i
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issne
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 \V. Nine Mile, Suite st;5. Southfield, Mich. 1075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Suhs•ription $10 a year.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
Alan llitsky. News Editor . . . lleidi Press. kssistant
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the sixth day of Heshvan, 5736, the following scriptural selections wilt be read in onr synagognes:
Pentateuchal portion, Gen. 6:9-11:32. Prophetical portion, Isoirth
Candle lighting, Friday. Oct. 10, 6: tl p.m.
VOL. LXVIII, No. 5
Page Four
Friday. October 10, 1975
Security and Self Protection
Attempts on the life of President Gerald
Ford and the dangers that confront people in
public life from the escalated terroristic violence
that keeps marring the safety of American com-
munities justifiably creates concern over fu-
tures in the state of affairs affecting people in
the limelight. Prominent officials and visiting
diplomats have to be cautious and must be pro-
tected. Security has become a subject for serious
concern. But while it is provided those who are
in the public eye and inevitably attract the lime-
light, they are the targets of the insane who so
easily acquire guns and gain access to their in-
tended victims. Therefore, the officials must be
as cautious themselves as their protectors are
expected to exercise vigil for their safety.
There is no lack of madness and the de-
mented are always a menace to society. There
are also the normal dangers and social and polit-
ical threats as opponents create ever emerging
dangers. They are like the dangers on war
fronts, and in critical times the normally peace-
ful develop into war fronts.
Therefore, there is a lesson to be drawn
from a battlefront. The late Justice Felix Frank-
furter had a share in making one such incident
known. It involved President Abraham Lincoln,
during the Civil War, before the famous justice
was to gain fame on the U. S. Supreme Court.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, was a soldier in the
Union forces and protected the President from
Confederate bullets.
The incident was recorded in a never-to-be-
forgotten editorial in the New York Times, Jan.
31, 1938. The revealing editorial appeared under
the heading "An Extraordinary Anecdote" as
follows:
The late Justice Holmes used to take
flowers to Arlington every Sept. 13, anni-
versary of the birthday of Major Gen.
Sedgwick, commander of the division in
which Holmes's regiment, the Twentieth
Massachusetts, served. On several of
these visits Prof. Harold Laski went with
him and tried to elicit reminiscenses of the
war by asking elementary questions. Were
the gentlemen from the South ever dan-
gerously near Washington? How near?
Where were they?
From the heights of Arlington the jus-
tice waved his stick "towards the point of
attack on Fort Stevens." With a laugh he
said that the last person who had asked
him "Where are they?" was Mr. Lincoln.
The President was inspecting the defenses
and Holmes was his guide. Mr. Lincoln
stood up, monumentally tall, crowned
with a monumental stovepipe. The gentle-
men from the South began to shoot. The
young Federal officer instinctively pulled
him under cover. In his excitement he ad-
dressed him in the highly non-Beaconian
phrase: "Get down, you fool!"
If the young officer couldn't forgive
himself for the form in which his fear for
his companion's life clothed itself, the
President was characteristically tolerant
and humorous.
Just as Lincoln was quitting the fort,
he took the trouble to walk back. "Good-
bye, Colonel Holmes," he said. "I'm glad
to see you know how to talk to a civilian."
An extraordinary story, but was
Professor Laski's memory faithful? We
needn't repeat the easy verification, his-
torically and military, of Lincoln's visit to
the defenses. Laski was innocent of dates.
General Early's raid on Washington in
July, 1864, was clearly the occasion of the
anecdote.
Grant had sent the 19th Corps from
Louisiana and the Sixth Corps from the
seige of Richmond to the defense of Wash-
ington, which had been manned only by ci-
vilians or convalescent soldiers from the
hospitals. Lincoln visited the defenses and
had been warned not to expose himself to
fire. The book said that, but how did
Holmes get in charge of Mr. Lincoln?
Mr. Woollcott found the answer in a
biography of the justice. Afer his conva-
lescence from the wound he had received
at Chancellorsville, he did not rejoin the
20th but, marked for light duty and brev-
eted a lieutenant colonel by way of consola-
tion, was assigned instead as aide de camp
to Gen. Horatio Wright. That was in Jan-
uary, 1964. In May, Wright was put in
command of the Sixth Corps.
"So Holmes was A. D. C. to the gen-
eral commanding" the defenses at Wash-
ington. He was mustered out on July 17,
but Early's raid was done for by July 13.
To Mr. Woollcott it seems an "a priori
probability" that Holmes was on the para-
pets when Lincoln came and that it was
his duty as the commanding general's aide
to accompany the President on his rounds.
But what is the need of a priori prob-
ability? Mr. Wollcott told the story to
Justice Frankfurter, who said rather dis-
couragingly that he had heard it before.
From whom? "Why I heard it from Justice
Holmes."
Jewish Symbolism Fascinating
in the 'Works of Our Hands'
Mae Shafter Rockland is an expert in the art of needlework. Much
of her work is devoted to Jewish subjects, to the ceremonial and tradi
tional, and her Jewish knowledgeability adds immensely to the values
inherent in her impressive labors.
"The Works of Our Hands," her magnificent book on "Jewish Nee-
dlecraft for Today," issued as a paperback by Schocken Books, is both
guide for artists and needleworkers and textbook, and provides inter-
esting reading for the lay reader.
The nearly 200 illustra-
tions, many of them multi-co-
lored, attest to the excellence of
the artist's works and to the va-
riety of subjects covered with
marked authority.
The excellently written
book serves as an encourage-
ment to those who would join
in creative Jewish craftsman-
What a remarkable lesson in this anecdote: ship.
for men in public life, especially presidents, not
Replete with many Jewish
to depend altogether on the FBI and to be cau- traditional, secular and reli-
tious themselves; and in the process to retain a gious objects, the designs in
sense of humor with emphasis on strictest hu- Mrs. Rockland's already widely acclaimed collective efforts open a vast
man relations with fellow citizens of candor and field of activities for Jewish needleworkers and aspirants for crafts-
manship. Mrs. Rockland's skills are evident in the general as well as
undisputed honor.
the
themes and collectively are enriching for reader and stu-
President Ford is wise to pledge himself "to dent, Jewish
and those already expert in such works will find immense value
keep communications open" with the American in the tasks so splendidly achieved here.
people, and he is equally wise to pledge not to be
Mrs. Rockland's texts provide historical backgrounds in delineat-
foolhardy.
ing the symbolisms of the works she has touched up and outlined in
the illustrative supplements. The student is given guidance not only in
adhering to traditions but also in selection of fabrics, needles and
threads and in following prescribed techniques.
Chapters devoted to Pesah, in-
cluding all the passover symbols, the
synagogue, suggestions for Torah
designs, Parokhet and, the Huppa,
and ornaments for the Jewish home,
emphasize the immensity and near-
For the first time since the Arab-Israeli con- totality of a serious aim for the artis-
ference ( n the Island of Rhodes, under the supervi- tic.
sion of Ralph Bunche, in 1949, Jews and Arabs met
Mrs. Rockland is also expert in
for an accord. It was a half-way approach to amity the alphabetical and her letterings
and it does not spell peace. But it was a beginning are attractive. The concluding chap-
ter devoted to Hebrew lettering is in
of some activity related to better relations.
Regrettably, there are delays in completing itself an immense contribution to the
symbolized in "The Works of Our
the agreements that were reached under the guid- art
Hands."
ance of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.
The accompanying reproductions of two of the illustrations from
Confusion has set in over the proposal for Ameri- this book
add superbly to an appreciation of the creative labors of Mae
can technicians to participate in watchful capaci- Shafter Rockland.
Regrettable Delay
in Congress Action
ties in the Sinai buffer zone and in dispute over the
military and economic aid to be given by this coun-
try to Israel.
The fact is that American financial aid goes to
all nations in the Middle East, and the allocations
for Israel serve to provide strength for survival to
the endangered nation — Israel. Surely, peace is
worth the price suggested.
It is to be hoped that there will be no further
delays in Congressional action. It is the only
hope for an eventual peace.
Of Bread and Gold
A challenging interpretation of economic fact, fancy and folly in
American tradition is provided by "Wealth of the American People —
A History of American Affluence" by Oscar and Mary F. Handlin
(McGraw-Hill).
The reknown authors' topics run the gamut from industrial experi-
ments and the farm business to corporate enterprise and the failure
of the global economy. While this work deals with the historical devel-
opment of the American economy, it is not a conventional economic
history. It is rather a social history focusing upon the lives of the peo-
ple as affected by the productive system.