TIIE 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. 45235.
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign 87.
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 seventeenth day of lyar, 5727, the following Scriptural selections
trill be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Lev. 26:3-27:34. Prophetical portion, Jer..16:19.17:14.
Caudle lightidg, Friday, May 26, 7:37 p.m.
VOL. LI. No. 10
May 26, 1967
' Page Four
"
Secular Moods and Religious Authority
Assumption by Dr. Immanuel .Jakobovits
of the post of Chief Rabbi of the British Em-
pire occasioned interesting discussion relat-
ing to religious authority.
Commenting editorially on "The Chief
Rabbi's Mission," the London Times referred
to recent divisions within British Jewry, to
the difficulties that were encountered in the
selection of a Chief Rabbi, the internal
struggle over the editorship of a Zionist peri-
odical in London, and the view was expressed
that the general trend was toward a "secular
mood."
The London Times commented that it
was fortunate that Dr. Jakobovits "has indi-
cated that he will lead with a sensitive touch
—by seeking unity on the basis of divisions,
not by trying to suppress them." Is such an
aspiration possible, in view of the trend indi-
cated? The London Times eNlitorial stated:
"In all these cases it is the underlying
trend rather than the events themselves
which are worth further notice. They all
point to a reduction of traditional author-
ity: in the realm of theology, of organiza-
tion, and of the unquestioning acceptance
of collective goals. It is easy for the out-
sider to forget the extent to which the
establishment of the state of Israel has
represented to Jews in Britain as else-
where the supreme achievement of the
Jewish people—to question which in any
way is to border upon the heretical. In
that sense the readiness to cast an objec-
tive eye can be interpreted as a move
away from tradition.
One reason for this general trend is
obviously the increasingly secular mood
of western society. All religions, and all
denominations within the Christian re-
ligion, have been feeling the effects. One
result has been a growing desire to adjust
minds to contemporary thinking so far as
conscience permits, and this has naturally
strengthened the forces of liberalism.
When it has blown to such effect through
the Roman Catholic Church, there can be
no surprise that its breezes have been felt
in the Jewish community as well. But it
would be wrong to look only to general
causes for an explanation of developments
within British Jewry. What has happened
is that the old pattern of an extremely
tightly knit community is beginning to
break up.
"No longer is there a widespread con-
centration upon specifically Jewish educa-
tion in depth within the family. No longer
is there the same strict attention to the
rituals of Jewish observance. Perhaps this
is the natural consequence of the greater
acceptance of Jews within all walks of
British life. The less discrimination there
is against a minority the more difficult it
must always be for it to maintain the full
rigour of exclusive traditions. But while
such a period of change and adjustment
can be exciting and constructive, it poses
considerable problems for those who have
to lead a people through it."
The most recent Gallup Poll on the sub-
ject of religious responses reveals the state
of religion in America. In response to the
question addressed to a representative cross
section of Americans whether they believe
religion is increasing or losing its influence
in American life, the following figures were
made public:
Increasing
Losing
No difference
No opinion
1957
Pct.
69
14
10
7
1962
Pct.
45
31
17
7
1965
1967
33
45
13
23
57
14
Pet.
II
Pet.
I
The percentage of those believing that re-
ligion is "losing" its influence was given as
follows:
1957
14 Pct.
1967
57 Pct.
Men
Women
17
12
59
55
21.29 years
30-49 years
50 and over
20
13
10
63
57
53
College
High school
Grade school
17
12
18
59
52
Protestant
Catholic
17
7
60
48
National
While Jews are not mentioned, and there
is cause to believe that the "decline" is not as
drastic in Jewish ranks as shown generally,
there is ground for believing that the influ-
ence of religion has waned also in Jewish
communities.
Figures for Jewish synagogue attendance
showed the following in another Gallup Poll:
As compared with 52 per cent in 1952,
attendance declined to 39 per cent in 1965;
17 per cent attended services three times a
month in 1952 and 4 per cent in 1966; and
12 per cent attended services every week in
1952, the figure having declined to 4 per cent
in 1966.
Thus, the trend toward secularism—or to
non-synagogue attendance — has increased
tremendously and we have truly become a
three- or two-day-a-year people.
The Christian Science Monitor took note
of these developments in an editorial, "Re-
ligion and the Young," which declared:
Religions interest and conviction at Harvard
and Radfcliffe colleges have apparently under-
gone a sharp drop over the past 20 years. To
assess trends in religious attitudes, polls taken
in 1946 have been carefully repeated, using to-
day's students. The results show marked
change.
The 1946 study indicated that 76 per cent of
Harvard men and 82 per cent of Radcliffe girls
felt the need for "some form of religious orien-
tation or belief in order to achieve a fully ma-
ture philosophy of life." The recent survey
showed that only 59 per cent of the men and 55
per cent of the girls admitted that they felt such
a need.
•
z
'Fables of Jewish Aesop': Hadas'
Posthumous Book ofTranslations
As a posthumous work, Moses Hadas' translation of the Fox Fables
of Berechiah ha-Nakdan stands out as another great achievement by
the man who headed one of the most important departments at
Columbia University as Jay Professor of Greek and whose Hebraic,
Latin and Greek scholarship gave him world eminence.
Under the title "Fables of a Jewish Aesop," the tales of Berechiah-
ha-Nakdan were published by Columbia University Press. An important
introduction by Dr. W. T. H. Jackson gives the
background of Roman fables in relation to those of
ha-Nakdan and contains explanatory notes on the
author of the fables and the translator. There are
impressive woodcuts to illustrate the work by Fritz
KredeL
Berechiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan, whose He-
brew Fox Fables gained fame, was a Hebrew gram-
marian and Bible commentator who lived in France
in the late 12th or early 13th century. Jackson's
introduction points to sources with which the He-
brew author may have been linked. He mentions
the Romulus fables of the Roman poet Phaedrus,
Dr. Hadas
14-60 C.E. He compares several of the fables to indicate their possible
likenesses.
Then there are the Marie tie France fables written in the late
12th Century. "All scholars agree," according to Jackson, "that
Marie used a source written in English, but that it was not the
fable collection of King Alfred mentioned in her prologue. There
are in her work a large number of fables from the standard
'Romulus' collections; a few demonstrably from Eastern sources;
some from the beast epic 'Roman de Renart,' which was rapidly
becoming popular in the 12th century ... There remain a number
of fables from sources completely unknown, and it is thus the
more remarkable that many of these appear not only in Matie's
collection but also in the 'Fox Fables' of Berechiah. Of the 13 such
fables found in both authors, seven have precisely the same plot,
and six show a basic resemblance. Another 37 of the Hebrew 'Fox
Fables' are to be found in both Marie's work and in the standard
'Romulus' collections, and it is clear that Berechiah was using the
work of Marie rather than the Latin versions."
When questioned as to their "current religious
orientation," fewer than 30 per cent of the 1946
students replied "none or doubtful." But over
Jackson's analyses of Berechiah's life and works and his note on
42 per cent today said they had no religion or the noted translator, Prof. Hadas, are of immense value in under-
were in doubt about it.
standing and appreciating the posthumously published Hadas book.
These findings should alert the churches
There are 119 stories in Hadas' translations, "Fables of a Jewish
as to just how much they need to do to meet Aesop." Here is a typical fable from this volume, appearing under the
the needs of young people and to show the heading "MOUSE & HOLE: WHOSO LORDS IT OVER THE WEALTH
relevance of religion to today's world.
OF STRANGERS WILL RID HIMSELF OF IT EVEN AS HE
This non-Jewish viewpoint also is worth SWALLOWED IT":
noting in view of the interesting observa-
tions. If churches are to be alerted, syna-
gogues, too, must consider the threats to re-
ligions seriously.
We have cause to be less worried than
the non-Jews. The secularists' growth does
not diminish Jewish ranks; it reduces syna-
gogue attendance. While this, too, is a matter
for concern, it is not a threat to Jewish sur-
vival as long as intermarriage and total as-
similation can be averted. But to regain the
status that belongs to the synagogue the
Jewish communities must review responsibili-
ties and think in terms of regaining lost
status. That can only be attained by giving
the Jewish communal structure the spiritual
values that have lost their effects. It calls
for serious planning. Whether the present
leadership can measure up to the task re-
mains to be seen.
"A mouse lean and black entered a granary through a hole and
put his tooth to the grain. He ate and was satisfied and grew fat;
he covered his face with fatness, and his little finger was thicker
than the loins he had brought thither in the beginning. When he
wished to return upon his path he could not pass through the hole
by which he had come. The cat looked at him and said: 'The hole is
not of a size with thee. Mouse, what is this thou host done? Thou art
waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness. Before
thou return by this path the fat of thy flesh must grow lean. Never
shalt thou see the fathers thou didst know if thou vomit not forth
that which thou host swallowed.' The keepers of the granary heard
him, and they chased him and smote him and bruised him.
"The parable is for a man whose heart made him lord it over
the wealth of strangers. Even as he swallowed so did he rid himself
of it. A host he swallowed, but he spewed it forth; in the half of his
days it forsook him."
Hadas' translated works add to the English bookshelves a classic
from the early period of French Jewish scholarship. They popularize
the fables of a scholar whose popularity was limited to the readers
of Hebrew literature. Now it is part of world literature and at the
same time 'it enriches the Jewish folklore library.