With Hopes for a Permanent Peace
THE JEWISH NEWS
Inco;rporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial
Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich.,
VE. 8-9364. Subscription $5 a year. Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1952, at Post Office, Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Circulation Manager
Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the thirteenth day of Adar Beth, 5717, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions, Tzav, Zachor, Lev. 6-8:36, neut. 25:17-19. Prophetical portion, I
Sam. 15:2-34.
Purim occurs on Sunday. Book of Esther read Saturday. night and Sunday morning.
Licht Benshen, Friday, March 15, 6:20 p.m.
VOL. XXXI. No. 2
Page Four
March 15, 1957
The Watchtowers Again--and Vigilance
At the same time, the kinsmen of this
embattled people, Jews everywhere, must
renew their vigilance. They, too, must be
on guard lest the basic rights of the small
State of Israel are again endangered.
On the day after the Israeli troop
withdrawals, the Associated Press report
of conditions on the Gaza border stated:
"Lookout towers in collective settlements
along the border again were manned by Is-
raeli farmers.
"Tractor drivers again carried rifles as
they did before the invasion when they were
on the lookout for commando raiders."
For four months, the Israeli border
settlements felt secure. The watchtowers
were abandoned. There were no more
guerrilla murderers to threaten their
homes, their farms, their children in their
schoolrooms. Now, with a return to the
armistice border positions that preceded
the October - November operations, the
Israelis are back on their watchtowers.
Once again, they are carrying weapons
for self-defense.
It had to be. A small nation can not
fight an entire world, especially when
assurances come forth from the leader
among the nations, the United States, that
Israel's rights to freedom of the seas will
be protected and that UN forces will pre-
vent incursions of murderous gangs from
the Gaza Strip.
But the Israelis must ever be on guard,
and their watchtowers are again symbols
of the frontiersmen's fight for security
and liberty.
,
.
The prayers of all peoples of good will
are for peace, for an understanding among
the contending forces, for the removal of
barriers which have kept Israelis and
Arabs apart. It is an unreasonable and
unrealistic condition that must be wiped
out. Contrary to the assertions of many
statesmen, including the U. S. Chief UN
Delegate Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., that the
chances for peace are remote. we must
strive for them, in the hope of attaining
them.
Israel continuously prays for peace,
pleads for it. urges her Arab neighbors to
meet with her for the consideration of
amicable agreements that must militate to
the best interests of the entire Middle
East. Let the U. S. and the UN take the
lead in demanding it. We have repeated
this time and again, pointing to it as the
world's most urgent need, and we do so
again. Let the major powers strive for
peace, and we shall have it. And let there
be no delay in pursuing this sacred task
for the good of mankind.
for All Faiths
Lesson of Purim ideologists,
and now the Arab rulers are
Every occasion that has marked the
defeat of anti-Semitism has been linked
with Purim---for the obvious reason that
this festival commemorates deliverance of
Jews from dangers.
Thus, many tragic periods in our his-
tory, which marked triumphs over bigotry,
have been labeled. minor Purims.
In addition to the major Purim fes-
tival which we are again to observe start-
ing with tomorrow evening, there are
these festivals of deliverance, commemo-
rating the rescue either of family groups
or of entire communities.
These occasions recur time and again
in our history. Those already recorded
occurred in different climes and times.
For instance, there was the Frankfort
Purim or Purim Winz of Adar 20, a fes-
tival commemorating the deliverance of
the Frankfort Jews after the 1616 riots of,
Fettmilch. Or the Sivan 27 Purim of
'Florence, in observance of the rescue of
the Jews by the bishop from attacks by
a mob in 1790.
History makes mention of the Purim
of Hebron, also known as the Window
Purim, of Tebeth 14, in observance of the
occasion-when the Jews of the ancient
city were commanded . by a greedy pasha
to pay him a large ransom to free them
from death by fire and slavery. A Jewish
watchman found the sum in the window
by the gate, in time to avert the evil de-
cree. But the pasha confessed that he had
himself placed the money there after
dreaming that three patriarchs visited him
and warned him of vengeance for his
threat to the Jews.
Many more such Purims have oc-
curred, and many more seem to be re-
peating themselves, with bigoted Hamans
arising to hound Jewish communities,
themselves invariably becoming the vic-
tims of historic vengeance.
Purim has left its mark on history.
The festival inspires Jewry to have faith
in its ability to survive, as long as it re-
tains its will to live according to its his-
torical tenets. The non-Jewish communi-
ties have learned to know that the Jewish
people can. not - be destroyed so easily.
The Russian Czars learned it through the
centuries; their followers, the Communist
dictators are learning this lesson anew;
Hitler thought he had succeeded by de-
stroying six million Jewish lives, but sub-
sequent history is again defying the Nazi
beginning to acquire the lesson of Haman-
ism.
•
While anti-Semitism appears to be on
the decline, Purim nevertheless retains its
significance as a festival that admonishes
the Jewish people to be on the alert, to
be ever vigilant against the recurrence of
bigotry.
Purim, with its jollity, as a festival
of masquerade parties and gift-giving, has
a special appeal for the children. But it
has its , serious lessons for Jews who are
ever on the battlefront against bigotry
and for non-Jews who have also accepted
its records—in the Book of Esther—as part
of canonical writings and as a lesson of
Jewry's right to life and liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. This combination
thus renders great universal merit to this
festival.
Once again we greet our people with
heartiest wishes for a merry Purim.
A Martin Buber Classic
'The Tales of Rabbi Nachman'
One must understand the evolution of Jewish mysticism in
order to appreciate the values of Hasidism and the spirit that
moved the Hasidim. -
Dr. Martin Buber, unquestionably the leading interpreter
of Hasidic lore, leads us to such an understanding in his explana-
tion of Jewish mysticism in "The Tales
of Rabbi Nachman," published by Hori-_
zon Press (220 W. 42nd, N.Y. 36).
Ably translated from the German
by Maurice Friedman, this volume con-
tains a biographical evaluation of
Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, after the
eminent author describes the rise of
the spiritual sect created by Baal Shem-
Tov; the sayings of Nachman and his
tales.
In re-creating these tales, Prof.
Buber explains that he had not trans-
lated them "but retold them with full
freedom, yet out of his spirit as it is
present to me."
Preserved in notes of a disciple,
they were passed on in confused and
Dr. Buber
distorted form. But Dr. Buber pre-
served "all the elements of the fables that convinced me through
their power and colorfulness that they are a part of the originaL"
*
*
Rabbi Nachman, born in 1772, died in 1810, is presented as
"the last Jewish mystic." Describing Jewish mysticism, Dr. Buber
outlines the teachings of the Kabbala, the mystic works of the
Zohar and the Book of Splendor and the emergence of Hasidism.
He points out that "the expulsion of the Jews from Spain gave
the Kabbala its great Messianic drive."
Dr. Buber explains that "the founder of Hasidism was Israel
from Mesbisz (Miedjyborz), called the `BaalShem-Tov,' that is,
`Master of the Good Name,' a designation that unites two things,
the powerful, efficacious knowledge of the name of God, as the
earlier wonder-working 'Baal-Shem' were described, and the
In a cable from Gaza—on the day of possession of a 'good name' in the human sense of being trusted
the withdrawal of the Israel troops from by the people.
'Phoney Demonstration
their captured areas—Frank Gervasi, the
When Hasidism began to show signs of decline, "there arose
distinguished for e i g n correspondent,
cabled a report of his observations of the out of the spiritual need of the people an institution of mediators
who were called zaddikim, that is, righteous . . . The zaddik
-
day's events, and stated in alia:
"There was an utterly phony 'demonstra-
tion' of the Arab population in mid-Gaza
The participants were mostly skinny youths
and boys who had come outdoors at the
sound of vehicles rumbling through town.
They staged their demonstration for the
benefit of photographers."
This tells only half the story. We
have it on good authority that the pro-
Nasser signs the "demonstrators" dis-
played were hurriedly sent to them by
the Nasser government from Cairo.
Demonstrations are easily staged in
the Middle East. Their "phony" origin
must be exposed and it is sincerely to be
hoped that the Eisenhower.Administration
will act speedily 'to destroy any illusions
that freedom of the seas will be denied
to Israel or that any democratic nation is
prepared to be influenced to act contrary
to Israel's demands for realistic peace ef-
forts. Either there will be peace there, or
poverty and disease will be perpetuated
among the oppressed Arabs, while pro-
gressive Israel will be forced to build with
plow in one hand and defensive weapon in
the other.
made the Hasidic community richer in security of God, but
poorer in the one thing of value—one's own seeking."
Rabbi Nachman was one of these zaddikim. He "did not
want 'to be a leader like the leaders who made the pious journey
and do not know why they journey.' He had a great dream of
the zaddik who is 'the soul of the people.' To this dream he
sacrificed all the welfare and all the hope of his personal life."
The moving story of Rabbi Nachman, great-grandchild of
the Baal-Shem, Th told by Dr. Buber with deep feeling. We learn
about Nachman's love for Eretz Israel. Upon his return from the
Holy Land he settled in Bratzlav, where he began to teach and
where he gained his following. Consumption ended his work
after five years.
*
*
*
.
In the Buber collection is included the tale of Rabbi Nach-
man's journey to Palestine. Every tale is in itself replete with
parables and tales, enhancing each narrative.
The tales are those that were "written down from memory
by his disciples, particularly by his favorite disciple, Nathan of
Nemirov, who was his true apostle."
The tales included in this book are: "The Rabbi and His
Son," "The Steer and the Ram," "The Clever Man and the
Simple Man," "The King's Son and the Son of a Maid," "The
MaSter of Prayer" and "The Seven Beggars." Each has a great
moral, each is told with an earnestness that captivates the
listener and reader.