Purely Commentary

By Philip Slomovitz

Jo Weiner

—

Her Cultural Heritage

In the late 1920s, Temple Beth El's president was a dedicated
student of world affairs. Milford Stern had a wonderful library. He
compiled all available historical data and personally filed important
clippings to be able to double check on happenings in Jewish life.
Ile was responsive to the most vital causes. This commentator,
as president in the late 1920s of the Zionist Organization of Detroit,
cooperated with Meyer W. Weisgal in the publication of the Herzl
Volume as a special, encyclopedic edition of the New Palestine
which then was edited by Weisgal. The late Mr. Stern headed our
committee to secure the local fund that was needed to assure the
publication of so valuable a work.
Whenever Milford Stern sat down to a meal with his family,
he read to them and with them the latest telegraphic reports about
Jewish happenings throughout the world. He was a subscriber to the
JTA Daily Bulletin, then a printed four-page 6x8 daily newspaper.
He thus shared with his family his deep interest in world affairs,
with emphasis on the Jewish angle.
The intimate family talks at dinner in the Stern home brought
good results. His daughter Josephine, who was a star among the
Jewish youth as a teenager, has risen to great heights in our own
community and now has received deserved recognition nationally
with her elevation to the presidency of the National Council of Jewish
Women. A noteworthy family tradition is being perpetuated, and the
American Jewish community is certain to benefit greatly from such
inspired leadership,

• • •

Israel's Publishing Record

U.S. Jewish Groups Ask U.S. to Stick
by Pledge to Support Israel's Security

and the Central York Democrat, told the conven-
NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish or- Congregations
ganizations expressed deep alarm Conference of American Rabbis tion that the United States seeks
this week over the crisis in the have called upon President John- immediately to have a UN naval
affirmation of patrol sent to the Gulf of Aqaba
Middle East, criticized the deci- ' son for a clear-cut
to protect Israeli transit through
sion by UN Secretary-G e n e r al the United States' intention of help the Strait of Tiran.
safeguard Israel's integrity and to
If that was not
U Thant to withdraw the United maintain full rights of passage in possible, he said, the United States
Nations Emergency Force, and
should join with other interested
called on President Johnson to re- the Straits of Tiran.
Anxiety over developments in nations to set up such a naval
affirm United States support of
patrol.
the
Middle
East
was
also
ex-
Israel's security.
pressed by the American section
The Jewish War Veterans of
The Conference of Presidents of of the World Jewish Congress in '
the U.S.A. urged the govern.
Major American Jewish Organiza-
a
telegram
to
President
John-
ment
to reiterate its intention to
tions said in a message to Israel's
sson. The wire expressed the or-
protect the territorial integrity
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol that
of all nations in the Middle
U. S. Jews felt "a deep sense of ganization's "deep sense of anx-
iety at the grave developments
East, including Israel. Such a
solidarity with the people of Is-
in the Middle East, resulting
statement at this time, JWV
in
the
current
Middle
East
rael"
from Egpytian mobilization and
pointed out, would be consistent
crisis.
the ouster of the UNEF."
with American commitments to
Dr. Joachim Prinz, chairman of
defend the forces of peace and
It
appealed
"earnestly"
to
the
the conference, called on Jews in
President that he "use the full ex- freedom in the Middle East.
the New York area to transform the tent of American influence for the
The Jewish Labor Committee
Salute to Israel parade there next
wired President Johnson urging
Sunday into a "great outpouring preservation of peace."
The telegram was signed by Dr. him "publicly to reaffirm the
of support for Israel in this hour
Max Nussbaum, president of the United States' commitment to the
of grave peril."
The American Jewish Commit- American section of the WJC; Ja- territorial integrity and security
tee, concluding its 61st annual cob Katzman, chairman of the of Israel."
In telegrams to President John-
meeting, in New York, urged section's administrative commit-
Washington's "immediate and tee; and Max Melamet, executive son, Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
the Senate Foreign Relations Corn-
unequivocal reaffirmation of the director of the section.
The United States was urged at mittee and the House Foreign Af-
fundamental U. S. commitment
a Bnai Brith convention to take fairs Committee, Jacques Tor-
to Israel as a matter of critical
the lead "together with all mem- czyner, president of the Zionist Or-
importance."
The American Jewish Congress, bers of the United Nations to re- ganization of America, said "the
in a statement adopted by its na- establish immediately a UN pres- indecently hasty withdrawal of the
t i o n a l governing council, ex- ence" in the Middle East in place United Nations Emergency Forces
pressed deep anxiety over the cur- of the departed United Nations at a moment of crisis in the Mid-
rant developments in the Middle Emergency Force from the Egyp- dle East has impaired the author-
ity and prestige of the United
East. It urged President Johnson tian-Israeli border.
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, New Nations."
to take immediate action for the
preservation of the borders and
territorial integrity of the Middle
East states under the Tripartite
Boris Smolar's
Declaration to that effect issued
by the U.S.A., Britain and France

With nearly 2,000 publishers, representing 20 countries, as partici-
pants, the recent Israel International Book Fair registered another
triumph for the cultural attainments of the Jewish State.
This year's was the third such book fair to be held in Israel.
The first was held in 1963 and the second in 1965, when more than
1,000 publishers from 31 countries were represented in the display.
The major interest in this Israeli project lies in the progress
made in Israel itself. Impressive figures have been made public of
the development of Israel's book exports, the figures for a 10-year
period being as follows:
$1,813,000
1961
$291,000
1956
1,624,000
1962
79,000
1957
2,420,000
1963
318,000
1958
2,636,000
1964
490,000
1959
2,228,000
1965
650,000
1960
Then there are these comparative figures for both imports and
exports for 1965:
in 1950.
Breakdown of Israel Book Exports Breakdown of Israel Book Imports
A special meeting of the Ameri- I
by Principal Countries 1965
by Principal Countries 1965
can Zionist Council stated that the
$926,000
U.S.A.
$930,000
U.S.A.
withdrawal of UNEF has resulted
803,000 in escalation of the tensions on -
U.K.
363,000
By BORIS SMOLAR
U.K.
628,000 the Arab-Israeli borders and de- I
France
39,000
France
(Copyright, 1967, JTA, Inc.)
504,000 dared the AZC's confidence that
West Germany
39,000
West Germany
COMMUNAL TRENDS: Leaders of Jewish communities through-
204,000 the United States government "will
Italy
23,000
Latin America
102,000 stand by its commitment to safe- out the country are now being urged by the Council of Jewish Federa-
Holland
22,000
Canada
100,000 guard the territorial integrity and tions and Welfare Funds to intensify community action on behalf of
Switzerland
19,000
Holland
Jewish education . . . Federations are told by the CJFWF of the
48,000 security of Israel."
U.S.S.R.
15,000
Belgium
importance of each Federation having a special local committee to
26,000
Poland
9,000
Japan
On
behalf
of
the
leading
Con-
deal with the planning of Jewish education .. . They are also asked
23,000
Japan
7,000
Italy
servative, Orthodox and Reform to seek improvement in teacher training and recruitment and to secure
7,000
Australia
organizations in the United States, community action on post-elementary education ... The CJFWF Com-
Total imports in
Total exports in
the Synagogue Council of Amer- mittee on Federation Planning for Jewish Education is also calling for
1965—approx. $3,500,000
1965—approx. $2,250,000
ica expressed its
"profound situa-
con expansion by the communities of scholarships for teacher training
deteriorating
These arc encouraging symbols of a special interest by Israelis,
cern over the
serving to counteract the frequent emphases on the military develop- tion in the Middle East." Icomparable to similar programs in public education . .. The Federa-
ments. The latter are vital to Israel. Unless the country is able to
The Union of American Hebrew tions are informed by the committee that family education in the homes
of children in Jewish schools is essential for meaningful classroom
defend herself, there will be no occasion for culture. But a people
instruction ..."Money alone" the CJFWF committee emphasizes, "will
that has as much time for books as for guns is indestructible. That's
not solve the deep-rooted problems of Jewish education: what is
a major lesson from the figures made public on the occasion of the S. Y. Agnon Honored
required first are imaginative programs in Jewish education" . . .
book fair which has attracted so many publishers from so many lands.
Several cities are serving as pilot communities in developing their
at New York Dinner;
• •
programs for recruiting able teachers and for post-elementary schools
Hadassah and the Autopsy Charges
Crisis Dims Joy of Event
. The CJFWF committee is cooperating closely with the American
So many conflicting reports have come from Israel regarding
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
Association for Jewish Education . . . Mandel Berman of Detroit and
autopsies and the protests against them that the Hadassah position
to The Jewish sews)
Lavy Becker of Montreal are chairman and vice-chairman, respectively
should be stated as a matter of clarification of an issue that has resulted
NEW YORK — A dinner in of the committee.
in much bitterness.
honor of S. Y. Agnon, the Nobel-
•
•
•
On behalf of Hadassah, its national president, Mrs. Charlotte Prize winning Israeli writer, at-
CULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Way back some 60 years ago two
Jacobson, "shock and outrage" expressed over advertisements that tended here by 1,000 guests Tues-
Jewish young men came from provincial towns in Czarist Russia to
were published over the signature of the "self-styled American Com- day night, was dominated by the
St. Petersburg, the capital, to study in the Academy for Jewish Studies
mittee for Safeguarding Human Dignity in Israel." Mrs. Jacobson Middle 'East crisis.
founded and maintained by Baron David Ginzburg . . . Baron Ginz-
pointed out:
The event was sponsored by the
scion of the house of Jewish aristocrats who
To besmirch the name of Hadassah, which has been conducting Society of Founders, an honors burg was the youngest
vital medical and public health programs in Israel for 55 years, group of the American Friends of for three generations—from the time of the Napoleonic War to the
beginning of parliamentary democracy in the Czarist Empire—had
is as bizzare as it is reprehensible.
the Hebrew University, which
Iladassah Hospital in Jerusalem follows procedures in au. brought the Hebrew author to the been Russia's leading Jewish family . . . For years the scholarly
Baron dreamed of establishing an institute of Jewish studies in the
topsies within the framework of the laws of Israel. It is the only United States.
capital city of Russia where only selected elements of Jews were
hospital in Israel that also has entered into agreements with the
A number of notables who had permitted to reside . . . Yet, despite his special connections with
rabbinate on this matter.
planned to come, including Am- prominent figures in the Czarist government, he could not get a permit
The percentage of performed autopsies at the Hadassah Hos- bassador Arthur J. Goldberg, Chief
pital—the leading teaching hospital in Israel—is 33 per cent and U. S. delegate to the United Na- to establish his institute until he began to describe it by the non-
this is the lowest in that country. No autopsy is performed at tions, and Israeli Ambassador Av- commital name of "an advanced school of Oriental studies" . . . The
Hadassah Hospital against the expressed objection of the family raham Harman, were unable to students, however, called the institution "Baron Ginzburg's Academy"
of the decedent, or of the patient himself, except in such cases appear. Goldberg's greetings to the and to Russian Jewry in general it was popularly known as "The
Academy of Jewish Studies". . . It is in this higher school of Jewish
where the law makes it mandatory, such as homicide.
78-year-old laureate were present. learning that the two Jewish youths came from distant provincial
Attempts have been made to change the law governing autopsies ed by Mrs. Goldberg.
townships to acquire higher Jewish knowledge ... One was interested

'Between You
.. and Me'

In the state of Israel. But changes in this law have been blocked
Senator Jacob K. Javits told
by conflicts among religious groups—some of which now attack
the guests that "this is a most
Hadassah, which always has conducted post-mortems in complete
portentious night. We do not
accordance with the lialacha (Jewish Rabbinic Law).
know where this is going but the
These are the undeniable truths about the manner in which United States and other great
Hadassah Hospital performs autopsies. We are appalled that this
powers are making a serious and
great institution, which always has been motivated by the deepest
critical evaluation of the whole
respect for human dignity and the highest regard for human life,
area."
should be so slandered and libeled by those who either do not
Agnon clearly enjoyed the oc-
know the facts or deliberately misrepresent them.
This view, the Iladassah clarification, must be made known in view casion. He discussed in Hebrew,

of the charges that are current over the autopsies matter. Hadassah's
position during the 55 years of the movement's existence has been too
well known, the women's activities have been on so high a plane, that
a great cause must not be maligned. There ought to be sufficient
confidence in public opinion to realize that an understanding is pos-
sible without malice or mud-slinging. Certainly IIadassah's status should

with some Yiddish interspersions,
his ideas of America, which ..e
said were formed as a child :n

Eastern Europe.
He said, explaining why his first
visit came in his 78th year, that
he had been afraid to come to the
not be made to suffer from an unfortunate controversy.
United States because he did not
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS know English.
2—Friday, May 26, 1967

in the Messianic movements and in Labor Zionism, the other was
interested in the history of the Talmud and in the history of the
Second Jewish Commonwealth . . . None of them had the right to
reside in St. Petersburg; They had to camouflage their presence in the
capital by posing as specialized artisans, bribing the police to issue
them identity documents to this effect . . . Years later, they drifted
apart — one to Palestine and the other to the United States — with
their discussions at the Academy still vivid in their minds even today
now the
. . . The one who went to Palestine was Zalman Shazar,
President of Israel; the other is Professor Solomon Zeitlin, well-
known Jewish historian, now teaching in Dropsie College in Philadel-
phia . . . Books by each of them have incidentally been published
simultaneously this week by the Jewish Publication Society .. Presi-
dent Shazar's book, "Morning Starts," is a fascinating volume recall-
ing his formative years in Eastern Europe, including the years in
Baron Ginzburg's Academy ... Dr. Zeitlin's book, "The Rise and Fall
of Judean State" is a volume of history of the Second Jewish Common-
wealth giving an insightful portrait of a rich and tumultuous period
in Jewish history.