Is 'American Exodus
Created by Turmoil?
Manselits and CIE rssimiss 100 rets ,-lgo
No problem since the emancipa-
tion of Jewry in the late 1700s and
early 1800s has been more peren-
nially vexing to Jewish religious
leaders than the willingness of
some Jews to adopt customs root-
ed in Christianity. The problem is
older than the late 18th Century,
of course, and as far back as bib-
lical times we find Jews castigat-
ed for adherence to bukkot ha-
goyim (II Kings 17:8)—non-Jew-
ish observances. During a good
part of the Middle Ages, Jews had
little opportunity consciously to
adopt non-Jewish ceremonials, but
with the emancipation the problem
of hukkot ha-goyim underwent a
revival. In America as well as
Europe, Jewish leaders addressed
themselves to this problem—par-
ticularly with regard to the pro-
priety of Christmas observance by
Jews. Researchers at the Ameri-
can Jewish Archives on the Cin-
cinnati campus of the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion have uncovered a par-
ticularly interesting instance of a
19th Century American rabbi
criticizing Jews for denying their
Jewish identity through Christmas
celebration.
In February, 1867, The Occident
and American Jewish Advocate, a
leading American Jewish period-
ical published in Philadelphia.
printed an article entitled "Ilan-
nucah and Christmas" by Dr.
Julius Eckman. of San Francisco.
German-born Dr. Eckman may
not have been one of the best
'mown Jewish leaders in Amer -
Ica, but he was surely among the
most energetic. After officiating
in a number of Southern congre-
gations, he came to San Francisco
in 1854 as Temple Emanu-El's
first rabbi. There, in San Francis-
co's franetic Gold-Rush amos-
phere, he also founded a religious
school and a newspaper, The.
Weekly Gleaner. In 1860, Eckman
was eager to go off on a "mis-
sionary" venture to China to help
restore the old Jewish congrega-
tion in Hunan Province.
By 1866 Eckman had abandon-
ed his China plan, and in De-
cember he unleashed a blast
against San Francisco Jews
among whom "their own fes-
tival" of Ilanuka was "scarce
noticed," while Christmas was
"celebrated with presents to
their children and illuminations
in their parlors." The rabbi bit-
terly resented "such a forgetful-
ness of what concerns is imme-
diately, and such an injudicious !
celebration of what concerns us
but distantly." Jews guilty of
"such a want of taste," he
claimed, came only rarely from
"families of education and re-
finement"; usually, they were
"ignorant fathers" and "mothers
whom nature intended to fill
positions as honorable house-
wives in the kitchen, but whom
fortune, by her freaks, has mis-
placed into the parlor." Only
those "who know little of Juda-
ism and less of Christianity":
would "betray their littleness of
mind and their misplacement by
fortune, by playing such a ridi-
culous part as for a Jew to be
aping Christians."
Though Eckman thought it
"quite improper" and even "per-
verse" for Jews "to ignore their,
holy days and celebrate those of
Christians," he disclaimed on his
part any intention of disparaging
Christianity or of denying "the
great benefit Christ i n ity has
proved to . . . the gentile world."
It was simply that a Jew who ad-
mitted Christmas trees and Christ-
mas presents into his home was
committing "an act of denial of
identity—an attempt to appear to
be what he is not." Such a Jew
was playing "the pigmy v.hile he
ought to prove himself a giant,"
and "self-negation" of this sort
"must meet with the condernna-
lion of the sincere Jew and the
contempt of the intelligent Chris-
tian. It would also render its per-1
petrator "contemptible in the eyes
of his children, who, one day, will
find out the imbecility of their
parents and judge them according-
Dr. Eckman's advice to all
his readers was: "Drink water
from thine own cistern' (Proverbs
'5:15), and do not ape the stran-
ger."
Eckman made no mention in his
article of San Francisco's Temple
Emanu-El, which he had served
briefly during the mid-1850s, but
one cannot help wondering whether
he had in mind members of that
congregation. Since his departure
Ifrom the pulpit of Emanu-El, Re-
! form Judaism had made its ap-
pearance there in the person of
I Dr. Elkan Cohn, a German intel-
lectual who came to America in
1854 and was elected rabbi of
Emanu El in 1860. Dr. Cohn had
not been in San Francisco very
long when, according- to a report
in The Occident, he made short
shrift of Hanuka. "On Sabbath
before Hanukkah," reported The
Occident, "Dr. Cohn explained the
meaning of the festival, and why
our ancestors lit lamps in order
to celebrate it; but that now we
required only the light of religion
in our hearts. In consequence of
this edict ex cathedra no lamps
were lighted as usual in the Syna-
gogue." Might not the careful
reader of Dr. Eckman's feuilleton
have recalled Dr. Cohn's "edict"
and asked himself how Dr. Cohn
viewed Christmas? — indeed, how
Reform Judaism viewed Christ-
mas?
Whatever Dr. Cohn's view of
Christmas was, and whatever Re-
form Jews may have thought of
Christmas and Ilanuka observance
in the 1860's in our own day
there is no doubt about Reform's
adherence to Hanuka and rejec-
tion of Christmas as a holiday for
Jews. Dr. Kaufmann Kohler,
President of the Reform-sponsor-
ed Hebrew Union-College from
1903 to 1921, spoke of Hanuka as
signalizing "for the Jew the vic-
tory of truth, of reason, and
humanity over all the powers
tending to retard and to impede
the progress of mankind." The
"Newly Revised" (1940) version
of the Union Prayer Book, now
standard in Reform congregations,
calls on Reform Jews to pray:
"On this festival of Hanukkah, we
rededicate ourselves to Thee and
Thy service. As we kindle the
.Hanukkah lights in our homes and
temples, may the light of Thy
presence and Thy truth shine forth
to dispel all darkness and lead all
men unto Thee."
An extensive collection of mate-
rial documenting the religious life
of American Jews is to be found
at the American Jewish Archives,
whose Director is Professor Jacob
Rader Marcus.
Are Americans running away
from this country in large num-
bers because of unrest, pollution,
turmoil and strife, the mounting
problems that afflict us?
In "American Exodus, - Thomas
Benton of Hollywood, Calif., not
only entertains this idea and sug-
gests many areas where Ameri-
cans either go or might seek as
havens.
His book, published by himself,
is like a geographic guide for the
seekers of other homes.
He lists the many aspects of the
American "Plight" and among
them "The Rise of the Rabble"
and the "Decline of the White
Race" and places suggested as
possible areas to fly to are Alaska,
the Hawaiian Islands, Switzerland,
Australia, Mexico, Argentina, New
Zealand, Canada, Italy, Sweden.
In addition, refugees from
Egypt and other Arab countries
who have relatives in the Great-
er New York area are continuing
to arrive for settlement by
NYANA.
In the main, they arrive in this
country without resources. Over-
seas, they are supported by the
Joint Distribution Committee, and
their immigration and transporta-
tion is arranged by the United
Elias Service. These agencies re-
Toronto Borough of York
Elects 1st Jewish Mayor
TORONTO (JTA)—The Borough
of York, one of six that make up
metropolitan Toronto, elected its
first Jewish mayor last week. He
is Philip White, a 46-year-old
pharmacist. Jews comprise less
than 10 per cent of York's popula-
tion of 140,000. Other Jewish can-
didates elected or re-elected as
aldermen or school trustees in
York and other boroughs were
Irving Paisley and Mel Lastman:
Ben Nobleman; Ben Rose, David
Shanoff and Judy Jordan; Murray
Chusid, Paul Godfrey, Saul Cowan
and Prof. Lionel Rubinoff.
Meanwhile, David Kirshenbaum,
a retired Polish-born rabbi, has
been elected to the Victoria Hospi-
tal Trust in London, Ont., in his
first election try.
Rabbi Kirshenbaum polled 15 -
000 votes, a 2,000-vote lead over
his closest rival, in a town that
has a Jewish community of 1,000
out of a total population of 100,000.
Until his retirement from the
pulpit in 1966, Rabbi Kirshenbaum
had served London's Bnai Moses
Ben Judah Congregation 40 years.
George Shabsove, a leader of the
Sarnia, Ont., Jewish community,
was elected mayor of Petrolia, a
nearby town in southwestern On-
tario.
Mrs. S. Leibick
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a homogeneous unit."
He also told the subcommittee
that there had been a "major
change in the public climate of
acceptance of the nonpublic
schools" since his first appearance
before the same committee in 1960.
He said Congress must "cease
going through the motions of paci-
fying so-called 'pressure groups'
and adopt legislative programs
that will in a meaningful way help
defray the cost of the secular stu-
dies of the nonpublic schools."
We don't get to know anything
—Goethe
but what we love.
SAM BARNETT
ceive funds from the United Jew-
ish Appeal, which wholly supports
the resettlement activities of
NYANA.
A large majority of the new-
comers are in professional and
skilled categories who require
more initial aid to continue in their
own or allied fields here, particu-
larly with intensive English lan-
guage courses at college levels.
The rise in the cost of loving
made it necessary for NYANA to
increase its basic maintenance
budget for newcomers in Septem-
ber.
WASHINGTON (JTA)—An Orth-
odox Jewish spokesman proposed,
during a hearing of the House
education subcommittee, specific
federal subsidies for secular
courses in nonpublic schools. In
urging such federal funding, Rabbi
Morris Sherer, executive president
of Agudath Israel of America, told
the legislators that "the era of
tokenism, of appeasing the non-
public schools with left-over
crumbs from the public education-
al table, must end as we enter the
'70s." The Orthodox group spon-
sors a number of Jewish day
schools.
Rabbi Sherer urged payment of
salaries of teachers of secular sub-
jects in nonpublic schools, vouch-
ers of $100 to $250 to parents of
day school pupils to help defray
tuition charges, increased auxili-
ary services and allocations for
construction of facilities used for
non-religious purposes. He rejected
proposals for use of "shared time"
facilities, which would require
religious school students to receive
instruction in some subjects in
public schools. He said such pro-
posals negated "the basic educa-
tional philosophy of the Jewish day
schools, which attempt to mold the
entire personality of the child into
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
34—Friday, December 12,1969
MUSIC BY
NYANA Budget Tops $1,000,000
as Refugee Immigration Increases
NEW YORK—The 1969 budget of
the New York Association for New
Americans will go over the $1,000,-
000 mark for the first time since
1963 when refugees from Cuba
arrived in large numbers, it has
been reported by Howard M. Har-
ris, president of the refugee re-
settlement agency.
A heavy increase in newcomer
arrivals during the year is a major
factor in the need for additional
funds.
The majority of the families as-
sisted by the agency, he said, are
from Poland, with the second
largest group from Czechoslovakia.
Current overseas reports indicate
that Polish refugees continue to be
the largest group awaiting U.S.
immigration in Italy and Austria.
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