THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with. issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association. National Editorial Assoc!.
ation Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices.
Subscription S8 a year. Foreign $9
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Editor and Publisher
Business Manager
City Editor
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the second day of Av. 5731, Eize following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion. NUM. 30:2-36:13. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 2:4 28:3, 4.
-
Candle lighting. Friday, July 23. 7:42 p.m.
VOL. LIX. No. 19
Page Four
July 23, 1971
American Politics—Without Political Ambitions
Vice President Spiro Agnew may well
prove to be the unplanned and unexpected
intermediary for attaining a better under-
standing of the conditions affecting Amer-
ican-Israel and American-Middle East rela-
On his visit in that area which remains
under war-threatening conditions, the Vice
President conferred with Arab leaders, and
the result of his conferences that could be
considered unhindered by the protocol of
releasing factual information may have been
summed up in this statement in the cabled
report to the New York Times from Jidda,
Saudi Arabia, by its correspondent, Robert
B. Semple:
"In a two-hour private session with King
Feisal and other Saudi leaders, Mr. Agnew
sought to impress his hosts with a single
theme: that President Nixon favors neither
side in the Arab-Israel dispute and wishes
only to avoid a resumption of the fighting
and to achieve at least a de facto settlement
of the long quarrel."
If this could be translated into realities
it would be a welcome declaration. What is
needed is not favoritism and special privilege,
neither extraordinary friendship for Israel
nor dislike for the Arab states and their
rulers. What the world needs is justice to
the Jew and complete fairness to the Arabs.
On that basis there is the demand also for
protection of the very lives of the people
involved, and on that score "at least a de
facto settlement" and avoidance of resump-
tion of fighting could go a long way in end-
ing a horrible war among kinsmen.
If President Nixon adheres to a policy
of pursuing justice in the Middle East, it
can be attained without prejudice to either
side — provided that aim is based on the
human obligations of assuring security for
all. But if this business of favoring neither
side will nevetheless ignore the constant
saber rattling, the unending threats that Is-
rael must be destroyed as a Jewish state,
the arming of Arabs by Russians and Chinese,
then the coin will automatically be reversed.
Then there will be justification for demand-
ing explanations from our government why
Arab states are permitted to grow fat on
Kremlin weapons while Israel is weakened
by a prejudiced position that denies them
equal right to self-defensive means in ac-
quiring arms for protection of the people
threatened with destruction.
-
Of course, the whole business of arms
deals and the expansion of militarism is ap-
palling. But, how is it to be ended? Surely,
it can not be one-sided — by offering weap-
ons to Arabs — weapons aimed at striking
at Israel's security — and at the same time
making a farce of the boasted American-
Israel friendship.
True: favoritism is wrong. But Israel does
not ask for special privileges, and her friends
join with her only to ask for means for self-
protection. If the Agnew view expressed in
Kuwait and Jidda and other Arab centers
spells justice for all, then it is all to the
good. If it was sheer secret diplomacy that
sought to appease rather than to demand
fairness for all, then we will be in addi-
tional trouble.
We are already in lots, of trouble as long
as Russia gives Egypt all the weapons Sadat
asks for and both Russia and China supply
weapons to Syria. The answer lies in Amer-
ican aid for Israel—militarily, without pro-
viding a single soldier for defensive purposes
and leaving that task to the Israelis; and
economically, in the best interests of Arabs
as well as Jews in areas administered by Is-
rael. Any other interpretation could, indeed,
mean the end of all friendly attitudes in the
entire Middle East.
An Historic Rule for Compassion
When the U.S. Supreme Court takes up
the matter of capital punishment and its
constitutionality, it would be well for it to
take into account the basic Jewish regula-
tions. There is the established Jewish view
that a court that condemns a man to death
could be called a murderous court. The
Mishna tells of the idea that a Sanhedrin
that effects one execution in seven years
is branded as murderous, and Rabbi Eliezer
ben Azariah insisted that a Sanhedrin that
condemns a man to death once in 70 years
is murderous. The views of Rabbis Tarfon
and Akiva were-that if they were members
of a Sanhedrin no one would ever be put to
death.
We had an example of compassion in Is-
rael last week. An Arab, Mahmoud Mussa
Yassin, also known as Bu Nimmer, was found
guilty of having committed six murders, two
of them Arab women. He was captured while
trying to rape an Arab girl. He was given six
life terms in prison for the six crimes and was
Valuable American Jewish Data
in 3 Volumes Edited by Marcus
It is reasonable also to ask why there
is no American hesitation in providing mili-
tary supplies to the Arabs while the U.S.
denies similar military business transactions
Another literary treasure is to be credited to the eminent his-
for Israel.
torian Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, in the three volumes, "Critical Studies
not condemned to death because, under
Israeli law, the death penalty can be imposed
only by a court of two or more judges, and he
had been tried by only one judge.
These are details worth popularizing for
several reasons. In the first place, they have
some relevance to the consideration of the
capital punishment issue. And the fact that
the Arab murderer was a commander of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
in the Gaza Strip. It is to be hoped that the
condemned terrorist's activities should be
known by Arabs themselves. In the main,
Arabs suffered from such terrorist attacks.
Arab women were his victims. Yet a Jewish
judge could not condemn him to death, and it
is doubtful whether the extreme penalty
would have been given him even by a court
presided over by many Jewish judges: be-
cause the Jewish principles are opposed to
capital punishment, except in the case of the
mass murderer Adolf Eichmann.
Would that these principles were known
in Arab quarters. Would they delimit their
terrorist acts?
in American Jewish History," just issued by Ktay.
The collection of selected articles is from American Jewish
Archives, the magazine edited by Dr. Marcus.
Dr. Marcus' introductions to each of the volumes, in addition
to a number of his own essays, offer evaluative data on historical
occurrences and on major events that clarify the developments of
the American Jewish communal functions.
History, religion, synagogue life, occasional conflicts are
enumerated in the many essays authored by writers highly quali-
fied to deal with American Jewish occurrences.
Attitudes toward East European Jews, the views of Isaac M.
Wise on Zionism, portraits of noted American Jews, Christian-Jewish
relations—these are among the many topics under discussion.
Prof. Joseph Guttmann of Wayne State University is represented
with several essays on art, the activities of Isaac M. Wise and other
subjects.
Dr. Marcus' initial essay on Connecticut Jewry in the first of
the three volumes introduces the American Jewish historical scene.
Essays on Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis have special
merit in this series of collected essays.
Language studies, with frequent emphasis on Yiddish, are added
features, and there is much of value in describing the labor move-
ments and the roles of Jews in unionization and other activities .
Of interest also, in view of Dr. Marcus' role in gathering ,
this material, is his concluding essay in the third volume, on
"Major Trends in American Jewish Historical Research."
Civil War experiences are described in several essays about that
era and the personalities who figured in their occurrences.
Then there are the 'valuable comments by Dr. Marcus on events
in other communities in the Americas. The Marranos, the early settlers,
and their creative efforts are reviewed in these three volumes, which
serve a most important purpose in assuring the gathering of data that
covers the American Jewish scene.
Prof. Wolf's 'Passion of Israe
Notable, Most Invaluable
Wor
e
•
.
Of the many books on the subject, "The Passion of Israel" by
Prof. Leonard Wolf of San Francisco State College, deserves more
than passing attention. It is unique in its interpretation of events as
they are viewed by a cross-section of Israeli personalities. In i
approach to the people who make up the Israel conglomerate, Dr. We
has caught the spirit of the land. Meanwhile, this Little-Brown pu,.
lished work presents the personalities of Israel in such interesting poses
that the author of this volume emerges as having rendered an espe-
cially valuable service.
The reader immediately becomes aware of the reality of the
author's assertion that "all the people in this book are real." He meets
here the general, Elad Peled; the politician, Menahem Begin; Arabs
whose opinions are important for an understanding of the Israel situa-
tion; housewives, farmers and average citizens. '
There are the professors and the students, the kibutzniks and
their families.
Golda Meir is presented in a most impressive chapter that
again evaluates the great personality who knows so much about
Russia, whose pioneering spirit preceded statesmanship.
The people in Mea Shearim are evaluated, and the reader is
presented with ideas that may have been strange to him. from the pen
of a qualified student and observer.
The story of Israel is covered so well here that "The Passion of.
Israel" serves as an inspiration.
Prof. Wolf's story serves another very valuable purpose. it helps
tourists to gain a necessary understanding of Israelis and their activi
ties. Just as a guide is important for visitors to Israel, so, also, will
this book guide them toward more intimate knowledge of the land of
promise that holds out so much excitement of a political, cultural and
religious nature.