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Oolgiliarank-, WW7:77
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Belinsky Heads Bnai David
New Herzl Biography Irks Reviewer
.
Irving Belinsky was elected
Appointed to the board of
president of Cong. 'Bnai David trustees were: Morris Aveliblich,
at its recent 82nd annual Dr. Maier Belen, Ernest E. Buren,
Berman, Joseph M. Bieder-
meeting. Other officers are Meyer
man, Morris J. Brandwine, Philip
Bricker,
Fred Brown, Marvin Can-
Gust av Berenholz, Alan
Arthur Maims, Hyman Co-
Weiner and Dr. Sherman ner,
hen, Fred Ferber, Morton Granat,
Kane, vice presidents; Jack Samuel P. Havis, Neil M. Kalef,
J. Kraiztnan, Charles Lam-
Wolf, treasurer; Arthur Cole Jack
pert, Julian Liebman, Irving Mar-
and Philip Bolton, secre- kel, Mike Must, Donald Nitzkin.,
Morris Novetsky, Burton J. Platt,
taries.
Melville J. Richman, Norton Ro-
HEBREW LESSONS
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Although Desmond Stewart
commences h i s story of
"Theodor Herzl—Artist and.
Politician" as a biography
of "the father of modern
Israel" and refers to him as
"one of the most remarkable
men of his age," qualifying
him — not objectionably — as
"the instigator of the most
hazardous venture of the cen-
tury to follow," the Double-
thy-published book creates
Tr any concerns.
There is such a toilsome
search for every possible
evidence of blemishes in the
life of the Zionist leader that
one wonders how an author
of a biography of one of the
great Jews of the century
could have been so anxious
for the negative aspects.
He could have gained a
better understanding of secu-
larism in Jewish ranks, yet
the emphasis on Herzl's non-
religious sentiments, h i s
agreement with his wife not
to circumcize his son—let's
accept it as fact—does not
lessen the objection to the
form of the approach. It com-
pels the query as to the
author's intentions.
At the outset, a doubt
arose whether one with his
background could write dis-
passionately about Zionism
and Herzl. Stewart spent 25
years in the Middle East —
after a 20-year span in classi-
cal education at Oxford. He
specialized in Arabic litera-
ture, translated from the
Arabic, worked on the philos-
ophy of Islam and published
a Middle East periodical
while livinP: in Cyprus. That
does not disqualify anyone,
but upon reading his work
on Herzl, o n e wonders
whether he was or could be
objective and impartial.
He certainly does not de-
fine Zionism in the most
friendly terms. He glorifies
the friendship for Jewry by
Moslems, and while admit-
ting some discrepancies,
there is a measure of sub-
jectivity that could be view-
ed as biased.
sin, Simon Sairwarzberg, Charles
N. Shere, Paul Shea-izen, Aaron
Shifman, Max Simon, Nathan D.
Soberman, Jerome Sable, Max So-
sin, Lawrence Traison, Jerome J.
Trumper, Mrs. Alan Weiner, Phil-
ipp J. Wimmer.
Honorary members are:
Peter Chodoroff, Joseph. Gorman,
Harry Koltonow, Lew Kruger,
Max Ostrow, Sam aarvitz, Julius
Rotenberg, Joseph Shifman, Men-
del Shifman, Dr. Maurice M. Sil-
verman and: Harold Soble.
IRVING BELINSKY
Major Prayers
Recited Quietly
The installation of officers
RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
and board of trustees will be By (Copyright
1974, JTA, Inc.)
held Aug. 14, announces
The main body of prayer
chairman of arrangements (the 19 benedictions) is re-
Southfield
355-4444
Melville J. Richman.
cited quietly by individuals.
A number of reasons are
offered for this practice. The
Talmud (Berakot 31a) de-
rives this from the biblical
description of Hannah's pray-
er where it is written: "her
lips moved, but her voice
was not heard" (I Samuel
1:13). The Talmud further
states that one who would
One of Allied Van Lines Largest Haulers
chant these prayers aloud
would appear to be an insin-
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cere believer since he im-
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plies that the Almighty can
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only hear loud voices and
LI 1-3313
MI 4-4613
cannot hear a whisper. The
Kabala states that the an-
gels who are assigned to ac-
cept the prayer and bring it
forth will not accept it of
other human ears can hear
it. In other words, one might
say that the prayer is a com-
munion between man and his
Creator and should not be
audible to other humans.
(Zohar, Exodus 89). Others
contend that chanting these
prayers silently prevents em-
barassment to each indivi-
dual worshiper who prays
for the forgiveness of his
sins.
On this basis many chant
these prayers aloud on Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur
since everyone prays for for-
giveness on these days.
Some sources point to the
fact that in olden times there
was a difference in regard to
this matter between the Jews
of Palestine and the Jews of
Babylonia. While Palestinians
recited these prayers aloud,
Babylonian Jews recited them
silently. Jews in Palestine
claimed that reciting the
prayers out loud helped the
community to learn the pray-
ers and get used to them.
Some even claim that the
prayers are recited silently
to differentiate the congre-
gants or the individuals from
the Karaite notion which or-
dered prayers to be recited
out loud in response to the
priest.
By having the cantor re-
peat these prayers out loud
and having the congregation
respond to each benediction
with "Amen," two things are
accomplished. First, besides
individual prayers, there
comes into being a commun-
ity that prays. Secondly, this
practice allows even those
FOR INFORMATION
who cannot recite the prayers
by themselves to join the con-
gregation in prayer by re-
sponding with "Amen."
Also, should the individual
OR WRITE TO:
have made an error or omis-
sion in his own prayer, it can
be made up by listening in-
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tently to the cantor's repeti-
tion and responding properly
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,
For example, in the final
section of the book he calls
Herzl's role "The Desperate
Intriguer." Herzl was not, in
the Stewart view, the ideal-
ist and creator of a great
libertarian movement, but an
intriguer! Every approach to
Herzl's search for an accord
with the sultan of Turkey is
as if he intrigued a n d
schemed.
Stewart is even inaccurate.
He makes Max Bodenheimer
the founder of the National
Fund (eliminating the word
Jewish) and in most other
ways he ignores the Zionist
leaders and backgrounds.
Had he researched Prof.
Herman Schapira, the crea-
tor of the Jewish National
Fund ideal, and the support
it received from Herzl, he
might have found some sym-.
pathy for an important move-
ment.
* * *
Briton Loses Libel
Suit Against Paper
LONDON — Writer and
broadcaster Desmond Stew-
art lost a libel suit against
the Daily Express for an ar-
ticle which, he said, "con-
tained an imputation that in
1964 he was a Mosleyite and
a Fascist."
A High Court jury by a
vote of 11-1 found for the
Beaverbrook Newspapers.
(Stewart is the author of
the new biography of Theo-
dor Herzl published by Dou-
bleday).
The words in question were:
"Mr. Stewart, after the war,
organized an Oxford (Uni-
versity) club to propagate
the ideas of Sir Oswald Mos-
ley. Later he wrote for Mos-
ley's magazine, 'The Euro-
pean.' His ideas on Egypt
and Israel may be imagined."
It was the last nine word's
that contained the sting of
the libel, according to Stew-
art's attorney. He claimed
that the sentences implied
that in 1964 he was a Mos-
leyite, anti-Semitic and rac-
ist. They also implied that
he was not impartial in his
views as a commentator on
the Middle East and was a
Fascist.
The judge said the first two
sentences were true while the
third was fair comment. He
added that Stewart had read
much more into the wording
of the article than it actually
stated and it was for the
jury to decide if the article
did bear that innuendo.
The very idea of the World
Zionist Congresses, already a
sensation when Herzl created
them in 1897, finds little en-
thusiasm in t h e Stewart
story.
He does go into detail about
about Herzl's world, his am-
bition to be a playwright, his
novels. "The New Ghetto,"
"Altneuland" and his plays
receive good analyses. But
Stewart's end of it all is that
the writer was so ambitious,
that it dominated his ideal-
ism.
This is not to say that the
Stewart biography is lacking
in some merits. He does
touch upon Herzl's family
life. He shows that he had an
unhappy marriage. The chil-
dren's fate is traced—Hans
was circumcized later in life;
his sister Pauline died of
rheumatic fever, and it af-
fected Hans and is said to
have caused his suicide;
Trude died in Theresienstadt,
having been sent to the con-
centration camp with her
husband; her son, Stefan
Theodor Neumann, Herzl's
only grandson, who was a
British embassy attache in
Washington, committed sui-
cide in 1946.
The comment on Herzl's
youth diary, which was
obtained from Hans by Josef
Leftwich, also has merit.
These and other facts, and
the extensive emphases on
Herzl's ambitions as a play-
wright, provide interesting
reading. But the negative as-
pects, the insistence on pro-
viding that a Herzlian youth
sex deviation may have
harmed his own and his
wife's health, the failure to
understand the libertarianism
of Zionism—these do irk.
Stewart depended vastly
upon the Herzl. Diaries, but
he treats them as if they
were calculated, as if Herzl
contrived them in advance
to glorify his existence. Had
they been treated as diaries
which often change human
reactions almost from day to
day, there might have been
a different . attitude in the
biographer's approach to his
subject.
Much also is quoted from
the writings on Herzl by
Josef Fraenkel (Detroit Jew-
ish News special London cor-
respondent). But Fraenkel
had objected to Stewart's!
using his material—anticipat-
ing an unfriendly tone.
What a pity that a good
subject is marred by short-
comings. —P.S.
The world has our hands,
but our soul belongs to some-
one else. Six days a week
we seek to dominate the
world, on the seventh day
we try to dominate the self.
To set apart one day a
week for freedom, a day on
which we would not use the
instruments which have been
so easily turned into weapons
of destruction, a day for be-
ing with ourselves, a day of
detachment from the vulgar, THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, July 5, 1974-17
of independence of external
obligations, a day on which
we stop worshiping the idols
Now that July 4th is over ...
of technical civilization, a
Celebrate
your own Independence Day!
day on which we use 'no
money, a day of armistice
With a tall. cold glass of
in the economic struggle with
our fellow men and the forces
of nature—is there any insti-
tution that holds out a great-
er hope for man's progress
than the Sabbath?
In the tempestuous ocean
of time and toil there are
islands of stillness where
man may enter a harbor and
reclaim his dignity. The is-
Buttermilk, Chocolate Milk, or smooth
land is the seventh day, the
and creamy Vitamin D enriched Milk
Sabbath, a day of detach-
ment from things, instru-
Or any one of the eighteen varieties of refreshing
ments and practical affairs
beverages made fresh daily in Detroit . . . .411
as well as of attachment to
Strictly Kosher and manufactured under
the spirit.—Abraham J. He-
Orthodox Rabbinical Supervision
schel, in "The Sabbath."