PURELY COMMENTARY

Traditions That Define Resort To Vows

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

alutes to the flag, vows, pledges
and sacramental demonstra-
tions are evident in the current
political shibboleth.
There is a traditional Jewish view-
point that treats pledges and vows as
ungodly. Actually, this traditional
legacy is rooted in the Decalogue. The
Third Commandment asserts:

S

Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord in vain; for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that
taketh His name in vain.
In rabbinic lore there are firm
declarations. And there is a summary
of such opposition to pledges in Rabbi
Philip Birnbaum's Jewish Concepts
where we read:

In common conversations,
the divine name is not to be ut-
tered unnecessarily. Jewish
tradition opposes the use of
oaths entirely. Without swear-
ing, your yes be true and your
no be true.
Baba Metzia 50a

understandable
With
an
philological relationship of pledges to
oaths, to paths and vows, the Jewish in-
terpretation has special socio-linguistic
importance in the current disputes over
the developing political issues. In the
Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion there
is this definitive interpretation of the
"Jewish Oath":
As early as the sixth century
the Emperor Justinian declared

that Jews were inadmissible as
witnesses against Christians.
During the Middle Ages this
disability was modified to the
extent that a special oath (more
Judaico) was exacted from Jews.
It took various forms, very often
of a degrading and humiliating
nature. The model for later
legislation was the oath adopted
by German courts in 1555 in
which the Jewish witness had to
call down upon himself all the
curses in Lev. 26, Deut. 28, the
plagues of Egypt, etc.
Moses Mendelssohn suc-
ceeded in persuading the Prus-
sian government to modify the
oath but it remained in force in
some countries until the begin-
ning of the 20th century. The im-
position of this oath was based
upon the false allegation that by
the Kol Nidrei formula the Jew
absolves himself from all oaths.
The medieval Judaic Oath is not
to be confused with the
modifications allowed by many
law courts to make the pro-
cedure of oath-taking accep-
table to Jews (e.g. substituting a
Hebrew Bible for the New
Testament).
Deplorably, as in many other
political conflicts, there are vituperative
exchanges in the current debates bet-
ween candidates and their cam-
paigners. An especially repeated ac-
cusatory reference to memberships in
liberal movements has aroused anger,
as in the New York Times editorial
(Sept. 18) under the title: "Card-
Carrying Smears":

At the Republican Conven-
tion, Mr. Bush asked: "Should
public schoolteachers be re-
quired to lead our children in
the Pledge of Allegiance? My
opponent says no — and I say
yes." The words sound innocent,
but they mangle the facts: as
Governor of Massachusetts, Mr.
Dukakis vetoed a flag pledge
bill on the perfectly reasonable
ground that the highest court of
his state found it unconstitu-
tional. The oversimplifying
amounts to a shameless smear:
the suggestion that Mr. Dukakis
is hostile or indifferent to the
flag.
Similarly, Mr. Bush, in refer-
ring to Mr. Dukakis, said the
other day that "I am not a card-
carrying member of the A.C.L.U.

I am for the people." Again the
smear: "Card-carrying" has the
resonance of the "card-carrying
Communist" epithets of the
McCarthy era .. .
In time, innuendoes about
loyalty and civil liberties are
likely to backfire, as likely to an-
noy and alienate voters as to at-
tract them. But if in the short
term the tactic succeeds, Mr.
Bush needs to ask himself what
he will have won, and what he
will have become.
Hopefully there will never again be
a resort to character assassinations and
hate-inspiring divisiveness in
American ranks.
A voluminous agenda of dispute re-
mains unresolved and major issues
await voter judgment. Capital punish-
ment, abortion, prayers in schools are
challenging questions. The conser-
vatives' condemnation of the liberalism
that has been a guideline for the lives
of so many of us is a shock that strikes
at the root of idealistic approaches. The
voter as ruler needs the guidance that
will continue as major in the arguments
developing in the campaign debates.

Tallit As Flag

The "flag" has been injected in cam-
paigning as a patriotic testing element.
I would judge as sheer arrogance
the mere suggestions that the loyalty
of a fellow American and fellow citizen
is suspect.
The flag of our nation spells sancti-
ty, idealism, spirituality — not to be
tampered with.
Sanctified definitions are recorded
in the Jewish views of historically-

Covering The Jewish Scene Geographically

I

n this period of Jewish obligatory
studies of life's duties, when
traveling to Israel is among the
sacred duties in American-Israel rela-
tions, it is vital also to advise tourists
properly on how to find their way
Jewishly across America. Traveling
Jewish in America: The Complete Guide
for Business and Pleasure, by Brynna C.
Bloomfield and Jane M. Moskowitz,
edited by Ellen Chernofky (Wandering
You Press), provides the desired
guidelines.
This is a paperback, pocket-styled.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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60' single copy

Vol. XCIV No. 6

2

October 7, 1988

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1988

It is handy for the traveler. Literally bis, 500 food stores, even mikva'ot, and
thousands of cities and even villages student organizations on campuses
where Jews reside are geographically among other guidelines, Traveling
recorded here. Since it is difficult to Jewish in America for Business and
describe the entire sphere properly, the Pleasure serves a much needed purpose.
What the tourist-minded authors
only and best way of treating the han-
dy volume is by its immediacy to us in did here, in addition, was to advise on
the availability of kosher fod.
Michigan.
It is not a complete Jewish-
The very list of our state's com-
American
geography. The facts about
munities included in this book im-
mediately emphasizes how its contents the communities are limited to the very
can appeal to searching readers. The basics of houses of worship and food
collection probably could never be com- kashrut. There should have been an in-
plete, yet the variety of it is admirable.. clusion of Jewish centers, hospitals and
Proof of the serious efforts made by' other data. As far as they went,
the compilers of the list assembled as however, there is ground for commenda-
a complete Jewish geography will be tion in the researching of the existing
found in the manner in which the Jewish communities. This is in itself a
Michigan Jewish record was compiled. great help for the aspiring historian
In addition to Detroit, here are the corn- who learns how vast is the extent of
munities represented in this interesting Jewish geography in this country.
compilation:
Ann Arbor, Bay City, Benton Har- Misrepresentation
bor, Birmingham, East Lansing, Farm- Of 'Palestine' Term
ington Hills, Flint, Grand Rapids, Properly Corrected
Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Livonia,
specially as means of antag-
Midland, Mount Pleasant, Muskegon,
onizing Zionists and rejecting
Oak Park, Petoskey, Pontiac, Saginaw,
the Jewish State as a reality,
Southfield, Traverse City, Trenton and
those who would harm and even go as
West Bloomfield.
With a listing of some 2,400 far as to aim at the very destruction of
synagogues and the names of the rab- Israel not only shout "Palestinianism"

but resort to a misrepresentation of the
very term "Palestine." As a matter of
undeniable fact, when the word
Palestine was used as the symbol for
Zionist ideology, it was an equation for
Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel in its
popularization.
A commendable correction of the
misused term "Palestine" serves an im-
portant current purpose in the revived
struggle against abuse of the principles
inherent in the redemption represented
by Israel. In the Near East Report, the
organ of the America Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee (AIPAC), under the ti-
tle "Which Palestine?" the follow-up
facts are outlined:
Problem: Define Palestine.
Webster's Dictionary says: "the
country of the Jews in Biblical
times. 2. part of this territory
under a British mandate after
World War I; divided into Israel
and Jordan by action of the U.N.
in 1947."
In 1910, Encyclopedia
Britannica included land on
both sides of the Jordan River
in its description of Palestine.
The as-yet unabridged PLO
Covenant states: "Palestine,

