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 Associs.
Um. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CHARLOTTE DUBIN

Business Manager

DREW LIEBERWITZ

City Editor

Advertising Manager

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fifth day of Iyar, 5734, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 12:1-15:33. Prephetical portion, II Kings 7:3-20.

Candle lighting, Friday, April 26, 8:07 p.m.

VOL. LXV. No. 7

Page Four

April 26, 1974

A Salute and a Pledge in Time of Need

Israel at 26: Jewry's Solemn Duties

From all the civilized areas in the world,
salutes to Israel will be heard on the state's
26th anniversary, again to be observed on
the fifth day of Iyar—this Sabbath day—with
messages of faith, in a spirit of confidence
that the redeemed Israel will endure.

Tanks will not be formed into a massive
parade, warplanes will not be seen in the air,
soldiers will be in their uniforms but not as
celebrants on the streets of the country's
cities. Conditions compel that military hard-
ware be kept on the borders of the embattled
nation, and there will be solemnity to empha-
size the sense of dignity In statehood. Once
again, emphasis is on hope rooted in the his-
toric experiences of a people that has ended
homelessness with a determination to be
masters of their own destinies. Indeed, a
measure of gloom over the enmities that
threaten the state's existence is in evidence,
but not as defeatism.

Expressed as these feelings are in the
Diaspora, based on the historic experience
of a nation always in stress and struggling for
retention of its identity under duress, it is
the very aspect of solemnity that emphasizes
the obligation to hold fast to faith and to the
conviction that the indestructibility of Israel,
never a myth, remains a sound factor in man-
kind's relationship with a small group never
separated from an historic legacy.

Once again, as during the milennia of
struggle for life, the trek toward redemp-
tion and endurance will be with the Torah
that has been shared with the entire world,
with Prophecy that acclaimed redemption.

This is a difficult time for Israel. It is a
trying time for Israel's kinsmen everywhere.
It is a challenging time for those who have
accepted the teachings of our ancestors and
their descendants. Out of the difficulties must
emerge a new proclamation of brotherhood
to deny whatever means may be sought to
destroy the people with the state.

*

To deny the dangers that mark the new
anniversary would be blindness to realities.
Friendships have declined, the American role
is in jeopardy, since with every dollar of mili-
tary and economic aid goes an admonition
that "it may be the last unless . . ."—and the
unless is in the form of a threat that unless
you "give up" you'll be given up.

Under such conditions, it becomes all the
more menacing to be indifferent to the gather-
ing clouds. There are dangers ahead, even
more drastic than those faced until now,
and more than ever before there is need for
unity to strengthen the hands of the defend-
ers of the Jewish state.

It has become almost useless to reason
with "enemies," to get them to acknowledge
the existence of a small state amidst 19 or 20
Moslem emirates and national powers which
form a vast area bathing in oil and gathering
wealth that threatens the self-confidence of
the world's leading nations. In that sphere
Israel is a mere infant, nearly abandoned,

struggling to stay on its feet. Only the Jewish
people offers the certainty that negates aband-
onment, and it is this force that must rise
anew to reaffirm its concern, its kinship, its
dedication—its obligation not to permit the
threatened destruction of the oldest among
the peoples of the world and one of the
minutest in sovereignty.

*

*

*

Soviet Russia's role in the Middle East is
perhaps the most distressing of all factors.
Russian arms enabled the Arab countries to
launch their attacks on Israel last October.
The Communist animosity to Israel is primar-
ily responsible for the hatreds that have been
nourished at a time when a flicker of hope
emerged for a possible peace between Israel
and the Arab states.
There is no accounting for the perpetua-
tion of the Communist hatreds other than the
inheritance of anti-Semitism from the Czarist
regime. The battle for justice has not ended'
on any continent, and Israel's anniversary
brings to light again the sickness of minds
harboring these prejudices.

*

*

*

The start of Israel's 27th year of inde-
pendence gains strength from the people's
continuity. In storm and stress, there has
been defiance of destroyers. Another storm
is brewing and the resistance to anything re-
sembling a holocaust must be greater than
ever. How saddening that in a time like this,
when there should have been and could have
been unity among nations to uplift both Jews
and Arabs in the Middle East, another panic
has developed. How distressing that the op-
timists among us are forced into a sense of
pessimism. It must be of short duration. The
new year in Israel's existence must revive
new hopes, based on a determined will to
strive for a regaining of the international ami-
ties that go with relationships between
peoples.

The Zaddik's Devotions

Dr. Jacobs' 'Hasidic Prayer'
Defines Ecstasies, Inspirations

An 'already vast library devoted to Hasidim and Hasidism receives
added importance with the appearance of a most informative volume,
"Hasidic Prayer" by Louis Jacobs, noted rabbi and lecturer in Talmud
at London's Leo Baeck College.

Emphasis in this scholarly work, co-published by the Jewish Pub-
lication Society and Schocken Books, is on the history and background
of Hasidism as well as in the nature, ecstasy and inspiration that stems
from the prayers of the Hasidim.

Drawing upon the views of noted hasidic authorities, Dr. Jacobs
shows how the Hasidim "reconcile the traditional view of the su-
premacy of Torah study with the new hasidic emphasis on the su-
premacy of prayer."

The author defines "the basic hasidic idea of devekut, attachment
to God," explaining: "Briefly stated, the doctrine means that ideally
man should always have God in his thoughts, seeing beneath appear-
ances only divine vitality which infuses all, :things."

Analyzing the hasidic prayer book and prayer house, the author
describes their preparations for prayer, their gestures and songs,
ecstasy and inspiation in contemplative prayer, and the quotations de-
scribing these dedications add immensely to the understanding of the
subject succinctly reviewed in this work.

The reader is introduced to the Zaddik in prayer, and there is
special merit in this work in the evaluations of the Responsa of the
hasidic rabbis. These collective factors elevate the Jacobs volume to
special significance in the study of the hasidic movement.

An unyielding dedication in aims' for Is- 'Impressive Anthology
rael's security and survival among the Jewries
of the world remains the most vital factor in
such a task. Working together, strengthen-
ing the partnership that has developed from
kinships, making it a duty to revive the dis-
appearing obligations towards Israel's role in
Poetry, comments on world affairs, fiction, book reviews, a variety
the society of nations, the year ahead can, as
of other features—such is the anthological content of a volume of un-
it should, mark a return to greater confi- usual
interest containing noteworthy selections from Reconstructionist
dence, to peace of mind, to opportunities for Magazine.
creative accomplishments in progressive
Chayyim Zeldes, formerAetroiter, author of a novel and poetry,
tasks. This will require the cooperation of
Israel's neighbors. Perhaps the firmness in both classifications having received a good measure of acclaim, edited
Jewish ranks will speed its attainment. In the this volume, which A. S. Barnes and Co. has published under the title
interim the people's security is a primary "May My Works Feed Others."
duty. Assuring it is our basic need.
Because the scenes covered in this collection include worldwide
aspects, taking into account the American issues, the Israeli and the
With salutes to Israel must go our pledge rest
of the Diaspora, with deep concern for the Holocaust, the con-
never to abandon the historic dream of re- tents serve a valuable purpose educationally.
demption. There will be celebrations of the
The authors represented in this anthology form a veritable who's
anniversary everywhere. The mere observ-
ances, even as they are steeped in solemn who in Jewish literature. There are essays on the classics in Jewish
literature and while Zalman Shnaiur, S. J. Agnon, Leah Goldberg
feelings, mean uninterruption in the duties and
Chaim Nahman Bialik are represented with selections from their
that make us one people. Therefore, to Israel works,
there are the modern writers—Chaim Potok, Wallace Wake-
go forth not only congratulations on an anni- field, Abraham Sutskever and many others, the better and the lesser
versary but an outstretched hand of friend- known, whose writings have earned a serious reading public.
ship with the assurance that the unity of the
Zeldes himself is well represented with his poems and stories.
Jewries remains a major factor of strength,
adhered to the end that justice may not he
A preface by Dr. Ira Rosenstein, editor of Reconstructionist, prop-
thwarted.
erly introduced the volume.

'May My Words Feed Others':
Literature in Reconstructionist

