2 Friday, October 24, 1980
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Jewish Publication Society and Jewish Studies Chair
at University of Detroit Gain Significance Through
Efforts of Detroiters ... Presidency and High Court
By Philip
Slomovitz
Theoretical and Speculative: High Court as Campaign Issue
Campaign panic is temporary. The bemused ( what a weak term!) in the present
dilemma of choosing a candidate on who to pin the coveted vote on Nov. 4, will be sobered
on Nov. 5. The responsibility to be placed in the hands of the victor will chasten and will
cause self-control with the responsibility that goes with the Presidency.
Major for consideration is the posing of the future make-up of the U.S. Supreme
Court.
President Carter has not been privileged as yet to make a single appointment to the
high court. The next President will surely appoint four, possibly five members to the U.S.
Supreme Court. Who is to be trusted?
The injected fear is that if Ronald Reagan is given the privilege of packing the court
it will be ultra-conservative. Is this such a certainty? In past experience it isn't. Felix
Frankfurter the Liberal became a Conservative on tine bench. Hugo Black, who hailed
from the Ku Klux Klan, became a militant Liberal.
Some Presidents became more liberal in office; some were blind to reality. Check the
record of Franklin D. Roosevelt: he was responsible for failures in efforts to rescue victims
of Nazism.
A person elected President has a force that will check the danger of irresponsibility.
There is a Congress. There is public opinion. There are the communications media.
The fellow who goes to the polls with fears had better remember that collectively, in
unity, the nation can protect itself against impending dangers from misguided officials.
U of D Chair in Jewish Studies:
The Vision of Leonard N. Simons
The Nobellists: Hebraic
Student, Human Rightist
A university chair in Jewish studies is not a novelty: in
a Jesuit college it is.
While the University of Detroit had courses in Jewish
studies in the past, the establishment of a specific profes-
sorship in a specialized department is an added expression
of confidence in the spirit of ecumenism that is being fos-
tered in liberal ranks and in the circles of Jewish-Catholic
aims for understanding and cooperation by the two reli-
gious groups.
That spirit has be.en especially commendable and
heartening in this community, and the establishment of a
chair in Jewish studies, granting a full professorship to Dr.
Richard C. Hertz, is cause for communal satisfaction.
Dr. Hertz, presently senior rabbi of Temple Beth El,
who will assume the full professorship upon his retirement
from his Temple Beth El post, will assume a new role with
acknowledged qualifications and with the devotions for
which he has earned communal respect.
Creation of the new pro-
fessorship calls for appre-
ciation for the labors in that
direction of the dynamic
Leonard N. Simons. It is an-
other element of accom-
plishment in his rich career
of genuine leadership and of
vision _that has led him for
many years towards crea-
tive aims that have resulted
in triumphs in constructive
tasks in civic as much as in
Jewish affairs.
It was due to his efforts
that the fund needed to es-
tablish a university chair in
Jewish studies was secured
LEONARD SIMONS
speedily. There was a ready
response and what has been attained is attributable to his
recognition of a need, the availability of a professor for the
courses to be offered, the selection of a university whose
authorities share the view that a great service can be ren-
dered with the planned new collegiate department.
Simons possesses the skill of organizing genius in ful-
filling a task like the one he achieved for the new Univer-
sity of Detroit professorship. Two faiths owe him a debt for
his latest achievement.
There is a heartening note on the announcements of
this year's Nobel Prize winners.
Selection of a human rights advocate who suffered a
jail sentence in Argentina is an indication that the judges
meant to give emphasis to the need for libertarianism and
rejection of oppressive policies anywhere in the world. The
naming of Adolfo Perez Esquivel for the Nobel Peace Prize
strengthens these views.
Another interesting aspect of the current Nobel Prize
winners is that Czeslaw Milosz, the Lithuanian-born
Polish poet, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, is a
student of Hebrew. He has already translated the Psalms
from the Hebrew original into Polish and plans other trans-
lations from the Scriptures.
These provide special interest in the news from Stoc-
kholm about this year's Nobellists.
Even if it sounds a bit chauvinistic, the Jew should be
permitted a sense of pride that there is always a Jewish
winner among the selectees for Nobel Prizes. This year is
not an exception. The awards to Professors Barju Benacer-
raf, Paul Berg, Lawrence Klein and Walter Gilbert are a
source of pride.
Jewry has cause to be proud. What else does the Jewish
people have to boast about — in addition to the spiritual-
cultural triumphs in Israel — than the successes attained
by Jews in the creative cultural and scientific spheres?
`Lunatics Are on the March':
Some Liberals Are in Trouble
U.S. Senator Henry Jackson of the state of Washington
warned the people of the state of Idaho that "the lunatics
are on the march." He bewailed the attacks on Idaho's U.S.
Senator Frank Church whose reelection is menaced by
groups of ultra-reactionaries who are bent upon destroying
his political career.
Jackson reminded the people that he is a hawk and is
attacked by the same groups who dislike Church for being a
dove.
The lunatics are active in many places and some of the
best legislators are in danger of losing their important
posts because "the lunatics are on the march." That's the
real danger to America.
Senator Church's struggle for re-election was utilized
for a partisan analysis and a challenge to the Idaho U.S.
Senator's views on military matters. In his syndicated col-
umn, entitled "Jackson, Church: Strange Bedfellows,"
William F. Buckley, who more often than not charms his
readers, accuses Church of flirting with Fidel Castro. There
is usually another side to the story and the Buckley attack
sounds like party preference. Isn't this what will motivate
many voters when they go to the ballot box on Nov. 4?
That's where Jimmy Carter may have the edge on Ronald
Reagan, because the party dominates thinking and the
Democrats have the numerical edge.
This does not consume Church into the hellish flames
lit for him by Buckley. It'll be a pity if so liberal a candidate
as Church is to lose the battle for re-election to the U.S.
Senate.
A Major Danger: Threat
to the Religious Freedoms
What appears to be a major threat to the liberties of the
people of this nation is the undermining of the principle of
Separation of Church and State.
A fellow who favors Separation has already been
branded an atheist. Vice President Mondale defended him-
self ably against such a charge.
In the American idealism it should be recognized that
freedom of religion also spells freedom for the irreligious.
The secularist cannot be damned if he chooses to be a good
citizen and a good man without going to church or
synagogue. The Fathers of this Republic knew and under-
stood this well and imbedded it in the plinciples and ideals
of this nation. Now they need defenders for their idealism.
Toby Holtzman's 'Fanaticism':
He Asks People to Respect Books
At the approaching annual Book Fair of the Jewish
Community Center, aided by scores of cooperating organ-
izations, an important function will be the propagandizing
of the cause of the Jewish Publication Society of America.
There will be a dinner in honor of the Israel poet Yehuda
Amichai as well as other notables. The purpose is to
popularize an important movement, the Jewish Publica-
tion Society.
This results from an in- . 00.—
teresting "fanaticism" —
Irwin "Toby" Holtzman's.
Holtzman devotes all of
his time and much of his
money in assisting Israeli
authors, sponsoring their
trips to this country for pub-
lic appearances, for Hebrew
poets to read their works,
novelists whose writings
have been translated into
English to tell Israel's story
of a literary renaissance in
which the Detroiter Toby
Holtzman plays an impor-
tant role.
This is a "fanaticism"
TOBY HOLTZMAN
that deserves applause.
Holtzman is propagating increased membership in the
Jewish Publication Society. His "fanaticism" should bear
profitable dividends.
New Stage for Institute of Jewish Affairs
By MAURICE
SAMUELSON
(Copyright 1980, JTA, Inc.)
LONDON — The Insti-
tute of Jewish Affairs (IJA),
the research and publica-
tions unit of the World
Jewish Congress, this
month moved into a new
London headquarters in
keeping with its growing
prestige in Britain and
abroad.
With its six full-time re-
searchers and their assis-
tants, its 10,000 volume li-
brary and huge newspaper
clipping archive, the IJA oc-
cupies a fashionable four-
story house in the Mayfair
district, a few minutes walk
from the London Hilton.
The IJA, transferred here
from New York in 1966, had
long since outgrown its
cramped offices in a small
courtyard about a mile
north of the new address.
The move enables the
IJA, under the directorship
of Hungarian-born Dr.
Stephen Roth, to expand its
program of topical lecturers
and its research facilities
used by Jewish organiza-
tions and the general pub-
lic.
It is all the more re-
markable as it comes at a
time when many leading
Jewish bodies are being
driven out of the center of
London by ever-rising
rents. For example, the
Wiener Library, the
famous anti-Nazi
documentation center,
has left Britain al-
together, transferring
most of its activities to Tel
Aviv.
Among organizations
which have quit central
London are the Jewish Na-
tional Fund, the Joint Israel
Appeal, the Zionist Federa-.
tion and the Jewish Agen-
cy's aliya office.
Only the IJA, therefore, is
moving up in the world, and
for this it largely has to
thank Edgar Bronfman,
acting president of the
World Jewish Congress.
The move is the third
major landmark in the IJA's
history since it was founded
in 1940 in New York. It was
set up by the World Jewish
Congress with the dual task
of processing information
on Jews in Nazi-occupied
Europe and drafting plans
for post-war rehabilitation.
After the war, it per-
formed three main fuc-
tions: contributing ideas
for international conven-
tions on human rights;
preparing material for
war crimes trials; and
to draft the
agreements on German
reparations to victoms of
the Holocaust.
Its success in those first
years was a tribute to the
high caliber of its first two
directors, Dr. Jacob Robin-
son and his brother
Nehemiah. Jacob Robinson,
an international lawyer,
held the post until 1948
when he became chief legal
adviser to Israel's United
Nations delegation. Nehe-
miah held the post until his
death in 1966.
It was in that year that
the IJA transferred to Lon-
don and came under the di-
rectorship of Stephen Roth.
Since then, the IJA has
steadily widened the range
of its activities to include
research on current politi-
cal and sociological issues.
It has three regular publica-
tions on Soviet Jewry,
anti-Semitism and
Christian-Jewish relations.
It also turns out a steady
stream of background pap-
ers, intended to brief Jewish
organizations on world is-
sues and their impact on
Jewry.
In addition, the IJA spon-
sors major historical re-
search projects. Among the
results of these are Prof.
Bernard Wasserstein's im-
helping
portant book on Britain and
the Jews of Europe during
World War II; Dr. Meir
Michaelis's study of Musso-
lini and the Jews; and a his-
tory of Soviet Jewry since
1917, edited by Dr. Lionel
Kochan, which has gone
into three editions since
1967. All were published by
Oxford University Press.
Currently under prepara-
tion is a study of the anti-
Jewish spasm which shook
Poland in 1968. It is based
on interviews with former
Jewish members of the
Polish security organs who
were themselves ousted in
the 1968 purge.
Other current IJA proj-
ects are studies of Jews in
the new left; Jews in Soviet
literature after the death of
Stalin; and the Jewish con-
tribution to Soviet life.
All this is apart from the
IJA's lectures by eminent
academics and politicians.
. In the future it will be able
to hold many of them on its
own premises, which in the
past have been too small for
all but the most restricted
gatherings. At a time of
growing Jewish concern
about pressures on Israel as
well as on the Diaspora,
such a forum is bound to be
of increasing importance for
the whole Jewish people.