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 Fine Color Photography KE 1-0104 Formerly Amedah Studios Have An Affair to Remember MORI LITTLE And Orchestra KE 4-5980 AND HIS ORCHESTRA LI 1-2563 NUDITY ... MEN'S WEAR COVERS IT . . . IN STYLE NORTHLAND CENTER EL 6-6540 EASTLAND CENTER 6513 WOODWARD MAO TR 2-8 8 83 DR 1-3760 Selurity Charge • Michigan Bankard & Diners Cards Honored Nitty Wagner FACIALS and COSMETICS NOW TWO CONVENIENT ADDRESSES: 19011 W. 10 Mile Rd., Southfield PHONE 353-9353 OUR ORIGINAL LOCATION 20211 Greenfield • Norway Bldg. Phone 272-5770 By Appointment Urges U. S. Funds for Secular Phases of Private Schools You are cordially invited to visit either one. COMPLETE LINE OF KITTY WAGNER COSMETICS We Make Our Own Glasses HEADQUARTERS FOR • LATEST DOMESTIC AND IMPORTED FRAME FASHIONS • PRESCRIPTIONS FOR GLASSES ACCURATELY FILLED • Immediate Repair • Reasonably Priced ROSEN OPTICAL SERVICE 1 13720 W. 9 MILE nr. COOLIDGE OAK PARK, MICH. LI 7-5068 Hours: Daily and Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE IN THE WORLD CAN YOU GET MAH JONGG EQUIPMENT? Get It From Our Big Stock See Special Value Reg. $41 SET Now '29" 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. ' Us for • Cards • Card Holders • Jokers • Money • Money Racks Etc. See Our Big Stock of ALL Adult Games! CHILD'S WORLD OPEN DAILY TO 9 SUN. 12 to 6 Tell-12 Mall Telegraph at 12 Mile