Purely Commentary
On the New Year 572: An Affirmation -
of Faith in Indestructability, Facing Need
- With Aged
for Realities in Linking Youth
SiOMOVitZ
A
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ers , in the Challenging -Year ' ey
Shams to Be Avoided; Meeting the Test of Which Youth Puts the Eid
ference. If rabbis and other public figures are cOmplacent,
e'll be tested again' on Rosh ilishana—whether the synagogue is
We'll
wake up to realities. Their messages all too often fall on' deaf ears, As
the arena for the three-day-a-year (two . . . ?) worshipers or whether it
Establishment, they need a better path not only to youth but to the entire
ran exert the influence and the inspiration that is vital to a peaple's
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congregation of Israel.
existence as an historic, spiritual and cultural entity.
Youth may find its way much quicker to Jewish realities than their
It is because youth challenges us that we must word t he New Year -
elders, in spite of all shortcomings. There is vigor in the young.- And the
greeting to the community in this fashion.
elders need new shots in the arm, new inspiration for mind and heart.
It is because there are prophets of doom who see danger to our very
If they do not respond, why : expect their children to be more saintly?
existence at every step that we must give thought to the realities of life.
If elders reduce' their synagogue memberps to the few days a year, how
can we expect the young to react more lally? If elders do not read their
We happen not to be among the frightened. We do not believe that
history, are unacquainted with the science of. Judaism, what are we to
our youth have abandoned us. We consider it silly to see a ghost at every
expect from their offspring?
doorstep, an anti-Semite under every bed.
We are alive and alert and there is indestructability in. Jewry. We
the
synagogue
in
Jewish youth rejects some forms of Jewish loyalties,
have no fears. We carry on. We survive enemies and are proud of our
and the community, but it has not abandoned us completely. We are rather
friends. We need to recognize realities in assuring dignity and glory for
proud of many of them who are showing good sense in their identifications,
Jewry. That needs planning. It requires more than verbiage and rehash. of
who have a keen interest in our heritage, who are respectful of Israel.
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Also: if we believed that we are doomed in our existence, that we are
faced with extinction, because of mounting dangers on many fronts, we
would be sacrificing every vestige of confidence and faith that distinguishes
us among the nations.
Yet, there is something wrong. There are shortcomings" , i , n synagogue
and school. The skepticism that has set in indicates that the cement that
traditionally binds us has lost its cohesive power. There are conflicts in
schools and a lack of sanctity in the synagogue's attraction to the total
Jewish community.
While we l&ep asking for continuity and uninterrupted fealty to faith
and to 'historic bonds, there are weaknesses that contribute toward indif-
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o ld cliches.
Perhaps what we say also is repetitive. cliche, yet we must state it as
a basis for making our generations more firm in their Jewishness, more
positive in their approaches to kin and faith, more respectful in confronting
our youth who are—who should be—the pride of our existence. In appre-
ciation of the test to which youth puts the elders, - let us not . overlook the
summons of the youthful that we be realistic in establishing our position
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as a people whose ideals are rooted in historic experiences.
We look forward to a good year in which the generations will be linked
in their loyalties to their . great heritage. That's the best wish we have for
our people in wishing them a happy -5732.
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The Communist Line and a KGB Agent's Anti-Israel Line
for End to One-Sided Arab Thinking •
While an Israeli mission was visiting Russia in the first gesture in more than four years for a
Because of its source, and' •because its contacts are unques- resumption of USSR-Israel friendly relations, Novosti Press Agency, the official Communist news bureau,
tionably pro-Arab, Aramco World Magazine is worth studying. It avoids utilized the services of an Israeli, Abram. Neumann, to spread anti-Israel and anti-Monist propaganda.
Neumann' -is properly listed as the Moscow correspondent of the Israel -newspapers Haderah and
mentioning Israel and its pro-Arab position is only by innuendo. Only
in its annual has it shown how the Jewish position can be denigrated. All Ittihad, the Hebrew and Arabic Communist periodicals. But there is no indication, of course, that
But in its latest issue, Aramco World actually touches upon the Arab- Neumann is the Communist Rakah spokesman for the extremest of the Communist ,parties in. Israel.
It is the group that, in the interest of party lines, opposes every defensive Israeli., effort if -the sentiment
Israel problem.
Kremlin is in that direction.
In "A Talk With Philip Hitti," the Princeton professor who front the
It is distressing that distorted views should be spread by an enemy from within. The Rakah group
has been among the leading academicians who have propagated the is small
in
numbers. The more reasonable Communists in Israel have, severed relatioriS with this
anti-Israel case, the interviewer, John Starkey, closes a lengthy article element. But
Rakah's 'correspondent in Moscow has a platform through Novosti to Claim that Jews
with the, following:
going to Israel are "victims of bourgeois propaganda." If we /were certain that this type of "news
from Novosti and its tool from Israel, Abram Neumann, would not mislead people, we would not call
Interviewer: As an historian, how in history books.
attention to the distortions of truth. It is to offset such clistortions that we must dignify them with the
do you view the present situation
Interviewer: Do you rule out the attention we give them. - -
in which the Arabs find them- possibility of peace?
A typical example of fact juggling was presented in the articles by Victor Louis, the Russian
selves?
Hitti: No . . . A new generation journalist who has KGB-USSR secret service connections—in the New York Times. In his first article
I see it as a continuation will come and, hopefully, they will there appeared a spark of friendship. In the second he followed the Novosti line. He gave the impression
of a period of renaissance that be- realize Mst cordial relations . . that all Russian Jews are disenchanted with Israel, he told jokes intended for mockery, he gave no
gan in the 18th Century, with an will do more good than support indication that there is an element in Russian Jewry that insists on emigrating—and only to Israel!
injection from the West in the from outside. An accommodation
The number of Russian Jews who ask to be permitted to settle in Israel is anyone's guess. Let us
wake of the Napoleonic' invasion. might be worked out.
admit that it is a guess rather than an established figure.. Yet it is no longer to be denied that tens of
The Arabs were on their way when
thousands of Jews are demanding the freedom of exit, that many young Jews ask to be permitted to
Interviewer: What role do you study Hebrew, to turn to Jewish identifications. This is the crux of the problem. Russia admits it by
the Israeli conflict diverted so
much of their energy from prog- think Islam will play in the•hoped- granting the right of exit to the few thousands who are leaving. True: They have to pay through the nose,
for
reconciliation?
to resort to a banality in descnloing the $1,000 fee demanded for each_ visa. Even because of it, and
ress to the destruction of fighting
and war. But time is on the side
Hitti: Remember that Islam, because this sacrifice is made, it is easier to understand the craving of Jews to leave for Israel and the
of the Arabs . .. The Crusaders Christianity and Judaism are close- defiance of the KGB and the Kremlin when the demands are made and the protests against discrimi-
came and conquered Palestine. ly related historically, ideological- nations are registered.
So Novosti and Victor Louis and the USSR-propagandists are repudiated by the established facts.
They set up the Latin Kingdom of ly and theologically. Remember
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Palestine in 1099. They had a prin-., that the Muslims are heirs to the
cipality in Tripoli, another in Edes- Hellenic philosophical traditions A KGB Come to Judge the American Jew
Victor Louis, the KGB-aligned Soviet journalist, after his Israel visits, in his NY Times article,
sa. But . .. the Latin Kingdom de. of Aristotle and Plato, and to a
pended for its existence upon re- certain extent, they are heirs to undertook not only to judge Jews while contrasting the Russians and the Israelis, but also to pass
cruits from abroad, people coming Roman law and culture. Islam and judgment . on the American Jew.
He mocks: The American Jewish tourist comes to Israel wearing. a •blue-white tourist cap with the
from all over, supplies being ship- its rivals should be able to play a
ped in. It was artificial,` like living constructive, cooperative role, if inscription "Shalom Israel," as if he came to a fancy dreSs party. How little the American Jew is
on blood transfusions, and it lasted they will keep in mind their com- understood! There is the fancy-dress-Party type, and there is the idealist; there is the dedicated youth
only 88 .years. The land was re- mon heritage. Of all the peoples that studies in Israel's universities or works in a kibutz, and there is the
. handful that imbibes -drugs;
stored to the Muslims and now we in the world, Muslims are closest there are the uninformed and there are the lovers of Israel who take pride in a heritage that spells
redemption. '
read about the Latin Kingdom only to Christians and Jews.
In the .mein, it is the American Jew who is among the builders of Zion and who provides the
It 'is worth noting in the Hitti article that the editors emphasize means for Israel's security. He will not permit 2,500,000 of his kinsmen to be slaughtered, and to defend
as a quotation from the Princeton professor this _quotation:
the right of his fellow Jews to live in dignity, in their ancient homeland, he does not hesitate to protest
"There are 500,000,000 Muslims and 100,000,000 speak Arabic. injustice, even when it is threatened in the highest echelons of our own government.
The American Jew is a man not to be mocked. There are some among us who are not as ideal-
We have to deal with them and understand them."
istic or as philanthropic, who are experts in acting as military strategists but are less apt to be partici-
True ! But there also are about 12,000,000 Jews and in Israel pants as builders of Zion, but these are an exceptional minority in Jewish ranks. Overwhelmingly, there
3,000,000 speak Hebrew. There are Hebrew-speaking. Jews also in is genuine concern for Israel, and no mocking from the Kremlin can possibly undo it.
the Diaspora. All of them pray in Hebrew.
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So—both of us exist, Jews as well as Arabs. There are 16 or 17 Kahane as Prophet of Doom and as Creator of Panic
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Arab states—it becomes difficult to count them, new ones arising
Rabbi Meir Kahane came to Pittsburgh to arouse fears. He won the right to speak, although he is
unexpectedly and spontaneously—and there also is the small redeemid not an affiliated Zionist and was not invited to the convention by the ZOA. He may have aroused con-
state of Israel. We recognize Arabs, they should recognize us.
cern over the rise of anti-Semitism in this country, but it is doubtful, whether his polemics survived the
(Talk about the emergence of new Arab states ! Bahrein has week that followed the ZOA convention sessions. ,
emerged as a new one, under the rulership of Sheikh Ise, and has
How could he succeed? He is a prophet of doom! He instills panic! He is unrealistic about the
already applied for membership in the United Nations. Bahrein has American - attitudes, because our fellow citizens-are not murderers and-we, retain confidence that what
a population of only 216,000, and it already receives some $34,000,000 we call fair play remains a great American ideal. So—in the spirit of fair play we listened to Kahane,
a year in oil revenue. And It has already pledged to support Egypt, we continue to give him the right to propagate his views and to warn us, but just don't agree with his
Syria and Jordan in the battle against Israel ! What a wonderful ally methods or his group's (JDL's) advocacy of use of weapons in a , society that is dependent upon public
--another vote in the UN !—for the Afro-Asian and Communist anti- securities.
Israel bloc !).
Indeed, never again' will Jews permit a holocaust or mass murder approaching the Nazi way in
The emphasis must be placed on Prof. Hitti's request that Muslims any fashion whatever, If ever. such a time were to arise, we have the:feeling that there will be Ameri-
and Arab-speaking peoples be dealt with and understood. That's cans of all faiths—of an races! who will not condone a Nazi terror. '
We are for vigilance but not for violent vigilantism I -
what Israel pleads for—mutual understanding and friendly relation.
Mrs. Israel (the famous "Bert") Goldstein, on her visit here last week, admonished the -JDL to help
- ships. It can't be a one-Sided Hitt/ and Aramco World deal. When will
it come? When the Ilittis and the Arabian oil people who 'are nestled provide the means with which to settle Russian Jews in Inge-, instead of resorting to violence. (She said
"We
are
all demonstrating in defense of Russian Jewry—in Israel and in the United States, but we op-
in Aramco will say that what's fair for the goose is fair' for the
-Pose - the use of violence anywhere.") It's a point that is being Ignored by protesters. How do they think
gander and what's right for Arabs is right for Jews!
the Russian Jews will be assured of-havens in Israel, unless there are the means for it1 Do they think
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS protesting words and angetk alone will provide it? Let them learn the lesson Bert has offered.
2—Friderf, September 17, 1971
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