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Friday, December 20, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
• PURELY COMMENTARY
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Treating the Festivals With American Dignity
Christmas is arriving and this year
will not be confused with the Chanukah
spirit that must await repetition in close
to another twelve-month. It is occasion
to greet neighbors and fellow Americans,
and it will surely be done with the re-
spect that is due fellow citizens of an-
other faith. That's how it was done in
the reverse in the Chanukah spirit when
Christians saluted Jews.
It is the obligatory mutual accord
and respectful treatment of fellow citi-
zens that must be given priority. That's
where American dignity becomes a prior-
ity.
Therefore, the festivals must be
treated without prejudice, and when bias
plays a role it will surely have the con-
demnation of most citizens, isolating the
prejudiced into the depth of the cesspools
of their own creation.
In the predominantly Jewish area of
Brooklyn, NY., there was a spate of win-
dow smashing at many Jewish-owned
stores. One of the reasons given was the
failure to put up Christmas lights in
their business establishments. There
were warnings that if Christmas lights
were not lit the stores would be burned
down.
Such acts have been met with con-
tempt, and only a very small group of
bigots is held responsible. That's the em-
phasis on the American way of treating
the virus many view as anti-Semitism.
Several years ago, Michigan com-
munities were confronted by a shocking
series of advertisements in several
newspapers urging Christians to
patronize only Christian-owned stores.
Some specifically urged a religiously-
oriented boycott of Jews. It was to the
credit of the Greater Detroit Round
Table of the National Conference of
Christians and Jews and the Jewish
Community Council that this practice
was assailed and eventually curtailed.
This practice seems to have been re-
newed in advertisements in "Christian
Yellow Pages." They are the work of fun-
damentalists who are exposed in the
Wall Street Journal (Dec. 4), in which
Matt Moffett revealed the shocking situ-
ation under the title "Fundamentalist
Christians Strive to Apply Beliefs to the
Work Place." Quoting several case his-
tories on which this expose is based,
Moffett calls attention to the attitude of
Bill Watts, a window shutters manufac-
turer, who "wants to make good Chris-
tians" of his employees. Moffett's article
states:
In the midst of a strong re-
surgence of forms of Christianity
that adhere strictly to the Bible, a
growing number of believers are,
like Mr. Watts, seeking to apply
their spiritual convictions in the
workplace. "There definitely has
been an increase in the number
of firms run with some kind of
Christian orientation," says Syl-
via Neil, Midwest legal director
for the American Jewish Con-
gress. "It's all tied to the return
back to religion that we've seen
in recent years."
On the rise too, however, are
complaints about religious dis-
crimination on the job. "We are
beginning to see many more of
these cases where religion is
dragged into the workplace,"
says Carol Sobel, an attorney in
the Los Angeles office of the
American Civil Liberties Union
who specializes in church-state
issues. "With the rise in fun-
damentalism ... more people be-
lieve that it's their messianic duty
to share their values with other
workers — whether they like it or
not."
If such fundamentalism marks a re-
surgence of the religious bias that would
rule out fellow citizens from the indus-
trial and commercial life of this country
because they are non-Christians, then
the dignity that marks the American
spirit is being defiled.
The fundamentalist issue is a grow-
ing one. More and more radio programs
are devoted to it. Millions of pamphlets
are being circulated in devotion to their
cause. Once again it is a "Christians
Only" appeal and it can not be ignored.
Therefore, the compulsion to em-
phasize the Good Will among all faiths
which inspires mutual respect, the
equality of the American peoplehood
that does not tolerate injustice or dis-
crimination of any sort.
The exchange of greetings this week
is of the hearty acclaim of friendship of
Jew for Christian, just as so many made
it Christian for Jew during the earlier
Chanukah period. That's how the Ameri-
can spirit was formulated: That's how it
treats with dignity the Jewish "Merry
Christmas" greeting of fellow American
to fellow American.
Trekking Isaac Stern:
Cheers at Carnegie
Isaac Stern's 65th birthday, it
called special to his role in forg-
ing this relationship.
There were emotional re-
marks honoring the violinist from
Carl Glick, president of the foun-
dation (Mr. Stern is chairman of
the board and its leading spirit);
Samuel W. Lewis, former United
States Ambassador to Israel, and
Henry Kissinger. More be the
point, there was the concert itself
— in Mr. Stern's "own" hall,
since he saved it from destruc-
tion 25 years ago and has over-
seen its destiny ever since — .
overflowing with musicians he
had encouraged personally and
financially.
How interesting to link Isaac Stern
with the famous hall and his leadership
in preserving it, his association with the
America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the
friendship he established with the na-
tion's leading musicians.
The latter is an important point to
remember: Here is the list of the famous
in music who were in the cast of char-
acters in the program honoring Stern:
Yitzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zuckerman,
Joseph Kalichstein, Miriam Fried,Yefim
Bronfman, Shlomo Mintz,Yehuda Ha-
nani, Michal Friedlander, Shira Ravin,
Hagit Glaser, Hagai Shaham, Yariv
Aloni, Zvi Plesser.
What a remarkable assemblage; how
famous the hall they all managed to
reach -- surely by practicing! — how
remarkable the man they honored.
Many cheers to the honoree and
those who joined in lending glory to the
sounds of music!
Via Germany Comes
U.S. Publisher's Memo
Isaac Stern
Remember the oft-retold anecdote —
about the chap carrying a violin case,
with a violin surely encased, asking a
man walking with him on New York's
Sixth Avenue, "Can you tell me the way
to Carnegie Hall?" And the reply: "Prac-
tice, young man, practice!"
This chestnut may have been ban-
died around when the great in music
gathered in Carnegie Hall on Dec. 2 to
honor one of the most distinguished
among them, violinist Isaac Stern, on his
65th birthday.
An interesting explanation of the
sponsorship of that event was provided
by New York Times reporter John
Rockwell in these introductory lines in
his article about the noteworthy concert:
Monday evening's 14th an-
nual Carnegie Hall concert of the
America-Israel Cultural Founda-
ton served, more even than most
of these events, to call attention
to the close ties between Ameri-
ca's Jewish community, musical
conservatories and concert life
on the one hand, and young Is-
raeli musical talent on the other.
And, since the concert was de-
signed as a belated celebration of
History has many quirks, literature
is not excluded from such a designation,
publishers travel many winding roads.
A few months after it became known
that a "For Sale" sign was up for the
Holt, Rinehart and Winston general
books division, it was announced that
CBS, its owner, had sold such rights to
Holtzbrinck Group of Stuttgart, Ger-
many.
The announcement of this sale also
revealed that Holt is the second Ameri-
can publishing house to be sold to a
German firm. Bantam books is now
owned by Bartelsmann, based on
Munich, West Germany.
CBS is keeping the Holt educational
and textbook division and retains the
Holt, Rinehart and Winston name. The
new house will be known as Henry Holt
and Co.
This provides an interesting remin-
der about the Henry Holt who founded
the famous publishing house and a
prominent Detroiter who became associ-
ated with it.
The recollected story is about the
late Charles Madison, the distinguished
former Detroiter who made his mark as
an author, book reviewer, linguist, histo-
rian of the Jewish press in America, who
died last year on the eve of his 90th
birthday.
Charles Madison was a Phi Beta
Kappa University of Michigan graduate.
He had his post-graduate studies atYale
and at the suggestion of his English pro-
fessor there he applied to Henry Holt
Publishers for a position as a reader-
critic. He was employed, and upon his
arrival on the Monday morning after to
assume his duties the man who em-
ployed him greeted him with: "Good
Charles Madison
morning, Mr. Madison. Did you have a
good weekend? Did you attend church
services?" Madison explained to him that
if he had attended religious services
anywhere he would have gone to
synagogue on Saturday. Whereupon the
man who employed him began to tear
his hair and said: "Oh my God! If Mr.
Holt knew he'd throw you out of the
window and me after you!"
It was a time when you didn't sue
anyone for breaking an employment
pledge and Madison said: "I have not
started yet. I'll be ready to leave you
..." But the employing Holt office man-
ager said, You are here. Stay on .. ."
Madison did stay on — for more
than 30 years. He wrote a Holt history
and another firm published it. The
Henry Holt record as an anti-Semite re-
mained indelible.
The prejudices have mainly van-
ished from the basic publishing field.
Many American publishers are Jews.
That does not diminish some prejudices
even among them.
That Henry Holt should now be
German-based is most interesting.
Charles Madison might have some in-
teresting comments on such a develop-
ment.
Three Who Left
Notable Records
The obituary columns of many
newspapers are carrying announcements
of the passing of three interesting
Jewish personalities.
Arye Zimuki in Jerusalem, Rabbi
Philip S. Bernstein in Rochester, NY.,
and Marie Waife (Mrs. B. Z. Goldberg)
who often used the name Waife
Goldberg, have valuable chapters ap-
pended to their names in contemporary
history.
Arye Zimuki rose to a dominant role
in Israeli journalism. From policeman to
political analyst, in nearly all the Israeli
Hebrew newspapers, winding up among
the top Yediot Achronot columnists, he
retained popularity under theYiddishized
"rozhinkes"-raisins — from which his
Hebrew last name was derived.
It was as a leader in organizing the
Federation of Jewish journalists that he
acquired a role in this country as well,
fraternizing with the English-Jewish
newspaper associates, encouraging a
mutual interest between Israeli and
American Jews. He thus had an impor-
tant share in advancing Jewish jour-
nalistic fraternalism.
Rabbi Philip Bernstein left his mark
in many areas. Named by President
Harry Truman as adviser on Jewish af-
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