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 Associa-
tion. 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 $10 a year.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
Business Manager
City Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 15th day of Heshvan, 5734, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Gen. 18:1-22:24. Prophetical portion, II Kings 4:1-37.
Candle lighting, Friday, Nov. 9, 4:59 p.m.
VOL. LXIV. No. 9
Page Four
November 9, 1973
The Book and the Imperishable Legacy
Communal Structures Defy Obstructions
In the 25-year period of Israel's rebirth there were some years of comfort, of great
consolation in the knowledge that the heritage of an historic people, the legacies of ineras-
able prophecies, the perpetuation of sacred ideals were never to be degraded, negated or
abandoned.
Even in the glorious quarter century, there were years of tensions, of challenges and
threats to our very existence. The dangers were survived; whatever new menacing situ-
ations may arise will always be confronted with courage by indestructible Israel. It is far
from chauvinism to make such an assertion. Every experience in Israel's history points to
indestructibility. Therefore, the assertion of confidence based on the realities of life and of
the lessons of history.
Therefore—the people's identification with each other, the solidarity in time of need,
the promise never to be broken that the less fortunate and those in danger will never be
abandoned.
That is why philanthropy plays such a vital role in the life of every Jew. That is
why the United Jewish Appeal and the Israel Emergency Fund get such hearty responses.
That is why there are investments in Israel Bonds.
That is why the land reclamation work goes on, making the Keren Kayemet le-Israel
a function of immeasurable continuity; Hadassah a force for the healing of our people; Ma,
gen David Adorn a cause to supply the provisions for the sick and wounded. Fund-raising
efforts presently are limited to the Israel Emergency Fund and •the Israel Bond drives on
a major scale, and the supplementary causes are incidental to the needs. But even the sup-
plementary tasks become vital in a struggle for existence and survival.
That is why the civic protective tasks of major movements are significant in reject-
ing every manifestation of hatred—and there is so much of it!
In the process of protecting Israel and contributing to the defense of the embattled
role while serving the loyalties of the nations of which Jews are dedicated citizens, it is
necessary, in a time of trials and tribulations, to affirm endlessly our spiritual values, our
cultural needs, our image in collective service to the goals that elevate our inherited ideals
while perpetuating them.
Under challenge to kinsmen abroad„ there is a basic policy: to retain the strength of
our communities as Jews everywhere.
In the process of protecting Israel and contributing to the defense of the embattled
nation— with the ever-resounding slogan that never again shall there be another Holo-
caust—never to permit Genocide to emerge either for us or for our neighbors and fellow
citizens—there is the enduring determination that life goes on, that our institutions must
function and prosper, that destroyers never be given comfort by us and our friends of all
faiths and all races.
*
*
*
Indeed, life goes on, and we retain the values of our cultural-spiritual treasures un-
diminished by obstacles.
That is why, in the midst of serious obligations to the Allied Jewish Campaign-Israel
Emergency Fund, in efforts in behalf of Israel Bonds, giving encouragement to Magen Da-
vid Adorn, we are taking pride in The Book. There is even greater value in a Book Fair
now because it emphasizes the positive and the creative and lifts heads high in recognition
of the constructive work of a healthy people.
While destructive propaganda is spread on the campuses of our universities and truth
is distorted by those who would _destroy Israel the State and thereby aim a death blow
at the People Israel, we speak in terms of spiritual values. That's the meaning of Jewish
Book Fair.
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How sad that there have been periods of distress over the attitudes of some of the
non-Jewish communities and of preachers of other faiths, in judgments of a situation, that
arose from infamy on the holiest day on the calendar! Noble Christians—hasidei umot ha-.
nations of the world—have not been silent, in spite of the
olam—the saintly among
tragic demonstrations of 6a unified opposition to Israel in the international arena of the Unit-
ed Nations. Only the blessed United States has given comfort to Israel. Others were silent
when terror ruled the public platform of the world organization. The answer to it is unin-
terrupted striving for truth and for adherence to basic ideals of justice.
The reply to manifestations of bigotry and abhorrent roles of sick minds is to strive
for understanding, for our own knowledge and for dispatch of admonitions to our fellow
men of our will to live and adherence to an obligation to help others to live. No one is
secure in a society in which any segment of it is in danger. That is why, in our determined
will to live, we say even to those who would destroy us that they, too, must live in peace—
with us and with themselves.
The reply is in a strengthened community of learning, in retention of the highest
goals of our schools and our synagogues, in constantly giving courage to our teachers and
our spiritual leaders.
In a time of danger and of need we not only are the people of mercy, one to an-
other, but also the builders of a good life imbedded in a vital community.
Nothing is ever abandoned in a people's life. Let it be the school or the synagogue
or the workshop for the less skilled or the impoverished.
Life goes on undiminished. None in need is abandoned, and never is the commu-
nity's role reduced! It is all part of the will to live. It is the Jewish lesson—and mankind's
—because decency itself is imperishable.
i.077k
Significant Documentary
B'riha, Work of Rescue Flight,
Marks Heroism and Devotion
"B'riha," the Hebrew term for "flight" or "escape," will remain
a guide word to explain the movement in which courageous people
participated to rescue many thousands who otherwise would have
been among the victims of the Nazi terror.
Ephraim Dekel, who was chief of B'riha operations in Europe in
1947, relates how the activities were progressing and the difficulties
that were encountered in "B'riha—Flight to the Homeland," published
by Herzl Press, The continuation of B'riha after the war, because of
the British obstructions in bringing Jews to Palestine, is part of this
important record of the defiance of all obstacles to the rescue work
and to the transporting of survivors from displaced persons camps to
the Jewish settlements in Eretz Israel.
Dekel's "B'riha" first appeared in Hebrew. The English transla-
tion is by Dina Ettinger. The book was edited for the Herzl Press by
Gertrude Hirschler.
A foreword to "B'riha" by Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, who was
an adviser to U. S. army commanders in Europe on Jewish affairs in
1946-47, commends this Dekel's efforts, paid honor to those who as-
sisted in B'riha, including many non-Jews, and speaks of Presdient
Harry S. Truman as having "kept the borders of Germany and
Austria open to fleeing refugees."
As an historical record of heroism, as well as the determined
will of the survivors to defy as well as to escape the Nazi terror,
Dekel's "B'riha" is a document of great significance.
Not only does it relate incidents. It places emphasis on the per-
sonalities who were involved in the flight and the rescue.
The author has delved' into the most important records for an
accumulation of the facts that must constantly be called to the atten-
tion of a generation that learns about the Holocaust cnly from historians
like the author of this work.
It is a documentary drawing upon the factual news reports and
the detailed accounts of what had occurred and how the rescue work
was conducted from those who were deeply involved in the great task
of saving Jews for settlement in Israel.
There is, as an example of what the author has included in his
work, the story of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish Christian who de-
fied dangers to save Jews. (See Wallenberg story culled from the
Dekel book in Jewish News, Oct. 26).
Stories of Jews in many lands who dared stand up against t_
threats and the dangers are part of this recorded work. Another ex-
ample is the heroism of Aaron Asa in Bulgaria. The Jews in that
country were all Zionists, but they feared to declare themselves be-
cause of the threats against Zionism and Zionists from the Jewish
Communists. Asa was an exception, and his labors receive due credit.
This is true of scores of others, and the resistance finds additional
substantiation in this important volume.
Diaries are quoted, B'riha in action is recorded in Poland, Italy,
Romania, Greece, France and many other lands.
An epilogue by Gertrude Hirschler denotes the ultimate satisfac-
tion gained from the labors of rescue attained through flight. She states:
"Those whom B'riha led out of Europe into Eretz Israel joined
Palestine Jewry in the upbuilding of the Jewish homeland and in the
struggle that culminated in the establishment of the state of Israel.
Able-bodied newcomers marched directly from the immigrant ships
to the scenes of battle in Israel's fight for survival against a host of
encricling Arabs. Today, these survivors of the greatest disaster ever
to have befallen the Jewish people are devoted citizens of Israel, in
peace and in war. In helping rebuild the land, they themselves have
been made whole again. For this, not only the refugees themselves
and the people of the state they helped to establish, but indeed all
Jews, wherever they may dwell, are deeply in the debt of B'riha."