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, Bitch. 48235
VE 8.9364. Subscription $8 a year. Foreign S7.
Second Class Postage Paid , at Detroit, Michigan
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-second day of Heshvan, 5728, the following scriptural
synagogues:
read
in
our
selections will be
Pentateuchal portion, Gen. 23:1-25:18. Prophetical portion, I Kings 1:1-31.
Candle Lighting, Friday, Nov. 24, 4:45 p.m.
Page Four
VOL. LII. No. 10
November 24, 1967
Soviet Russia Plots M.E. Tragedies
Lt. Gen. Sir John B. Glubb — the Glubb
Pasha of the Arab Legion that kept Israel
from the Old City in the 1948 War of Libera-
tion — was not the first or the only one of
the world's military experts to suggest that
Russia deliberately strove and hoped for
Egypt's defeat in order to gain a controlling
position in the Middle East. Writing for the
Christian Science Monitor, Gen. Glubb em-
phasized that the Soviet Union "wanted
Egypt to be defeated." It is all, he contends,
a matter of gaining ascendancy in the Middle
East.
He may be right in his contention. Gen.
Glubb offers the view that "the Soviet gov-
vernment, bent on securing complete control
of Egypt, decided that 1967 was the year in
which to act, owing to the ever-increasing
involvement of the United States in Viet-
nam. The problem was how this could he
done without spoiling Soviet `antiimperialist'
propaganda."
But even with all of Russia's help, even
if Egyptians had been able to operate the
Russian war vehicles, Israel undoubtedly
would have been the victor. At the Golan
Heights, Russians were giving the orders,
Russian officers were operating the war ma-
chine and in Syria Russia did not want Israel
to win. This is where Glubb Pasha steps in
as perhaps the not-too-certain prophet and
analyst.
What Glubb Pasha and the Russians know
— indeed, knew! — is that a people with its
back to the wall, a people determined to live,
can not be defeated if it has the social con-
sciousness to fight for life.
These realities do not delimit the Rus-
sian menace in the Middle East. Latest in-
formation is that both Syria and Egypt now
again have the military equipment to match
what has been destroyed by Israel. Making
the situation much worse is the intrusion
of thousands of Russian military experts into
the area to guide the Arab enemies of Is-
rael towards a new attack.
The danger to Israel and the menace to
the United States in the Middle East are grow-
ing rapidly. Israel must fight for life and
the United States must protect the democratic
idea in the Middle East. Unlike the situa-
tion in Vietnam, Israel has never asked and
will not ask for manpower from this country.
But if your government is wise, it will pro-
vide the means necessary for Israel to retain
its lifeline within the New Israel. Under a
condition of security for Israel can we and
the democratic forces in the world hope for
retention of political conscientiousness and
fair play. Without these the entire world is
in danger of moral collapse.
Priority for Jewish Cultural Institutions
lank
1Meah Shearim Scene of New
Meah Shearim, the Jerusalem sector in which a large group of
ultra-Orthodox Jews lives under crowded conditions — the quarter
whence come reports of resentment against Sabbath observance mini-
skirts, failure to wear headgear, short-sleeved dresses—has been in
the limelight for many years. Many stories are told about the people
residing there, the reactions of many of the quarter's residents against
the State of Israel and its modernity, the insistence of many that
statehood must come with the arrival of the Messiah.
The Jewish Publication Society has issued a volume of most in-
teresting short stories about Meah Shearim and its inhabitants. Under
the title "In the Courtyards of Jerusalem," the JPS 'volume, by Chaim
Brandwein, appears in a translation from the Hebrew by Hillel Hal-
kin. There are appropriate illustrations by Joan Drescher.
The author, a native of Jerusalem, now associate professor of mod-
ern Hebrew literature at Brandeis University, in 1960 won the Prize
for Hebrew Literature awarded by the foundation of Louis LaMed of
Detroit. Prof. Brandwein's intimate acquaintance with Meah Shearim
enabled him to portray life there with great charm.
The eight stories in this volume portray life in the quarter
under consideration in a most interesting fashion. The story about
Hatzkel the Grave Digger, for example, deals with a chap who was
forced out of Safer] because of a prank, who was derided in Mesh
Shearim and jeered at, to whom was addressed the cruel question,
"who'll dig the grave for the grave-digger?" and for whom the noble
moment came when all left the area during the Israel War of In-
dependence and he alone remained. Then the victorious soldiers
arrived. He began to gather the wounded, the sick, the dead. He
rushed into a danger spot to bring back the body of a wounded
girl soldier and the tragic end is of a digger with no one to dig
the grave for him. The story is told with great feeling. It is a
human document that reveals the cruelties among people as well
as the strength of character that occasionally moves even the most
ridiculed of men.
Malkaleh in the initial story, "A Broken Melody," also points
to the extremism that is often labeled fanaticism. Here, too. Malkaleh
who is a victim of a marriage to a very pious young man becomes
moody. The war breaks out. Malkaleh becomes involved in encoun-
ters with Israeli soldiers during the shelling of Jerusalem. She re-
turns a changed woman. She meets with a reproving family. She
leaves, returns shabbily dressed, leaves again never to return. Thus
we see the conflicts among those who make up the area known as
Mesh Shearim.
The effects of the war and the involvements that result when
Meah Shearim residents have contacts with those in the outside
world—those who are strange to tfiem because of the self-imposed
boundaries—emerge from these stories. "In the Courtyards of Jeru-
salem" serves well in providing a new understanding of the Meah
Shearim people, their attitudes, their way of life.
Having established the basic principle like the one scheduled for the coming week
assists in this university's advancement.
that educational efforts must receive first
consideration in communal planning, that
Then there are the local duties. Our
cultural aims should be emphasized in all schools must receive all available assistance
undertakings for the advancement of Jewish
and the time has come for fullest apprecia-
communal endeavors, it becomes necessary tion of the Day School system. It is from
to view with great sincerity the appeals that
such quarters that major hope stems for most
are addressed to our people for various fund- serious advancement of Jewish cultural tasks
raising projects.
in American Jewish ranks.
In view of the dangers that face Israel,
We have three Day Schools in Detroit It
because of the obligations incumbent upon
would have been better to have a unified Day
all Jews, everywhere, to stand firm in defense
School system. In the meantime the plans
of Israel's position, the great emphasis of the
of the Hillel Day School to assure the con-
era in which we live is in behalf of the United tinuation of its great educational efforts by
Jewish Appeal and the Israel Bond drives.
means of a structure of its own to house
Nevertheless, life's functions do not begin or all its school activities must receive the type
end with military and economic defensive of priority for education about which we
mechanisms. If there are to be effective pro-
have been boasting for many years.
tective instruments in defense of Israel, the
The Hillel Day School's efforts must
people and the state, and of world Jewry,
triumph. To attain all its objectives the
there must be understanding and an ability
School must havephysical facilities. It must
to forge the instruments for defense. We must
have science laboratories. It must be able to
have knowledge, scientific skill, ability to con-
function on a high level. It is urgent that
duct resarch and the basic means of assuring
our community should assure the erection of
retention of cultural values.
the planned school building. In this way we
will assure a community's sincerity in its as-
That is why, in an era of tension, of dip-
sertion of loyalty to our people's cultural
lomatic wrangling, of double talk on the
needs.
international arena, we must think also in
terms of training a people ready to face all
eventualities, prepared to overcome the force
of numbers, of unfriendly neighbors and an
unfriendly world, with an appreciation of the
Only the blind and the totally deluded can
needs for survival and a readiness to retain
possibly fail to recognize the emergence of
the courage and the determination that leads
As part of the JPS Library of Jewish Classics, the Jewish Publi-
a
new
anti-Semitic trend marked by a unity cation
to survivalism.
Society of America has just reissued "The Treatise Ta'anit
of bigots from hitherto inconceivable quarters. of the Babylonian Talmud," critically edited and provided with a
There are obligations to Israeli, national
It
was
unimaginable
that
anti-Semitism
translation
and notes by Henry Matter.
and local institutions that cannot be shirked.
This precious talmudic literary gem is the second in the series
This is where the importance of aims at would suddenly gain ground on the university of JPS
classics. "Ta'anit" is presented in complete Hebrew text with
campus.
Yet,
thanks
to
delusions
regarding
advancing Israel's higher institutions of
the civil rights issue, it is now a reality: translations on parallel pages.
learning conies. The universities — the
The extensive notes also appear in the Hebrew text and in the
bigots on the left have found a scapegoat in
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and the Weizmann
accompanying translations.
Institute must be kept on a high level. For Jews whose libertarianism they deride.
The introduction is in itself a scholarly work that defines talmudic
In Negro ranks there is an antagonism learning and noted scholars who devoted their lives to the study of
Detroiters, the appeals in behalf of Bar-Ilan
that is deplorable and inexcusable. It is be- the Talmud and its evaluation.
University have become established and rec-
ing
minimized, but it exists.
"Ta'anit" was selected to be the first of the books for a critical
ognized functions which lead to our com-
As a result primarily of Israel triumph edition of the Talmud by the late ProL Solomon Schechter, as the
munity's commendable participation in a
introduction to the JPS volume explains, "obviously because of its
in
June,
Cairo
and
Moscow,
Nasser's
palace
great effort. Bar-Ilan University has made
and the Kremlin, have combined forces to great value as a source for Jewish history, liturgy, folklore and other
great progress. It has noteworthy accomplish.
matters of interest."
espouse the vilest anti-Semitic propaganda.
ments to its credit in its 12-year history. Our
The editor states that he had used all the manuscripts of "Ta'anit"
community has contributed vastly to this
Anti-Semites of the world are united. Now —"complete and fragentary, the existence of which, in European or
effort, and the work must not cease. It is
it is time for the defense to rally its forces American libraries or private collections, has so far become known."
encouraging to know that an annual function
before the menace becomes uncontrollable. He presented a descriptive list of the 21 accumulated manuscripts.
Unity of Bigots
—
Talmudic Treatise of 'Ta'anit'
Issued as a JPS Jewish Classic