Too Much Ludicrousness in Rog; Kahn's
Search for Jewish Meanings in America
A new literary sensation
emerges with "The Passionate
People" by Roger Kahn, published
by William Morrow & Co. (425
Park, S, NY16). First came the
book itself, which purportedly
deals with "what it means to be a
Jew in America." Then a long
series of excerpts appeared in Sat-
urday Evening Post. Now there'll
be debates over it, and it will be
interesting to watch the reactions.
It all began at a meeting the au-
thor, who is an editor-at-large of
Post, had with an editor to
whom he expressed the wish to
travel through Germany and to
write the reactions of a Jew in the
post-Nazi era. The editor ad-
vised him that the story about
Jews is right here in this country.
So Kahn began to gather episodes,
get impressions and state what he
believes it means to be a Jew in
this country. The result is exactly
what is to be expected from such
"an order": it is a collection of
incidents, anecdotes, adventures,
haphazard happenings, opinions of
the man on the street. But—is it
scholarly? Not in the least! The
book will draw attention, it will
arouse curiosity, it will stimulate
debate, but it must not be viewed
as an authoritative work on
American Jewry. Far superior
analyses have been available over
the years, authored by men of
learning who are well informed
and who judge not sensationally
but with a view to defining truth-
ful conditions and attitudes.
Best proof of the justice of this
reviewer's attitude will be found
in the comparative studies of ap-
proaches to the various religious
groupings in this country. In some
respects Kahn is cynical about
this and other elements of his
"research." Massive interviews of
rich men, so-called leaders and
others who claim to be spokes-
men for Jewry do not necessarily
emerge as authoritative in evalu-
ating Jewish life. And this is what
Kahn has done.
His book is entertaining—in some
respects it will delight those who
would find cause to denigrate Jews
and Judaism. He even presents
certain definite and thought-pro-
voking facts, but that does not
make this book an authoritative
and conclusive study of American
Jewry.
Indeed, he must have traveled a
great deal to get his facts. For
example, he has visited Detroit
where he interviewed Max M.
Fisher and he devoted a page and
a half to Fisher's activities, de-
scribing "the rise of an unusual
Jewish industrialist Max M.
Fisher, whose immigrant father
drove a peddler's cart near Salem,
0. . . ." He is complimentary in
his relationship to Fisher and he
devotes a lot of space—out of pro-
portion to the immensity of his
topic—to many Jews he has vis-
ited in numerous communities.
Tie also deals with Detroit's
Ford and Coughlin experiences,
but he is not thorough in approach-
ing them: as long as he tackled
them he might have spoken to
others who can liken those inci-
dents to the larger American pan-
orama.
He also visited another De-
troiter, and he wrote an interest-
ing paragraph. He was dealing
with the American Council for
Judaism and certainly failed mis-
erably in diagnosing that mis-
erably anti-Israel element in
Jewish life—a very small group
that counts only for the trouble
it brews. On this score and in
relation to the Detroiter he inter-
viewed he wrote: "The Anti-
Zionist American Council for
Judaism distributes reprints of a
discussion among three profes-
sors considering 'What does Juda-
ism offer the modern American?'
Here Dr. Jacob Petuchowski of
Hebrew Union College asserts
that if American Jews want a
clearer sense of themselves, they
must first wrest control of Jew-
ish education away from Zion-
ists. According to Petuchowski,
'Zionist misuse of schools' has
made Jewish young people be-
lieve 'the Zionist has the real
key that unlocks the treasure of
Judaism.' But the mere mention
of the Council of Judaism drives
an orthodox Detroit builder to
roar with anger. 'Zionism,' the
builder cries, in his lakeside
home near Pontiac, 'is the great-
est thing ever for American Jews.
When Israel won all those battles,
the goyim found out once and for
all that Jews could fight.' He
takes a deep breath. 'Here,' he
says, 'Have some more chocolate
cake.' _ "
In this paragraph we have the
questionable profundity not of the
man he interviewed but of the au-
thor of the book. It is evident
from this type of writing that the
work is not on a high level. One
does not sink to this type of re-
porting when writing about "The
Passionate People." Kahn didn't
go to the trouble of learning a bit
more about the anti-Zionist-anti-
Israel Jewish self-hating group;
he did not seek to ascertain Prof.
Petuchowski's views—and he had
plenty of time to do it, since the
HUC-JIR instructor had replied to
criticism of his statements, and the
eminent Detroit builder whose
name he did not mention must
have had more important and bet-
ter quotable things to say than to
wind up with a cake offer.
American Jewry's status has
been elaborated upon in many
works. The status of the reli-
gious groups can be studied in
authoritative books. An excel-
lent analysis of American Jew-
ry's current position will be
found in the very recent book,
"Today's American Jew," by
Morris N. Kertzer, published by
McGraw Hill. Contrasted with
Kahn's work, it is far super-
ior. Why, then, resort to such a
sensational search of gossip and
views of mediocrities?
To Kahn's credit it should be
said that he does not overlook
many things. He refers to lots of
matters—even thee voluminous col-
lection of essays published as
"Jewish Identity" by Baruch Lit-
vin of Mt. Clemens—and many
others. But too many of them are
covered superficially.
He does give American Jews
credit for a serious effort to strive
for survival and he says "these
passionate people do honor to
themselves and to mankind."
That's not enough. A more factual
and less fun-seeking type of
amusement in interviewing rich
Jews would have rendered a bet-
ter service even if it might have
less than a dozen optimistic con-
cluding words.—P. S.
1,300 Years of Jewish Law Judgments
Computerized in Hebrew U. Research
JERUSALEM — Judgments in
Jewish law passed over the last
13 centuries are being programed
for an electronic computer for the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
in an experiment to establish an
index which may shed new light
on life in the Diaspora during the
last 1,300 years and also promote
ancient JeWish law in the legal sys-
tem of modern Israel.
Headed by Prof. Menahem Elon,
director of the university's Insti-
tute for Research in Jewish Law,
a team of scholars is preparing a
complete digest of the Responsa
literature published throughout the
Diaspora, and is at present at the
first stage—investigating the Re-
sponsa written by Jewish legal
experts in Medieval Spain since
the period of the Gaonim (spirit-
ual heads of communities from the
7th to the 11th Centuries).
A responsum, according to defi-
nition, consists of a judgment
usually revolving around a con-
crete problem in the commercial,
social, moral or religious sphere.
An interesting example of the
extent of the subsistence of law in
the realities of life can be gath-
ered from a basic examination of
the more than 1,000 responsa of
Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel (Rosh),
one of the leading scholars of Ash-
kenazi and Sephardi Jewry in the
second half of the 13th and the be-
ginning of the 14th Century. A
comprehensive volume of this re-
search was published by the in-
stitute in 1965.
The research team will deter-
mine whether it is worthwhile em-
ploying the electronic computer in
order to establish the planned in-
dex. If the computer can process
this special type of work consider-
ably faster than the human brain,
it may eventually be fed close to
250,000 judgments from the Re-
sponsa literature.
Prof. Elon explains that one of
the main problems was extracting
the material and devising a "sign
language." At the request of the
institute, the computer program
being worked out by a committf
of mathematicians and other
perts, headed by Prof. Aviezr_
Frankel of the Weizmann Institute
of Science.
Establish Bureau to Train Communal Service Personnel
NEW YORK—American Jewry
has established the first cen-
tral organization in its history
aimed at recruiting and training
personnel for Jewish communal
service.
The new body, called the Bureau
for Careers in Jewish Service, has
been created by 30 major national
agencies in the
United States
and Canada to
overcome the
critical shortages
o f professional
personnel affect-
ing all of the ma-
jor Jewish serv-
ices.
The organiza-
tion was officially
established i n
New York with
the naming of
temporary offi-
cers and a per-
manent executiv(s
director by the
Shapiro
first meeting of the board of direc-
tors (May 15).
The acting officers are Howard
Rubin, Boston attorney, president;
David Weingard of New York,
treasurer; and Philip Bernstein of
New York, secretary.
Appointed as executive director
of the new agency is Manheim S.
Shapiro, who was for 17 years an
executive of the American Jewish
Committee, most recently as di-
rector of its Jewish communal
affairs department. Prior to that
he was national director of pro-
gram and publications for the Bnai
Brith Youth Organization.
The new bureau will be housed
in the offices of the Council of
Jewish Federations and Welfare
Funds.
The new bureau will be con-
cerned with the total field of Jew-
ish service, including all types of
social services and fund raising,
Jewish scholarship and research,
the rabbinate and administrative
and other professional personnel of
synagogues, community relations,
Jewish education and Jewish jour-
nalism. It will interpret to poten-
tial workers the agencies and in-
stitutions which serve the Jewish
community—and the general com-
munity, under Jewish auspices. It
will assess available training fa-
cilities and will seek to establish
preparatory and in-service train-
ing, or improve that which exists.
In addition, the new agency will
provide consultation and coordina-
tion for the recruitment and train-
ing proframs of agencies. It will
be the central information point
regarding types of professional
service in the various fields, and
available scholarships.
Jewish Life in India Draws to Close
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
NEW DELHI — Emigration,
mainly to Israel, is drawing the
final curtain on the 1,900-year-old
Jewish community of Cochin in the
Indian state of Kerala. There are
now only 350 Jews left of the
community which dates its settle-
ment in India from the time of
the destruction of the temple iin
Jerusalem by Rome.
Elders of the community recently
petitioned Indian authorities for
permission to transfer its assets—
holy scrolls, books, liturgical ob-
jects, synagogue fixtures and re-
ligious ornaments—to Israel. Their
petition noted that the transfer
would permit the Cochin Jews to
continue living as a community in
Israel.
Magen David Adorn to Build Israel Medical Complex
Tel Aviv Correspondent Sees Egypt Building
Military Installations Near Alexandria, Cairo
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to the Jewish News
TEL AVIV—A reporter of the
Forward, Yiddish daily newspaper
in New York City, and a Tel Aviv
daily, said here Wednesday that he
saw large-scale construction of un-
derground military installations
while traveling between Cairo and
Alexandria.
Gershon Jacobson, who is a cor-
respondent for the Tel Aviv daily,
Yediot Aharonot, told reporters that
he conferred in Cairo with Egyp-
tian Foreign Minister Mahmoud
Riad and Mohammed Hassen Hey-
khal, editor of the semi-official
newspaper Al Ahram of Cairo.
Jacobson told reporters here that
48—Friday, May 24, '1968
he received the impression that
Egypt was not interested in peace
because any such agreement was
regarded as yielding to Israel. The
officials fear that if peace came,
Egypt, he said. Jacobson said that
on a desert road between Alexan-
dria and Cairo, which is closed to
private transportation, he saw
workers building either an airstrip
or missile launching base. He tra-
versed the road by bus.
Jacobson obtained his visa from
the Egyptian Embassy in the
United States. The embassy, he
said, was fully aware of his news-
paper connections. He said that
many Egyptians knew about him
and sought his autograph.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
.
.
Soliciting nationwide support for Mogen David corporate facilities for intensive research, emer-
Adorn, Israel's National Red Cross Service, the gency treatment for that city's 250,000 inhabitants,
American Red Mogen David for Israel is concen- Israel's national blood programs, and comprehen-
trating its total 1968 effort upon sponsorship of sive instructional courses and lectures in modern
the new $750,000 First-Aid Station, Out-Patient medical procedures to local and foreign students
Clinic and Central Blood Bank to be built in the and practitioners, including many from underde-
port city of Haifa. Construction of the complex is veloped nations. Congressman Emanuel Celler of
scheduled to begin later this summer, with corner- New York serves as national chairman of Ameri-
stone-laying ceremonies to be attended by top Israeli can Red Mogen David for Israel. Headqu i
uters is
leaders and dignitaries representing American and at 50 W. 57th St., New York.
foreign governments. The Haifa building will in-