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 City Editor Business Manager DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 29th day of Adar, 5734, Shabat Hahodesh, the following scriptural s lections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portions, Exodus 38:21-40:38, 12:1-20. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 45:16-46:18. Rosh Hodesh Nisan Torah reading, Sunday, Num. 28:1-15. e Candle lighting, Friday, March 22, 7:28 p.m. VOL. LXV. No. 2 Page Four March 22, 1974 Kissinger, Jewry, Philanthropy, Politics Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger's role in matters that seriously affect Israel's position and security as well as the tensions involving Russian Jewish demands - for recog- nition of their right to emigrate without monetary penalties or continuing persecu- tions has emerged as a major item on the political agenda. Some of the judgments of the secretary of state have often been shocking; and occa- sional Jewish reactions to the issues involving the political aspects of situations that demand realistic evaluations have been equally dis- tressing. Challenging inquiries about Dr. Kissin- ger's readiness to take Jewish spokesmen into his confidence undoubtedly accounted for the important meeting he held last week with representatives of national Jewish organiza- tions. The sense of satisfaction that expressly resulted from that conference offered en- couragement that our government will not be lax in its dealings with the Arab states, and in tackling the moot Russian problems. What the emerging controversies, if they truly were disputable approaches, teach our community is that the political aspects of issues affecting our kinsmen cannot be ig- nored. As frequently happens in such situa- tions, prejudiced views on occasion arouse the accusations that Jews in government are exerting too much influence in the direction of the American foreign policies. But the bigoted will not hesitate to resort to anti- Semitic sentiments when the domesic eco- nomic issues are involved, and such attitudes must therefore be viewed without panic. Conditions being as they are, and the emerging situations inevitably involving vital American policies, the cause of justice is not helped by entertaining suspicions or resort- ing to accusations that are not always- sus- tained by developing facts. There is the obli-_ gatory factor of withholding judgment on the man in charge of foreign affairs in our gov- ernment. If the sense of confidence in Dr. Kissinger is justified, as the Jewish spokes- men keep asserting when they conclude meet- ings with the secretary of state, then pessi- mism must be avoided and discouraged. At the same time, there must be an ad- herence to a policy of involvement politically by those representing Jewish interests when- ever issues relating to the security of our fellow Jews is involved, whether they are in Israel whose existence is continually threat- ened in neighboring animosities; in Russia, where anti-Semitism keeps assuming Czarist proportions; in Moslem states whence nearly all Jews have already escaped in their search for havens of refuge. The lesson not to be forgotten in all Jew- ish communal deliberations is that fund raising alone is not enough. If political con- cern were to be abandoned, all that the funds attain could result in a lost cause because of the protection that is needed in retention of basic Jewish rights to the traditional identi- fications. An experience of note was a recent sensa- tional story that involved the secretary of state. Boston Magazine published a lengthy article reporting an off-the-record meeting Dr. Kissinger held with a number of noted Jewish personalities, including Nobel Prize winners and eminent philanthropists. It was about a meeting at the home of Eli Goldston in Cambridge, Mass. Kissinger reportedly discussed the serious situations that had arisen after the October war and he was quoted as having been upset by talk about "Israel being sold down the river." Because it was "making the Jewish community nervous," the situation was being reviewed with addi- tional seriousness after that conference and the Boston Magazine article asserted: What that meant, according to the report to the Cambridge coffee klatsch, was that Kissinger felt the Israelis had to be prepared to make major concessions in Geneva. Major territorial conces- sions. "It's going to be rough, boys, but I'll do the best I can,:' was more or less the impression of what Kissinger had said in Washington. And, they thought he had _ said, the American Jewish community had better be prepared to accept those concessions: It wasn't a sell-out. It was the only course possible. It was all pretty grim. No one said anything for some moments. They just stared into Eli Gold- ston's coffee cups. • Then Irving Rabb was on his feet. What this means, he was saying, is that it's more important than ever to support Israel. And that means finan- cial support. We've got to convince people to give not only what it's easy for them to give, but what it's hard for them to give too. Convince them to dig down even into their capital. That was the first reaction. The biggest names in the Jewish community, the men selected to hear, behind closed doors, what Henry Kissinger had told a confidential few, were planning not political action, not a grass roots lobbying cam- paign for Israel. They began to plan how to raise more money. But that's always been the first reaction of the American Jewish community where Israel is con- cerned, and Boston Jews have not been an excep- tion. The alluded-to Jewish response is com- mendable. The help, so vital, must be sup- plied. But the concern in the political involve-S. ment must not be abandoned. These are critical times. The secretary of state is in a difficult position. He must follow American policy, and we prefer to ..believe that the Israeli needs coincide with the American; and that he can't—as he affirms— forget his background. The hope is that Kissinger can be likened to a Benjamin Disraeli in England and a Henry Morgenthau Jr. in this country, both of whom exercised responsibilities stemming from the Jewish heritage. Until the facts are established, the duty is to provide for Israel's needs and to battle for justice on the American scene. It calls for establishment of truth in a muddied situa- tion and to be as involved politically as Jewry is dedicated philanthropically. Time is of the essence, just as time is often a healer. While fulfilling our obligations there is the added duty not to abandon hope that the solutions that will come with time will not spell "sell- out." Mendele and Yiddish Language, Fascinating Commitments Noted Yiddish and the literature of the language that was the medium of communication and expression for millions of Jews for many decades—indeed, for centuries—are gaining renewed interest. Many volumes are appearing -to define the spoken tongue and the wealth of creative writings in Yiddish. The significance of very notable works is defined in a most informative work, "A Traveler Disguised" by Prof. Dan Miron of Tel Aviv University, currently a visiting professor at Columbia Uni- versity and a researcher at YIVO Institute in New York. The sub- title of this Schocken-published work, "The Rise of Modern Yiddish Fiction in the 19th Century," adds an explanatory note to the author's aims that emerge most interestingly for students of languages. While this work is devoted primarily to a study of the life and works of Sh. Y. Abramovitsh who wrote under the pseudonym Mendele Mokher Seforim—Mendele the Bookseller—it is such an interesting study of the Yiddish language and literature that it emerges as one of the most fascinating analyses of the expressive medium. In indi- cates that Maskilim, who used and glorified Hebrew, turned to it, defended their use of Yiddish, almost every one of them had to make again and again the naive discovery that the majority of the Jewish population in Russia and Galicia were, after all, approachable only through Yiddish." Dr. Miron also points out that "Sholem Aleichem was the first Yiddish writer who felt a strong need to regard his literary activity as a part of a historical identity." "Mendele," the grandfather of Yiddish literature, emerges in this volume in many roles, and his portrayal by Dr. Miron mirrors the beginnings of Yiddish literary 'achievements and the inspiration it provided for a rich chapter in Jewish history, the works of many notables are mentioned in this work and Dr. Miron, in his informa- tive work, points to the commitments to Yiddish even in the Hebrew by quoting this charming doggerel by one of the great Yiddish writers and poets: My fellow writers don't hold it against me that I find pleasure in the language of Berl and Shmerl and that I don't deride it of a language of "stammerers," for it is my people that I hear speaking through them. — Y. L. Peretz ,07..1i071 r12'N '5 .1W 1D 5 , 1a ra- ty eK _ k5 m1; !coron , 0(xl/p T: ,;.- ni) , un ,r-e : in "Menginot Haman — The Melodies of Our Age, Vol. 21. Dr. Miron describes Mendele as "a disguised traveler" who "set Yiddish literature on its way to maturity." His "Traveler Disguised," which will rank among the best works on Mendele, with its very many annotations, the extensive bibliography, is an enrichment of literary criticism. It is a superb study and it invites greater interest in Yiddish than has been shown in a long time.