Women Zionists' Action Program 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, TIIEJ.IFE LINE VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7. Second Class Post-age Paid at Detroit, Michigan PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Advertising Manager Business Manager CHARLOTTE HYAMS City Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 27th day of Av, 5726, the following scriptural selections Will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 11:26-16:17; Prophetical portion, Isaiah 66:1-24. Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 12, 7:19 p.m. VOL. XLIX, NO. 25 Page 4 Aug. 12, 1966 Contest With Apathy Jewish Studies forAll If we do not plan now for the years ahead, unless there is proper preparation for the most positive educational approaches to our communal needs, we may find ourselves helpless in facing the many issues that con- front Jewry and our youth may, indeed, emerge as an uninformed element. In the process of communal planning, recognizing the priority that already is being accorded to our educational systems, we must take into consideration the vital necessity for adult education as well as for the training of our children. There have been warnings against the Bar Mitzva Judaism which has set a limit on education at the age of 13, and there is full realization that mere emphasis on con- firmations will serve to set us back farther and farther in our planning. Because of the dangers inherent in a Bar Mitzva limitation, prominent religious leaders have even pro- posed abandonment of the Bar Mitzva celebrations and the placing of emphasis on continuous study rather than on ceremonies intended for mere glamour and celebration. An eminent American Jewish educator, Dr. Louis Kaplan, president of Baltimore Hebrew College, in a recent address at the National Conference of Jewish Communal Service, made a very important point when he declared: The goals of Jewish education are not just to teach so much Hebrew, so much Bible and so much history. Facts and data are important, but unless these facts and data are integrated into a meaningful philosophy of life which will enable the individual to find in Jewish heritage moral and intellectual values and in Jewish living, meaningful and sustaining experiences to give purpose, direction and dimension to his life, Jew- ish education has failed him and the Jewish people. The 13-to-17-year proposal for an extended educational program for our children is so practical that its acceptance becomes more pressing with the years. It is with emphasis on the training of our youth that we can hope for the elimination of misinformation, to serve as a check against ignorance that is seeping into every aspect of Jewish existence. In a recent issue of the London Jewish Chronicle, its columnist, Chronicler, under the heading "We hope not,' carried this item: At the London conference of the International Council of Jewish Women one of the American speakers addressed the assembly on the subject of Jewish family life and included the following statement: "Our children must be taught meaningful Judaism so that on rising each morning they can recite with devotion the Ma Nishtana." We assume that this is a true quotation, and on the basis of many experiences we could not disprove the possibility of its being uttered. There was an equally devastating com- ment by an eminent American Jewish educator. In an address recently before the American Jewish Historical Society, Dr. Oscar I. Janowsky, professor of history at the City University of New York, made the following challenging comments: Many are far from hostile or unconcerned with Jewish cultural needs. Allocations to Jewish education, while still inadequate, have increased. A Jewish Culture Foundation has been estab- lished, though not yet adequately ' financed. Recent sessions of the Council of Jewish Federa- tions and Welfare Funds have grappled with the problems of Jewish education and culture. A year ago, I attended a dinner of a very important Jewish educational organization. The guest-of-honor had nothing to do with Jewish education, but he was wealthy, momentarily in the public eye, and many of his friends and clients were presumed to be good prospective donors or at least pledgers. The great man made a speech, a good one — intelligent, eloquent, witty and irrelevant to Jewish education, except for one allusion to an ethical Jewish concept which he misstated. Then a scholarly urge possessed him and he cited the source. It is, he said, "in the Talmud Leviticus." I looked around. The audience was unruffled and entirely content. His allusion did not enhance his status; the blunder did not reduce his status. Jewish knowledge was just irrelevant. These are serious observations. They could be interpreted as accusations but they are, in effect, challenges to American Jewry to fulfill the responsibilities that are due to our people as an historic entity. We concur with Dr. Janowsky that the situation is not hopeless. "American Jewry is not disinte- grating," Dr. Janowsky declared, and we agree. And we concur with him in seconding his warning in which he stated, in an im- passioned appeal: "The stirring of cultural interest war- rants the hope that the vitality and dy- namism which enabled Jews to master destructive forces in the past are far from spent. But this does not mean that a future of cultural creativity is assured. "The future does not spring fully fashioned from some inscrutable source, and it does not build itself. The future is the lengthened shadow of the present, projected by on-going aspirations and institutions and the men and women who nourish them. Leadership must be found to articulate the aspirations and give direction to the institutions, so that the massive ignorance of things Jewish and the apathy which condones it may be overcome. "The contest with ignorance and apathy will not be won easily, if it is won at all. It will be a long struggle and we recognize that progress will be slow and gradual, even if the effort prevails. How- ever, it is most urgent that the pro- ponents of Jewish education and culture close ranks immediately, for this is the moment of crisis." There are, as Dr. Janowsky indicated, competitive claims to Jewish interests. They are unreal. They are misrepresented. Jews share fully in all efforts in the battle for civil rights, in the anti-poverty program. But the Jewish character of Jewish institu- tions must not be sacrificed in the process. As Dr. Janowsky indicated: Jewish institutions were established to minis- ter to Jewish needs. If this purpose is not served, and if the institutions and services are truly non-sectarian, the question becomes relevant: why should these agencies be Jewish in name, direction and financing? The issue must be faced squarely, and the issue in Jewish communal institutions is non- discrimination, not non-sectarianism. All Amer-- cans should be welcome in Jewish institutions, but the character and justification for Jewish agencies must be their Jewish orientation and programs. We are now in the process of recon- structing Jewish educational media. We have attained priorities for study as a recognized factor in Jewish life—not on a basis of phil- anthropy but as a dire need for the per- petuation of our highest ideals. To assure the success of our efforts we must strive for an abandonment of ignorance. Every effort must be made to assure the success that is needed for our schools, and if the interest to be displayed is to be positive it must have the support of parents, the influence of the home. This requires effective adult studies as well as the education of the children. There are no alternatives to these aims. Aavir.4 4%64. 'The Working Press'—Classic Stories From N.Y. Times Talk There is so much merit, such a vast amount of informative material emanating from the brilliant staff of the New York Times, that nearly everything relating to that great newspaper has general interest. That is why, when seeing that a volume entitled "The Working Press," has been issued by G. P. Putnam's Sons (200 Madison, NY). It should not be considered as merely a book for newspapermen: it is a work that will have the interest of all who appreciate a good story and welcome authoritative accounts of world affairs. The complete title of the book is "The Working Press—Special to the New York Times—Notable Times Reporters Tell the Story Behind the Story—the Best from Times Talk." Times Talk is the house organ of the New York Times. It is the bulletin of the Times writers for the staff. The book was edited by Ruth Adler, the editor of Times Talk since it began in 1947. There is a foreward by Theodore M. Bernstein, the Times' assistant managing editor. Bernstein realistically states that "everyone likes to be taken backstage. Referring to the elements that are "eloquently substantiated" in the article in this book, Bern- stein states: "An editor friend of mine tells his staff from time to time, `Keep the reporter out of the story; he's not part of the news. Any- way, people aren't interested in the reporter's 'troubles.' The state- ment, though sound enough as a press principle, is half right and half wrong. Except in rare instances—the expulsion of a cor- respondent from a country, for example—the reporter is no more a constituent of the news than the telephone operator who puts him in touch with his home office. But that does not mean that people are not interested in his doings .. . "The reasons for that interest are not hard to find. News- papermen are 'in the know' and presumably have inside dope to disclose. Moreover, they do, as the saying goes, meet such inter- esting people. Not only that, but their newsgathering enterprises frequently depart from the humdrum and occasionally embrace the adventurous. To top it all, they relish the events of their pro- fessional lives and are generous and effective in sharing that relish." "The Working Press" substantiates these comments. Miss Adler explains the workings of Times Talk and offers a brief history of the New York Times and its publishers„ analyzing the workings of many of the great paper's departments. The reference to the expulsion of a newsman is substantiated in A. M. Rosenthal's "How It Felt to Be Kicked Out of Poland." There are several interesting pieces by Harrison Salisbury, one of the best known foreign correspondents who covered the situation in Russia for many years. There are scores of stories that read as well now as when the depicted events occurred. Among the classic stories in this collection is the "scoop" not the "scoop" that has been "degraded by Hollywood's stop-the- press-type film" but that which every once in a while comes alive in a great story—McCandlish Phillips' November 1965 account, "The Story Behind the Jewish Klansman." The research that was done to get that story includes the assistance Phillips had from Irving "Pat" Spiegel. There was need for information about the Klansman Daniel Burros' Jewish background and the story from Times Talk states: "He (Art Gelb, assistant to A. M. Rosenthal, Times metropolitan editor) chose Irving Spiegel partly because Pat is our Jewish-affairs specialist, partly because he is a skilled police reporter and partly because he speaks Yiddish. It was an inspired choice. The next day Pat and Ralph Blumenthal began very early and toured three synagogues, hitting two that had solid facts and entering one where they were welcomed with unusual affection because they made up the necessary 10-man quorum for the service. Without them, it could not have been held, but they got enmeshed in the service and Ralph was summoned to the platform to hold the Tora, while Pat, wrapped in a prayer shawl, tried to combine a properiety with an almost mad desire to get the facts to our first Sunday editions." In this vein we have stories about racial tensions, about the struggle for civil rights. There is a page of suggested headlines—including imaginary and real historical events—suggesting how the Times plays up great stories. It's a page that'll delight newsmen. It has an interesting "Bylines— Who's Who" section identifying the writers whose stories appear here. "The Working Press" is a remarkably fine and interesting book.