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. 48233,
VE 8-9364. Subscription $7 a year. Foreign $8.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE
DUBIN
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fifth day of Tishri, 5729, the following scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 32:1-52. Prophetical portion, II 'Samuel 22:1-52.
Sukkot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions: Monday and Tuesday, Levit. 23:26-23:44, Num. 29:12-16.
Prophetical portions: Monday, Zechariah 14:1-21; Tuesday, I Kings 8:2-21.
Rol Ha-Moed Sukkot Tora Readings
Wednesday, Num. 29:17-25; Thursday, Num. 29:20-28, Friday, Num. 29:23-31.
VOL. LIV. No. 3
Page Four
October 4, 1968
A Free Press and Independence of Mind
Never before has the press of this na- spoke in a similar vein when he declared:
tion played as important a role as it is
"To the press alone, checkered as it is
charged with in our time.
with abuses, the world is indebted for all
The entire world is like a boiling caul-
the triumphs which have been gained by
dron, and the flames have spread so far
reason and humanity over errors and op-
that they are in our back yards, in our streets
pression. To the same beneficent source
in the public arenas, on the platforms of
the United States owe much of the lights
•-•
political •aspirants and in our schools.
which conducted them to the rank of a
14,4.
4, ,KSCT
It is in an age like this that it becomes
free and independent nation and which
necessary to enlighten people, to keep them
have improved their political system into
fully informed about the events that are
a shape so auspicious to their happiness."
transpiring, to make facts known and to
What a glorious reminder this is of the
make certain that people think—and to make
success of a rebellious people that resisted
certain that people do not forget how to
oppression and attained freedom from
separate chaff from wheat, fact from fancy; tyranny! And because of the lessons of the
and if truth can be established and the lie past we can learn a great deal from the ex-
exposed, man's hope for better days will periences of the Founding Fathers of this
Fifty years after the publication of the pioneering work, "Jewish
be assured.
nation, especially the wisdom of Ben Frank- Theology, Systematically and Historically Considered," by the late
This is an aim that receives emphasis
lin, who taught us
Dr. Kaufman Kohler, who was president of Hebrew Union College,
during the National Newspaper Week we
". . . that if all printers were deter- it has been reissued by Ktav Publishing House (120 E. B'way, NY2).
will inaugurate on Sunday.- It is an annual
With an important definitive introduction by Dr. Joseph L. Blau,
mined not to print anything till they were
occasion on which the reader shares his in-
sure it would offend nobody, there would professor of religion at Columbia Uni-
versity,
this voluminous study retains its
terest in the great instrument for knowledge
be very little printed."
with the editor. It is a time for rededica-
Adherence to this principle justifies some value to this day and will be as
enthusiastically welcomed by students
tion to the obligation to assure freedom of of the decisions of the highest court in the of
religion in our time as it was half
expression and people's right to differ.
land which are now being challenged by a century ago.
President Johnson, acknowledging the na- the blind and the politicians whose prejudices
Dr. Kohler's studies dealt with
tion's debt to the newspapers, asserted that may well hurt this nation if we do not guide "Man's Consciousness of and Belief in
"They have set a standard for community our readers, the voting power of our nation, God," revelation and prophecy, "The
action"; and Vice President Humphrey calls to be able to differentiate between justice Idea of God in Judaism," the "Election
newspapers "the gadfly of our legislatures,
and bias, between the right to act and to of Israel," man and his destiny and the
the watch-dogs of good government, the cham-
criticize and the attempt to suppress knowl- moral elements of civilization, "God in
Relation to the World," and all aspects
pions of fair play in every part of our com- edge and free thought.
to the theological considera-
munities."
The Jewish press has the same responsi- relating
tions
Jewish traditions and the his-
Many of our nation's great men have bility as the secular, and its editors share torical of elements
in Jewish existence.
been quoted for their acclamations and sup- with their non-Jewish conferes the duty to
Orthodoxy's views are evaluated in
port of a free press. Thomas Jefferson is
enlighten, to guide according to the best relation to Dr. Kohler's presentation of
especially noted for his admonitions regard- judgment, within the conscience of liberty- his Reform views. Dr. Kohler
ing the importance of the newspaper, and inspired people who are determined to ex-
Perhaps it was to be expected, especially in 1917 when the work
among the views he expressed is the one
pose lies and to outline the truth. In this first appeared, that Dr. Kohler's attitude would be anti-Zionist. But
in which he stated:
cause there is a link for a common goal to even now it is interesting to take into account the opposition of that
"The only security for all is in a free keep our traditions intact, to elevate them, era as it was expressed by the Reform Jewish advocate. Dr. Kohler
press. The force of public opinion cannot to make them fit our times and to strive referred to political Zionism as having been motivated by the wave
be resisted when permitted freely to be that the generations to come will be as dedi- of anti-Semitism and then made this observation, with its appended
advice to Zionists about Zionism:
expressed."
cated to the high ideals of mankind as the
"In many it has aroused a laudable zeal for the study of Jewish
It is as if he had spoken today, in the
Founding Fathers of this nation and the sages history and literature, which should bring them a deeper insight into,
great need for untrammeled freedom to ex- of our Jewish heritage have taught devot- and closer identification with, the historic character of Israel, the
press views, and James Madison, in 1799, edly and practiced diligently.
suffering Messiah of the nations, and thus in time transform the
,
Kohler's 'Theology' Reissued ;
Contained Anti-Zionist Advice
UN on Trial in Middle East Crises
Israel's difficulties have mounted so high en in the instance of Israel's protest against
since the Six-Day War that all who seek peace, Egypt's breaking the cease-fire regulations.
who hope for an end to tension, have cause A resolution was adopted asking both sides
to adhere to the cease fire, but the question
for growing concern over what is transpiring at issue was ignored: because to have referred
in the world. to it would have meant acknowledging Israel's
It is becoming more certain daily that justified protest.
Russia's role is especially damaging to peace,
Meanwhile, Hussein travels under the
that the leadership the Soviet Union has guise of being a peace-seeking missionary, the
taken in attacking Israel is based on an in- Western powers are making a hero of him;
explicable program aimed at fomenting strife. the propaganda intended to create suspicion
While claiming to be encouraging re- of Israel — especially the repeated charges
duction in strife, the Russians are stimulat- that Israel is preparing for another war — is
ing it by supplying arms to the Arabs and by confusing public opinion; and the sentiments
doing even the more damaging in building in defense of Israel that were expressed prior
up a warlike situation: by arguing constantly to the Six-Day War, when Israel's existence
with repeated charges and threats that in- and the safety of the Israelis were at stake—
crease the tension. have vanished!
And the United Nations, the one hope
Indeed, the situation is grave. There is
mankind has as a deterrent to strife among cause for serious concern because the United
nations, has become a major platform for Nations is either to weak or too indifferent
anti - Israel propaganda! It is no wonder that to the actual situation that exists in the Mid-
Israel's Foreign Minister Abba Eban was die Pact — a condition far graver than any in
compelled to give this definition: "If the Southeast Asian spheres.
Arabs proposed that the earth was flat, they
Will the UN leaders be able to 'rescue
national Jew into a religious Jew. The study of Israel's mighty past
will, it is hoped, bring to them the conviction that the power, the
hope and the refuge of Israel is_ in its God, and not in any territorial
possession. We require a regeneration, not of the nation, but of the
faith of Israel, which is its soul."
Even more interesting is Dr. Kohler comment, only a few pages
after he had written this advice to Zionists, that: "There never was,
nor will be an exclusively Jewish culture. It is the wondrous power
of assimilation of the Jew which ever created and fashioned his
culture anew. That which constitutes the peculiarity of the Jew and
his life force is the religion fostered through the ages, preserved
amidst the most antagonistic influences and hostile environments,
and ever rejuvenated by its unique universalistic spirit when revived
by contact with kindred movements. To maintain .and propagate this,
his religion in all lands and amidst all civilizations, is the task
assigned to him by Providence, until God's Kingdom has been estab-
lished all over the globe."
This is the familiar argument, and it sounds him an invitation to
assimilation in our time. Dr. Blau has this explanation at the very
outset in his introduction:
"Dr. Kohler finished his work before the end of the First World
War. The Balfour Declaration had been but recently proclaimed and
is not mentioned by our author, although he had appropriate oppor-
tunities to do so in the later sections of the book. No one could
possibly have foreseen, in 1918, that within less than a decade the
National Socialist movement would appear in Germany and come to
full power before a second decade had passed. No one could have
predicted that this political developinent would issue in the Holocaust
which snuffed out six million Jewish lives and destroyed a Jewish
culture that had been centuries in the making. A prophet who pre-
diCted that this disaster would prove to be a major force in the
creation of a more or less viable Jewish state .would have been hooted
into silence."
would still have 40 sure votes in the United the international organization from the dis-
This, of course, explains the Kohler views only partially. The
Nations!" The tragedy is that under Soviet grace into -which it is being dragged is a re- emphasis on an assimiliationist force in Jewry could well be inter*
preted—now,
as it was in 1917 by many—as being far from construc-
leadership the number of votes, especially if suit of the Soviet Axis' unholy alliance with
it were against Israel, might rise to double the Arab saber rattlers? There are few other tive in Jewish teachings. After all, there is also the positive in Zionism.
that number!
Nevertheless,
the Kohler views retain interest now, and the
issues on the world front as demanding of 50-year-old thesis will
be found most interesting by students of Jewish
The ganging up against Israel was proy- honorable solution as this one.
religious traditions and attitudes.