THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

A Child's Family Life Leads
to Adherence to Judaism

•

NEW YORK — The sense
of protectiveness and com-
fort that a Jewish child ex-
periences within the family
group during his or her
early years may determine
the extent of that person's
identification with Judaism
as an adult, a survey has re-
vealed.
Titled
"The
Psychodynamics of Jewish
Survival," the investigation
was conducted for the Cen-
,ral Conference of Ameri-
can Rabbis and the Jewish
Communal Affairs De-
partment of the American
Jewish Committee.
The survey was con-
ducted in Little Rock, Ark.
and in Chicago, and in-
volved two groups in each
city. One group included in-
dividuals active in the
Jewish religious commu-
nity, who indicated their
desire to transmit their
Judaism to the coming gen-
eration. The second group in
both places consisted of
people who were not in-
valved in Jewish affairs and
were not likely to transmit
their Judaism to the next
generation.
The inquiry was con-
ducted by means of taped
interviews, and each par-
ticipant was interviewed
twice — an initial inter-
view that lasted approx-
imately one hour, and a
second, in-depth inter-
view for three hours or
more.
Summing up the findings
of the study, Rabbi Elijah
Palnick of Little Rock de-
clared that "the ancient
wisdom is indeed correct —
the close knot, loving family

is the central transmitter of
our ancestral heritage and
values."
Among the major conclu-
sions of the survey was the
fact that "when a child ex-
perienced family as being
comforting and protective,
he or she decided that fam-
ily and religion were impor-
tant and that he or she
would do well to emulate
the family and follow the
model of a father, mother or
grandparent."
Conversely, Rabbi Pal-
nick continued, "when an
individual experienced his
or her family as lacking in
protection against the pains
and stresses of childhood
existence, the child would
decide to rely on his or her
own resources, to strike out
in new directions and work
out different life styles than
those derived from the fam-
ily."
Rabbi Palnick and his
colleagues also investi-
gated the influence of
religious schools, Jewish
camps, and various
synagogal activities on
the sense of Jewishness
that children carried into
their adult years, and
came to the conclusion
that "most of the ele-
ments over which rabbis
and congregational
committees agonize pro-
ved to be irrelevant."
"The
presence
of
grandparents in the experi-
ence of individuals during
their childhood proved to be
a far more important factor
in Jewish identity and
commitment," they as-
serted.

JWB Jewish Book Annual

Focuses on Many Themes

The Arab is a major
theme in contemporary He-
brew literature, according
to author Eisig Silberschlag
in a major article in Volume
37 of "Jewish Book An-
nual," the tri-lingual
American year book of
Jewish literary creativity
published by the Jewish
Welfare Board Jewish Book
Council.
A considerable number of
Hebrew novelists, poets and
essayists deal with the
Arab, Dr. Silberschlag, vis-
iting scholar at the Oxford
Center for Postgraduate
Hebrew Studies, points out
' his article, "Arab-Jewish
2 nfrontations in Hebrew
'iction."
Even before the end of the
19th Century, rapproche-
ment between the two chief
claimants to the ancient
Land of Israel was a leading
theme in the work of var-
ious writers. Failure of the
advocates of fraternization
led to inevitable polariza-
tion, and eventually the
Arab became the enemy,
Dr. Silberschlag writes.
This article is one of 19
that appear in the annual,
edited by Dr. Jacob
Kabakoff.
In "Devils, Jews and Isaac
Bashevis Singer," author
and literary critic Harold U.
Ribalow presents an appre-

tit

ciation of the works of the
Nobel Prize-winning Yid-
dish writer and calls atten-
tion to the irony that Sing-
er's severest critics are the
Yiddish ones.
The Holocaust has been
trivialized, perverted and
even "pornographied" by
writers, English professor
David Mirsky of Yeshiva
University asserts in
"Abuse of the Holocaust in
Literature."
The American Jewish
novel is alive and well, de-
spite observation% of Leslie
Fiedler and other critics to
the contrary, Dr. Daniel
Walden, professor of Ameri-
can Studies, Penn State
University, demonstrates
in another article.
Personalities who are the
subjects of articles in the
"Jewish Book Annual" are
Sholem Asch, Ludwig
Lewisohn, Vladimir
Jabotinsky, Chaim Grade,
Meir Bar-Ilan, Abraham
Reisen, Ephraim Deinard
and Gershon Shoffman.
Other articles deal with
Soviet Jewish literature;
Jewish thought; practical
considerations in translat-
ing Hebrew; the first He-
brew daily newspaper in
America; Jews as viewed
through photographs and
more.

Friday, October 5, 1919 15

ow is the time
r all good
eighbors
come to
e aid of their
mmunity:

Get involved.
Lend a hand to the disabled Mom across the street Help a blind senior citizen learn
to utilize the local mass transit system. And the hard-to-place youngster a new home in
the old neighborhood. Get help for the child abuser down the block. And counseling for
that alcoholic co-worker.
How?
By giving and giving generously to the 1979 United Foundation Torch Drive. that's
how.
Every year you've done your part by contributing to Torch Drive-supported
agencies like the Homemaker Service of Metropolitan Detroit Greater Detroit Society for
the Blind. Homes for Black Children. Family and Neighborhood Services of Wayne.
County. Alcoholism Treatment Center. St Joseph HoSpttal in Mt Clemens. Plus 132 other
community and health agencies that provide people you know with the assistance they
need. And this year they need your support as much as ever.
So when your neighborhood Torch Drive volunteer calls. show how much you
care.
After all. they're your neighbors. And its your community. So if you don't give. who
will?

People who need... need people who care.

This message was made possible by a contribution from
FORD MOTOR COMPANY FUND

"Torch Drive contributions are not used to pay for this ad. The cost is paid for by

the sponsoring company, in addition to its generous Torch Drive gift."

Michigan Charitable Solicitation License No. MICS 2123

