Harold Norris"Mr. 'Justice Murphy and the Bin of Rights' Aim to Form New
Day High Schools
Acclaimed as Outstanding Document on Libertarianism
Several admirers of the late
Frank Murphy had spoken about
writing a biography of the distin-
guished Michigan leader.
A highly scholarly work, attest-
ing to the author's research ability,
has just made
its appearance,
and its special-
ized theme may
well elevate the
work to a high
rank as a text-
book for legal
students.
Prof. Harold
Norris of the De-
troit College of Norris
Law faculty has performed a high-
ly commendable service with his
"Mr. Justice Murphy and the Bill
of Rights." It is so voluminous and
thorough a compilation of the late
jurist's views on the principles of
our democracy that it deserves
widest acceptance.
Those who knew the late
Mr. Murphy, former Mayor of
Detroit, former Governor of
Michigan, Attorney General of
the United States and Supreme
Court Justice, and especially
those who are acquainted with
Justice Murphy's closest friends,
will appreciate also the dedica-
tion of the volume: to Walter
Bergman, Josephine Gomon,
Ernest Mazey. They are listed as
"disciples" of the great jurist.
They also were his admirers and
co-workers in many causes.
It is to be hoped that the other
Hebrew Corner
Yarhei Kallah
Laborers, farmers, artisans, business-
men, teachers, students and clerks go
away for an annual vacation. How do
they spend their vacation?
Once in olden times, in the days
of the Tannaim and Amoraim (Jewish
rabbinic teachers in the early cen-
turies of the present era) the farmers,
laborers and ordinary folk would
spend the annual vacations in study of
Torah. In those days the farmer en-
joyed quiet months after months of
pressing (literally "burning") work.
The months of Adar and Ellin were
quiet months of this sort. The Amoraim
and Tannaim decided to open during
these months the doors of the famous
yeshivot of Babylon to the ordinary
folk so that they could study Torah.
A few years ago Rabbi Cahaneman,
who is the head of the Ponivez yeshiva
in Bnai Brak decided to renew the
study of Torah in the Yarhei Kallah.
This operation was very successful.
Clerks, teachers, artisans, business-
men, students, members of the armed
forces and many non-observant came to
study (literally: "sit on the bench of
studies") and found that they enjoyed
studying the Torah.
Translation of Hebrew column.
Published by Brit Ivrit Olamit and
the Memorial Foundation for Jewish
Culture of Jerusalem.
projected works dealing with
Frank Murphy will see the light
of day before very long. He was a
friend of the_.Zionist movement and
this reviewer had many occasions
to work with him in several causes,
in behalf of the Jewish libertarian
ideal, in support of freedom for
the oppressed. That was a natural
affiliation for Judge Murphy: he
was a libertarian in the fullest
sense of the term.
came up in the Supreme Court
in matters involving the Separa-
tion idea, Norris states: "While
Justice Murphy helped to en-
large the court's conception of
religious liberty, he simultane-
ously expanded the dimensions
of the 'free exercise of religion'
to recognize and comprehend
the cognate and interrelated
character of the First Amend-
ment freedoms. He urged recog-
nition of 'the double aspect' of
each freedom in the First Amend-
ment . . . of thought and free-
dom of action . .."
Attesting to the immensity of
Norris' legal tract are his em-
phases, in his quotations from Mur-
phy's declarations, speeches and
legal opinions, of the rights to the
Writ of Haebeas Corpus, processes
in military trials, the government's
duty in legal procedures, trial
procedures.
In matters like coerced confes-
sions the Murphy opinions may
well serve as guides for judges for
many years to come. In all these
aspects it is the libertarian prin-
ciples that emerge and Norris'
aim is to prove its strength in
Murphy's facing up to them.
Upon Justice Murphy's death,
July 19, 1949, the tribute was deliv-
ered by Edward G. Kamp. It con-
tained a biography of the jurist
and it is incorporated as such in
Norris' volume.
Prof. Norris teaches constitution-
al and criminal law at Detroit Col-
lege of Law. He was one of the
most prominent members of the
Michigan Constitutional Conven-
tion three years ago and was vice-
chairman of the rights committee.
He is counsel to the Committee on
Constitutional Revision of the
Michigan House of Representa-
tives.
He has just written another text-
book, "A Casebook of Complete
Criminal Trials," which Detroit
College of Law and the University
of Detroit Law School have adopt-
ed for classroom use. —P. S.
An ambitious program which
would in the next decade more
than double the number of new
Day Schools on the high school
level from the present 91 to 200,
was announced in New York by
the Torah Umesorah National
Society for Hebrew Day Schools
at its annual dinner meeting.
In an address to Day School
leaders from 30 states in the Union,
Samuel C. Feuerstein of Brook-
line, Mass., national president,
outlined details of the new Day
School program which would con-
centrate on the building of addi-
tional high schools. "Of the 113
Day School communities outside
of the Metropolitan New York
area, only 49 have high schools,"
Feuerstein stated. "We cannot al-
low Day School education to be-
come a dead-end educational
street. Rather must it become a
throughway." An initial sum of
$100,000 was raised for the new
program which it is estimated will
cost $2,000,000 over a 10-year
period.
Maimonides 'From Moses to Moses'
LATE FRANK MURPHY
And this is what emerges from
the Norris volume: the love for
liberty that was expressed in all
of the Murphy opinions, the actions
in behalf of the freedoms for men
of all faiths and all races.
The legal aspects of this compila-
tion are the most significant in the
entire work. There are many strict-
ly technical chapters, like the one
headed "Liberty of Contract and
the Government's Power to Regu-
late." But in the main, Norris de-
votes his effort to an emphasis of
the ideals incorporated in the title
of the book: the Bill of Rights.
Fair Processes in Trials, Free-
dom of Speech, The Right to a Fair
Trial Regardless of the Contro-
versial Nature of the Charge, Free-
dom of Religion, Right to Counsel,
etc., etc., indicate the priorities
that belong in such a volume and
the high ideals that motivated the
Frank Murphy procedures.
The Freedom of Religion chap-
ter commences with the author's
and compiler's note on the First
Amendment and at once estab-
lished Harold Norris as a scholar
highly qualified to discuss the
legal aspects of the church-state
issue. Quoting from Mr. Mur-
phy's opinions on issues that
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This cartoon is reproduced from "A Picture Parade of Jewish History ' by Morris Epstein, published
by Shengold Publishers, New York, by special arrangement with the author and publishers.
Dr. Epstein's accompanying ex-
planatory essay on Maimonides
follows:
His name was Moses ben Mai-
mon, or Maimonides, but he is also
known simply as "the Rambam,"
from the initials of his name,
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon.
Born in Cordova, Spain on the
eve of Passover, 1135, he grew
up to be the greatest Jewish
scholar of the Middle Ages. His
genius showed itself in the study
of Torah, philosophy, medicine,
astronomy, and other subjects.
In 1148, Cordova fell to the
Almohades, a war-loving sect of
Moslems. The Maimon family wan-
dered through Spain for 10 years,
sailing in 1159 for Fez, Morocco.
The Almohades came to Morocco
too, and in 1165, when Maimonides'
teacher, Rabbi Judah ibn Shoshan,
was killed, the family journeyed
to Palestine.
The Holy Land was ruled by
Crusaders who gave Jews little
peace. The homeless Maimons
sought refuge again, this time in
Egypt. There they found free-
dom, and the Rambam settled down
to study and write.
At 33, he completed the Ma-or,
or "Light," a commentary on the
Mishnah. Here he set down the
"13 Principles of Faith" which
became a guide to Judaism. The
well-known hymn, Yigdal, still
sung in the synagogue, is a poetic
version of - these principles.
When his dear brother David
died, grief - stricken Maimonides
was ill for a year. When he arose
from his sickbed, he turned to the
practice of medicine to keep his
waking hours crowded with
activity.
He kept at his studies too, and
in 1180 completed the Mishneh
Torah, a many-volumed work in
which the Rambam collected all
the laws of the Bible and Talmud,
and those made later in Ger-
many, France, and Spain. He also
wrote the Moreh Nevukhim
("Guide for the Perplexed"), which
tried to answer religious questions
and problems, and the Iggeret Te-
man ("Letter to Yemen"), which
encouraged his fellow Jews in
Yemen to resist false leaders who
were pressing them to desert the
Jewish faith.
In the meantime, the Rambam's
fame as a physician spread. He
became the court doctor to the
Sultan of Egypt. He also served
as head of the Jewish community
of Egypt, with the title of
"Nagid."
He died in December 1204. For
three days, Moslems and Jews in
Egypt mourned. In synagogues, a
chapter was read from the Bible
ending with the sentence, "The
glory has departed from Israel,
for the Ark of God is taken" (I
Samuel 4:22).. He was buried in
Tiberias, Palestine, where his
tomb is still visited by thousands.
Centuries ago, it was declared
that the Rambam was one of the
most 'remarkable men of all time.
That judgment is still as true as
ever.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
40—Friday, December 3, 1965