THE JEWISH NEWS
ROYAL FEAST
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of english-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National editorial Assoet-
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 end Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
14 4,:TERROR/$7. 0
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath—Sabbath Nahamu—the 16th day of Av, 5731, the following
scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 3:23-7:11. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 40:1-26.
Candle lighting, Friday, Aug. 6, 7:27 p.m.
VOL. LIX. No. 21
Page Four
August 6, 1971
Positive Approaches to Jewish Solidarity
Serious concern in Reform Jewish ranks
over the dangers of increasing assimilationist
tendencies in Jewish ranks has resulted in
the resolution that was proposed at the recent
convention of the Central Conference of
American Rabbis, by its retiring president,
Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn, that "mixed mar-
riages are contrary to the tradition of the
Jewish religion," and the proposal called
upon members of the Reform rabbinate "not
to officiate at such mixed marriage ceremo-
nies."
An interesting observation has been made
upon this new trend in Reform attitudes by
Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum of the American
Jewish Committee, who called attention to
the earlier Reform position which only "dis-
couraged" participation in mixed marriage
ceremonies. Rabbi Tanenbaum joined in the
warnings against dangers stemming from
intermarriages by stating, in part:
"What has led to this more stringent proposal
against mixed marriages? For one thing, the rate
of mixed marriages during the past 25 years has
increased astronomically. The April 1971 journal
of the Reform rabbis disclosed that in Los Angeles
40 per cent of the 1,000 weddings where a Reform
rabbi was the celebrant were mixed marriages.
Most of these marriages were performed by a
few rabbis who set no standards, that is, they did
not require—as do other Reform rabbis—that the
non-Jewish person must agree to study Judaism,
to establish a Jewish home linked in some way
to the Jewish community and to raise their chil-
dren as Jews. That failure, as Rabbi Gittelsohn
told his colleagues, risks divorcing the Reform
movement of Judaism from k'lal Yisrael, and will
certainly weaken the Reform struggle for accept-
ance in the state of Israel as a legitimate Jewish
religious alternative to Orthodoxy.
"The participation of Reform Jews in the strug-
gle for the religious and cultural survival of
Russian Jewry undoubtedly must intensify the
paradox. How can one justify a demand to allow
Soviet Jews to perpetuate their religious con-
tinuity, when mixed marriages here are resulting
in 70 per cent of the children being lost to the
Jewish community?"
Such declarations serve to discourage in-
difference to the existing problem. Positive
assertions now are made in efforts to offset
impending dangers. Los Angeles is not alone
in the experience alluded to by Rabbi Tanen-
baum. Every large Jewish community now is
faced with the problem of a segment of the
rabbinate yielding to what those who offi-
ciate at mixed marriages consider a need in
trying to retain some of those intermarrying
within Jewish ranks.
Rabbi Tanenbaum's reference to the
Russian attitudes applies not only to mixed
marriages but also to Jewish cultural prob-
lems. Apologists for the USSR have chided
American Jews who ask for cultural rights
for the Jews in the USSR, with the taunts
that in Western countries, too, there is a
lessened interest in Yiddish and other Jewish
matters. The Russians have pointed out cor-
rectly that Yiddish has declined here, but
they consistently fail to acknowledge the
truth that, while Jewish cultural rights are
denied under Russian government regula-
tions, any comparable declines result only
from the free actions of a community in
which the basic rights to Jewish observances
are never denied but are the result of trends
resulting from the freedoms in our society
for people to practice or not to practice
their inherited rights.
Primarily, therefore, the problem in our
own ranks is that of assimilation and or in-
difference. It is this lack of interest which
the concerned rabbis seek to deflate. The
emphasis now given on one aspect of assimi-
lationism—that which may be condoned by
intermarriage and the failure to assure con-
versions which could contribute toward a
solution of this serious problem—indicates
an approach to a challenge with firmness.
More positive action in all spheres of Jewish
activities, the cultural and the family loy-
alties, the knowledgeable interest in Jewish
affairs, commitment to our legacies, under-
standing of our role in human society
are basic to the obligations we have as Jews
in the task of retaining the solidarity that
is vital to survival.
Oil as an Issue of New USSR Puzzlement
New Times of Moscow introduced a sur-
prising note into the issue affecting Russian
animosity to Israel and the USSR's pro-Arab
position. The English-language Soviet peri-
odical suggested the "unique possibility of
Israel's loosening her alleged dependence
upon the United States." The suggestion was
embodied primarily in this statement:
"Foi. the United States, in the final
analysis, stands only for the restoration and
strengthening of the position of American
imperialism in the Middle East, for the rich
oil and important strategic considerations,
and least of all does the United States care
about the fate of the Israeli people. But
Israel must live among the Arab states by
herself and alone."
The New York Times Moscow correspond-
ent, in his cabled report on this new approach
to the Middle East situation by a Soviet
periodical, commented:
"In some ways, the suggestion to Israel
that her ties with the United States should
be questioned resembled American efforts
to reduce Arab dependence on the Soviet
Union."
There is no doubt about the uniqueness
of this new attitude. The fact is that support-
ers of Israel's right to survive attacks from
the Arab states have kept warning that oil
interests are responsible for much that has
happened to affect the Israeli position. The
Jewish state must have defensive means to
withstand possible attacks by Arab armies,
and it has developed that only the United
States has been providing some such means.
The feeling is that insufficient aid has been
given Israel, because of the hesitancy with
which the U.S. State Department acts to
assure peace in the Middle East. It is no
longer necessary to emphasize that peace in
that area can be assured only if Israel cari
prevent a war by retaining strength to resist
attacks.
So—whatever Israel does, in retaining a
traditional friendship with the U.S., is based
on a desire for international friendships. The
Soviet Union could very well be a partner in
such aims, and the commencement of reborn
Jewish independence was effectively linked
with such a friendship. Resumption of Israel-
USSR diplomatic relations and a reduction
in the armaments race that has been stimu-
lated by the Kremlin could contribute toward
the desired peaceful relationships which
could lead also to an Arab-Israel peace.
Introduction of the oil issue by a Soviet
organ adds to the puzzlement in Soviet
relations. Assuming that the question of oil
is an international problem, as has been
indicated in Arab pressures upon Western
needs, the issue could be divorced from the
conflict between Israel and the Arabs toward
which Russia contributes a major share of
guilt.
1 1 111111i
(11 1
CrA
llow-
Gilboa's 'Black Years of Soviet
Jewry' Exposes Kremlin Hatreds
Yehoshua A. Gilboa, native of Poland who has settled in Israel
where he edits El Maariv of Tel Aviv, author of "Confess, Confess," a
volume in which he described his eight-year prison experience in
Soviet camps, provides an important history of Russian Jewry during
the periods of sufferings and oppressions in "The Black Years of
Soviet Jewry," published by Little, Brown and Co.
In a translation from the Hebrew by Yosef Schachter and Dov
Ben-Abba of Boston and Toronto, this authoritative work outlines the
happenings in the crucial years of 1939 to 1953 and gives a full account
of the restrictions, the emergence of Stalin's anti-Semitism, the posi-
tions held by Jews and the attitudes of Jewish assimilationists who in
some measure collaborated with Communists in creating obstructions
for Jewish traditional adherences.
If it were only for the description of the eminent Jewish
personalities in the era under description, this volume would at
once assume a very notable position at a time when a knowledge
about Russian Jewry is so vital.
The very title of the book, denoting the "black years," emphasizes•
the hatred for Jews. Stalin's venom is especially indicated: The authot,
points out: •
"Stalin did not have to wait until his old age, when there were no limits to
his power in the country and when his hate of the Jews became more open and
brutal, to make a calculated use of anti-Semitism for his own interests. Even
during the 1920s, when the Old Guard, as much as it had been trained to sanctify,-. :
means for the sake of the end, could still find it seriously immoral or unaesthetic.
to utilize anti-Semitism for political purposes, Stalin was resorting to premedi-
tated anti-Semitism. After having taken advantage of the collaboration of two
Jews (Zinoviev and Kamenev who in 1922-23 had together with Stalin constituted •
a faction called the 'triumvirate') in maneuvers to prevent a third Jew (Trotsky)
from becoming Lenin's successor, he made use of anti-Semitic tricks in hi,s,
struggle against his two former partners when the time came. lie saw to:A2
that during the appearances of the Party's official propagandists, the distinctrki--- -
between Trotskyites and followers of Zinoviev was obliterated and a hint given
to the rank and file of the members that it was no accident that the leadkrs'
of the two opposition groups were Jews. At Stalin's inspiration, propagandists
made an effort to plant the notion that a struggle was going on in the. Party -.
between native Russian socialism and aliens seeking to pervert it."
.
,
Because of current developments and the revival of " Z ionist
interests in Russia among Jews who are protesting against governi4'
ment discriminations and the Kremlin's anti-Israel policies, Gilboa's
analyses of the anti-Zionist attitudes among early Jewish Com-
munists is most interesting. He reviews the activities of the
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of the Soviet Union, the travels t
the United States in behalf of this JAC effort of Itsik Feffer and
Solomon Mikohoels, their martyrdom in spite of their Soviet
loyalties.
Indeed, Jews who sang the glory of Communism did not escape
A
,
the enmity and hatred of Stalin. They were among the executed on
trumped-up charges. They had created a stimulus for Jewish unity
against Hitlerism, yet their Communism was anti-Jewish. Gilboa relates,
for example, Feffer's "repudiation of the Jewish past" and his adher-
ence to a bezbozhnik—ungodly--attitudes in jeering at Jewish traditions.
Gilboa tells how Communist efforts were part of "a deliberate and
systematic Soviet drive to diminish the Jewish image and even eradi-
cate its traces." Books by Howard Fast that were Jewish in content
were omitted from Soviet bibliographies. Maxim Gorky's pro-Jewish
writings were ignored.
There were many manifestations of anti-Semitism. The. Joint
Distribution Committee's humanitarian labors were denigrated and
JDC was branded "Zionist." There are hatreds dating back through
the years under review in this valuable work—many years before the
present outburst of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist attitudes.
Thus, it is clear that what is happening today is an inheritance
from anti-Semitic attitudes of Stalin and his cohorts and of earlier
Czarist times. Gilboa's book provides the historic background for today's
sad Jewish experiences with the Kremlin.