THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
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Member American Associaton of Engish-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co.. 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield. Mich. 48075.
Phone 356-8400
Subscription 57 a year. Foreign $8.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 20th day of Ada,. 11. 5730. the following scriptural selections
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will be read in our synagogues:
NUM. 19:1-22. Prophetical portion. Eze-
Pentateuchal portions. Lerit.
kiel 36:16-38.
Candle lighting, Friday, March 27. 6:33 p.m.
VOL. LVII. No. 2
Pbge Four
March 27. 1970
Search foF Basic Education Solutions
A number of basic questions have been
posed by the American Association for Jewish
Education, and the chief among them beckon-
ing for solution are:
What is the relationship of Jewish edu-
cation to the condition of the Jew?
Are the present goals of Jewish educa-
iton clear, and is the present content of
curriculum adequate, or, do they require
radical restatement?
Is the problem of Jewish education one
of time, motivation, cognition, or experi-
ence?
What needs to be done to arrest and
reverse the growing indifference of adoles-
cent youth?
How shall Jewish education cope with
the experience of young men and women
on the college campus?
What impact should Israel have on Jew-
ish education in America?
What educational structure does the
Jewish community require in order to util-
ize its resources to capacity?
Are we exploiting the technological re-
sources now available for the improvement
of instruction?
It is because these problems exist and
demand solution that the American Associa-
tion for Jewish Education is calling its sixth
national conference for May 14-17 in an effort
to find a way out of the difficulties that beset
our educational systems and to arrive at
decisions that will lead towards means of
strengthening our cultural foundations.
Taking for its theme the challenging title
"Jewish Education and the Condition of the
Jew: A Projection of Goals and Programs for
the 1970s," the sponsors of the planned con-
ference outline the objective in this declara-
tion.
"Jewish education is the key concern of
those who are involved in planning for a
creative Jewish life. Its dimensions have
grown enormously in the course of the past
generation in terms of students, teachers,
schools, funds, and communal involvement.
We are constantly called upon to examine,
alter, improve, intensify and create those
programs which will enhance the quality
and affect the character of Jewish identity.
These efforts apply from early childhood
through secondary school and college; in
one-day-a-week schools, as well as all-day
schools; in formal and in informal settings;
in summer camps and through study visits
to Israel; in adult education and in ex-
ploiting the latest technological equipment;
in teacher's colleges and in training pro-
grams.
"The challenges which confront the
Jewish educational enterprise, both inter-
nally and externally, do not abate. We are
meeting in a time of social and intellectual
ferment that threatens to shatter the tra-
ditional structure of the Jewish family and
that is eroding the identity of the individ-
ual Jew. No task is considered more urgent
by the Jewish community than that of
evolving forms and content of Jewish edu-
tion which will positively affect the condi-
tion of Jewish life."
The issues are projected as a national
need. They affect every Jewish community
in America, every city and every hamlet,
whether a community has 2,500,000 Jews, like
New York, or 90,000 like Detroit, or one of a
mere dozen families.
Refusal of young people to enter the Jew-
ish teaching profession, hesitancy on the part
of many to take a deeper interest in our edu-
cational needs, the many obstacles that con-
front us in an era of indifference and a de-
sire on the part of youth to escape rather
than embrace Jewish responsibilities—these
are matters of serious concern to the entire
American Jewish community. Perhaps those
who will meet in May to consider the issues
and to strive for solutions will find a way out
of the morass. It won't be an easy task. It
is becoming more difficult to solve these prob-
lems, to find our way into the hearts of those
who should be educators as well as those who
should be students.
It is less difficult now to secure funds for
Jewish educational needs. But the other issues
often appear insoluable. They must be made
easier to tackle. That is why we place so much
hope in a conference such as has been con-
vened. If we do not search for solutions we
shall not find them. Commencing the quest
for positive leanings toward our cultural
needs, perhaps we shall emerge spiritually
victorious.
Immediate Need: Cease-Fire Enforcement
For more than 22 years, since the United
Nations voted for Palestine's partition into
two states—a decision that has been abused,
ignored, misinterpreted—there has been end-
less talk of crises in the Middle East_ When,
therefore, there is the reiterated reference to
the continuing crisis it no longer has the
same connotation. Today it is more serious
because, while Israel is less isolated, there
is no regard for ceasefire; because there is
a "small war" that is viewed as a possibility
of developing into an escalated war that could
well become the most serious of all the con-
flicts that engulfed that area and threatened
the existence of the smallest and the young-
est of the nations in the entire area.
The UN partition plan was ignored and
abused from the very beginning by the com-
bined Arab nations whose all-out war de-
clared on Israel prevented the implementa-
tion of an international plan. Had the Arabs
conceded to the UN—now they speak of a
return to the 1948 plan!there would not
have been the three wars. Israel would have
been isolated into a ghetto, into so tiny an '
area, that there would have been a struggle
for existence of an entirely different nature
than the present. But there would not have
been the wars that ensued, in 1948, in 1956
and in 1967. Now we have the continuing
struggle, and the dangers are so great that
the entire world fears the consequences
which could well emerge into another world
war.
To speak, therefore, of an overbalancing
of military power by Israel is to skirt the is-
sue. If an all-out war is to be averted it is
important that Israel be strong enough to
resist the pressures from neighbors who out-
number them more than 40 to 1 and who are
getting so much military equipment from
Russia that it becomes apparent which of the
national groups is the strongest.
The urgency, therefore, is to seek an end
to warfare and the beginning of negotiations.
War can end with a cease fire; negotiations
can commence when both sides discuss the
issues between them.
Since the established fact is that the ter-
rorists have only one objective: Israel's de-
struction; and the Arab nations appear in-
capable of curbing terrorism, the situation
approaches a state of hopelessness.
Under such conditions, if there is sincer-
ity in the ranks of the UN and the Four Pow-
ers—assuming that France and Russia can
be trusted to a state of impartiality—the first
order of business is to enforce a ceasefire,
and such enforcement calls for Arab agree-
ment to interrupt warfare. Then, perhaps,
the talks can begin. Only one question emer-
ges in such an interpolation: are we dreaming?
Archeological Passover Hagada
Enriches Seder Art Volumes
Passover's approach draws attention to the treasures that have
been retained and reproduced in the preparation of Hagadot used at
sedorim.
Some of the most impressive art works, many dating back to
ancient times, some that stem from the Middle Ages and from the
creative efforts of Jewish artists of the past few centuries, are included.
The newest of the art works related to Passover has a fascinating
modern approach. As its title, "An Archeological Passover Hagada,"
published by Sabra Books, denotes, the story is linked with arche-
ology, and the findings of recent times, coupled with the ancient story
of the Exodus, emerge as an instructive combination while retain-
ing the entire traditional text.
Edited by Reno Rothenberg, with a new translation by Dr.
Cecil Roth, this splendid enrichment of the Hagada library con-
tains an informative introduction by Michael Avl.Yonah. The entire
text is in both Hebrew and the English translation. The maps,
the old reprints, the illustrated references to archeological rmd-
ings—all are interrelated into a single whole that emphasizes
the Exodus story while relating to it the modern interests in
the Passover.
Topographically-minded readers and users of this Hagada will be
attracted to its contents immediately by the reproduced first Hebrew
map of the Exodus route and the tribal locations. It is an etching
by Abraham Bar Yacob and was originally printed in the Amster-
dam Hagada in 1695.
Prof. Avi-Yonah points out in his introduction with reference
to the injunction in the Commandment, "Thou shalt not make thyself
any graven image . . . " that: "The restricted subject matter of the
Hagada, the interest taken in it by women and children to whom
visual material speaks directly, and the fact that the Hagada is used
at home during the Passover seder and feast and was therefore not
subjected to the restrictions applied to books taken to the syna-
gogue—all these facts served to enrich Hagada manuscripts with ample
and manifold illuminations and ornamentations."
There is an evaluative review of the illuminations in Hagadot,
and the introduction by the Jerusalem scholar further states:
"In the present century many attempts have been made to adapt
Hagada ornamentation to the revival of the Jewish people in the
land of their fathers . . . The Hagada presented here is con-
structed on an entirely different foundation, namely, the land-
scape and antiquities of Eretz Israel and her neighbors .. ."
This is what distinguishes the new work. It draws upon the oldest
collected illuminations that have appeared in the Sarajevo, Amster-
dam and other Hagada texts, but its emphasis on the Israeli aspects,
its resort to the environmental factors related to recent archeologi-
cal undertakings, gives this work special status.
For instance, in relation to Psalm cxiv, recited during the seder,
there are depicted quail, and Exodus xvi:13 is quoted, "Drawing of
quail in the wilderness of Sinai . . . "
Thus, through text, supplementary Bible readings, photographs
and scriptural quotations, the Hagada reader has as supplements to
the seder story the history of ancient times and reminders of what
had occurred in the present.
There are photographs of the Jordan south of Lake Kinneret,
and the quote accompanying it reads: "Hear 0 Israel, this day you
pass over the Jordan," Deut. ix:1. Anyone who has been to Israel
will immediately find himself at the Kinneret and will find the link
for himself with the past, in the present status of modern Israel.
Prof. Avi-Yonah commends the editor, Dr. Rothenberg, for his ac-
complishment through this collected work of text, Bible references and
illuminations, and he comments additionally:
"The new Passover Hagada being fashioned before our eyes
suits our aspirations towards historic ti'uth, while at the same
time giving expression to the present Return to Zion."
This, indeed, summarizes the value of this new Hagada. The
Israeli printers, E. Lewin-Epstein Ltd., did a magnificent job produc-
ing this beautiful work.