2 Friday, June 3, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Hate on the Campuses
and the Duty to Mobilize
Forces for Human Decency
Hate does not belong in universities. Yet, it is often
nourished there. The numerus clausus in European coun-
tries, the inhumanities evidenced in schools of higher
learning in some countries where Jews were compelled to
stand in classrooms and were denied seating as an expres-
sion of dislike, evidenced the experience.
The United Nations was to have been the source for
peacemaking and should not have been the means for
spreading venom. Yet, this is what has happened. •
* * *
Now there is the spreading of prejudices on the Ameri-
can university campuses, and this sad development is
equated with the bias in the UN.
The anti-Israel campaigns on the campuses are no
longer new occurrences. They are growing, and the
analysis of such a development by Leonard Zakim, director
of the Anti-Defamation League's New England Regional
Office, and Sam A. Gronner, editor of the ADL Bulletin,
must receive more urgent attention than the issue has been
given previously. Their factual statement, appearing in
this issue, shows the extent of the menacing situation.
Most distressing through the years, when these and
similar prejudices have been rampant, was and remains
the weakness of the forces from whence should have come
refutations, appeals to reason, an educating process lead-
ing to an exposing of the falsehoods maligning Jewry and
Israel.
* * *
There is an encouraging note in the Zakim-Gronner
revealing article. It is the indication that Hillel Founda-
tions will be mobilized for counter-action against the
spreading Arab propaganda on the campuses. Such efforts
should encourage the means of counteracting anti-Semitic
propaganda elsewhere. The Zakim-Gronner positive pro-
gramming, indicated in the expose in the article in this
issue — the factual statement that must receive widest
attention in Jewish ranks and the following therefore
meriting repetition — states:
By Philip
Slomovitz
Hate on the Campuses and the Anti-Israel Venom
Compel the Action Now Receiving Special Attention
in the ADL Mobilization of Counteracting Forces
The students on the front lines need to de-
velop the confidence that they can effectively
counter Israel's detractors.
As anti-Israel propaganda continues to inun-
date college campuses, ADL regional offices are
now encouraging students sympathetic to Israel's
cause to take the irdtiative. This cannot be done
alone. It requires ctordination, and the League is
benefiting from Hillel's intimate knowledge of
campus life and the network of volunteers avail-
able through AZYF and other campus groups.
Through this cooperative effort, ADL's in-
formation and expertise to correct misconcep-
tions and myths about the Arab-Israeli conflict
are beginning to reach campuses around the
country.
Hopefully, this action does not come too late. Hope-
fully, it will bring the desired concern and will lead to the
type of vigilance that will inspire resentment in Christian
ranks as well as among Jews.
In a sense, proper action should really come from non-
Jews, Moslems among them. There is no room for prejudice
on the campuses, and the Christian community especially
should resist it.
* * *
But there is no room for prejudice anywhere, and what
the ADL plans as a counteraction on the campuses requires
similar movements everywhere. Among the menacingly
un-American occurrences are the frequent expressions of
hate, for others besides Jews, during the development radio
talk shows. It is when bigots are given uncontrolled
privileges to spread their poison that the wholesome aims
become poisonous.
In the case involving Israel, there are frequent appear-
ances on such programs of misguided Jews. The need, as on
the campuses, is for informed people to offer their services
to enlighten fellow citizens and to assist in reducing the
poisonous in the media and on public platforms.
* * *
The duties for a cleansing of the atmosphere, of striv-
ing for truth, are immense. The mobilization of forces of and
for decency is a great responsibility, and must not be shun-
ned.
Mixed Marriages Condoning:
End to Shiva Protests
A Gallup Poll conducted on the question of prevailing
attitudes on mixed marriages, between racial and religious
groups, shows a vast growth in percentages of the approv-
ing. Thus, intermarriages as well as miscegenation have
gained acceptances.
Approval of mixed marriages between Jews and non-
Jews shows an increase since 1968 from 59 to 77 percent.
This is more of the fact than of the sentiment: that
whatever the approval, it is the result of actual occur-
rences. It means that intermarriages have grown and•
therefore many accept the development.
Typical calls to this newspaper:
"We have four marriages in the family in the coming
summer months. Three of them are with non-Jews . . ."
"I am saddened. I am invited to three weddings this
month by close relatives. All in judges' chambers . . ."
"How can we be consoled? We have three weddings this
month — two of them mixed marriages. We'll attend one,
judge officiating. We can't submit to a church wedding . . ."
Wherein lies the solution to a situation that spells
danger to Jewish survival? In the Shtetl, in the ghetto,
under such circumstances Jews sat Shiva. Even in non-
observant ranks, in homes such as Mendele Moher Seforim
and Ahad HaAm, there was mourning and a refusal to
accept what had begun to be an inevitable result of growing
freedoms as well as assimilation.
Now, and the Gallup Poll emphasizes it, there is an end
to the .Shiva protest and consolation.
Wherein lies the solution? How can the Jewish kehilla
encourage conversions to Judaism as one means of solving
the problem and adherence to loyalties within the ranks by
the marriageable youth?
The problem is vaster than the appearance on the
surface. It relates to a measurable failure to train youth
properly, to prepare them for Jewish adherence as well as
Jewish self-defense. The community isn't even properly
prepared to counteract the growing spread of venom soaked
in distortions, as evidenced in the media, in radio talk
shows, in hatreds that defile human decencies.
Over which declinations is there to be a sitting of
Shiva?
'Social, Political History of the Jews in Poland'
By ALLEN A. WARSEN
"Social and Political His-
tory of the Jews in Poland,
1919-1939," authored by
Joseph Markus and pub-
lished by Mouton Pub-
lishers, Berlin, is con-
cerned, as the title indi-
cates, with the economic,
social and political life of
the Jews in Poland during
the inter-war period.
The author commences
his narrative with a brief
historic sketch of the Jews
in Poland since their ear-
liest beginnings in that
country. He points out that
there were Jews in Poland
for more than a thousand
years and that they pre-
dated Christianity there,
which had its origin in 966.
Ever since the Jews set-
tled in Poland, they were
expected to populate the
towns. Curiously, the few
Poles who were engaged in
commerce and industry, as
soon as they became pros-
perous abandoned their oc-
cupations and joined the
land-owning nobility.
The gentry considered
trade as demeaning and
unbecoming a
"szlachcic" (nobelman).
Moreover, the "Sejm"
(Diet) passed laws for-
bidding townsmen to
participate in the law-
making body and to own
land outside the town
boundaries. At the same
time the Sejm prohibited
the gentry from engaging
in commerce and indus-
try.
It is well to keep in mind
that the status of the Polish
Jews was guaranteed by the
charters granted them by
the kings. The oldest char-
ter was granted by Boleslaw
the Pious in 1264, and the
last was granted in 1765 by
Stanislaus August, the last
Polish king.
Significantly, the author
leaves out completely the
cultural and religious his-
tory of the Jews in Poland in
the inter-war period. In-
stead, he concentrates sol-
ely, as already noted, on
their political, social and
economic history. Thus, in
the section, "The Social
Structure," the author
states that the vast majority
of the Jews in Poland lived
in towns and cities and that
their occupations were
trade and craftsmanship,
while farming had little.
significance "except for its
contribution to the totality
of Jewish welfare."
The author also notes
that in Poland the person's
occupation was determined
by birth "and remained
with him throughout his
life." Hence, the Jew was
classified either as "artisan
or trader" and of "indepen-
dent social status" ("even in
many cases after a lifetime
of idleness").
Consequently, the so-
cial structure of Jews
"perpetuated itself in
largely unchanged prop-
ortions." This social
structure, the author em-
phasizes, "was thus the
product of historical
schematism ... rather
ALLEN WARSEN
than a reflection of a
geunine, freely formed
occupational structure."
The section, "The Na-
tional Income," is concerned
with the income of the Jews
as compared with that of the
non-Jews and the popula-
tion as a whole.
The author states that the
income of the Jews per
capita in the non-farm sec-
tion was slightly higher
than that of the non-Jews.
He also points out that
among Poland's urban
dwellers, the average size of
the Jewish family was
larger than that of the non-
Jewish.
This section's most im-
portant statement reads:
"The achievement of any
group of people depends to a
large extent on the stage of
technology reached by the
country in which they (the
Jews) live and its political
and social institutions, as
well as the direct economic
forces acting on the country.
"Yet Jewish writers on
economic and social af-
fairs have always made
the error of treating the
Jews in isolation, and
have as a result, misin-
terpreted the facts."
Informative is the
author's account of the
Jewish political parties in
Poland in the years 1919-
1939. He writes that Poland
had more political parties
than any other country in
the world.
"But the Jews propor-
tionally had even more par-
ties than the Poles."
There were at least five
Zionist parties. They were
the General Zionists, the
Revisionists, the Mizrachi,
the Zionist-Left and the
Poale-Zion-Left.
The author traces the his-
tory of political Zionism to
the first World Zionist Con-
gress held in Basle, Switzer-
land in 1897. This gather-
ing, an important date in
Jewish history, resolved "to
create a home for the Jewish
people in Palestine secured
by public law." This histori-
cal decision became known
as the "Basle Programme."
Some time later, the
Russian Zionists held a
conference in Helsinki
that adopted a domestic
"program for today." The
program demanded,
inter alia, that the Rus-
sian government "recog-
nize the right of the
Jewish nationality to
self-government."
During the inter-war
period, the Polish Zionists
continued to fight for the
"Helsinki Program" with
certain modifications.
Instructive is the author's
evaluation of the Bund's
history. Founded in 1897,
the same year political
Zionism was established,
the Bund was the -first
Jewish labor organization
and the first Jewish
Socialist party in the world.
In 1906, the Bund joined the
Russian Social Democratic
Party "within which it op-
erated as an autonomous
unit."
As mentioned above,
political Zionism and the
Bund were launched at the
same time — "perhaps," as
the author remarks, "this
occurrence was not a mere
accident of history, for both
were national movements,
but they were later to be-
come rivals, representing
diametrically-opposed
political views of the Jewish
problem."
In liberated Poland,
the Bund continued to
fight for its Jewish and
Socialist principles.
Though the Bund never
elected a delegate to Po-
land's Sejm, it had
numerous representa-
tives in the municipal and
in the Jewish communal
councils (kehilas).
In the last years before
the outbreak of World War
II, "the Bund emerged as
the strongest Jewish party
. . . yet the post-war genera-
tion of Jews has hardly
heard of it." The author con-
cludes, "History is merciless
in its verdicts on contrar-
ity."
Joseph Marcus' volume
"Social and Political His-
tory of the Jews in Poland,
1919-1939," is a scholarly
work and is based on statis-
tical data, original docu-
ments and original re-
search. Its approach is both
analytic and synthetic.
The book is an important
contribution to Jewish his-
toriography.
An Audience With the Pope
Shown during an audience with Pope John Paul
H at the Vatican is Rabbi Marvin Hier, left, of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center at Yeshiva University of Los
Angeles, who led a group of 30 Jews who met the Pope
after visiting Auschwitz and Warsaw to mark the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.