Bright has this explanatory note: "This chapter provides us with what is perhaps the classic exam- ple of Jeremiah's attack upon the sins of his people. Moreover, since the bulk of its material apparently stems from the earliest period of the prophet's ministry, it affords us a splendid impression of his preaching prior to the completion of Josiah's reform (in 622). There is a striking unity of theme. The entire chapter is dominated by the charge of flagrant and inex- cusable apostasy, delivered with stinging eloquence and with the use of a series of vivid and rap- idly changing figures, while through the whole of it there runs a note of solemn warning . . . as Yahweh .states his c omplaint against his people." A comparison. in translations will add to an understanding of the new approach. Taking as an example a portion of Chapter XXXI, here is the Jewish Publi- cation Society's translation of verses 7-9: For thus saith the Lord Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout at the head of the nations; Announce ye, praise ye, and say: `0 Lord, save Thy people, The remnant of Israel.' Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the utter- most parts of the earth, And with them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; A great company shall they re- turn hither. They shall come with weeping, THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 40—Friday, February 26, 1965 demned parents for a "general lack been a corresponding increase in of standards and moral laxity. As family counseling at the agency. they become more and more afflu- "The girl may be rejected at first, ent, they try to attain the social but her' family usually comes status of the Christian world. We around," Lerner said. There are exceptions: he is legal often see much drinking in the home, social climbing and general guardian to a teen-ager whose worship of money among our eld- parents turned her out. Sometimes, the JFCS is ap- ers." He said he knew of two Jewish proached before it is too late. The girls at the school who became adolescent girl with emotional pregnant, "but most teen-agers problems may be placed in the agency's Sheruth House, where shr;,----7 have more sense." 'David Goldberg, supervisor of will be, in a sense,. nursed bas h the child placement department to mental health. But, when it is "too late," the of the Jewish Family and Chil- dren's Service, said the cases re- unwed mother-to-be will be pro- ferred to the agency are indicative vided for by the Jewish communal of a new awareness among Jewish agency. She can choose her own families: illegitimate pregnancy obstetrician; she can be placed in may be only a part of a total fain- a boarding house or maternity home. Where necessary, she is ily problem. "In practically every case we sent to a home out of the state. During the entire confinement handle, there is family disturb- period, she continues to see the ance," he explained. "Now, this agency case worker. And, if he could mean an increase in family accepts the responsibility that disturbances, or an increase in is his, the father of the illegit- awareness that it exists." imate child will similarly receive The Jewish Family and Chil- counseling. dren's Service is an agency of ("One of the saddest things the Jewish Welfare Federation about my work," said Mrs. Drews, and a recipient of Torch Drive "is seeing these girls endure their funds as well. Its professional shame while their boy friends go services are wide, and gladly off scot free. It's time the fathers given to any Jewish family seek- ing them. Expenses for girls realized it's their responsibility who cannot pay will be assumed too.") Although the Jewish Family and out of a special fund established by the late Mrs. Theodore Barg- Children's Service encourages adoption through its channels, man. From the monient the unwed "We don't jump into discussion of expectant mother discovers she adoption," Lerner said. "We first needs aid, JFCS is available. try to make the unwed mother "We're not moralists," Lerner in- understand her own emotional sists. "It's a recognized social problems." With an agency adoption, he problem, and we're here to help." If the family situation is too added, "the child is given up in a much for her to cope with, the dignified way." The JFCS goes into agency will see that the girl is court to provide legal protection Placed in a foster home and, as for the infant and adoptive par- Goldberg put it, "We become her ents, and the child is never told family—father, mother and kindly who or where its real parents are. And the girl—left with neither uncle." husband nor child? Chances are As a greater number of families she's learned her bitter lesson. comes to understand the unwed "She goes back to school," Lerner mother as a symptom of other ill- said. "They rarely come back to nesses in the home, there has us." And with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by rivers of water, In a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; For I am become a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My first born. Dr. Bright gives Chapter XXXI the title "The Glad Restoration of Northern Israel." The three stanzas chosen for compariscin he labels "Israel's Homecoming" and he presents them in the following words: Yes, this is what Yahweh has said: "Sing with joy for Jacob! Shout for the first of the na- tions! Sound forth! Give praise, and say, `Yahweh has rescued his people, The remnant of Israel, Ah watch! I am going ,to bring them from the northern land, From the farthest horizons will gather them, The blind and the lame among them Those pregnant, in labor, as well; They'll return a mighty throng. Ah see! With weeping they'll come, But with solace I'll lead them. By flowing brooks I'll guide them, On a path too smooth for stum- bling; For I'm Israel's father, and Ephraim — my first - born is he." While a single comparison is hardly a criterion for judgement, these examples offer the Bible student a fairly good idea of the difference in approach by the Jew- ish translators and the Doubleday- Anchor Bible scholar. Dr. Bright's is a work of vast scholarship. It is the approach to Jeremiah by a most distinguished Christian student of the Bible. Dr. Bright, placing Jeremiah in his historical setting in the years 62'7-580, views the prophet as a "man of driving eloquence possessed of unusual at tistic gifts." The "jeremiads" — lam- entations — which still influ- ence the generations, are de- picted as stemming from the literary style and the exhorta- tions of the great prophet. John Bright was born in Chatta- nooga, Tenn. in 1908. He teaches at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia where he is Cyrus McCormick Professor of and the Interpretation of the Testament. He received his education from Presbyterian College, Clinton, S.C., (B.A. 1928), Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (B.D. 1931, Th.M. 1933), and Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D. 1940). He was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in 1935, and holds an honorary doctor of di- vinity degree from Presbyterian College. During the war he served as chaplain, U..S. Army, 1943-1946, in the European theater. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exege- . sis, the American Oriental So- ciety, and Hanover Presbytery; is the author of "A History of Israel,' "Early Israel in Recent History Writing," and "The Kingdom of God," and is a contributor to the "Interpreter's Bible," "In t erpre- ter's Dictionary of the Bible," and "P e a k e's Commentary on the Bible," and Anchor Bible.