In Egypt: Where Israelis in Khaki Crave for a Second Exodus
(Continued from Page 1)
If there is need of proof
that a certain sense of humor
remained among the Israelis
it is in the appellation given
the Arab force. It is referred
to as the shmate army. The
sobriquet comes from the
variety of weapons used by
Israel's enemy—from Russia,
Yugoslavia, England, wher-
ever tanks and other military
hardware could be accumu-
lated in the battle aimed at
Israel's destruction.
Israel's soldiers spoke with
affection for General Sharon.
They love the man, have 'on-
fidence in him, gave his par-
ty — Likud — the largest vote
ever given by the soldiers to
a non-labor list. The 43 per
cent vote for Likud by the
soldiers, as against a 39 per
cent vote they registered for
the Labor Alignment, echoed
a national sentiment. It is
Detroiters
in Israel
Detroiters in Israel rep-
resent dedication to the ideal
of assisting fellow Jews in
retaining highest standards
in academic aims, profes-
sional and spiritual activi-
ties.
Former Detroit City Plan-
ned Edward Kersh is now
with the Jerusalem City Plan-
ning Commission. He, his
wife, the former Marcia Ko-
baker, and their three chil-
dren have integrated into
Jerus ale m's activities,
in their apartment in the
French Hill area.
Dr. Hayim Donin and his
family have moved into a
new Jerusalem apartment at
22 Pinsker St. Rabbi Donin,
who is completing work on a
new book, "Parents' Guide
to Jewish Education and
Child-Raising," has been
commissioned to write an il-
lustrated paperback on "Suk-
kot" by Keter Publishing
Co. and the Jewish Publica-
tion Society of America, for
publication before next Suk-
kot.
Professors Bernard Epel
and Robert Rockaway are
continuing in their posts on
the faculty of Tel Aviv Uni-
versity, in the mathematics
and history departments,
respectively.
Dr. Louis Shifrin, who has
made his home with his fam-
ily in Safed, is on the staff
of the Safed Government
Hospital and his services in
orthopedics have been most
valuable during the war pe-
riod, in the area they now
live which is among the most
vulnerable close to the Golan
Heights.
There are Detroiters in the
volunteer forces, in student
bodies, on a year's enroll-
ment in many services, filling
needs while the tens of thou-
sands of reservists are on
the front lines defending Is-
rael.
Meanwhile, representatives
of fund-raising forces come
to Israel to join in campaign
planning and to provide cour-
age for the Israelis. Paul
Zuckerman, Max M. Fisher,
Dr. Leon Fill, Phillip Stoll-
man, Michael Pelavin of
Flint, many others, have
been here, others are coming
on such missions, to establish
links for the American-Israel
partnership.
48—Friday, Feb. 15, 1974
heard in Egypt, in the Isra-
eli military installations, as
well as in Jerusalem and Tel
Aviv and the entire country.
Do the soldiers approve of
the disengagement, of the
concessions made through
Secretary of State Henry A.
Kissinger, to Egypt, the
United States and the United
Nations? They want peace.
They crave to go back home
to their families. Habaita,
the desire to go home, is
what they emphasize.
Do they foresee peace?
One of the soldiers gave
proof of pessimism: the
Arabs, he said, do not have
the seihel — the wisdo m —to
understand the value of peace
to them. Therefore, there is
not too much hope for it.
At Bir Gafgafa there is a
Science and Culture as National Aims
President Katzir and the Charm in Israel White House
JERUSALEM — Israel's
President Ephraim Katzir ex-
udes charm and creates won-
derful hospitality in the Is-
raeli White House.
He was host to representa-
tives of 21 English-Jewish
newspapers. The mission was
supervised by Leon Aaron of
the national United Jewish
Appeal staff. Another staff
member assisting him was
Thea Shapiro.
Chairing the several ses-
sions was Robert Cohn, edi-
tor of the St. Louis Light and
president of the American
Jewish Press Association.
Most of the participants in
the mission were members
of this association.
President Katzair described
the Israeli presidential role
as "symbolizing." The presi-
dent is a symbol personify-
ing the state's position as a
nation among nations. He
welcomes dignitaries and
heads of state, he appoints
the judges.
He does more: he encour-
ages cultural activities and
he spoke to the newsmen with
a deep appreciation of the
role of world Jewry in assur-
ing Israel's continuity as a
spiritual factor.
Dr. Katzir said that he
keeps studying Jewish his-
tory anew. The visits from
great scholars inspire him to
keep re-learning what he had
acquired in the Jewish
schools.
Commenting on a question
whether previous experiences
under his predecessor, Presi-
dent Shneur Zalman Shazar,
are continued, since Shazar
is such a dedicated support-
er of the Chabad Hasidic
movement, President Katzir
said that he himself has
even begun to study the Shul-
han Arukh.
Is he the master of Yid-
dish, as his predecessors
were: "Of course," he told
on Page 1 about humor in
Israel).
* * *
Yiddish in Knesset
With Israel President Ephraim Katzir in
the New Presidential Mansion in Jerusalem
this correspondent. "Yiddish
is my mame-loshen — I was
raised in a Yiddish-speaking
home."
He was asked about the
view that Jews evince a mea-
sure of genealogical super-
iority. He spoke at length on
the subject, expressing a be-
lief in Jewish intellectual
qualities, many stemming
from experiences gained in
the course of their wander-
ings among many nations.
(When the text of his com-
plete answer to the question
about Jewish genes becomes
available, it should be among
the valued viewpoints corn-
ing from the Israeli presi-
dential home.)
Fascination in Israel's in-
spirational presidential envi-
ronment becomes more com-
plete with the added greeting
from Shulamit Schwartz Nar-
di, the secretary to Israel's
presidenty since 1963. Mrs.
Nardi, an American Zionist
idealist, a Barnard honor
graduate who now also teach-
es at the Hebrew University,
is among the most qualified
Israeli scholars, a linguist,
thoroughly informed on world
Jewish affairs. She is a great
asset to Israel and to world
Jewry. Some may still pos-
sess her classic book, "Zion-
ism," one of the first full-
length historical analyses of
the movement, still one of
the best, among the earliest,
on the subject.
An explanatory little essay
on the new Israeli presiden-
tial home by Mrs. Nardi is
treasuded by those visiting
the home as a classic me-
mento of the charm that
stems from one of the most
important government struc-
tures in the Jewish state.
The new presidential home
in Jerusalem is a source of
architectural pride—for sim-
plicity, choice of art, the set-
tings and the spaciousness.
(For President Katzir's
witticisms, see story starting
As director general of the
Knesset, Netanel Lorch is
among the best informed men
in Israel on the country's
parliamentary experiences.
Lorch, whose interesting
book on Israel, published 13
years ago, contained an in-
troduction by Gen. S. L. A.
Marshall, hosted a luncheon
at the Knesset for the Eng-
lish-Jewish correspondents.
Explaining that only He-
brew and Arabic are the
Knesset working languages,
Lorch stated the following:
"Hebrew and Arabic are
the only permitted languages
in the Knesset. I can tell
you that some foreign Par-
liamentarians, when I tola
them this, were rather sur-
prised that one couldn't make
a speech in Yiddish in the
Knesset of Israel.
...."You can quote in any
language. And precisely what
the quotation is—I don't want
to go into technicalities—but
this is something which we
sometimes have to discuss
with members of the Knes-
set. Some read. half a speech
in English. But it must be a
direct quote from a docu-
ment. Some of them speak
—some of them use Latin
quotations; some of them
use a little bit of French;
and at Very rare intervals,
but sometimes when they
curse each other they use
Russian."
Mrs. Lorch, the former
Erika Frost—they have three
children, two in the army—
later commented on the stat-
us of Yiddish and expressed
her regret that its use is de-
clining.
Mr. and Mrs. Lorch retain
a long-standing friendship
with Gen. and Mrs. S. L. A.
Marshall.
Complaints Galore: Government, Religious, Press Among Victims
Justified complaints are
heard against the Orthodox
domination that causes de-
spair in securing divorces,
even in arranging funerals.
A youngster just out of the
army married a gal a bit
younger who also just left
the army, but she must have
been somewhat disturbed to
walk out on him. Now the
home they purchased for the
six months of their marriage
is empty, he paid the taxes,
makes payments on the
house, pleads for a settle-
ment to formalize the di-
vorce, but the Rabbinate has
its rules: it's an outrageous
policy, some say. The result
is unjustified suffering.
Conservative and Reform
Jews have added reason to
be angry: they are not rec-
ognized at all by the Ortho-
dox, and those attending
their services are like an
outlawed folk.
Related to the religious is-
sue is the experience a trav-
eler on El Al planes to Israel
will have in witnessing two
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS kinds of kosher food. El Al
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
had the proper definition for
complaining when she wrote
in her "Pride and Prejudice":
"Those who do not complain
are never pitied."
In a world in which com-
plaints against governments,
economic conditions, military
and other burdens are mul-
tiplying, it is no wonder that
Israel should be filled with
complaints. The reservists
at the front are craving for
a return home to go back to
their families and jobs, and
many are embittered. Some
are disillusioned by lack of
support for their families
from which they have been
separated.
Americans in Israel have
their gripes. A university
professor is puzzled by re-
duced income and slowness
in receiving the salary on
which he must depend for a
livelihood. Olim—newcomers
—would like a more frater-
nal feeling between new set-
tlers and the native sabras.
It is slow in coming.
serves only kosher food, but
there is a specially privileged
type: Glatt kosher. The ultra-
observant insist on kashrut
but do not trust those for
whom they provide mashgi-
him, special supervisors for
kashrut. But traveling from
Israel homeward there is only
one kind of food: it is all
kosher according to the Is-
rael Rabbinate.
Why the difference created
by a Glatt designation for
those who apparently do not
trust their own mashgihim
who are designated for oth-
ers?
What a dietary inconsist-
ency!
At any rate, there is much
to squawk about, there is
many an axe to grind, and
the best advice for complain-
ants is to be culled from
"The Kicker" by Josh Bil-
lings (1818-1885):
The wheel that squeaks the
loudest
Is the one that gets the
grease.
Talk about complaints: if
there is a single matter to
object to in Israel, it is the
attitude of the press toward
Diaspora Jewry.
Squawkers — the justified
and the otherwise—are upset
because there isn't better
fraternity between Israelis
and immigrants (olim). The
press is worse. It is con-
cerned with politics, with Is-
rael's needs, of course, with
major world events. It doesn't
seem to give a damn about
world Jewry.
All the emphasis on Amer-
ican news is that with the
Washington dateline. Other-
wise, coverage is practically
nil. You can find more news
about hockey played in Eng-
land and Germany than about
the problems of Jews in the
Western world.
If the American Jewish
press were to give as little
space to Israel news as the
Israeli press given to Amer-
ican Jewish news, the result
would be calamitous.
* * *
Jewish News correspond-
ent's comments on Knesset
opposition leader Menahem
Begin on Page 7.
Hevra Kadisha — the tradi-
tional Jewish burial force—
that took care of the dead.
Coffins were prepared there
for the temporary burials of
the victims of the tragic war.
In the interim there is rel-
ative quiet. The Egyptian
front is peaceful, the soldiers
spent their time reading, sun-
ning themselves when the
weather is more pleasant
than it had been for a num-
ber of days. Newsmen go
through the area without fear
of molestation.
There is an effort to smile,
to tell stories. The
takes the current de
ments stoically. He'll tell you
the Bar-Lev Line was a mir-
age: Gerald Sachs, who came
from South Africa and had
been with El Al in the seven
years of his Israeli citizen-
ship—calmly commented that
fire hoses washed away those
encampment which were val-
ueless. The fact is that there
were 20 such bunkers with
not more than 40 Israeli mil-
itary in each, and these less
than 800 had to confront
some '70,000 invading Egyp-
tians.
Meanwhile the salvaging
of military junk goes on, hun-
dreds of thousands of pounds
of metal will be gathered for
resale to some foreign coup
tries, after removing usable
parts.
Will those who have been
to Egypt during the negoti-
ating and disengagement pt.
riod ever be able to return
to it as Pro-Israeli Jews,
without the elimination of Is-
rael's reference on the pass-
port? If it occurs, it will
surely mean peace. "That's
living in hope," echo the sen-
timents for peace.
Arab Rights:
Open Roads
Span Jordan
AT ADAM BRIDGE, on
Jordanian Border — Heavy
snows caused some damage
and the Allenby Bridge over
which thousands of Arabs
trek on their way to Amman,
Jordan, with the fruits they
grow in Israel-administered
territory, was closed. There-
fore the observations of the
interesting process were at
the Adam Bridge, where sim-
ilar interchanges of move-
ments from Israel to Jordan
and back take place regular-
ly.
Arab-driven trucks cross
these bridges with their prod-
ucts. Having been checked
by Israeli military, they pro-
ceed across the bridgeall0
removing the Israel "7"."
plates and revealing the -Jor-"' .
danian. Upon their return
there is the reverse process,
with a return to the use of
the Israel plates.
Naturally, they are
searched thoroughly. But the
movements proceed, there
were no interruptions during
the Yom Kippur War, the
symbolism of possible ac-
cord between Arabs and
Jews continued and keeps
continuing.
Does this open bridge pol-
icy teach the desired lessons?
It assures elimination of
conflicts on the West Bank
of the Jordan, it creates a
measure of good will—per-
haps it is because business
is business — but it hardly
guarantees peace. Approach-
es to amity are slow in ma-
terializing.