THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

32—Friday, Dec. 28, 1973

JPS 'Catalog' Makes Blunder

A sensation has been cre-
ated by the Jewish Publica-
tion Society of America.
It has just issued "The
Jewish Catalog," described
as "a do-it-yourself kit,"
containing a mass of material
dealing with a variety of sub-
jects intended as a guide to
Jewish traditions, facts about
the community, newspapers,
bookstores, libraries, books.
It describes tefillin, the
S h u l h a n Arukil, arts and
crafts.
It even offer., a recipe.
It made the front page of
the section of a week-day
edition of the New York
Times.
That's an immense accom-
plishment.
But why is it selective?
Why, in listing Jewish peri-

odicals, did it give the im-
pression that it guides
toward a knowledge of the
status of the Jewish press?
Many descriptive works are
available dealing with all
the facts in this book. But an
attempt at totality, the claim
to cataloguing, creates the
claim of great creativity.
All that is needed is to
resort to "selectivity" which
turns out to be special privi-
lege to reduce its merits.
The compilers and editors,
Pichard Siegel, Michael
Strassfeld and Sharon Strass-
feld, meant well. But they
blundered, and there is no
reason why the blunder
should not be indicated.
—P. S.

Jewish Sufferings Under Roman Rule, Jerusalem
Role Defined in Volume by Michael Grant

Roman struggles for Pales- the Persian empire were
scribing the evolutionary re-
ligious changes that took tine and the retention of conquered by the second
place under Constantine the Jerusalem are part of the Arab Caliph Omar, with
Great, who defeated his recorded story in this vol- warm support from the Jews,
pagan rival, Maxentius, in ume. There are interesting who subsequently flourished
the battle of the Milvian accounts of the period under under Arab rule . . ."
Dr. Grant concludes his
Bridge in the year 312, Prof. Heraclius when Jews and
Grant states that pursuant Samaritans rallied in support historical commentary by
of the Persian King Chosroes quoting Ezekiel's prophecy to
to that triumph:
"Christianity replaced pa- Parvez (50-628) and 100,000 the Jews, "They shall live
ganism as the official re- Christians, according to his in the land which I gave my
ligion of the Roman state. account, were massacred. servant Jacob (37:21) and
his final comment is:
Once again Jerusalem was Then, Dr. Grant states:
called Hierosolyma, instead
"The Dispersion has not
"In 629, 'Hera clius reoc-
of Aelia Capitolina. Yet this cupied Jerusalem, and the ended, and will never end,
was by no means because of Christian clergy took a sav- Yet to the Jews throw'
its sacredness to the Jews, age revenge on the Jews. the world today, the
but as a resplendent center The emperor ordered the phecy of Ezekiel has now
of Christian pilgrimage. baptism of every one of them been fulfilled by the re-estab-
Therefore more and more throughout the empire — al- lishment of the state of Is-
people, all over the Roman though, like similar decrees rael. By this fulfillment, the
world, quite rapidly became by many of his successors, tribulations described in the
Christians, and the Jews the order was never en- foregoing pages have at long
w ere the minority in a Chris- forced, or enforceable. How- last received at least a
tian instead of a pagan em- ever, in 636.40 Palestine and measure of recompense."
pire."
Thus, the endless interest
in Jerusalem's role as well
YESHIVATH BETH YEHUDAH TRAVELS
as the Christian-Jewish re-
lationships. The author poses
GATEWAY to
the questions why Christian-
ISRAEL, U.S.A. and EVERYWHERE
ity instead of Judaism from
We help you plan your trip,
which it sprang became "the
you help us maintain our
successor to the pagans and
the dominant faith in the
Nursery and Kdgn. 'Dente.
western world?" Pointing out
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that both faiths had much in
common, their ethical sys-
tems being akin, Dr. Grant
replied to the question that
Christianity and Judaism
were alike in their "excellent
social and philanthropic serv-
ices . . . although the serv-
ices of the Christians were
1
by now the better organized
of the two, since the cen-
Silver Defines
tralized arrangements of
Judaism for
Christian episcopates were
more efficient than the de-
Jews, Christians
centralized efforts of indi-
VISIT OUR
Rabbi Samuel M. Silver of vidual Jewish communities
NEWEST
Stamford, Conn., who authors and presbyteries." This may
STORE
a weekly Seven Arts news- be viewed as a Christological
paper column, has compiled approach, and it is addition-
a set of answers to many ally interesting to read Dr.
questions regarding Jewish Grant's view on messiah-
ideas and teachings in a pa- ships. He adds to the above:
IN THE
perback published by Arco
"In the last resort, the
Press.
reason why Christianity in-
Under the title "Explaining stead of Judaism became the
Judaism to Jews and Christ- religion of the western world
maternity
ians," Rabbi Silver defines was because that world
all the Jewish holidays and hankered after a savior, and
fashions
the tenets of the Jewish faith for Christians could provide
and traditions.
the most satisfying of all
He explains the Jewish cal- saviors, and recall his vivid
682-0003
endar, the injection of He- existence among mankind.
brew influences in the He- All that the Jews could say,
brew language, Reform Ju- on the other hand, was that
'gut(
daism, the Pharisees, Jewish a Messiah would come in the
tr.
customs, Zionism and a va- future, which did much less
riety of other subjects about to arouse the emotions—and
BIRMINGHAM GROSSE PTE.
Jews and their faith.
in any case their leadership,
Rabbi Silver makes con-
16930 Kercheva I
141 W. Maple
for the most part, only said
cessions in discussing inter- it cautiously."
marriage: His view is that
in considering the well being
of children from mixed mar-
riages "the problem should
be ironed out not in terms of
putative offspring but in
terms of the welfare of the
couple itself." His advice is
for such couples to share in-
terests in synagogues and
churches.
He discusses also science's
relation to religion. His book
includes an interview on the
Bible in which the rabbi re-
plies to many questions on
the subject from the inter-
viewer.

Prof. Michael Grant, in
"The Jews in the Roman
World," published by Scrib-
ners, deals with a vast
variety of aspects relating to
the Jewish historic experi-
ences with Romans and
Greeks, and their sufferings
under oppressive rulers.
Special interest attaches to
this volume in its treatment
of the struggle for survival:
Not only does the quest for
life have its many links to
the wars, the exile, the pres-
sures to assimilate the Jews,
but as specifically to the re-
ligious aspects.
Therefore the emergence
of Christianity, the resistance
to the Christian mission, the
insistence upon adherence to
Classifieds Get Quick Results faith, emerge from the
author's attention.
Jesus and his followers,
Pilate and the Roman rulers,
the era of Herod, are under
Complete Selection including the Finest 14 Kt. Gold Jewelry
scrutiny.
See Morris or Joel Watnick
Old and New Testament
records are utilized for the
exposition of the vast theme
that is tackled interestingly
GIFTS
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644-7626
Thurs. 8 Fri. to 9 p.m.
283 Hamilton
The Judean revolts are
Birmingham ( Near Crowley's)
given their proper evalua-
tions, and the history of the
Judeo - Christian confronta-
tions are chronicled by the
historian in the sense of the
religious aspects of a Jewish
struggle to subsist.
Dealt with extensively here
is the role of paganism and
its quest for power. In de-

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