THE JEWISH NEWS

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

Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Associa-
tion. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield. Mich. 48075.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

CHARLOTTE DUBIN

Business Manager

City Editor

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Advertising Manager

Sabbath (Rosh Hodesh Tamuz) Scriptural Selections
will
This Sabbath, the 30th day of Sivan, 5733, the following scriptural selections
be read in our synagogues marking Rosh Hodesh Tamuz:
66:1-24.
Pentateuchal portions, Num. 16:1-18:32, 28:9-25. Prophetical portion, Isaiah
28:1-15.
Num.
Sunday,
second
day
Rash
Hodesh
Tamuz,
Torah reading for

Candle lighting, Friday, June 29, 8:53 p.m.

VOL. LXIII. No. 16

Page Four

June 29, 1973

Right to Differ and Emphasis on Learning

Oft-repeated views that American Jewry impede the hoped-for progress. The search
for the best teaching staffs, improvements in
is just coming of age have their merits in curricula, elimination of strife between man-
communal planning. Nevertheless there are
underestimations of the capacities of our con- agement and labor—terms that should never
It stands
reason
search of for
have arisen in our cultural sphere 'but which
stituencies.
It to
is true
that that
the a extent
the
maturity of our communities is often mis- nevertheless have found poisonous roots in
judged because of indifference that is too our community and the determined will
evident in reactions to Jewish needs. But we to place emphasis on youth involvement:
have always had indifference, especially in these are duties that no one dares shirk, and
the ranks of youth, and there is the constant to live up to them all of us must impress upon
emphasis on fund raising as our major re- the directors of our schools to labor in unity
sponsibility. But in time of crisis those with without rancor.
A first in new approaches to communal
views on the dominant issues speak out and
planning
on a basis of understanding of is-
the Jews of this country assert firmness in
sues
involved
must be the resumption of the
dealing with challenging issues.
public
assembly
for discussion periodically of
The crises that are affecting our cultural
the
problems
to
be
solved. As long as school
the
Jewish
schools
suffer
projects — and
boards
meet
irregularly
the entire en-
from them no less than the public school and rolled membership of the and
school
meets only
higher educational systems — have indicated once a year, there will be no hope
for pro-
that there are parents who are concerned,
becomes a working
kehilla
gress.
When
the
that there are citizens with an attitude on community, it will regain its status and there
functions they wish improved upon.
be hope for unified approaches to the
Dr. Martin Buber began to write on Zionism in 1901. In the course
Out of the conflicts over the status of our will
compelling obligations. If parents can meet of the years, 'he became critical of Jewish nationalism. He later joined
schools has emerged a determination to as- for
political purposes to elect an opposition the Brit Shalom movement that sought peace by way of a binational
sert the right to differ, an no Jewish com- slate,
it can also confer for review of Jewish state with the Arabs ane. he worked closely with Dr. Judah L. Magnes
munity with self respect has ever yielded to policies.
If there is enough time for a revolt, in that movement.
suppression of such rights. A typical example there should
The Buber role in 2elmism is outlined in collected works published
be an equal amount of time for
has just been evidenced here. Concerned par- construction, reconstruction, introduction of by Schocken under the tle,e "Martin Buber on Zion: The History of an
ents came into our school system with a slate new methods for the functioning of estab- Idea." With a foreword ')y Dr. Nahum N. Glatzer, this volume has
of candidates for directorships, apparently on
special significance for .,ticients of the Jewish national idea and the
agencies.
a platform of challenge to the Establishment. lished
history of efforts for th ,-- ,:edemption of Israel.
There
was
a
voice
for
directorial
jobs:
It was the most wholesome demonstration of there must be voices for review of our cul-
Dr. Glatzer descr:Hes the Hebrew renaissance emphases, the
a will tb share in management while giving tural status. How else can we build a knowl- Buber view on a Zion that "must be born in the soul before it can be
created in visible realit:."
notice that this revolt against a nominating
community?
Dr. Buber's criticism of the Jewish nationalist efforts as expressed
committee's' choices for educational manage- edgeable
What has occurred until now should be in his address at the 127 Carlsbad Zionist Congress—held after the
ment is being rejected in favor of petitioned judged
as being resultantly for the benefit of issuance of the Balfour Ifeclaration—receives special emphasis in the
candidates. The triumph of a constituency a dedicated
community. In whatever fashion Glatzer introduction. In teat address, Glatzer points out, Blither criticized
that has gained a minority status on a board we may judge
developing situation, the an ideology that "regamhl The nation as an end in itself." He was a
it has set out to revise and to revolutionize is aftermath must the
be
rooted
in full cooperation delegate to that World Ccingress representing Histadrut Hapoel Hatzair
a most encouraging evidence of interest to for the good of children in
need of the best u-Zeire Zion and he introduced a resolution on the Jewish-Arab ques-
have emerged in our community's history.
available
schooling
and
parents
in fullest tion, affirming an aim fo a "new humanity," for a "just covenant" to
Primarily, the revolt—and any method of appreciation of the creative tasks
of the manifest itself for work together with the Arab working people. A
overturning an Establishment's view must be major agency supported by our tremendous revised text of that rcalution was adopted and Buber, writing to
viewed as a revolt — must be judged as an philanthropic organization.
Magnes 26 years later, .expressed regret over the watered down reso-
insistence upon the right to differ. The peti.
adopted at Carts: -ad. This and other factors in Prof. Buber's
There has been established the right to lution
tioners for a place in the management of our differ. Now the emphasis sould be on learn- activities and his attitu&s toward Zionism are outlined in the Glatzer
schools indicated a will to speak out on sub- ing, on securing the ablest to teach, on man- comments.
jects that concern them, and they have done agerial forces working in unity for Jewry's
At the Basle Zionist Congress in 1929, when the Jewish Agency
was established in an accord with non-Zionists, Buber again spoke of
it with dignity. They have succeeded and
interests.
the need for Arab acc , rd, reminding the assembly that "Israel is
now we are getting down to the business of best The
big question is: is there sufficient more than a nation," that Zion is "the beginning of the Kingdom of
learning how the establishment that has su-
pervised our school system until the period anxiety over the existing needs? Who cares? God over all mankind."
Another interesting reference in Glatzer's article is to the reply
of the revolt can adjust itself to the new Will there be as many participants in plan-
Buber issued to a chart by Mahatma Gandhi, in 1938, that "Palestine
ning
progress
for
our
educational
media
as
minority with a view to making changes.
there are protesters against inequities? If belongs to the Arabs." :Luber reminded Gandhi that while both Arabs
and Jews have claims to the land "we can not renounce the Jewish
change must be based on the desire to im- sentiment will be translated into action, we claim—something higher than the life of our people is bound up with
can
look
forward
to
more
heartening
develop-
prove and to attain greater progress in our
this land, namely . . . Its divine mission." He linked with his reply
schools. The demand for the retention of two ments in our communal functions.
a reaffirmation of the aim to "reconcile both claims."
public
Perhaps the re-establishment of the
school branches which are being closed be-
When the Jewish Elate was proclaimed in 1948, Dr. Glatzer states,
cause of a declining enrollment may prove assembly, the open forum, the town hall, "The realist in Buber `:accepted' the state; now the spirit had to
to be a minor objective even for the victors would serve all our needs better. It is some- served from this new hasis." Glatzer adds:
thing for the community to consider seriously.
"Buber made liberr use of the terms `spirit,' spiritual life,' Spir-
in the fight for representation of the United
itual force,' to the chag' in of both his critics and some of his followers
Hebrew Schools' board of directors. Perhaps
who pressed for a clear.,"ut definition of the terms. Buber, on the other
the closing of the Detroit and Livonia school
hand, expected his readers to respond to his sensitivity by his own
branches will have to be accepted as a fait
Leonid
Brezhnev's
"facts
and
figures"
re-
accompli. There are more vital needs, and garding Jews emigrating from the USSR were intuition."
Because, as Glatzer writes, "the present volume, written in a time
these will challenge the victors together with
as
inflated
as
his
speeches.
of
anguish,
documents the power of the idea of Zion in the internal
their fellow-directors who will still reps esent
Was anyone misled by what he had history of Israel, " the collected essays have special significance in
a vast majority of the school board and who
the Zionist idea and the advocacy of increased efforts for
must be judged as being equally concerned say regarding the status of the Jews in the evaluating
Arab-Jewish relations.
with the need for progress in our schools. Soviet Union?
A preface to "Martin Buber on Zion," written by Buber in 1950,
Brezhnev is being refuted by realities,
We had serious handicaps in our schools.
explains that the book appeared in a Hebrew edition in 1944 but by
by
the
actual
figures
of
Jews
who
have
ap-
Repeated differences over labor conditions
the establishment of the state in 1948 "it has not proved necessary to
resulted in a strike, the effects of which were plied for visas and those who have been sub- alter anything in the text . . . which is intended to shed light not on
not helpful to our cultural needs. The decline jected to tyranny the moment they indicated the history of a political enterprise but on that of a religious idea or
in the child population is forcing changes in a desire to settle in Israel.
rather on the spiritual history of a faith."
Senator Jackson, the committees that are
The text itself which was translated from the German by Stanley
existing facilities. The need for the best
teachers is plaguing us. Wisely to confront laboring in behalf of Russian Jews, national Goodman, contains Buber's introductory essay on Zion and other na-
tional concepts. Bible testimony, the voices of impassioned cravings
the constantly growing problems there must Jewish organizations—all have combined to
for a restored Zion b): Jewish scholars of the past, the ideals enun-
be unified action, without rancor, with due re- present the truth. It's a pity that the Russian
ciated by Moses Hess. Leon Pinsker, Theodor Herzl, Ah'ad Ha'am,
leader
should
have
left
us
a
heritage
of
com-
spect for the views of all factions in our
Ray Kook and A. D. r.:ordon—these comprise the essays of Martin
pulsion
to
plead
for
an
understanding
of
the
ranks.
Buber which make this reissued work a text of great significance in
true
situation
in
Russia,
now
that
he
has
Justified criticism of the educational pol-
Zionist and Jewish history.
icies must gain respect and, surely, will not further muddled it.

Martin Buber's Zionist Idea:
Religious Aspect in Nationalism

Brezhnev's 'Facts'