I Victimized by Blue Laws
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating 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
CARM1 M. SLOMOVITZ
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Circulation Manager
Advertising Manager
CLOSE1)
SATURDAYS
FRANK SIMONS
N
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, Shabbat Zakor, the ninth day -of Mar, 5718, the following Scriptural
selections will be read i.n our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Tezaveh, Exodus 27:20-30:10; Deuteronomy 25:17 - 19. Prophetical
.portion, I Samuel 15:2-34.
Fast of Esther will be observed next Wednesday.
Purim occurs next Thursday.
Licht Benshen, Friday, Feb. 28, 5:38 p.m
VOL. XXXII. No. 26
February 28, 1958
Page Four
Iraq Can Solve Refugee Problem
Only one of the Arab nations—Iraq-
had refrained from signing an armistice
agreement with Israel after the combined
attack on Israel by the seven enemy
nations.
Now, Iraq holds the upper hand over
her weaker partner, Jordan, with whom
she became allied in a union competitive
to the Egyptian-Syrian merger, and the
question is being asked: will Iraq accept
a major portion of the refugees in Jordan
and thereby assist in solving that unhappy
problem?
Iraq happens to be the one Arab na-
tion that is in greatest need of manpower.
Underpopulated, in dire need of labor to
develop the neglected land, it has been
indicated time and again that Iraq could
accept all the Arab refugees and put an
end to that issue over-night.
But Iraq also has been the most vo-
ciferous in the verbal attacks on Israel.
Aligned with her sister states in hatred
against Israel, Iraq has refused to discuss
peace and seems determined to carry on
the enmity against Israel, to which she is
sworn.
Thus, in the midst of Arab-created
conditions, in an area that is affected by
Communist instigations-to-hatred on the
one hand and Western fear on the other,
the Middle East situation remains fright-
fully beset by dangers that are becoming
more aggravated by refusals of Moslem
potentates to accept bids for. peace.
*
*
*
The issue involving acceptance of the
refugees by Iraq was discussed realisti-
cally in an editorial in the New York
Times in which "Jordan's Refugees" were
evaluated as follows:
"The federation of Jordan and Iraq has
led to renewed speculation as to whether
- some of the more than half a million Arab
refugees now in Jordan cannot find new
homes in underpopulated Iraq. Some persons
who are honestly interested in the fate of
these refugees have argued that it is better
to say as little as possible about this subject,
in order to avoid annoyance to Cairo poli-
ticians or embarrassment to the Iraqi Gov-
ernment.
"This position seems to us wrong. Young
King Hussein of Jordan has been, in a way, a
captive of the fanatically anti-Israel party in
his country, and this group has relied on the
pitiful situation of the Arab refugees to keep
this hostility bitterly alive. Jordan has never
even cooperated with the U.N. Relief and
Works Agency to the extent of keeping accu-
rate registration records of the refugees.
"It has been estimated that Iraq could
profitably take all the Arab refugees—the
half million in Jordan, plus others in the
Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria. This would
add about 20 per cent to her population and
probably wouldn't be socially and politically
wise. She doubtless could, however, take some
hundreds of thousands. This would be dis-
pleasing to the Arab agitators whose ambi-
tion to destroy Israel is sustained by a reser-
voir of hate among the refugees. Yet if it
were coupled with an offer from Israel to take
back at least a token number of Arabs who
once had roots in her soil it might vastly
relieve the Middle Eastern tension.
- "Would this hurt any legitimate interest?
To ask such a question is to answer it. What
the Middle East most desperately needs is
peace, under which the wretchedly low living
standards of millions of its people could be
raised. And here is a new opportunity for
everybody except the handful o: politicians
whose livelihood would vanish if there were a
solid Middle Eastern peace."
*
*
*
In the Spirit of Purim
In a number of Israeli quarters, the
mergers of Arab states were commended,
with the expresssion of hope that the
unions would lead to a serious considera-
tion of the cultural, economic and health
needs of the oppressed peoples in the
countries involved.
The mergers, if they are intended for
the benefit of the Arab peoples, can go
a long way to solve the entire Middle
East issue—provided responsibility is ac-
cepted by the kinsmen of the Arab refu-
gees for their plight.
The New York Times is correct in
stating that a new opportunity awaits
"everybody except the politicians" in the
effort to advance peace. Unfortunately,
the politicians are in the saddle.
Yet, we retain hope that those who
oppress the m a s s_e s of impoverished
Arabs will see the light and will strive for
creative solutions rather than for divisive
means to keep the Middle East in a state
of war.
The Lesson of Purim: Israel Endureth'
When we celebrate Puri m, next
Thursday, we will once again reminisce
about a victory over bigotry and tyranny
in past ages, and we will again compare
the notes of ancient times to the exper-
iences of our own day.
Discrimination, doomed to defeat, may
flourish for a time on soil that is irri-
gated in climates of want and misery.
But the moment the human element
triumphs over indignity and man's ability
to care for himself emerges above want,
bigotry is unable to survive.
Purim's lesson is as valid today as
it ever was. People who refuse to yield
to the domination of tyrants must emerge
free. Those who strive for freedom shall
attain it.
*
*
*
We must keep in view, in re-evaluating
the lesson of Purim, that all people's
histories are marked by shadows as well
as rays of sunshine. There have been
many Purims on our calendar, and while
the term "Purim" refers in the main to
,
the festival that emanated from Persia,
there were so many attacks on Jewry,
so many threats to our people's existence,
that the pages of our history are filled
with Purim episodes.
We celebrate Purim in a spirit of
rejoicing. It is a festival for jubilation
for young and old. Throughout the ages
it served us well as a reminder that per-
secutors must be destroyed. This lesson
remains valid to this very day. One
Haman after another has been destroyed
and bigotry continues to be repudiated.
Those who adhere to prejudices must
always await repudiation.
*
*
*
Thus, the joy of the Purim festival
serves to inspire our youth especially to
know that not all events in Jewish life
are marked by sadness.
And for our entire people, and for
our neighbors, there is this Midrashic
lesson in the Purim story: "Kingdoms
arise and kingdoms pass away, but Israel
endureth forever."
.
.
A Vicious, Wicked Bloke
By Maurice M. Shudofsky
Oh, once there was a vicious, wicked bloke
With heart as soft as fang,
His soul was black and grimed like coke,
Oh, he fell foul of a boomerang!
Oh, today we'll carol like a lark
And have no care or cark.
And Esther, lads, she tripped him, oh!
In Shushan long ago,
In moror mar she dipped him, oh!
Purple his phiz did grow!
Oh, today we'll carol like a lark
And feed him to a shark.
Sweet Mordecai he sought to kill,
This Haman damned and dull,
But in the end he swung, this pill,
What a bird-brained, Persian gull!
Oh, today we'll carol like a lark
And muzzle that Hamaniac bark.
Now Hadassah, that's our dear Esther,
Ahasuerus she did please,
He embraced and lovingly caressed her,
For love the King did seize.
Oh, today we'll carol like a lark,
For Haman missed his mark.
Now Mordecai, he led the Jew
Against the fearful foe,
His memory we'll always strew
With roses of perfumed glow.
Oh, today we'll carol like a lark,
And praise Israel's Monarch.
And so on Purim I would advise
To sing and dance _apace,
For we have bagged a Satanic prize,
A felon fell and base.
Oh, today we'll carol like a lark
And get quite shikkur stark.
`Struggle Against Discrimination'
Dr. Lewin's Defense of Shehita,
Attack on Calendar Reform
The salient arguments in defense of Shehita are incorporated
in the collection of addresses delivered before committees of
both Houses of the U.S. Congress by Dr. Isaac Lewin, professor
of history at Yeshiva University and one of the most dis-
tinguished leaders of Orthodox Jewry in America.
Dr. Lewin's addresses before committees of the United
Nations and the U.S. Congress on vital issues are incorporated
in a volume, "In the Struggle Against Discrimination," pub-
lished by Bloch.
Another vital issue with which Dr. Lewin dealt in his
appearances before the UN economic committee was that of
calendar reform and the proposal to introduce a blank day,
which would disrupt the regularity of the Sabbath.
Dr. Lewin represented nearly all the major American
Jewish organizations in the presentation of his appeal; against
legislation that would affect Shehita. In addition to his own
arguments, he has Collected and inserted in his volume the
viewpoints of leading world scientists who defended the JeWish
method of slaughtering cattle as being humane.
Similarly, he gathered the replies of many governments
to the proposals for calendar reform. Many of them expressed
opposition to the plan.
Thus, "In the Struggle Against Discrimination" becomes a
valuable guide for . those who seek information on two,,. of
the most .important, issues affecting _Jewry.