Kremlin Hears Protests
From Persecuted Jewry

Jewish

Leadership

Self-Challenged

in 'Attrition'

Stock-Taking

Editorial
Page 4

VOLUME LV—No. 21

"Let Us Go" is plea of Jews who wish to find haven in Israel . . . Hounded
but fearless speak out against the oppressive attitude of the Kremlin . . .
"Student Struggle for Freedom" asserts itself in this country against
Soviet tyranny.

(See Commentary, Page 2)

THE JEWISH NEWS

I=3E R CZ:11 - I-

A Weekly Review

I N. el I 1--I I G ■ t=b, r ■ J

V A I of Jewish Events

17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit 48235—VE 8-9364—August 8, 1969

of Israel's

Defense Minister

Moshe Dayan

Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle

' ="411.27

Fascinating

New Biography

Review
on Page 4

$7.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c

30 Intellectuals' Appeal Asks
Cultural Rights for USSR Jews

European Students Tram in Jordan
For Combat, Sabotage Against Israel

LONDON (JTA)—A British correspondent reported from Amman that
contingents of European students are training with Arab guerrilla forces
in Jordan for combat and sabotage against Israel. A spokesman for El
Fatah, the largest of the Palestinian guerrilla groups, denied that it had
any European recruits, but John Bulloch claimed in his dispatch that he
saw and spoke to them.
The London Telegraph correspondent wrote that the students come
from Britain, Ireland, France, West Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Hol-
land and several Eastern European countries. They are spending a month
in Jordan and train with light weapons and other equipment. Bulloch said
that a few of them intend to remain in Jordan and join guerrilla forays
against Israel. The rest plan to undertake anti-Israel activities in Europe
which would range from organizing boycotts of Jewish firms to actual
sabotage, Bulloch reported.
(The New York Times reported from Amman Friday that Kamal Nas-
ser, a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization, said there
Were a number of European recruits training at two camps in Jordan and
that more were expected. According to the Times, one camp with 125
students is located near Jersah and another, with 100, is near the Great
Bekka refugee camp. The Jersah camp includes a large number of British
students, according to commando sources, the Times said. Most of them
are members of British groups who have been converted to the Arab
cause and some are from France, Scandinavia and West Germany. The
guerrilla spokesman told the Times that two young French recruits were
killed while fighting along with guerrilla forces several months ago.)

-

NEW YORK (JTA)—More than 30 American writers, artists and university
professors have appealed to the Soviet Writers Union to seek to restore the cultural
freedom of 3,000,000 Jews in the Soviet Union. The appeal, sponsored by the Jew-
ish Labor Committee, had been sent to Moscow.
A number of intellectuals identified with the New Left, which has often
sided with the Arabs in the Middle East conflict, were among the signers. They in-
cluded Dr. Noam Chomsky, writer and professor of anthropology; Michael Harring-
ton, author and social scientist; and Nat Hentoff, author and journalist. The appeal
was circulated by Saul Bellow, the novelist, and Irving Howe, professor of English
at Hunter College.
Among other things, the let-
ter charged. that Soviet sup-
port
of the Arab position "has
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jeru-
hardened the campaign of
salem, reacting to the refusal of eight consuls general
anti-Semitism still more and
in East Jerusalem to attend the opening ceremony of the
threatens to completely eradi-
Armenian Church antiquities exhibition, announced that
the municipality would hereafter demand full payment
cate an entire culture."
for all municipal services from the eight consulates. He
The appeal urged the Soviet

Consuls Rebuked for Exhibit Boycott

said the rejection of the invitation to the ceremony stem-
med from the fact that he had been one of the signers.
Mayor Kollek said he would reject any invitation ex-
tended to him from any of the eight consulates. He called
the boycott of the exhibit an affront. The consuls involved
are those of the United States, Britain, France, Spain,
Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Greece. The issue stemmed
from the refusal of the major powers and other countries
to recognize Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem after
the 1967 war.

Writers Union to use its in-
fluence for the restoration of
Jewish schools, publishing
facilities, periodicals, theaters
and social class in the USSR.
"You have lived through the
destruction of all things Jew-
ish under Stalin," the docu-
(Continued on Page 14)

Jewish Publication Society Achieves High Publishing
Goal With Newest Bible Translation of Megilloth, Jonah

Reviewed by NAHUM N. SARNA
Chairman, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University

Ben Sirah's descendant who rendered the Wisdom into Greek about the year 132
BCE, sagely observed that "things originally uttered in Hebrew have not the same
force in them when they are translated into another tongue." Readers of the latest
installment of the new JPS Bible translation will be apt to question the validity of
this assertion, for a more perfect union of meticulous scholarship with stylistic ele-
gance has not yet been achieved. Unique, too, in the history
of publishing, is the combination of the Five Megilloth with
the Book of Jonah. This is a marriage of convenience dictated
solely by Jewish liturgical needs, but the liaison happily affords
the public the opportunity to examine and appreciate the
remarkably wide variety of literary genres that biblical litera-
ture encompasses.
The Megilloth as a whole, and each of the six books sev-
erally, have been equipped with historical and interpretive
introduction. The nonsensical, "For by the sadness of counter:-
which are characterized by the delectable mixture of profound
erudition, intellectual honesty and subtle humor for which• he is
renowned. The introduction to Ecclesiastes, in particular, is
► gem, for it is the distillation of many years of independent
and original research into the language and doctrine of the
not-so-gentle biblical cynic.
Father to enhance the intrinsic beauty of this work, Ismar
David has produced six illustrations, the austere, linear symbol-
ogy of which is intriguingly and refreshingly original.
The innovations in the new version are too numerous to be
listed here, but a few examples will help the reader savor some-
thing of its flavor. In the Song of Songs, love is compared to
winebibbing. Hence, to understand mesharim (1.4; 7.10) as a
metathesized variant of tirosh and Aramaic merath and to trans-
late it as "new wine" makes excellent sense, particularly, since
Hosea -(4.11) said that it deprives folk of their wits. The new
version has also redeemed the amorous reputation of the young
lady by turning King James' "sick of love" into "faint with love"
(Song 2.5). The clumsy "day of the gladness of his heart"
(3.1) is now felicitously "his day of bliss," and the romantic
atmosphere is improved by transforming "the smell of thy coun-
tenance (is) like apples" ('7.9) into "your breath is like the
fragrance of apples." At the same time, the security problem
eliminated by understanding the root ahaz (3.8) as in Ak-
kadian usage, for now Solomon's cubicular body-guard did not
merely "handle the sword," but was "trained in warfare."
The story of Ruth took place while "the chieftains ruled"
(1.1), a more accurate description of the leadership of thelimes.

THE FIVE MEGILLOTH AND THE BOOK OF JONAH. With Introductory Essays by H. L. Ginsberg
and Illustrations by Ismar David. Hebrew and a new English translation. Philadelphia: Jew/s/,
Publication Society of America. 189 pages.

than the traditional English "judges." Poor Naomi was not "left of her two chil-
dren" (1.5), but "left without" them, and her loyal daughters-in-law spontaneously
"broke into weeping" (1.9), rather than having laboriously -lifted up their voice and
wept." Bethlehem "buzzed with excitement" (1.19), and Boaz was "a man of sub-
stance" (2.1), and surely the better off for it.
The archaic "her hap was" (2.3) has neatly become - as
luck would have it," and the ill-boding "How" for 'ekhah
(Lam. 1.1 etc.) is more expressively "Alas !" While bat Zion
(1.6) is "fair Zion," bat ammi (2.11 etc.) is "my poor people,"
since it is an epithet exclusively employed in a tragic context.

An excellent example of stylistic improvement is Lam. 3.13
where "He bath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into
my resins" is now phrased, "He has shot into my vitals the
shafts of His quiver." Similarly, the obscure "Behold Thou sitting
down and their rising up; I am their song" (3.63) suddenly
becomes intelligible as "see how, at their ease and at work,
I am the butt of their jibes."
More than any' other book, it is the very difficult Eccle-
siastes that gains in understanding from the efforts of our
translators, and the multiplicity of footnotes here testifies to
the herculean nature of their task. The celebrated "vanity of -
vanities," (1.2 etc.) is henceforth - utter futility"; aural (1.3 etc.)
appears correctly as "gains," not "labors." while the antonyms
tobh-hote (2.26; 7.26; 9.2) are rendered, "pleases" — '; dis-
pleases," with the theological implications indicated in the
introduction. The nonsensical, "For by the sadness of counten-
ance the heart is made glad." (7.3) is now encouragingly
translated, "for though the face be sad, the heart may be glad."
A startling change appears in the rendering of 12.1, where
bor'ekha is understood like the post-biblical bori. and the young
man is enjoined to "appreciate" his "vigor" while he is still
able to, rather than "remember" his "Creator" — a directive
that will be by no means unappreciated by today's youth.
Koheleth himself remarked that "the eye never has enough
of seeing" (1.8). This aptly applies to the pleasure and en-
lightenment one derives from this volume. Contrary to Kohe-
leth. however, the translators have proven there is much new
under the biblical sun.
The illustrations for "The Five Megilloth and Jonah" by
Ismar David are so attractive that they have been issued in a
separate portfolio entitled "Reflections" and are being made
available by the Jewish Publications Society. They can be

ordered only from the JPS. (See Editorial, Page 4)

