56 Friday, June 27, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Elder Citizens Gain Productivity at ,JVS Workshop
- Opportunity has knocked a second time for senior citi-
zens participating in the Jewish Vocational Service and
Community Workshop Adult Services Program.
ASP is a free, self-help program which provides em-
ployment and educational and recreational activities to the
elderly.
Wayne County residents 60 years or older are currently
eligible for the new, non-sectarian program if their income
is no more than $3,600 (individual) of $5,000 (couple) per
year. Plans to expand ASP to Oakland County are under
study.
Sponsored by the Jewish Welfare Federation, the
Michigan Department of Social Services, and United
Community Service, the program was initiated last
September.
From left, Jewish Vocational Service and Commu-
nity Workship executive director Albert I. Ascher, JVS
and CW president Bruce E. Thal, and board members
Julian H. Scott and Dr. Milton Shiffman observed the
innovative Adult Services Program at a recent open
house. Attending the open house were metropolitan area
social service and Jewish agency representatives.
Arts and crafts activities, shopping trips and • movie
preSentations are features of the program's recreational
phase. The educational segment includes lectures on nutri-
tion, social security and Medicaid.
"Participation response to the program has been most
favorable," according to ASP supervisor Rhoda Radarman.
"Senior citizens are an able work force at the workshop and
enjoy all phases of the program, which also provides social
contact for many who were previously lonely and isolated."
Eligible workers receive a daily hot lunch provided
through the city of Detroit's "Food and Friendship" op-
eration whose basic costs are government-funded.
Ben4work, including packaging, collating, and in-
spection comprise much of the ASP work program for
senior citizens.
For information about the Adult Services Program,
call the JVS and CW office, 833-8100.
Historian Disputes U.S. Debt to Financier Haym Salomon
Disputing a story in The
Jewish News issue of May
30 about an alleged debt by
the United States to Haym
Salomon, Prof. Morris U.
Schnappes, adjunct profes-
. sor of history, Queens Col-
lege, City University of New
York, and a noted Jewish
historian, this week submit-
ted a statement to the Jew-
ish News.
The statement reads in
part:
It is not historians who
assert that the Federal Gov-
ernment owes over $350,000
as an unpaid Revolutionary
War debt to Haym Salo-
mon, as asserted in The
New York Times today
(May 25) by Richard Haitch
in "Follow-Up on the News.",
The Encyclopedia Ameri-
cana that he quotes (and the
Dictionary of American Bi-
ography and the Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia that he
could have quoted) is out-
dated by evidence that is
now more than 40 years old.
Myths die hard, but
leading American Jewish
historians like Lee Max
Friedman and Jacob
Rader Marcus, past presi-
dents of the American
Jewish Historical Society,
are among those who have
for decades rejected the
false claims of an unpaid
debt that were advanced
not by Haym Salomon
himself but by one of his
sons long after his father's
death.
So far back as 1931, the
historian Max Kohler, in a
brochure, "Haym Salomon
the Patriot Broker of the
Revolution, His Real.
Achievements and Their
Exaggeration," revolution-
ized the status of knowledge
about Haym Salomon and
for the first time put it upon
a historically documented
basis.
Kohler used the extensive
compilation of authentic
documents in the field by
the historian Samuel Op-
penheim and his assistants,
which he was prevented
from publishing by his
death. My own examination
of the Oppenheim papers at
the American Jewish His-
torical Society led me to
make additional investiga-
tions, which have in all
cases corroborated the con-
clusions of Kohler.
Kohler and Oppenheim
demonstrated first that Sal-
omon, although an ener-
getic, patriotic broker sell-
ing government securities,
did not himself lend money
to the government. Salomon
was not a banker, and never
wealthy. He was a commis-
sion-broker. In 1781 and
1782, in the last difficult
years of the Revolutionary
War, he sold about $200,000
worth of government securi-
ties, - taking less than the
usual broker's fees for this
valuable service. He was the
most successful of the bro-
kers who served the revolu-
tionary government.
It was Salomon's son,
Haym M. Salomon, that
pressed a claim for unpaid
debts, and by a series of
falsifications and misre-
presentations misled some
public officials to support
his claim for a time. These
misrepresentations are
fully analyzed by Kohler in
the aforementioned bro-
chure.
In the May 25 story, Sec-
retary of the Treasury Wil-
liam E. Simon is reported to
be ready to study the claim
of unpaid debts for Haym
Salomon and "research it
carefully." Mr. Simon need
not waste his time. The re-
search has been done.
UNRWA to Get
$2 Million in Aid
From Arab States
TEL AVIV — The Arab
states will provide only $2
million of the $125 million
total budgeted this year by
the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency, accord-
ing to news sources.
The agency, which admin-
isters the Palestinian refu-
gee camps in the Middle
East, will have to cut its
budget because of a $24
million deficit this year.
Sources noted that the
Arab states' refusal to pro-
vide more-funds derives
from their long-term deter-
mination to pass the respon-
sibility on to international
agencies, saying they perpe-
tuate "the injustice done in
granting recognition to Is-
rael."
Dr. Zeitlin's Studies in Early History of Judaism
Prof. Solomon Zeitlin, the
acknowledged leading au-
thority on the history of the
Second Commonwealth, has
authored many scores of
essays dealing with that
period and with early Jew-
ish history. His collected
writings serve as a guide for
teachers and students. For
background material on
that era one must turn to
him for guidance.
That is why the collected
works of Dr. Zeitlin's writ-
ings are of immense value
for historians of all faiths.
"Solomon Zeitlin's Stud-
ies in the Early History of
Judaism" are being pub-
lished by Ktav and the third
volume in the series has just
been issued.
Supplementing the
wealth of material in this
volume by the eminent
Dropsie University profes-
sor is a 50-page introduc-
tory essay which defines
many of the developments
covered here.
The vastness of the sub-
jects covered is indicated at.
the very outset, and in the
first essay on "Judaism as a
Religion" Dr. Zeitlin takes
into account the Diaspora,
the national aspects of the
early period of Jewish his-
tory, the emergence of the
Church, and as an added
aspect the topic relates to
modernity by the author's
discussion of "Modern Jew-
ish Nationalism and Anti-
Semitism."
The anti-Semitic,-prob-
lems are inevitably referred
to in many of the aspects re-
viewed in this volume. The
concluding essay is devoted
to the subject, but its dat-
ing, 1945, is incomplete,
especially in the compli-
ment it pays to Pope Pius
XII whose record of inter-
cession in defense of Jews
who were tortured by the
Nazis remains questionable.
"The Crucifixion of Je-
sus Re-Examined" is an
especially vital section,
Dr. Zeitlin's studies on the
subject being of the utmost
importance in dealing
with the beginnings of
Christianity. In these
chapters Dr. Zeitlin cov-
ered in great thoroughness
the role of Paul, and Paul-
ism gains clarification.
Essays on the Passover in
the Gospel - and one on "The
Last Supper as an Ordinary
Meal in the Fourth Gospel"
are additionally supplemen-
tary to the important dis-
cussion of early Christian-
ity.
"The Aramaic Gospel in
the Synagogue," scholarly
and exceedingly important
for the student of Judaism
and the emerging Christian
faith: will be found equally
intriguing by the lay reader
who is interested in reli-
gious aspects of early Juda-
ism.
Datings of Christian fac-
tors in religious develop-
ments and "The Duration of
Jesus' Ministry" are valua-
ble for the historical record
of the over-all subjects cov-
ered in the classic Zeitlin
essays.
"Prof. Toynbee says that
Judaism after the rejection
of Jesus 'retrieved as a mere
fossil.' By this he means
that Judaism became not
only static but sterile. This
statement clearly indicates
that Professor Toynbee not
only has no conception of
the history of the Jewish
people and Judaism, but he
was too prejudiced to inves-
tigate.
"Judas of Galilee and
Jesus of Nazareth" and
"Paul's" cover important
incidents in the early
Christian era.
"Are Judaism and Chris-
tianity Fossil Religions?" is
a challenging question
posed in one of the essays
and here Dr. Zeitlin pro-
vides an answer to Dr. Ar-
nold Toynbee's resort to the
term "fossil" in reference to
Jews. He declares:
SOLOMON ZEITLIN
"Certainly, Judaism dur-
ing the Second Common-
wealth was not sterile. The
Jews of that period pro-
duced a magnificent litera-
ture. Christianity, after all,
is a step-child of Judaism,
using Prof. Toynbee's
words.
"After the destruction of
the Second Temple and the
great cataclysm brought
about by Bar Kokba, the
Jews did not become ster-
ile. The halakot were codi-
fied and became known as
the Mishne. The Talmud
came into being; and in
many parts it is certainly
superior to any writings of
the Middle Ages. A school
of commentators on the Bi-
ble developed who are still
superior to the modern
commentators, Jews and
Christians.
"Great poets were pro-
duced by the Jews. A sys-
tem of theology was later
developed, to mention only
one that by Maimonides,
whose book, "The Guide for
the Perplexed,' exerted
great - influence on the
Christian theologians.
Thomas Aquinas who in
his lifetime was accepted by
the Dominicans as the
greatest authority in theol-
ogy, was influenced by Mai-
monides' theology and he
consulted the Guide fre-
quently.
"In the general develop-
ment of civilization the Jews
participated in every
branch. One cannot brand
as a fossil the religion of
such a people; the Jews can-
not be called a sterile peo-
ple.
"The Jews after the great
catastrophes which befell
them, the destruction of * 1
Second Temple and the
lapse of Bar Kokba, weie
forced to live among other
nations. They were perse-
cuted for their religion from
the time of Bar Kokba down
to the time of the emancipa-
tion. They were killed and
tortured, but they did not
renounce Judaism, either
under torture or under
temptation of promises for
a happy world here, and for
eternal life in a future
world. It is absurd to use
terms "fossil" and "sterile"
in connection with the Jew-
ish people and Judaism."