THE
JEWISH
NEWS

Member American Jewish Press Association,
Michigan Press Association, National Editorial
Association.
Published menu Friday by The Jewish sews
Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road,
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year. Foreign $7.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6. 1942, at
Pm: Office. Detroit. Mich , under act of Congress

of Man t, 8. 1879.

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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Business Manager

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising Manager

CHARLOTTE HYAMS

City Editor

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Sabbath Ila-Gadol Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath — the Great Sabbath — the
ttici 11 day of Nisan. .5727. the following
SCrIpt ■ Irm! silo dotes Will be read in our syna-
go!,1tc.s:

ittatalichal portion. Ler. 16:118:30.
Prophetical portion. Malachi 3:4-24.

Fast of First horn will be observed Monday

Candle lighting. Friday. April 21, 7:02

p.m.

Passover Scriptural Selections

Pcstatenchal portions: First Day, Tuesday,
Ex. 12:21-51. Nam. 28:16-25; second day,
Wednesday. Lee. 22:26-23:44, Num. 28:16.25.
Prophetical portions: Tuesday. Josh. 5:2.6:1,
6.27: Wednesday. 11 Kings. 23:1-9, 21-25.

VOL. 1.1. NO. 5

Page Four

April 21, 1967

Knowledge as a Link
With Generations

Whichever way the Passover lesson
is viewed. the emphasis must be on
knowledge, on retaining the interest of
children in the Jewish faith, in our herit-
age and our destiny, through proper
training.
Pass the word on to the children, the
Ilagada emphasizes, and in every form
the lesson of the Seder, of the Festival
of Freedom, is that the young who ob-
serve the Passover with their elders
should know what it is all about, why
the night is different, what form the
Jewish traditions take on and how they
have been developed to retain faith in a
better world and in the emergence of
justice over tyranny.
Passover is being described as the
children's festival. It is so not only be-
cause of the joy the holiday provides,
because of the games that can be played,
because of the Afikomen that can be
hidden in order to acquire a coveted
prize, but because from it they learn
the principles upon which their ances-
tors based their craving for liberty and
the obligations that are inherent in the
retention of the ideals represented by
the holiday.
Whatever there is of duty, of obliga-
tions. is that of the elders who must
know how to transmit a heritage, who
should be aware of the gravity of a
task of sharing an ideal with the chil-
dren and who must, therefore, give pri-
ority to learning, to the cultural aspects
of a people's aims and means of func-
tioning.
It would be easy on Passover to make
a strong plea for philanthropy, espe-
cially at a time when a great campaign
is in progress in our midst. It is much
easier to make such an appeal when
priority is given to education, to the
training of our children. We owe a great
duty to Israel and to scores of other
causes, but all these will collapse with-
out a well-trained youth. That is why
priority goes to the cultural aspects of
our community. That is why we say on
the eve of Passover that we remain
strong only when our people are well
informed; and we will be doubly
strengthened if Passover will remain a
children's festival because the youth will
gain their knowledge and their inspira-
tion from a festival that carries with it
knowledge in faith, giving encourage-
ment to strictest adherence to that faith.

The Historicity and the Joy of the Great Festival of Freedom

The struggle for freedom is far from ended. It goes on and on and on!
There is the unending battle for justice for the Negro. The Jews in Moslem countries are in a hopeless
state. Prejudice has not been wiped out in countries behind the Iron Curtain.
Even in the freest countries, bigots are at large. In fact, the more democratic the government the more
freedom does the lunatic fringe have to spread its hate.
Also: there still are many lands, especially the Moslem countries, where there is slavery, where human
beings are mere chattel that can be acquired by the wealthy who are oppressing the masses.
Therefore the Passover lesson, in all its universality, is as important today as it has been through the
ages. Perhaps it is more important today than it has ever been.

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Significantly, Passover seems to have attracted more attention in recent months than ever before because
of an ecumenical attitude that has caused many Christians, especially the clergy, to take special note of the
fact that Christ's Last Supper was the Passover Seder. Now the Seder is being equated with the Last Supper.
The spirit of it is not to be questioned. It is no doubt motivated by sincere tendencies. Yet, the Seder in the
Christian annals is a mere detail akin to the recognition that Jesus was primarily and essentially a Jew. But
to link Seder with Last Supper is to give the impression either of patronizing the Jewish people or of flattering
it into a temptation to accept another term_ for a sacred historical event. In the sense of its historicity, Seder
is in no sense related to any non-Jewish or un-Jewish symbolism. It is primarily the Order of Service, the
occasion to review the experiences of the past and to link them with our time — to all time — in application
to the craving for justice, for freedom, for the right of people, regardless of the color of their skin or their
religious heritage, to absolute equality.

Jews have been stirred by the Passover theme, by the solemnity and historicity of the Seder, into unparal-
leled adherence to faith, into family loyalties that have revived the strongest of family ties and inevitably also
those of peoplehood. Even most assimilated Jews have been moved by the Passover theme. Is it any wonder
that a renegade, like Heinrich Heine, should have written, in his "Rabbi von Bacharach"• "Jews who long ago
drifted from the faith of their fathers . . . are stirred in their inmost parts when the old, familiar Passover
sounds chance to fall upon their ears."
It is because Passover provides even for the humblest of our people a sense of dignity, courage, faith and
renewed hope in a better life. It is indicated in the Mashnaic book Pesahim: "Even the poorest Jew, a recipient
of charity, must, on the eve of Passover, eat only in a reclining position, as a mark of freedom, and drink no
less than four cups of wine,"
And the intoxication is with the spirit of the festival, with the idea it espouses — that of freedom. That
is why Passover assumes such a significant role in our lives. That is why the joy of a festival is mingled with
the dedication to the cause of liberty for all ... It is in this spirit of joy in freedom that we greet one another
with confidence In the triumph of justice on this great Passover Festival.

