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 Associ-
ation Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
CA RMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
Business Manager
DREW LI EBERWITZ
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath—Shabat HaZ07?—the ninth day of Av, 5731, the following scriptural
selection's will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 1:1-3:22. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 2:4-28:3, 4.
Fast of Av Scriptural Selections, Sunday
Pentateuchal portions: Morning, Deut. 4:25-40: afternoon, Exod. 32:1-14, 34:1-10.
Prophetical portions: Morning, Jeremiah 8:13-9:23: afternoon, Isaiah 55:6-56:8. Lamen-
tations is read the night before and in the morning.
Candle lighting. •Friday, July 30, 7:35 p.m.
VOL. LIX. No. 20
July 30, 1971
Page Four
Some Truths to Dispel M.E. Fantasies
Hope is mounting that the latest develop-
ments affecting the guerrillas who were
engaged in a battle against King Hussein's
rule may serve also to expose many of the
lies that have been concocted to discredit
Israel and to charge the Jewish state with
having resorted to cruelties against Arabs.
Terrorists who have acquired asylum in
Israel now admit that the atrocity charges
are sheer falsehoods, that they have a better
chance to be treated humanely in Israel than
under Hussein. Perhaps the enemies of Israel
will learn that there is better treatment for
Arabs in Israel than they received under
Egyptian rule in the Gaza Strip.
There is an interesting corollary to what
has just developed in Jordan in a report of
interviews with Jordanians, conducted July 7
by West German television stations in a film
broadcast. The Arabs who were interviewed
expressed opposition to the fedayeen forces
who were then operating in the northern part
of Jordan. A mukhtar, the head of a village
near Jarash, said:
"The terrorists didn't come to Jordan to
fight the Israelis but just to create disorder.
The Israelis are a lot more decent than these
fools. It's much better to live with the Jews
than the terrorists."
And these terrorists, referred to as fools,
now are seeking asylum in Israel!
But from these fedayeen ranks came
many distortions of truth. They sought to
poison the minds of Christians. They charged
that Jews had compelled Christians to aban-
don Jerusalem. On this score, too, it is neces-
sary to set forth the facts.
Detailed official accounts of the religious
adherents who live in the now united entire
city of Jerusalem are:
Moslems
Jews
Christians
1948
100,000
40,000
25,000
1967
195,000
54,963
10,800
1970
215,000
61,600
11,500
Figures do not lie. It is under Israel's
administration that both the Moslem as well
as Christian populations had grown. It was
under Jordanian rule that the number of
Christians had declined drastically. Yet the
libel was uttered that Christians had fled
from Jerusalem since Israel united the Holy
City of Jerusalem!
There are other libels hurled at Israel that
need exposing so that the truth should not be
corrupted. The American Physicians Fellow-
Israel's Glory Redeemed
Israel's ministry of tourism has appealed
to 80,000 prospective tourists to defer their
visits to the Jewish state for three months
because of the crowded conditions and be-
cause of the great interest in the land that is
attracting visitors from all parts of the world.
This indicates the deep interest in Israel
—an interest that should cause an insistence
for the protection of the amazingly progres-
sive Jewish state.
Half of the Israeli tourists are non-Jews,
and the attraction the land has remains inter-
national. Protection for the land must also
receive worldwide assurances.
The one comment knowledgeable Jews can
make on the progress in tourism is that it
spells nezakh Israel—the rebirth of the an-
cient glory of Israel.
ship, which has a membership of 7,100 Ameri-
can physicians, at its recent convention in
Atlantic City, adopted a resolution in which
it charged that the World Health Organization
—WHO—had adopted a prejudiced anti-Israel
position. The resolution stated:
"Whereas, For three consecutive annual meet-
ings of the World Health Organization, political
issues have been introduced by the Arab-Com-
munist bloc, and resolutions have been passed
against the state of Israel by reason of the numeri-
cal strength of this bloc coupled with abstentions
by other nations because of political pressures
and—
Rosenberg's Illuminating 'Great
Religions of the Holy Land'
On his sabbatical, as "a pilgrim resident" in Israel toward the
"Whereas, The issues that have been raised
and the charges that have been made by this bloc end of 1967, Dr. Stuart E. Rosenberg of Toronto began to feel a per-
have been proven false by immediate refutation by sonal obligation to portray the religious role of the Holy City, Jeru-
salem. Although it was not long after the war in the month of June
the International Red Cross—
in that year, "there, in and around Jerusalem, the three great religious
"Whereas, The American Medical Association still prayed and sang and dreamed of joy,
has always insisted that world politics should not and light, and peace. And they did so at
be allowed to impede progress in world health and sacred sites they had lovingly preserved and
has always denied the propriety of the use of often shared. They did so, to be sure, in
political reprisal in matters of medical care—be it their own unmatched ways, yet their spiri-
tual sagas are interrelated and connected
"Resolved, That the American Physicians Fel- as are few other human and divine stories.
lowship, an organization of 7,100 physicians allied Indeed, it is in the Holy Land, as nowhere
to the American Medical Association, deplores the else on earth, that their epic stories are
actions of the World Health Organization in allow- still visible, tangible and self-revealing."
ing the introduction of political issues by the Arab-
His personal experience inspired Rabbi
Communist bloc in its attempt to vilify the state
Rosenberg to produce a most fascinating
of Israel."
work. In "Great Religiorf the Holy Land
Sponsors of this resolution pointed out —An Historical Guide to Sacred Places and
Sites," published by A. S. Barnes Co., Dr.
that charges had been made at the annual Rosenberg
recorded the status and
WHO meeting in Rome that Israel, as an the activities has
of the major faiths in Israel.
occupying authority of new territories, had
Dr. Rosenberg
Extensively and splendidly illustrated,
barred the distribution of medicaments by the
International Committee of the Red Cross— this large 'volume serves a valuable need—of guiding pilgrims through
the ICRC—to occupants of those territories. the holy places and among the religious groups in Israel and, fac-
Without checking on facts such charges were tually, to lead them to a full understanding of the spiritual forces in
the Holy Land.
adopted in a resolution- that was passed by
the WHO by a vote of 41 to 2, the two oppon-
ents of the resolution having been the United
States and Israel, and there were 53 absten-
tions.
In the interest of truth, the American
Physicians Fellowship calls attention to the
fact that the falsehoods upon which the
adopted WHO resolution was based became
apparent when, on May 19, the day after the
shocking WHO resolution was adopted, ICRC
representatives made this statement in
Geneva: •
"It is completely untrue to assert that
we have been barred from this distribution-
al work by the Israeli authorities. We have
several times made distributions in the
Gaza Strip, the Sinai area and Jordan; for
example, as recently as Feb. 17, 1971, to
50,000 Bedouini in the Sinai."
Officials of the American Physicians Fel-
lowship stated, explaining the resolution they
adopted:
"The passing of a political resolution at
a health organization meeting may be re-
garded by the Arab-Communist bloc as a
desirable victory in its international propa-
ganda war against Israel, but these activ-
ities are contrary to the fundamental con-
cepts of decency
morality and must
be stopped."
Time heals many wounds; and also ex-
poses many lies. The fantasies of the Middle
East—abetted by Kremlin's prejudices—now
emerge in all their deliriousness. When
Israel's antagonists learn the facts, perhaps
that will lead to peace quicker than di-
plomacy.
,
Rabbi Rosenberg's book is an historical analysis of religions •
movements as well as a presentation of the current conditions.
Describing the various -religious groups and their roles, the .author,
utilizing the phrase coined by Pope Pius XI that that, spiritually
all monotheists are Semites, declares that Jews, ChriStians and
Muslims "share a holy history rooted in common experiences and
traditions • deriving from the Holy Land" and adds:' "For each
.group, the Holy Land is something different. Yet for each it re-
mains one and the same: an eternal center for the revocation of
older sanctities that still illumine the world."
From Bible times and their many historical incidents, as
in-the Torah, Dr. Rosenberg turns to New Testament accounts
of subsequent historical occurrences. Then, in .the second part of his
volume, he doh with Judaism in the Holy Land—the periods of the:
Second Temple, Herod and other events, and in •the4 course of this
analysis points to the era of the emergence of the synagogue where
prayer was substituted for sacrifice, and where the House of Study
emerged under the influence of the rabbis.
The two .sithsequent portions. of the book deal with ebristianity
and Islam in the .ifoly Land, and the roles of the two great 'religions
thus are reviewed in similar great detail to provide. the Ittprical as
well Its the current positions of the faiths that -have been influenced.
by Holy Land spirituality.
There is a concluding brief essay that merits special -attention
because it echoes the mood of religiosity that inspired Dr. Rotenberg
to write this book. Therein he quotes Psalm 137 (By the waters of
Babylon), Torah, the Koran. As in his entire book, Dr. Rosenberg-is
objective, dealing faithfully with the details of each faith, recognizing
all as having their roots in Israel the Holy Land. "The imprint of the
land is everywhere," Rabbi Rosenberg asserts. He views his subject
as the "protected record of the earliest days of human history." In
such an approach the reader will find enlightenment in Dr. Rosenberg's
"Great Religions of the Holy Land."