Friday, October 4, 1957—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEW S-2
2
Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
ORLY AIRFIELD, Paris, France—By the time this
reaches our readers, your Commentator and wife will
have reached Israel. In fact, we should be preparing for
the Great Yom Kippur Fast in Jerusalem at the hour the
postman delivers your paper to you,the seven hour dif-
ference in time accounting for our earlier observance.
We are on an Air France plane, and the brief stop-
over in the French capital is being utilized to continue the
uninterrupted contact with our great community of De-
troit through this column, which hasn't missed a week's
appearance in 30 years.
There is an ecstasy aboard. Representatives of Jewish
communities throughout the land are with us — on the
way to Lydda Airport in Tel Aviv, where we are sched-
uled to arrive a full day ahead of an historic event the
dedication of the Tel Aviv Center and the Frederic Mann
Auditorium which henceforth is to be the headquarters
of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
A number of Americans left earlier. Leonard Bern-
stein, who is to conduct the opening concert (Oct. 2),
arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday, accompanied by Max-
well Rabb, secretary of President Eisenhower's Cabinet.
The other great musicians who will share in the glory
of dedicating a great cultural center—Isaac Stern, vio-
linist and Artur Rubinstein, pianist — already are in
Israel.
It is a glorious feeling—to know that the road to Zion
is not difficult, that Israel is thriving, that Jews—at least
—are creating a free society for themselves. Soon we
shall see how the ingathering of the exiles has become
reality, how Prophecy has been fulfilled, how a new nation
has been molded in less than ten years out of immigrant
folk_ from seventy nations.
Eight years have gone by since we last breathed the
air of the Holy Land. The sensation of going there is the
same. Perhaps it even grows with time, justifiably. After
all, a downtrodden people, having defied the most difficult
obstacles, has proven the truth that people who are deter-
mined to attain freedom usually win it, but liberty is
never won by indifference, or phlegmatically. Israel is
neither sluggish nor apathetic.
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*
There is amazing excitement emanating from the
dedication ceremony we will have attended by the time
the printers' ink has dried on this column. In the midst
of the tense Sinai Operation, people in Is14el took a deep
interest in the great project of the Tel Aviv Cultural
Center. The entire world was pressing upon Israel to
yield territory that was captured from the Egyptians. But •
the Israelis did not forget the great heritage inherent in
the Biblical injunction: "Not by might nor by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord." They flocked to buy tickets
for the Oct. 2 concert lines forming to secure the
cheapest seats — at $37.50. It is looked upon as the event
of a lifetime, and many couples acquired single seats for
two — one half seeing the first portion of the concert and
the other half the second portion: half a concert, they felt
is better than none! What a marvelous country, where
such craving for art, music and literature supersedes the
tensions of war and threats from hostile neighbors!
*
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*
There is a special thrill on being, again, on an Air
France plane. There will be occasion to make another
shehecheyanu when we board an Israeli El Al plane, on
PH ILIP SLOMOVITZ, editor
and publisher of The Jewish News,
and MRS. SLOMOVITZ, are shown
on the first step of an Air France
plane at Idlewild Airfield, New
York, enroute to Lydda Airport,
Israel.
part of the return trip. But we are mindful
of the strong friendship that has been es-
tablished between Israel and France, and
we are reminded of an incident that occur-
red in March. It was the Arab News Agency
that reported that the French Embassy in
Beirut had warned the Lebanese that the
Air France offices would be closed in all
Arab countries if they plan to enforce the
boycott resolution that was adopted against
the French air line by the Office for the
Boycott of Israel in Beirut. In. Lebanon
alone, 200 Air France employees would
have lost their jobs and Air France's Beirut
maintenance shop would have closed down.
The Lebanese knew better. Air France con-
tinues to operate without hindrance.
It is well to remember that back in
1949, when we flew on an Air France
plane, the French line on occasions was
the only airline operating between Israel
and the European continent. Any wonder
that we have a deep-rooted affection and
sense of gratitude for a line that has ad-
hered to common decencies, for a country
that makes a partnership with another na-
tion that insists that human rights should
be respected and that people should not
be kicked around?
In just a few more hours, we'll tread
sacred soil made even more sacred by a
great example to the world—by a people's
determination to live as free men.
Seldom before have we uttered with
such piety the prayer—shehecheyanu ..
lazman haze!