THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20. 1951
Member American Associaton of Engish-Jewish Newspspers. Michigan Press Association. National Editorial Association
Mich. 48075.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co.. 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield,
Phone 35643400
Subscription $7 a year. Foreign SIS.
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CARmI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
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Business Manager
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CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
_ Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the 13th day of Az . ..5730. the following scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Deli. 3:27-7:11. Prophetical portion,
Candle lighting. Friday. Aug. 14.::16 p.m.
Pentateachal portion.
VOL. LV11. No. 22
Page Four
Isaiah 40:1-26.
August 14, 1970
Rational People Never Reject Peace
In the coming months— the negotiations
could last several years— the world will be
witnessing a most interesting drama: the bat-
tle for rationalism and for applicability of
plain horse sense to international affairs.
For Jews everywhere it will be an espe-
cially valuable experience. with new dimen-
sions in spite of the historic agonies our peo-
ple has gone through in the search for peace
with our neighbors—the lands where our
ancestors have lived and those from which
they have been banished and the countries
where freedom never ceases to travel through
miseries as well as hopes for the humane and
the milennially miraculous.
Paths are being paved for peace. and in
the process there will be a testing of many
elements. There is the Israel factor that keeps
pleading for amity with relatives 'kinsmen
like the Arab cousins). friends dike the United
States' and neighbors dike the Arabs) who are
primarily involved in negotiations for peace.
Israel is firm in asking for protection.
Able to protect herself, in the interest of
peace — and it is the peace of the world as
much as that of the Middle East—she needs
assurances that some crazy guy won't get into
her back yard with dynamite, poison. threats
to life and limb.
There is the Arab factor. There are, al-
ready, some 15 or 16 established Arab poten-
tates, some greatly enriched by oil, all of
them collectively possessing vast areas of land
into which they pack a hundred times the
entire populations of Moslem countries.
They haven't always been satisfied. They
wanted another country to be called Pales-
tine.
If there is to be peace, there will have to
be recognition of a reality: Israel.
Territorially-wise, this is where the world
powers come in. If there is to be justice in
the world. as a preliminary to peace. the real-
ity of Israel's existence will be undeniable.
and on that score guerrillas, whether they are
in Jordan or Lebanon or Iraq—anywhere:-
will be squelched. If the Arab nations them-
selves will be too weak to attain such a goal.
it will become the responsibility of the world
powers.
This premise does not eliminate the Arabs
as a responsible element to themselves. And
it is on that score that rational people every-
where, especially in the Islamic spheres, must
convince the nations that have until now
played the roles of Israel's enemies that they
are primarily their own enemies.
While a war has been in progress, Israel
prospered. Instead of ignoring a major prob-
lem involving refugees Israel welcomed them,
established habitations for them, gave them
jobs, taught their children, granted them citi-
zenship in a land they can call their own—
thus ending the homelessness that has been
the curse of the Jewish people.
In that little land the Israelis have created
attractions that have turned Eretz Israel--
the Holy Land—into one of the world's major
tourist attractions. Some 120,000 tourists,
from lands representing all faiths, will have
visited Israel during the months of July and
August. Included in that number will have
been 30.000 young people. For the year 1970,
it is expected that a total of 450,000 touriscs
will be chalked up.
While this is happening, tourism has van-
Bnai Brith's Je%■ish Ileritage Classics have become additionally
ished from the interesting countries that enriched with a volume of legends that open up another window into
neighbor on Israel. The fears that have van- the treasure hall of Jewish stories.
ished from Israel have enveloped the Arab
H. NI. Nahmad of licadin•,, England, has compiled the tales, he has
lands. and tourists are shunning Egypt. Jor- translated from many Hebrew and Judeo-German sources into a volume
dan. Syria, Lebanon.
entitled "A Portion in Paradise." published by W. W. Norton Co.
In many other areas of activity, in indus- ' Fascinating in every respect, this volume has the additional merit of
try and commerce, in education, in art and providing the background for the various stories and their sources.
science, the sword aimed at Israel has struck
In addition to a most informative preface that provides details
her enemies.
. for Jewish legendary literature, the six sections are trreceded by intro-
This is not Israel's wish. An end to the . ductory brief essays evaluating the stories that follow.
hatreds for Israel would mean the beginning
The scholarly translator luz.s divided his selections into sections
dealing "WI The Galen,. Wit and Wisdom, Prophet Elijah Tales.
of glorious days for those who fi, ti the flames
Dat- , d nod Solomon Tales, IS'isdont and Folly of IVOIllell and Right•
of distrust and bitterness.
eons owl Pious.
With an end to the war there can be the
Nahmad explains that the legends assume a Jewish role because
beginning of an interchange of many relation-
, they deal with martyrs and saints, pious, just and scholars. He defines
ships between Israel and the Arab states. lialakha and Agada in the talmudic and midrashic spheres and he
there would then surely be a restoration of • resorts to the Maasellutch—the Story Book in the Judeo-German—for
tourism—Israelis themselves would flock into material that makes his volume stand out as a truly creative effort in
the lands of their neighbors'—and there presenting Jewish legendary treasures to a reading public that will
would be the restoration of attitudes of friend- surely welcome the book as a notable addition to scholarly presentations
ship, kinship and respect for human beings of Jewish source books.
that tend to raise the standards of human-
A typical example of the stories is this one from the Righteous and
kind.
Pious section:
•
This is at the core of what is transpiring.
MODESTY AND WISD0111
7"
There will be talk, wherever the contending
Rabbi Akiba once had a pearl of very high price to sell, but he
could find no one to buy it. As he was walking through the town
parties and the world powers may meet, of '
market with some of his pupils, lie was approached by a hungry-
boundaries, armaments, territorial rights. I
looking man in tattered clothes who said that he wanted to buy the
Major in peace discussions is the benefit that
pearl at the price asked. He asked tlte rabbi to accompany hint to
enemies can derive from normalcy, from
his house. r here he would pay him the money and take the pearl.
Akiba was e.itreinely puzzled at this but said nothing: with his
peace, from amity that builds good will. Right
pupils he followed the man home. On approaching. they saw a pala-
now the Arabs are their own worst enemies.
tial building richly furnished and with many servants. The man
They can share with Israel the creation of
took the 1.earl. paid the money to Rabbi Akiba, and incited him and
best relations and elevation of their peoples
his pupils to ytity fora meal. After they had eaten and drank their
to high standards rising above warfare. Will
fill, Rabbi Akiba expressed surprise at his host's actions and be-
havior, and asked their meaning.
rationalism emerge from impending peace
,
"Wealth and riches are not enduring." was the reply. "Today
talks?
Honorable People Never Nourish Hate
There is one important matter: the hu- of others had established strong friendships
man relations between Jews and their Arab
with their Arab neighbors, with the sheikhs
cousins.
of villages.
It has been stated time and time again
Hadassah healed the wounds of Arabs
that what has saddened Israelis most is the
and treated them for trachoma; just as Ha-
enmity that has been created between Arabs
dassah and Jewish physicians to this very
and Israelis, that the tragic losses incurred
day', in the ancient Jewish homeland, are pro-
in an unnecessary war, have inspired resent- viding the necessary help for the sick of all
ments bordering on hatred. This has been the
faiths, treating Arabs as equals.
fruit of a conflict between cousins that need
In Israel proper, the Arab citizens have
never have consummated into reality.
equality in labor ranks, as earners of wages
What are the facts relating, to Arab-Jew-
on a par with Jews, as members of Histadrut,
ish relations? There have been periods of
as the beneficiaries of the standards estab-
antagonism between Jews and Moslems. Mo-
lished in educational ranks.
hammed himself based his faith on teachings
True: there are always those who express
of the Bible, and he had hoped for Jewish
their views in hatred. There must have been
support and for enlistment of Jews in his
—perhaps there still are—Jews who hate
ranks of a new religion. When they demurred,
Arabs because they fought Jews.
he attacked and massacred some villages,
But we refuse to concede that the Jewish
and he became their enemy. But that was
attitude is that of hatred, that the view of
not the historic result: through the ages
Arabism and Islam in our ranks is that of
Jews and Arabs were friends and they la-
bitterness and vengeance.
bored together in medicine and in astron-
What we say is based on Jewish teach-
omy and in mathematics.
ings, on the traditional insistence upon jus-
In Eretz Israel it was even more real,
tice for all peoples. We resent racism in this
stronger, more emphatic. In the Palestine
land and we decry any display of hatred in
before the emergence of Israel, Dayan and Jewish ranks anywhere, primarily in the
Alton and Golda Meir and scores upon scores Land of Israel and in the Middle East.
Folk Tales, Legends Comprise
Bnai Brith-Norton Co. Volume
-
I apt rich in worldly possessions. Tomorrow I may lose everything
and become a pauper. No nzan should be proud and boast of his
riches. 1 go abort iii ragged clothes and keep the company of the
poor and the dispossessed so that. should my fortunes suddenly
change. I will not be dismayed at my reduced circumstances."
Thereupon Rabbi Akiba blessed his host for his wisdom and
modesty .
Each of the introductions to the various sections provides data
about the background of the legends. The work emerges definitively
as an impressive course of study into ethical teachings and a people's
historic experiences.
In many respects, in addition to the parable, the reader has access
here to history and to the many eras of Jewish life under a variety of
conditions.
Selections from the Apocrypha and Josephus, from folklore of many
ages, are in evidence here as preserving the wealth of Jewish folktales.
"A Portion in Paradise," the title of the first story, serves as title for
the entire book whose merits serve to commend Bnai Brith for its
Heritage Series published jointly by the Norton Co. and the Bnai
Brith Commission on Adult Jewish Education.
James Parkes"Anti-Semitism
James Parkes' "Anti-Semitism," reissued by Quadrangle Books as
a paperback, contains the noted philo-Semite's views on the tragedies
that affected Jewry and world events, especially in the past century.
Christian roots of anti-Semitism are exposed, and the eminent
author shows how the notoriously fallacious Protocols of the Elders of
Zion spread from Russia throughout the world, receiving acclaim from
the vilest bigots.
The volume is brought up to date with outlines of anti-Semitism in
Russia, the latest developments in the Middle East and especially
appended data that serves meritoriously in providing background and
understanding of the issues involved in the curse of hatred toward the
Jew.