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. Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $8 a year. Foreign $9 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."