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.