Purely Commentary How Elderly Moved From Bronx Slum Area

By Philip Slomovitz

By BEN GALLOB

(Copyright, 1970, JTA, Inc.)

A year-long project to help elder-
Delving Into the Law
ly Jews in the deteriorated East
Brandeis University's new program for a law department to Tremont section of the Bronx to
train governemnt policy-makers is an interesting innovation.
re-locate in safer areas has drama-
Its plan for a course of study vitally needed in training career tized the likelihood that there may
men for government service is unusual and should attract students be hundreds of such aged Jews
who aim to serve the American people in the advancement of practical living lives of isolation and terror
in other decayed areas of New
statesmanship.
Brandeis is not alone in turning its attention to the law. Bar-Ban York City who desparately need
University in Israel has on its immediate schedule the introduction rescue. Efforts to provide such help
of law courses with emphasis on the traditional Jewish legislative are severly handicapped by the
regulations that are rooted in the Bible and the Talmud. In this critical shortage of housing gen-
erally in the New York metropoli-
country similar plans are being made by Dropsie University.
All of these are certain to contribute greatly towards the ad- tan area.
Those involved in the Bronx re-
vancement of the legal profession.
location effort were members of
a senior citizens club at the East
The Frank Murphy Saga
Bronx YM-YWCA. The club of 340
Too little has been said about the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice elderly Jewish men and women
was the last Jewish group remain-
that was dedicated two weeks ago in downtown Detroit.
He was one of our most eminent politicians who became a good ing in the Y as it adapted its pro-
Supreme Court justice after serving meritoriously as mayor of Detroit gram to the change of the neigh-
borhood from a vigorously Jewish
and governor of Michigan.
community to a black and Puerto
Frank Murphy took a deep interest in
Rican ghetto.
world affairs, and he became a friend of
For those in the club who lived
the Zionist movement. He spoke out firmly
in the East Tremont section, life
against the Nazi tactics and he was the
had
become a series of beatings,
humanitarian who befriended black and
muggings and other assaults,
white, Jew and Christian.
mainly from addicts seeking
Prof. Harold Norris had written an
money for their drugs. The Jew-
excellent book, "Mr. Justice Murphy and
ish Family Service, an affiliate
the Bill of Rights." It was wise to choose
of the Federation of Jewish
him to be the principal speaker at the
Philanthropies, undertook to help
dedication of the Frank Murphy Hall of
those who wanted to relocate, as
Justice. It was quite appropriate for Prof.
one of many social welfare aid
Norris to state in his eloquent remarks
programs carried out in cooper-
about the late Mr. Justice Murphy:
ation with the Associated Ys of
Equal justice under law was the arch
Greater New York. The East
of his constitutional structure, as is, or
Bronx Y had been a member of
Frank Murphy
should be, he felt, instinct in the entire
the Associated Ys until it was
body politic of a democracy. Conduct by the government based on
turned over recently to the city's
racially discriminatory criterion was particularly the object of his
Human Resources Administration
most careful scrutiny, dissent, and condemnation. "Racism," he
as a neighborhood center for the
declared, "has no place whatever in our civilization. The Constitution
area's poor.
as well as the conscience of mankind disclaims its use for any pur-
The JFS rescue project found 134
pose . . ." Distinctions based on color and ancestry are utterly in- persons interested in moving, of
consistent with our traditions and ideals." "Racial discrimination in whom 115 were elderly Jews, in-
any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our cluding one black Jew and the
domocratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting but it is rest non-Jews. Of that group, 64
utterly revolting to a people who have embraced the principles set are purchasing into Coop City, a
forth in the Constitution of the United States . . ." "The Consitution huge new cooperative apartment
voices its disapproval whenever economic discrimination is applied project in the Bronx. In some
under authority of law against any race, creed or color." I dissent, cases, children of the elderly Jews
therefore, from this legalization of racism."
helped to finance the required
The spirit and thrust of this vigorous rhetoric of liberty has a reach down-payment. For 33 elderly
beyond its grasp. The language grew out of condemnations of the use Jews, arrangements were made to
of military trials to deprive Japanese-Hawaiians of jury trials, imposing get them in waiting lists for two
curfews, relocations, and exclusions upon Americans of Japanese an- low-income housing projects now
cestry, restrictive covenants, white primaries, discriminatory conduct under construction in the Bronx
by a labor union in the railroad industry. The Murphy view would and scheduled to be opened next
propel the judiciary as well as the nation in the direction of complete October and November. Four were
equality before the law with greater speed as well as deliberation. The admitted to homes for the aged,
new frontier of a democratic society in his view, was an ancient, moral two died during the period of the
and revolutionary one-that all men have equality of right under law, project and some changed their
equal justice under law. It is to those millions Americans whose reach minds during the year.
for this frontier is greater than their grasp that Justice Murphy gives
The project was directed by Mrs.
not only encouragement and good heart, but an exhortation and in- Josephine Pollack, senior case-
junction-use liberty to build liberty, preserve it by extending it, recog- worker at the JFS, assisted by two
nize that freedom is the basis of security.
students from the Hunter College
It is good that men who had rendered service to their fellow citi- social work school, working out of
zens should not be forgotten.
the Y.
A questionnaire was sent to each
Those of us who had befriended Frank Murphy will always think
of
the 340 senior club members.
of him with affection.

The Late Rabbi Marcus Melchior

The death, in Copenhagen, of Chief Rabbi Marcus Melchior of Den-
mark serves to recall the controversy that developed several years ago
between him and David Ben-Gurion.
Israel's leader was anxious to have the Danish Jews settle in Israel,
because of the rising tide of assimilation among them and the large
number of intermarriages.
Dr. Melchior argued that the Danish Jewish community must be
preserved and that the youth who would go to Israel are the best
element to help in such preservations.
Shortly after that dispute, one of Dr. Melchior's sons told us in
Jerusalem, in his father's defense, that four of the seven Melchior
children are residing in Israel.
The discussion of much wider interest than appears on the sur-
face. It leads us into many issues that are of challenge to world Jewry.
Dr. Melchior played important roles in his lifetime, including his
share in the task of rescuing Danish Jews during the Nazi regime. He
was a distinguished personality the memory of whom will always
be blessed.

A Former Rabbi's Pro-Arab Role

There are Jews, in this country and in Israel. who, under the lead-
ership of Israelis, are negotiating with Arabs, are striving for an Arab-
Israel peace and even advocate Israel's withdrawal from some occu-
pied territories. But there is one man, a former rabbi (he served in
Pontiac and Flint), who gives comfort to Israel's enemies. It is the
only way of interpreting Elmer Berger's collaboration with "The
Arab World," the militantly and viciously anti-Israel magazine.
Berger had left (was he expelled from?) the American Council or
Judaism: his extremely anti-Israel views could not be tolerated even
there. He has formed his own group—Jewish Alternatives to Zionism.
Pontiac and Flint people aren't surprised at what Elmer did or does:
and all of his alternatives are really to Judaism.

2—Friday, January 2, 1970

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

were legally entitled, as being
"shameful" and partly because of
a determination to preserve their
usually tiny life savings.
As part of the effort, contacts
Y for the first time in years. Some were made with the city's Public
Housing
Authority for the 55 Jews
helped their parents to look for
new housing and some helped to now on waiting lists for the two
subsidize such new housing, as low-income housing projects in the
Bronx. While awaiting the proces-
at Coop City.
About 10 per cent of the Jews sing for apartments and actual
insisted on remaining in the Y move-ins, the 33 have been trans-
area homes, despite the danger, ferred to the care of the Jewish
she reported. One reason was the Association for Services to the
very low rents, as little as $35 Aged, a new Federation agency.
a month. The aged Jews feared JASA was created in November,
they would not be able to manage 1968 to provide the first voluntarily-
rents certain to be much higher supported, coordinated program for
in better areas. There was an the care and rehabilitation of the
overwhelming resistance to ac- aged in the Greater New York
cepting welfare, to which many area.

An effort was made to re-unite
the elderly Jews with long-
estrangdd children. In some cases,
she said, grown-up children met
with their elderly parents at the

Boris Smolar's

'Between You

...

and Me'

(Copyright 1970, JTA Inc.)

THE "JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT": There is still talk about the
youths who appeared at the recent General Assembly of the Council of
Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds in Boston with demands on the

"Jewish Establishment"—the organized Jewish communities. I must

admit that the appearance of the group made no impression on me.
The youths were simply knocking at an open door.

Everybody who follows developments in American Jewish life

knows that the Jewish federations and their agencies do not keep their

doors closed to the young generation. On the contrary. They beg Jewish
youth to participate in communal activities. The Council of the Jewish
Federations and Welfare Funds, as the central Jewish communal body,
stimulates the development of young leadership. The United Jewish
Appeal has similarly built up a fine record for itself in bringing young
people for leadership into its ranks.
One had only to attend the..annual national conference of the UJA
last month in New York to see hundreds of new young faces among
the delegates from all parts of the country. This was also the case at
the CJFWF assembly at which the group of youngsters appeared with
their grievances against the "Jewish Establishment."
The "Jewish Establishment"—unlike the "Establishment" in fields
of general American life—is not only willing to attract Jewish youth to
its activities, but is very eager to do so. It offers places in its policy*
making organs to youths interested in playing an active role in corn*
munal work. The difficulties come, not from the Jewish leadership, but

from the youth itself.
The overwhelming majority of Jewish youth, although considering

itself Jewish,_ is regrettably not interested in participating in Jewish
affairs. It shows fervor when it comes to general issues in American
life, but remains indifferent to Jewish interest. Ask the directors of the
Hillel Foundations who come in daily contact with about 350,000 Jewish
students in colleges and universities, and they will tell you.
•
•
•
THE "SINNING" COMMUNITIES: The group of youngsters who
came to Boston to voice grievances hardly represented the masses of
Jewish youth. The latter preferred to go in large numbers to Washing-
ton on that day to participate in an anti-Vietnam demonstration there.
The.small group in Boston was composed of "concerned" Jewish youth
—of youngsters who are Jewishly educated and Jewish-minded. It did
not have in its ranks any of the "alienated" Jewish youths who cause
so much concern to Jewish leaders today.
Because the Jewish communities only welcome the participation of
youth in active Jewish work, the group was confused in its demands.
Their speakers presented no plans of real innovations in American
Jewish communal life. However, one of their major demands was that
the communities should allocate more funds for Jewish education. And
in this they were right.
Today there are communities of importance that do no justice to
Jewish education and culture in their budgetary decisions. The great-
est sinner of all of them is the New York Federation of Jewish Phil-
anthropies. It also ignores Important Jewish cultural institutions. A
number of other communities are similarly behind in what they could
afford to do for Jewish education.
On the other hand, there are communities—like Detroit, Philadel-
phia, Pittsburgh—where the local federations are paying very proper
attention to Jewish education. The allocations to Jewish education in
these cities exceed 10 per cent of the funds raised by each community
during its annual fund-raising campaign. Chicago, Cleveland and
Boston follow the lead by allocating about 9 per cent of their budget to

Mrs. Pollack told the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency that about one-
third replied they wanted to move,
one-third said they did not want
such help and one-third did not
respond.
Mrs. Pollack said she then under-
took an effort, by personal visits,
to find each Jew who failed to
respond. She found that the group
included 42 residents in the Y area
who each had someone living with
them and hence felt some sense
of security. She said that eventually
115 elderly Jews were found to
need and want re-location, as did
five white non-Jewish Y members
and several others who had learned Jewish education needs.
•
•
•
about the re-location project. She
COMMUNAL "PRIORITIES": The demand for increased alloca-
described as typical of the 115
Jews the composition of the first tions for Jewish education is not new. The Jewish youths in Boston
70 interviewed-55 widows, five were not the first to raise it. It has been raised for years by others
widowers and ten couples. She re- seeking the strengthening of Jewish education for the sake of Jewish
ported their average age as 73, continuity in this country.
Some of the communities guilty of relegating Jewish education to
with some as old as 80.
The first step in working with the last lines of their domestic needs may now finally begin to pay
those wanting re-location, Mrs. proper attention to the request of placing Jewish education on their
Pollack reported, was to deal priority list. If not, they may face demonstrations on the part of local
groups of "concerned" Jewish youths. The possibility of such demon-
with the fact that the elderly
strations is now being discussed.
Jews suffered a general feeling
In asking to place Jewish education on the "priority list" of the
of helplessness and desperation
organized Jewish communities, no group requests that this be done at
because of the impending shut-
the expense of support for Israel which is given the highest priority in
down of the Y as a Jewish insti:
the communities. Under question is primarily the priority which Jewish
tution. Once they were helped
hospitals enjoy in allocations, at a time when they receive constantly
to accept the fact that the area
deterioration was irreversible increased aid from federal, state and local funds, then when their
and that the Y would close, the
income from Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross and ether agencies Is
re-location program started.
larger than ever before.