Purely Commentary

Emendation of Great Merit in Revised Translation of Isaiah

Ability to Serve as Basic Criterion for Selection
of U.S. Cabinet Members . . . Biblical Clarification
in Revised Translation . . . Russia's 'Zhid' Opprobrium

By Philip
Slomovitz

Five Eminent Jews in 1_ .S. mul Con federote Cabinet Posts

When a betrayer of Jewish rights appears within the ranks of Jewry, a
Bible student will invariably point to Isaiah 49:17 to indicate a prophecy of old
that enemies occasionally emerge from our own kin. They quote - me-ersayikli
u-makhrivayikh mimeykh yeytzeyu," as proof.
Indeed, in the 1920 Jewish Publication Society of Holy Scriptures edition gives
the translation of this phrase as:
"Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee."

:613ehold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of My hands;
Thy walls are continually before
Me.
'Thy children make haste;
Thy destroyers and they that made
thee waste shall go forth from
thee.
"Lift up thine eyes round about, and
behold:

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In

Many years ago, Dr. Abraham M. Hershman rejected this translation. Dis-
cussing it with this commentator, he pointed out that the phrase specifically states
that the destroyers left the Jewish ranks rather than emerged from them.
Those who followed the Haftorah during the Torah reading in the synagogues
a week ago, when the Isaiah chapter in question was read, will recall that "The
Pentateuch and Haftorahs" edited by the late Chief Rabbi J. H. Hertz of Great
Britain used the Jewish Publication Society's 1920 text for his translation.
Therefore we turned to the revised translation of "The Book of Isaiah" issued
a short time ago by the Jewish Publication Society. The Hershman view was used
by the committee of translations under the chairmanship of Prof. H. L. Ginsberg,
and the new text reads:
"Those who ravaged and ruined you shall leave you."

ISAIAH

49 • 16

I have engraved you
On the palms of My hands,
Your walls are ever before Me.
17 Swiftly your children are coming;
Those who ravaged and ruined you 'shall leave
you.

16 See,

This provides added cause for gratification that a great publishing venture
like JPS is pursuing the task of improving upon scriptural translations.

Does Reversion to `Zhid' Make
Anti-Semitism Official in USSR?

Derogatory references
to Jews in Czarist Russia
were expressed in the
terms Zhid and Zhidovsky.
For more than two cen-
turies, these terms were
interlinked with Russian
official anti-Semitic poli-
cies.
While anti-Semitism
was never extinguished in
Russia, it was declared a
crime by the Communist
regime, and often those
who practiced anti-Jewish
actions, especially in of-
ficial ranks, were mildly
prosecuted.
But the term Zhid had
not been heard for some
time. It is referred to in
histories dealing with Jews
under the Czars, and it is
defined in the outstanding
work on the subject, "The
History of the Jews in
Russia and Poland" by the
great Jewish historian, Si-
mon Dubnov, who was
murdered by the Nazis in
1941 at the age of 81, in
Riga.
There is no doubt that
Jews were called Zhids
clandestinely during the
entire era of Communist
rule, but it had not been
heard so publicly, so arro-
gantly until now because
anti-Semitism is officially
outlawed in Russia. Does
the current experience
during the Moscow stu-
dents' sports events point
to a revival of official Rus-
sian anti-Semitism?
Originally Zhid was the
slavic term for Jew, trans-
literated from the Latin
Judaeus. It became an•op-
probrium and Jews smart-

ed under it in Russia for
hundreds of years.
In the Duma (Russian
Parliament) of horror in
1907—the third Duma thfit
was branded the Black
Duma—the overwhelming
majority of the members
were reactionaries a n d
anti-Semites, a n d they
carried to extremes the
abuses leveled at Jews.
There were only two Jew-
ish members of that Du-
ma and they were sub-
jected to untold humilia-
tions. Describing t ha t
period and the resort to
insults at Jews who were
called Zhids, Simon Dub-
nov wrote in his history:

"The hirelings of Nicho-
las II danced like a horde
of savages over the dead
body of the emancipation
movement, singing hymns
in praise of slavery and
despotism. Creatures of
the street, the reactionary
deputies drenched t h e
tribune of the Imperial
Duma with mud and filth,
and, when dealing with
Jews, they resorted to
methods similar to those
which were in vogue
among their accomplices
upon the streets of the
devastated c i t i e s. The
term Zhid and the adjec-
tive Zhidovsky, in addi-
tion to other scurrilous
epithets, became the most
favored terms of their vo-
cabulary."

The tragic experiences,
dated back by Prof. Dub-
nov to the rule of Cathe-
rine 11 (1772-1796), is de-
scribed as having thor-
oughly established the an-

2—Friday, August 31, 1973 The DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

ti-Semitic legislative rules.
Yet, there was a "re-
form." To quote Dubnov:
"The historian cannot
pass over in silence the
solitary 'reform' ofl> this
period. In the legislative
enactments of the last dec-
ade of Catherine's reign
the formerly current con-
t e m p t u o u s appellation
`Zhid' gave way to the
name 'Hebrew' (Yevrey).
The Russian government
found it impossible to go
beyond this verbal re-
form."
Interestingly e n o u g h,
Zhid and Zhidovsky are
not insulting terms in Pol-
ish, where they stand for
the term Jew and its ad-
jective. But it is generally
known that in polite soci-
ety it was not used too
often in Poland.
A protest against what
had happened in Moscow
last week had an interest-
ing sideline: the American
Jewish Congress made the
sports pages with its con-
demnation. Now adherents
to fair play ask whether
the Russian actions will be
overlooked when the Olym-
pics are staged four years
hence.
Generally—and that in-
cludes our experiences in
the United States — there
is little ground for fear
from anti-Semitism as long
as it is not sponsored of-
ficially by the government
of the land in question. Is
the Zhid revival an indica-
tion that Russia is making
the hatred of all Jews in
the USSR official?
Another aside is worth
noting. In the reports
about the outrageous inci-

Henry Kissinger

Henry Morgenthau Abraham Ribicoff

Oscar Straus

Dr. Henry A. Kissinger's Jewish background was emphasized in all news reports,
by all commentators. Some Arabs have expressed concern that a Jew should be heading
the U. S. State Department. The fact that he is foreign-born, having come here from
Germany, where he was born, with his parents who escaped the Nazi terror in 1938,
arose as a question of the role he might play in relation to the serious Middle East
conflict.
Kissinger, who told reporters "just can me Excellency," stated emphatically
that his Jewishness would in no sense inhibit his services to this country.
His nomination by President Nixon is cause to reflect on Jewish roles in
American government and foreign affairs. There were three other Jews who served
in American Cabinets. Oscar Straus, who was envoy plenipotentiary to Turkey, as
a nominee of President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was Secretary of Commerce
in the Cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican. Later he also was
named to represent this country on the World Court in The Hague.
Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut was secretary of health, education
and welfare in the Cabinet of President John F. Kennedy.
Henry Morgenthau Jr. was a member of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Cabinet as
secretary of the treasury. Always teased by his chief—FDR called him "Henry the
Morg" especially at their card games—he was among the most outspoken in govern-
ment for action in defense of German Jewry. He was the national chairman of the
United Jewish Appeal after his government service, and he traveled widely • in
support of Jewish settlers in Israel. In a sense it was an atonement for the negative
attitude to Zionism by his father, Henry Morgenthau Sr., who was U.S. ambassador
to Turkey as a Woodrow Wilson appointee and a special emissary to Poland, during
the pogrom years, as Herbert Hoover's representative.
Another eminent Jew — Judah Philip Benjamin — as secretary of state in
the Confederacy.
These are historic American-Jewish relationships which give emphasis to the
democratic way of life in which we live. Ctizens are chosen for their great assign-
ments on their merit. That's how the American way of life treats the nation's able
and highly qualified citizens.
Ribicoff and Benjamin were native Americans. Straus and Kissinger were
born in Germany. The birthright is the humanitarian. When people are just and
human and honorable, above reproach, without taint of dishonor, they are fellow
Americans. Their ability to serve is what counts.

Judah P. Benjamin's Colorful Career

Judah P. Benjamin was the first attorney general
of the Confederacy. He later was moved by President
Jefferson Davis into the secretaryship of the Confed-
eracy's war department and finally became secretary
of state of the Confederacy.

Born in St. Croix, Danish West Indies, now the
Virgin Islands, he was brought by his English-Jewish
parents to North Carolina, and they moved to New
Orleans. At 41 he became U. S. senator from Louisiana.
He served in that capacity when the South seceded
in 1961.

When President Davis' Confederate Cabinet fled
from Richmond, Va., in April 1865, Secretary of State
Benjamin left the group, took a boat to the Bahamas
from Florida, reached England, took up the practice
of law there, qualifying as Queen's Council in 1872, He
accumulated a fortune and retired with his wife and
daughter in 1883, taking up residence in Paris. He died
the following year.

An engraving of Judah
Philip Benjamin in. Apple-
ton's Cyclopedia of American
Biography, and Benjamin's
signature.

The Detroit News' 100th Anniversary

A century of service to our Greater Detroit community has earned for
Detroit News the salutations of all our citizens.
Just as Detroit has survived many crises, so has the community's afternoon
newspaper.
The Detroit News grew with the city, and the progressive attainments of De-
troit are in some measure ascribable to the vigor that emanated from its press.
The coverage provided by the Detroit News has given it a position of leader-
ship in American journalism.
Since this greeter's first professional newspaper job was on the Detroit News,
there is an element of personal interest in the anniver-
sary,
with a nostalgic feeling for the great Detroit news-
dents in Moscow, the news-
paper on which your commentator received some training
paper corespond-
after the U. of M. Daily chores.
ents translated it as
"kike." It could be trans-
There have been many occasions to differ with De-
lated as "sheeny." But
troit News editorial policies. Differences, however, often
even this insulting term is
lead to recognition of basic human values, and toward
now seldom found in
that end Detroit News services merit recognition and ap-
American dictiona-
preciation.
ries and where it is in-
In this spirit, we congratulate the Detroit News on
cluded it. is defined as
its 100th anniversary, with a wish for continuity of prog-
offensive.
ress for our afternoon paper and the community it serves.
Oh tempora! Oh mores!

