2 Friday, Agri!' TT 198
- - THE DETROIT JEWISH NEVUS
Purely Commentary
Democracy as an Adjunct to Freedom and as
A Challenge to Those Selecting Leadership
By Philip
Slomovitz
Freedom and Democracy as a Passover Theme
Freedom, the right to speak one's mind, to criticize, is closely allied with democracy.
Without the democratic principles to be guided by, there can be no freedom, no indepen-
dent thought or action. Passover is the proper occasion to take both into account, to study
their values and show concern for their enforcement. If there is to be a proper interdepen-
dence of the two ideals, there must also be responsible leadership.
A nearly-forgotten question is being raised anew. It can be summarized by inquiring:
Who selects leadership, and is it self-perpetuating? To it is again being posed the
quesiton, how democratic is the Jewish community in its selection of leadership?
In Jerusalem, in Washington and even in Vienna, these queries gained listening
ears. In Israel, critics of the most recent approaches to the issue created by the enormity of
the new U.S. policy of providing armaments to Saudi Arabia caused some columnists,to
ask: who selects spokesmen for American Jewry?
The explanation lies in rotations of chairmanships and the selectivity inherent in
organizational forces.
It may well be asked whether the Conference of Presidents is the recognized and
delegated body to speak for Jewry, or whether rump groups should be given status. It may
well be asked whether a group described as "32 prominent Jewish Republicans" should
have been elevated to the dignity of a Jewish intermediary in the matter involving U.S.
military provisions for Saudi Arabia.
But even that apparently self-appointed group could not exercise unanimity. It was
reported that a decisive statement to the President, who met with the 32 Republicans,
was edited, and by editing it the sense of protest was denuded.
This is what forces raising the question as to who represents Jewry and what
responsibility do the chosen exercise.
The entire question of American support for Saudi Arabia in the form of massive
arms provisions needs to be reviewed. The sentiments are that the opposition must not
falter. Therefore, submission to the plan must be challenged. Even if Israel is muting the
issue, the matter of Middle East peace affecting the peace of the world must not be
ignored and the arms proposals for the Saudis should be challenged.
The suggested Russian threat in that immediate sphere is subject to scrutiny if it is
Saudi Arabia that is selected as the defender of American rights. It could be imaginary,
the Saudi power being only in its oil fields. Submission to that power permits the Saudis
to advocate a Jihad against Israel and to be the chief disseminator of the falsified,
fabricated Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Against such threats there can be no sub '
sion, but Israel Foreign Ministry spokesmen have advocated "muting." A very fe
American Jews who are selected as spokesmen for Jewry have yielded to such subm - ,
sions. This is the cause for a re-evaluation of the responsibility demanded of those chosen
to be leaders for Jewry.
It is not a pleasant subject, but it is on the agenda, and it must not be ignored. Jewish
leadership demands courage clothed in dignity. That rules out fear and submission to
pressures, regardless from whence they stem.
Passover's spirit will be elevated by the consideration of such new challenges in
Jewish life. It isn't enough to talk about freedom, unless it is imbedded in the democratic
way of life. That in turn, demands adherence to duty. Let those who speak of the liberties
in responsible community structures help strengthen the foundations of organized
Jewish life with the dignity of freedom-democracy as guidelines.
Asimov's1n the Beginning' Answers Fundamentalists
By JOSEPH GUTMANN
In the light of the head-
line "Fundamentalists
Start Lobbying for
Creationism in Michigan,"
which appeared in the De-
troit Free Press on April 3,
the book "In the Beginning"
by Isaac Asimov (Stoneson
Press and Crown Pub-
lishers) is most welcome.
Asimov, perhaps best
known as a writer of science
fiction, has 220 books to his
credit, including his im-
pressive scientific books on
biochemistry and
enzymology. Asimov, who
was born in Russia in 1920
and came to the United
States at age three, has a
reputation not only as a suc-
cessful author of science fic-
tion, but as a serious scien-
tist who was a professor of
biochemistry at Boston
University's Medical
School.
For the last 100 years,
Asimov relates, Western
civilization has propounded
two accounts of Creation.
One account is religious,
and is found in the Hebrew
Bible written several
thousand years ago in an-
cient Judah; the other ac-
count emerged in the 19th
Century from the
laboratories.
These two versions of
Creation have constantly
clashed; they became the
center of controversy in
the famous trial of John
T. Scopes who in 1925 at-
tempted to teach the
Darwinian theory of
evolution to high school
students in violation of
Tennessee law.
Once again the con-
troversy has flaired anew.
This time a powerful drive
is under way throughout
the country to teach chil-
dren in the public schools
that the world was divinely
created. The campaign is
being spearheaded by
members of the Moral
Majority, a religious-
political aroup, whose
spiritual head is the
evangelist Reverend Jerry
Falwell.
Falwell and his Moral
Majority followers aim to
discredit the theory of
evolution, to turn the clock
back to the Middle Ages, by
introducing so-called "sci-
entific creationism" into our
schools. Scientific
creationism is nothing more
than an attempt to cloak a
fundamentalist Christian
ISAAC ASIMOV
belief in the language of sci-
ence.
According to the De-
troit Free Press article, if
Falwell and his organiza-
tion succeed in their lob-
bying campaign, Michi-
gan schools will have to
teach the biblical version
of Creation in biology
classes alongside the ac-
cepted Darwinian theory
or evolution. The state of
Arkansas,already passed
a law requiring public
schools to give equal
treatment to both ac-
counts of Creation, and
parents in several Michi-
gan counties are pressur-'
ing school boards to in-
clude the biblical crea-
tion story in the cur-
riculum of their schools.
"Belief in a supreme be-
ing," according to one re-
Michigan
sponsible
superintendent, does not be-
long in a public school, as
our Constitution clearly
separates Church from
State. Asimov makes ap-
parent that all biblical
statements rest on faith in
God's supreme authority,
and fundamentalists can
tolerate no argument
against them.
Science, on the other
•
but has no place in public
hand, accepts nothing on
debates or in public institu-
faith alone, but only on evi-
tions.
dence that can be observed
Attempts to argue that
and measured.
the
Universe and the Earth
Although James Usher,
the Anglican archbishop, were created at the same
decided in 1654 that Crea- time, or that God accom-
tion occurred on Oct. 23, plished Creation in six days,
4004 BCE, and orthodox are doomed to failure since
Jewish belief traces crea- they fly in the face of scien-
tion back 5741 years (to tific logic and knowledge.
"In the scientific view,"
3760 BCE), scientific evi-
Asimov
asserts that
dence estimates that our
earth came into being about change is inevitable and
"the work of Creation has
four billion years ago.
What Asimov makes never ended and may never
amply clear is that sci- end."
Asimov writes in a
ence simply cannot be
reconciled with religion lucid and sometimes
in spite of fundamentalist witty style. With his sci-
efforts to do so. The He- entific observations
brew Bible is essentially there is no cavil. His book
a document of faith writ- serves as a powerful
ten by the ancient Jews to antidote to fundamen-
better understand their talist thinking.
As a Jewish biblical
universe and their God
before modern science commentator, however,
Asimov's rendering of the
emerged.
first 11 chapters of Genesis
As a document of faith
where all events and hap- leaves a lot to be desired.
penings are inspired and di- His mode of commenting on
each verse in the creation
rected by Divinity, the Bible
belongs to the personal con- accounts is patterned on
science of each individual, such famous 11th-12th Cen-•
Jew and Christian alike, tury medieval Jewish com-
JOSEPH GUTMANN
mentators as Rashi, Ab-
raham ibn Ezra and David
Kimhi.
Like them, Asimov at-
tempts to annotate each
verse cited. In his comments
he gives scientific, historic,
mythological and etymolog-
ical explanations. These ex-
planations are sometimes
insightful, but all too fre-
quently contain glaring his-
toric errors, such as the be-
lief in Akhenaton's
monotheism, brilliantly
formulated by Freud, but
long discarded by scholars.
His oversimplification
and inadequate under-
standing of the complex
Graf Wellhausen JEDP
documentary theory of the
Bible, his often unsound
etymological derivations of
such Hebrew words as
Nephilim, neshama,
Ashkenaz, are serious
weaknesses which could
have been avoided had the
author consulted such
authoritative books as Prof.
Harry M. Orlinsky's "Notes
on the New Translation of
the Torah" and his "Under-
standing the Bible through
History and Archaeology."
Hopefully, Asimov's
many Christian readers
will be sufficiently influ-
enced by his book to side
against the mounting cam-
paign of the Moral Majority.
For his avid Jewish readers,
I would suggest that they
peruse In the Beginning"
with the same scientific
skepticism that Asimov ad-
vocates, and that they con-
sult more scholarly books
on the subject, such as those
by Harry Orlinsky.
Finnish Settlers Are Pioneering in Israel
By ELLEN DAVIDSON
Israel Govt. Press Service
JERUSALEM — They
number some 50 souls and
came from Finland to live in
Israel nine years ago. Their
home, the tiny village of
Yad HaShmona, is now
five-years old. It is situated
on a hilltop amid the pines
of the Judean Hills near
Jerusalem, with a spectacu-
lar view of the Mediterra-
nean coast some 50
kilometers (31 miles) away.
Their children, fair-
skinned and blond in strik-
ing contrast to their darker
Israeli schoolmates, speak
Hebrew. They are a special
phenomenon in Israel's 33
years of existence Chris-
tian settlers who have come
to take part in the rebirth of
the Jewish state.
Yad naShmona is one of
two predominantly Chris-
tian settlements in Israel.
Deeply religious, its mem-
bers chose the name, which
56:6-7)."
means "memorial to the
The settlement, which re-
eight," in remembrance of
sembles a typical Israeli
eight Jewish refugees who
moshav (collective farm),
were mistakenly handed
has been warmly received
over to the Nazis by Finns in
by Israelis; its industrious
1942. Of the eight (out of
self-reliance strongly re-
more than 2,000 Jews shel-
sembles similar pioneering
tered in Finland during the
efforts by Jews who have
war) all died except for one
cultivated fields and or-
now living in Israel. Their
chards all over the country.
deaths, and those of the six
A full-fledged member of
million other Jews who
Israel's settlement associa-
were killed in the
Holocaust, have long trou- tion, the Finnish moshav is
bled many Finnish con- not, however, a farm. It is an
industrial village, a new
sciences.
A spokesman for this - type of enterprise now
small community ex- springing up which is de-
plained their feelings: signed to provide services
"We came here to make and manufacturing.
A few members of the vil-
amends for what hap-
pened in 1942. We be- lage are temporarily em-
lieve," he said, "in the ployed in nearby
Messianic vision and the Jerusalem: two nurses work
passage from Isaiah at Shaare Zedek Hospital
reading 'Also the sons of and three persons are
the stranger, that join licensed tour guides.
themselves to the Lord, Settlers earn their main in-
even them I bring to my come from a small furniture
holy mountain' (Isaiah factory and three gues-
thouses. The community
hopes to have a swimming
pool and a large dining hall
soon.
The Finnish sauna and
clear mountain air cur-
rently attract guests from
Finland, most of whom
come on specially pack-
aged tours arranged- 'n
Helsinki.
Slowly, housing is being
built by the Finns to absorb
new settlers, replacing the
small, cramped homes they
now inhabit. To finance
these projects, Yad HaSh-
mona has depended on aid
and contributions from Fin-
land to supplement the as-
sistance every settlement
receives from the Israeli
government.
All work, even digging
foundations and making
cement building blocks, is
performed by members of
the settlement, who are
helped by a small number of
volunteers.