r
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 Si a year. Foreign S7.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit. Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fourth day of Elul, 5727, the following scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuclial portion: Dent. 16:18-21:9. Prophetical portion: Isaiah 51:12-52:12.
Candle lighting.
VOL. I.I. No. 25
Friday, September 8, 7:36 p.m.
Page Four
September 8, 1967
World Jewry in Major Pro-Israel Role
There are mounting possibilities that in
spite of all the threats, regardless of the
venom that has accumulated against Israel
and world Jewry — and incidentally also
against the United States—in Arab countries,
there may be peace. An important area in
the worldcannot be subjected to endless war-
fare and tens of millions of peoples' destiny
can not possibly be shrouded in endless
dangers.
It may take a long time. Arab spokesmen,
many of them encouraged by the Kremlin,
can be expected to shout,slogans coined with
an aim at destruction, of-mass annihilation of
Israelis and Jews. But some time in the near
future there has to be u cessation of saber-
rattling. If the present Arab leaders should
be purged, there may, for a time, arise even
more dangerous ruling elements. But even
the most most wanton and most hateful must
come to terms with reality in the course of
time.
In the interim, Israel must be protected,
the embattled nation's sovereignty must be
assured and her friends must stand united
against the accumulating forces that are de-
termined to portray Israelis in most unfavor-
able postures.
This is where American and other Jewries
assume most challenging roles. During and
immediately after the Six-Day War, there was
a great deal of admiration for Israel and
there were many expressions of friendship
for the numerically- and territorially-small
nation. Now there is evidence of an emerging
bitterness in many quarters which threatens
to divide the world anew in the relationship
to Israel. Once again, therefore, the major
dependable friend of Israel—world Jewry—
becomes the chief factor to be counted upon
in hopes to assure Israel's security.
This status of world Jewry is, we believe,
well recognized and properly understood.
Such a role becomes even more obligatory
both in the interim period before we can
hope for peace and when, as all humankind
hopes and prays for, there is to be an actual
agreement for amity and for an end to the
war between the Jews and their Arab
"cousins."
When the time comes to remove the mil-
itary from the borders, to establish amicable
relations, to open up the borders so that
tourism may be possible in a wide expanse—
in Israel and in the Arab countries on a safe
basis—and to create a strong commercial tie
among all the people in the Middle East, it
will be necessary to build anew, to create the
hoped-for cultural centers, to make certain
that Israel — the state and the people —
emerge in the proper light in which Israel
functions as an historical entity, as the spiri-
tual force in behalf of Jewry and the world
at large.
Our responsibilities will grow. There are
hundreds of thousands of our kinsmen yet
to be rescued and to be resettled in a re-
deemed Zion. There are schools to be built
and scholars to be encouraged to protect the
heritage of our people.
These are facts to be remembered and
especially to he taken into consideration now,
as we are about to plan for a new year of
activity, much of which will be in the realm
of philanthropy. In the course of such plan-
ning it must never be forgotten that world
Jewry is charged with the most serious re-
sponsibilities in planning for Israel's security
and sovereignty and programing for an
appreciation of the historic role in which
we are presently cast.
Return to Sanity Calls for End to 'Power Pressures
Hitler lost the military operations. Did
he triumph with his inhuman appeals to
hatred, in his advocacy of genocide and the
destruction of everything that is sacred in
life?
One would imagine, judging by the out-
bursts of passions and insanities that stem
from "power" groups and bigoted elements,
that we are back where we started in the
mid-1930s, when the civilized peoples united
to oppose the rising tides of Nazism and
Fascism.
In Washington a group of swastika-be-
decked, depraved youths shouted the Hitler
slogan. In Hanoi a "black power" spokes-
man urged Negro American soldiers to
shoot at their fellow-Americans, the com-
manders of their troops. In Iron Curtain
countries there is a revival of the atrocious
"Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and the
medieval ritual murder libel.
All of which adds to the chaos in which
we are enveloped, giving the impression
that we are back in the jungle, that we are
sinking in swamps of hatred and insanity.
Nevertheless, there are signs of sanity
from other quarters. It is not all black. It
is always the person who shouts the loudest
who gets the most attention, but he is sel-
dom the last to rule over his fellow men.
The American Nazi group may or may
not have finished its song of hate, but the
tactics of a depraved little gang of hoodlums
wearing swastikas is now better known and
is understood for what it is worth and for
the menacing inanities it stands for.
But even this little group can become
more menacing, if the appeals to race
hatred should become its dominant aim.
Therefore, in battling against this danger
it is vital that there should be no encourage-
ment to race hatred and that the causes
for such venom should be removed. Else
we'll all be the victims of the craze that
would be rejected even in the jungle.
And if there is to be an elimination
of the comfort that has been given to the
hate-mongering and crazed dehumanized
enemies of everything that is sacred to
human life, then those who are advocating
"black power" or any other appeals to
violence must abandon their destructive
tactics.
If we are to have a return to sanity we
must also have an abandonment of the in-
sane factors in life. This applies to all
"power" groups. To attain the goal of fair
play and common decency, on all fronts,
and certainly most especially on the Ameri-
can scene, there will be need for wise as
well as strong leadership that will be able
to guide our people towards the basic goals
of Americanism. At the moment we ap-
pear weakened in our leadership. The at-
tainment of proper guidance, the resumption
of strength that is inherent in the American
way of life, is the goal to be aimed at. Then
we shall have a resumption of our proper
democratic aims and the regaining of a
status that will be steeped in courage and
without fear.
—ask
Dr. Sandmel's 'Herod' Reviews
Life of Tyrant and His Qualities
Chiefly interested in the history of Christianity of the First Cen-
tury, having specialized in works on Paul and paulism, Dr. Samuel
Sandmel, professor of Bible and Hellenistic literature at Hebrew
Union College, added to his biblical studies Virg' • Z.'s,'
the era of Herod when he was invited to
write about Herod "the Great" for the
"Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible."
That encouraged him to plan a book on
Herod. This is realized in "Herod: Profile
of a Tyrant," published by J. B. Lippin-
cott Co., Philadelphia.
It is a erevaling work in which Prof.
Sandmel contends that "Herod is the re-
current figure who, in the guise of a
Napoleon, or a Mussolini, periodically
arises." His contention is, on this score:
"We hold such people properly in
scorn, but we are often tempted to ridi-
cule the diabolic qualities that they Dr. Sandmel
possess and put to use. All too often a powerless or complacent
populace consents to the seizure of power by such men, as if
they are impossible to resist. It is only in extremely civilized states
that the mores or the laws manage to impede the rise of such
persons to power, but even high civilizations, such as that of
Germany, have succumbed to such a person."
This viewpoint is especially valuable for an understanding of Dr.
Sandmel's interpretation of Herod's role and for his contention that
Herod's "special eminence in wickedness is, to be sure, accidental,
namely, the circumstance that the Gospel according to Matthew
brings him into relationship with Jesus, and as a consequence Herod
receives more attention in the western world than he really deserves."
Is it possible that only the inclusion of Herod's name in Matthew
accounts for the emphasis on his role in Jewish history? Dr. Sandmel
is quite emphatic on this core, stating that Herod, "thoroughly wicked,
is only a minor name in a list of the men of wickedness who have
dotted the history of Europe from the ascendancy of Rome until our
own days."
In his impressive biography, Dr. Sandmel introduces Herod
as the hated, the cruel, who "was also maligned." He states that
"ambition led Herod to seek a throne not his, and be attained it.
Having attained it, he needed to retain it; to retain it, he needed
to be ruthless, merciless and despotic." But: "Even the maligners
of Herod attribute great abilities to him. One need not admire
the particular abilities he displayed. One need only recall that,
dependent on Rome, detested by the populace, and harassed by
intrigue in the palace, he managed to retain his throne for 33
years, and to bequeath it to his children. They had neither his
abilities, nor his skill in retaining the throne, and some grand-
children were virtually degenerates."
But in reference to the Gospel story, Dr. Sandmel questions authen-
ticity. Speaking of "the case in the Gospel according to Matthew,
which attributes the birth of Jesus to the last year of the reign of
Herod," Dr. Sandmel states: "It relates that Herod, informed that
a child was born who was to become king of the Jews, gave orders to
kill all babies (just as Pharaoh had ordered the slaughter of Hebrew
children in the time of Moses). Joseph, the father of Jesus, thereupon
fled to Egypt with the infant Jesus, and escaped Herod's slaughter.
Not a word of this in Josephus."
Prof. Sandmel draws extensively upon Josephus in his account
of Herod's rule, of his cruelties, of the court intrigues.
As an historical record Dr. Sandmel's "Herod" is a splendid
revaluation of an important era in ancient Jewish history. It makes
reference to the military objectives of Herod's time, to the relationship
with Rome. There is an interesting comment, of interest now in view
of the great attraction of Masada to tourists in Israel, to that fortress.
He states that "Herod's first military objective was not Jerusalem, but
the relief of Masada," that for his southward drive he needed to
neutralize the coastal town of Joppa (Jaffa) and "he manag e d to take
Joppa and he moved on to Masada, where he lifted the siege and
freed his fugitive family."
The schemes which marked Herod's rulerships, the court murders,
the dominating role of the tyrant—scores of such events that marked
the life of a tyrant are recorded in a biography well delineated.