4 Friday, February 3, 1918 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 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 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $12 a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager ALAN HITSKY, News Editor...HEIDI PRESS, Assistant News Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 27th day of Shevat, 5738, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 21:1-24:18. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 34:8-22; 33:25, 26. Monday and Tuesday, Rosh Hodesh Adar 1, Numbers 28:1-15 Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 3, 5:31 p.m. VOL. LXXII, No. 22 Page Four Friday, February 3, 1978 Democracy Newly Menaced 11W 1 11111111111=1111111111111 111111111 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 11111111 The Lunatics on the Front Pages A measure of panic has invaded some com- munities over the notoriety gained by the luna- tic fringe. Having gained space on the front pages of newspapers, granted freedom to spread their venom on radio and television, an emerg- ing Nazi element is making use of every oppor- tunity to revive the spirit of Hitlerism. They have gained freedom and openly avow that they would deny just rights to others. Theirs is a freedom to deny freedom to others, and in the ranks of these others are many — not Jews alone, but Blacks and liberals — where it serves their purpose they also introduce religious hat- reds. Is it any wonder that survivors from Nazism should be demanding that the rights of such haters be curbed and that they should be denied the platforms from which they spew their hat- reds? There is an aggravation affecting the entire issue not to be ignored under any circum- stances. It is not enough to assert that just be- cause the revived Nazi movement represents a tiny minority the issues it creates are either to be ignored or to be treated with indifference. Nor is the fact that the protests are primarily inciting the survivors from Nazism to be treated as if it were an emotional matter. The emphasis that was given to a pro-Nazi program by a pub- lic service television station in this community is sufficient reason for concern and for increased vigilance. The issue is too serious to be ignored. An important study of the spread of Nazi ideologies in this country was made for the American Jewish Committee by Milton Ellerin. In a summation of important research the author of that study wrote: In a' moment of unusual candor, one Nazi publication's editorial (January 1977) lamented: "One of the most notable features of the National Socialist movement in America has been its lack of success . . . The supporters we do have in- clude all manner of dead beats, police informers, regalia freaks, dilettantes and dabblers, right wing kooks, religious nuts, anarchists and nihilists." John Toland, Pulitzer Prize winning author who spent 20 years researching Nazi Germany, recently observed that American neo-Nazis are nothing more than "motorcycle bums wearing swastikas. They are non-achievers and big mouths who have trouble getting girls." They are, he said "fakers and haven't the slightest idea of what National Socialism really is." Given the discord, hatreds and petty jealousies of the various Nazi leaders, their total lack of political acumen, an estimated active membership (for all factions) of no more than 1,500-2,000, absent any program with mass ap- peal, why the anxieties of Jews and many other Americans? Because of past experiences, naturalized Americans who survived the Holocaust under- standably overrate the danger. They are often unable to believe that "it can't happen here"; that America today,and in the foreseeable future does not and will not bear any resemblance to the chaos of the Weimar Republic in which the Nazi movement germinated. However, Ameri- can Jews cannot ignore or look with equanimity on a movement which reviles them and exhorts its followers to assay another attempt at a "final solution." It must also be borne in mind that while Nazism in America is important, the poison it has released into. America's bloodstream has had some harmful consequences. Within the year, synagogue windows were smashed in San Francisco, and a half-crazed subscriber to Nazi periodicals went on a rampage in New Rochelle, N.Y., killing five innocent victims before turning the gun on himself. A self-admitted Chicago Nazi wantonly murdered a Jewish citizen of that city by forcing him to inhale cyanide and then com- mitted suicide by the same method. The sub- sequent police investigation of the sordid affair uncovered a cache of poison and ammunition and a list of prominent Chicago Jews marked for. assassination. In Charlotte, North Carolina . a young man wearing a swastika armband shot up a church gathering, killing two persons, and Jews in various cities have received anonymous, threatening phone calls. Rockwell and Tomassi have been assassi- nated by disgruntled Nazis. The National Liber- ation Front is avowedly dedicated to acts of vio- lence. In a letter received in New York on July 8, 1977, John Duffy, national organizer for that group, wrote that "the only way that we can ever hope to contest the Jew terror grip on America and ergo the White Race is through superior terror and violence . . . we of the NSLF not only condone violence but encourage and participate in striking blows against Jew power." The National Socialist Movement's Robert Brannen, in a Cincinnati Post interview of July 6, 1977 boasted that in seeking recruits, he looks for people who will commit violence, and that a branch of his organization consists of trained assassins. Shortly after the looting that occurred during the July power failure in New York City, the National Socialist White Peoples Party, in a dial-a-telephone recorded message, offered a $200 reward to any white man or woman who killed a looter. The danger of American Nazism then is not that it has the capacity to engulf Americans or capture our government and its institutions. Rather, the concern is and should be with its harmful effects on emotionally unstable or zeal- ous adherents who act on the built-up hatreds it inspires. That is a danger for all Americans to think about. IiiiiiiiiiilliiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiii111161101111iii illw,11(1,40 .-- 3 MOM . ___EIT .. ...________ ,_ ,......,... ,- ____ ....is...!...- ■ Ktav-published Essays `Serving the Jewish Family' AnalyzesCommunalProblems Contemporary needs for strengthening Jewish family life and, inter alia, the Jewish community, and definitive reviews of Jewish experiences in the synagogue and the community, are authoritatively analyzed in a series of essays included in "Serving the Jewish Family" (Ktav), edited by Gerald D. Bubis. The editor, who is the author of several of the essays in this volume, is director of the School of Jewish Communal Service and is professor of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Insti- tute of Religion. Noted scholars, rabbis and laymen are included in the list of au- thors of the major articles in this volume. Exemplary is Dr. Bubis' essay dealing with "Intermarriage, the Rabbis and the Jewish Community," in dictating at once that one of the chief concerns in Jewish life at this time receives emphasis and consideration in a volume concerned with guiding the communal spirit towards increased indoctrinations and commitments to Jewish values. Other essays by Dr. Bubis are "Facing New Times: A Response to Changing Needs" and "The Jewish Community Center's Responsibil- ity for the Needs of the Jewish Family." An essay by Prof. Victor Sanue of City University of New York on the subject "The Contemporary Jewish Family: A Review of the Social Science Literature," opens the many discussions to which this volume is dedicated. Among the issues discussed are matters devoted to the Family, the Synagogue, Centers and Camps, Family Service and an outreach into related concerns. Of course, there is an emotionalism that is inevitable. It exists because the numerals on the arms of survivors serve as flashing evidence of what had occurred and what is not to be for- gotten. Authors participating in this work include Marvin Bienstocl- - Charlotte, N. C., Federation .director: Barbara Braub, a leader in th Havura movement; Solomon Brownstein, New York social worker t Felicia Carmelly, Toronto social worker; Rabbi Edwain H. Friedman, Bethesda, Md.; Prof. Alex Gitterman of Columbia University; Pauline D. Goldberg, Baltimore social worker: Rabbi Erwin L. Her- man, Los Angeles; Alen Henkin, rabbinic student; the late Theodore R. Isenstadt, Los Angeles Family Service; Fern Katleman, of the Council of Jewish Federations; Rabbi Norman Lamm, Yeshiva Uni- versity; Rabbi Benjamin J. Leinow, Los Angeles: Joanne Leinow, Los Angeles; Marcia W. Levine, Cleveland social worker; Michael Mayers Mayershon, rabbinic student; Rabbi Donald Peterman, HUC-JIR: Bernard Resiman, Brandeis University': Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Encino, Calif.; Dr. Manheim Shapiro, Orange, N.J.; 'Ruth Silver, Canoga, Calif., social worker; Alezah Weinberg, Cleveland social worker. The existence of even a fractional group of Nazis demands the sort of action that will defy silence. Should the Nazis predominate in ex- pressing their views, while fanning hatreds, in the process of their having been granted the freedom that enables them to deny that very freedom to others? Silence is objectionable. Parental dilemmas, synagogue structures, the Havurot, intermar- rhge, designing Jewish Center programs and a score of other chal- lenging subjects are under scrutiny by these authors, each having devoted accumulated knowledge and experience towards providing guidelines for personal, family or communal living. The timeliness of this book is emphasized in the subjects discussed and in the knowl- edgeahility of the authors.