THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with isrue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-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.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices.
Subscription $8 a year. Foreign $9.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Hanuka Sabbath, the 28th day of Kislev, 5731, the following scriptural selec-
tions will be read in our synagogues: Pentatenchal portions, Gen. 41:1-44:17, N11171.
7:30-35. Prophetical portion. Zeharia 2:14-4:7.
Hanuka Torah readings: Sunday, Num. 7:36-47; Monday, also Rosh Hodesh Tevet
selection, Numh. 28:1-15; Num. 7:42-47; Tuesday, also Rosh Hodesh Tevet selection, Num.
28:1-15, Num. 7:48-54; Wednesday. Num. 7:54-8:4.
Candle lighting. Friday, Dec. 25, 4:46 p.m.
VOL. LVIII. No. 15
Page Four
December 25, 1970
Amicability in Season of Good Will
Exchange of greetings and expressions of
good will in this season is a natural inter-
relationship among all peoples who make up
the society in which we live. We object to
having this country called Christian, yet it
would be utterly foolish to deny that the
overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens
is Christian. They greet us on Rosh Hashana
—and on Hanuka—and we wish them well on
Christmas and New Year days. We exchange
good wishes and we pray for the welfare of
all who make up this great nation.
It is when these good wishes are sound,
when they are serious and normal, that there
is a recognition of the rights of all to worship
-
as they please. It is in such context that this
land with a majority of Christians retains the
glory of supreme democratic principles.
In Southeast Asia there will be a halt to
fighting during the Christmas and New Year
holidays. An agreement on such cessation to
the murderous acts between nations ought to
be a signal for more general cease fire deci-
sions that should lead to an end to the war.
Can that happen when there is difficulty
even to effect an exchange of prisoners?
Nevertheless one should never give up
hope that wars can be halted, that men can
come to terms, that good will is not a term
for the Christmas season among Christians,
just as cease fire need not be a term for tem-
porary usage between Jews and Moslems in
the Middle East.
The Middle East cease fire is not compar-
able to the month's cessation of warfare in
the Asian conflict. It was not motivated for a
brief few days, because of the necessity for
religious observances and a holiday spirit for
military forces. Nevertheless it has an aspect
of good will and should be grabbed at as
means of approaching peace possibilities.
Does good will really exist in that area? Are
the world powers and the -Arab potentates
ready to be on speaking terms with Israel?
Perhaps this is at the root of the neces-
sities of our time: that men of good will
should be on speaking terms. This can be a
rule for all peoples, in all climes—here dur-
ing the present season and in the Mediter-
ranean area between Moslems and Jews. If
all of us can be on speaking terms, we can
hope of amicability. If we are amicable, we
can be peaceful. Oh, for the fulfillment of the
dream for peace on earth and good will
among men!
Rebellious Youth and the Home Influence'
How can we retain the interest of our
youth in our communities, our homes, our
aspirations, with an aim of having them
cherish our heritage?
Widely discussed, the issue revolving
around youth and the fears that they are
abandoning us continue to be debated in
many areas. Synagogues and their rabbis are
worried about the young people, the Zionist
movement pleads with them to become inti-
mately affiliated with the cause, the schools
are equally concerned.
One of the most distinguished of the
American rabbis, Dr. Arthur Hertzberg, re-
cently touched upon the issue of Jewish iden-
tification and the youth and he made some
very important observations. He pointed to a
study by Ritterband and Kaplowitz, soon to
be published, which finds that "the New Left
had been already essentially committed to
. . . secular apostasy."
His contention is that the young people
we are concerned with are "not essentially
religious, certainly not in the classic sense."
He maintains that "even the most Zionist
among our youth have felt it necessary to in-
sist that they are uncomplicatedly 'American'
and that their Jewishness is a secondary
category."
Yet, many youths responded to Israel's
call in the Six-Day War, many in the New
Left are staunchly pro-Israel and some have
had a smattering of Jewish educational back-
ground. How is one to judge these youths?
Dr. Hertzberg made one observation that may
offer a partial explanation and a possible
solution to the agonized problem that con-
fronts us. He stated in reference to the youths
who did respond to Israel's needs:
present structure of Jewish education, but
such an interpretation is not necessarily
true. One possible explanation is that the
significant factor is not the Jewish educa-
tion that these young people receive, but
the homes from which they come. In the
study on apostasy by Ritterband and Kaplo-
witz, it is suggested that home background
rather than formal education is the impor-
tant variable when it comes to the decision
to affiliate or disaffiliate with Jewish life.
This suggestion is consonant with the re-
sult of recent studies by Greeley and Rossi
on the effect of Catholic parochial educa-
tion on the Catholic commitments of those
who attend such schools. They found little
significant difference in Catholic commit-
ment between the products of public and
parochial school educations; what made a
critical difference was the nature of Catholic
faith and practice in the homes in which
these people grew to maturity."
Admittedly, this is only a partial finding
of over-all effects. The fact is that many of
Music and lyrics, speeches and diplomatic declarations combine to
make a new record album a most elaborate addition to Israel's history
and to the developments that led to Israel's statehood.
In "Israel, Land of Sweet Sunshine," which was compiled by Gerry
Ginsberg and was produced by Sam Gangel's Governor Street Records,
there is a preservation of addresses at United Nations, by. American
and Israeli notables that serves a great purpose. It revives interest in
what had transpired at - the time partition was voted by the UN, when
Israel was admitted to membership in the UN and the subsequent
events, leading up to the Six-Day War.
What this record does is to revive an interest in, and assure
the preserving of, speeches by Abba Hillel Silver, the announcement
of Israel's admission to the UN by H. V. Evatt of Australia in his
role as chairman of the UN General Assembly, on May 11, 1949;
and speeches by David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Abba Eban, Gen.
Haim Herzog, Moshe Sharett. Intermingled with fine musical selec-
tions, the record, compiled by Gerry Ginsberg, indicates an under-
standing of the Israeli theme, of the defense mechanisms, of the
Zionist ideal.
A new recording group, "Benjamin," made this work possible, and
the musical arrangements by Meco Monardo assure an enthusiastic
response to the record from music lovers.
Jay Tropp was the speech editing engineer, and Rod McBrien suc:
ceeded in running five recording machines simultaneously to link the
speeches, and intersperse them with the magnificent theme song.
The selections from the Israeli leaders' speeches show an under-
standing of the underlying motivations and the major Israeli needs and
aspirations.
Ben-Gurion and Mrs. Meir are quoted in their -emphasis on the
Zionist background which led to Israel's sovereignty.
The current needs, the merger of Jewish worldwide and Israeli
determinations to assure the country's defense lead the listener to an
appreciation of a nation's will to live and unity in defying threats of
extermination.
Then there are the UN speeches of Dr. Silver, Eban, Sharett. All
combine to make this a very significant and history-oriented record.
Sperber's 'Man and His Deeds '
What are man's moral responsibilities and how do humans react
in shaping history, in being ;participants in events that often lead to
world tragedies, as the occurrences of the last generation had shown
"Man and His Deeds" by Dr. Manes Sperber, published by McGraw
Hill Co., is a powerful psychological study of events of our time.
It probes the developments that followed occurrences in Russia,
in the European cauldron on the eve of World War I, in the world
councils during the last war. He takes into account the American
events that were marked by the Kennedy assassination. He points to
the delusions that arise out of "legends of treason" and he comments:
"People thus believed that Trotsky was the head of an international
conspiracy acting on the orders of Hitler, that Bukharin was in the
service of the Japanese police, that Tukhashevski was a Wehrmancht
spy (all had confessed), and that great Russian doctors of a Jewish
background were killing their patients for Zionism."
In this fashion he refutes the libels that have been spread by the
world's bigots and on the score of the tragedy that marked the
"tenebrous plot against Kennedy" his view is: -
"The America of the twenties no longer exists; since then the
condition of the workers, both as citizens and as members of a class,
has changed more than in any other Industrial nation. Certainly racist
violence is causing revolting complications in certain states, in Mis-
the rebels in our midst are complaining
about their parents, justly or falsely, and that
the rebellion seems to be both against the
family background as well as the Establish-
ment. Nevertheless, the proper family back-
ground is a sotirce to be reckoned with. When
our difficulties are discussed we always hear
a deploring comment about the breakdown
of the traditional Jewish family life and if
that is to be reconstructed as one of the means
of rescuing the interests we crave for among
for instance; but distrust and anti-American propaganda
the youth, then we should take it most seri- sissippi,
won't help in the fight against the racism practiced in the United
ously.
States."
In any event, the point made by Dr. Hertz-
berg is not to be ignored. It must be viewed
in all seriousness.
"The overwhelming majority had had, by
contemporary American Jewish norms, some
The issue involving our desire to retain
fairly substantial preliminary Jewish educa-
tion. With negligible exceptions, every one youth interests is not being ignored. That's a
factor
of merit. The studies, resulting in
of them has been either Bar Mitzva or Bat
Mitzva or confirmed. One would be tempted views such as Dr. Hertzberg's must lead us
to argue that this Indicates that some posi- toward a return to the values which link
tive Jewish momentum is created by our both of our generations.
• • • • • • • I •
....
Record Links Leaders' Voices
With Israel's Defense Needs
..
dltErr""
2 Books on Drug Addiction
Two important books have just
is tackled efficiently.
appeared in which the drug problem
In "The Drug Epidemic—What
It Means and How to Combat It,"
published by Dial Press, Dr. Wesley C. Westman lists Synanon House
and Teen Challenge among addiction referral services of merit.
In the Coward-McCann volume "High Play—Turning On Without
Drugs," Prof. Harmon IL Bro tells "how to achieve ecstasy without
drugs and reach optimums of truth, beauty and goodness using the
Edgar Cayce approach." The Cayce tactics are emphasized. The
by Hugh Lynn Cayce.
introduction to this volume is