THE JEWISH NEWS
tiscorporruing The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of Englisb—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial
Amociatlon.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co, 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit, Mich. 43235
VE 3-9364- Subscription 16 a year. Foreign 57.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Rosiness Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Yom Kippur Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: Morning, Leah. 16:1-34, Num. 29:7-11; afternoon,
Levit. 18:1-30.
Prophetical portions: Morning, Isaiah 57:14-58:14; afternoon, Jonah 1:1-4:11,
Micah 7:18-20.
Candle lighting, Friday, Oct. 13, 6.35 p.m.
Snkkot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: Thursday and Friday, Oct. 19 and 20, Levit. 22:26-23:44,
1%; um. 29:12-16.
Prophetical portions: First Day, Thursday, Zechariah 19:1-21; second day, FridnY,
I Kings 8:2 - 21.
VOL. LH, No. 4
October 13, 1%7
Page Four
Yom Kippur and the Spirit of Israel's Oneness
On Yom Kippur it was assumed as a cer-
tainty that most Jews were gathered in the
synagogues, that the Jewish communities
responded in a spirit of unity, that the One-
ness of Israel is certain to manifest itself at
least on this day.
For number of years, the lack of ob-
servance caused the classification of many
Jews as three-day-a-year Jews. Then they
were reduced to two-day-a-year observers.
More lately, it has been reduced to a status
of Yom Kippur Jews.
Perhaps such a denigration is unjustified.
Jews can not always be classed in accordance
with regularity of synagogue attendance. Yet
it is true that the Yom Kippur solemnity,
the devotion which reminds all Jews of their
kinship, is strongest on the Day of Atone-
ment.
Perhaps the message of this day will be
felt with greater dedication as time pro-
Yom
pp ur a p -
gresses.ru
The truth is that the
Y Ki
peal is a unifying one and on this solemn day
of the Great Fast the Oneness of Israel is
fully affirmed. May it spell continuity in
Israel's aspirations and may it lead to the
fulfillment of the peace among men that is
so vital to the message of this great day on
our calendar.
Newspaper Week: Getting Things Done
•
"Newspapers Get Things Done" is the
slogan for National Newspaper Week to be
observed Oct. 8-14, and unless the services of
the American press are unduly taken for
granted there must be a realization of the
major role the press holds in cementing hu-
man relations and in assuring a platform for
the programs in support of the people's rights
and freedoms.
For nearly 300 years — since the pub-
lication of America's first newspaper in 1690
— the press has provided a platform for
people to express themselves and has de-
fended their status whenever there was abuse
of power or an attempt to suppress the basic
human principles upon which our democracy
is built.
President Johnson summarized the posi-
tion of the newspaper in a salute to the
press, on the occasion of the current News-
paper Week, by stating:
"In our nation, which spreads so far and
wide across both continent and sea, news-
papers have unparalleled power and
significance. They are nerve centers of in-
formation and of action. They are educa-
tors, counselors, entertainers and corn-
nzunity servants. They carry forward the
principles that gave our nation life — and
they enrich that life by provoking and
marshalling the thoughtz, talents, and en-
ergies of Americans everywhere toward
the promise of growing fulfillment. I know
that all nzy fellow citizens join with nze in
traditional salute to their indispensable
service.
It is thanks to the American newspaper
that the rights of oppressed minorities have
been brought to public light. Thanks to the
press the racial issue is being viewed dispas-
sionately and the facts regarding the de-
velopments in our communities are made
known — and there are no secrets about the
nation's needs and the people's aspirations
to guarantee that our spokesmen in the na-
tion's capital should strive for fair play and
for the elimination of injustice.
*
*
*
The world's accumulating problems, the
struggles among nations, the search for free-
dom in many of the world's underdeveloped
areas — these are subjected to scrutiny in
order that the One World should not be trans-
formed into a jungle.
In the course of taking stock of the gen-
eral press in America it is vital that Jewish
communities should consider also the status
of the Jewish press which has developed as a
major factor in the functions of American
Jewry. The responsibilities of these news-
papers are mounting and their development
is as much a part of the educational pro-
gram as it is a means of communications be-
tween the various communities and the
Jewries throughout the world.
"Newspapers Get Things Done" is as ap-
plicable to the Jewish press of America as
it is to the general press. And if the accom-
plishments are to be effective, the press
must serve the interest of its community.
There is no doubt that the Jewish press
has attained that status. What is needed is
a strengthening of hand and the lending
of such encouragement which will assure for
the newspaper in the Jewish community the
links that strengthen the cultural elements
and provide the sinews with which to make
the medium of communications an effective
factor within Jewry and among our neighbors.
While crediting our newspapers with all
the qualities that enable it to get things
done, there are shortcomings which must not
be overlooked.
There are shortcomings in the Jewish
press. So much is happening on many fronts
affecting the lives of all of us that careful
attention must be given to the events that
are revolutionizing our very existence and
are certain to affect the future of our chil-
dren and grandchildren.
Fullest coverage of news is the only way
of keeping our people informed and fully
aware of what is transpiring. To accomplish
this task, the press must have the support
of an interested community. In many cities
this is lacking, and since the so-called na-
tional press that was hitherto represented by
the Yiddish newspapers is no longer effective,
it is the English-Jewish newspaper that must
assume the status of American Jewry's organ.
Unless our communities show a proper in-
terest, that organ will not gain the strength
it needs.
*
*
•
Shortcomings among daily newspapers
are too blatant to be ignored.. LSD gets more
attention than scientific advancement. Sensa-
tionalism is rampant. The lack of interest,
due perhaps to lack of understanding, was
in evidence during the aftermath of the Six-
Day War and in the course of the mud-sling-
ing that was aimed at Israel by the com-
bined Arab-Communist blocs. When Israel
was accused of atrocities there were sensa-
tional headlines. When U Thant and his
emissary, Sweden's diplomat Nils-Goran Gus-
sing, issued statements disproving such
charges, little if any attention was paid to
the matter.
With high goals in 'view, Newspaper Week
is important as an interpreter of the high
goals of the press Which must serve the peo-
ple with an aim of .establishing the, highest
standards for all.
Yonah's 'Shaarei Teshuva'
Published as Bilingual Volume
An historic work, by an eminent Jewish scholar of medieval
times, has just been issued by Philipp Feldheim, Inc., (96 E. B'way,
NY2), and its appearance enriches the modern Jewish library.
A bilingual text of "Shaarei Teshuva—Gates of Repentance" by
Rabbenu Yonah ben Avraham of Gerona-13th Century scholar—has
been printed for Feldheim by Boy's Town Press of Jerusalem. The
English translation is by Shraga Silverstein.
This work has great historic merit. Concerning itself with Jewish
conduct, with repentance, with principles related to prayer, saintliness,
penitence, it offers anew to the English reader, as well as to those who
can study the principles in the original Hebrew. the teachings of a
great scholar. Appearing during the Holy Days, this volume has special
significance in the context of the repentance theme.
The first edition of "Shaarei Teshuva" is reproduced here in
its original with vowel points, references to sources, the totality of
a sacred text; and the English translation on opposite pages has been
rendered with perfection.
While this volume has been used primarily as a subject for
specified studies by students for the rabbinate, in yeshivot, it has
merit for lay readers, for all who are concerned with the basic matters
involving faith and conduct of Jewish living.
Replete with resort to Tora, to Talmud and Midrash, this work
is among the immensely significant commentaries on basic Jewish
traditional practices.
The translator is himself fully versed in Jewish traditional studies,
I and the introduction contains an interesting comment on Rabbenu
Yonah's learned work. Silverstein states in his introduction:
"Because Rabbenu Yonah speaks through Tora rather than about
it; because Tora, with him, is so much the essential man, that the
I language and expressions of Tora become the very vehicle through
, which his meaning is conveyed, his translator's major task becomes
one of tracing his allusions to their sources in the Tora, and rendering
them as a related whole—as they existed in the mind of the author.
; In this task the present translator has been greatly assisted by the
Zeh Hashaar, an invaluable interpretation of the Shaarei Teshuva by
a contemporary Tora scholar, who, in his humility, has not put his
name to his work."
Credit for having encouraged the publication of this work is given
to Yaakov Feldheim, published of "Toro Classics Series."
'Rabbinical Counseling' Provides
Suicide and Intermarriage Data
Views by six rabbis on subjects involving suicide, the mentally
ill, intermarriage, college students and general counseling are in-
corporated in "Rabbinical Counseling," published by Bloch.
Edited by Rabbi Earl A. Grollman of Belmont, Mass., who wrote
an explanatory introduction as well as the concluding and one of the
longer essays on the subject "Rabbinical Counseling and Suicide,"
the participants and their subjects include:
"Counseling, Empathy and the Rabbi," Prof. Robert L. Katz,
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; "The New Moral-
ity and College Religious Counseling," Rabbi Richard L. Rubenstein,
director, University of Pittsburgh Hillel Foundation; "The Rabbi and
the Problem of Intermarriage," Rabbi Albert I. Gordon, Newton,
Mass.; "Counseling the Aged and Their Families," Rabbi Irwin M.
Blank, Tenafly, N. J.; "The Rabbi and the Mentally Ill," Rabbi Israel
J. Gerber, Charlotte, N. C.
"Whatever the reasons for the 14163 of Jewish family values,
the rabbi must deal with the results of social disorganization,"
Rabbi Grollman asserts in his introductory essay. He points out
that heretofore rabbis were reluctant to provide counseling. After
exploring experiences among Christian clergy he declares that
"counseling has played an important role in Jewish tradition,"
that "the Bible reveals various prototypes et M.: counselor," that:
"The goal of the rabbi is not to engage in prolonged analysis
neurotic symptoms. His responsibility is M kip the multitude."
Considerable psychological research on the subject of suicide is
evidenced in Rabbi Grollman's essay. He quotes figures to show the
extent of suicides among Jews and he shows how demoralizing influ-
ences contributed to a rise in suicides during the Nazi era. He em-
phasizes the role of religion in establishing "a power of faith" and
a love for life. He outlines the part a religious teacher can play in
encouraging the quest for life, and declares: "Self-destruction is the
paradigm of the individuals' independence from everyone else."
The analyses of problems provide guidance for rabbis in their '
preparation for counseling, and lay readers as welL