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 $7 a year. Foreign $8. Second Class PoStage Paid at Detroit, Michigan PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertising Manager CHARLOTTE DUBIN City Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbatth, the 29th day of Nisan, 5728, the following scriptural selections will be read in our 'synagogues: Pentatenchal portion, Lev. 9:1-11:47; prophetical portion, I Samuel 20:18-42. Tora readings for Rosh Hodesh Iyar, Sunday and Monday, NUM. 28:1-15. Candle lighting, Friday, April 26, 7:07 p.m. VOL. LIII. No. 6 Page Four April 26, 1968 Israel's Eternity—State's 20th Anniversary Israel's 20th anniversary is an occasion for worldwide celebration. It is an event that affects the lives of all Jews and is an occasion for review of historic occurrences which cul- minated in fulfillment of Prophecy, in the realization of our people's dream for redemp- tion and the return to Zion that should mark for all time the end of Jewish homelessness. When Israel emerged as a sovereign state, 20 years ago, we were suffering the agonies of the Holocaust memories. There were hun- dreds of .thousands of declassed, stateless, humiliated Jews who were not wanted any- where. The proclamation of Israel's statehood was a signal to the dispossessed that they had acquired an opportunity to build new homes for themselves. That is why, throughout the world, Jews turned to the Psalter, and recited Psalm 126: When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion, We were like unto them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, And our tongue was singing; Then said they among the nations: "The Lord hath done great things with these." The Lord hath done great things with us; We are rejoiced. Turn our captivity, 0 Lord, As the streams in the dry land. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Though he goeth on his way weeping that beareth the measure of seed He shall come home with joy, bearing his sheaves. It was, indeed, an occasion for great re- joicing, and the spirit of thanksgiving for redemption that guarantees survival has not ended. As we mark the 20th anniversary of that historic day in May of 1948 we recite this Psalm anew in a spirit of gratitude for the beginning of the end to degradations. We realize, as we rejoice, that the dangers to statehood have not ended, that there still are millions of Jews in lands of oppression, that a war with neighbors who refuse to accept the Jewish State still is in progress. It is necessary, therefore, on this occasion, to recall Israel's approach to statehood and to the acquisition of sovereignty. The new state wanted the non-Jewish residents to re- main: they fled without rhyme or reason because they were instigated by their leaders to strive for destruction of the new state and eventual acquisition of Jewish property. They failed in both of the latter aims and they destroyed a great opportunity to remain peacefully friendly with their Jewish cousins. Only a handful of realistic Arabs — some 65,000 out of their total of 450,000 — re- mained in what inevitably became Israel. To understand Israel's approach, the new state's original appeal to the Arabs to remain in Israel, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed on May 14, 1948, should be read anew. Its text is: WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUN- CIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE AS- SEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINA- TION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEM- BLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISH- MENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL. THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish ,immigration . and ,for .th.e. Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development . of the country for the benefit of all inhabit- ants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespec- tive of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representa- tives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of I the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. WE APPEAL to the United Nation's to assist the Jewish people in the building up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations. WE APPEAL—in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months —to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due represen- tation in all its provisional. and permanent institutions. WE EXTEND our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is pre- pared to do its share in common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East. WE APPEAL to the Jewish people through- out the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream—the redemption of Israel. Now, 20 years after this declaration was proclaimed, we recognize the need for real- istic stock-taking, for recognition of the rise of new dangers, for appreciation of the opportunities the Jewish State continues to offer to the hundreds of thousands who re- main stateless. * * * Many Jews are yet to be saved from behind the Iron Curtain, from Moslem lands of oppression, from other countries where Jews are suffering degradations. The 20-year-old state must defend itself against war-threatening neighbors. World conditions impose many obstacles in Israel's road toward economic security. We are now in the midst of another series of conflicts with the Arabs. In spite of Israel's pleadings for negotiations, for serious approaches not to armistices but to permanent peace, for an end to warfare and to continuing saber-rattling, all we hear from Arab capitals is the threat to destroy Israel. Fantasy rather than reality rules in many .quarters, and it would be in the best in- terests of world peace to be pragmatic, to seek peace and adhere to it. In all these aspects, Israel needs encour- agement and help. Her chief defender is the .Jewish people. We seek the friendship of all faiths and all nations in this task, but the Jewish people must always be in the lead as Israel's defender. It is in such a spirit of dedication and indestructible partnership that we now cele- brate Israel's 20th anniversary, offering assurance that world Jewry will never aban- don Israel. Ain. Israel Hai! Israel's eternity remains undaunted! New Volume ot)srael Argosy: Collection of Literary Treasures "Israel Argosy," ably edited by Isaac Halevy-Levin in behalf of the youth and Hehalutz department of the World Zionist Organization, ap- pears in its ninth volume as a Thomas Yoseloff publication, with another series of stories and poems and art works by Israelis. This volume is especially noteworthy because it includes the works of a Nobel Prize winner, descriptions of an eminent artist, stories by Israel's best known writers and a significant essay on "Shakespeare in Hebrew" and a group of Shakespearean poems ill Hebrew translations. S. Y. Agnon's very moody and touching sketch, "The Dusk of the Day," which evinces the Nobel Prize winner's devout spirit, is pre- sented here in a translation by Shmuel Katz. Readers of "Israel's Argosy" will find added satisfaction in the essay "The Art of Agnon," by Arnold Band, the lecturer in Hebrew literature at the University of California and a Hebrew poet of note. Band thoroughly analyzes Agnon's literary style, his approaches to his themes, his motivations, his increasing popularity. Anna Ticho, Jerusalem artist, is the subject of an interesting essay of appreciation for her work as a creative producer of notable drawings. Reproductions of her works provide visual means of recognizing her skills. Written by Elisheva Cohen, deputy curator of the Bezalel National Museum in Israel, this essay depicts the life and works of an artist who has risen to great heights and is enriching Israel's artistic field. A story by Haim Hazaz, one of Israel's ablest and best known writers, commences the collection of essays and translations in this volume of Israel Argosy. Hazaz's "The Ring and the Canopy," in a translation by Joseph Schachter, portrays unforgettable characters. Like other themes in this volume, this story reflects life In Israel and the Israelis' •experiences during the war. , Other stories in this volume are Aharon Applefield's "The Journey" and Nissim Aloni's "Shmil," both in translations by Prof. Murray Roston. Especially notable in this volume are the translations from Shakespeare's works into Hebrew. They are preceded by a scholarly essay by Roston on "Shakespeare in Hebrew." Dr. Roston, professor of English at Bar-Ilan University-, points to a change in translating Shakespeare, from a literary exercise to "a more smooth and real- istic presentation," since "the Hebrew versions have need to become more fluid." Translations include selections from Anthony and Cleopatra by Reuben Avinoam, from King Lear by Abraham Shlonsky, B. N. Siljiner's translation from Macbeth, Israel Efros translation from Hamlet, Nathan Alterman from Julius Ceaser and Rafeal Aliaz from Romeo and Juliet. The English selections appear on parellel pages with the Hebrew translations. Lovers of Hebrew poetry will be enchanted with the selections from the writings of Abraham Shlonsky whiCh are presented in Israel Argosy in Hebrew with the English translations on opposite pages. An appreciation of Shlonsky and an evaluation of his works appears in an essay by his EngliSh translator, Dr. Sholom J. Kahn, lecturer in American literature at the Hebrew University, whose "On Translating Shlonsky" precedes the section with the poems. Once again, Israel Argosy emerges as a distinctive work, replete with essays, poetry, narratives, creative Hebrew works. Artistic sketches of the authors add meritoriously to this volume's signifiCanCe as a collection if literary treasures. 'Hasidic Tales Retold' Hasidism is acquiring new interest in Jewish ranks, and the Hasidic lore is being studied in most Jewish schools. Adding to an understanding of the approach to life and the ideology of the Hasidim is a most valuable 52-page broChure published by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in which tales are retold and the basic teachings are reviewed. Under the title "Hasidic Tales Retold," the UAHC booklet, edited by Edith Samuel, contains 15 articles on the over-all subject. Teaching material on Hasidism contained in this brochure was prepared for youth as well as adults by Rabbi Harvey J. Fields of Boston. The interesting illustrations by Morton Garchik and attractive art heads by Iry Koons, the charming stories that are packed into this interesting book, make the UAHC publication stand out as a work that will encourage interest in the subject and will provide the knowledge necessary for an understanding of Hasidism. Both as a students' textbook and as a teachers' guide towards directing the study of the subject, `.`liasidic Tales Retold" is a welcome addition to classroom literature. N N N