THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with
issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English.Jewish N,uspapers, Michigan Press As.
s.,ciation, National Editorial Association.
by
48T4r.
Suite
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
Business Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Seleclior,
This Sabbath. Shahat HaDadol—the 12th
lowing scriptural selections will be read in our
Pentateuchal portion, L.wit. 14:1-15:33.
3:4-24.
Candle lighting, Friday April 17, r
Passover Scriptural Selecti.,n ,
12:21-5:
Pentateuchat portion: Tuesday. first day1
E.
Num. 28:16-25: Wednesday, Levit. 22:26-23:44, Nyty.
Prophetical portions: Tuesday, Joshua 5:2-r; 1, 27: I.Vejnessloy, 11 Iiir:_
23:P9, 21-25.
Hol Ha-hoed Passover Torah readings: Thursday 1--.70:1. 13:1-16.
28:16-25; Friday, Exod. 22:24-23:19, Num. 28:19 - 25.
Candle lighting, Monday, 7 P.m.; Tuesday,
VOL. LVII. No. 5
The Passover
April 17, 1970
. Page Four
of Great Tradition
Rooted in sacred traditions, drawing upon Bible and Talmud,
dating back its origin some 2,000 years and at the same time
dependent upon the teaching of the rabbis ,through the centuries of
our history, the seder Hagada again will by in use next week as a:
inspiration to our generation in its link with our ancestors.
What we put into use now has stood the tes: f-,f time. Havlr.
utilized the literature of our people in is composition. toe HaP;atla
has become the standard work for the grea: festival of Passover.
In the course of the festival's observance, in many clime:,
under the influence of challenging events, there have been additkm.-i
of prayers and supplications. We nave added to the service a plea for
Russian Jewry. In commemoration of the tragedies that were
flicted upon our ,people during the 1930s and 1940s. there were
composed special memorial chants to provide comfort for all who
would not forget what had occurred and that which must never be
permitted to reoccur.
In our partnership with the forces for civil rights for the less
fortunate in our midst, in our dedication to the movements for
justice for the downtrodden, we insert into the Hagada ritual an
avowal of faith in man's better nature and admonition that we shall
not recede from 'the serious task: of aiding in every effort for true
brotherhood for all.
In the process, the Hagada remains unchanged because it is the
basis for the ideals we embrace. We celebrate Passover as the first
known rebellion against slavery and tyranny on record, and there
cannot possibly be total sincerity in adherence to modern social
justice movements unless we respect the foundations for such free-
dom movements.
We go to the seder feast with a knowledge that our obligations
to the justice mankind seeks today for all the less forunate has a
foundation in a heritage which has given us a role of pioneers in
the fight for freedom. There can be no receding from such a role.
And there must be the fusing of ideals—those rooted in the past
which have been tried and found effective and the new which must
lead us away from the forces of darkness—there must be the strong
union of the best we have learned from all generations, as an assur-
ance that the lesson of the seder Hagada is as powerful for our time
as it was for the generations of .lews whom it inspired with the will
to live and to survive injustice.
These are the lessons with which we renew our inseparability
with the past and entertain the joy of extending to our community
hearty Passover greetings. _
Matzo of Hope—Prayer for Kinsmen
In Ot:r .1 1..:ozada texts we had inserted memorial tributes to the
Tr.rtyrs who died at the hands of the Nazis. We also
Six
r for our kinsmen in the Soviet Union. It is with
resort to a
sorrow that we must turn to the tragic on the occasion of Passover.
Yet we have the Matzo of Hope Prayer in which we assert—in the
Hebrew on the right—and in the English translation:
This matzo, which we set aside
as a symbol of hope for the three
and a half million Jews of the Soviet
Union, reminds us of the indestruc-
tible links that exist between us.
As we observe this festival of free-
dom, we know that Soviet Jews are
not free—not free to leave, not free
to learn of their Jewish past or to
hand it down to their children. They
cannot learn the languages of their
fathers.
They cannot teach their children
to be the teachers and the rabbis of
future generations.
As their voices rise in Jewish af-
firmation and protest, we add our
voices to theirs, and we shall be
joined by all whose consciences are
aroused by the wrongs inflicted On
Soviet Jews Thus shall they know
that they hare not been forgotten
and they shall yet emerge into the
i:nht of freedom.
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i:re.edom Redefined in Passover Spirit
Oh Passover we renew our confidence in the inevitable triumph of freedom
over oppression. This is the festival on which we not only embrace all the bless-
ings that are cherished by liberty-loving people, but we reaffirm the faith in the
indestructibility of mankind's highest ideals. But these are troubled times. This is
an age in which established regulations are defined, there is a search for new
paths of justice, that which is aged is frequently rejected.
It has been conceded for some years that freedom needs a new evaluation,
that there is need for a new definition for liberty, that a path must be paved for
closer approaches to a common denominator in libertarian evaluations. by the
younger generation and its elders.
If the meaning of freedom has not been distorted, if opposition to slavery
and oppression combines the dreams of men of vision of all ages—as we had
hoped it would be interpreted in this fashion—then that which some view as rifts
may not be dividing lines at all and may be temporary conflicts over expression of
opinion.
Nevertheless, there must be a rapprochement, it is vital that the common
needs and aspirations of mankind should be understood and adhered to.
It was not so long ago that we entered upon a new era of soul searching, or
admitting to the historical injustice against people whose skins were black and who
had suffered from serfdom. Also, it is a matter of a very short time since this
nation has come to realize that poverty is a stigma upon a community that permits
it. We have also, in the very years that have elapsed, begun to admit that illiteracy,
ignorance, subjection to low standards, are a curse upon a nation, and that there
is a !duty incumbent upon free people to strive for the elimination of these faults
from our society and to aim for the uplifting of standards for all who live among us.
. If we agree on these basic principles, then the differences between the elders
and their children and grandchildren must vanish. If we do not share in the obliga-
tion to achieve the highest goals in these fields then we lose the right to claim a
share in the society of humankind.
These are the basics in the duty incumbent upon us, at Passover time, to learn
the lessons that are taught in our traditions. It is much easier to define—or re-define,
if a rebellious youth chooses to view it that way—the basic ideals of freedom if
we accept the teachings that have been handed down to us.
We hold firmly to the view that what we have acquired from Jewish tradi-
tions, what has been handed down to us, represents the foundation needed for a
full appreciation of the libertarian principles that must dominate mankind.
Even while determining to define the meaning of freedom we assume an
easier role in the realization that we have inherited great traditions that `do not
belie liberty and the fruits thereof.
How well this festival has served us as an inspiration in surviving tyranny and
in holding fast to the ideal of justice, humanity, liberty!
How well, with a reaffirmation of faith in it, is this festival of Passover serv-
ing as an ideal for people of all faiths, all ages—all mankind!