THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue. of July 20, 1951

Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Associations, National
Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road., Detroit 35,
Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

Business Manager

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising Manager

CRTCHINq

up ON fits READINg

HARVEY ZUCKERBERG

City Editor

Sabbath Scriptural SelectiOns
This Sabbath, the twenty-eight day of Tammuz, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Num. 30-2-36:13. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah, 2:4-28; 3:4. 2:4-28;
4:1-2.

Licht benshen, Friday, July 19, 7:45 p.m.

July 19, 1963

Page Four

OL. XLIII. No. 21

The Map Teaches a Serious Lesson

CUS

dip A

BAGDAZ
....

J EWISH t N'T°L

JORDAN

SAUDIA
ARABIA

Paperback Fills Great Need

YEMEN

`The Wild Goats of Ein Gedi':
Israeli Religious Encounters

SUDAN

IVORY
COAST

GHANA

NIGERIA

A new campaign of anti-Israel propa-
ganda is in evidence. Whenever a scheme
for unification of the Arab states is
mentioned, it is inevitably linked with
charges that it is Israel that seeks terri-
torial expansion and that a major as-
piration of the Nasser forces is to des-
troy Israel.
The Ba'athist opposition, the contin-
uing struggles against Nasser's control
in Yemen and other rebellions indicate
that the proposals for a "supreme politi-
cal command," which would include Al-
geria, are far froin realization.
Furthermore, the charge that was
leveled in Washington last week by a
spokesman for Yemen's royalists that
a sum of money provided by the United
States is being used to appease the Egyp-
tian dictator and is aimed for use against
Israel, serves to complicate rather than
clarify the existing issues.
But while Nasser's plans continue to
be challenged and their realization is
not so certain, there is one charge that
needs to be exposed for all it is worth,
and that is the accusation that Israel
seeks territorial gains.
One look at the accompanying map
will indicate the true state of affairs.

ETHIOPIA

SOMALI
REPUBLIC

r
In this map, which shows how Nasser
would link Egypt with Algeria, Syria,
Iraq and Yemen, it is necessary to search
for Israel. The Jewish State occupies so
small an area, it is surrounded by so
many antagonistic nations, that any at-
tempt for additional land would repre-
sent so great a risk that only an act of
insanity could explain aggression.
And while Israel is charged with
seeking land gains, Nasser continues his
own aggressive acts. He has poured in
military forces into Yemen, he is threat-
ening other Arab nations into a war
with the United Arab Republic and his
aims are so clearly marked by greed for
territorial expansion that only the blind
can fail to recognize the realities of the
existing Middle Eastern conditions.
Is it any wonder that the imposition
of military build-ups in the Middle East
prevents the raising of the health, edu-
cational and economic standards of the
Arab nations which surround Israel? If
only there could be a recognition of the
true peace aims — so many benefits
could thereby be derived not only by the
refugees who would then be released
from self-imposed bondage, but by op-
pressed masses in all the Arab countries.

I

More Than Lip Service Needed to Bar Genocide

Myer Feldman, Deputy Special Coun- on the Genocide Convention from the
sel to President Kennedy, was a bit United States Senate if the Administration
ludicrous in his statement, at the recent were to press for such action. Last year
convention of Brith Shalom, that the Ken- Senator James W. Fulbright, chairman
nedy Administration intends to ratify the of the Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
United Nations Genocide Convention if tee, and Senator Eugene J. McCarthy of
the U. S. Senate consents. Minnesota indicated the need for a
If it was a political move for ingratia- "strong push from the White House" to
tion with Jewish voters who have good secure ratification of the agreement de-
reason to resent the failure of the U. S. daring mass murder of racial, religious
to ratify the Genocide Convention, the and ethnic groups as constituting an
able Jewish assistant to the President was international crime.
But aside from the pious lip service
unwise in assuming that a Jewish audi-
ence is unaware that such a convention from Mr. Feldman there has not been a
cannot be ratified by the Administration firm move from the White House in sup-
port of the UN Genocide Convention since
because it is a Senate prerogative.
It is true, as Mr. Feldman said, that President Truman first urged its adop-
the United States played a leading role tion. If we are to be limited to lip service,
in drafting the Genocide Convention and nothing Mr. Feldman or any one else
that President Truman had urged the in the White House will say in order to
Senate to adopt it 15 years ago. In the make political friends will serve the re-
interim, however, although 64 nations quired purpose. What is needed is what
already have ratified the convention, Senator McCarthy called "a strong push
there are strong influences, emanating from the White House." Until we see
from the American Bar Association, which such action, mere lip service will remain
have stood in the way of positive action. lacking in the required solemnity in sup-
Mr. Feldman may be right in assum- port of a cause that began as one of the
ing the favorable action could be expected first human revulsions against Nazism.

"The Wild Goats of Ein Gedi: A Journal of• Religious En-
counters in the Holy Land," by Herbert Weiner, has been issued
as a paperback jointly by Meridian Books of World Publishing
Co. and the Jewish Publication Society of America.
Already reviewed in these columns when it first appeared
in hard covers, Rabbi Weiner's most informative book deserves
added attention. It is a most valuable explanation of the nu-
merous religious practices in Israel. It describes the various ele-
ments in Jewry and is a very fair evaluation not only of the
numerous Jewish groups but of the Christian missionaries and
the non-Jewish sects as well.
Israel's religious problems will be much better understood
after reading this exceptionally well written book. The interviews
with religious leaders and with laymen and the descriptions of
Israeli events and developments read like fiction in this factual
book. It fills a great need in this era of misunderstanding of
events related to the religious conflicts in the Jewish State.

Dr. Lehrman 's Evaluation of
'The World of the Midrash'

Continuing its publication policy, the World Jewish Congress
has enlarged its Popular Jewish Library with its latest book,
"The World of the Midrash," by Dr. S. M. Lehrman of London,
England, published by Thomas Yoseloff (11 E. 36th, N.Y. 16).
The value of this new book on the Midrash lies in its brevity,
conciseness and clarity.
Explaining the origin and the nature of the Midrash—"born
because of the economy of expression adopted by the Torah
which looks askance at tautology and the redundant word or
letter" — Rabbi Lehrman describes the importance of the mid-
rashic storehouse of folklore and wisdom.
He states that "the Midrash is the best refutation of the
non-Jewish definition of the Torah as the Law, an error de-
liberately repeated in order to stress that the Christian Testa-
ment pictures God as Love, whereas the Jewish God is one of
vengeance, jealous and exacting. There is little in the Midrash
to corroborate this fallacy. Its main task is not apologetic and
defensive, but to shed light on obscure passages, to harmonize
seeming paradoxes and to reconcile apparent contradictions.
It also did something more. Whenever new demands of life
needed explanation in the light of an all-embracing faith, it
was the Midrash that courageously stepped into the breach,
supplementing, adjusting and occasionally modifying. . . . The
Midrash, with all its fascinating spiritual wisdom, riveted the
attention of all those who valued learning and supplied that
first breath of imagintaion which gave sparkling new life to
Judaism."
He proceeds to show how the Midrash serves as "a map
designed for righteous living, a civilization which steels fortitude
and refines character."
Step by step he shows how the Midrash is related to faith
and to man. to Jews and to Judaism. He devotes an informative
chapter to an evaluation of the Sabbath as it is delineated in the
Midrash; to traditional views on marriage and a score of other
ethical values.
While not belittling the effects of the Zionist movement
and the genius of Dr. Theodor Herzl, Dr. Lehrman asserts that
"the most vital cause for the return of the Jewish people to
rebuild a new Jewish state is the undying love for the Land of
Israel expressed in our sacred literature and not least in the
Midrash." An entire chapter is devoted to a discussion of "Loyalty
to Zion" as expressed in the Midrash.
Other chapters deal with "The Discipline of Sorrow" and
"The Messiah and Life Immortal." Biographical sketches are
eppended of principal rabbis mentioned in the Midrash and
referred to in this book.
Rabbi Lehrman has written a valuable description of mid-
rashic lore and his book enhances the World Jewish Congress'
Popular Jewish Library.