J

Liebman's 'Hope for Maw'--Powerful Sequel
to Best-Selling Pastoral Guide 'Peace of Mind

"Peace of Mind" was a sensation.
For a number of years, even after
the death of the eminent author,
Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman, it was
a best seller. It was a guide for
the disturbed, a ray of hope for ,
the perplexed.

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And while he states that "pessi-
mism dooms us in advance by its
philosophy of hopelessness," he ex-
plores continually and reaches a
hopeful conclusion.

He explores many problems,
deals with morality, with the is-
Dr. Liebman had left many man- sues involved in the sex conflicts
uscripts. His widow, Ray Loth and asserts that —
Liebman, hesi-
"Immorality is not sexual ir-
tated to collect
them. She finally regularity only. Such a definition
was induced by is merely a clever device by
Leon Shimkin which modern men and women
and M. Lincoln legitimatize many of their worst
Schuster of Si- antisocial trends. If you can con-
mon and Schus- fine evil to the sexual realm and
ter to pursue that allow your pride and aggressions
and cruelties to run rampant,
task and to pro-
vide a supple- you have made quite a good bar-
ment to the gain. You can get the reputation
earlier work. The of being a 'good person' by fol-
result is the new lowing the conventional code of
Simon and Schus- respectability while pursuing
many subtle demonic pathways.
ter volume,
Dr. Liebman "Hope for Man I would say rather that a person
—An Optimistic Philosophy is truly immoral when he wastes
and Guide to Self-Fulfillment — A his own potentialities and the
resources of other people, then
Sequel to 'Peace of Mind,' " pub-
lished by Simon and Schuster with he abuses himself phycholog-
ically and spiritually and abuses
a preface by Mrs. Liebman. It
the men, women and children in
recognizes anew "the great impetus
the circle of his influence . . . "
that 'Peace of Mind' gave to pas-
toral psychiatry" and it offers new
He adds: "We must become as
guidelines to proper thinking in brilliant in maturing our con-
evaluating life.
science as in deepening our in-
tellects . . . There is no reason for
The new philosophy, outlined
pessimism about our moral adven-
in a series of impressive essays,
ture. Man is not a static creature
, is optimistic. It views life with
imprisoned forever within an un-
confidence. It explores every
changing room . . . The experi-
facet of human experience.
mentalism of science shows us that
The sum total of Liebman's con- life moves, man evolves, the uni-
clusions is that "there is hope for verse progresses . . . "
man." It rejects pessimism. It de-
There is the added emphasis:
clares. nevertheless: "Pessimism "As a Jew I am persuaded by
can, indeed, lead men to despair my whole tradition to believe in
or to atheism, but they can also the educability of the human
lead men to greater sensitivity. race and in the reality of a bet-
Their words and thoughts often ter future; that man can learn
are like the physician's little ham- from his mistakes and his trag-
mer testing our spiritual reflexes;
edies, as indeed man has learned
they make us know whether we in the past; as he has created
are numb and paralyzed within or new science, new medicine, new
alert to the mystery and also the technology, new democratic in-
majesty of the universe and our stitutions upon the earth, he can
place in it. Pessimism is a chal- still go on to create better ones."
lenge to the superficial optimism
There is a guide for "personal
which lulls human beings into com-
placency and a kind of sleep of designs for happiness" in an im-
pressive chapter "Love in Marriage
death- ... "
Today" in which he indicates that
And there is the emphasis that "life is not paradise," that the
"there is nothing inherently de- rabbis of old understood the truth
structive or aggressive in human of the existence of pain and hard-
nature which cannot be tamed." ships, declaring:

Try and Stop Me

By BENNETT CERF

F

ABLE: A wise old king once had a heavy stone placed
right in the middle of a busy thoroughfare. Passers-by
stepped gingerly over it, or kicked it angrily—but not ono
of them made the slight-
est effort to remove it.
Finally one good-hearted
fellow came along and
managed to roll it to a
ditch paralleling the road,
thus clearing the way for
all who followed him.
Under the stone he dis-
covered a purse filled
with gold which the king
had placed there.
* * *

1

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From the memoirs of the
great violinist, Mischa El-
man: "While visiting a
9-25
friend of the family, I was
asked to play something for the assembled group. I rattled (
Beethoven's 'Kreutzer Sonata'—very neatly, I thought. The So
ata has in it several rests. In one of these, a motherly old laci .
leaned forward, patted my shoulder, and said, 'Play somethir_
you know, young man? "
*
*
*
Here are a few of Roger Price's newest "non quotes":
1. "You slept where last night?"—Martha Washington.
2. "Your guess is as good as mine."—Nostradamus.
3. Who in thif claff can fpell `Miffiffippi?' "—Chaucer.
4. "NEXT!"—Delilah.
•
5. "I'm sorry, Signor da. Vinci, but I keep thinking of ti.
joke you just told."—Mona Lisa.
6. "I don't know what you're up to, Tom, but I can't sic _
with that light on."—Mrs. Thomas A. Edison.
(More of the same can be found in Mr. Price's very funny ani

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"Life does not ask us all to
become great statesmen, clever
generals, brilliant politicians; it
does call upon most of us to
become successful husbands and
wives . . . A joyous home be-
comes a haven of refuge in the
storm of disillusionment, frustra-
tion and fear of the future."
He presents "four designs for
personal happiness in marriage.
First, learn to accept yourself and
your physical desires with natural
piety; second, understand that you
are a psychological person, a un-
ion of past and present and future;
third, realize that in marriage you
become a citizen of a new republic,
the democracy of matrimony, to
which spiritual state you must give
your primary loyalty so that
through it you may find your un-
shaken security. And, finally, vis-
ualize your marriage as a religious
means to a religious end, the priv-
ilege given to you and your part-
ner together to add to life' possi-
bilities and glories, and thus to
become joint co-workers with
deity."
Is life worth living? Dr. Lieb-
man suggests "five roads to emo-
tional security": "The first is to be
brave enough to accept our own
imperfections . . . Nature does not
demand that we be perfect. It re-
quires only that we grow . .. The
courage of imperfection means
that while we shall strive always
to achieve the best in our power,
we shall not torment ourselves
continually by seeking to make an
absolute out of our r e l a t i v e
achievements .. . "
"The second way to make life
worth living is to develop a ma-
ture conscience. Life often be-
comes a burden because we are
afflicted with an overwhelming
sense of guilt and sin . . . It is
only when we become liberated
from the haunting voices of dec-
ades ago, only when we become
liberated from the prohibitions and
commandments which served our
childhood needs but which are
tragically out of place in adult-
hood — it is only then that we
can become free, healthy person-
alities, m a k i.n g life worth the
struggle."
"The third way to make life
worth living is to develop courage,
the kind of courage that gives us
a combative spirit . . . "
"The fourth way to make life
worth living is to adopt a long-
range scale of values ... We have
to weigh a present pain against
a future pleasure and a present
pleasure against a future pain. To
do this well is to become an artist
in the values of life . . . "
"The fifth way to make life
worth living is the way of love."
Warning against egocentricity
which he calls "the most tragic of
all the causes of cynicism and
pessimism," he declares: "We shall
never find life worth living so long
as we remain imprisoned within
our own little egos. The secret of
survival and success in the world
is to place one's ego at the service

of loved ones, of large social pur-
poses, of great causes."
And the conclusion is: "There
is hope for man."
In this spirit, Dr. Liebman's se-
quel to "Peace of Mind" is a pow-
erful guide, an encouragement to
self-fulfillment, making the new
work, "Hope for Man," worthy of
inseparability from the earlier, the
best seller that has given courage
and confidence to the millions who
had read it.
—P.S.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, August 26,1966-17

**At "DEXTER***
„* CHEVROLET IS _ t
A
'THE BEST PLACE'
: TO GET YOUR
CAR."
41E

* Belier Every Way 4(

*
*

Darrow and Gratitude
The famous lawyer Clarence
Darrow once won a very tough
case for a beautiful client, and
as they walked out of court into
the sunshine she fluttered her eye-
lashes at him and cooed, "How
can I ever show my gratitude?"
"My dear young lady," replied
Darrow gallantly, "ever since the
Phoenicians invented money, there
has been only one sound answer
to that question."

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