1r 26 Friday, December 1, 1918 THE DETROIT JEWISH-NEWS Wine, Kahane Debate Judaism LORDS LADS s o.cw" 01) 0.'0G" CLOTHIERS LTD. coo- Need Money Sale! DUE TO UNUSUAL WEATHER WE ARE NOW CASH & CARRY SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! 40%-50%-60%-10% Entire Inventory OUR NEW LOW POLICY IS LOW OVERHEAD AND SAVINGS TO OUR CUSTOMERS Celebrate Holiday Shopping Early Lords and Lads Clothiers, Ltd. 4341 Orchard Lake Road West Bloomfield, Michigan (in the Pine Lake Mall) Hours: Mon., Thurs., Fri.10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tues., Wed., Sat.10 a.m.-6 p.m. 851-7370 All Major Credit Cards nothing' from history? By ALAN HITSKY More than 600 persons After the Holocaust a be- packed the Birmingham lief in God made people Temple Monday evening to Jewish. Humanism is a hear a debate on the future joke, a passing fad. of Judaism between Rabbi Would it have kept Meir Kahane, founder of the people Jewish after the Jewish Defense League, Holocaust? Jewish and Rabbi Sherwin, Wine, ignorance gives birth to founder of Humanistic such places. If you only Judaism and the Birming- knew what we once had, and our parents and ham Temple. Rabbi Kahane defended grandparents threW it true Orthodoxy, based on away. Pick up a Jewish book. "the only thing that makeS Judaism unique in the Study the Bible and practice world: the Torah." Rabbi it — real, honest, difficult Wine advocated humanism, Judaism. Find a rabbi with a striving for a higher, more blood in his veins, not ice universal man based on sci- water; one who believes. ence and intellectualism_ You can not fool children from any source, but with - with hypocrisy and fraud. The youngsters in Israel nostalgic ties to Judaism. The following are ex- with the kipot and Uzi (submachine gun), the cerpts of the debate: RABBI KAHANE: settlers, are the wave of the There is a spiritual future. Not this (the, Bir- holocaust on every campus, mingham Temple). We have in the synagogues, in every to be Jews in the ethics and city. There is a destruction morals of Judaism that kept of the young Jews — they— us alive to this day. are Jews for Arafat, Jews RABBI WINE: I admire for everything, but really Rabbi Kahane's integrity. Jews for nothing. We must He is an articulate spokes- look at the people who made man for traditional them so. Judaism. I agree with him Jewish that Judaism today is American youngsters, for the most fraudulent and pretext. part, could not give a The old rabbis, the damn about being a Jew. non-scientific rabbis on There is nothing Jewish Twelfth St., could teach in their lives until their you for 18 years and you parents begin to worry would learn nothing. The about intermarriage. Bible is much more in- Then comes the question, teresting from the scien- "Tell me why I should be tific point of view than Jewish?" ' from the traditional. The But the parenti'Aidaism traditional rabbis know is the Judaism of nostalgia the right documents that — they remember the Sab- were used to 'compile the bath of their youth, the can- Bible .but they know the dles, the chdlent, They can't - wrong commentaries. answer the question, so they Rabbi Kahane believes in send their son to the rabbi. a real God who consciously And the answer to "Tell created the universe, who me why I should be named Jews the Chosen Jewish?" is "You have to be People and said He would ethical." protect them. You don't have to be Jew- But where was God at ish to be ethical. You don't Auschwitz? The German have to be a humanist' to be Jews fled - after Krys- ethical. You don't have to tallnacht but the pious marry Jewish to be ethical. Jews, the ones who believed For someone to want to God would Protect them, be Jewish, Judaism must were slaughtered. offer something -unique. The Torah and Talmud There is not the slightest were designed for people reason in the world for who never experienced the any child to want to be urban revolution. Jews are . Jewish. The Bar Mitzva is successful in the modern a fraud; rabbis are frauds world because they have and their congregations skills developed over 2,000 are even worse. - years that make them win- Real humanism should ners in- the urban revolu- seek the end of Judaism. tion. You should actively seek in- Torah did not make termarriage and get rid of Jews survive. Jews sur- the ancient barriers that vived because they were separate human beings. necessary — eco- The thing that children see nomically useful. through now is the fraud of Humanistic Judaism is a American Judaism. passing fad. We believe we I hope the humanist tem- can not plan a Judaism for ple will begin making the 100 years from now. This sacrifices it should make as Judaism may not work humanists: How many then. Instead of goingto the humanists have been ar- past we have to utilize the _ rested in demonstrations for future. Soviet Jewry? That's how Humanistic Judaism does you start to be Jewish. not believe in Jewish de- The only reason to be- stiny. Traditional Judaism Jewish is Torah. Is there seeks the Messianic Age, one (a Torah) here? but would keep us-separated Frankly, if I believed that from gentiles. Humanistic book is what you believe Judaism would work that book is, I would burn it. toward the Messianic Age, We are the masters of trying to bring peoples to- our own fate? Foolish gether and not leaving that people! Have we learned work for the Messiah alone. We have to affirm the im- portance of our group as a group, but not isolated and segregated. I believe the Jewish people have never been as interesting as today. We Jews thrive as human beings in a modern, open, liberal society. I would have despised living in the Polish shtetl of 1566. In the last two centuril Jews have partaken -of mv` - ern life. Do we use our Jewishness to become paranoid, segregated, fear- ful? Or do we use our Jewishness to reach out to the world and to become a better human being? RABBI KAHANE: If there is no God, why have a Judaism? Don't risk losing Judaism, why - not just throw it away? Push inter- marriage! Why have a tem- ple? Judaism should be a light unto the nations, an exam- ple. You can be a traditional Jew and not live in Mea Shearim. You can work for Soviet Jewry. You don't have to turn yourself away from other knowledge. But Judaism is not knowledge. It is a religion! Send your kids to a day school or yeshiva for a year, not public school, and watch them bloom. Let them be Jews. I don't know the reason for the Holocaust. But Europe was not all pious Jews, There were tens of thousands who did not cling to the Torah. Why do we only call on God during the bad times. What about all the good things? Why don't we re- member God then? Think of all the peoples who were around with the Jews 2,000 years ago — the Assyrians, Babylonians, the Edomites. Where are they now? The Jews are still here. We thrive in a liberal society . . . that is, we make a lot of money. But we lose our children. No, I wouldn't want to live in a shtetl in 1566. I live in Israel in 1978. Try it. For 2,000 years we cried "Zion" and now there is a Zion, and I tell you, "Go home!" Let the Christian kids be in the minority and ask their par- ents why they can't light Sabbath candles. RABBI WINE: In a Holocaust, should a stroy the righteous witi,„ wicked? There are dozens of peoples still around who lived with the Jews 2,000 years ago — the Greeks and others. Can Jews be an example to others by saying, "We are holier than thou?" Israel was founded by secularists who were fought tooth and nail by Or- _ thodoxy. People whO go to Israel now expect to find a secular, humanist state but instead find a theocracy dominated more and more by Orthodoxy. And I urge those (here) who applauded Rabbi Kahane's statement about going to Israel to-go.