Horizons for Netv Year 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 KYAMS City Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 9th day of Tevet, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion: Gen. 44:18-47:27; Prophetical portion: Ezek. 37:15-28. Licht benshen, Friday, Dec. 31, 4:52 p.m. VOL. XLVIII, No. 19 Dec. 31, 1965 Page 4 The New Year: Mounting and Challenging Crises There is timelessness to the pragmatic admonition, when dealing with crises, to hope for the best while being prepared for the worst. At no time in history has mankind been faced with challenges as serious as those of our time, and never before has there been such a vital need to prepare for the worst but to strive for rational approaches to the prob- lems that face mankind. Not since the last world conflict have there been so many • dangers of a possible in- volvement of the entire universe in wars that may engulf all of us. In the Far East there are threats to the United States' security. The Rhodesian and Pakistan-India struggles in no sense isolate us from dangers that could be- come global. All these occurrences, and many others — including the uncertainties that af- fect the situation in the Middle East—inevi- tably involve all mankind in responsibilities and mounting dangers of possible warfare that won't leave anyone in a secure position. Such war threats bring the opposite re- actions—the appeals to peace which in turn create internal conflicts, in this country and elsewhere; and these controversial issues have created tensions involving not only pacifism and the ideologies of conscientious objectors but also the right to protest. * * * It is on the score of the right to express opinions, of the privilege that goes with pro- test, that we are experiencing an unfortunate internal development that must not be per- mitted to get out of hand and to inspire not a wholesome democratic spirit but another witch hunt. We must hope that the differences of opinion among many Americans vis-a-vis the Far Eastern situation will be resolved, that we may soon see positive action by the United Nations in the direction of negotiations for peace. But in the interim, the controversial discussions should be motivated by the desire for peace, for an avoidance of extended war- fare, for an honest exchange of views which must not be suppressed. * * * We have gone a long way in assuring just rights for the Negroes in our midst. In the past year legislation has been enacted to guarantee equal rights for the millions of op- pressed Negroes who, during a century since emancipation, have suffered indignities and were degraded as a second-class minority. Much is yet to be done in that direction. Our educational system must be geared to prepare the non-whites for wholesome pur- suits in life, through proper vocational guid- ance, thereby guaranteeing that there will be an end to joblessness among them, that their standard of living will be raised, that proper housing will be assured for them. It is one of the American tragedies that this objective has been so slow-moving that neighborhoods have been disrupted, that there have been mass movements of popula- tions from the large cities into suburbs, and that in this process there has been an increase rather than a decline in ill feelings. Jewish communities are seriously affected by such movements. Cleveland proper already is al- most entirely without Jews and that vast com- munity has moved to the suburbs. There is no way of foretelling how such a trend will affect Detroit. The situation al- ready is serious enough to call for more ur- gent consideration of the problem. Those who already have moved in the direction of proper integration have started their actions a decade too late. But we must not view the situation as being entirely too late for solution. If a way can be found out of the dilemma, in the di- rection of assuring proper integration, it can well become the greatest achievement of 1966. In viewing this problem, it is urgent that the crime situation should be considered, that the existing panic which has frightened many people off the streets after dusk should be obviated by an assurance that all elements can work together to establish peace in our midst. On this score, we go along fully with the view of the Civil Liberties Union that a "frisk- ing" policy is not only undesirable but totally un-American. The moment the right is given to police to search suspects, without warrants and due process of law, there will be in- troduced a menace that could well affect in- nocent citizens. Anything that might harm the freedom of individuals should be averted. * * * The coming year which we commence Saturday is fraught with many problems in- volving our youth. Our desire to retain the devotions of our college and other youths is a continuing process. The situation is far from hopeless. There has been a lessening of apolo- getics over one's Jewishness. But that must also be directed into a channel of creativity. There is much that youth can do to share in communal building. There are many duties to be filled. There is much good to be accom- plished. And there is a sacred heritage to uphold. We must take these obligations into consideration as we face the challenge of 1966. * * * There is the duty to oppressed Jewries in many lands—and their numbers have de- clined only by the scores of thousands who have been provided with havens in Israel. There are hundreds of thousands yet to be rescued from oppression, and the efforts in their behalf must be continued without hesi- tation, with the same devotion that has ele- vated American Jewry to a position of un- precedented generosity. The needs will be much greater during the coming year and the funds that were pre- viously available are declining. Reparations from Germany, due to Jewry as of right, re- paying Jews only in part for the great losses suffered under Nazism, have ended. There is even in the offing the danger that indemni- fications urgently needed by sufferers from Nazism will be deferred for two years. Under such conditions, income for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction funds must be increased. This is a compelling duty in forthcoming fund-raising efforts. * * * There is also the new task of settling im- migrants who will be admitted to the country under the revised immigration act. Detroit will share in this responsibility. There won't be an avalanche of new settlers, but the num- ber will be sufficient to demand additional funds. With the additional influx of Jews who are leaving Cuba, this resettlement effort adds to the duties of our community in the basic responsibility assumed by American Jews not to abandon the migrants, to provide homes and jobs for them, to assure a proper education for their children and to protect the health of all who must find new homes in this land of freedom. . And there also is the responsibility to our educational media. Equally as urgent as the funds for relief are the means necessary for increased cultural efforts, for the training of good teachers, for provisions for new school buildings. Our educational needs are major in the community program of planning for the com- ing year, and the priority we give to cultural efforts must be retained. These are but a few of the challenges that will face us in 1966. There are many others. They must be tackled with courage and with the same dignity that has granted us responsibility as American citizens and as members of the Jewish community. Plaut's 'Case for the Chosen People' a Provocative Volume To Dr. W. Gunther Plaut, senior rabbi of Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple, who raises the question of the chosenness of Israel in his pro- vocative book, "The Case for the Chosen People," published by Double- day, the question is not "Who Is a Jew?" but "Why Is a Jew?" And his answer is: 7` 13ecause there is God. In finding my people, I found Him; in finding Him I found my people's purpose in history." His new book is autobiographical. He describes his childhood in Germany, the inspiration that led him to the rabbinate, the experience under Nazism, his flight, his new freedom in this country. He outlines his theological views and he asserts that "perhaps it is our task today as Jews to be the bearer of social ideals, a whole nation providing social ferment in every corner of the globe. Perhaps it is the demand of our day — dimly grasped by some — that we be the cham- pions of justice for others, not for ourselves." In his appeal for strong Jewish adherence to faith and to the ideals inherent in Jewish living, he points out that "separateness is the yoke of the Jew." He touches upon the question of "atheism," and he states: "I do not debate here the question whether a rabbi can be an 'atheist' as one practitioner seems to believe. What is an atheist in one man's book is a believer in another's. The fact that a congregation can defend its spiritual leader's right to call himself by such an ascription is indication enough that in truth the rabbi's theological convictions ap• pear to them to be marginal to his service. No rabbinical school except an Orthodox one is likely to inquire into a man's belief. A British chief rabbi declaring a colleague unfit to head an Orthodox congrega- tion because he expressed certain progressive opinions raised a storm of protest around the world. It was the man's practice, not his thoughts, which should have been at issue, it was claimed. Heresy trials are re- pugnant to Jews, and our history has been nearly free of such inquisi- torial exercises." He describes his own way to Sinai and outlines his views of the rabbi's role, referring to his studies at the Reform rabbinical seminary in Cincinnati and describing how he resorted to prayer, even though other students did not, asserting: "Nolente volente I became a defender„-----N__/ of the Covenant of Israel and of all places, at a rabbinical seminary.", He resorts to many authoritative sources in illustrating his points and quotes the famous "it is in vain" portion of Jacob Wasser- man's "Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude" which concluded as a com- mentary on anti-Semitism and the Jew's enigmatic role in the world: "It is in vain to help them break the chains of slavery from their arms. They say: 'He has probably made his profit doing so. "It is in vain to neutralize the poison. They brew it afresh. "It is in vain to live for them or to die for them. They say: 'Ile is a Jew.' " Many are the other references in this thought- provoking book about "the role of the Jewish people yesterday and today." Plaut came to Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple in 1961 after serving congregations in Chicago and St. Paul for nine and 13 years, respective. ly. He was born in Germany, studied to be a doctor of law just as Hitler barred Jews from law practice, turned to religion and for three years during the Second World War served as chaplain in the United States Army. He was the first rabbi to bring a Sefer Torah back to Germany and held the first free service in a German synagogue, in the burned-out shell of the Cologne synagogue, in March 1945. * * * The republication, after 30 years, of Dr. Jacob Wasserman's "Doctor Kerkhoven" by Liveright adds special interest to Dr. Plaut's quotation in his new book from Wasserman's "Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude." Describing his disillusionment with the events that took place in Germany just before Hitler's rise to power, Dr. Plaut now states that "after all these years it (the Wasserman assertion) still stands out clearly in my mind:" It is in vain to adjure the nation of poets and thinkers in the name of its poets and thinkers. Every prejudice that one believed overcome brings forth a thousand new maggots like a carcass. It is in vain to present the right cheek after the left one has been struck. It does not make them hesitant in the least, it does not touch them, it does not disarm them: they will strike the right cheek also. It is in vain to cast words of reason into the raving tumult of words. They say: "What, he dares to make a sound? Shut up his face!" It is in vain to be an example. They say: "We know nothing, we have seen nothing, we have heard nothing." It is in vain to seek obscurity. They say: "The coward! His bad conscience forces him to hide away." It is in vain to go among them and offer them one's hand. They say: "flow dare he with his Jewish pushiness!" It is in vain to be loyal to them, either as a fellow fighter, or as a fellow citizen. They say: "He is like Proteus, he can do anything." It is in vain to help them break the chains of slavery from their arms. They say: "He has probably made his profit doing so." It is in vain to neutralize the poison. They brew it afresh. It is in vain to live for them or to die for them. They say: "He is a Jew."