56

January 16, 1976

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Christian Scholar Chastizes Papal Enmity

By Carl Hermann Voss

Editor's note: The Rev.
Dr. Voss is professor of
humanities and chairman
of the humanities division
at Edward Waters College,
Jacksonville, Fla., a fre-
quent lecturer on the Mid-
dle East and a member of
Christians Concerned for
Israel.
Recently Pope Paul VI
took occasion to condemn
the Israelis for retaliatory
raids on Palestinian refu-
gees in Lebanon whose
camps have for years har-
bored members of the Pales-
tine Liberation Organiza-
tion and allied splinter
groups who carry out depre-
dations across the border in
nearby Israel.
Then the Pope repeated
his reproach some weeks
later when he appealed to
the Israelis to "recognize the
rights and the legitimate as-
pirations -of the Palestini-
ans," the very people
whence spring these violent
acts against the Jewish
state.
What an anomaly it is to
have the Papal See repri-
mand the Israelis for de-
fending themselves and
then ask them to be consi-
derate of their adversaries
who encourage the PLO and
its allies in terrorist attacks
upon Israeli kibutzim and
cities! At no time has any
appeal come from the Vati-
can demanding that the
Arab terrorists cease their
wanton violence against Is-
raeli innocents, expecially
women and children.
Yet this contradiction is
'nothing new, for on no oc-
casion in the 1930s and
1940s were the Nazis re-
buked by the Pope for their
avowed, unashamed cam-
paign to exterminate both
Jewry and Judaism.
Pope Pius XI was about to
issue an anti-Nazi edict in
the late 1930s but he died on
the eve of that announce-
ment, and thus the Vatican
was-silent. .
His successor, Pius XII,
was notoriously quiet dur-
ing the days of the Holo-
caust. He failed to respond
to Konrad Preysing, the
Roman Catholic Bishop of
Berlin during World WarII,
when Preysing begged the
Pope to protest the Nazis'
deportations and extermi-
nation of Jews and to make
"an appeal for these unfor-
tunates:"
But the Pope said nothing
and did nothing, save to
admit to Preysing: "Un-
fortunately, we cannot give

-

DR. CARL VOSS

them more efficacious help
than our prayer." To the end
of the war no special state-
ment about the /Jews was
ever made by the Vatican.
In 1948, Pius XII did not
welcome the third Jewish
commonwealth and its es-
tablishment by the United
Nations, when Israel be-
came a haven of refuge for
the hundreds of thousands
of homeless Jews whom no
other nation on earth
would accept.
The only saving grace
about Pope Paul's recent
statement was his willing-
ness to admit, at long last,
that Israel does have a right
to exist:
We are well aware
of the tragedies not so long
ago which have compelled
the Jewish people to seek a
secure and protected garri-
son in a sovereign state of
their own."
The Pope seeks to equate
the problems of "another
people which has suffered
for a long time, the people of
Palestine," with those of the
Jews.
He forgets that these
"sufferings" are not the
same, but are in fact the
result of aggression by the
Arab nations in 1948 and
the following quarter cen-
tury.
He neglects to note that
this situation was exacer-
bated by the refusal of
Arab governments to as-
sume responsibility for
their own people whose
plight they created by in-
vading Israel immediately
after the Nov. 1947 resolu-
tion of the United Nations
which was to partition
Palestine into a Jewish
state and an Arab state.
He obviously overlooked
the fact that Israel has ac-
cepted 850,000 Jewish refu-
gees who fled from Arab
lands to the Jewish national
homeland but came in pov-
erty, without any compen-
sation for their goods,

" .

.

homes and lands which
were expropriated by the
Arabs.
He apparently overlooked
the fact that 20 Arab na-
tions could accept these Pa-
lestinians and have them
quickly adjusted — socially,
economicly, culturally and
linguisticly — in vast terri-
tories that are underpopu-
lated and.undeveloped.
Pope Paul VI would do
well to circularize the
prayer written by his prede-
cessor, Pope John XXII, just
before he died in 1963. John
XXIII had written, but
failed to live long enough to
promulgate, this poignant
prayer:
We are conscious today,
0 God, that many centu-

ries of blindness have
cloaked our eyes so that
we can no longer either
see the beauty of Thy
Chosen People or recog-
nize in their faces the
features of our privi-
leged brethren.
We realize that the mark
of Cain stands upon our
foreheads. Across the
centuries our brother
Abel has lain in the
blood which we drew or
shed the tears we caused
by forgetting Thy Love.
Forgive us for the curse
we falsely attached to
their name as Jews. For-
give us for crucifying
Thee a second time in
their flesh. For we knew
not what we did . . .

A Bicentennial feature

Salomon Rafeld Asks to Wed
in 18th Century Philadelphia

By JACOB MARCUS

American Jewish Archives

Once a young couple and
their parents had come to
an understanding and the
dowry was fixed, they were
ready to be married. In a
number of early American
synagogues, the contracting
parties had to secure the
permission of the synagogal
heads before the minister,
the hazzan or cantor, would
be authorized to perform
the ceremony.
The purpose of such a reg-
e-DT'Q,,, ulation was to
fortify Jewish
Y a
tradition
against
breaches like intermarriage
or a match betWeen a Jew-
ish "priest," a "Cohen," and
a Jewish woman who was a
divorcee or who had led an
immoral life.
In almost all cases, per-
mission was automatically
granted.
In 1788, Salomon Raf-
feld (Raphael) requested
the leaders of the Philadel-
phia congregation to au-
thorize Hazzan Cohen to
officiate at his marriage to
a daughter of Barnard
Jacobs, the well-known
businessman and mohel
(circumciser).
Raphael was at one time
or another a peddler, aucti-
oneer, shopkeeper, and cof-
feehouse owner in Balti-
more, Philadelphia, and
Richmond.
In the latter city, where
he lived for many years, he
achieved some success and
was able to afford a maid in

.

his home. Unfortunately, he
had "stolen" the servant
from her former master, a
fellow-member of the syn-
agogue, and he was com-
pelled by the court to sur-
render her. (Congregations
have been disrupted for les-
ser "crimes.")
Ten years later he was
haled into court because he
had failed to appear as a
witness in a suit against
some friends of his charged
with gambling. His friends
were solid and very success-
ful Jewish citizens who had
been caught betting at faro
in the Eagle Tavern.
* * *

To the honorable, the presi-
dent and the gentlemen [of
the] junta [board]:
Whereas I have promised
myself in matrimony with
one [a] girl, the daughter of
Mr. Barent Jacob, in the
Northern Liberties [section] in
Philadelphia, I would be very
happy if your honorable body
would order Mr. Jacob
Cohen, as hazzan at the con-
gregation of Mikveh Israel, to
give me huppa and kiddushin
[a legal and ritually proper
Jewish marriage ] against
[next] Tuesday.
Therefore, gentlemen, I
pray one [an] answer from
you gentlemen tomorrow, the
12th day of Tishri at eleven
o'clock and, by so doing, your
petitioner will ever pray.
From your humble servant,
Salomon Raffeld
To Mr. Levy Phillips, Presi-
dent of the Holy Congrega-
tion Mikveh Israel. Philadel-
phia, Sunday, 1 1 th day of
Tishri, 5549 [Oct. 13, 1788].

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me'

Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)

BICENTENNIAL REFLECTIONS: New York Jewry
started the Bicentennial celebrations of the American Revo-
lution withs'aff' imposing three-day program last weekend
reflecting the Jewish cultural contributions to America and
the American contribution to Jewish life.
The program, in which leading American Jewish pc
sonalities from the world of culture took part — some
them Pulitzer Prize winners and Academy Award winners
— was the first expression of the participation of the Amer-
ican Jewish community in the Bicentennial. It was ar-
ranged by the National Jewish Welfare Board on behalf of
its constituent Jewish centers.
Jewish community centers, now affiliated with the
JWB, have their roots in literary and cultural societies
which existed more than 100 years ago. Reading rooms were
their first facilities. They expanded later when the Young
Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association movement
and the Settlement House movement started programs for
the Americanization of immigrants. The JWB, as a national
service agency, defined its objectives in terms of "Jewish
cultural survival"; it has stated that one of the primary
functions of Jewish centers is to serve as agencies of Jewish
identification. These objectives were reinforced by s survey
of the JWB and the community centers conducted by Prof.
Oscar Janowsky some 30 years ago.
ONLY YESTERDAY: Many persons prominent in
the field of American culture got their start in the Jewish
community centers which now serve more than 1,000,000
people.
Perhaps the most famous Jewish center is the Educa-
tional Alliance on New York's Lower East Broadway. It was
founded in the early years of Jewish mass immigration and
is still functioning today.
Among the Educational Alliance's alumni was the late
David Sarnoff; the immigrant youngster learned his En-
glish there. He later became the head of the Radio Corpora-
tion of American and put the U.S. communication industry
on the map throughout the world.
Others in the Educational Alliance alumni include the
composer George Gershwin, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel,
Zero Mostel, Alan King and quite a number of stage and
screen personalities. Among the painters and sculptors are
Moses Soyer, Ben Shahn, Jacob Epstein, Joe Davidson and
others who became internationally famous. Emma Laza-
rus, the great poet whose poem dedicated to immigrants
became a classic in American literature and is enshrined on
the Statue of Liberty taught English to immigrant Jewish
girls at the Educational Alliance.
Irving Berlin, the Marx Brothers, Billy Rose, Sam
Levnson, are among the alumni of another great Jewish
center in New York — the YM-YWHA on 92nd St. which is
still coducting cultural Jewish programs in English, Yid-
dish and Hebrew, in addition to recreational programs.
Dore Shary, the motion picture director and Academy
Award winner, was chairman of the three-day event which
included seminars on Jewish literature, music, pupular arts
and fine arts and a festival of the arts, attended by celebri-
ties from all fields of culture.
JEWISH CONTRIBUTIONS: The National Jewish
Welfare Board was the first national Jewish body to usher
in the Jewish participation in the Bicentennial celebrations.
This will be a year of Jewish concentration to bring
out to the American people the major contributions which
American Jews have made to the country not only in the
field of culture but also in all other fields — science, inven-
tions, commerce, industry and to American life in general
since the American Revolution 200 years ago.
Jews benefited much from America and the American
people have in turn benefited from them. This is what Jew-_
ish organizations will bring out during the Bicentennial
lebrations they will hold individually as well as jointly wi
other parts of the population.

Purely Commentary: Background of a Zionist Ideological Controversy

(Continued from Page 2)
, A welcoming of an Al Het might not be
total absolution. This writer's thick file
stamped Lazaron contains so much that in-
dicts a position of anti-Zionism that recollec-
tions are painful. For example there is this
piece from the Australian Jewish Herald,
April 16, 194:3:

jected to political Zionism because "It is a re-
jection of democracy." His address was an-
other shot in the campaign to undermine
Zionism in the United States.

"I object to political Zionism," he said,
"because it goes beyond the Balfour Declara-
tion in demanding (a) a Jewish army; (b) un-
limited Jewish immigration into Palestine,
with a Jewish commonwealth and Jewish
RABBI CALLS
control there. I object to political Zionism be-
ZIONISM
cause it violates the Atlantic Charter.
TERRORISTIC
"I object to political Zionism for the rea-
Rabbi Morris S. Lazaron, one of the son that — in one of the United Nations'
leaders of the anti-Zionist American Council most delicate moments, when the fate of
for Judaism said in an address that he ob- millions of persons other than Jews is at

stake — political Zionism loudly demands
Palestine for the Jews, without considera-
tion of possible disturbance of the United
Nations' situation in relation to 17,000,000
Arabs.
"I object to political Zionism because
terrorism and pressure are used by some of
its advocates against individual non-Zionist
rabbis as well as upon various Jewish com-
munities and welfare boards. I object to pol-
itical Zionism because its philosophy tends
to separate Jews from other Americans and
tends to delay our integration into the Amer-
ican way of life.
"I object to political Zionism because
some of its leaders are exploiting other fel-

low-Jews. We could come to an agreement
with moderates among Zionists on a basis
that really would do more for Palestine."
The Lazaron attitude did not go unchal-
lenged. Stephen S. Wise was embittered and
his repudiations, a notable one among them
in this writer's file, were especially harsh.
Bygones are bygones and Jewish ethics
teach us to accept a penitent in saintliness. A
present-day Lazaron who affirms the loyal-
ties in Jewish life, with one of his parishion-
ers (Chuck Hoffberger) in such a leading na-
tional position offers comfort in forgiveness
and in a welcome back to the ranks of jus-
tice for the Jew, for Israel and for Zionism.

