Purely Commentary

Good Citizenship and Genuine Friendships Must Not
Be Based on Religious Submission . . . Encouragement
of Mixed Marriages in Stage Plays Strongly Opposed

Submissive Interfaith Functions . . . Lack of Realism in Hanuka-Christmas Mergers

It's always easier to yield and to bend than to resist
and to hold fast stubbornly to tradition and to one's
beliefs. That's why so many in public life, especially
actors, news commentators and especially teachers are
so quick to propose linking of Hanuka with Christmas as
"good will" gestures. That's why the old "Abie's Irish
Rose" theme is repeated in new form as an encourage-
ment to mixed dating and intermarriage. In the quest for
genuine Jewish motivations that should encourage identi-
fication of young Jews with their Jewish community, this
won't work and cannot be accepted on face value.
In the first place, if we seek security — it is usually
spoken of as survival — for Jewish traditions, there is
so possible linking of Menora with Tree. It's not accept-
able. It must be rejected outright. The Christmas Tree
does not need our Hanuka lights for survival, and if the
Menora Is to depend upon its illumination in all sacred
splendor upon the Christian symbol, we may as well call
it quits and admit that we are licked by the majority.
But the majority does not ask us to commit suicide.
The suicidal acts in the minority of cases are voluntary
and not out of pressure from an environment that should
not be considered antagonistic if we are firm enough to
hold on to our own traditions, if we are strong enough to
remain what we are, if we are honest with our neighbors
and tell them that we can be good fellow citizens without
abandoning our heritage: on the contrary, we can be

"(I l'"

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me`

better neighbors and fellow Americans if we hold on to
our sanctified inheritance, if we continue each to respect
the other in faith, in observance, in self-respect.
Because of the false search for joint ceremonies that
are seldom workable, we have been witnesses to Hanuka
being extended a month in order to correspond with
Christmas: remember, Hanuka is over by this time! There
has been evidence of a yielding to the search for a friendly
relations in such submissive fashion that the Jewish
minority makes itself ridiculous. There is greater glory in
self-respect and in holding firm to traditions that ; to yield-
ing to majority in order to gain favor.
One doesn't have to adopt strange ways in order to
gain friends. Such friends may never be lasting. But when
two unequal groups know and respect each other's way
of life — that's when we approach true democracy.
We have said it: we do not favor joint Hanuka-
Christmas celebrations. We do not believe they are
honorable, or self-respecting, or that they lead to good
will Genuine good will stems from respect one for another
and recognition of a neighbor's and fellow citizen's right
to differ and to worship as one chooses — in the Jewish
instance in accordance with inherited legacies from our
ancient peoplehood.
In the same spirit, we refuse to endorse the "Able's
Irish Rose" or the "Bridget Loves Bernie" slapstick
comedies. They sound good: young people defy differences

By Philip

SIOMOYitZ

. Opposition to Mixed Marriages

in backgrounds, fall In love, break all barriers between
Jew and Christian, and it all sounds so glorious, so human,
so saccharine! But it just can't work. We won't discuss
here the lack of realism in such love pacts. The sugar on
screen, in television, on stage, often turns into bitter
vinegar. But that's another factor for sociologists. Our
concern is with the Jewish identification, with retenrion
of our manpower, with the strengthening of our ranks
and refusal to grant courage to anything that might spell
the weakening of the Jewish spirit.
The plays and approaches we reject are those that
lead to mixed marriages, and we do not approve them
We reject many of the ways of rabbis who yield to the
love theme and abandon the duty of encouraging retentio
of Jewish allegiance — and the most powerful way of
retaining such loyalties is through marriage, the well-
established family, the loyalties to faith and kinships.
Of course there will be some who will disagree on
both points, the mingling of Jewish practices with the
Christian and the mixed marriage dilemmas. We do not
even consider them debatable subjects. If we strive for
retention of Jewish idealism and allegiance, there can be
no ether way but solidification of friendships with our
environment by means of loyalties to faith and traditions
and respect for the views held by our neighbors. That can
and should remain the human and the American way of.
life.

Navy Chief Denies Jewish Employes C Defe l ndf err o jf Yule
aros
Were Victims of Bias: Case Appealed Youths Criticized

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) —
The Jewish Community Re-
lations Council appealed to
the U.S. Civil Service Com-
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA
mission's board of appeals
to overturn a ruling by the
(Copyright 1972, JTA Inc.(
AJC INNOVATION: Something now and original is being secretary of the navy that
planned by the American Jewish Committee in the field of three Jewish employes of the
adult Jewish education. The plan may attract to Jewish navy's aviation supply of-
knowledge thousands of Jews who have a high general edu- fice here were not victims
of discrimination and are
cation but whose Jewish education is very meager.
The AJC idea is to establish a Jewish university with- therefore not entitled to pro-
out walls. It will be a kind of Jewish correspondence course
which may lead to college credits of an accredited uni-
versity, with the possibility of an eventual degree in Jewish
studies. Plans for affiliation with such a university now are
being developed.
Leaders of the AJC feel that available programs of
adult Jewish education — with all the efforts that go into
GENEVA (JTA) — Nazi
them — do not satisfy the needs of those seeking genuine hunter Simon Wiesenthal dis-
Jewish enlightenment on a sophisticated level.
closed that 30o major Ger-
By providing a university framework for courses on man war criminals are still
Jewish subjects specially designed with competent Jewish in hiding on the Latin Amer-
scholars, the AJC believes it will be able to fill the gap. It ican continent and in Com-
therefore intends to devote the coming months to designing munist-bloc countries along
the courses and arranging for their implementation.
with some 3,000 minor former
ACCENT ON PROFESSORS: The new project is part of a Nazis.
general plan by the American Jewish Committee to provide
Wiesenthal made his an-
requisite sources for expanding Jewish education on all nouncement in a taped inter-
levels.
view.
AJC leaders always have stressed the need for pro-
These people "have un-
grams to strengthen Jewish identity and enrich the quality
known sources of financing
of Jewish life. This became especially poignant now as a
and unlimited means," Wie-
result of the recent intensification of the Christian evangeli-
senthal said, adding that ob-
cal campaign and the special appeal of the "Jews for Jesus"
structive factors in bringing
to Jewish youth.
them to final justice is, in
The AJC programs for 1973 now are being devised to
part, due to "attrition," a
meet these needs. The quest ion of how children acquire phrase that the former
their Jewish identity has become particularly crucial; the
Auschwitz inmate uses to de-
average Jewish family seems now less able than in the
scribe the fact that both
past to transmit such a sense of identity.
murderers and witnesses are
Drawing on its experience on university campuses, the
simply dying off.
AJC will in 1973 direct the major thrust of its college pro-
While expressing his "great
gram to the faculty. This is because it regards it as essen-
tial — in terms of the future of the Jewish community and respect" for Chilean Presi-
of its own impact upon Jewish students — to bring Jewish dent Salvador Allende, Wie-
faculty members into the orbit of Jewish communal in- senthal said he was currently
terests. AJC leaders feel that the reputation of their working on "300 cases" de-
organization for scholarly integrity makes it particularly spite continuing threats to
appropriate for the organization to reach out to Jewish his life.
members of university faculties.
He said there was no pun-
The new steps are being planned by the AJC as a ishment to fit the crime of
follow-up to the recent recommendations of its Task Force genocide. "Punishment has
concerning the goals of Jewish education. Some 20 scholars only a symbolic meaning and
— psychologists, historians and educators — were brought in my eyes is not a measure
in to confer on this subject. A meeting, which will include of prime importance. The im-
representatives from many universities, will take place portant factor is the legal
soon to clarify the field of college programing in Jewish proceedings — t h e trial,"
studies, outline model programs and deal with specific Wiesenthal said.
administrative issues.
Meanwhile, a majority of
STRENGTHENING FAMILY TIES: The American
the town council in Muehldorf
Jewish Committee also is planning the convening of out-
in Upper Bavaria has voted
standing Jewish contemporary scholars to analyze and
to refuse Martin Bormann
reassess Judaism in terms of its validity and applicability
Jr., son of Hitler's deputy,
to our modern times.
the job of religious teacher
This will be a Colloquim on the Jewish Tradition and
in a local vocational school
Modern Society to be held in cooperation with the Center
for which he had been rec-
for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara.
ommended by the Catholic
Other innovations to be introduced by the AJC in its 1973
Archdiocese in Munich.
programs for strengthening Jewish identity will focus on
Bormann is a priest.
the family as a major area of concern.
The town council cited no
2—Friday, Dec. IS, 1972
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS reason for its decision, which

motion to the next available
vacancies.
Promotion of the three ci-
vilian employes was recom-
mended in a written report
by John McFadden, a Civil
Service Commission exam-
iner, who found that a sta-
tistical pattern of failure to
promote Jews within the
navy's buying branches
established a case of "dis-

Wiesenthal Says 300 Major War
Criminals in Latin America

followed widespread reports
that the elder Bormann is
alive,
The reports are based on
documents that a Hungarian-
born author, Ladislas Farago,
says he collected in Argen-
tina and elsewhere which
claim that Bormann has been
living in Argentina since 1948
under a variety of aliases.
An Israeli expert said that
the recent "revelations" that
Martin Borman was alive in
Argentina were untrue and
based on documents that
"are a hoax."
Yaacov Caroz, an Israeli
writer who is an acknowl-
edged expert on intelligence
matters, said the documents
cited by Farago as proof that
Bormann fled to Argentina
in 1948 and still lives there
contain no information that
has not been available to the
public from other sources for
years.
Caroz also branded as false
Farago's account of the cap-
ture of Adolph Eichmann in
Buenos Aires in 1961 which
claims that it was the work
of Argentinian intelligence
rather than agents of Israel's
secret service, the Shin Bet.
It was reported in the New
York Times that the man
credited with tracking down
Rormann in South America
says he never even looked
for him.
Juan Jose Velasco claims
he never saw Bormann and
has no knowledge of whether
the ex-Nazi is alive or dead.
Farago identified Velasco as
a key informant.
A West Berlin police
spokesman said preliminary
examination of a skull thought
to be that of Bormann show-
ed it to be that of someone
else.

crimination because of re-
ligion."
Secretary of the Navy John
H. Chafee reversed the ex-
aminer's ruling on grounds
that there was no direct
evidence of discrimination
against Jewish employes.
The employes, on whose
behaif the JCRC filed a corn-
plaint last March with the
commander of the aviation
supply office, are Mrs.
Jeanne Ellman, a procure-
ment agent, and Louis Sha-
piro, a contract negotiator,
both employed by the navy
since 1948, and Milton M.
Mellman, a contract negotia-
tor whose employment by the
navy dates from 1941.
All three hold Superior
Achievement Awards and
other citations for outstand-
ing work.
The complaint, filed eight
months ago by Nathan
Agran, an attorney on the
JCRC staff, noted that there
has not been a single promo-
tion of a Jewish employe
beyond the grade of GS-9
since 1965, although more
than 50 such promotions had
been made in that time and
several Jewish persons were
in contention.
That point was contained
in McFadden's report which
observed that "Had only one
qualified Jewish candidate
raised an allegation of dis-
crimination there could have
been some doubt of its ac-
curacy and validity. How-
ever, when three qualified
candidates with the record
of accomplishment of Mrs.
Elliman, Mellman and
Shapiro unite to make the
accusation, the circumstances
surrounding their failure to
achieve promotion plus the
lack of promotion above GS-
9 of any Jew, convinces us
that there is more than a
statistical oddity on which
their complaint is based. We
believe unavoidable the con-
clusion that they were dis-
criminated against because
they were members of the
Jewish faith."
Chafee, in his reversal,
wrote the complainants:
"There is no evidence on the
case record of discrimination
against Jewish employes on
the part of any supervisor or
official or religious group in
the purchase division. It is
noted that you at no time

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Dr.
Isaac Franck, executive vice ;
president of the Jewish Com-
munity Council of Greater
Washington, charged a col-
umnist in the Washington
Evening Star and Daily News
with "false assumptions" for
attacking the criticisms of
the singing of Christmas
carols in public schools.
James J. Kilpatrick, a po-
litically conservative column-
ist, wrote that "the great
Christmas carols long ago
lost whatever purely religi-
ous significance they may
once have held" and "are
now part of a cultural in-
heritance."
Kilpatrick said that after
Dr. Franck had complained,
Prince George's County
Superintendent Carl W. Has-
sel Issued guidelines that "no
songs or music programs
that have a significance for
a particular religion should
be performed during the pe-
riod which coincides with the
specific religious celebra-
tion."
Charging Dr. Franck with
having taken "a sound princ-
iple" and "beat it into the
ground," Kilpatrick wrote:
'A better approach might be
to urge the Jewish children
to join in the singing. Many
of them have beaut i'f u I
voices. They wouldn't be cor-
rupted by the experience and
It probably would improve
the chorus."
Dr. Franck protested that
"public schools have no right
to coerce any child into par-
ticipating in any religious
ceremony or religious hymns
which are inconsistent with
that child's or that child's
parents' religious con-
science."

charged any individual with
discriminating against you."
Benjamin S. Loewenstein,
JCRC president, said that if
the opinion reversed by the
secretary of the navy is up-
held by the Civil Service
Board of Review, it "could
further a precedent in that it
says statistical patterns,
without direct written or
spoken evidence, can estab-
lish a case of discrimination."
He said that if the civil
service commission denied
the appeal, the JCRC will
carry its fight to the Federal
District Court.

