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 $05, Southfield, Mich. -18075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Business Manager

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Advertising Manager

Alan Ilitsky. News Editor . . . Heidi Press. Assistant News Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the 15th - day ollyar, 5736, the following scriptural seltions will be read in our synagogues:

Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 25:1-26:2. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 32:6-27.

Tuesday, Lag b'Omer
Candle lighting, Friday, May 14, 8:26 p.m.

OL. LXIX, No. 10

Page Four

Friday, Alay 14, 1976

Young Leadership to the Fore

Generosity in behalf of Israel and the na- fessional divisions and new, younger affiliates
tional and local causes included in the Allied are drafted into the Junior Division as replace-
Jewish Campaign has become such an estab- ments for those graduating for leadership in the
lished practice by the Greater Detroit Jewish overall community.
The Campaign that has just ended is a trib-
community that another triumph, such as is
being registered in the current drive, is not ute to the leadership of the Jewish Welfare Fed-
really a surprise. It is a re-affirmation of con- eration, the Campaign organization under the
cern by kinfolk that fellow Jews should be, pro- chairmanship of Dr. Leon Fill and Merle Harris
vided with the means of carrying on the educa- and their associates. They are carrying on tasks
tional, welfare and related social services on the which have been accepted as basic duties in com-
home front while striving to assure protection munal leadership. The links of the generations
for Israel's services in behalf of new settlers and in these dutiful tasks lend encouragement of an
in support of the cultural projects in the Jewish inevitable future progress and defy those who
are skeptical about youth's role in Jewish ranks.
state.
Having distributed the well-earned compli-
There is need, however, to indicate that the
uninterrupted successes of the fund-raising la- ments, there is the compelling necessity to em-
bors by a volunteer army of Campaign solicitors phasize that the rising leadership must be based
renews faith in the devotions of an important on a knowledge of the causes in which young
American Jewish community to the needs of and old become involved philanthropically. It is
young and old, those provided with proper not enough to be a good fundraiser. Much more
schooling, the aged, the elements who are pro- important is the obligation to educate the com-
vided with the social contacts and vocational munity, the participants in efforts to advance
guidance, all of which are vital to sA well func- Jewish causes. Ignorance of the objectives ne-
gates the ideals the campaigners seek to elevate.
tioning community.
Jewish life will be enhanced when a cam-
While the present Campaign emerges as a
financial success in providing means for support paign for funds is based on an understanding of
of some 50 vital Jewish causes, especially heart- the needs. Without knowledge philanthropy
ening is the evidence of genuine achievements in sinks into a coarseness that must be avoided.
The communal obligation is clear: the phi-
the role of the youth, many of whom are devel-
lanthropic needs must be met with honor; the
oping into important communal leadership.
At the closing meeting of Allied Jewish understanding of aims, based on historic les-
Campaign workers, the spokesman for the Jun- sons, makes such an honor dignified. The glorifi-
ior Division made a very interesting comment. cation of the basic ideals is dependent upon
He said that every year a group of affiliates in knowledgeability without which the spiritual-
the Junior Division is graduated into the adult cultural standards of Jewish identification are
community and the functioning trade and pro- distorted.

Many scores of photographs gathered by Abraham Shulman for
"The Old Country: the Lost World of East European Jews" not only
reconstruct the shtetl but provide an imperishable documentary that
serves to retain the memory of lost generations.
First published by Charles Scribner's Sons as a hard cover book
in 1973, the publishers now make it available as a large paperback and
provide a new market for a truly great work.
The volume revives interest in the shtetl, in the life of Jews of pre-
Hitler times, in the Jewish communities of Russia, Poland, Lithuania
and Romania. The carnage of the Nazis destroyed those lives and their ,
homes which served many purposes. By means of photographs the
-reader and the concerned in Jewish historical developments see the
many characters who were so immensely creative before their exist-
ence was snuffed out by the barbarians.
Here one sees the Jew as spiritual master of an historic legacy, as
worker, as merchant — as man of learning and as struggler for exist-
ence. Seen here are the mothers and the children, the old and the
young, in all aspects of life.
Deserved tribute to the collector of these photos is contained in a
preface by Isaac Bashevis Singer, who expresses appreciation for a
great labor of love. The author himself defines the various sections in
the book with affection. Shulman also has written a comprehensive
essay to define his labors. In that lengthy chapter, in which the shtetl
and its people are a source of pride Shulman declares in part:
"Those who denigrate the shtetl as archaic commit the error of
The guilt of the Arabs and their cohorts as-
applying the standards of today to the times of yesteryear, standards
sumed immoral proportions, especially in the ef-
of industrial and material societies to a society which ignored material
forts that were made, and continue to be ex-
values, cherishing those of the spirit. For how can we even try to share
erted, to-politicize business in the same fashion
the beliefs of those to whom belief was the foundation of existence?
that science and education were politicized in
"It often seems that the life style of the shtetl was of such unique-
UNESCO ranks by the Arab-Soviet bloc that
ness that it was made up of hieroglyphics accessible only to those
dominates the United Nations and many of its
initiated in the art of decoding. But this is hardly true. The most Jew-
agencies.
ish of all the Jewish writers, Sholom Aleichem, was completely en-
Why should it have been necessary for re-
gulfed in the shtetl's life. All of his characters are drawn from the
sponsible economists to assert that rejection of
shtetl, its traditions, customs, conventions, idioms, gestures, and su-
the Arab boycott would not hurt the American
perstitions.
economy? Isn't this a moral issue?
"Accordingly, he should remain inaccessible to anybody who 1,
An apparent change in the attitude of the
not been totally familiar with this jungle of symbols. Yet the works of
Sholom Aleichem have been translated into languages not only geo-
Department of Commerce may be due to indica-
graphically close to the shtetl, Russian, Polish, French, German, and
tions provided by Secretary of Commerce Elliott
English, but also translated, read, and loved by readers as far away. —
Richardson that the previous restrictions on
China. 'Fiddler on the Roof,' drawn from his central work `Tevye
publicizing the names of offenders, those who
Dairyman,'
was played before Catholic nuns in New York, Hindus in
condone the hate-inspired boycott, may be res-
London, and Japanese in Tokyo. Black kids from a high school in
cinded in order for the offenders to receive full-
Brooklyn played with wonderful affinity the characters of Tevye,
est notoriety.
Golda, and Chava; their parents laughed and cried along with the in-
Under any circumstances, the battle
habitants of the Yiddish shtetl of Anatevka who became dear to the
against the demoralization of American princi-
hearts of audiences around the world.
ples of free and untrammelled trade and opposi-
"Despite their social differences, the inhabitants of the shtetl
tion to the immorality of a boycott must be
were all 'little people,' kleine menschelech. This was the title of the
first novel of Mendele Moycher Seforim, and it is no accident that this
fought to a finish.
novel has been accepted as the foundation of modern Yiddish litera-
The pity is that it takes time and extra en-
ture. It also explains, perhaps, why these 'little people' have such an
ergy to assure adherence to the basic American
appeal to the people of the wide world.
policies of non-discrimination. The responsible
"On all its tortuous stages, life in the shtetl went through a cav-
government officials who delayed action against
alcade of changes: from a total obedience to God, to mysticism and
Hasidism, to Haskala or Zionism or Socialism or Communism or An-
the boycott were tools in the hands of bigots.
archism. These changes were not genetic mutations but part of an
Their hands are being freed for rejection of pre-
evolution."
judices in the free trade market.

Immorality of the Boycott

The Arab boycott of Israel commenced
more than 20 years ago and as long as it was
aimed primarily at Israeli products and at Jew-
ish firms doing business with Israel it did not
draw protests on a more extensive basis. When
the boycotters compiled a list of many hundreds
of American firms, many of whom had not even
been involved in trade relations with Israel, as
targets of their venom, the issue became an
American involvement demanding a firm stand
against penalization of firms doing normal busi-
ness with Israelis, some with very remote con-
tacts with Israelis.

'Juggernaut' Politics:
Liberalism on Trial

Michigan may be the testing ground for lib-
eralism in America at Tuesday's primary elec-
tion.
The "Juggernaut" has already pushed a con-
servative Democrat into the lead, and in both the
Republican and Democratic ranks conservatism
is beginning to border on reactionarism.
Can Michigan turn the tide in its primary?
The nation will be watching, and this state,
which resisted Richard Nixon in 1968, could well
prove to be an assurance to progressivism that
"Juggernauts" may be damaging to American
idealism and provide a freer road to an open
road for liberal politics,

'The Old Country' Recasts
the Shtetl Photographically