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 Associ- ation 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 26th day of Sivan, 5731, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Num. 13:1-15:41. Prophetical portion, Joshua 2:1-24. Rosh Hodesh Tamuz Torah Readings, Wednesday and Thursday, Num. 28:1-15. Candle lighting, Friday, June 18, 7:52 p.m. VOL. LIX. No. 14 Page Four June 18, 1971 Russia's Puzzling Blindness to Fact There is a measure of frustration in the efforts to solve the problem of Russian Jewry. If the Soviet authorities were to grant visas to those desiring to go to Israel, there would be a lessening of controversy. And if the Russians had granted even the minimum of requests for cultural activities by Jews, the bickering might end almost momentarily. But there seems to be an inherent bitter. ness, possibly the inherited anti-Semitism from Czarist days, that doesn't permit the Kremlin to admit the injustice of its practices toward the Jews who desire the same rights as are granted other, much smaller minority elements in the Russian population. Russian authorities deny that there is an upsurge of Jewish nationalism within Russia, that there are many Jews—including young people—who wish to leave Russia for Israel. The facts, however, refute the official Russian claims. For example, Charlotte Saikowski, the Christian Science Monitor correspondent in Moscow, cabled to her newspaper in Boston: "The question political observers now ask is whether the Soviet authorities in the light of Jewish militancy can ever manage to extinguish the awakened sense of Jewish identity, especially among the youth. The problem also concerns the desire of Jews to leave the Soviet Union." Why are basic elementary facts denied? Why not acknowledge the desire of tens of thousands of Russian Jews to leave their birthplace? Such a right has been established in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and can not be negated. If fewer Rus- sian Jews utilize visas for exit once the right to emigrate is established, and the Russian official viewpoint proves to be justified, then the Kremlin can boast. But why the present attitude that is responsible for the worldwide mounting protests? Indeed, the Russian position is puzzling, especially since all the elementary rights are readily granted to very small nationality groups in Russia. Prof. Robert G. Wesson of the University of California, in a letter to the New York Times refuting the claims by Aaron Vergelis, editor of the Yiddish maga- zine Heimland, the only Jewish publication in Russia except for the Birobidzan newspaper, pointed to these facts: "The latest Soviet statistical yearbook on hand, published in 1969 for 1968, gives books published in over 30 languages of the Soviet Union, down to Mordovian, 28 titles; Tuvinian, 46 titles, etc., but no works at all in Yiddish. "It is of interest to note that in Stalin's day there were 463 titles in Yiddish in 1930, when the total number of titles published in the Soviet Union was only about half of what it has been in recent years." Why are the truths ignored? What good does it serve the Soviet Union? Why does the Kremlin perpetuate bitterness with its anti- Jewish and anti-Israel attitude? Unless it is merely to retain the friendship of the Arabs, it continues as a policy of stupidity. When Medievalism Is on a Rampage Human beings have tendencies to love and to hate, to express a liking or to have a dislike, to approve or disapprove of the ways and habits and thinking of fellow men. But when their hatreds assume the bigotries of medievalism they show their mentalities and their sense of thinking of human beings. It has been said that nations can be judged by the manner in which they treat the Jews. Perhaps this now can also be said about many in democratic countries that boast of being Caucasian by their approaches to race issues. In the instance of Jews the severest test to which non-Jews are submitted is their reaction to the shockingly inhuman charge of ritual murder against Jews. It is a charge that has shamed theologians. It has drawn severest condemnations from the Vatican. The condemnations become necessary as a result of manifestations of ignorance and medievalism from quarters whence there had developed the stupid accusation. Yet it keeps repeating itself. Some years ago a ritual murder charge was leveled at Jews in Flint, Mich., by a bigoted group. It became a sensation in Massena, N.Y., in the late 1920s. Now it has re-emerged in Cleve- land, where a group calling itself the National Socialist White People's Party has spread the charge in taped telephone messages. These stupidities have gone as far as to claim that two Ohio girls were ritual murder victims. And the freedoms that are enjoyed in our democratic society make it possible for such bigotries to gain an audience! _ One of the major injustices that has ema- nated from Russia in recent years was the revival of the ritual murder charge, primarily in the Ukraine. Yet little was done about it, in spite of the knowledge in the Kremlin about the infamous Beilis Case. What a pity that in fighting anti-Semitism and the bigotries of the demented it becomes necessary to deal with their venom and their poisoned minds as if we lived in medieval times. That's exactly what we are confronted with in such hate-spreading: medievalism. Bigoted Prejudice Prejudice alone is bad enough, but it be- comes much more contemptuous when it is swathed in bigotry. It was 'bigoted prejudice when the assem- bly of the World Health Organization, at its recent meeting, adopted a resolution charging Israel with preventing the Red Cross from distributing supplies to inhabitants of occu- pied territories. The International Committee of the Red Cross denied the allegations. A spokesman for the ICRC said: "It is completely untrue to assert that we have been barred from this distribution work by the Israeli authorities. Distribution is continuing normally at a number of points." But the WHO vote nevertheless was anti- Israel: 41 to 2. It was the machination of the sponsors of the resolution: Afghanistan, India, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Pakistan, Somalia and Yugoslavia. Israel and the mi- nority that votes against such schemes can always recognize the bigoted haters. How else would India and Pakistan become pals if not on a matter of hate and bigotry which be- comes even more acute when the Jews are the victims? ' Jewish Law of Confession: Preventing Self-Incrimination Dr. Aaron Kirschenbaum, an associate professor of rabbinics on leave from the Jewish Theological Seminary who is now associate professor of law at Tel Aviv University, provides a thorough study of the Jewish law of confession, discussed in the light of general legal , history, in "Self-Incrimination in Jewish Law," published by Burning Bush Press. Developing his findings with studies based on research in biblical, tamudic and medieval juridical aspects, Rabbi Kirschenbaum asserts: "It is to the everlasting glory of the rabbinic tradition that cen- turies before enlightened citizens began to protest against police brutality in the interrogation of suspects and to clamor for its cessation, Jewish law proclaimed unequivocally that confessions extorted by words of inducement or by means of threats, though they appear to be true, may not be used to incriminate, convict or punish anyone. This rule holds true even should such confessions be obtained by the duly constituted officers, appointed to maintain law and order, who know that a crime has been committeed but cannot find any witnesses who could testify as to who the criminal is." In a concluding cocnment on practical considerations of the sub- ject, Dr. Kirschenbaum offered this example: "The Mishna records a remarkable debate among the rabbis of old: A Sanhedrin (Jewish court) which convicts a man to death once in- seven years is called 'The Bloody (destructive) Sanhedrin.' Rabbi Eleaiar b. Azariah says, 'Once in 70 years.' Rabbi Tarphon and Rabbi Aquiba say, 'Had we been members of the court, no man would have ever been executed.' Rabbi Simeon b. Gamaliel says (about R. Tarphon and R. Aquiba), 'They would have also multiplied murderers in Israel'." There is the author's added comment that "the liberal judicial procedure and heavy protection of the rights of the accused in Jewish law were coupled with a deep religious conviction that the criminal will eventually receive his just desserts and that justice will triumph." Rabbi Kirschenbaum went deeply into his discussion which he bases on study of current as compared with Jewish traditional law, the regulations in Tannaitic times, the controversies in Arnoraic times and subsequent teachings and application of Jewish teachings. He notes that during the Spanish period, "when inquisitorial elements found their way into Jewish courts, almost every responsum contains a reminder to the questioner of the differences between the revered talmudic tradition and the Spanish-Jewish practices." There were disagreements and debates, as indicated in the views of Simeon b. Gamaliel versus Tarphon and Aqiba, and through the ages, in Amoraic times, in the Spanish period and in other eras. The contrasts with non-Jewish law give emphasis to the Jewish position so well defined in Kirschenbaum's "Self-Incrimination in Jewish Law." In an introduction to this book, Dr. Kirschenbaum's thesis is high!. commended by former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg. Kolitz's 'Survival For What?' Zvi Kolitz, Broadway producer, creator of an Israeli film that: merited a high award, noted lecturer who has addressed Detroit audi- ences numerous times, tackles many questions in "Survival for What?" published by Philosophical Library. Primarily, this book is based on the author's experiences in the battle for Jewish survival, in Israel's role as a defender of her people's just rights. The author draws upon legend and history, and he empha- sizes the traditional in searching for the human values to be preserved in Israel's survival. "For the unknown ointment of Judaism yearning to be applied to our wounds as well as to the wounds of mankind in general," is one way in which Ihe answers the question "Survival for what?" Anther form given the reply to that question is Kolitz's decla- ration: "For the sake of a day in which the ordeals of Job's people will be as vindicated as the ordeals of Job." Kolitz explores Jewish experience of the past half century, the tortures under Naziism, the anti-Semitic trends, the fight on bigotry. He writes as effectively as he is known to speak to the many audiences on causes for Israel.