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 $7 a year. Foreign $8.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

SIDNEY SHMARAK

CHARLOTTE DUBIN

Editor and Publisher

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

City Editor

Passover Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 15th day of Nisan, 5728, first day of Passover, the
following scriptural selections will be read in our syinmgogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Exod. 12:21-51, Num. 28:16-25. Prophetical por-
tion, Joshua 5:2-6:1, 27.
The following scriptural selections will be read on Sunday, second day
of Passover: Pentateuchal portions, Levit. 22:26-23:44, Num. 28:16-25. Pro-
phetical portion; II Kings 23:1-9, 21-25.
Hot Hamoed Passover scriptural readings: Monday, Exod. 13:1-6, Num.
28:19-25; Tuesday, Exod. 22:24-23:19, Num. 28:19-25; Wednesday, Exod.
34:1-26, Num. 28:19-25; Thursday, N11171. 9:1-14, 8:19-25
Scriptural readings for seventh day of Passover, April 19: Pentateuchal
portions, Exod. 13:17-15:26, Num. 28:19-25. Prophetical portion, II Samuel
22:1-51.

fi

every gerieratiori,orie ought to regard himself as though
he wad personally come out of Eairzt,

N

Candle lighting Friday, April 12, 6:51 p.m.

VOL. LIII. NO. 4

Page Four

April 12, 1968

Symbol of the 'Matzo of Hope'

When, on Passover, we express hope for amelioration of
miseries suffered by our fellow-Jews by chanting a special prayer
during the seder ceremony, we pursue a policy aimed at remem-
bering, at retaining the admonitions always to be on the alert in
the battle for freedom.
It is because we must remember—in order that the genera-
tion to come, whose participation in the sedorim is so vital,
should measure up to whatever other challenges may face them—
we recited for many years a special prayer in remembrance of
the Holocaust, in tribute to the martyrs who suffered at the
hands of the Nazis.
In recent years we became an united community, wherever
Jews congregated on Passover, by reciting "This is the matzo
of hope," in the course of which we_ read _in unison:
"This matzo which was set aside, as a symbol of hope for the
three million Jews of the Soviet Union, reminds us of the in-de-
structible link that exists between us.
"As we observe - this festival of freedom, we know that Soviet
Jews are not free to learn of their Jewish past, to hand it down
to their children. They cannot learn the language of their fathers.
They cannot teach their children to be the teachers, the rabbis
of future generations.
"They can only sit in silence and become invisible. We shall
be their voice, and our voices shall be joined by thousands of men
of conscience aroused by the wrongs suffered by Soviet Jews. Then
shall they know that they have not been forgotten, and they that
sit in darkness shall yet see a great light."
Passover's lesson is a simple one. As the eminent scholar Rabbi Morris Joseph
Now, as we prepare to recite these words, we are faced
with new dangers, other communities need our supplication, defined it in "Judaism as Creed of Life" (1903), "the festival affirms the great truth
more Jews depend upon us for assistance, and an enlarged
that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being." This is in the tradi-
Jewish group hopes for fulfillment of prayers in their behalf.
tion of Jewish teachings: that the quest for freedom and for just treatment is not
-And there are the Jews who remain in Moslem countries, a right only of those who propagate it or plead for it but of all
peoples.
whose security is uncertain, whose long years of residence among
Arabs is ending, who have been deprived of their possessions
This Passover, more than at any other time, there is need for re-definition of
and whose very lives are threatened.
the term freedom. There are threats to the liberties of humankind in many areas,
We will be adding, a matzo of hone to the seder plate and and the Passover lesson needs to be applied again to the mass, to all
nations, and it
as we perform that task and recite "this is the matzo of hope"
we are aware that at present it is merely a hope. Our prayer is needs reaffirmation even in democratic countries where it" is often abused.
for its realization. May the prayers of the multitudes of suf-
We are not immune from danger to human dignities even in our own land.
ferers be honored with an end to misery and the beginning of It is not the race issue alone that challenges us,, as it has for
200 years, but the right
a new day of freeJom for all.
to self-expression, to dissent, to every citizen's inherent privilege to assert himself.
And on this score we are continually admonished that acquisition of freedom does
not imply the right to abuse this privilege and to resort to lawlessness. If we link
There still are two Jewries divided on the basis of affluence the quest for freedom with the obligation not to abuse the rights of other
people,
and of social standards. There are Jewries of the free world— when we affirm that our own right to self-expression also carries with
it the ob-
and we in the American sphere are more than half of the entire ligation
to respect simliar rights of others, we at once become partners in the great
people of Israel. The other half includes the courageous and
ambition to guarantee justice and to assure the liberties of all.
democratically oriented State of Israel, the isolated communities
behind the Iron Curtain, the strong groups akin to ours in
The horrible act in Memphis last week, the snuffing out of the life of a man who
European countries and the remaining segments of Jews in advocated
non-violence and labored for peace, gave evidence that in the course of chart-
Moslem countries.
ing
human
and creating unity for liberty there must also be vigilance against
All that can possibly he done is being exerted by the Ameri- insanity and relations
depravity.
May the lessons taught us by what had happened to Dr. Martin
can Joint Distribution Committee and allied social service organi- Luther King lead this nation
to tranquility and to end of indecency that stemmed from
zations in other lands to aid the oppressed Jews who are still an age of slavery.
residing in lands dominated by Arabs and Moslems.
This is a task not to be minimized. It is a duty that is
Passover has a specific lesson for Jews everywhere. This is the festival that- -
weighted down with so many urgent needs that it requires the cements Jews in all climes with the past. The festival continues as a link with f
cooperation of the entire people.
centuries of Jewish history and at this time, as much as during the most sacrt.t ----
If the kinship of all of our people is to be fully ascertained period on the Jewish calendar, families are reunited, and a great tradition marking ad-
and proper aid given to those who must be uplifted above the herence to the most ideal principles in Judaism, is reaffirmed. As Heinrich Heine
humiliations that are embittering their lives, there must be indicated in his "Rabbi of Bachrach: "Jews who long ago have drifted from the faith
effected a unity so strong that it will overshadow all of the clouds of their fathers are stirred in their inmost parts when the old, familiar Passover
that had gathered around our fellow men.
sounds chance to fall upon their ears."
The challenges to world Jewry have far from ended. Israel,
It is no wonder that on Passover we think not only of the beauties of the festival
having emerged victorious on the battlefield, has never really
itself, of the jdys it provides for us, but also of the rights of our fellow men, of
attained security on the world arena and on its borders.
Situations involving Israel's neighbors are more threatening the obligation we have to wipe out injustice wherever it may become evident.
than ever. The enemies within and those without have caused
There is one very important lesson taught by Passover: the one that commands
havoc. And on the international arena, at the United Nations,
us to pass on its teachings to our children, the powerful admonition to all of us
there are not enough friends to provide even a semblance of peace,
never to forget the past, not to overlook the scars that had been inflicted by tyranny,
even an iota of assurance that enmities will dwindle.
We must exert our might to assure security for our kinsmen. to strive for perpetuation of just rule everywhere, for all of us.
We can and must do it through the current Allied Jewish Cam-
offering this lesson, Passover strengthens the link that binds this generation
paig n, by aiding the United Jewish Appeal and its kindred funds with In
the past, seekincr assurance that the legacy of our people should never be aban-
and b by assuring uninterrupted actions by our own educational doned.
In this spirit b Passover must be greeted anew with a courageous determina-
and social service media that give sustenance to the spiritual life
tion
that
injustice should never be tolerated and that in striving for liberty for
of our people.
ourselves we must assure it for our neighbors and for peoples everywhere.

Passover: Our Unending Link With the Centuries

Kinship With the Less Fortunate