THE JEWISH NEWS

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

Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association.
published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CHARLOTTE DUBIN

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

City Editor

Business Manager

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Advertising Manager

Sabbath Hazon Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the eighth day of Av, 5734, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 1:1-3:22. Prophetical portion Isaiah 1:1-27.
Fast of 9th of Av Scriptural Selections, Sunday
Pentateuchal portions: Morning, Deut. 5:25-40; afternoon, Exodus 32:11-14, 34:1-
10. Prophetical portions: Morning, Lamentations, read night before, Jeremiah 8:13-9:23:
afternoon, Isaiah 55:6-56:8.

Candle lighting. Friday, July 26, 8:39 p.m.

VOL. LXV. No. 20

Page 4

July 26, 1974

Time to Plan for a Creative Year

On _the eve of Tisha b'Av, the anniversary
of the destruction of the First and Second
Temples in Jerusalem, there is the usual
commencement in Jewish communities every-
where of planning for another year of activ-
ities spiritually and culturally.
The synagogues have the specific aims of
encouraging identity and the largest possible
affiliations numerically. After all, the house
of worship, linked with the house of study, is
the center of Jewish life.
Most urgently, the planning for another
year calls for emphasis on Jewish studies,
on retaining of highest stanndards in Jewish
schools and on encouraging adult studies.
The coming year 5735 is certain to be a

very crucial one. Jewry will be challenged to
display solidarity with Israel on a greater
scale than ever. There will be controversies
over the •Middle East and Israel's role and
it will be necessary to establish facts so that
the impending negotiations for a continuing
cease fire on Israel's borders should not be
disrupted. Those who will be protecting Is-
rael's position will have to be knowledgeable.
For a knowledgeable community it will be
essential to start with a well informed youth.
Therefore, 5734 will be a year for solid-
ification of Jewish loyalties and for extend-
ing the educational processes. The time has
arrived to start planning for a wholesomely
productive year.

Defections of Youth Retention of Loyalties

In the community of American Jews who
can boast of some 90 per cent of the youth
enrolling in colleges and universities, there
is growing concern about their involvement
in Jewish ranks when a prominent Orthodox
rabbi can confess to failure to capture "the
hearts and minds of our educated, intellectual
youth."
Conceding that 30 per cent of youth are
intermarrying, pointing to 53 per cent of
American Jewry being unaffiliated with any
branch of Judaism, spokesmen at a recent
rabbinical conference deplored the drifting
of many youth from Judaism and one rabbi
spoke of the "corrosive forces of secularism
and nihilism" that are affecting the thinking
of the youth of this generation.
The developed trends are, admittedly,
the evolution of a situation in evidence world-
wide — the drifting of youth from the tradi-
tions of their fathers, the conflicts that
emenate from differing views which not only
set up barriers between parents and children
but which have threatened the undermining
of the influence of the two strongholds in the
Jewish society—the home and the synagogue.
Perhaps it is the home that should be
considered first as a sanctuary for reconstruc-
tion in Jewish life. The figure of more than
a majority being alienated from synagogue
memberships in the American Jewish com-
munity affirms the view that if there is a
breakdown it stems from the home where the
initial loyalty to the faith of the people is to
be expected. If the home influence can be
strengthened, the synagogue can re-emerge
as the most vital force in Jewish communal
life.
_Many generations had been denuded dur-
ing the milennia of Jewish struggles for ex-
istence. Nevertheless there was, as there will
be, survival in respectable fashion. Historic
continuity was marked by loyalties to tradi-
tions and acceptance of an inerasable herit-
age. 'It would be idle, however, to deny that
survival was attained in greater measure dur-
ing periods of persecutions, and the resistance
to threats of annihilation had been a defiance
of persecution and an adherence to a will to
live as Jews. Is this possible in an atmos-
phere of freedom which greets Jews in most
spheres today?
The challenge to Jewish identity by the
freedoms enjoyed by Jewry assumes a more
vital aspect at a time when so much is yet to
be contributed to and to be gained by

Lewin Essays on Anti-Semitism
Religious Bias, Calendar Reform

Dr. Isaac Lewin, noted Orthodox leader, professor of history at

University, wild represented Agudat Israel World Organiza-
mankind. Jewry's role in the world is grow- Yeshiva
on the United Nations Economic and Social Council, touches
ing rather than diminishing in stature by tion
upon a number of UN actions relating to religious discriminaton and
Israel's cultural gifts and the opportunity at- anti-Semitism in a number of his essays included in a collection of his
tained by Diaspora Jewries to advance ethical works published by Shengold under the title "Shall the Sword Devour
and spiritual values.
Forever?"
It seems to be unquestioned that before
The theme of this book alludes to the biblical brotherly feud be-
there can be fullest identification there must tween Cain and Abel. Developing this approach, Dr. Lewin states in
be proper understanding and the best avail- his preface: -
"Cain was a 'wanderer' on this earth, as God instructed him fol-
able knowledgeability. And the attainment
his bloody deed. He is ready to repeat his murder in manifold
must be on a family basis, by the total unit lowing
Let us display the 'sign for Cain,' and thereby prevent the physi-
of parents and children accepting a role of ways.
cal and spiritual destruction of his innumerable victims!"
distinction as the inheritors of an historic
Then he makes a plea for international peace in an essay on "The
tradition.
Eclipse of Moral Values of Men." He also writes on achieving "Peace
These things are easier •said and written Without Victory."
Reviewing at length the UN survey of anti-Semitism, in discussions
about than they can be properly interpreted
for serious application. But the responsibility conducted by the subcommittee on prevention of discrimination and
upon community leadership is evident. The protection of minorities, in which the Russian role created problems,
and evidences of bigotry among other nations aroused concern, Dr.
rank and file of Jewry must not be treated Lewin
reaches the conclusion that the UN deliberations "did not con-
merely as a philanthropic element interested vince us
that anti-Semitism belongs only to the past."
in money raising and money giving. It must
In his analyses of UN studies of religious bias, and a set of prin-
rise above it for the sake of the identity and ciples for tolerance adopted by the UN, Dr. Lewin maintains it would
devotion that will in itself encourage even be naive to believe in their practical effects and he adds that "the
moral compulsions in an international agreement and the ethical stan-
better philanthropy.

Enmities Galore!

dards it sets for the worldwide community should not be too easily
discounted."
Two of Dr. Lewin's essays point to the dangers inherent in- pro-
posed calendar reform.

Two' news items in relation to Israel's
position in an area of prejudice and hatred
have serious bearing on the Middle East sit-
uation.
The 'New York Daily News reported that
a delegation of total- Black American news
executives cut short their tour of Arab States
For some 40 years, • Mrs. Bella Goldworth devoted herself to
when Howard Woods, publisher of the St. writing Yiddish short stories,
novels and poems. She won recognition
Louis Sentinel, was barred from entering from critics of her Yiddish works in Poland, France and the United
Kuwait because he had visited Israel in 1969. States. Some of her writings had .already been translated into Yiddish
Marjorie Parham, another of the members and her latest book, "Across the Border," contains 27 of her narratives
of that touring group, who publishes a news- in English translations by Max Rosenfeld.
paper in Cincinnati, was quoted in the New
The spirit of the Old World is in evidence in - her tales .In "Across
York Daily News as saying: "They advised the Border," published by YKUF (Yiddisher KUltur Farband), Mrs.
Mr. Woods he could not be admitted to Ku- Goldworth has reconstructed the ghetto village, its interesting char-
wait because of his visit to Israel. We de- acters, the religious observances, the life struggles.
Whether it is about Zelda or 'Grandfather, Reb Nochem, Emma
cided either all our delegation stays or none
of us. They feared we might be collaborating or Hannah—some of the members of the collective cast in this new
volume—the reader is taken into a sphere nearly totally forgotten, yet
with Israel."
of history.
Then there were the reports by news a part
The themes are not all of the past. The title story, appearing
agencies that the Jordanian censorship de- as the last in this book, traces events in Poland, relates the activities
partment had banded from circulation all of the Resistance in the last war, gives recognition to courage under
books and articles by James Michener, Mich- stress among Jews with dignity and honor.
ener having been accused of "pro-Zionist feel-
The events of a generation, as well as the participants in them,
ings."
are reflected and echoed in the stories by the able Yiddish writer and
The lessons for many who have not un- author of "Across the Border."
derstood the prejudices that guide the en-
Mrs. .Goldworth's works are based on her experiences from her
mities towards Israel by her neighbors are youth in Poland and her life in the United States. There was a four-
self-evident. Will they be fully. recognized year interlude during the depression when Mrs. Goldworth lived in
and applied to the efforts to secure justice Belgium with her husband and two sons, now successful professional
men.
for a maligned state in the Middle East?

Bella Goldworth's Yiddish
Short Stories in English Texts