Purely Commentary
The Rowdies and Their Parents
It's an old adage that any one who has children—and grand-
children—must be cautious in judging others with offspring. That is
why it may be difficult to judge the elders whose sons and daughters
become involved in rowdyism. Yet it needs to be said that there is
something wrong in the American home that permits young people—
some as young as 13—to foment trouble of the kind that plagues Royal
Oak.
In our neighboring city there were curfews. Rioting all over the
several mile area, in new cars, the apparently affluent youngsters
defied the law. Drunk on dope they battled police, caused damage
to business establishments, risked their lives, lowered the standards
of decency among their fellow men.
And the police undoubtedly now will be called pigs
Are police alone to be looked to for an end to such outrages?
Where are the parents? Do they know where their children are at
midnight?
Three years ago riots in Detroit were called race disturbances.
In Royal Oak it was not a race issue: it was the festival of narcotics
users. The blacks in the inner Detroit city can have their laugh on those
who criticized them three years ago. When it comes to the lowering
of the level of decency there is no differentiation along color lines.
Bums are bums even if they come from wealthy suburban homes.
•
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A Fashion Note: Pronouncing Judgment on the Midi-Mini
Lord Byron had written a poem "Vision of Belshazar" and there
is a ballad by Heinrich Heine also on the "Belshazzar" theme. Theirs
and many others concern themselves with pronouncements of judg-
ments based on a theme in the Book of Daniel.
Now, because of the revolution that is taking place in the chang-
ing fashions, the theme of the Prophet Daniel again serves as an
admonition, and it was expressively emphasized in a cartoon in the
Saturday Review. Here it is for you to enjoy as much as this com-
mentator did:
The Fulbright Sensation in the Light
of Past Experiences . . . The Royal Oak
Vandals and the Search for the Parents
By Philip
WOMOVitZ
Senator J. William Fulbright's Definitive Role on the Middle East and the One Negatavism
Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas gained a contentious reputation on many scores, and
certainly in the matters involving the Middle East, Israel, the Arabs—and Zionism. The investigation his
committee conducted several years ago of the operations of the Jewish Agency created the impression
• that he was out to harm Israel, that he was seeking to destroy Zionism, that
he was an enemy. There is no doubt that he was antagonistic. Yet the major
fears expressed over his attitudes had begun to evaporate. Some of the
Zionist operations needed correcting and the proper changes were made in
allocation of funds, the Jewish Agency Inc. was established as an American
body that began to supervise distribution of philanthropic appropriations and
whatever fears existed were allayed.
The true menace came from the ranks of those who wanted to deprive
the philanthropy intended for Israel and for the rescue of persecuted Jews from
Moslem and other lands of tax deductibility. Had it succeeded it would have
been a severe blow to Jewish relief efforts. But the mere fact that it failed was
an indication that Fulbright was not that devilish. Because he probed did not
mean that he sought destruction of humanitarian aims.
Fulbright
The fact is that we pleaded for Senator Fulbright's friendship. We need
critics and we need friends. Criticism is not always destructive. The form criticism took when Richard
Crossman admonished Israel about impending dangers has led to continuing seriousness in consideration
of Israel's needs and aims. The same applies to Fullbright and all who challenge Israel seriously. It
is when there is venom and an effort to destroy that we have the right to charge defamation and enmity.
Senator Fulbright made a number of blunders during the years when he was under suspicion of
harboring prejudices against Israel and Zionists. He defied Democratic leaders in 1963 when, contrary
to their appeals, he addressed the anti-Israel anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism. His authority on
the Middle East in 1959, when his antagonism to Israel commenced, was the anti-Israel lobbyist for
ARAMCO (Arabian-American Oil Co.), Harold B. Minor, who directed the anti-Israel front organization
American Friends of the Middle East.
Senator Fulbright created a sensation early this week with his speech on the Middle East. Michigan's
Senator Robert Griffin was angered by it because he viewed it as an intrusion into the prerogatives
of Secretary of State William P. Rogers. We fail to see justification for such anger because it is the right
of any citizen, and certainly that of the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to express
opinions even if they are critical of the White House and the State Department.
The Arkansas senator apparently made a deep study of the Zionist position, of the Arab attitudes,
of the American role in the Middle East, and he dreamt a dream—about an American-Israel treaty that
would assure Israel's security and provide proper protection for the American position in that part
of the world. All of which is to the good and desirable—after the present deliberations directed by
Dr. Gunnar Jarring will have been concluded, setting forth territorial arrangements that should assure,
as Dr. Jarring hopes, a lasting peace.
But there was a major error in Senator Fulbright's proposals: when he spoke of an imposed peace.
This is the very danger to be averted: anything involving imposition, either on Arab or Jew. What is needed
is neighborliness, getting together, working in harmony, establishing the closest possible relations between
Israel and the Arab states.
Even under the most dire conditions anything involving an imposed peace would mean an uncertain
peace. Any attempt to force a peace from the outside could be futile, dangerous, menacing to the peace of
the world.
Jews and Arabs may or may not get together very soon. But there is an approach towards direct
negotiations. It is indirect now, it may be intimate tomorrow—or three months later. But not by
imposition: only by an awareness of the need for neighborliness and amity. On this score, we again urge
Senator Fulbright to amend his proposals. We had asked for a change in his attitude when he dealt with
Zionism. We ask for this change in his approach to the Middle East problems in the interest of the peace
of the world and of rationalism in human relations.
At Arava They Await the Messiah
By VICTOR M. BIENSTOCK
Vice President and Editor, JTA
(Copyright 1970, JTA, Inc.)
The Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin warning thus was applied to the
struggle in the world of fashions between Midi and Mini. It re-creates
interest in an old tale in Daniel about the last king of Babylon, Bel-
shazzar, who, at a banquet, resorted to the sacrilege of ordering vessels
from the Holy Temple of Jerusalem to he brought for use in heathen
worship. Then a finger of a man's hand appeared and began to write
upon the wall of the king's palace the ominous words to be found
in Daniel V:25-30. Daniel was called to interpret the words and he
was rewarded for his services. From the Jewish Publication Society's
English version of the text from Daniel we quote the Belshazzar experi-
ence and Daniel's interpretation of the inscription:
"And this is the writing that was inscribed. MENE, MENE,
TEKEL UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE,
God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end.
TEKEL, thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES, thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and
Persians." Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel
with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made
proclamation concerning him, that he should rule as one of three
in the kingdom. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was
slain.
For many women who now are lengthening their skirts, the
Mene, Mene may be a- warning of impending doom: the skirt may get
even longer or may be uplifted again. Shades of Belshazzar who was
doomed by the fulfillment of the Mene warning and whose experience
now casts gloom upon the world of fashions !
Nasser and Egypt Crave for Peace
PARIS (JTA)—President Gamal port from its special Cairo corres-
Abdel Nasser of Egypt told a sec- pondent Eric Rouleau.
Nasser was quoted as having
ret meeting of the executive com-
se cret me ing that las t
mittee of the Egyptian Arab So- I spring, in Paris, an Egyptian envoy
cialist Union, the country's only had established "contacts" with Dr.
political party, that peace with Nahum Goldmann, president of the
Israel was "not just a tactical' World Jewish Congress. In its story
move but a major strategic aim Le Monde said: "All Egypt, popu-
which would enable Egypt to re-, lar masses and ruling circles alike.
organize her economy," the daily are in favor of the peace settle-
newspaper Le Monde said in a re- ment and eagerly await it."
2—Friday, August 28, 1970
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
JERUSALEM—In a small, sun-
baked, poverty-stricken village on
the road to Eilat through the val-
ley of the Arava, some 50 men,
women and children quietly and
confidently await the coming of the
Messiah, convinced that this will
be soon and that he will first make
his presence known in the Arava.
The group ekes out a hard and
difficult existence while it waits.
The original group was com-
posed of followers of Simcha Perl-
mutter who expounded a new ver-
sion of Judaism to a congregation
in Miami and brought his people
to Israel four years ago to await
the Messiah.
The first group of 11, including
children, came to Israel on tourist
visas with some money and sup-
plies. Their first task was to learn
Hebrew while they sought a place to
settle. They were denied assistance
by the government and the Jewish
Agency which looked askance at
their religious views, seeking as
it did to enfold Jesus in Judaism
and recognizing him as the Mes-
siah still to come. One family of
three became discouraged and
went back home to the United
States. The remaining eight—three
of them children—squatted on a
tract of land deep in the Arava,
dug a well literally with their
hands and hung on grimly while
they petitioned the authorities for
aid. Surprisingly (although "we
are not a sect," the group spokes-
man explained) this tiny settle-
ment attracted recruits not all of
whom say eye to eye on every
doctrinal point with the original
group.
Gen. Yeshahayu Gavis, then
the Israeli Army cemmander in
the south, became interested in
the group and gave them per-
mission two years ago to settle
in a disused army headquarters.
off the main road. They renamed
the place Ovet after the village
where, according to tradition,
Jesus once stopped for a drink
of water. With the general's aid,
they have resumed their applica-
tions to the government and the
Jewish Agency for the aid and
facilities customarily given set-
tlements. Some of their children
have reached high-school age and
their parents are anxious to have
them receive a proper education.
Ovet has 11 children ranging in
age from 15 months to 15 years.
The younger children are being
taught by members of the settle-
ment.
To keep themselves alive, mem-
bers of the settlement travel far
in the area to get jobs. Perlmutter,
the leader, goes off to work for
Mekorot, the water company, lay-
ing pipelines as do some of the
other pipelines,
men.
work for Keren
Kayemet planting trees. Peggy,
the group spokesman in Perlmut-
ter's absence, and some of the
others work for the army. The set-
tlers have a small vegetable gar-
den to provide food for their own
needs, and like any small farm,
raise chickens. Their diet is spar-
tan. Their homes are primitive.
They have few conveniences and
virtually no luxuries.
The settlers of Ovet have a pro-
ject to better their economic posi-
tion. They want to open a gas sta-
tion and a restaurant to serve way-
. farers on the long dusty road link-
ing Eilat and the north. There is no
such facility today for many long
and wearisome miles in either di-
rection. They have asked the gov-
ernment for permission but have
not yet been able to get the neces-
sary authorization.
In one sense it is not difficult
to understand the reluctance of
the authorities to en cour a g.e
groups such as the settlers of
Ovet, for Israel has plenty of
problems without the importation
of exotic religious deviations.
But the beliefs these people pro-
fess are not for the marketplace
and they are not a prosletyzing
sect. They keep to themselves
and they yield to none in their
devotion to the land. Take Peggy,
for example.
Peggy, a charming and attractive
young woman born in the Ameri-
can West and raised a Protestant,
adopted Judaism because she
came to the conclusion that Juda-
ism was "the only real religion."
She became a member of Perlmut-
ter's "congregation" in Miami
which followed the Orthodox Sidur
but with additions which accepted
Jesus, not as the Messiah already
come, but as the Messiah to come.
To this group, Jesus was not the
Christ as depicted, but Jehoshua,
son of Joseph, who was sacrificed
for the sins of mankind. He will
return as the Messiah in the near
future, Peggy and her friends de-
voutly believe, because, she ex-
plains, all the prophecies except
his return have been fulfilled.
There is a conviction and sincer-
ity about Peggy and her fellow
settlers as they attempt to make
their religious beliefs understood
by the visitor who take the un-
inviting little side road off the
highway leading to the dusty,
parched little settlement swelter-
ing under the pitiless sun. It was
not hard to understand why Gen.
Gavish was impressed enough to
offer these young people the first
helping hand they found here. Nor
was it difficult to understand why
among the few Israelis who have
had direct contact with them, a
ridicule of their beliefs is leavened
by sympathy and a certain amount
of respect.
In this country, sacred to three
great religions and the home of
many, many beliefs, surely there
is room for this little group of dis-
senters who have the will and de-
sire and determination to make
their contribution to Israel and
mankind.