THE JEWISH NEWS
Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Incorporating The
ll Editorial Associatio n
Member American Associaton of Englsh-Jetrish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association,
Mich. 480 75.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
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and
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THE ARP AND THE JAJLEK
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor •
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
following scriptural selec-
This Sabbath, the 14th day of Tcrmuz, 5730, the
tions will be read in our synagogues:
Micah 5:6-6:8.
portion,
Pentateuch& portion, Num. 22:2-25:9. Prophetical p.m.
Candle lighting, Friday, July 17, 7:47
VOL. LVIL No. 18
Page Four
July 17, 1970
Strength
Fascist Menace and Democratic
over to the right, which showed it could
Speculation is rampant now over the
pressing issue of freedom, the different in-
terpretations of the liberties acquired and
defended by those who aspire to absolute
justice and the future that confronts us and
our children and grandchildren.
-- So challenging are the issues that a dis-
cussion of current developments in Look
magazine, by Prof. Henry Steele Cornmager,
is entitled "Is Freedom Dying in America-"
Is it dying? Prof. Commager, one of
the most distinguished historians of our time,
commences with a warning quotation from
Benjamin Franklin, uttered two centuries
ago, when he stated:
_3 would give up essential
"T.
liberty to purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Accepting this as a guideline for the
actions of all libertarians, it is vital that the
issues that have emerged, the continuing
struggles for civil rights, the threats from
the right, must be faced with complete
seriousness and with a determined will to
prevent the rise of destructive tides in our
sphere.
There are, indeed, many dangers. Whe-
ther the more conservative elements among
us like it or not, the fact that two Birchers
were elected to Congress from California
does pose a question whether the rightists
are gaining ground and if we are to become
more urgently concerned about America's
future.
In the process of rightists' successes at
the polls and in assuming public offices
there are definite trends towards racism,
and there is often—as in the instance of
groups headquartered in Detroit—to advocate
a renewal of violent anti-Semitism.
Many hopes were in the offing for us
after the Second World War. with the crea-
tion of the United Nations. There was, then,
- the preferred prediction that war can be
outlawed, that we can have an end to geno-
cide. that nations as well as individuals can
learn to live together in amity. But these
panacean hopes are even more remote today
than they were in 1945. The prejudices
that poison men's minds are in evidence in
the world organization where cliques are
the rulers and power politics more rampant
than ever.
That is why the Nobel Peace Prize win-
ner, Lester B. Pearson of Canada. who played
a great role in the UN, warned that "un-
less the world learns to deal more effec-
tively with peace problems we will not be
celebrating a 50th anniversary of our world
organization. Uttered on the occasion of
the UN's 25th anniversary. Pearson's ad-
monition was that unless there is greater
concern for the peace objectives there may
eventually be only "scattered memorial serv-
ices over a noble concept which was beyond
the power and will of man to realize."
There is an obligation to consider these
dangers with greater seriousness than ever.
A short time ago. William L. Shirer. author
of the monumental "Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich.•• uttered a particular warning
to the American people when he said:
"We may be the first country to go
fascist democratically."
This was not an utterance from an ir-
responsible person.. It came from a student
of world affairs who watched the develop-
ment of the reactionary and destructive
movements in Germany and in Italy. He is
disturbed by Agnewism which threatens the
press and all communications media and he
is concerned about the ' - petite bourgeoisie"
of Wallacism as well as by threats of a police
state. and he drew upon his experiences to
assert:
"We saw it in France during the 1934
riots. The press and the people went
almost overthrow a republic. It was the
small people who went to Nazism, who
supported fascism.
"In this country support of reactionary
policies is unduly widespread among the
very people who would suffer the most
under them- Fascism does nothing for
them."
Shirer is not alone in his fears of the
future developments. The eminent psychol-
ogist, Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, points to the
"fascination with violence" as a menacing
situation, and he fears that "the provocative
behavior of a very small group of students
will arouse a dangerous counter-reaction."
That's how, he shows, "Fascism of the Left
may bring on a Right backlash which could
indeed strangle the democratic order." It
is imporant that we read these analytical
admonitions by Dr. Bettelheim:
Although history does - -not repeat itself (and
America today is vastly different from pre-Hitler
Germany) there are some striking similarities be-
tween the present student rebellion and what
happened in the German universities to spear-
head the rise of Hitler. Then, as now, we see the
same lumping together of all facets and insti-
tutions of- society into one defamatory image.
This is meant to symbolize a reality so mono-
lithic that it becomes out of the question to im-
prove one or another part of it at a time. No
need, then, for any reasonable assessment of
differing merits for all the many and so differ-
ent features of "the establishment"—or in Nati
terminology. "dos System." Having decided a
priori that no improvement is possible, it follows
that the only thing left is to bring down the
whole system. With society so rotten, it can neither
reform itself nor be reformed, but can only be
born again through violent revolution. Goering's
"When somebody mentions - culture (or appeals
to reason) I reach for my revolver" reappears
today in the Black Panther slogan, "1968—THE
YEAR OF THE PIG, THE DEATH OF THE BAL-
LOT, THE BIRTH OF THE BULLET." And Tom
Hayden gives it symbolic expression when he
ends an impassioned appeal for revolution by
going off stage to return brandishing a rifle .. .
In pre-Hitler Germany, of course, student
rebels came from the extreme Right while
now they are of the extreme Left. Then the new
philosophy that won a mass following for the
faithful was racist, was directed against discrim-
inated minority (the Jews), while now the avowed
intention of radical students is to help a dis-
criminated minority. Though this is an important
difference, it does not change the essential paral-
lel that, in each case. universities were coerced
into procedures mapped out by the true believers
—even to making appointments, in each case, on
the basis of racial origin. To use only one ex-
ample. German universities began to cave in when
students coerced faculties to appoint professor-
ships in Flassenuissenschaft (courses on the spe-
cial history, merits. and achievements of one race
apart from all others) instead of focusing all
teaching on contributions to knowledge, whatever
the origin of the scholar.
Dr. Rackman's Traditionalist
View in 'One Man's Judaism'
Basic Jewish ideals, Halakhic interpretations, views of Jewish
principles in their traditional concepts and within "The Scope of the
Law" are outlined in a series of essays by an outstanding American
Orthodox leader.
Dr. Emanuel Rackman, in "One Man's Judaism," published by
Philosophical Library jointly with the Jewish Edu-
cation Committee of New York, interprets Jewish
values and offers an all-inclusive collection of defi-
nitive commentaries on every aspect of Jewish in-
terest, both religious and as it becomes involved
in every day life.
Combined here are elements of Jewish his-
tory, interpretations of the basic religious ideal-
ism inherent in the Jewish heritage, the regula-
tions that guide the observant Jew and the
obligations that must be accepted for dignity in
Jewry.
Dr. Rackman
Discussing American Orthodoxy, Rabbi Rackman, who is a pro-
fessor at and assistant to the president of Yeshiva University, calls
for recapturing of basic religious experiences and the stimulation of
"a renascence of Torah learning on American soiL"
There is firmness in all of his approaches, and on the question
of whether the Jewish-Christian dialogue is worthwhile, he calls
for respect for "privacy of one's religious commitment," indicating
that what is to be known about theology can be learned from books,
and he declares:
"Between Christians and Jews there cannot be dialogue in the
correct sense of the term until there is a basic recognition that all
the participants are equals and what each group seeks is to main-
tain its own spiritual heritage, not absorption or assimilation of the
other. Until it is recognized that I am an absolute equal whose
Jewishness the other party is as anxious to see continued as I am,
it is not dialogue."
It is in this spirit that Dr. Rackman affirms Jewish rights
and emphasizes: "American Jewry is presently more united than
ever. Let us not rock the boat for a mess of pottage."
It is "the traditionalist's" view that is incorporated in Dr. Rack-
man's essays. A dedicated Zionist, Rabbi Rackman nevertheless has
a differing view from those of many leaders and he explains it as
follows:
"The traditionalist's approach to the philosophy and program of
Zionism differs radically from that of other Jewish groups. For Abba
Hillel Silver's Zionism, Theodor Herzl may have provided the ra-
tionale, and for Mordecai Kaplan's Zionism it may have been' Ahad
The concern is not merely with the stu- Ha'Am. For the traditionalist, the principal purpose of a return to
dents. It is also with faculty and with man- Zion is that the whole of the Law may once again be fulfilled in prac-
agement, with labor and with the social tice. To understand this approach to Zionism, one must first ap-
the fact that, in the words of Rabbi Abraham Kook, we have
revolutionaries, and the threats, while they preciate
but two over-all values of life, the sacred and secular. In our own era,
could come from the Extreme Left. involve. Rabbi Kook says, we so suffer from an exaggerated overemphasis on
serious danger in what may develop as a the secular that it spreads over the entire breadth of life and darkens
rash of Rightism that will be difficult to the sacred light within us."
overcome if it is permitted to rise without
When he deals with the synagogue, with prayer, the festivals,
hindrance.
Jewish ethical and spiritual values, Rabbi Hackman emerges the
Out of the emerging dangers there have teacher as well as interpreter and commentator, the pleader for the
developed anti-Semitic tendencies. Invari- sanctities of Jewish life.
ably, when reactionaries commence to func-
Judaism, he asserts, "is not saddled with fixed institutional
tion, Jews are their first victim. Only the
patterns for church and clergy. And in an age when so much
keen students of history in the Christian
of the antipathy to religion is an antipathy to its bureaucratiza-
ranks realize that they come next.
tion and institut' alization, the Jewish rabbinate, by takig up
The dangers are not minimal. but the
again its old thin - institutional role as teacher, can demonstrate
people who make up this land must be viewed
how Judaism favors the modern point of view on this as on so
as not to be trifled with. We may have a
many other matters."
new Know-Nothingism. another rash of riots.
a few more Hot Seasons. But as long as
Thus we have in this series of collected essays an emphasis on
there are knowledgeable leaders to warn established Jewish traditional values while linking the observances
the nation we have hopes that the democrati- to modernity, to just rights, to dedication to principles that teach
cally fashioned fascism either will never ma- higher values. "One Van's Judaism" is a textbook on the high moral
terialize or could never last in our society. codes in Judaism as they are by an eminent American rabbi.