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, Mich. 48235.
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

SIDNEY SHMARAK

CHARLOTTE HYAMS

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 17th day of Iyar, 5726, the following scriptural
selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Lev. 21:1-24:23; Prophetical portion: Ezekiel 44:15-31..

Licht Benshen, Friday, May 6, 7:1S p.m.

VOL. XLIX.

No. 11

Page 4

Community Colleges

In its appeal in support of the proposi-
tions to be voted upon at the special election
on Monday, Citizens - for Education incorpo-
rated this telling statement:
"Remember you can buy quality edu-
cation all the way from kindergarten
through community college with one stop
May 9. Just vote YES on Propositions 1,
2 and 3!"
We endorse this plea wholeheartedly. We
urge a YES vote on all the items to appear on
the ballot at the special election and we take
this means to review the situation revolving
around the educational issues that have arisen
in American communities.
As part of the aim to guarantee civil rights
for all elements in our midst, it is vital that
we assure jobs for the unemployed, better
housing for the less fortunate, among whom
the Negroes are chiefly in need, and to guar-
antee adequate educational facilities in a
desegregated school system.
The unfortunate rebellion at one of our
high schools, the sympathetic expressions for
the protesting group in other - schools, the dis-
ruptions in our educational' system, all indi ,
cate that there is need for serious study of
existing conditions and for amelioration of
present practices wherever possible. But to
say that nothing is being done to assure im-
provements, to search for elevation of stand-
ards, would be grossly unfair. At the same
time it would be damaging to our entire
education system to encourage anarchy.
In a joint' statement issued by the Michi-
gan State Board of Education and the ,Michi-
gan Civil Rights Commission it is clearly indi-
dated, in dealing with the imperative need to
eliminate racial segregation in the schools,

that:

"In the field of public education, Michigan's
Constitution and laws guarantee every citizen the
right to equal educational opportunities without
discrimination because of religion, race, color or
national origin. The State Board of Education has
a Constitutional charge to provide leadership and
general supervision over all public education
while the Civil Rights Commission is charged
with securing and protecting the civil rights to
education."
It is unfair to charge that our civil rights

and educational agencies are neglecting the
problems and are inactive. Our Board of
Education is alerted to the issues. The state
agencies are concerned and the Detroit com-
munity hopes for elimination of tensions and
for the assurance of just treatment for all,
and more especially for the Negro children
who must be given all the necessary facilities
to prepare them for as honorable an existence
as that enjoyed by all others.
Meanwhile we must realistically take into
account the school situation as it reflects in
the entire community and as it affects the
Negroes.
With approximately 40 per cent of De-
troit's children attending non-public schools,
with Negro children forming more than 60

May 6, 1966

Integration , Freedom

per cent of the balance of the public school
enrollments, it is time to look at the record, to
get an accounting of the events that have
transpired, to learn why the sanctity of the
public school system has been affected in
recent years so drastically. It is not the re-
ligious question alone that is involved; it is
not the parochial school system alone that
has drawn children from public to private
schools. There are other factors that have
built up a chain of the latter, and these must
become known for an understanding of what
can be done to strengthen the most important
element in a democracy: the public school.
Meanwhile certain figures are challenging
us. A study made by the Desegregation Ad-
visory Project of the Wayne County Inter-
mediate School District shows that:

Nine of the 42 districts reporting, excluding
Detroit, contain 99.7 per cent of the Negro stu-
dents; these same nine districts contain 97.2 per
cent of the Negro instructional personnel.
Twenty-five districts indicated no Negro in-
structional personnel. Hiring practices in the dis-
tricts appear to reflect the student population;
out-county Negro student population is 6.5 per
cent of the total, and out-county Negro teaching
staff consists of 4.5 per cent of the total.
There are 558,035 public school students in
the county; 263,213 in out-county districts exclud-
ing Detroit.
Of those in Detroit (total 294,82-2), 161,470
or 54.8 per cent are reported as Negro; 130,976
or 44.4 per cent reported as white.
For the county, exclusive of Detroit, out of
a total of 263,213 students, 17,636 or 6.5 per cent
are reported as Negro; 244,066 or 92.9 per cent
are reported as white.

There is no doubt that these figures show
vast improvements, but much remains to be
done, and to that end all necessary forces
must lead to an assurance of desegregation,
to the provision of the finest facilities and
the best teaching personnel for our children.
These aims can and must be attained, and
they should become facts without the pres-
sures and the demonstrations which can only
lead to a deterioration rather than an improve-
ment of our public school system.
One of the steps leading to improvements
is the adoption of the three propositions to
be voted on at the election on Monday. The
first two proposals provide for the establish-
ment of five community college campuses,
offering technical or vocational training or
the first two years of college work at low
tuitions, near the students' homes. The third
proposition assures a continuation of current
levels of elementary and secondary education,
supplementing the available means with
vitally needed additional funds. The YES vote
on all these proposals will provide the quality
education we aspire to. The May 9 election
is vital also because the trustees are to be
elected then for the Wayne County Commu-
nity College. Let every means be utilized to
elevate educational standards and to improve
our school systems.

Mental Health Recruitment Campaign

An appeal issued by the State of Michigan for assistance is an indication of the urgency
Department of Mental Health as part of the
of the current personnel enrollment cam-
campaign to recruit non-professional people paign.
There are shortcomings in the training of
to man the state hospitals points to a serious
children in the mentally-ill classification, and
condition that affects the efforts to provide
for the mentally ill in our midst.
in their instances, as well, a shortage of pro-
While striving for increased efforts to per teachers hinders the efforts that are
secure more facilities for the great number being made in their behalf.
of people who suffer from mental illnesses,
The state is prepared to pay well for
the available hospitals are understaffed and services rendered. Those applying for cur-
it has become increasingly more difficult to rently offered jobs will not be underpaid. It
secure proper personnel for these insti- is to be hoped that the state mental health
tutions.
department's appeal will not fall on deaf ears,
Seven facilities in our immediate area
and it is even more urgent that well-trained
are affected by the shortage of personnel, people be secured to fill the personnel short-
and the fact that the state's mental health age for the services so vitally needed in our
department now turns to non-professionals community. . „ ,
.

Shaarey Zedek — 'Temple in Southfield'

Modern Synagogue Art Trends
Described in New JPS Volume

Complied by Prof. Avram Kampf, "Contemporary Synagogue
Art," published by the Jewish Publication Society of America, is a
revealing work. It is a record of many of the most noteworthy syna-
gogues of America, a description of much of the art in synagogues,
an evaluation of the creations of a number of Jewish architects.
Richly illustrated, this volume will undoubtedly arouse much
interest, especially in view of the recent sensational re'erences to the
grandeur of houses of worship. There is no doubt about the scope of
the temples described in this work.
Included among the structures shown on the cover of this large
book is Detroit's Shaarey Zedek. But in the volume proper the listing
is Temple Shaarey Zedek, Southfield, Mich. It is the only Detroit
synagogue listed by Prof. Kampf, and the grandiose scope of this
work therefore emerges as perhaps somewhat limited in content be-
cause there is at least one more local new synagogue that deserved
attention, because of its attractiveness and art works: Bnai Moshe.
Somewhat puzzling is the fact that the Cleveland synagogues are
listed as located in Cleveland, although that community no longer has
any Jews left, the Jews of that city having turned completely sub-
urbanite, but Detroit's major Conservative congregation is given a
Southfield address without qualification that the membership is pri-
marily from Detroit. This also is true of the synagogues listed as
Baltimorean, whereas they, too, are now in the suburbs.
Nevertheless, the Kampf book is unique and impressive. It has
special merit in the description of the synagogues, in listing the
chief architects and in describing the new artistic trends in syna-
gogue building. The works of Percival Goodman, who designed De-
troit's Shaarey Zedek, Ben Shahn, Frank Lloyd Wright, Abraham
Rattner and others are described and illustrated here.
There are some omissions in the architects' list, but as in the
synagogue record so- also in that of the architects it is understandable
that not all the creators of the synagogue art and their creations could
be accounted for in this volume.
Especially significant in this work are the explanations of thf
synagogue's' historical role, of the Second Commandment—"thou
not make unto thee a graven image"as well as the general subject -
of art in the synagogue. ••
The brief history of the synagogue and its development is well
accounted for by Dr. Kampf who points out that "the synagogue re-
mains one of the most original creations of the Jewish people, the
mainstay of their cohesiveness, assuring the survival of their religious
group, their cultural identity and their historical consciousness."-
Interpreting the Second Commandment, the author declares
that while reading the commandment in context "we can easily
conclude that the Lawgiver, when He forbade making of graven
images, had in mind images made for the purpose of worship. Other-
wise, one would be hard put to explain the presence of the 16 foot-
high carved olivewood cherubim in the biblical Tent of Testimony
and in the Temple of Solomon. . . ." He lists other similar art
objects that were biblically condoned.
A responsum by Abraham Geiger, quoted in this discussion,
stated that a picture might be installed in a synagogue without
violating the law, if it was for decoration and not for religious WOP,
ship. Other authorities are referred to, and Dr. Kampf writes: "Juda-
ism's real concern is not with objects, which are only means to tlICI
end. . . . The battle against idolatry was extended from the idol, the
god of wood and stone to any object which man erroneously made his
ultimate concern."
The descriptions of the synagogue art works, the evaluations ----- of
the new trends, of the creative efforts to beautify the synagogue, make
"Contemporary Synagogue Art" stand out as a notable contribution
to the study of synagogue structures and the art now displayed to
beautify houses of worship both internally and externally. .
"Contemporary Synagogue Art" by Avram Kampf also was co-
published by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. The volume
is viewed with deep interest in 'all Jewish religious ranks.
1.
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