THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue
of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Ass ociation
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co.. 17313 W. Nine Mile, Suite 365, Southfield. Mich. 49073.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Utter end Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City [titter
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 21st day of Kislev, 5731, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Gen. 37:1-40:23. Prophetical portion, Amos 2:6.3:8.
Candle lighting. Friday, Dec. 13, 4:43 p.m.
Hanuka Torah readings: Wednesday, Num. 7:1-17; Thursday. Num. 7:18-29:
Friday, Num. 7:24-35.
VOL. LVIII. No. 14
Page Four
December 18, 1970
Hanuka's Message in Time of Crisis
Just as there is no denying that we are in a time of crisis, so, also, is there an affirma-
tion that when there is a challenge there must be the response commensurate with the needs.
Hanuka's message•is unchanging. It has always served definite needs, in national
Jewish crises, on occasions when there were difficulties in observing to the fullest our
religious tenets, even in periods when economic pressures created difficulties for our people.
We are now in a time of doubts and transformations, of the emergence of new
ideologies and of threats to the existence of the old ideals, many of which stem even from
the very time of the Maccabees.
As in the days of yore, when it was necessary to resort to Maccabean valor, we are
today in the throes of changes in the thinking of our people, especially the youth, and
of alterations in observances that might appear calamitous to very existence.
In reality, the changes are as recurring as the repetitions we know of in history.
Historic lessons seldom vary, and we know that in time of crisis there is always the inspira-
tion of a great past that encourages the devout never to abandon the treasured legacies of
our people.
Hanuka and the lesson of Maccabean courage usefully emerges at this time to call
Jewry to action—against indifference to our people's needs, in support of those who struggle
for liberty, in behalf of defenders of national independence in the redeemed homeland.
There is no denying the power of the Hanuka spirit, and as long as it brightens
A complete text of the hearings that were conducted by the U.S.
synagogue and home with lights that represent the people's dignity and right to live, House of Representatives in 1944 on the question of the "Jewish
no weapon that is forged against us can possibly prosper and no obstacles can possibly National Home in Palestine" has been incorporated in a 545-page
stand in the way of the continuity that marks the glory of Israel.
volume edited by Prof. Ben Halpern of Brandeis University and pub-
lished by Ktay.
The hearings were conducted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs
of the House of Representatives on Feb. 8, 9, 15 and 16, 1944, In the
It is either panic or lack of vision, but ism. But these are not the mass of Jewish discussions on the House Resolutions 418 and 419 which gave American
the constancy with which some spokesmen for students who retain an interest in their stu- endorsement to the Zionist idea and became part of the long history**
Jewish organizations repeatedly express fear dies and who do not necessarily support those of U.S. support of aspirations that led to the emergence of the state
of Israel.
have rejected their parents.
over the attitudes of young Jews toward who There
is a clamoring for Jewish studies in
Many documents related to the discussions are appended to the
their people and their heritage, or in their many of our universities. Midrasha at the texts
of the hearings, and the record of American Israel relations
relationship with Israel, evidences an extrem- University of Michigan, special courses at would be incomplete without this congressional record.
ism that is hardly helpful in the effort to Wayne State University, Michigan State Uni-
Ben Halpern's introduction to the valume is of special merit. An
assure the identification of the young with versity and the University of Detroit and authority on Zionist history, Halpern goes into necessary details
their elders. introduction of Zionist activities in many col- about the historical experiences, and the political aims of Zionism as
Too often, the expressions of. concern lege areas all attest to an interest not to be a world movement that depended upon the encouragement of the
seem to indicate greater emphasis. on sensa- minimized.
nations of the world. The anti-Zionist attitudees of the American
tionalism than on realities. Just because a
In our Jewish Centers there is a renewed Council for Judaism, the opposition that then stemmed from the
handful of extremists follows a line of blind- vitality in the involvement of college youth, American Jewish Committee under the presidency of Judge Joseph
ness that has not been uncommon among as is indicated in the Michigan Association 1K. Proskauer, thhe State Department antagonism, the Nazi terror and
enemies within our ranks through the ages, of Jewish College Students which already has the obstacles that created difficulties for Zionists in 1942 and 1943.
there is no justification for exaggeration enrolled students from 14 institutions of Then came the changes that led to favorable congressional action in
1944, but in the interim there were the inner conflicts in Zionist
about departures from our ranks, about anta-• higher learning in this state.
the Stephen Wise-Abba Hillel Silver feud which left bitterness
gonists among us, or of rejections either of
Is this cause for despair? Those who over- ranks,
in the organized Jewish community.
kinsmen or the institutions they build.
emphasize the negative aspects are rendering
There
is an interesting note in Prof. Halpern's review of the
On the contrary, there are unending in- a disservice to our people. We have faith in
dications that many of our youth are loyal to the dedicated youth who will soon prove, by developing situation. He states:
In the last months of 1943, the rising pressures of Jewish opinion
their faith and their heritage and that their their leadership, that we are wrong in judg-
interest in Israel and the survival of the ing them as an uncooperative element in still had no marked effect on the organs of government. In October
state is marked by spirited dedication. Jewry. The opposite is more factual, and their 1943, Senators Guy M. Gillette, Elbert I). Thomas and Edwin C. John-
The regrettable fact is that among the involvement is certain to add comfort to our son, who had all (like the then Senator Harry S. Truman) been original
national sponsors of the maverick Committee for a Jewish Army, intro-
leaders of the New Left there are many with confidence that the people Israel lives and duced
a resolution recommending "the immediate creation by the
Jewish-sounding names, some of whom are its youth is an element in the strength we President of an Agency to Save the Jewish People of Europe."
among the "most wanted," and included hope to retain and build in our continuity as
This was one of many acts by friendly members of Congress, and
among them are the participants in vandal- a spiritual and cultural entity.
among the staunchest and always consistent supporters of the Zionist
movement was the late Congressman John
D. Dingell, father of the present Congress-
man John D. Dingell Jr. Thd elder Rep.
Dingell delivered a powerful address at
It's been some time since the tragedy uninformed newspaperman is creating- that Cong. Shaarey Zedek in Detroit, May 21,
of Deir Yassin was used as a weapon to under- causes us to admonish our community to be 1939, at a public rally held under auspices
mine Israel's existence and to contribute aware of dangers that stem from ignorance of the Detroit Zionist Emergency Commit-
and the complete text of that import-
toward postponement of peace in the Middle and the encouragement that is given the big tee,
ant speech is part of the record compiled
East. But a Detroit editor who went to the lie. Such encoursgement often is provided by Prof. Halpern.
Middle East for information and instead with the best intentions, thus placing even Congressman Dingell presented the text
brought back seeds of hatred, has given coin- more pressing duties upon the concerned of that address to the House Foreign Affairs
fort to those who would destroy the good will communities to refute the errors.
Committee and it was incorporated into the
that has become evident as a result of Tsrael's
From all quarters in Israel have come record as the Michigan congressman's views
in support of all-out American aid of the
progressive programs in the Mid Ez trt.
indications that Arabs are ready to deal Zionist
cause.
Late Rep. Dingell
Israel has not condoned the occurrence amicably with their Jewish neighbors, that
According to Prof. Halpern, the record "highlights another feature
former
antagonists
who
had
been
expelled
in Deir Yassin, and if Arab terrorists and
from the country have asked for permission of the problem in pressure politics which has rarely, if ever, been
their allies had conceded as much guilt in
sufficiently noticed in this connection. Rather than Jews swaying gov-
the massacre that took place in Hebron, in to return and have been granted that right, ernment, the plain fact, repeatedly substantiated in our narrative, is
that
the Israeli Arabs especially are loyally that government proved capable of swaying Jews, and decisively
the murder of an entire Hadassah medical
convoy at MountOcopus in April of 1948 cooperating in efforts to establish a peaceful affected the position some of them took in• the inner politics of their
community. Here, However, what the story shows is a rapid,
and other mass murders, we could hope atmosphere. Anything that distorts these own
for understanding and peace among Arabs facts, which should be known to all newspaper decisive liberation of the organized Jewish community from such
influences,
There grows up, indeed, a defiance, increasingly impatient,
readers
and
certainly
to
foreign
correspon-
and Jews.
dents who are on -the scene and are wit- of all such hints and pressures from above and a headstrong insistence
of
the
Jewish
community on responding to its own rage, fear, grief
It is not because the editor of Detroit's nesses to the better relations that exist, is a
morning newspaper committed _a great .hurt source of trouble for peace-seeking in an and rebellious pride . . . This, and not on any game theory analysis
of
Jewish
pressure
tactics in the war years, is the most obvious reason
to any effort towards peace that we are embattled area
for most of what happened in that anguished time."
again becoming concerned over what is
Under existing conditions, it is to be
what happened is that the U.S. friendship for Zionism continued
transpiring. It is the failure of many public hoped that every time a lie is repeated there as a And
friendship for Israel. And the Halpern saga presents the case in
relations media to tackle the problem an will be sufficient effort to counteract it.
a valuable historical document.
Congressional Zionist Record
Compiled in Halpern's Volume
Exaggerated Extremism in Jewish Youth
-
False Emissaries Undermine M. E. Peace