THE JEWISH NEWS
Middle-East Incendiary
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 48235 Mich.,
VE 8-9364. Subscription $8 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE RYAMS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
is Sabbath, the 23rd day of Adar II, 5725, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion: Levit. 9:1-11:47; Num. 19:1-22; prophetical portion: Ezekiel
36:16-38.
Licht benshen, Friday, March 26, 6:32 p.m.
VOL. XLVII, No. 5
Page 4
March 26, 1965
Israel Amid M.E. Boiling Cauldron
Demonstrations, saber-rattling, threats to
destroy Israel and attacks on foreign missions
have been so numerous in Arab countries
that the dangers have been disregarded.
Nasserism has been taken with a grain of salt,
and the Egyptian dictator's boasts have as-
sumed a "cry wolf" role.
Yet, any spark anywhere in this troubled
world, especially in the present Middle East-
ern area of insecurity, must be reckoned with
as a threat to peace.
Any conflagration anywhere could erupt
into a world crisis, and it is of the utmost
urgency that what is happening in Arab coun-
tries should not be treated too lightly.
The new Arab outbursts, like so many of
the previous threats aimed at Israel, are ludi-
crous. The current one is especially puzzling,
in view of Arab attempts to interfere with
the internal affairs of other lands. One would
imagine that a Bonn-Israel diplomatic agee-
ment would be judged as the business only of
the two countries involved. The United States,
which has a much more vital stake in such
matters than the Arabs could possibly en-
vision for themselves, uses the right to intern-
al freedom of action by governments involved
as an explanation for silence in the matter of
the Bonn-Israel developments. But for Nasser
and his cohorts it is an occasion for renewed
spewing of hatred against Israel. This is the
simplest explanation of what has happened in
the Middle East during the negotiations for
diplomatic relations conducted between Israel
and West Germany.
In the meantime, a grave issue has de-
veloped for Israel in its relationships with
Germany. The establishment of diplomatic
relations between the two countries was in-
evitable, yet it is accompanied by challenging
problems related to the holocaust.
A friendly relationship between Israel
and the Germans could serve as a beginning
for either forgiveness or forgetfulness — or
both — of the tragic events of the Hitler era.
Yet, as Israel's Prime Minister Levi Eshkol
told the Knesset, "the account of conscience
and history emerging from the Nazi holocaust
lies far beyond the limits of any political
act. . . ."
It won't be easy for Israel's leaders to
justify all the efforts to establish new founda-
tions of friendship between Israel and Ger-
many. While too many already have forgot-
ten the occurrences of the 1930s and the early
1940s which resulted in the murder of a third
of the Jewish people, there will be need for
constant reminder of the consequences of
diplomatic inanities which permitted a de-
praved mind to bring destruction upon a
world whose lack of vision caused it to fail
to act promptly against a developing menace.
That menace may still be with us. There
are too many poisoned minds that do not
understand how the Nazi poison which has
seeped into many hearts continues to work
upon weak minds. The dangers that emanat-
ed from Hitler Germany still are with us to a
degree, and it is inconceivable that even the
most cordial diplomatic relations could pos-
sibly wipe out the agonized memories of the
past.
It is clear that establishment of diplomatic
relations between Israel and West Germany
must not be a step towards ending the prose-
cution of Nazis. If this were the case, we
would be entering upon another era of poli-
tical immorality and of a resumption of in-
human relations. As long as Nazis are being
caught and prosecuted, the memory of the
past will stay alive as a warning against the
repetition of the crimes which resulted in
the most horrifying tragedies in world history.
Whatever the new Bonn-Jerusalem devel-
opments, they must not end the compensa-
tions for the losses that were substained by
Jews and other peoples during the Nazi re-
gime. Nothing can possibly compensate or
atone for the crimes, but the sufferers and
their survivors must, at least, be enabled to
regain and retain a measure of economic se-
curity of which they were deprived by the
Germans under Hitler.
Also: there must be full recognition that
Israel must be provided with proper weapons
for defense. Constantly under threat, always
endangered by the overwhelming numbers of
its enemies who are saber-rattling without
end; the right to self-defense must not be
denied to the small nation that is overpowered
by numbers and by the size of the territories
whence the threats are made upon Israel's
existence.
*
*
Meanwhile the cauldron boils, and Israel
is constantly threatened by its fumes.
Arab demonstrations are aimed not at
Bonn, but against Israel.
When an unruly mob burns an American
library or attacks one of our embassies, it is
demonstrating against a nation that provides
it with food and with other assistance, and
hatred for Israel is used as an excuse for
rioting and for molesting representatives of
a friendly nation. When Nasser spouts venom
he usually makes Israel his target.
Under such conditions, Israel must re-
main on the alert. There is an endless need
for preparedness, and no matter what little
Israel will do, the big neighbors often emerge
as the affronted.
Part of the blame for the developing dan-
gers lies at the doors of the democratic na-
tions which have not stopped appeasing Nas-
ser. If only they would call his bluff, there
might be an immediate end to rioting and to
abuse of friendships by Arabs against their
benefactors.
Perhaps the new Israel-German agree-
ment will in some fashion change the world
picture, since Germany now will be compelled
to defy the Arab threats.
But Israel may always be compelled to be
on her own where its security is involved.
And while providing her own defense, Israel
will need the means for that defense .
While the cauldron boils, Israel's ability to
protect herself is the best way of cooling the
heated atmosphere.
Jewish Music Mo nth's Opportunities
Vast opportunities are afforded by the
annual observance of Jewish Music Month to
encourage an acquisition of knowledge of the
liturgical songs as well as the secular music
that has been created in recent decades.
The several concerts arranged by Detroit
congregations and their concerts have re-
sulted in renewed interest in the music of
the synagogue and in folksongs which always
charm audiences and lead to a search for facts
related to festivals and other occasions that
are noted in the music of our people.
Music Month is an occasion to pay honor
to our many noted composers, and it is espe-
cially noteworthy that the musical genius to
whom the current Music Month observance
is dedicated is the distinguished composer
Dr. A. W. Binder. The work of this eminent
musician has left an indelible mark upon the
musical field.
In the various communities, Music Month
provides festive occasions to rejoice over
artistic creativity in Jewish ranks. The observ-
ance of Music Month continues through April
24, thus providing opportunities to utilize the
occasion for emphasis upon the hymns of
Passover as well as the general field of Jew-
ish music.
'Menorah Treasury': Important
Se!ections From a Great Journal
An older generation of American Jews will recall nostalgically the
years when Menorah was an important Jewish cultural force on Ameri-
can campuses.
Except for the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, and possibly one or two
other fraternities, Menorah was the oldest Jewish student organization.
It preceded the Hillel Foundations by many years. Even in the years
when the Intercollegiate Zionist Association and later the Student
Zionist Organization and Avukah, functioned on the campuses, Menorah
was a power for good.
It was from the Menorah Association, which was organized by the
late Henry Hurwitz, that the Menorah Journal emerged as a powerful
journal. It outlasted the organization, and its founder was its editor
from 1915, when the first issue appeared, until his death in 1961.
Such a vast amount of important material was incorporated in
Menorah Journal that a compilation of its most important material
inevitably forms a valuable volume. Such is "The Menorah Treasury:
Harvest of Half a Century," edited by Leo IV. Schwartz and pub-
lished by the Jewish Publication Society of America.
This compilation represents an important chapter in American
Jewry's cultural history. Jewry's best minds, noted Christian scholars,
contributed to Menorah Journal. The newly-produced anthology is a
tribute to the Menorah founder and it, at the same time, reconstructs
an era during which major Jewish issues were discussed critically,
analytically, in high literary style.
The Schwartz-edited JPS book commences with a poem, "Menorah,"
written for the first issue by William Ellery Leonard. It contains a
number of the noteworthy illustrations which helped make the journal
famous.
The 960-page volume concludes with a long poem by Allen Banfer.
"We Cannot Bid Farewell," concluding the history of the journal thus:
Ultimates aside,
Men have their aims, and Israel her pride.
She stands among the rest, austere, aloof,
Still the peculiar people, armed in proof
Of Selfhood, whilst the others merge or die
We cannot say farewell to voices crying
Courage: we cannot bid farewell to them
Whose memory shines upon our dark dejection,
And strengthens us whose last defense is our
Conviction that we cannot say farewell . .
The variety of articles, poems, stories in Menorah Journal is indi-
cated in Schwartz's selection of titles for various groupings. Under "The
Heritage", heading, the first section of the book, appear articles by
George F. Moore on "The Idea of Torah in Judaism"—a classic by the
eminent Christian scholar; Horace M. Kallen's "Whither Israel"; Salo
W. Baron's "Ghetto and Emancipation" and other essays.
Then there are the sections on "First and Last Things" which
include works by Viscount Samuel, Israel Zangwill, Milton Steinberg,
Robert Gordis and others; "The Spell of Memory," "Fiction and Truth,"
"Chronicles," "The Spirit of Irony," "Poets' Legacy," "Man the Creator,"
"The Promise of America."
The list of notables whose writings are included in these sections
form a veritable who's who in literature and in world leadership. They
give evidence to the importance of "The Menorah Treasury" and to
the important place that was held by Menorah Journal.
Study of Legal Aspects of Cosmic Space
Conquest Published by WSU Press
In "Cosmic International Law," published by Wayne State Univer-
sity Press, Modesto Seara Vasquez of the National University of Mexico
City discusses the legal aspects of the exploration and conquest of
space.
In an English translation from the Spanish by Elaine Malley, this
volume evaluates problems of space navigation, deals with the legal
status of space vehicles and with responsibility and control involving
explorations.
Golda Meir,. Israel's foreign minister, is among the authorities
whose statements made at the United Nations are quoted in this
volume. Mrs. Meir, speaking in Israel's behalf, said the new scientific
achievements, having made it possible for man to begin to explore
cosmic space, "have linked us all in ever more intimate association
but at the same time have cast upon us the shadow of potential de-
struction."