THE JEWISH NEWS
Ineorperating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Assoc!.
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 30th day of Av, 5731, Rosh Hodesh Elul, the following
scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Deut. 11:26-16:17, Num. 28:9-15.
Prophetical portion, Isaiah 66:1-24.
Second day Rosh Hodesh Elul Torah
reading, Sunday, Num. 28:1-15
Candle lighting, Friday, Aug. 20, 6:17 p.m.
VOL. LIX. No. 23
Page Four
August 20, 19'11
Tragic Anniversary of Stalin's Barbarism
A tragic anniversary has been observed
by Jewish communities in this country, in
Argentina and in England.
Ten years ago, 24 Jewish artists, writers
and cultural leaders were executed in the
Stalin purges. Peretz Markish, whose family
now seeks refuge in Israel, was among them.
Itzig Feffer was another of the victims. It will
be recalled that he and Shlomo Mikhoels, who
was murdered in 1952, had come to American
Jewry as representatives of the Jewish Anti-
Fascist Committee to seek support for Russia.
Others who died as Stalin's victims in his
barbaric purge of intellectuals and in his anti-
Semitic campaign were Leib Kvitko, David
Bergelson, David Hofshtein and others.
Their martyrdom was recalled by Work-
men's Circle in New York, by the Association
of Jewish Writers and Journalists in London,
by DAIA in Argentina.
One would imagine that the people of
Russia would recall those horrible days and
would apply them to the present by alleviat-
ing the conditions which compel Jews to de-
mand just cultural rights in Russia. Appar-
ently history has been erased with Stalin. One
would imagine that the cry for help would
be heard and those desiring to find haven in
Israel would be permitted. to emigrate. It has
become necessary to continue -the protests
that have been mobilized throughout the
world to awaken the Russian government.
The anniversary of the martydom of the
24 victims of Stalinism serves as an addi-
tional reminder of the need for action in be-
half of USSR Jewry.
Oncoming UN Assembly Dilemmas
Let there be readiness for what is corn-
ing at the approaching General Assembly of
the United Nations. There will be the usual
attacks on Israel by Arab and Soviet spokes-
men. Many UN member states either will be
silent during the harangue or they will join
in voting against Israel, although it will be
apparent that the Arab case is filled with un-
justified venom and with misrepresentations.
We tan expect abuse: on the Jerusalem
issue there will undoubtedly be repetitive
assertions that Israel is persecuting Moslems
and Christians; with regard to Gaza and the
West Bank there will be claims that Israel
discriminates against the Arabs.
Of what avail is defense when truth falls
on deaf ears? Little has been attained from
the testimony of eminent Christians and
Arabs to the effect that for the first time
there is freedom of worship for all under
Israel's administration; that the standard of
living among Arabs in Israel • has been up-
lifted; that unemployment 'has been era-
dicated as a result of the many jobs that have
been created for Arabs.
Arabs have spoken in defense of Israel.
Their voices have been kept in secrecy, but
they are on record.
There is freedom of travel for Arabs. Un-
restricted, they are traveling to and from
Israel, to the West Bank and to Gaza if they
wish. But the state of horror that existed
under Jordanian rule seems to be forgotten.
There are impressive figures of employ-
ment provided for Arabs. As of Feb. 1 of
this year, 25,000 Arabs were registered with
the 'Israel labor exchange on the West Bank
of the Jordan and 23,000 of them were em-
ployed, among them 1,500 women. In the
Gaza Strip, 11,000 Arabs were provided with
jobs — 500 of them women. There is an
effort to create 11,000 additional jobs in that
area, but Arabs are shooting at Arabs there
to prevent cooperation with the Israelis.
Will the UN delegations listen to these
facts and will they be guided by them?
Perhaps they can be influenced by a state-
ment that has 'been made by a Mukhtar — a
headman — of a village near Hebron who
recently said to his townsmen:
"The labor exchanges are for our
benefit, not for the benefit of the au-
thorities. In our town, there are about
1;000 persons in need of jobs, and more
than 500 persons are employed. Some of
the unemployed are studying at the Voca-
tional Training Center. Soon all will be
employed, and not a single one of them
will be idle.
"Let us take a look at the past. How
did our people live when the Jordanian
forces withdrew and left us? We believed
the Israel troops would shoot us and turn
our cities and villages into rubble. But
the opposite happened. They treated us
very well. Everywhere, the possibilities of
earning a living opened up before us.
"I pray that God grant all the in-
habitants of this region a just peace and
spare us from wars and destruction."
There are guidelines for peace, but they
nave been either ignored or distorted.
Even the mission of Dr. Gunnar Jarring
is under suspicion because it has been veiled
in confusion and in contradictory exchanges
of views during the secret conferences on the
Israel-Egyptian conflict.
If only Israelis and Egyptians could meet
face to face! But there is hopelessness in Is-
rael's proposals for such meetings and fear
on the Egyptian side lest the terrorists per-
form their murderous threats against their
own leaders —i as has happened so often in
Middle Eastern countries.
These are the facts we face as the Gen-
eral Assembly is about to convene. Insofar
as the UN is concerned, hope for peace keeps
vanishing. Perhaps the Mukhtars and their
kinsmen will accomplish what the world's
statesmen are unable to attain.
Sinai's Triumph
Provision of a permanent partial mechan-
ical heart for a patient whose life was ebbing
made medical history at Sinai Hospital.
It proved to 'be the most sensational
story in the progressive steps that are being
taken to save lives and to give the heart
strength to resist failures.
While the performance attests to the
genius of Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, who has
gained world fame as a heart specialist, there
is cause in the Detroit Jewish community for
jubilation over the seriousness of the re-
search tasks at Sinai Hospital.
The progress of our community's hos-
pital is not alone in its sizable growth, in
the expansions of recent years, but primarily
in the provisions that have been assured
there for medical research.
In the field of heart disease, in treating
eye and other ailments, Sinai's staff is render-
ing notable services. It is for the researching
into possibilities for medical advancement that
Sinai Hospital is becoming especially noted,
and has earned it the gratitude and com-
mendation of laymen and medical experts.
Yom Kippur Literary Treasures in
Goodman's Splendid Anthology
Rabbi Philip Goodman has made notable 'contributions with a vast
library dealing with Jewish holidays and the Holy Days. His anthologies
on Purim, Passover and Hanuka have filled a great need for those
who need information about the festivals.
Several months ago, the publishers of all
these works, the Jewish Publication Society of
America, produced an outstanding book, "The
Rosh Hashana Anthology." Now JPS provides
us with the newest of Rabbi Goodman's crea-
tive efforts, a companion volume to the Rosh
Hashana book, "The Yom Kippur Anthology."
It retains the excellence of previous simi-
lar books. Every conceivable aspect of the
Great Fast Day has been scanned for inclu-
sion in Rabbi Goodman's collection.
Yom Kippur in literature, in the
Bible, in the Talmud and the Midrash,
in the writings of the most distinguished
authors — all are represented in this
impressive addition to the anthologies on
our festivals and holy periods.
Rabbi Goodman
Commencing with the Bible quotations, emphasizing the purpose
of fasting as represented in the Haftara reading from. Isaiah, Rabbi
Goodman turned to the literature of the Middle Ages for selections
from Maimonides, Judah Halevi, the Zohar and other sources.
There are the Hasidic tales, and the selections from modern prose
and poetry include the writings of Louis Jacobs, Edmund Fleg, Rufus ,
Learsi, Franz Rosenzweig, Leo Baeck, Nahum Glatzer, Julius Green— .
stone, Herman Wouk, Israel Zangwill, Jessie Sampter, Gustav Gottheil;
Hayim Greenberg and many others.
Prefatory comments by Rabbi Goodman are worth noting.
He points to Yom Kippur as being climaxed by "a 40-day period,
of delving into the deepest chambers of the soul, with a view to
reclaiming the spiritual insights that may have become beclouded
during the past year • . ." Defining the holiness and the fast,
Rabbi Goodinan writes: "There is a pervasive aura of sanctifica-,
lion in the stirring Yom Kippur liturgy. The traditional Kol Nidre
with its gripping musical cadence, exuding a deep spiritual dimen-
sion; the moving, heartrending prayer Unetane Tokef, beginning
with the call 'Let us declare the mighty holiness of the day,' and
ending with the affirmation 'Repentance, prayer and charity annul
the severity of the judgment'; the communal confession and the
individual petitions for forgiveness; the Yizkor service memorializ-
ing the beloved departed; the optimistic theme that runs through
the soothing Neila service—all these serve to uplift the worshiper
14.
to an exalted level of spirituality."
Because of the universality of observers, the section that deals
with Yom Kippur observances in many lands has additional merit.
Cecil Roth, Hayim Schauss, Israel Zangwill, Elie Wiesel and a number
of others are among the writers represented in this section. The coun-
tries covered include Persia, India, Russia, Germany, England, Japan,
the United States, Poland—the observances in concentration camps,
among Falasha Jews and on the Viet front.
The short story writers are represented—Meyer Levin, Samuel
Agnon, David Frishman, Isaac Loeb Peretz, Martin Buber, Sholem
Sleichean, Elie Wiesel.
Then there are the splendid illustrations and an essay "Yom
Kippur in Art" by Wayne State University Prof. Joseph Gutmann.
The fine collection of children's stories and poems and features of
special interest to women help make the Goodman anthology a notable
work for. the entire family.
The chapter "Pre-Yom Kippur Feasting" substitutes for menus
that appear in other Goodman anthologies. This chapter guides women
in hospitality and preparation for the fast day.
Authors of children-'-s stories and poems include Howard Fast,
Mamie Gamoran, Judah Steinberg, Jessie. Sampter.
There is -"a valuable glossary of Yom Kippur terms that will add
to an understanding of the Yom Kippur theme.
The entire anthology has been expertly 'gathered, to the credit
of the able anthologist, Rabbi Philip Goodman, and acclaim is due the
Jewish Publication Society for producing this valuable book.