Purely Commentary

The appearance here on Sunday of Ira Hirschmann, as guest
speaker at the dinner in honor of Rabbi Mordecai Halpern, brings
back recollections about a man who had rendered such valuable
services in rescue effort during
World War II that his labors will
be recorded indelibly in the his-
tory of humanitarian efforts.
It was thanks to Hirschmann
that the late Pope John XXIII be-
t-amp more deeply interested in
relief effort for sufferers from
Nazism; Hirschmann was primar-
ily responsible for the saving of
thousands of Hungarian Jews; it
was thanks to him that the late
Secretary of the Treasury Henry
Morgenthau Jr. confronted Presi-
dent Franklin Roosevelt with de-
mands that something definite be
done to avert the tragedies that
were then impending for the Six
Million who perished at the hands
-
Hirschmann
of the Germans.
Arthur Morse's "While Six Million Died" pays deserved tribute
. to Hirschmann's labors, and we can commend that revealing book
--- -anew as a source book for an understanding of what had occurred
during the Holocaust and for an appreciation of the great tasks under-
taken and some of them achieved by Ira Hirschmann.

*

Student Unrest
Linked to Nazis'
Re-Emergence

ingly well in attracting funds for his campaign.
The state Democratic chairman supporting Governor Branigin
STRASBOURG, France (JTA)—
asserts that Senators Kennedy and McCarthy will spend $2,00,000 Maurice Edelman, writer and Brit-
each. Wildly implausible as that is in Mr. McCarthy's case, the ish Labor MP, warned here that
Kennedy forces admit that they will spend $500,000, and no one student unrest in West Germany is
would be surprised at an expenditure by them twice or three times contributing to a re-emergence of
as great. The truth is no one will ever know how much money is Nazism there. Edelman spoke be-
poured forth in Indiana, because the state has no effective law' f ore th e Council of Europe parlia-
on the reporting of campaign spending and it would require some mentary assembly.
shrewd cost accounting as well as detective work to track down
The "sinister elements that m- -
allow the
all the hidden expenditures.
Yet in its gross effects the power of money is writ large cite youth to violence that have
across the Indiana primary. If Mr. McCarthy loses there, his evil things of Nazism ave
defeat will raise once again the deeply troublesome question— : lain buried under the stone of his-
can a poor man win a Presidential nomination in today's Amer- tory
emerge
in a new
form pro-
but
that they
with to
the
old claim
ica? For the sums to be spent in Indiana are small compared to w
said.
Edelman
oty,"
cie
those that will be expended in California and the other primaries 1
tect
He snoted the continuing electoral
the extreme r ight-
still to come.
The question is not simply whether Indiana is for sale but successes ional Democratic
cratic Party in
whether the entire American political process is up for sale. It is . wing Nat
o declared, "is
imperative that Congress and the nation reopen the paths to . Germany
which, of
he interest not to
a phenomenon
power for all men of talent, regardless of the size of their check- ! 1 Germany alone" but the concern
o fear "the unhappy con-
book.
all who which will inevitab ly
The question can be repeated in all seriousness: "can a poor ' of
sequences
man win a Presidential nomination in today's America?"
i flow from the rise of neo-N sm
Money aside. we reiterate the already stated preference: it is our I in Germany."
Meanwhile, a left-wing
view that Hubert H. Humphrey is best qualified for the Presidency and
net
we hope for his success in Chicago in August and at the national nation, Democratic Action
Neo-Nazism and Fascism. which
polls in November.
i was set up in January with head-
*
*
•
1 quarters in Munch has been sub-
A Catholic View: 'Misunderstanding Mary'
In the current issue of the Michigan Catholic, W.X.K., writing on jetted since its inception to a tor-
rent of letters and telephone calls,
the subject "Misunderstanding Mary," had this to say:
Last month, in the Cairo suburb of Zaitoun, a Moslem garage most of them anti-Semitic and
keeper thought he saw a woman about to jump from the roof of many threatening violence.
Frank Arnau, a .writer and its
the Church of the Virgin. The woman turned out to be the Virgin,
chairman, received 51 calls and
herself.
Since April 2. more than 200 people have claimed to have 54 letters in the four days after
seen the vision of Mary, the Mother of God, at, in and on top of . the organization held its first
the Church of the Virgin. Among the viewers have been a Coptic . rally in January in Munich, he
bishop, members of the clergy, common Egyptians, both Christian reported.
Arnau also is president of the
and Moslem. and a number of foreign visitors.
German League of Rights.
There have been miraculous cures that Church officials claim I In Salonika, a leader of the
have been scientifically proven.
promise of Greek-Jewish community declared
Coptic churchmen see in. these apparitions a
Egypt's victory over Israel. In fact, early reports of the visions in an address at a memorial meet-
attributed anti-Israeli statements to the Virgin. But, since Mary ing honoring those who perished
is a Jew. that must have been hard even for an Egyptian to in the Nazi Holocaust, that the
swallow for later reports now indicate the apparitions were silent. Nazi crimes against humanity
Yet one Egyptian newspaper commented: "Another Pales- must be exempted from the in-
tinian refugee. She could not stand it in Jerusalem after Israeli junction to "forgive and forget.'
occupation." Prof. C. Azarias of the Univer-
And 'a Coptic bishop remarked: "We consider the apparitions sity of Salonika said "of course
a good sign, a symbol of God Who sees what the Jews have done we must forget and forgive and
in the- holy places of Jerusalem. God is not happy. He will help try to eradicate hatred from our
us. God is strengthening the spirit of the people-of Egypt and the hearts. But there are some events,
Arab nations. We are waiting for victory." like the crimes of the Nazi era,
Such interpretations can only inflame the Arab nations and the memory of which must be
liberation of what already has been kept undimmed throughout the
trigger them into a violent ages. This must be done as a
liberated.

Ira Hirschnlann's Historic Role in Rescue Work

*

By Philip
Slomovitz

Personalities Who Have
Earned Acclaim . . . Note
on Our Political Processes

*

Albert Elazar's 20-Year Educational Record Here

In the 20 years that Albert Elazay served the United Hebrew
Schools in Detroit, many progressive advantages have been attained
for the local Jewish school system.
Numerous changes have taken place during the two decades of
his services here. The teachers' status has changed rapidly throughout
the land, and Detroit was not an exception to the rule. On the con-
trary, the survey conducted by the American Association for Jewish
Education gave Detroit a position of leadership and gave Mr. Elazar
special credit for attainments which have elevated the local system
into a high level of leadership. The findings of the survey speak of
his "imaginative leadership" and of the establishment of "good
working relationships with synagogues and other community groups."
The local schools' attendance has increased measurably during
these 20 years and the teachers' status has risen. There were serious
problems and many of them have not been fully solved. But there is
an approach to what is hoped will be even better relations with
teachers and the community and there is hope that out of the higher
classes of learning there may yet emerge a new class of teachers
produced here under Mr. Elazar's leadership.
The honors to be accorded to Mr. Elazar at the annual United
Hebrew Schools' dinner next week are well deserved. The community
has good reason to hope that there will be added achievements in the
years ahead, that the entire teaching profession will be elevated and
that Mr. Elazar's striving for even higher standards will retain for
our community a great role as a kehilla whose aim is to perpetuate the
legacy of Israel that places learning above all other qualities.

Constituencies Must Not Be for Sale

The Blessed Mother may have appeared in Zaitoun. But if she sacred duty to the memory of the a
---- Indiana's primary was generally viewed as , a possible
did, the churchmen clearly have missed the point of her visit. victims and to mankind as
indication of the way in which the national election could go in
Surely, war is not nearest and dearest to the heart of Mary. whole. We must remember and re-
November. Yet, everything presently is speculative and no one can
If this is the way Egyptians understand Mary, what's a nice mind future generations so that
foretell who will be nominated and how the election will go.
Lady like her doing in a place like that? they are forewarned against a
But from Indiana came certain admonitions. Richard Nixon was
Enough said! What W.X.K. stated is applicable to numerous repetition of such crimes against
interviewed immediately after the balloting, and be made some corn-
. .
a
Mav it serve as a lesson to all who seek any group of exposed human be-
ments that deserve special attention. He expressed thebelief
_ , _ ;
i n g s. "
Senator Eugene McCarthy does not have the money or the organiza- an o assurance
er re g of good will and common sense among hinrkans!
tion and therefore soon will be out of the running, and he evaluated
m.0■••■0■0.........•
■41■42•Nno4r4•Nro
■
■
■
Hubert Humphrey and Robert Kennedy as follows: Humphrey has
the organization and Kennedy the money, therefore he'll bet on
Boris Smolar's
Kennedy to be his opponent at the November election.
What a sad commentary this is on current American experiences!
There was a time when a rich man would not dare run for office
because the country suspected those whom they viewed as exploiters.
If a man was born in a log cabin (shades of Lincoln!) under poor
conditions and rose to prominence from poverty, he was a hero. Today,
GREAT NECK, N.Y. (JTA)—The
the only Presidential candidates who are rated as not wealthy are Reconstructionist movement and
Humphrey and McCarthy. its affiliated synagogues will rec-
(Copyright 1968, JTA Inc.)
Nixon's comment on wealth versus organization is reminiscent ognize as Jewish the children of
THE ALIENATION PROBLEM: The problem of alienated Jewish
of the New York Times editorial of April 30 which, tragically, was mixed marriages where the
_entitled "Is Indiana for Sale?" and which asserted:
mother is not Jewish and did not youth is now one of the major concerns of American Jewry. The
Primaries occur in the most unexpected places. Except for convert to juclaism prior to the American Jewish Committee has quietly undertaken a study of
California, the biggest and most populous states do not normally child's birth, it was announced by ,"apostasy"—loss of religious identity—among Jewish college students,
select their delegates by the primary route. Yet the pressures the Federation of Reconstruction- ' under the auspices of the Bureau of Social Research of Columbia
I
to may find him self ist Congregations and Fellowships University.
of politics are such that a national can dida
in a make-or-break primary in a state in which he is not well at its ninth annual conference
A wide sample study, involving several thousand Jewish students,
known and where he has few natural centers of support aroun -d here.
revealed that one out of every six who were raised as Jews no longer
is
which to organize. In 1960 West Virginia was such a state. Th
But the- parents concerned will identified themselves as such. Moreover, the phenomenon appears not
year, it is Indiana.
have to demonstrate, through ac- to be pread evenly among the Jewish students, but rather to take a
Fighting on unfamiliar terrain, a candidate turns naturally tion, their intention of raising their greater toll among the superior ones. The study also revealed abund-
to television. If he can make use of it intensively enough, tele- children as Jews, the announce- ant evidence of the rise of inter-religious dating with the inevitable
vision will make his name and voice familiar to voters faster ment said. increase in intermarriage.
than any other means of communication.
The problem will be dealt with by the American Jewish Co
According to traditional Jewish
His second recourse is either to win over the local party
organizations or put together ad hoc organizations of his own or law, children of mixed marriages tee at its four-day annual meeting, May 23-26, in New York. . ,
are not regarded as Jews if the so will the problem of Jewish involvement in the New Left. A rese:
work
out some and
combination
of these
two have
approaches.
Television
organizational
work
one thing in common mother is not Jewish since the report by the American Jewish Committee on New
the latter
problem Inas
Left, especially
in \-
the
—money. Even when a Presidential primary is not strenuously mother's faith is decisive. The established that Jewish involvement in
Wisconsin this ye r
radical spokesmen are not Jewish, a high percen age o
were weakly led and in many parts of the world, have and-filers, writer and theoreticians are.
o
declined t . campaign and his supporters
to
undergo
traditional
forms
of
con-
on the defensive, Senator Eugene J. McCarthy, the winner, had
THE CRITICAL ISSUE: The American Jewish Committee will
no difficulty running up bills totaling more than $500,000. When a version which include immersion devote one of its sessions at the annual meeting to an issue which
and
circumcision.
campaign is hard fought, the only limit to the spending is the
has become increasingly critical in the area of Jewish-Christian
The Reconstructionists will con-
wild blue yonder.
in gs out of varied Christian
relations in this country. The issue sprin
sider
these
children
Jewish
if,
by
In the three-cornered struggle now nearing a climax in ,
and
Jewish
reactions
to
the
Arab-Israel
war
of last June.
Indiana, the power of money works in favor of Senator Robert E. parental decision, they have been
It is now common knowledge that the solidarity and intensity
Kennedy, who can draw upon the resources of a huge family circumsized, will receive a Jewish of the Jewish response to the Middle East crisis last year came- as
fortune. Gov . Roger D. Branigin, the "favorite son" candidate, is education and will fulfill the re- a surprise to many Christian leaders. Correspondingly, the failure of
the leader of a state, party organization which controls thousands quirements of bar or bat mitzva major church institutions to take a strong moral stance during that
of patronage jobs and which still engages in the ancient and or confirmation.
crisis was a disappointment to many Jews.
disreputable practice of levying a 2 per cent party tax on the
A meaningful discussion of the concept of Jewish peoplehood
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
salaries of state employes. Senator McCarthy, without a personal
thus will he part of the AJC annual meeting.
2—Friday,
May
17,
1968
party
machine,
has
thus
far
done
surpris-
fortune and without a

-

econstrnc 'mins s r
Accept Offspring
of Mixed Marriage

eam. 41~:

o onio-o

o•ww040004.••••

••04

'Between You
. . and Me'