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
Mich. 48236.

1ssociation.

Published every Friday by The jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit,
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Business Manager

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising,Manager

CHARLOTTE DUBIN

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the fourth day of Adar, 5729, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion. Er. 25:1-27:19. Prophetical portion, I Kings 5:26-6:13.

Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 21, 5:53 p.m.

VOL. LIV. No. 23

Page Four

February 21, 1969

Mobilization of Americans Against Bigotry

ashamed of the Arabs. Because we are so much
In the _fabric of racial tensions, amidst the
alike.
insecurity that has been imposed upon many
The Rev. Cleage does not precede this
millions in our large cities, while we are
struggling — and praying — for a better day, statement with a declaration of hatred. On the
when the peoples of varying denominations, contrary, he speaks of the need for unity, of
nationality backgrounds and racial strains will the right of people to seek independence, etc.
live in neighborly fashion, in harmony and in Yet the above paragraphs denote so much
unity, there is nevertheless woven a new pat- confusion, such a failure to understand and
tern of hatred that is based on misunderstand- appreciate the true conditions that involve
Israel in a struggle for life, that it becomes
ings.
exceedingly necessary to make some effort to
Out of the turmoil, in the course of a
developing spirit of fear that is marked by correct distortions.
suspicions that tend to divide rather than
Seldom, if ever, has there been such a
unite the American people, there has emerged commendable fusion of peoples of differing
a new form of anti-Semitism: the black pre-
skin colorations as in Israel. More than 500,-
judice against Jews. When the history of 000 Jews many of whom are as dark as the
American democratic experience will have author of the statement we have just quoted
been fully recorded, the most tragic chapter have found a haven in Israel. Let us empha-
will be the on dealing with Negro-Jewish re- size: what they found in Israel was a haven
lations. During the entire history of the strug- from persecutions in Moslem countries. And
gle for just rights for the oppressed, Jews within Israel the Arabs who chose not to run
Dr. Arthur David, secretary to the Rabbinical Assembly's COM-
were in the lead. From our ranks came the from the opportunities that were theirs when
mittee on Jewish law and standards, has produced a significant
strongest defenders of civil liberties, the most
Israel was established are now enjoying full guide to Moses Maimonides' important writings on Jewish ethics in
sacrificial efforts to assure justice and equal-
citizenship in Israel, they have their repre- I "The Commentary to Mishnah Aboth." In a translation of this work,
ity for our black neighbors and fellow citi- sentatives in Israel's parliament, their stand- with extensive notes, Rabbi David explains the passages in Maimob ,
zens. Now we have become the scapegoats and ard of living is the highest of all the Arabs in ides' "Mishnah Aboth" dnd in the course of his scholarly work re-
the Negro propagandists who are either un- the Middle East.
lates Maimonides' approaches to Jewishethical teachings and to
aware of the facts or are indifferent to truth
What is immorality in the instance of Is- important issues in Jewish life, as they become -involved in the text
and reality are carrying the banners of the
rael battling for survival, and who is the im- of this valuable book published by Bloch.
world's vilest anti-Semites.
moral one? Would a religious man like Rev.
Annotations to which 40 pages are devoted to clarifying the text
We are confronted at this time with anti-
Cleage deny more than 2,000,000 Jews most
of "Mishnah Aboth" that consumes 122 pages in this book indi-
Semitic outbursts from many quarters. As in of them survivors from the Nazi Holocaust, itself
cate the extent of Rabbi David's research.
the darkest days of anti-Jewish manifestations the basic right to existence? Isn't he aware of
in Eastern Europe, universities again are the danger that Israel faced—a danger of
While dealing with an important work by the RAMBAM, the
serving as headquarters for bigots who are
author of this work defines the career of Maimonides as repro-
threatened extinction—in May of 1967, and
organizing campaigns against our people. The was the first week of June of that year an
senting "a hue among many brilliant hues which comprise the
Detroit experience is a typical example, and immoral one for those who succeeded in
spectrum of his life's work," and he explains that "Maimonides
the use of our university's library for the dis-
overcoming the threat of a mass murder. as
struggled to rectify the community's shortcomings" thereby mill.
semination of hate material is one of the it was planned in Carlo and Beirut and Am-
gating "the effects of a decade of non-existent central authority
shocking examples of the authorities' failure
man and Baghdad and Damascus?
among Egyptian Jews in the 1170's.
to distinguish between educational material
It is our wish not to believe that the author
and hate-mongering propaganda literature.
Touching upon the inroads then made by the Karaites "into the
of the articles in the Negro periodical really
And now we are subjected in an even greater
community, scoffing at Rabbanism and denying the valid-
measure of intolerant bias in the press, and adheres to a policy of hating those who were Rabbanite
ity of the Oral Tradition," Rabbi David states that Maimonides'
especially in many newspapers published by the associates of the black man in the struggle "attitude toward the Karaite community evidences great forebeai
for freedom and for just rights; we prefer to
and for Negroes.
adhere to the view that the black man knows ance." He writes that Maimonides did not "oppose the Karaites with
The conflicts in New York are now a mat- better than to adopt a policy of bigotry that scorn and rancor" but "sought to establish harmonious relations with
ter of record. The reading of vile anti-Semitic negates the very principles of liberty, equality them."
poems over radio and television already have
and the right to life and security. Yet, what
There is also this important explanation of an attitude of Maimon•
indicated the extremes to which haters will
involving the charge of abandonment of faith: "Having personally
resort in a campaign against Jews. And the we have just quoted seems to deplore the ides
experienced the dangers of life in the lands of Almohade persecution,
failure
of
the
Arabs
to
mobilize
for
Israel's
newspaper articles, many of which are based destruction!
where no doubt many a Jew rescued himself by reciting the Tauhid,
on a new form of hatred based on antagonism
the Moslem confession of faith, Maimonides was acutely aware of
In the present era of a newly developing the
to the state of Israel, are .especially distress-
danger of informers. Moslem law held no mercy for a convert tO
anti-Semitism
we
deplore
the
emergence
of
a
ing.
Islam who subsequently apostasized. By virtue of his having fled
black
anti-Semitism
and
the
comfort
that
our
from the countries under the sway of the Almohades, Maimonides
There is a series of articles in the• local
Negro periodical by a prominent Negro leader Negro fellow-citizens give to those in Moslem was vulnerable to the charge of having at one time rescued himsen
countries who are determined that Israel shall by means of reciting the Tauhid. Interestingly, he and his father
who has been in the limelight for some time,
whose views are appalling because they are not live. These comforters of the enemies wrote treaties defending its recital by a Jew who did so in order to
of Jewry and Israel often quote the Bible, escape death. They considered it mere lip-service and not a violation
predicated upon arguments that stem from
misrepresentations about Israel, the Jewish yet they overlook a basic idea: the Jewish of one of the three cardinal precepts, namely, that of idolatry."
people and the struggle for peace in the Mid- right and will to live. And instead of retain-
Dr. David offers a definition for the work under discussion:
dle East. Here is a portion of one of the ing a partnership for justice there are de-
"In the Commentary to Mishnah Aboth, Maimonides applied to
latest of the Michigan Chronicle articles by structive elements that undermine the unity
the teachings of the sages the system that may be stated as for
of the American people and subscribe to the
the Rev. Albert Cleage:
lows: The wise man's actions are moderate. They are termed
most sinful of sins: the anti-Semitic tenden-
Black people in American cannot be on the side
`virtues' because they represent the mean between the opposite
cies that stem from the most cruel and most
of Israel because Israel is on the white side in a
biased in our midst!
extremes of excess and deficiency. A deed practiced in either
battle of black against white. White 'America and
the white western world fashioned a tool against
New evidences of anti-Semitism compel
extreme is considered a vice. The saintly man, however, does not
the Arab world in Israel. But we can look at what
the review just offered of one aspect of the
practice the precise mean. As a precautionary measure calculated
the Israelis did and how they did it. And we can
misunderstandings and distortions of truth
to counterbalance a possible tendency toward an extreme, the
see that, with all the bombing, with all the vio-
that lead to hate. Naturally we plead with
saintly man inclines his action somewhat toward its opposite of
lence, with all the trickery, and even with the
those who do not condone the hatreds to
napalm that they used on innocent villagers, it
treme. In only one instance does Maimonides counsel the practice
abandon their policies of comforting the pre-
was not the Israelis who were immoral but the
of an extreme. The consequences of the vice of pride are excee•
judiced. And we present these few grains of
Arabs. Because a people who do not defend them-
ingly harmful and to mitigate its powerful attraction, Maimonni011
truth regarding the developing situation in ,
selves and who permit themselves to be destroyed
offers as its sole effective countermeasure the practice of iif
are immoral.
order that those who become the victims of
opposite extreme, namely, humbleness of spirit." • I
The Jews who marched into the gas ovens in
the new anti-Semitism should be aware of the' ,
Germany were immoral. The Arabs were im-
dangers and should be prepared for counter-
"Maimonides believed," Dr. David states, "that the power of the
moral because they were not ready, because they
action which could well emerge as a need for intellect
is limited, and that prophecy represents the highest type
had not organized 60 million people; because they
self-defense for the Jewish community. Be- of perception; through it one could apprehend what was beyond the
couldn't get themselves together. They were talk-
cause there must not be another Holocaust, 1 scope of the intellect . . . There is little doubt that Maimonides aspirzd
ing about what a proud people they were two days
there shall never again be another Auschwitz to achieve what he believed to be the ultimate form of human perfen•
before Israel's invasion. But you can't fight with
or Treblinka. And if there is an organized tion, the man of God."
pride and big talk. They were sitting around rem-
anti-Semitism there must also be an organ-
iniscing about how great a people the Arabs used
Text and notes will no doubt be a must for students of Maimoth
ized Jewish community prepared to battle
to be. Doesn't that sound vaguely familiar? Two
works and for those doing research in theology. The lay reader
days before the invasion they were not really
against the prejudices that undermine basic ides'
also will find this work of immense value as a guide in ethical
--preparinglor invasion and-war: That -is why I am
American ideals
studies.

Maimonides' 'Mishnah Aboth'
Defined in Dr. David's Study