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
Business Manager
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
City Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 25th day of Tevet, 5734, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exod. , 6:2-9:35. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 28:25-29:21
Torah reading for Rosh Hodesh Shevat, Sunday, Num. 28:1-15.
Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 18, 6:11 p.m.
VOL. LXIV No. 19
Page Four
January 18, 1974
Truth: Is It a Rarity in Diplomacy?
Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger has been to Istael and to the Arab states and
he will no doubt keep visiting the embattled areas as our country's dedkated represent-
ative in search for peace.
Speculation regarding his approaches, some describing them as Bismarckian, others
as Machiavellian. Leaning in the direction of placing trust in this very able American
diplomat, and of adhering to the hope that his task will bring amity to a sorely afflicted
area whose peace could well mean the peace of the entire world, we must nevertheless
resort to caution lest diabolical obstacles intrude to menace his historic role and his mis-
sions for an accord in the Middle East.
Past experiences have taught that there are many sides to diplomacy, that not all in-
volvers are honorable, that there is need to be careful in placing trust in negotiators.
"Place not your trust in princes" — al tivtekhu b'nedivim — the Hebrew Psalmist
warned. Yet, the princes play their roles, the negotiators are inevitable. We must trust to
a degree. And in placing trust it is proper and honorable to admonish the negotiators to be
on guard lest the intriguers destroy the fruits of their labors.
One of America's most distinguished political scientists, Dr. Hans J. Morgenthau,
writing in the New Leader on "An Intricate Web: The Geopolitics of Israel's Survival," drew
a parallel between experiences of the past and the deliberations now in progress. He
warns of a possibility of treachery:
It is hardly necessary to point out that had the
October. War started at the 1967 frontiers, Israel
would have been in mortal danger, even if it had
avoided its initial military mistakes. And given the
unfavorable geopolitical configuration, if it is in
mortal danger, it is likely to be doomed. Foreign
intervention on its behalf, assuming it were avail-
able, would come too late—and its availability is
moot. In 1957, the United Nations induced Israel to
withdraw from Sinai in exchange for an Anglo-
French-American guarantee of open passage through
the Straits of Tiran; when Egypt closed the Straits
in 1967, Israel had to wage war by itself to reopen
them.
Similarly, a UN peace-keeping force staitoned
at the 1967 borders would not be able to protect
Israel from the Russian missiles at the disposal
of the Egyptians, with their range of up to 180
miles. Indeed, the Israelis could not expect such
a force to protect them from a ground attack either:
Is it likely that foreign governments would allow
their soldiers to die for a nation with which most
of them do not even maintain diplomatic relations?
But the crucial issue for Israel's future is the
meaning of the demand for "the restoration of the
legitimate rights of the Palestinians." Let us imag-
ine for a moment that in the aftermath of World
War II, the millions of Germans fleeing from the
East were condemned by the Bonn government to
the misery of refugee camps, with the stipulation
that their "legitimate rights" had to be restored.
Would the Soviet Union and Poland have been ec-
centric to assume that the West Germans were
insisting on the right of the refugees to return to
their original homes? The same logic, applied to
the Arab stipulation, would mean the right of the
Palestinians to return to what is now Israel. That
is to say, it would mean the destruction of the
Jewish State.
Political circumstances may suggest different
interpretations, and political expediency may well
make it advisable to play down this one. Still, both
the artificial preservation of more than a million
Palestinians in the status of refugees, to be used
as political pawns, and the defenselessness of an
Israel with 1%7 borders, give this interpretation
plausibility. In the end, Israel's fate may well hinge
upon the credibility of Egyptian President Anwar
el-Sadat's commitment to the Jewish State's peace-
ful existence.
When Neville Chamberlain went to Munich, he
had no intention of destroying Czechoslovakia; he
thought instead that he had assured peace in our
time. On his deathbed, the former Prime Minister
remarked that everything would have turned out all
right if Hitler had not lied to him. Let us hope
Henry Kissinger will not have occasion to assert
that everything in the Middle East would have
turned out all right if Sadat had not lied to him.
With all due respect for the seriousness with which the Middle East issue is being
handled by President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger, the experience of Munich, the
lessons provided by Chamberlain, the horrors that stemmed from the Holocaust—much too
much in the diplomatic sphere serves as warning not to be overconfident.
As long as there are Arabs who condone terrorism and at a time when some Arab
leaders keep speaking in terms of Israel's destruction; so long as there is repetition of warn-
ings that Jews who have come to pre-Israel Palestine before 1948 (some of the terrorists
say 1917) will be expelled, there is need for very positive assurances that the truth will
not be forsaken and abandoned to medievalism.
Diplomats know the value of the lesson of history repeating itself: For Israel and for
world Jewry the urgency of caution, not to permit another Munich and another Holocaust, is
a matter of survival. With trust in Nixon and Kissinger, there must nevertheless be the
endless- admonition to be exceedingly careful not to be cast into the role of a Chamberlain,
or to be betrayed by more Hitlers. The slogan for mankind now is: Beware!
Vatican Consistency Over Holy City
Israelis are deeply hurt over many Chris-
tian attitudes primarily those involving the
Holy City of Jerusalem. This is where the
Vatican plays a role in exercising consistency.
When Pope Paul VI was in Israel 10
years ago, he did not utter a word over the
exclusion of Jews from their synagogues—
many of which were in ruins under Jordanian
rule—and from the holiest of all places to the
observant Jewish community, the Western
Wall. In fact, it was unjust treatment ac-
corded to Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem
—East Jerusalem—that earned for that relic
the appellation the Wailing Wall.
But in the interest of what is reported
to be the Catholic quest for "guardianship
over the Holy Places" the Pope is propagat-
ing disruption of Jewish administrative rule
which, alone, has already assured religious
freedom for all faiths, not only in Jerusalem
but in all of Israel. Only the non-Orthodox
Jews in Israel have a justified complaint of
restrictive regulations that tend to- curtail
Conservative and Reform ideologies.
A grave injustice to Israel stems from
Vatican propaganda affecting consideration
of speculative discussions regarding Jerusa-
lem. The Pope's tactics would not only keep
the city divided but would reintroduce re-
ligious bigotries in the Holy City, something
that has been banned by Jewish administra-
tive justice. Some non-Catholic Christians
have already rejected the papal position. The
more the better in the interest of true re-
ligious freedom in the city venerated by all
faiths.
`Voices of a People'
'The Story of Yiddish Folksong'
in Mrs. Rubin's knpressive Work
Jewish experiences in all ages, in joy and in sorrow, amidst
poverty and under stress in the ghettoes and in happier environments
in this country and in Zion, attest to the universality of the Jewish
folksong.
An eminent authority on the Yiddish folksong, Ruth Rubin, once
again elaborates on the theme and provides a thorough, most informa-
tive account of the lied — the song — in "Voices of a People" which
has just been reissued in a second and enlarged edition by McGraw
Hill.
Mrs. Rubin's is a most fascinating story. Liturgy and Hasidic chant,
the Ladino hymn, the songs of Oriental Jews and melodies from many
lands are intermingled with the Yiddish music that has been popu-
larized for centuries, in this extensive compilation.
Author of earlier works on Yiddish folksongs, Mrs. Rubin has
recorded folksongs and samplings of her taped Yiddish songs are in
the Wayne State University Archives as well as in the Library of
Congress as well as other national centers - where the records of
musical achievements are retained.
Treating the folksong as "a universal language," Mrs. Rubin makes
this interesting observation:
"In spite of the social ostracism to which Jews were subjected
during the Middle Ages, they contributed significantly to the cultures
of their dominant neighbors and were profoundly influenced by them
in turn. Jewish translators in Moslem lands helped transmit classical
science and philosophy — as well as Oriental fables and tales — to
medieval Europe. In Christian countries, there was a steady stream
of translations from Hebrew into Spanish, French and German — and
from -these languages into Hebrew."
Drawing upon all the sources whence the musicians and song-
writers secured their texts for the Jewish folk tunes, Mrs. Rubin's
repertoire includes the Hasidic, children's, synagogue, Zionist and
other themes.
While many of the songs emphasize the yearning for Zion, the
songs that were developed in this country provide historical background
for the migrations, especially from Czarist Russia, and the growth
of the large American Jewish community. 'The "shattering experi-
ence" of fitting into a new environment from the shtetl, the struggles
to survive, the sweatshop — all are embodied in the transformatians
that marked Jewish life and were expressed in songs. The poets ana
songwriters who emerged as inspiring idols of the masses of r
corners to these shores are given due consideration in the Rubin volui.,,..
Mrs. Rubin appropriately comments that "although practically
non-existent today as a creative process, Yiddish folk song is still
remarkably well preserved in the memory of Yiddish-speaking Ameri-
cans."
"Voices of a People" takes into account the humorous and satirical
as much as the serious. It starts "At the Cradle," with children's
songs, pursues the love and courtship stages, defines the Hasidic
and is historically valuable for its delving into 17th and 18th Century
ballads. Songs written during the Russo-Japanese war, hymns dedi-
cated to the Rothschilds, a ballad about Affaire Dreyfus — these and
many other topics are recorded by Mrs. Rubin.
A section of inevitable value in such a collection is the chapter
devoted to the songs that were written and sung in the Soviet era,
starting with the 1917 Revolution, through the Russian Civil War,
relating to the collective farms experiences and to the time of the
Nazi invasion. These add historical .value to a topic of great significance.
Annotations that follow each chapter serve the student and reader
of this book in acquiring complete knowledge •about the topics and
personalities under discussion.
Supplementing this volume is a section with ,"First Printed
Collections of Yiddish Songs."
Mrs. Rubin's story of the Yiddish folksong is a major contribution
to Jewish cultural library.