THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

JOS WELL DONE

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CHARLOTTE DUBIN
city Sento,

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Advertising Manager

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 17th day of Shevat, 5733', the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exod. 13:17-17:16. Prophetical portion, Judges 4:4-5:31.

Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 1S, 5:12 p_in.

Page Four

VOL. LXII. No. 19

January 19, 1973

Declaration in Support of a Major Need

In the course of time, communal responsibilities have been assumed for many needs
in various spheres. While the orphaned and the aged have always been provided for, Jew-
ish groups in America gradually began to finance construction of hospitals and to provide for
their upkeep. Schools became major recipients of support, and priority is being given to
educational and cultural projects.
Whenever new obligations become apparent, our communities have not ignored them.
The duties to the needy and the less fortunate in our midst have not been shirked.
A problem that is beginning to gain the attention of our people in many cities is the
one affected by retardations and the slower producers among adults as well as youth. In our
own community, the Jewish Vocational Service Community Workshop is rendering invalu-
able services to men and women of all races and all faiths.
The newest project is represented in the housing that is being provided by the Par-
ents Association for Jewish Residential Care. A very small beginning will be registered this
Sunday at an open house for what is expected to be the first in a series of such homes.
Since all beginnings are difficult, the minuteness of the new project must not be underesti-
mated.. It. fills a need. It is an introduction to a growing realization of services that must be
provided for large numbers of ill-situated and less fortunate.
Perhaps what is being registered at the Open House function this Sunday will
serve to encourage inclusicn of care for the retardates in the immense communal programs
we finance in our Jewish Welfare Federation-sponsored programs. If there is even the
merest doubt about the validity of such a need, it is dispelled in the international declara-
tion that appeals for support of such a humane policy.
If there are doubters in our ranks about such a pressing need, we invite them
to read and to study the United Nations Declaration. We present as the best argument
for the idea that needs the assistance of all citizens, the complete text of the UN Decla-
ration, which follows:

UNITED NATIONS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Declaration on the Rights of

Mentally Retarded Persons

Adoprd 20 Dm. ember 1971

The General Assembly,

Mindful of the pledge of the Stares Members of the United Nations under the Charter to rake joint
and separate action in co-operation with the Organization to promote higher standards of living, full employ-

ment and conditions of economic and social progress and development,

Reaffirming faith in human rights and fundamental freedoms and in the principles of peace, of the dig-
nity and worth of the human person and of social justice proclaimed in the Charter,

Recalling the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants
on Human Rights,' the Declaration of the Rights of the Child' and the standards already set for social prog-
ress in the constitutions, conventions, recommendations and resolutions of the International Labour Organi-
sation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Health Organiza-
tion, the United Nations Children's Fund and of other organizations concerned,

Emphasizing that the Declaration on Social Progress and Development' has proclaimed the necessity
of protecting the rights and assuring the welfare and rehabilitation of the physically and mentally disad-
vantaged,

8eaeing in mind the necessity of assisting mentally retarded persons to develop their abilities in vari-
ous fields of activities and of promoting their integration as far as possible in normal life,

Au-are that certain countries, at their present stage of development, can devote only limited efforts to

this end,

Proclaims this Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons and calls for national and inter-
national action to ensure that it will be used as a common basis and frame of reference for the protection
of these rights:

I. The mentally retarded person has, to the maximum degree of feasibility, the same rights as

other human beings.

mentally retarded person has a right to proper medical care and physical therapy and to
such education, training, rehabilitation and guidance as will enable him to develop his ability and
maximum potential.
•
3. The mentally retarded person has a right to economic security and to a decent standard of liv-
ing. He has a right to perform Productive work or to engage in any other meaningful occupation to
the fullest possible extent of his capabilities.

2. The

4. W'henever possible, the mentally retarded person should live with his own family or with foster
parents and participate in different forms of community life. The family with which he lives should
receive assistance. If care in an institution becomes necessary, it should be provided in surroundings
and other circumstances as close as possible to those of normal life.

'5. The mentally retarded person has a right to a qualified guardian when this is required to pro-
tect his personal well-being and interests.

6. The mentally retarded person has a right to protection from exploitation, abuse and degrad-
ing treatment. If prosecuted for any offence, he shall have a right to due process of law with full rec-
ognition being given to his degree of mental responsibility.

7. Whenever mentally retarded persons are unable, because of the severity of their handicap, to
exercise all their rights in a meaningful way or it should become necessary to restrict or deny some or
all of these rights, the procedure used for that restriction or denial of rights must contain proper legal
safeguards Against every form of abuse. This procedure must be based on an evaluation of the social
capability of the mentally retarded person by qualified experts and must be subject to periodic review
and to the right of appear to higher authorities.

202 7 th

plenary meeting,

20 December 1971.

'Resolution 2200 A (XXI).

Resolution 1386 ( XIV).

"Resolution 2512 (XXIV).

. .

. .

'Ancient and Medieval Jewish
History' Viewed by Dr. Baron

"Ancient and Medieval Jewish History" is the title of the volume
containing a collection of essays by Dr. Salo Wittrnayer Baron. It is
another mark of recognition of the great contributions that have been
made to Jewish historical research by the eminent scholar.
Published by Rutgers University Press, this volume was edited
by Dr. Leon A. Feldman, professor of He-
braic studies at Rutgers. A vast field is cov-
ered in this impressive work. Dr. Baron's
writings incorporated in this enriching work
deal with sub7ects of antiquity, medieval,
Islam and medieval Europe. As the editor
notes, while these essays do not offer a con-
tinuous story, "a uniform thread (neverthe-
less) runs through them all."
"Deeply rooted knowledge of all aspects
of Jewish scholarship" honored in Dr. Feld-
man's preface, suggests that this group of
essays serves to make the new volume an
important addendum to Dr. Baron's monu-
Dr. Baron
mental "Social and Religious History of the Jews."
It is important to note that Prof. Baron's reprinted essays com-
mence with his review, in 1939, of Sigmund Freud's "Moses and Mon-
otheism." He called it "a castle in the air."
In his introduction, Dr. Baron contends that his essays "reveal a
. certain fundamental line in the questions raised and the answers, how-
ever tentative, proposed for some important issues in the history of
the Jewish people. They stress aspects hitherto largely neglected in
historical research, sometimes by merely stating a problem and turning
the attention of the scholarly world to the need for its careful investi-
gation, one may hope to stimulate further Intensive research in this
field."
The self-analysis introducing this idea is worth noting. Dr. Baron
stated: " 'Unity within diversity' has become an important watchword
in sociological and religious debates.... The question of an underlying
unity is doubly pertinent if the essays, as in the case here, were writ-
ten over some four decades, were addressed to different audiences,
and pursued a variety of specific aims. . . . Even the unity of a single
authorship may turn out to be fragile if that individual has undergone
changes in methodology, basic approach, or world outlook.
"In my case such changes were stimulated by my transfer at the
age of 30 from the revolutionary Central-European environment of
the First World War period to the 'roaring twenties' of the United
States, its Great Depression, the Second World War, the European
Holocaust and the rise of the state of Israel. These tremendous historic
transformations exerted their influence on any interested observer,
they had a double impact on one sensitized by his professional concern
for a historical interpretation of current events against the background
of the millennial evolution of his people."
This self-judgment is valuable for an appreciation of the changing
times and the effects they had on the works of a great scholar who
has become the chief authority on world Jewish history.
Among the essays in this volume are reflections on Jewish his-
torical demography in ancient times, medieval Jewish attitudes on
Muslims, Malmonides' economic views, John Calvin and the Jews.
"Medieval Nationalism and Jewish Serfdom," "Jewish Factor in
Medieval Civilization," "Medieval Heritage and Modern Realities in
Protestant-Jewish Relations" and several other important topics are
covered in essays by Dr. Baron.
In his preface, the editor of this volume, Dr. Feldman, makes
this interesting additional comment:
"Prof. Baron had to confront the ever-recurring question of why
the Jews, in their long history, did not attempt to return to their home-
land and have remained exile-oriented—in the past obviously. To be
sure, the liturgical expressions of the yearnings for a return to the
Promised Land remained purely religious, indeed messianic in char-
acter. To summarize his analysis of the factors which have shaped
and are shaping the history of the Jewish people; when the Jews had
more of a sense of history than of geography, the change began to
occur. However, Dr. Baron has himself repeatedly stated that the
struggle for emancipation is still going on, that the results of political
and economic freedom are of too short an experience to prove this
explanation and warrant a deeper and broader understanding of Jew-
ish history."

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