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, Mich. 48235.
VE 8-9364. Subscription VI a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
City Editor
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the twenty-fourth day of lyar., .5727, the following Scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, N171. 1:1-4:20. Prophetical portion. Hosea 2:1-22.
Tora portion for Rosh Ilodesh Sivan, Friday, June 9,
Candle lighting, Friday. June 2, 7:44 p.m.
%'Ol.. I.I. No. 11
Num.
Page Four
28:1-15
June 2, 1967
Middle East War-Mongering Bluffs
From time to time. Arab threats against Israel's troops are alerted with greater con-
Israel assume such serious proportions that cern.
war seems inevitable.
The major cause for concern is that such
Every time a Jordanian or a Syrian poli- repetitive war talks interfere with one of
tician challenges Nasser and accuses him of Israel's chief sources of income-tourism. It
being too easy in his dealings with Israel,
regrettable that some people become fright-
the Egyptian dictator makes another war- is
by mere war talk and fall prey to fears.
threatening declaration. This has been evi- ened
Actually there is less cause for fear than
dent for a number of years, and the Israel- people
realize. There is a feeling of security
Arab relations have not been helped by such within Israel
that is unmatched anywhere
saber-rattling.
and it is deplorable that war talks should
The fact is that the Arabs are not anxious create panic among prospective travelers to
for a war, that Russia, while supporting the Israel. There is very little of real danger
Arabs, especially Syria, discourages warfare. to those living in or visiting in Israel, be-
But the threats continue, the mouthings of cause of the measures Israel always takes
war talks go on uninterruptedly, and it is to protect the people in its midst. It is
only when there is a mass movement of Arab important that this should be appreciated
military forces or when there are excessive and that all efforts should be made to prevent
i nfiltrations of El Fatah terrorists that panic among prospective tourists.
Futility of Action Against Arab Boycott
There is an unfortunate situation involv- pro-Arab elements as part of their attempts
ing the U. S. Department of Commerce in to undermine Israel's existence.
relation to Arab-Jewish relations.
Congressman Seymour Halpern has made
important observation that Damascus and
In spite of adopted regulations which were the
Cairo have been centers of pro-Hanoi and
intended to prevent the spread of anti-Israel pro-Viet
Cong operations and while there
boycott activities, the pressures upon Ameri- has been an
boycott of Communist
can firms from Israel-hating sources con- trading the American
Arabs have undertaken to deal
tinues.
with the anti-American representatives. Yet
There is something immoral about the this country tolerates the Arab boycott of
whole situation. Normal business activities Israel which similarly is tantamount to giv-
conducted by American firms are being in- ing courage to Israel's enemies who are at
terfered with and, contrary to all interna- the same time the servants of Communism.
tional good will relations, the hatred for Israel
For a number of years Senator Ernest
is being carried over into the most elemen-
and others have been warning
tary relations between firms representing Gruening
against such Arab activities. But govern-
friendly nations.
mental departments have ignored the pro-
Thus, Jewish concerns are suffering from tests. It seems useless to make any effort
pressures emanating from the anti-Israel com- whatever to put an end to the immoral boy-
bines, and industries that have had associa- cott, no matter how frequently Congress may
lions with Israelis are being dictated to by act against such anti-Israel activities.
U. S. Press Freedom
2.02
Italy
A Freedom of Information Center survey
1.37
Greece
conducted by the "Press Independence and
+0.09
Yugoslavia
Critical Ability (PICA) Index" of the Uni-
-1.43
versity of Missouri, shows that the freest
Portugal
press in the world is that of the Netherlands,
Spain -1.56
with Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Swe-
-1.72
Hungary
den following in that order and the United
Czechoslovakia
-2.45
States listed as sixth. Thus, five European
Poland
countries rank above the U. S., although our
-2.72
Bulgaria
press thereupon supersedes the other Euro-
-3.05
East Germany
pean countries, while one Communist coun-
-3.08
U.S.S.R.
try, Yugoslavia, ranks above non-Communist
-3.20
Rumania
Portugal and Spain.
-3.51
Albania
This survey is of great interest as an
Aiming to measure a nation's independ-
evaluation of the position our press holds as a ence in its newspaper service and radio broad-
free instrument in a democratic society. PICA casting and the extent of criticism of local
Index ratings range from +4 as absolute and national governments, the PICA Index
freedom and -4 as absolute control and the strives to arrive at facts which should in-
countries evaluated rate as follows:
spire concern over the basic issues involved
in the people's freedom.
The Netherlands
3.25
Switzerland ,
3.14
It is difficult to believe that our freedom
Finland
is not as absolute as that of several other
3.05
countries. Perhaps there is a hesitancy to
Norway
2.98
criticize in time of a conflict with a foreign
Sweden
2.77
power. But what the survey should accom-
United States
2.71
plish is to cause those involved in the com-
Denmark
2.68
munications spheres to examine their own
Belgium
2.58
records and to judge for themselves whether
England
2.37
they have fallen below the desired mark for
West Germany
2.36
total freedom. A survey of this sort should
Ireland
2.26
go a long way in encouraging the greater
2.08
Austria
freedoms that are so necessary in our demo-
2.04
cratic society.
France
Zeitlin's Judaean State History
Continues in Second JPS Volume
A period in ancient Jewish history that was marked by tensions,
tragedies, court intrigues, the changing relationships between the
rulers of the Second Commonwealth and the Roman Empire, leading
up to the Jewish revolt against Rome, is recorded by the world's out-
standing authority on that period in Jewish history, Dr. Solomon Zeitlin,
prqvcnmw,o,
in the second volume of his monumen-
tal "The Rise and Fall of the Juda-
ean State," published by the Jewish
Publication Society of America.
The current volume covers the
years 37 BCE to 66 CE. It deals pri-
marily with the era of King Herod
and his successors. It is a thorough
review of the political, social and
religious aspects of a time when Jews
struggled for independence, when
rulers played the game of the Roman
Caesars, when parents and children
were suspicious of each other in their
quest for power and their desire
to rule.
There were many murders.
The Jewish masses were kept in
submission, yet there were up- k;
risings and both the interloping
rulers and the Romans feared
the consequences of the possible
suppression of their religious
Dr. Zeitlin
devotions.
In his analyses of the Herodian period, his descriptions of Roman
attitudes and the efforts of the ruling classes to appease the Romans,
Dr. Zeitlin, who is professor of rabbinic law and lore at Dropsie
College and is editor of both the Jewish Quarterly Review and the
Jewish Apocryphan Literature, has gathered all available data. He
often goes very minutely into the various factors that made up the
story of the Judaean State.
Thus, not only the Judaean element in that epochal period but
the Roman as well are fully covered, and the second volume of "The
Rise and Fall of the Judaean State" is as much Roman as it is Jew-
ish history.
Adding inunensely to the significance of the story of Judaea
when it was a Roman province Is Prof. Zeitlin's coverage of the
major factors in the rise of Christianity. This volume devotes a
valuable series of chapters to discussion of Jesus' role, to the
youth, Messianic claim, arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The
theological interpretations, the roles of Jesus' reported followers,
the fact that "the ideological Jesus, who revolutionized a large
part of the world's thinking and changed the course of civiliza-
tion, began with the crucifixion," are part of a story condensed
but splendidly covered in this immense work.
Dr. Zeitlin indicates that the last ruling force in Judaea "turned
out tragically for the State of Judaea. It played a double role. It
thought it would achieve its goal by shrewdness. Speaking openly for
war, inwardly it was for peace. It wanted to disarm the extremists
so that it should have all power concentrated in its hands, and thus
be allowed to make peace with Rome. It failed utterly. This govern-
ment was greatly responsible for turning a revolution into a civil war.
All of its members were assassinated later by the very extremists whom
they had sought to undermine." In this fashion he introduces in
advance the third volume Dr. Zeitlin is working on which will deal
with the events of the Judaean last war with Rome.
In the course of his descriptive labors, Dr. Zeitlin analyzes the
status of the Pharisees Essenes and Sadducees. His history is a soci-
ological as well as religious and political review of that sad era that
was marked by so much bloodshed, by so many murderous occurrences
in which ruling classes that were concerned only with power were
involved.
The supplementary third part of the book dealing with the social
and religious developments in the 1st Century BCE and the 1st
Century CE, the valuable appendices, the chronological tables of high
priests and key figures in the era under review-all attest to the
author's great scholarship. Also: of the 465 pages in the book, more
than 100 comprise the appended notes and appendices. Dr. Zeitlin
thus continues to enrich Jewish literature with his historical analyses
of a period whose facts he has mastered, acknowledgedly, more au-
thoritatively than any other living Jewish scholar.