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.