Kosygin's Travels
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
Business Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
•
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fifteenth day of Adar I, 5727, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Ex. 30:11-34:35. Prophetical portion, I Kings 18:1-39.
Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 24, 5:58 p.m.
VOL. L, No. 27
Page Four
February 24, 1967
Highest Goals for Schools and Teachers
New Standards Set for Jewish Education
Without boasting about it, taking into consideration the lengthy negotiations that
had gone into producing-accord in our educational ranks, the Detroit Jewish community has
cause to feel elated over the agreement that has been reached between the United Hebrew
Schools and the Association of Hebrew Teachers.
The remarkable statement authored by a leader of the teachers' association and
unanimously approved by both ranks—lay leaders' representatives and the spokesmen for
the teaching staff — is more than an agreement between "employers" and "employes" —
terms to be used cautiously when dealing with the sanctity of Jewish learning as the
obligation to pursue hinukh—consecration to Jewish education. It is a document intended to
assure a rededication to the aims of our schools, with the hope that encouragement will be
given to many of our youth to pursue teaching in Jewish schools as their vocations and to
assure the continued devotion to the cause of learning by our community.
What is intended, the spokesmen for the teachers emphasize, is to assure lay
involvement in the needs and aspirations of our schools, and the administrative forces have
endorsed that view. What is needed, it has been pointed out, is the sort of dialogue that
will bring all interested parties together to guarantee for our schools the highest standards,
providing faith in the hope that the ablest men and women will be drawn into the teachers'
ranks.
There are several noteworthy elements in the agreement that has been drawn up
between teachers and lay leaders. While recognizing the Association of Hebrew Teachers
as "the sole collective bargaining agent" in the discussion of wages and working conditions,
the agreement goes much farther. It includes the following provision:
REPRESENTATION TO BOARD OF UHS BY THE HEBREW TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
The Hebrew Teachers Association shall have one official representative as a permanent member
of the Board of Education of the United Hebrew Schools, who shall enjoy full rights of membership
exclusive of voting rights. The Association shall also have an observer on the Board of Directors of the
United Hebrew Schools. (He will be excused during that part of Board discussions having to do with
Hebrew Teachers Association matters). Once during the school year, the Hebrew Teachers Association
shall be given the opportunity to make an official presentation at a meeting of the Board of Directors
with discussion to follow. This presentation will enable the Board of the United Hebrew Schools to
familiarize themselves with the viewpoints of the teachers. Once during the school year, the United
Hebrew Schools shall be given the opportunity to make an official presentation to a full meeting of
the Hebrew Teachers Association. The Hebrew Teachers Association shall have a representative
among the UHS representatives to the Detroit Board of Certification.
If the negotiators had done nothing else, such an arrangement testifies to good will.
It affirms a desire for serious, unbiased discussion of views, even when they are conflicting.
It provides means for cooperation, for mutual accord, for laboring together to attain the
highest goals in Jewish education.
What this also does is to give the teacher the status of dignity and the feeling
of belonging in the ranks of the planners of the programs they are asked to pursue.
It leads to the type of unity in formulating the curricula, the relationships with parents
and children, the duties to the entire community, which are so vital in pursuing the
sacred task of educating the children and also providing knowledge for their elders.
It is through such means of cooperation that we can hope to attain the goal of reach-
ing out into the homes to make parents, teachers and children equally responsible for
the creation of a strong and effective school system.
It is to the credit of the negotiators in behalf of the schools, to the schools' super-
intendent and his associates, that the agreement also provides for encouragement to teachers
to pursue their studies. The In-Service Training program provides for creditable aid and
speaks volumes in support of an agreement that should serve as a great aid in cementing
the much-needed cooperative spirit that is vital to the best communal relations.
While the newly-reached agreement deals with many problems relating to grievances,
setting up methods leading to the elimination of conflicts, it is the Code of Practice that
is especially vital. The basic preliminary ideals inherent in this code declare:
UNITED HEBREW SCHOOLS
TEACHERS CODE OF PRACTICE
I. — PREAMBLE:
Recognizing the crucial role Jewish education has in the survival of our people and;
Recognizing the responsibility which the Detroit community Hebrew Schools have in providing a
Jewish education responsive to the needs of the mainstream of Jewish community life and;
Recognizing the fundamental role which the Hebrew teacher plays in the fulfillment of the aims
of the community Jewish school system and the need for a constructive and cooperative relationship between
the administration of the United Hebrew Schools and the teaching profession,
Both the United Hebrew Schools and the Hebrew Teachers Association agree, therefore, to make
of
the - function of each complementary to the other in pursuit of their mutual aim for the advancement
Jewish education in our community so that their relationship will reflect a true partnership in the
pursuit of this aim.
Accordingly, the Board of the United Hebrew Schools and the Hebrew Teachers Association make
the following declaration:
A. The Teacher:
The primary role of the teacher is to motivate the child in the pursuit of Jewish knowledge and
Jewish living.
B. Administration:
The primary function of the administration is to motivate the teacher by actions that facilitate the
confidence and mutual respect between the teacher and the administration,
It is by establishing such a code that aspires to complement all interests towards
the major goal of strengthening our educational system while elevating the standards of
the teaching profession, that the agreement emerges as vital and impressive.
This is so valuable a document that it may well become the basis for all Jewish
communal aspirations in the field of education for the entire country.
Lay leaders and teachers are to be congratulated on having reached such significant
accord and for having set as their aim the highest goals in assuring the community's adher-
ence to a cause to which we are now giving priority: Jewish education.
A wholesome community can and should have a cooperative spirit. The U H S agree-
ment proved that it can be attained. The amicable Shaarey Zedek agreement adds to the
heartening occurrences in our educational ranks. The spokesmen for our school systems
have our sincere congratulations. on having , aimed and attained accord to the satisfaction of
all elements concerned.
Tribute to a Great King
Former Dominican President
Writes Biography of David
Juan Bosch, for nine months, in 1963, president of the Dominican
Republic, now again active politically in his country, has been profes-
sor of political science and has authored a number of noteworthy books.
He has chosen for a biographical account King David, and "David,
Biography of a King," published by Hawthorn Books (70- 5th, NY 11),
enhances his literary career. In a fine translation from the Spanish
by John Marks, this biography follows the Biblical story scrupulously
and at the same time is a splendid commentary on the genius of the
subject of this work and on the events under consideration.
The author became so enthused with his subject that his chapters
are numbered Hebraically, from Aleph to Kaf-Aleph-1 to 21.
*
*
*
The story of David as he emerged as a shepherd lad to conquer
the Philistines, his trying years under King Saul, his anointment as
king and then the conquests and the personal trials and tribulatiOns
—the entire story as told in Book Samuel II, as related in ancient
Jewish history, is recapitulated here. The internecine strifes of his
children, the struggles for the crown, his loves, his own conquests and
final triumph of having "slept with his fathers" and of being "buried
in the city of David" — this is an actual Bible story retold with skill by
an able biographer in a Latin American country.
In a sense, Bosch's "David" is a tribute to David's people as
well as to David. "The history which the Israelite chroniclers were
recording was sure to endure," he declares in his preface; it was
written for a people who would last forever, and perhaps also it
was intended as a form of account rendered to Jehovah.
David's sins as well as his creative qualities are reviewed with
delicacy, with serious concern for biblical accuracy.
*
*
Taking into account posterity as well as David's rule, Bosch
asserts that "men of David's caliber are met with very rarely in the
pages of history," and he declares that "Solomon was only the
administrator of the greatness accumulated by David—the inheritor,
and in many ways the squanderer, of that legacy."
Thus in his evaluation of David the king, he judges him as follows:
"David attained historical importance because he turned out
to be an exceptional king who united his people, moulding Israel
into a nation which he contrived to make powerful and respected."
To be able fully and concretely to develop the theme in this
fashion, Bosch reviewed the labors of Samuel ben Elkanah, the last of
Israel's judges, the events surrounding the time, the people and their
- .
antagonists as well as those who made up the nation Israel.
*
*
*
Scriptural selections are referred to and analyzed skilfully
indicate the sequences of events under review, the battles Day.
fought, the women he loved, those who were maligned by him, his --
atonements, the price a people paid for the struggles for power among
the king's sons.
Machinations in the king's household finally were overcome,
and here again Bosch views David as having become anew a "thun-
derbolt," smashing the conspiracy of Adonijah.
The Dominican author of this biography declares: "Great lives are
immortal. They shine on through the ages, like the stars. David's life
was of this kind. Fortunately he committed egregious errors. Had he
not, he would appear godlike in our sight, and as a superior being he
would have become immune, beyond the scope of our human judgment."
Thus, an admiring biographer even forgives the grave errors and
sins, and out of this biography there emerges not only a great king,
but a noble human being.
* * *
He views David as having felt himself to be God's favorite, and he
declares that it is not surprising to find him writing Psalm 23: "The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want ... "
Every available reference in biblical sources is utilized to delineate
a great king, and the Davidic psalms are described, quoted, referred
to with admiration.
That is how Bosch's "David" is presented—as an admiring testa-
ment, paying tribute to a king and his people.