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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Jewish Book Award Winners Listed

A Bicentennial Feature

Colonists Envisioned Many Links
With Independence and the Bible

By ALLEN A. WARSEN

These authors have received what is considered to be the highest recognition in
American Jewish literature — the National Jewish Book Awards presented by the
Jewish Book Council of the National Jewish Welfare Board. Shown are, from left, top
row: Shirley Milgrim, "Haym Solomon: Liberty's Son"; Dr. Solomon B. Freehof,
"Contemporary Reform Responsa"; Johanna Kaplan, "Other People's Lives"; Dr.
Raphael Patai and Jennifer Patai Wing, "The Myth of the Jewish Race";'bottom row,
Dr. Melvin I. Urofsky, "American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust",; M. Husid,.
"A Shotn Trogt Main Kroin" (A Shadow Bears My Crown"); Leyser Ran, "Yerush-
alayim de Lite" (Jerusalem of Lithuania"); Prof. Israel J. Kapstein and Rabbi Wil-
liam G. Braude, translation of "Pesikta de-Rab Kahana: R. Kahana's Compilation of
Discourses for Sabbaths and Festal Days."

*

*

NEW YORK — A special
award for Jewish anthology,
accompanied by a cash
prize, was presented to
Rabbi Philip Goodman, ex-
ecutive secretary of the Jew-
ish Book Council of JWB for
the past 32 years, on the oc-
casion of his forthcoming
retirement at the end of Au-
gust.
The presentation, a sur-
prise to Rabbi Goodman,
was made in recognition of
his cumulative efforts as the
anthologist of eight vol-
umes: "The Purim Anthol-
ogy," "The Passover Anthol-
ogy," "The Rosh Hashana
Anthology," "The Yom Kip-
pur Anthology," "The Suk-
kot-Simhat Torah Anthol-
ogy," "The Shavuot Anthol-
ogy," The Jewish Marriage
Anthology," which he co-
authored with his wife
Hanna, and "The Hanuka
Anthology," which will ap-
pear later this year. The
Jewish Publication Society
of America published the
anthologies.
The ceremony took place
at the Park Avenue Syn-
agogue, where the JWB
Jewish Book Council pre-
sented the 1976 National
Jewish Book Awards to au-
thors in the fields of Jewish
history, Jewish fiction, the
>caust, poetry, juvenile
ii.,:rature, Israel, Jewish
thought and translations of
Jewish classics. Each of the
awards was accompanied by
a cash prize.

Socialist Jews
I Urged to Be Loyal

,UCHAREST (JTA) —
Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen of
Romania in a Shabat ser-
mon at the Altnai Syn-
agogue in Prague stressed
that Jews in socialist coun-
tries need not abandon their
ethics and mitzvot while
being loyal to building the
new society.
He said this was one of
the meanings of "Alt-Nai"
(old-new). He said another
meaning is that Jews must
zenasim 'faithful to the To-
rah and our people."

Kaplan Award
Winners Listed

TEL AVIV — Maas Steel
Manufacture Ltd. will
shortly relocate in new en-
larged premises near Acre.
The new facilities will per-
mit this enterprise within
the Koor Metals Division to
expand its production line
and enter potential new ex-
port fields.

The recipients are:,Abra-
ham Goodman of Essex
Falls, N. J.; Max L. Kimer-
ling of Birmingham, Ala.;
Philip M. Klutznick of Chi-
cago, and (posthumously)
Reuben Isaacson of New
York City. The presentation
of the medal was made by
Rabbi Ira Eisenstein, presi-
dent of the Reconstruction-
ist Rabbinical College and of
the Jewish Reconstruction-
ist Foundation.

Goodman, Kimerling,
Klutznick and Isaacson
made possible in 1968 estab-
lishment of the Reconstruc-
tionist Rabbinical College
through their initial grants
to the endowment fund of
the institution. The College
has, at present, a student
body of 42 men and women.
Since its first graduation in
1973, 27 rabbis have received
their rabbinical degrees.
They now serve in congrega-
tions throughout the coun-
try, Hillel Foundations,
Jewish Community Centers,
and Jewish Federation
agencies.

France to Build
Boats for Libya

PARIS (JTA) — France
will build 10 fast missile-
carrying boats for Libya
similar to those sold to Is-
rael a few years ago and
known as "the Cherbourg
vessels." The Libyan vessels
will be armed with French
made sea-to-sea missiles
and anti-aircraft guns.

The American colonists
compared many of the dra-
matic events described in
the Bible to their own event-
ful experiences. Thus, they
identified the Pilgrims
crossing the Atlantic Ocean
with the Hebrews crossing
the Red Sea.
They likened the revolt
against King George III to
the revolt of the Northern
Israelite tribes against King
Rehoboam, son of Solomon.
They, moreover, likened
King George III to the
Egyptian Pharaoh.

The colonists found simi-
larities between Moses, the
redeemer of the Israelites,
and George Washington,
their own liberator.
Ezra Stiles, president of
Yale College, regarded the
United States as "God's
American Israel."
The inscription on the
Liberty Bell, "Proclaim lib-
erty throughout all the land,
unto all the inhabitants
thereof," was taken from
Lev. 25:10.

The belief that the Indi-
ans were the descendants of

Reconstructionists to Cite Founder

NEW YORK — Leaders
and members of the Recon-
structionist Movement will
go on a two week mission to
Israel July 12-16 in tribute
to Prof. Mordecai M. Ka-
plan, founder of the Recon-
structionist movement, who

Steel Firm Expands
Its Israel Facilities

NEW YORK — The first
Mordecai M. Kaplan Medal
was awarded last week to
four noted Jewish leaders at
the convention dinner-dance
of the Reconstructionist
Federation of Congrega-
tions and Havurot and Jew-
ish Reconstructionist Foun-
dation, in tribute to Prof.
Mordecai M. Kaplan's 95th
birthday, in Philadelphia.

MORDECAI KAPLAN

will be celebrating his 95th
birthday in Jerusalem.
The mission will be led by
Rabbi Ludwig Nadelmann,
the executive vice president
of the Jewish Reconstruc-
tionist Foundation, and will
include a program of cul-
tural and educational events
intended to establish dia-
logue between the leaders of
Reconstructionism and Is-
rael.
A highlight of the tour
will be a dinner at the Knes-
set in tribute to Kaplan on
his 95th birthday which will
be addressed, among others,
by Prof. Moshe Davis of the
Hebrew University. Minis-
ter of Tourism Moshe Kol
will be the sponsoi of the
event.

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June 11, 1976 21

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'Mt

the Ten Lost Tribes of Is-
rael, was generally accepted
by the colonists as true.
This explains, according to
some historians, William
Penn's cordial relations
with the Indians. Penn was
the proprietor and founder
of Pennsylvania.
Antoine de la Mothe Cad-
illac, founder of Detroit,
had "absolute" and "inc-
tontrovertible" proof that
the Indians were the chil-
dren of the Israelites, who
Sargon, King of Assyria,
exiled from their homeland
in 721 BCE.

The Second Continental
Congress that declared the
independence of the Amer-
ican colonists on July 4th,
1776 appointed a commit-
tee which consisted of
John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Jef-
ferson to design a seal for
the newly created country.
Benjamin Franklin pro-
posed that the seal's de-
sign represent Moses and
the Israelites crossing
safely the Red Sea and
Pharaoh and the Egyp-
tians drowning in it.
Thomas Jefferson, on the
other hand, proposed that
the seal's design represent
the Israelites led in the wil-
derness to freedom by a
cloud during the day and a
pillar of fire during the
night.
However, the design ap-
proved for the Great Seal of
the United States, seen on
the reverse side of a dollar
bill, shows a pyramid con-
sisting of 13 layers repre-
senting the 13 states.
In the center of the upper-
most layer is seen an eye
surrounded by a hale sym-
bolizing Jehovah. The lowest
layer contains the Roman
numerals MDCCLXXVI
(1776). The inscription above
the pyramid reads, Annuit
Coeptis (He has smiled on
our undertakings), and the
one below reads, Novus
Ordo Seclorum (a new cy-
cle of ages).
Some scholars trace the
colors of the American flag
to the Bible (Ex. 26:1, 31,
36). A.P. Stokes in
"Church and State in the
United States" (1950)
writes: "The flag may
trace its ancestry back to
Mt. Sinai whence the Lord
gave to Moses the Ten
Commandments and the
book of the Law, which
testify of God's will and
man's duty, and were de-
posited in the Ark of the
Covenant within the Ta-
bernacle whose curtains
were blue, purple, scarlet,
and fine twined linen.
"Before the Ark stood the
table of shewbreads, with
its cloth of blue, scarlet, and
white. These colors of the
Jewish Church were taken
over by the Western Church
for its own and given to all
the nations of Western Eu-
rope for their flags. When
the United States chose
their flag, it was of the col-
ors of old but new in ar-
rangement and design."

