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 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

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Advertising Manager

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighth day of Nisan, 5731, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Levit. 6:1-8:36. Prophetical portion, Malachi 3:4-24.

Candle lighting, Friday, April 2, 6:40 p.m.

VOL. LIX. No. 3

Page Four

April 2, 1971

Your Dollars: For a Secure Israel

This is the day on which the current Allied Jewish Campaign commences, with the
urgent plea to every member of our community not to shirk responsibility in a time of utter
seriousness.
There is not a Jew in our midst who does not pray for Israel's security and for the
emergence of a firm peace in the Middle East.
It should therefore be indicated to all who are linked in communal unity that the secu-
rity of Israel depends upon the economic strength of Israel as much as upon its military and
political powers.
Therefore, all of us share in the responsibility of providing such strength to our kins-
men who are in a fight for life.
Therefore, not a single citizen in our midst should be omitted from the roll of honor of
those who give nobly to the current campaign.
Give generously and assist in upholding the hands of our fellow Jews who are defend-
ing the glory of redeemed Israel.

The Seder: Medium for Family Unity

Passover, one week off, presents an inter-
esting test.
Traditionally the homecoming week, the
occasion for family reunions and for the
strongest ties between generations, it is the
hope of all concerned that the practice will
continue, that there will be no interruption in
establishing that spirit which unites people of
all ages.
It is at the impressive seder ceremony
that young can fuse their interests with their
elders, that the elders can understand the feel-
ings of the younger folk, that there is a com-
munity of interests in all Jewish homes.
Why need it be otherwise? The Passover
lesson is so significant! It is the major fes-
tival on record that teaches mankind the
values of freedom. It was the first event in his-
tory when slavery was rejected as a practice
by men who preached equality for all.
There is beauty in the festival and there
are established ceremonials that elevate the
festival to the highest rungs on the ladder that
helps men climb to heights of justice.
Yet there are defections.' We are not so
certain that many of the emendations intro-
duced in the seder service have much value.
It is one thing to cut out a prayer or two, or
reduce the reading of all of the Psalms in the

Hagada. But the meat of it is as spiritually
palatable today as it has been for the millenia
during which it was recited in Jewish homes
throughout the world; and the tradition for
linking generations in one family unit is such
an act of beauty in a fellowship of family
loyalties!
We always pray and hope that we should
not be put to the test of seeing this unity de-
stroyed. In our time we are witnesses to what
has been a warning about generation gaps.
Perhaps some ranks will be affected by it. Are
we blind to reality in believing that the over-
whelming forces among our youth retain the
love for tradition and the loyalty to family to
retain the power that is inherent in the seder
and in the Passover festival's lessons? Are we
judging the elders unrealistically when we
say that they, too, acquire the spirit of youth
when they reaffirm their devotion to the les-
sons of a festival that is based on freedom for
all regardless of their racial backgrounds or
their creeds, with emphasis on the need to
assure the freedom of the people and the
nation Israel?
We are on the eve of a great festival and
we take pride in the unifying factors that
make Passover a medium to retain the
strength of Jewish family unity.

Road to Peace Not Totally Blocked

Double talk is not unusual in politics and
diplomacy, and what appears on the surface as
speculation in 'judging the news from and
about the Middle East could easily be inter-
preted as tongue-in-cheek verbosity. Neverthe-
less, it would be wrong to charge the State
Department or the White House with insin-
cerity. From both quarters have come denials
that Israel is being pressured into withdrawal,
and on all counts there are assurances that
there will be insistence upon negotiations be-
fore there are final decisions on agreements
between Israel and the Arab states.

has lasted for eight months; both Israel and
Egypt have preserved the lives of military
men and casualties have been averted; there
are the possibilities of talks and there is a
clearer road to peace. Therefore the hope
must be nourished that war will not be re-
sumed too soon, if at all.

The American position is clearer than
many political analysts would indicate. The
White House has adopted a policy of friend-
ship for Israel that is marked by encouraging
elements of sincerity which must devolve
beneficially for the Middle East and for world
peace. At the moment this is the situation
which should give us encouragement that the
road to peace is not totally blocked.

But there is one point on which we dis-
agree: the warning of a possible world war as
a possible immediate development in that en-
dangered area. Only those who would have
Israel give up all the gains of the 1967 Six-
Day War could possibly visualize such a con-
flagration, since it is generally conceded that
Russia does not want a war, and the USSR re-
It would be sheer folly to believe that all
mains the most dangerous factor in the entire of our people are affluent, that the needy
Middle East situation.
among us have vanished.
Most elementary to the entire situation
There are many who need our help as an
would be a repetition of the basic fact that assurance that all Jews will have provisions
Russia contributes the most explosive incite- for the Passover sedorim.
ment to war with the vast amount of military
supplies and the manpower now in Egypt as a
The traditional appeal for Mo'os Hitim, for
threat to the peace of the area.
the Passover fund for food for the needy,
There are no possible predictions with must, therefore, be given fullest support to
any measure of certainty of what may occur assure that "all who are in need may have
in the near or the distant future. At the mo- the means of observing the festival with the
'*--4-"-a"-.-tfitut tifettl'itttfitifit bfltoaffslisff. tilVdeatPfird-'

Mo'os Hitim Fund

Wolfe's 'Hitler and the Nazis'
Exposes the Frightful Terror

Burton H. Wolfe has written a book intended for young readers,
but it should also he read by all adults as a guide toward a fuller
understanding of what occurred under Hitlerism.

"Hitler and the Nazis," published by Putnam, tells the story of
the terror. It is, in a sense, a biography of a house painter turned mass
murderer. But it is much more than that. It reviews •the events that
occurred in the 1930s and 1940s and tells about the rise to power of a
cruel man who terrorized his people, the European continent and threat-
ened the freedom of the entire world.

It is factual and no punches are pulled. The expose is not
only of the politics and the military exploits but also of educa-
tion, the churches—the many areas which were invaded by "a dic-
tator who .oppressed and suppressed.

There is a full account here of the steps to war taken by the dicta-
tor. The story begins with his childhood. The introductory .facts relate
at once to the horror that stemmed from a house painter who
assumed power in Germany and threatened the safety of mankind.

In an introductory admonition the author states:

"Today the study of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis is still a vital
part of anyone's education, because as the great philosopher George
Santayana said: 'Those who do not remember the past are con-
demned to relive it.' "

Wolfe makes these interesting observations in presenting his
subject:

, "At first Great Britain tried to appease Hitler, but his attack
on Poland in 1939 caused the British to start fighting, and with that
World War H began. Russia was allied with Germany in the war
until Hitler double-crossed Soviet dictator Joseph. Stalin by attack-
ing his forces in 1941, the same year that Hitler declared war on
the United States. Finally joined together as foes of Hitler, Great
Britain, Russia and the United States combined their fighting forces
to defeat Germany for a second time within three decades. By the
time the Allies completed the job' in 1945, Hitler had almost suc-
ceeded in wiping out the Jews of Europe. Six million of them were
shot, gassed, or worked to death in the concentration camps. Tens
of millions of other people were killed, robbed of their possessions,
beaten, tortured and forced to work as slave laborers for the

Germans.

-
"Russian. dictator Stalin—who gained control of Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, and part of Poland through deals he made with Hitler

while they were allies—nevertheless called the German Fuhrer a
cannibal. On -the day the Nazi troops invaded Russia, Britain's
Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: 'Adolf Hitler is a blood-
thirsty guttersnipe, a monster of wickedness, insatiable in his lust
for blood and plunder.' Churchill's predecessor, Neville Chamber-
lain, whose appeasement of Hitler helped bring on World War H,
said on the day of his resignation: 'In all history no other man has
been responsible for such a hideous total of human suffering and
misery as he.' "

The notable contribution to an understanding of what had hap-
pened in Wolfe's splendid book is his handling of many of the issues
that affected the victims of Nazism—the prejudices in all areas, the
discriminations against children and university students in elementary
schools and colleges. There is a description of the "indoctrination" in
parochial schools as well, and the author explains:

"Catholic and Protestant teachers were ordered to substitute
Nazi writings for religious books. Any teachers who professed to
be Christians were branded 'politically unreliable.' Approximately
10,000 teaching sisters of the Catholic Church were removed from
their positions. Gradually Catholic schools were outlawed•. Religious
instruction degenerated into anti-Semitic and racial tirades and the
worship of Hitler as God."

The author quotes the substitute that was introduced to replace the
Lord's Prayer.

All the basic facts regarding the horrors of -Nazis are depicted
here, making Wolfe's, "Hitler and the Nazis''•. a very important work
t3`'tVtil ~ lf td IngtftlePOutil about the tragedies of the Hitler era.

