Scheinfeld's 'Your Heredity and Environment'
Views Jews as 'Aryans,' Recommends 'Kith'
Descriptions, Explains People's Distinctiveness

In more than 800 pages of text,
with 100 illustrations, a number of
color pages and line drawings
by Amram Scheinfeld, his "Your
Heredity and Environment," pub-
lished by Lippincott, serves as a
guide for self-analysis, for an un-
derstanding of the children and as
an explanation of how heredity
operates in relation to environ-
ment.
Many are the factors in heredity
covered in this volume, and the
author deals with such matters as
heredity's role in illnesses, its in-
fluence on drug addiction and al-
coholism, determination of a baby's
sex, etc.
Scheinfeld states that "scien-
tists strongly believe that human
beings will presently have the

the mental diseases are revealed
to be due not to mysterious and
unearthly causes but to defects in
construction or malfunctions of
chemical processes, the closer we
will come to making the hopes for
combating them a reality."
Devoting considerable space to a
discussion of the role of Jews and
the "racial" issue, Scheinfeld em-
phasized that Jews do not consti-
tute a "race" and he declares:
"No more than there is an
`Aryan race' is there a 'Semitic' or
`non-Aryan' race, for Semitic also
refers to a large family of lan-
guages, among them the Aramaic,
Arabic and Hebrew. However, to
classify the Jewish people—the
chief Nazi victims—as non-Aryan
on the basis of their language is
to compound the fallacy. For the
great majority of the Jews in the
world (except the Israelis) use
Hebrew only in their religious serv-
ices, as Roman Catholics use Latin.
in northern Italy. Here, in the The characteristic spoken and writ-
bloodiest encounter yet known, ten alternative language of most
France defeated the army of the European Jews, and of those who
Austrian Emperor, Francis Joseph. emigrated to other countries, was
Shocked by the customary brutal long Yiddish, compounded largely
neglect of the wounded, Dunant with an Old German base but much
published an inspired pamphlet, modified everywhere with words
"Souvenir de Solferino," suggesting of the countries in which they re-
the training in peacetime of volun- sided. Altogether, if judged only
teer aid groups and the signing of by their language, most Jews would
an international agreement to have to be properly included
among the Aryans."
guarantee them protection.
The "Souvenir" created a sen-
The best way to describe the
sation and Dunant, with his dedi-
Jews, Scheinfeld states, is as a
cated enthusiasm and almost
"kith"—a technical term ap-
hypnotic powers of persuasive-
plied to human family groups
ness, was able to enlist the ac-
with a more or less common an-
tive support and cooperation of
cestry for a long period, "and
Napoleon, the beautiful Empress
therefore some biological unity,
Eugenie, and the Prussian and
but distinguished mostly by the
other royal families. In 1864
effects of common cultural con-
their diplomatic representatives
ditioning — religion, traditions,
drew up the Geneva Convention
training, habits (including diet)
guaranteeing neutral status and
and social experiences (to which,
protection to the international
in the case of the Jews, might
Red Cross movement he had al-
be added psychological reactions
ready begun.
to oppression and discrimina-
tion)."
The seeds he had sown contin-
ued to grow and his writings and
Many factors, the author indi-
influence behind the scenes of the cates, "must have combined to pro-
Hague Conference were potent. duce any distinctiveness which
But poverty, ill health; and the Jews may have as a group. From
jealousy of former colleagues con- the surface evidence, their achieve-
tinued to haunt his steps, forcing ments in Biblical times and in later
him finally to seclude himself in history, extending to the present
the small Swiss village of Heiden. with their remarkably high repre-
By this time the Red Cross was sentation in the sciences, arts, pro-
known and honored all over the fessions and other areas, would
world, but most people, if they suggest some unusual hereditary
thought of the founder at all, be- endowment; but it would appear
lieved that he was dead.
much more likely that environ-
Then fate struck again. Dunant mental influences, working through
was discovered in the county hos- their culture and conditioning,
pital of Heiden by a Zurich jour- have been the major spurs to their
nalist, whose well-publicized report accomplishments as a people .. ."
of the meager circumstances in
Many features, including a glos-
which the great benefactor of hu- sary and an impressive bibliogra-
manity lived stirred up a great phy, add to the merits of this in-
outpouring of long-delayed honors structive and thought - provoking
and a w a r d s from all over the book.
world.
A biography, "Dunant—The
Story of the Red Cross," by Mar-
tin Gumpert, was published by Ox-
ford University Press in 1938.
The complete story of Dunant's
advocacy of a Jewish State in Pale-
stine was described by the editor,
in The Jewish News, Aug. 23, 1963.

means of controlling or greatly
influencing the sex-determina-
tion process. This might be a
godsend to parents who des-
perately want a child of the one
sex."
Dealing with the many types of
neurosis or mental disorders,
Scheinfeld writes that "any two
neurotic parents stand a good
chance of having neurotic children,
but to what extent this will be be-
cause of the home environment or
of inherited predisposition, remains
in the realm of conjecture."
He points to numerous success-
ful methods resorted to in the
treatment of mental illnesses and
neurosis—by means of various list-
ed drugs as well as shock treat-
mnets. He asserts that "the more

Red Cross Founder's Jewish Friends
Recalled in New Biography of Dunant

As a member of the public in-
formation staff of the American
Red Cross during World War II,
Violet Kelby Libby became deeply
interested in the life of Henry
Dunant, the founder of the Red
Cross. The result is her full-length
biography of the great peace advo-
cate, properly entitled "Henry
Dunant: Prophet of Peace," pub-
lished by Pageant Press (101 Fifth,
NY 3).
Mrs. Libby describes Dunant's
Jewish interests, his advocacy of
a Jewish State which made him a
pre-Herzlian Zionist, and the en-
couragement he received from Jews
and Jewish organizations in his
peace efforts and in the forma-
tion of the Red Cross.
In these efforts, Mrs. Libby
shows, Dunant had met and was
encouraged by Baron and Baron-
ess James de Rothschild, Sir
Moses Montefiore, Adolphe Cre-
mieux and others.
Dunant "got Rothschild to act
as banker for the French Red Cross
Society. In this company, he na-
turally learned a good deal about
Jewish problems and it was just
as natural that his warmhearted-
ness should include the concerns of
these friends. He gradually identi-
fied himself so closely with them
that in 1865 he became a member
of the Israelite Alliance."
Mrs. Libby does not deal at great
length with Dunant's early Zion-
ist sympathies, but she does indi-
cate that there were responses to
the Dunant program. She writes:
"From his Jewish friends he
had already received cheering
words. Mox Nordau, associated
with Dr. Herzl in the cause of
Zionism, predicted that one day
Dunant's efforts in behalf of a
restored Palestine would receive
'the recognition they deserve for
their astonishing vision and true
Christian generosity . . . Your
place in the history of civiliza-
tion,' he added, 'is so exalted
and so tinged with glory that
your service in the cause of
Zionism, prophetic as it is, may
indeed be lost sight of in the sum
of the other achievements of
your noble life.' "
Members of an old Geneva fam-
ily that had accepted the Evange-
lical Revival of the early 19th
Century, Henry Dunant at 18 start-
ed a religious youth group. Link-
ing this with the YMCA in Eng-
land, he went on to become the
moving spirit in the development
that in 1855 culminated in the
World Alliance of the YMCA.
As an employe of an investment
banking firm in capitalist centered
Geneva, Dunant was sent to man-
age a deevlopment enterprise in
the new French colony of Algeria.
It was while seeking Napoleon III's
patronage for his company that he
arrived at the battle of Solferino

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
16—Friday, September 3, 1965

Family Gives $1 Million to Assist Jewish Aged

PHILADELPHIA (JTA)—A Phil- financier, and Mrs. Weiss made
adelphia Jewish family has made a the gift to provide for the erection
contribution of $1,000,000 to the and maintenance of a 150-bed hos-
Federation of Jewish Agencies for pital, which will be located on the
a pioneering project to aid aged grounds of the Federation's pres-
persons who are mentally ill. ent hospital and home for the
Abram H. Weiss, a real estate aged.

BETH AARON

YOUTH HIGH HOLIDAY SERVICES

Ages 13-18

will be held in the Aaron DeRoy Auditorium
of the

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on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

Services will be conducted by Mr. Harry Goldstein,
Mr. Arky Berke! and Mr. Jay Masserman.

Tickets $4.00 — Available to Members and Non-Members
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SCHOOLS

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AT THE BIRNEY SCHOOL

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