THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 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 400 a year.
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
Editor and Publisher
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Alan Hitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press, Assistant News Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 20th day of Shevat, 5735, the folowing scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exod. 18:1-20:23. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 6:1-7:6.
Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 31, 5:27 p.m.
Page Four
VOL. LXVI, No. 21
Friday, January 31, 1975
Merited Acclaim for Dr. Haber
Acclaim for Dr. William Haber's 25-year
leadership of the American ORT Federation
not only by thousands of his admirers in this
country but also by world Jewish leaders was
testimony last week to the immensity of his
services to a great cause.
The recognition accorded him also ern-
braced appreciation of his many other affilia-
tions in major Jewish academic as well as
philanthropic causes.
His retention of the presidency of the
World ORT Federation adds to the assur-
ances that Dr. Haber could not nor does he
desire to limit continuity of his services. He
will merely be sharing his dedicaton to great
needs with others who had been prepared by
him to pursue the standards he had set for
noble tasks.
Dr. Haber had given especially impres-
sive service to ORT and to Israel's universi-
ties, and the honors accorded him there were
especially merited. Thus, Israel and Diaspora
pay due honor to a very eminent personality.
Population Freezing and Status Planning
World Jewish population figures compiled
by the editors of the 1975 American Jewish
Year Book reveal many interesting develop-
ing factors about communities everywhere.
The American figure is not as large as has
been estimated for several years. It is under
rather than over the anticipated 6 million
figure. Since accurate figures for as large a
community as American Jewry are difficult
to acquire under the most adequate circum-
stances, the disparity is understandable. But
it is equally reasonable to conclude that large
increases are not to be expected and that
there may be a freezing point on U.S. Jewish
population figures in the approaching years.
This is especially true about many other
Jewish groups, in Western Europe and else-
where, and only in Israel are increases assured
both through immigration and natural growth.
But even in Israel the normal growth is not
as large as had been hoped-for, and the num-
ber of births in the Arab population exceeds
the Jewish births enormously.
In many lands there are such drastic de-
clines in Jewish population figures that the
global numbers do not promise more than
sub-normal growth. It is inconceivable, for
example, that the Jews in Russia will remain
at the present figure for very long. Rapid in-
creases in intermarriages threaten the stabil-
ity of communities throughout Europe.
Had it not been for the Holocaust and the
demolition of the shtetl, the virtual extinction
of the Eastern European Jews, the Jewish
population figure worldwide would have been
far in excess of 30 million. The 6 million
dead, the vanishing Jewish institutions, the
tragedy of the Holocaust—the combination of
horrors added to the reduction of Jews to its
present low figure.
American Jewry's numerical status may
well be questioned. Even if it is to remain
frozen in its present role, the low birth rate,
the fertility decline, the possible reduction of
communities, may create unanticipated prob-
lems. Surely, the school systems are already
affected by the new conditions. Schools like
Detroit's are growing, smaller, the student
population having declined drastically. That
also affects the numerical strength of the
teaching staffs which may also suffer quali-
tatively.
There may be no remedies for such condi-
tions. But the facts and the truth of existing
conditions should not be overlooked. Commu-
nity planners should not be like ostriches with
heads in sand. Only when all of the circum-
stances affecting a people's position are taken
into consideration can proper planning for
wholesomeness be assured.
Outlaws of the Desert and Oiled Terrorism
Apparently even the most criminal are
able to blush. Else, why would the inspirer of
murders of children and defenseless women,
Yasir Arafat, disavow guilt for the recurring
brutalities at airports and elsewhere?
It is because they seek respectability, in
their quest for more power than even their
oil profits have given them, that responsibil-
ity for crimes like those at Orly Airport
have been denied. But the terrorism contin-
ues, the Arafats keep threatening Israel with
destruction, Jewish lives are valueless to
them, and in the process non-Jews have suf-
fered.
Israel's Ambassador Asher Ben-Natan
judged the Orly situation properly when he
admonished the French not to be misled by
new names for terrorist organizations. He
charged that they all stem from the same
hatred, and there is certainly no disputing
this accusation.
That the French government shotild be
blamed for what happened is not surprising.
It is not only the French pro-Arab policy but
its officialdom's enmities to Israel that have
contributed to ill will and that gives encour-
agement to terrorism.
4 ' 4 • i
.
Terrorists can not be expected to know
that "Out of Zion comes the Law .. because,
as outlaws from the desert, they are bent upon
destruction. Their paths are oiled and Western
civilization has one tough job to prevent the
greased wheels of barbarism from overrun-
ning civilized society.
Histadrut Campaign
After a lapse of more than a year, during
which the Labor Zionists adhered to a mora-
torium on fund-raising because of the emer-
gency that arose after the Yom Kippur War,
Histadrut campaigns are being resumed.
The drive in Detroit is part of an effort to
provide for needs to assist in continuing many
of that movement's social and health services.
Histadrut, as the influential agency that
serves the working elements in Israel, has
many continuing programs that need assist-
ance from supporters in this country. Israel's
needs are inseparable from the Histadrut ac-
tivities and the funds supplementary to the
United Jewish Appeal—to the Keren Hayesod
and other vital services—add immensely to
the encouragement Israel must be given In a
time of great need.
Scholarly Silberg Study Links
Talmudic Law With Modern
"Talmudic Law and the Modern State," a scholarly treatise by
Dr. Moshe Silberg which gained acclaim when it appeared in Hebrew
under the title "Kakh Darko shel Talmud," has been issued by
Burning Bush Press in a translation by Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser. The
book was edited by Rabbi Marvin S. Wiener.
"Talmudic Law and the Modern S'tate" is a brilliant exposition of
talmudic law from the perspective of its
inner dimension which enabled it to speak
to the human conscience and gain obedi-
ence without coercion. It offers an overview
of the Talmud as a whole and an analysis
of its modes of logic and forms of expres-
sion. Assessing especially the relevance of
talmudic law to the problems of the state
of Israel, it presents intriguing proposals
for the proper utilization of talmudic law
within the heterogeneity of Israel's growing
population.
This volume originated in a lecture se-
ries delivered by the author at the Hebrew
Dr. Silberg
University in Jerusalem. The lectures, and
the Hebrew volume which resulted from them, were followed with
great interest by the Israeli public. The English translation of this
volume now makes this material available to the English-speaking
world.
Dr. Moshe Silberg is former deputy president of the Supreme
Court of Israel and Professor Emeritus of Law of Personal Status
at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Internationally recognized as
an outstanding authority on Jewish and Israeli law, his writings. and
legal opinions enjoy a wide following. In 1958, Justice Silberg was the
recipient of the Bialik Prize and in 1964, the Israel Prize.
Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser is spiritual leader of the Forest Hills
Jewish Center (New York City) and editor of the Eternal Light radio
program. A prolific author, Dr. Bokser has taught at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, Queens College and the Hebrew
University.
Rabbi Marvin S. Wiener is director of the National Academy for
Adult Jewish Studies of the United Synagogue of America. He has
edited studies on various aspects of Judaica, among them the Jewish °-
Tract Series.
New Book on Freud, Followtk
Knopf has published "Freud and His Followers", the long-
awaited major study of Freud—viewed, for the first time, within the
context of his complex relations with the extraordinary men and
women who, as disciples or renegades, went on to build the founda-
tions of modern psychoanalytic theory.
Paul Roazen, widely acclaimed throughout this country and abroad
for his two previous books on Freud, "Brother Animal: The Story of
Freud and Tausk" and "Freud: Political and Social Thought" has,
in his new study, developed a rounded, many-sided portrait of Freud,
the man and the genius. Drawing on several hundred interviews with
more than 70 persons who knew Freud ("It was clear to me," says
Roazen, "that these witnesses of that revolution in the history of
ideas would not have many more years to live."), and using the
unreleased papers of his official biographer, Ernest Jones, Roazen
was able to gain an understanding of Freud—to come to know him—
beyond what the great man ever revealed in his books.