DAYENU
THE JEWISH NEWS
corporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue Of July 20. 1951
member
Published
Stl,•Flption
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Mich. -18075
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
BY HENRY LEONARD
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor_
Business Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the Nord day of Shrat. 57.30. the following scriptural selections
trill be read in our sithagiiintes:
Pentateuch& portion. P.rod. 6:29:35. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 28:25 - 29:21.
Candle lighting. Friday. Jan. 9, 5 p.m.
VOL. LVI. No. 17
January 9, I970
Page Four
The 'Shame' Inherent in Racial Strife
not the only group to be hoodwinked into a belief
Roy Wilkins, the distinguished Negro
that Negroes are bent upon "tearing down society"
leader who is unquestionably a moderate and
or upon building a strictly black separatist one.
whose hopes and aims are for good rapport
Only last month a Justice Department agency
with Jews, took occasion to review a survey
head was pictured in the press as washing his
which showed that there was an escalation
hands of integration. Whether this is now the
in bias among both Jews and Blacks in New
policy of Atty. Gen. Mitchell's Justice Depart-
York, and has expressed the view that there
ment (and thus of the Nixon administration) re-
mains to be seen.
are exaggerations in reports of growing ani-
Another astonishing aspect of the survey was
in
reality
there
is
a
basis
that
mosities and
the agreement by Jews that general discrimina-
for "broader approaches to racial peace in
tion against Negroes exists but their denial that
the nation's largest Jewish and Negro city."
specific discriminations in housing, employment,
If this basis does not exist it must be
union membership, police treatment and in other
created, and if it is lacking a way must be
fields are in effect. This is puzzling.
found to end whatever suspicions may lurk
One must conclude that a goodly number of
it's our new automatic Shammos!"
in people's minds. Mr. Wilkins' concern with
Jewish people are well aware of specific anti-
, Doyenu Productions
Copr.
the issue is a welcome sign that any indica-
Negro bars and often they are in the forefront of
tion of strife is being considered, and we
the struggle to eliminate them. The knowing ones
realize that Negroes have a hard time with police
hope will be met frankly, firmly, without
and that Blacks are held to token membership in Soyer's Art and Recollections:
delay and with an effort to eliminate dis-
some
unions. It may be that their intragroup
unity.
communications lines need attention.
Mr. Wilkins' analyses must be considered
Is there cause for "being ashamed" on The Subject Matter of His
in
sincerity
because
took
into account
the part
of tragic
all or merely the Jewish element?
Ralph Soyer is a distinguiShed artist. In his new book, "Self-
the all views
of blacks
as he
well
as whites,
Jews Some
very
Jews Revealment—A Memoir," published by Random House Maecenas
things have
happened.
as well as non-Jews. and while admitting the in the teaching profession
in New
York have
existence of a measure of anti-Semitism been placed on the defensive, and anti- I Press, he emerges as a fine storyteller, as a good diarist, as one who
among
Negroes--"like
other humans. they Semitic elements stepped in to create a Jew- can relate a wonderful life's story autobiographically. His book is a
-
have
prejudices,
travelogue as well as criticism of art and he is an able portrayer of
he
wrote—and
he is added
ish picion
issue. predominated.
There has been
much resorted
strife, sus-
that "what anti-Semitism they have
not the
Negroes
to family portraits both in art and in language.
overpowering drive of their lives, -
that
they - name calling, Jews found it necessary to or-
"do not make careers out of hating
Jews.
It's the story of a Jewish artist who splendidly portrays experiences
Primarily, he stated, any anti-Jewish feeling ganize
these? defense corps. Whose faults were in this country, as well as in Israel where he enjoys an exciting experi-
may be part of the anti-white feeling.
We hold that any one who resorts to race ence.
On this basis we have a path towards the prejudice, who harbors hatred. deserves re-
"Self-Revealment" is Soyer's third book. It is an involvement
amity
that has
existed that
between
Jews
buke
ashamed
actions.
and Blacks.
the always
cooperation
made
Jews
But and
the should
strife in be New
York, for
the his
spreading
that relates to the author-artist's father as well as to himself. He
tells about his father as a Hebrew writer, one who was known to
the
in the
most
civil fact
rights
suspicions
the neighborhood
It is leaders
because
latter
has movements.
lately been of
changes,
the countrywide,
threats to Jewish
merchants—
S. Y. Agnon, the Nobel Prize winner. When the Soyers met with the
either overlooked or ignored that the entire these and many other developments were not
Agnons in Jerusalem, the great Hebrew writer, when told that
question must
be take
viewed
in all
sincerity.
the
creation
of the of
Jewish
community:
they
Soyer's father was Avrohom Shoer said: "Avrohom Shoer, I read
Therefore.
let us
up the
Jewish
angle
were
the results
American
occurrences
Life
in Mr. Wilkins' analysis. He stated in his that have involved the entire people in the
consideration
of not
the whitewash
New York
issue:
land. That is why there is such fear that the
The report does
either
Jews or
Negroes. Prejudice is there among both groups
rightists are gaining ground.
and in disturbing quantities. Considering the ex-
Perhaps the Vietnam War had a bit to
perience of each with prejudice, the wisdom built
do with it. Surely it contributed to it. There-
up by Jews through centuries of persecution and
fore, if the Negro anti-Semitism is part of the
the explosion of bare-knuckle information on black-
anti-white feeling, the Jewish attitude also
white conflicts that has occurred here during the
is part of an American tragedy in the de-
past 10 years, some of the survey conclusions are
veloping
race issue.
surprising.
Mr. Wilkins does not disagree that if there
The story about the abandonment by Ne-
are faults they are in both camps. It is on
groes of integration will not die down. Due,
America's
perhaps, to the insistent drumbeating of a that basis that the problem of but not on
small minority of black militants, the impres- white-black war must be viewed,
the
score
of
Jews
being
ashamed
of
them-
sion is held by some white Americans that selves any less than Negroes owing
it to
Negroes are opposed to integration and, in-
themselves to express some shame.
stead, want to "tear down white society."
In all honesty, with faults on all sides,
The New York City survey reveals that 45 per
with a sense of shame enveloping the entire
cent of Jewish people believe this. In answer to
population,
the need is for an approach to a
questions, however, nearly three-fourths of the
return to sanity: it is a lack of realism and
Negroes declared for "complete integration with
failure to recognize the need for and the ob-
whites."
Jews should be ashamed of themselves for this
ligation to lean towards genuine amity that
bald error. Members of the faith are among the
is at stake. We are indebted to Mr. Wilkins
world's foremost scholars and have distinguished
and to all who pose the vital questions sin-
themselves in many fields for many generations.
cerely for not hiding truth. On the basis of
In America, Jewish social scientists and writers
truthful dedication to the obligation of all
have led in the study and writing on race. Some
citizens to wipe out hatreds we
have been superficial, but most have been thought- American
must strive for a true American kinship. It
ful and informative. It is an affront to this schol-
arship and to this more-than-casual knowledge
that a great section of Jewish opinion has been
permitted to be led astray on integration.
New York City's large Jewish population is
his stories. He wrote in Hadoar. He was a writer and teacher."
Soyer begins with an interesting episode involving his father: "My
father came home one evening out of breath and upset. When my
mother asked him what had happened, he told her, and I overheard,
that two drunken peasants walking behind him said: 'There goes a
Jew, let's beat him up!' What did you do?' asked my mother. 'I made
big strides.' My all-powerful father sank in my estimation."
This story is equated by Soyer to Prof. Sigmund Freud. As Soyer
relates it: "Little Freud and his, to that time to him, powerful father,
were walking on the sidewalk when they were ordered by a junker-
'Jude, get off the pavement!'—and Freud's father meekly obeyed, thus
falling frighteningly low in the child's esteem."
But the entire relationship between father and son is one of affec-
tion by Soyer to the elder, the scholar, writer, teacher. He comments
that his father was lucky not to have known about Hitler's genocide
program, "but he also did not live to see the establishment of Israel.
He was an enthusiastic Zionist all his life, yet never had a chance to
visit Palestine because he was unable to save enough for the trip."
Much of interest to artists, to lovers of art, is related in this
volume in which the author recalls unusual episodes and reviews
the history of artistic endeavors. Many important figures and their
works are evaluated, and there are interesting comments on "Jew-
ish art"—dealing with Jewish observances and personalities.
The description of the visit to Israel is especially worth attention
is a national obligation, and in the course of because it echoes a lifetime of interest in the Zionist idea and because
adhering to it we must hope that the tragedy of the references to the most eminent Israeli artists, especially Reuben
will be turned into a blessing and that there Rubin, who told him: "I paint what I love — my people, my family, my
will be an end to strife among Americans. country. To paint means to sing."
Anti-Semitism From Liberal Quarters
He
also writes about the Tichos—Dr. Abraham Ticho,
the eminent
eye surgeon, and his wife Anna, "the outstanding draftsman." The visit
Writing in Interplay, Henry. Fairlie has and that Arabs are oppressed by colonialism with the Agnons was, of course, the most interesting one.
expressed the fear that anti-Semitism, by be- and Jews are a colonial people."
On his visit in Paris Soyer recalled conversing with the Israel
coming respectable, "has moved from the
This is how a scapegoat is easily found, artist Naftali Bezem: "I agreed with him then that today artists could
cover of the suburbs into the open at all since the Jew is the traditional provider of not adequately depict the massive horror of our civilization."
levels of society."
upon whom to heap hatred when there
There is this interesting conclusion to the Soyer story:
He believes hatred of Jews "is more prev- means
no other to carry the brunt of responsi-
alent and more open today than at any time is
"How primitive are the tools with which I paint! How ancient is the
bility for human misdeeds.
since 1945," that the "American Jew is the
art of painting as I know it! Can it still be the art for our times? Such
tolerated jester of a WASP society," that
It all becomes possible when liberals be- thoughts are always with me when I work, for better or for worse,
what has happened is that "the white liberal come too tired to act in defense of just rights,
"How autobiographical my art is! All these portraits of myself, my
immoderately guilt-ridden by the record of when reason vanishes and hatred becomes a parents,
the members of my family; the pictures of the artists with
the whites, in their dealings with colored means of letting off steam. Once again Jews whom I came in contact; the city I have known, and its people; the
people, found a scapegoat," The prognosis must be able to withstand the fumes that go few landscapes of Maine—I have revealed myself in them long before
is that the white Jew can carry the burden with bigotry that becomes venomous. Even if this rambling chronicle was conceived, not only by the usual automatic
of guilt, that the white liberals "have dis- Henry Fairlie exaggerates a bit, his admoni- II revelation of the artist's personality, but through the subject matter
covered that Arabs are colored, -Jews - white•, • • Lions are - notto. be ignored.. -
, r which is ray-life."
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