Rabbi and Baby —Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev

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WASHINGTON (JTA)—The Egy-
ptian National Assembly has sub-
mitted a protest to the U.S. Sen-
ate and House of Representatives
against the American sale of light
jet bombers to Israel.
The National Assembly of Egypt,
acting on a motion adopted by that
body, told Congress that the deal
was a "violent stab at the heart of

are aimed against Arab rights In
Palestine." He said: "The U.S.
arms supplied to Israel will
strengthen the Israeli aggressive
force, and induce them to commit
further aggression."
A high State Department - official
said, meanwhile that the United
States is continuing consideration
of Egypt's request for renewal of

the Arab nation" and would "have
great effect on the relations be-
tween the Arab and American peo-
ples." Belief was voiced in the
protest that the American consci-
ence "refused to support the forces
of aggression embodied in Israel."
The Assembly expressed "strong
denunciation of the behavior the
U.S. government has embarked
upon by providing Israel with of-
fensive arms." It was charged that

the aid agreement that expires
June 30. Assistant Secretary of
State Douglas MacArthur II, said

in a letter to Sen. Jacob K. Javits,
that "our decision in this matter
involves complex considerations re-
lating not only to U.S. - U.A.R. re-
lations but to the U.S. ,position in
the Near East generally."
"We will continue to weigh
these often conflicting considera-
:ions carefully," MacArthur
wrote. "Meanwhile we feel no use-
ful purpose would be served by
engaging in public debate with
President Nasser. You may be sure,
however, that the Secretary of
State is well aware of Congression-
al interest in this sensitive subj-
ect."

Israel was preparing aggression
and had an "expansionist plan." A
charge was made that the U.S. Gov-

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ernment has intensified tensions
a n d "endangered international
peace and sectu-ity."
Egyptian Premier Muhyi Ad-

THE /1//00.4/'S 84SY/

Din, addressing the Egyptian As-
sembly, denounced the U.S. action.

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He said the United States was no

longer content in extending econo-
mic aid to Israel and putting •
"pressure" on other nations to sell
arms to Israel "but has itself now
supplied Israel with arms, al-
though it realizes that these arms

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This cartoon is reproduced from "A Picture Parade of Jewish History" by Morris Epstein, pub-

lished by Sheingold Publishers, New York by special arrangement with the authors and publishers.

Dr. Epstein's accompanying ex-
planatory essay on Levi Yitzhak of
Berditchev follows:
He loved God and he loved the 1
common man. That sums up the
warm and tender personality of
Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev.
He lived and breathed Hassi-
dism almost from the moment he
was born in 1740, for he came
from a long line of rabbis, and his
teacher was Rabbi Dov Ber of
Meseritz, disciple of the Ba'al
Shem Toy. For his bride he chose
the daughter of Shneur Zalman of
Ladi, founder of the Habad branch
of the Hassidic movement.
He was hounded by the Mitnag-
dim, as the opponents of Hassi-
dism were called. Forced by them
to leave several rabbinical posi-
tions, he wandered from place to
place until he finally settled in
Berditchev. Still, he refused to
lessen his love for Israel, and his
prayers for his people were so fer-
vent that it was said that the soul
of Rabbi Akiba of old had been
reborn in him.
He directed his prayers to the
Almighty, demanding that He stop
the suffering of poor people at
once and take better care of them.
"Derbarmdiger Gott!" (Merciful
God!) he would cry, and soon Levi
Yitzhak was himself referred to as
"The Merciful."
There was ample reason for this,
judging by the beautiful stories
that are told about Levi Yitzhak.
He would hold up the services
until the blacksmiths and tailors
and shoemakers arrived at the
synagogue. One Rosh Hashanah the
rabbi raised the shofar to his lips,
then hesitated, his eyes wandering
to the rear of the synagogue.
The congregation became impa-
tient but the rabbi kept looking at
one of the congregants. At last he
took a deep breath and blew the
shofar.
Later, some of the people asked
him why he had waited.
"It was for the poor tailor that
I was waiting," said Rabbi Levi
Yitzhak. "He cannot recite the
prayers, for the only Hebrew he
knows is the Aleph Bet. I saw his
distress. The tailor was pleading
with God, saying, '0 great God, I

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
18—Friday, June 3, 1966

cannot recite the prayers because
I am ignorant. But I Know all the
letters of the Aleph Bet. If I recite
these letters over and over again,
will You please take them and
make up prayers as beautiful as
those in the prayer book?'
"And that is why I waited," .Rab-
bi Levi Yitzhak ended his explana-
tion. "I wanted to give this man a

chance to recite the Hebrew alpha-
bet as many times as he wished."
In 1809 the gentle rabbi died.
Over his grave his followers placed
a simple marker. And until the
Nazis destroyed the Jewish world
of Eastern Europe, Hassidism
would gather to pray at the grave
of the rabbi who once prayed for
his people.

How Can a JewBe a Drop-Out?

By DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright, 1966, JTA, Inc.)
A Jewish drop-out has been de-
fined as one who quits school
after getting his M.A. degree. So
a Jewish drop-out isn't so bad.
Of course, he could go further
and get his doctorate, heaven for-
bid! It's like the story that was
told when the German Jewish refu-
gees began to flock to Israel in
the Nazi days. It happened one
time in a Tel Aviv bus that some-
one took_ sick and the bus driver
asked if there was by chance a
doctor on the bus. Fifteen of the
passengers arose.
The percentage of Jews going
to college is almost double that
of the rest of the population.
According to the Midrash, King
David had a kind of musical alarm
clock which woke him every morn-
ing for his studies. Mainly, I think
we got that way from the Talmud
and thereby hangs a tale.
The most outstanding figure of
the Talmud was Akiba. Akiba in
the beginning had been worse than
a drop-out. He had never been
a drop-in. For long, not only had
he refused to partake of the foun-
tain of study but was very hostile
to those who did study. They were
"squares" to him and he didn't
want to have anything to do with
them. When he met them, he ad-
mitted, he felt so hostile, he
wanted to bite them.
It took Akiba a long time to get

over his hostility to study. At the
age of 40, he enrolled in school
for the first time; but he made
such headway, he became the
head of a college said to have had
40,000 pupils. Not bad for a col-
lege which had no football team,
although it had some athletes.
Rabbi Gamaliel was said to be a
good juggler, and Resh Lakish, I

believe, had at one time partici-
pated in the Rome gladiator shows.

Akiba became the outstanding
figure of the Talmud which gave
a new slant to Judaism, with its
heightened emphasis on stud y.
Learning became as important as
prayer, a kind of worship in itself.
It became a mitzvah to study and
learn. That is to say it pleased
God. And Jews for centuries bent
their backs over the Talmud, study-
ing until study became a habit.
After all, we don't play ball to
get a better job. We don't do
everything for a job's sake:
I think the radio should call
out: "It's a mitzvah to get an
education."
What drop-out wouldn't go back
to school if he knew it was a
mitzvah?

Javits- Hints He'll Take
Top Job, Not 2nd Place

WASHINGTON (JTA) — New
York Senator Jacob K. Javits indi-
cated Sunday night that any bid he
made for national office would be
as the Republican candidate for
President, not vice president.
Sen. Javits was mentioned by
New York Governor Rockefeller
last week as a possible candidate
on the Republican national ticket
along with Michigan Governor
George Romney.
When the question was raised
in a taped television interview
Sunday night, the Jewish Senator
said "You have got to back a
favorite son for the Presidential
nomination. That is how the vote
of the delegation will be cast." He
said that Governor Rockefeller
had not backed him for vice' pres- --
ident. "He started to do that
months ago and found that he was
wrong," he declared.

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