THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chrimicle commencing with the issue Qt . .Inly 20. 19:51

Member!kmerican Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association. National Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Hike, Suite 865. Southfield, 1ich. -18075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Suhscription $11) a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

Editor

Man Hitsk.. Nels.s Editor . . .

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the 23rd day of Elul, 5736, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:

Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 61:10-63:9.

Candle lighting, Friday, Sept. 17, 7:21 p.m.

VOL. LXX, No. 2

Page Four

Friday, September 17, 1976

Heartening Year-to-Year Transition

Jewish life through the centuries has
been marked by so many tragedies that a
traditional greeting on the New Year has
been in the form of "may the year with the
curses end and a year begin with blessings."
While it was a play on words because the
Hebrew- for begin and end sounds_the same
except for the spelling, and pronunciation,
the experience dictating such a wish was
based on tragedies and agonies.
This is a transitional year-to-year week
and, fortunately, the condition is better
than the experience of the ages.
The situation now is more hopeful than
the conditions warranted in the past. The
Arab threat is minimalized for the time be-
ing. The horror stemming from Lebanon
puts to shaMe the inhu- man elements.,
among those who would destroy Israel.
They can not cement friendships and social
decencies among themselves yet they would
harm a peaceful neighbor. Will they learn
the lesson taught in Lebanon? Perhaps the

panaceal time is merely delayed, but for the
present there is a modicum of peace.
Also: there - seems to be mobilization
against terrorism and in defense of human
decencies in many lands. Noted academi-
cians and honorable politicians who earn
the right to be called statesmen are to meet
soon to give battle to the anti-Zionist racist
charge. This, too, is for the good.
The anti-Semitic elements are never si-
lent, but it can not be said that they have
gained weight in civilized quarters. On the
agenda remains the verdict of a Pontiff
about "the sin of anti-Semitism." This
speaks well for humankind, even if it is tem-
porary.
And if all these things are temporary, at
least they affirm that for 5737 there is a
transitional blessing..

May it continue through the years so
that what is good as an offing for Jews
should prove a blessing for all mankind.

Community's Educational Processes

One more transitional aspect in com-
munal planning: the educational needs and
policies.
Actually, this is not a matter of transi-
tion, rather of the Hebraic Hemshekh, con-
tinuity.
And this calls for an ongoing process of
probing, of seeking for advancement and
improvement.
For some decades the Greater Detroit
Jewish school system rated very high in the
educational ranks of American Jewry. Both
in the. congregational and communal
schools the standards of teaching were
—high, yet the results were not boastful. Too
many of the children in the years after their
Bar Mitzva, perhaps the Bat Mitzva girls
should also be included, bemoaned the min-
imal attainments they were left with.
Maximal aims were always on the
agenda, and if the results are less than had
been hoped for then new approaches are
needed.
With lessening school enrollments, due
mainly to a drop in the birth rate, there is
even greater need today for stronger em-
phasis on concentrated educational prog-
rams. Fortunately, the emphases at present
point to greater solidity in school instruc-
tion and the demands that Bnai Mitva must
have a minimum of five years of Jewish

schooling is especially helpful in creating a
foundation for a knowledgeable generation.
Most effective is the progress that has
been made by the Day Schools. That's where
the youth get the type of training that as-
sures continuous study, several hours a
day, five days a week, without the reduc-
tions of recent years that have made the
afternoon schools only a bit more effective
than the earlier, unproductive Sunday
School.
Recognition of these facts is vital to all
advocates of priority for the Jewish school
in communal planning. This is what is at the
root of a search for continuity.
As the New Year 5737 approaches, pa-
rents must account for their interest in the
best form of Jewish education for their chil-
dren by giving their endorsement to the
maximum needs. Even more important,
however, is the urgency that the encour-
agement for proper Jewish educational pro-
cesses should be in the home and the -influ-
ence upon the community that finances the
schools, the teachers and the adminis-
trators should come from the home. A
strong home atmosphere and a firmness
from parents perpetuating the ideal Jewish
family spirit will do more to induce a deep
interest in the school by the children than
all else.

'NE •JEWRY

Illustrated -Haym Salomon
Biography Newly Documented

"Send for Haym Salomon!"
This is the title of a new book published by the Haym Salo-
mon Foundation and the Borden Publishing Co. of Alhambra,
Calif.
Actually, they are the words ascribed to the General of the
Army of the American Revolution, George Washington.
The revolutionary forces were in great difficulty. It was in
the year 1881. Washington's army was without means to carry
on the war against the British. Haym Salomon was the great
patriot who provided the wherewithal for the American revolu-
tionary forces to proceed with the task of creating a new nation.
Much has been written on the subject. Scores of books and
special articles describe the dedication of a newcomer from Po-
land who threw himself into the tasks of liberating this land
from the domination of the British. Yet the new book by Vic
Knight, Jr. appears as a distinct contribution to the amassed
biographical data about the Polish Jew who earned the title of a
financier of the Revolution.
The data accumulated for this splendidly illustrated work
offers a fascinating story that enriches the literature dealing
with the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.
Supplementing the thorough accounts of the Haym Salo-
mon saga are the scores of illustrations collected by Joseph
Henninger.
The photos themselves.and the numerous drawings would
fill a volume on Salomon. Like the text itself, they would be a
story of the Revolution and its heroes. Collectively this work, so
well researched, adds significantly to the story of heroism and
devotion to the nation that arose from the efforts of the Sons of
Liberty, who counted Salomon among its adherents, and the
libertarians and nation-builders.
Salomon's relationships with the pioneers, with Robert
Morris, with other fellow patriots, his arrest by the British are
part of history and in the Knight book the Polish Jewish immi-
grant is a strong link in the Revolution.
His private life, his marriage to Rachel Franks which gave
him an added link to a famous Jewish family of Colonial times —
all these recollections give added factors of eminence to a noted
figure in early American history.
The reproduced documents in a life story that is not easy to
reconstruct, because so many historical facts have been lost,
the inclusion among the photographs of the only one., in color,
that is on display in the home for the aged in Brooklyn, new data
never before used in Salomon biographies, combine to form a
work so valuable foi all Americans seeking facts about this
nation's formative years.

Insanity Inspired by Insanity

Hijacking was condoned in the interna-
tional organization misnamed United Na-
tions as a sport. Therefore, the ensuing hor-
rors that emerged from the original acts of
terrorisms and indecencies became a plague
upon mankind.
If the originators of the hijackings on
an international scale, the Arab bandits,
had been rebuked at the outset and the
American proposals to make terrorism a
crime had been adopted by the United Na-
tions, the insanities might have been pre-

vented. But the Soviets, the Third World
blocs and their cohorts refused to condemn
the brutalities. Now all suffer for it.
New proposals are pending in the UN
for, a Convention Against Terrorism. West
Germany is co-sponsoring it with the United
States. Only 18 nations presently are back-
ing it, providing a warning that it may not
be adopted. If there is no drastic action the
world can expect a continuation of the in-
sanities that were experienced from
LaGuardia Airfield last weekend.

1

In Heald Square on Wacker Drive in Chicago, stands a
larger-than-life statue portraying General George Washington,
Robert Morris and Haym Salomon. The grouping is intended to
honor the role that civilians played in supporting the successful
military effort.