THE JEWISH NEWS
Chronicle COMM./Ming with belle of July 20, 1951
Ihernter American Aasociation of Inglish.ltwish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association. National Editorial Association
Published every Friday ay The Jewish News Publishing Co.. 17515 W. Nine Mile. Suit. M. Southfield. Mich. MOM.
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bscorporating The Detroit
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
Jewish
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 16th day of Adar, 5731, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exod. 30:11-34:35. Prophetical portion, I Kings 18:139.
Candle lighting, Friday, March M. 6:16 p.m.
VOL. LVIII. No. 26
Page Four
March 12, 1971
An End to Middle East Pressures
A new terminology rules on the banks of
the Suez. There is no cease fire agreement but
there is a lull in the fighting. Thus the bless-
ings for Israel continue, and for Egypt it is the
inevitable decision not to prolong fighting and
the accompanying loss of life and property.
Even during the cease fire a trigger-happy
soldier might have started renewal of fighting.
Therefore under present conditions the being-
on-the-alert by all parties, including Israel,
represents a threat. The encouragement that
was given to Anwar el-Sadat on his visit to the
Kremlin, only a week before the end of the
last cease fire agreement, possibly encouraged
the new attitude. It is to the USSR and from
the unfortunate antagonism to Israel from the
other members of the Big Four—France and
Great Britain — that most of the difficulties
are ascribable in the Middle East crises.
It is no secret that only the military assist-
ance given Egypt by Russia and the encour-
agement to the war-seeking enemies of Israel
given by the associates of the USSR in the
negotiations and at Security Council tables
have caused prolongation of animosity.
Would that there 'could be the force of
world opinion to demand a total end of the
war, a concession to negotiations that would
bring Israelis and Arabs together in the much-
needed face-to-face confrontation to plan for
a genuine and lasting peace! But the pressures
interfere with dialogues.
Patience served the Israelis well and good
sense has helped bring the Egyptians around
to a position approaching an armistice. If the
cessation of fighting can be prolonged and
talks can continue, there is hope for a meas-
ure of amicability even under the new condi-
tions.
There is no doubt about the long road to
peace and the obstacles that are so difficult
to hurdle. But time, the great healer, also
can prove to be the great peace maker. To-
ward that end there must be concessions.
Egypt must concede to the common sense
that neighbors cannot be neighborly if they
are not on speaking terms. Israel will be
forced to draw new maps as an assurance of
good faith in deliberations for peace.
It remains to be seen whether the Diaspora
will play a role in exerting influence upon
Israeli kinsmen to act with greater speed in
producing such concessions. But the urgency
of such action is being emphasized more
firmly by many Israelis than by others. Within
Israel there is a powerful peace-seeking ele-
ment that desires accord, that seeks amity
among cousins, good 'will in the human so-
ciety that makes up the conglomeration of
the Middle East.
That is why we must hope that pressures
from antagonistic powers will be eliminated
and that those directly concerned will deal
with their own problems. If UN Mediator
Gunnar V. Jarring can accomplish such a task
and himself avoid the compulsions that ema-
nate from the big powers who have been
dividing the Middle East rather than helping
it unite, then we can hope for the type of
peace making that could well serve as a
lesson for warring nations in all other areas
of an embattled world.
USSR and Its C oncern for Jews
Only the Kremlin denies the existence of
prejudices against Jews in the USSR. There
are Jews in Russia who also deny it. But the
evidence is overwhelming. The proof is at
hand. And the fact that Russia now concerns
itself so much with the problem that causes
its policy makers to resort to the Zionist scape-
goat is sufficient to indicate how vulnerable
the Communist leaders are, how sensitive
they are about criticism, how much anxiety
there is that the Russians should be viewed
more kindly.
They can well earn such kindliness and it
could begin with the Jews — provided the
antagonism would end, that there would be a
return to normalcy in treating Jewish citizens
with equality and in abandoning the enmi-
ties toward Israel. A changed attitude would
perforce have to permit Jewish cultural free-
doms; it must acknowledge the right to emi-
gration by any person who seeks a change in
citizenship; it needs the granting of freedom
for people to worship not the goiden calf of
communism alone but an inherited faith.
When Russia grants equal rights to Jews
to have their own newspapers, their theaters,
their synagogues and theological seminaries—
the right to study their inherited language of
Hebrew in addition to the vernacular of Yid-
dish—then we may hope for a return to the
common sense that enables people to live in
amity both as fellow citizens and as • human
beings.
There is hope foi an eventual return to
good will if we are to judge by the avalanche
of copy that stems from Soviet quarters. At
the moment, except for an occasional story
about a cultural event or an artist who is
Jewish, the Soviet propaganda is aimed at
condemning the Jewish Defense League, at
attacking Israel and Zionism, and the latest
gimmick is to prove that Russian Jews who
have settled in Israel are unhappy there and
wish to return to the blessings of Russia.
That's where the satire begins.
There is now the general admission that
Jews are flooding the Russian ministries with
requests for exit visas, that Jews are affirming
their right to emigration, that, clandestinely
if necessary, many Russian Jews are studying
Hebrew and are seeking links with their fel-
low Jews throughout the world. But the Com-
munists manage to locate an occasional Jew
who doesn't like Israel and wishes to return
and then they have the hero who serves their
purpose!
One such defector, for instance, is a 5Z-
year-old English teacher who had lived in
Israel since 1967, complained that he was
scorned for his Yiddish ,speeeh and his lack
of knowledge of Hebrew, that he was treated
like a "foreigner" and that his Soviet univer-
sity diploma was not respected. Now, that's
a complaint worth listening to! There was a
time when there was a Yiddish-Hebrew an-
tagonism in Israel. It no longer exists. But
perhaps there is, somewhere, among the
sabras, an Israeli who doesn't like the Yiddish
of a Russian Jew who demanded recognition
of his diploma from a Soviet college. That's
an issue to be turned into a cause celebre!
Oh, yes, the Russians make much of the
gathering of Jews in Brussels to express soli-
darity with their kinsmen in Russia. They
registered a protest against the gathering with
the Belgian government. Is the Kremlin con-
cerned? Read the expression of anguish over
the Brussels Declaration and the rights that
were assumed by Jews to meet and to frame
such a document! That's how we can judge
the Russian vulnerability.
Yes, the Russians are sensitive, they are
assailable, and that's why we hope they'll
listen to reason and admit they are unfair in
their treatment of Jews and wrong in an atti-
tude toward Israel and Zionism.
But since the Russians are hesitant to
make these admissions there is nothing left
to do but to condemn injustice and to keep
asking for just rights. These are attainable.
Therefore, those asking for them must con-
tinue to be talkative. That's how we hope to
become communicative.
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Dr. Liber's Biography of Rashi
Notes Scholar's Great Influence
An impressive biography of Rashi by a noted French scholar,
Maurice Liber, published in 1906, has been issued by Hermon Press in
an English translation by Adele Szold. It is a republication of the
"Rashi" biography first published by the Jewish Publication Society
of America in 1906 as the first in a series of life stories of great
Jewish scholars.
Rashi—Rabbi Solomon Itxhaki 1040-1105—is described as a scholar,
as a personality who had an influence upon his French environment,
as commentator on Bible and Talmud.
Liber's book outlines the general characteristics of - Rashi's com-
mentaries, their brevity and accuracy.
Examples are given of the accuracy and soundness et the ex-
planations offered in his works, and there is a chapter dealing with
the Response which Raski banded down to future generations.
1jber described Rashi as "a commentator without peer" with "a
claim, universally recognized, upon a high place of honor in our history
and in our literature."
The value of Liber's classic also lies in his having outlined the role
of French Jewry in the 11th Century. He •provided an account of the
decadence of French Jewry after Rashi's death, from the expulsion in
1181 until 1396.
While evaluating Rashi's personality, characteristics and clarity
of his writings, Liber also gave evidence of the Influence Rashi exerted
upon the jewries of many other lands. -
Liber said of Rashi that, "without exaggeration," his Talmud com-
mentary "renewed rabbinical studies in France and in -Gerniiny."
One of Rashi's sons-in-law, Judah ben Nathan, a 'noted talmudic
scholar,. completed Rashi's commentaries' at Bashi's. suggestion and
-continued Rashi's work after his father-in-law's death. The eminent tal-
mudist Yomtob was Judah's son. Thus, the Bashi family's eminence
also is outlined in this biographical study.
- Evaluating Rashi's genius and personality -Libor wrote:
"The beautiful natty of his life and the ashie -simplielivef .his
mature make lash's pessomalfty uie et mraapsibelle In
Jewish history. The writing be left are et maims- bies1W mil pos-
sess .arises interests for se. His Decides: and liespomskligmast
• us with his . psammal frank and with the character
MI lasoleaspo-
, raries; his, rallgims poems. betray the pretest htitli at- -Ak
lad Me Mislifirmiiss fa the 'VIM of his bretbrem.11egrabive an
M.Ceprimodatsr. Be carted Massifa alai tress-which
be his sot bees removed, lad though his work as M-Comisteatatmr
has bees .copied,,M will decades, remain bapossfide Mt absolute
haltatisa. Itagskthem, is. a commutator, Ikon, as .ssieb be • cannot
aspire to the eery of masters like Nalasonddee and - Yeltadah
ha-Levi. But the task be set Idatzelf was to commeat spot the
Bible and the Talmud, the two living sources that feed the great
stream of Jadaisat, and he hdlilled the task in a masterly fashion
and conclusively. Moreover he touched epos nearly all branches
of Jewish literature, grammar, exegesis, history and archeology.
In short his commentaries became inseparable from the texts they
explain. For, if ia some respects his work despite an this may
seem of seconda
ry importance and inferior in creative force to the
writings of a Samna er a Maimealdes, it gains enormously in
value by the discussion and comment it evoked and the influence
it exercised."
Listing the Rashi family, providing a bibliographical record of
Rashi's works, this biography fills a great need in enlightening
readers about the scholar who, the author of this work declares, "has
a claim, universally recognized, upon a high place of honor in our
history and in our literature."
Israeli Hero's Posthumous Story
"Escape," the story of an Israeli hero who escaped from the
Nazis and fought in the 1948 War of Liberation, has been published
posthumously, in a translation of Nimbi Induraky, by Thomas Yoseloti.
The author, Fritz Jordan, had kept a diary, and his incident-by-incident
accounts of exciting experiences have been gathered from those
records.
He served with the British in World War II, escaped as a Nazi
prisoner of war, became a member of Kibutz Ashdot in Israel and
died in the line of service during the 1948 Israel-Arab war.
There are many moving stories related to the life of this hero.
He tells of the fine treatment he received from Greeks who risked
their own lives to feed and protect him when he was an escapee.
"Escape" is a moving story of a young man who had ideals, who
fought the Nazis, whose love for Israel ended in his personal tragedy.