THE JEWISH NEWS
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 thirteenth day of Tishre, 5726, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Deut. 32:1-52; Prophetical portion: II Samuel 22:1-51.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Oct. 8, 5:44 p.m.
Sukkot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: First Day of Sukkot, Monday, Levit. 22:26-23:44, Num.
29:12-16; Second Day of Sukkot, Tuesday, Levit. 22:26-23:44, Num. 29:12-16.
Prophetical portions: Monday, Zechariah 14:1-21; Tuesday, I Kings, 8:2-21.
October 8, 1965
Page 4
VOL. XLVIII. No. 7
National Newspaper Week: Community's Duties
NATIONAL
NEWSPAPER
WEEK
OCT. 10-16,
1965
tip
Current National Newspaper Week's ob-
servance, Oct. 10-16, is marked by a situation
so tense that this nation may well become
concerned over future trends involving our
news media.
Only about a decade ago, more than 500
American cities were competitive newspaper
communities. Today, fewer than 75 cities have
more than one daily newspaper.
We would be happy if the present status
could be retained. But there are dangers. A
strike in New York ensued because of rising
costs which impel publishers to introduce
automation, and unionized workmen are fight-
ing it to protect their jobs.
Eventually, automation is certain to
dominate our lives, and we shall have to ad-
just to it. There will be an adjustment, as
history has proven in many similar cases.
But the interim period will be a trying one.
There was a time when we worried main-
ly about freedom of the press. Today the
worry is vaster: it is economic in the ranks
of those who are fighting for freedom of ex-
pression but who must be reserved toward
those who seek their own way of running
their businesses.
In the process, we must not forget the
importance of retaining the role of freedom
of our newspapers. If we are to retain the
right to inform our communities about their
vital needs and to keep them alerted regard-
ing the issues that confront us, we must be
certain that the newspaper remains the vital
factor in the area of communications.
President. Johnson understood the spirit
of National Newspaper Week when he wrote:
"It is with both pride and pleasure that I par-
ticipate in this traditional tribute to our nation's
newspapers.
"Too often taken for granted, America's count-
less daily and weekly papers have been vital
guardians of her time-honored traditions and elo-
quent spokesmen for the cherished ideals of her
freedom-loving people. Taken together, our nation's
newspapers constitute the world's most responsible
and effective organ of current information.
"It is up to us to safeguard the freedom of
our papers to inquire, to criticize, to express
divergent views and to stand as sentinels for the
public wherever the public's business is being trans-
acted. Newspapers and their readers are partners
in freedom, and if we fail to defend the freedom
of our press, we neglect our own.
"I am confident that Americans everywhere
wholeheartedly join me during National Newspaper
Week in high recognition of the indispensible role
of our free press in the everyday life of our
beloved nation."
The current National Newspaper Week
has as its slogan: Newspapers Make a BIG
Difference in People's Lives." While contem-
plating over the sense of this declaration, let
us not forget that when newspapers first
began to be published in this country they
needed licensing. The first such newspaper,
licensed, in 1704, also was markedly censored.
Then came the battle of freedom—begun by
John Peter Zenger—in 1734—and the victory
he scored was a triumph for the American
ideals that emerged in the decades that fol-
lowed, being especially expressed in the right
won for expression in the First Amendment.
Now we face new problems—and the
economic struggle intensifies all of them.
And the emerging conditions challenge all
Americans to be aware of dangers that can
result from the lack of a suitable press.
We already know that many people be-
come accustomed to a newspaperless city and
commence to depend for their knowledge on
the airwaves. Loss in newspapers' circulations
after the damaging strike in 1963 proved it.
Such an eventuality must be averted if we
are to retain validity for the definition for
the newspaper that was given a century ago
by Henry Ward Beecher, who said:
"Newspapers are the schoolmasters of
the people. That endless book, the news-
paper, is our national glory."
This is especially applicable to the Jew-
ish newspaper. There were crises in Jewish
life involving the press, with the result that
the English language Jewish newspaper is,
today, the dominant factor in the field of com-
munications. It is the only exchange of views,
for dissemination of facts, for keeping our
communities aware of what is happening in
Jewish life everywhere. If proper distribution
of news is not to be tampered with, the
English-Jewish weekly must be strengthened
and protected. This should be the Jewish
community's resolve during National News-
paper Week.
Noteworthy Labor Zionist Celebrations
From the ranks of the labor Zionist move-
ment have come such significant contribu-
tions to Jewry that two major events to be
observed here during the coming weeks
deserve special attention.
This Saturday night, the Labor Zionist
Organization will celebrate its 60th anniver-
sary. It is an occasion that merits the warmest
greetings from the entire community. From
the time that this movement commenced,
with the formation of the Poale Zion, its
members have been in the forefront of con-
structive efforts in establishing the Jewish
National Home in Palestine, emerging 17
years ago as the State of Israel.
Labor Zionists did not limit themselves
to Zionist activities. They shared in all com-
munal functions and from their ranks came
important leaders in all Jewish movements.
Especially noteworthy have been the
educational efforts of the labor Zionists,
and their cultural projects were major
functions in their programs. Which ac-
counts for the second anniversary to be
marked in the labor Zionist ranks: the
completion of half a century of services by
the Hayim Greenberg Hebrew-Yiddish
Shule. The dinner planned for this anni-
versary for Nov. 14 will mark the com-
munity's tribute to a valuable service for
Detroit Jewry.
From the beginnings of what was the
Farband Shule, now bearing the name of the
late, great Jewish scholar and Zionist leader,
Hayim Greenberg, the Hebrew-Yiddish Shule
functions under dedicated direction. Its prin-
cipal, Movsas Goldoftas, is one of our most
respected linguists and scholars, and the
supervising board labors for the advancement
of Jewish learning, always cooperating in the
school's best interests with the community
school system.
We heartily greet the labor Zionists on
the 60th anniversary of their movement, and
their educational arm on the 50th anniversary
of their fine school.
Heroism of Israelis Revealed
in 'Such Were Our Fighters'
Much has been written about the heroism of the Israelis in their
War of Independence and the subsequent Sinai Campaign. But it is in
the writings of the soldiers themselves that one finds the actual evi-
dence of courage, of devotion to duty and to the state, of determination
to defend the rights of those who had gained their freedom as Jews
in a Jewish State.
Under the editorship of Reuben Avinoam, three volumes contain-
ing poems, essays and letters in various forms were published in
Hebrew, in 1952, 1958 and 1961, in Israel, under the title "G'vile Esh"
("Parchments of Fire").
These works have been made available in English by Herzl Press
in a 335-page book compiled by Avinoam, with an introduction by
Gertrude Hirschler, under the title "Such Were Our Fighters—Anthol-
ogy of Writings by S'oldiers Who Died for Israel."
Pointing to the small selection from the Hebrew original
included in the English edition, to the scores of letters and other
documents by the fighters who gave their lives and that are tucked
away in tightly-closed drawers of relatives, Avinoam states in his
preface that a unique phenomenon in Israel is "the prolific publica-
tion of books and pamphlets in memory of soldiers who fell in
battle."
Avinoam, a native of Chicago, who mastered Hebrew and conducted
his literary work in Tel Aviv, lost a son in the War of Independence
and at that time changed his name from the original Grossman to
Avinoam—"Father of Noam." He was appointed by David Ben-Gurion,
in 1949, as editor of the anthology on which the present book is based.
Miss Hirschler, in her intoductory essay, evaluates a number of
the writings points to the various military divisions that functioned
as Israel's army, and traces the history of the defense forces to the
Nahal, Hagana, other self-defense groups and to the encouragement
the Jews in pre-Israel Palestine received from the British army officer
and advocate of Zionism, Orde Charles Wingate. Describing the literary
and poetic as well as historic merits of the letters and other writings
in this book, Miss Hirschler states:
"Whatever their quality, the reader can gain from these literary
heirlooms not only a good portrayal of the times with which the
authors were so intimately linked, but also a clear picture of the
personalities and the feelings of the writers themselves and thus a
fair reflection of the generation to which they belonged. There are
eyewitness accounts of historic events, records of personal experi-
ences, and statements of attitudes toward a wide range of problems
and issues such as religion, the role of the Diaspora in Jewish his-
tory, the place of Diaspora Jewry and particularly the American
Jewish community in relation to Israel, the integration of immi-
grants, the society to be built up in the new Jewish State, the use
of force, and the meaning of such catch-all terms as 'citizenship' and
'patriotism.' More personal are the expressions of the feelings these
young people harbored for the beauty of their land, for their families
and friends. So is the record of their struggle to come to terms with
the eventuality of their own death. Of abiding interest, too, are the
musings on the meaning of human life as such."
In all, there are selections from the writings of 91 soldiers. There
are, for example, two poems by Amitai David Cohen-Lask (1935-1956).
His "At Noon" was translated by I. M. Lask. His "When I Am Dead"
was originally written in English. This poem follows:
When I am dead,
I wish to be remembered
In the voice
Of a merry bird
Which jumps with delight
And sings in daylight
In the midst of
A sunny field.
In every instance, the name of the translator is given, and where
there are no names of translators appended, the editor was also the
translator.
The eminent author and translator I. M. Lask did a number of
other translations.
"Such Were the Fighters" is a very impressive and deeply moving
work. It is valuable addendum to the historic records of Israel's
emergence as a nation.