THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, October 26, 1984

39

I

supplementary facts are detailed a graduate degree.
"One-third earned under
accounts of population studies,
$20,000 annually, while nearly
the current educational trends,
the status of anti-Semi-tic mpve- one-fourth earned over $50,000.
"Slightly over 50 percent of
ments and their current activities
those questioned had gone to He-
and numerous related subjects.
brew school. Six percent of those
There is this interesting refer-
ence to educational commitments: surveyed identified themselves as
Orthodox; the rest described
"Although the numbers of Jewish
youngsters enrolled in themselves as Conservative, Re-
elementary-age religious schools form or unaffiliated. .
"Seventy-seven percent of those
appeared to be declining, the
numbers enrolled in Jewish high polled observed the annual
school classes were on the up- Passover Seder ritual; 67 percent
surge. More than 15 percent of took part in Chanukah candle
Jewish school students were tak- lighting; and the number of those
ing high-school-level courses in who observed the High Holy Days
the period under review. Many ranged from 54 percent to 59 per-
congregations and educators were cent. Only five percent of those
seeking ways and means to make questioned did not work or shop
these high school students receive on the Sabbath, and 15 percent
maximum benefit from their ad- kept two sets of dishes in obser-
vance of kashrut."
vanced Jewish studies.
It is in "Continuity" that Au-
"The enrollment in high school
classes were divided almost subel'svolume sums up the trends
equally between boys and girls, in Jewish history:
"Paradoxical as it may sound at
and the highest number of stu-
dents were to be found in first, it was the enemies of the
freshman courses, declining Jews who had a large share in the
gradually thereafter. About half preservation of the Jewish iden-
of the students took classes one tity. The more they tried to force
day a week, 30 percent attended them to abandon their religion,
twice weekly and nearly 18 per- the more fiercely the Jews em-
Cent went to class three times a braced it; the more ruthless their
methods of coercion, the more
week.
"Few of the high schools taught stubbornly the Jews resisted
Talmud. The most widely taught them and the more convinced they
subjects were Hebrew, Bible, were that the Jewish religion was
prayer and worship, Jewish life the superior relgion morally and
and observance, Israel, Jewish ethically.
The more relentless their
history and literature."
The analysis shows that the enemies' hatred and persecution,
number of day schools had risen to the closer the Jews clung to one
close to 500, that 9,000 American another, the more compelling
Jews under the age of 18 were their need for group solidarity. By
studying Talmud, indicating pro- keeping the Jews isolated in the
medieval ghetto and in the mel-
gress educationally.
Meanwhile, the rise and sub- lahs of North Africa, the oppres-
sequent decline in emigration of sors of the Jews, Christians and
Soviet Jews accounts for a study Mohammedans alike, helped to
in migrations as well as the condi- preserve their traditional pious
tions prevalent in Russia and its life and at the same time effec-
anti-Semitic trends. tively insulated them against as-
Especially interesting is this similationist influences and the
summation: temptations of convergence and
"As the American Jewish corn- • biologic fusion.
"This pictorial history of the
munity began to wonder what it
and other Jewish communities Jewish people is a record of their
would be like less than a genera- struggle for survival and of their
tion hence — in the year 2000 — a truimphant culture."
number of interesting new statis- There is immensity in the re-
tics emerged toward the end of the published Nathan Ausubel-David
year from a new study of Ameri- Gross Pictorial History of the
Jewish People, with the possibil-
can Jews. Most of the figures
ity that the updated work will
speak for themselves:
"Four-fifths of American Jewry again become a best seller.
—P.S.
had been to college; one-third had

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NEWS

Marine tragedy in Beirut recalled

Washington (JTA) — The Re-
agan Administration marked
Tuesday the first anniversary of
the terrorist bombing of the
Marine barracks in Beirut in
which 241 servicemen were killed
by declaring that it will not allow
such events to deter it from seek-
ing peace in the Middle East.
"This anniversary reminds us
that our road will not be easy,"
State Department spokesman
John Hughes declared. "Never-
theless, we will not be diverted
from pursuing a just, honorable

and lasting peace in the Middle
East. We will persevere."

Hughes stressed that United
States Embassies are on a "high
state of alert" because of contin-
ued threats and rumors of attacks
against American embassies and
diplomats, as well as those of
other countries. He added there is
no plan to close the United States
Embassy in Beirut which is con-
tinuing to operate from the Am-
bassador's residence with the staff
at a minimal level.

SI LEN C E

44-

In the Face of Anti-Semitism •
Unthinkable in America Today?

WRONG!

THE REPUBLICAN RESPONSE

THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE

The 1984 Republican Party
Convention Platform:

The 1984 Democratic Party
Convention Platform:

"The Republican Party reaffirms its support
of the pluralism and freedom that have been
part and parcel of this great country. In doing
so it repudiates and completely disassociates
itself from people, organizations,
publications, and entities which promulgate
the practice of any form of bigotry, racism,
anti-Semitism, or religious intolerance."

Speeches at the Republican National
Convention August 23, 1984:

Speeches at the Democratic
National Convention July 19, 1984:

. . . in the party of Lincoln, there is no
room for intolerance and, not even a small
corner for anti-Semitism or bigotry of any
kind."

"Discrimination based on race, religion, sex
or age will never be tolerated by this
President nor this Vice President. And
furthermore, we condemn the vicious anti-
Semitism of Louis Farrakhan and the ugly
bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan."

Would Hubert Humphrey have remained SILENT while his party platform was
approved at San Francisco without a single word condemning anti-Semitism?

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD ON NOVEMBER 6th

NATIONAL JEWISH COALITION

Paid for by the Republican National Committee

