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THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

Member American Associati on of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association. National Editorial Assoeiation
Published every Friday Ir.. The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road. Detroit, Mich. 48235.
YE 8.9364. Subscription $7 a year. Foreign
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan

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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Business Manager

SIDNEY SHMARAK

Advertising Manager

CHARLOTTE DUBIN

City Editor

Sukkot Scriptural Selections

Pentateuchal portions: Saturday and Sunday, Lee. 22:26-23:44. Num. 29:12.16.
Prophetical portions: Saturday, Zechariah 14:1-21: Sunday, I KingS
Hol Hamoed Sukkot Tora readings: Monday, Num. 29:17.25: Tuesday, Num.
29:20-28: Wednesday, Num. 29:23-31: Thursday, Num. 29:2634.
Hoshana Rabba Torn readings, Friday: 29:26-34.

Candle lighting. Friday, Sept. 26.

VOL.

No. 2

Page Four

6:04 p.m.

September 26, 1969

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The Sukka and the Ballot Box

New York voters are lucky ! They are
catered to, politicians eat their favorite foods,
speak their dialects, eat knishes if it's in a
Jewish neighborhood, and if near a syna-
gogue they wear yarmulkes

It is all proven by the fact that in New
York, where there is a bid for the 'Jewish
vote in the mayoralty race, there will be a
municipal Sukka ! Will it lure the Jewish
voter?
Why not? Don't Jews have 32 per cent of
the vote in New York City?

We are reminded about the elderly Jew-
ish immigrant who had just gotten his citizen-

ship, was to vote the first time, was seen
walking with his hands folded on his back
smoking a big cigar. He was asked to explain
his happy mood and he said: "I just got this
cigar and $5 to vote Tammany Hall tomor-
row and I'll vote against them."

Let it be a lesson to the politicians: the lib-
eral Jewish thinking voter knOws when and
how to discriminate, but he' also knows how
to enjoy the Sukka as well as how to respect
the ballot box, and he is able to enjoy knishes
and latkes and all Jewish delicacies with rep-
resentatives of all parties.
A Happy Sukkot to all right-thinking cit-
izens

New Low Among Big Powers and the UN

There is no doubt about it: the United
Nations Security Council DID sink to a new
low—perhaps the lowest on record—with
the last resolution referring to the Al Aksa
Mosque fire, and in efforts to change Jeru-
salem's current status.
There is no doubt that Greai Britain, by
going along with the biased majciity tin mdk-
ing demands upon Israel to do: some acro-
batic stunts politically and diplohiatically to
satisfy the prejudices of hate mongers, has
given credence to criticism that; the nation
which gave the world the Magna charta now
is among the most backward in facing world
issues.
Why didn't the Great Powers shout when

there were fires in churches and mosques in
Jerusalem prior to the liberation of the Holy
Jewish City of Jerusalem in 1967? Why
didn't they utter a word when Jews were
prevented from praying at their ancient holy
place, the remaining Western Wall of the
Temple in Jerusalem? Was it because they
were Jews or simply because Arabs had to
be appeased?
At least OUR conscience is clear before
the world—that the American delegate ab-
stained during the voting on that new out-
rageous resolution last week. Why didn't the
American delegate vote AGAINST an act of
bigotry and unfairness?
Isn't there an iota of fairness left among
the Big Powers?

German Elections: A Time for Anxiety

When the West Germans go to the polls
on Sunday, they will be faced with a challenge
emanating from the extreme right—from the
National Democratic Party — NPD — farther
than which anyone seeking affiliation closet
to the Nazi idea could not possibly go. Yet
the party's leader, Adolf von Thadden, denies
that he is neo-Nazi. Like many rightists in
other lands he pleads for "law . and order"
while ignoring the manner in which both law
and order were destroyed by those who spoke
as he did in the late 1920s and early 1930s
when Hitler was brought to power, and in his
public speeches in which he appeals for a' 5
per cent vote that would give him and his
party a voice in the Bundestag, he charges
that "our national consciousness has been
shattered," that "the main pillars of our
society have been destroyed."

►

The internal battle for power in Germany
is reminiscent of the pre-Hitler days because
von Thadden is mainly confronting opposi-
tion, nevertheless he is believed to be on the
road of attaining the 5 per cent strength that
would give him party rights within the Bonn
government. He had won a 9.8 per cent vote
for NPD in the Baden-Wurttemberg election
last year, but was held to a 3.9 vote in his
home section of Hanover three weeks ago.
But if his prediction of a vote of 8 to 12 per
cent for NPD on Sunday should prove true,
then Germany will witness a repetition of the
time when Hitler struggled for recognition
and was considered a crackpot by those who

While the lessons of history thus are
being studied in relation to the experiences
40 years ago, von Thadden's meetings are be-
ing hooted. A report in the N.Y. Times of a
meeting that was being addressed by von
Thadden in the farming community of Idar
Oberstein stated: "A rock crashed through
a window at the side of the hall. The audience
set up a rhythmic applause and von Thadden
never stopped talking." A Christian Science
Monitor corespondent wrote from Bonn that
"hundreds of Germans — mostly young, but
with a sprinkling of older people — gathered
to protest the presence of `neo-Nazis' in their
town." The report also stated that clergymen
argued that "the German church must separ-
ate itself cleanly and distinctly from the `neo-
Nazis."

All of which is encouraging, except that
von Thadden's NPD already has seats in seven
of the 11 state legislatures, and his aim is to
attain entrance into the federal parliament
by securing the necessary 5 per cent vote in
Sunday's elections.

The strong opposition provides hope that
the tragedies of the past will not be repeated.
But to assure exclusion of neo-Nazis from
West Germany's parliament, the opposition
has to be determined and strong. As of now it
is apparent that NPD is being watched in all
seriousness and the opposition is very strong.

Yet there are predictions that the 5 per cent
vote may be attained by the extreme rightists.
If that happens, there will be much trouble
brewing after Sunday's balloting. This is what
the democratically-minded Germans seek to
avert. The entire world will be watching Sun-
day's..
.West. .0crrt:144 ,Aqclisons with great
did not foresee. that .he. would. gain, power, .,
over the German people in a very short time. anxiety.

Terence Prittie's Biography
Paid Tribute to Levi Eshkol

Terence Prittie of the Manchester Guardian staff emerges as one of
the most authoritative corpespondents on matters relating to .Israel. His
"Israel—Miracle in the Desert" is one of the most noteworthy works
about recent events and the era of the Six-Day War. He is thoroughly
acquainted with Israel's personalities and
he proves highly qualified to write a work of.
praise to the late Prime Minister Levi
Eshkol.
His "Levi Eshkol: The Man and the Na-
tion," from the press of Pitman Publishing
Corp. (20 E. 46th, NYI7) is exactly what the
title denotes: an account of the life and
accomplishments of the late head of the
Israel government and of the state and the
people in whose behalf Mr. Eshkol labored.
Prittie's is a paean of admiration for
It pays him honor for his
Eshkol.
"eyii role" in his nation's emerging tri-
umphs, in the struggles for statehood, the
achievement of security, the building of
an agricultural economy, the strengthen-
ing of its financial conditions, the encour.
Levi Eshkol
agement to the armed forces.
Actually, the new Prittie volume is much more than a biography.
While reviewing Israel's status it touches upon the Arab problem and
the need for security, and in the process the role of Eshkol is fully
described.

Prittie's work traces the Zionist history and Mr. Eshkol's lifelong
participation in the movement for Israel's redemption. This provides
the author an opportunity to relate the late prime minister's activities
for Histadrut, the Jewish National Fund and other public funds, his
political role, his skill as a propagandist. •

The author devotes his task also to a review of Jewish-Arab rola-
' tions, and he discusses the background of Jewish life in Arab countries,

the Yemenites in Palestine and Israel and their eventual mass migra-
tion to the Jewish state. Non-Jews who had a share in the emergence
of Arab nationalism, the attitude of T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of
Arabia") and others who played important roles in the emerging Mid-
dle East since World War I, and the struggles within Palestine and the
differing views of high commissioners—all are part of a biography that
emerges as a history of the area under discussion.

Political aspects also are under review, and this biography goes
into detail in describing Mr. Eshkol's friendship with Golda Meir,
David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Yigal Allon and many others;
it describes the rifts with Ben-Gurion, Dayan and those who
created opposition party feelings.

Primarily, this life story deals, of course, with the personality,
habits, attitudes, preferences of Levi Eshkol, and in the process of
evaluating the character of the man who rose to the highest offices in
the Israel government, the admiring biographer also describes the sense
of humor possessed by the late prime minister.
The Six-Day War and the controversies that existed in the internal
ranks of the Israel government are thoroughly accounted for.
In his tribute to the Israeli leader, Prittie declares: "He took the
big plunge of emigrating from one continent to another, while still in
his teens. He stood up to real hardship to get to Palestine, and even
more to stay there; the gravestones of Rishon and Hadera are mute
testimony to the fate of so many of his contemporaries. He fought in
two wars and helped to plan victory in three more." Prittie adds:

"The Jews and the Israelis are perfectionists. They recognized
in Ben-Gurion a great man, but impatiently dismissed his eccentri•
cities in old age. They saw in Eshkol an ordinary Jew, and they will
surely come to recognize something •symbolic in his achievement—.
which proved that to an ordinary Jew, all things are possible. At the
same time they have been very human in criticizing the 'ordinary'
man. Eshkol was taken to task for being lackluster, too fond of
compromise, a poor public speaker, unable to make up his mind In
a crisis, without imagination, a mere symbol of the Labor establish-
ment. His good qualities were recognized too, so criticism has not
been automatic but, rather, held tenaciously in reserve."
In this fashion, the biographer points to the criticisms and short-
, onaipgs. while paying lipqqr.to.a noble son of the new state his hero
, helped build.