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., 17915 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
DREW LIEBERWITZ
CHARLOTTE DUBIN
Advertising Manager
City Editor
Business Manager
Editor and Publisher
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fourth day of Sivan, 5734, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Nun. 1:1-4:20. Prophetical portion, Hosea 2:1-22.
Shavuot Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portions, Monday, Exod. 19:1-20:23, Num. 28:26 31; Tuesday, Deut.
15:19-16:17; Num. 28:26-31. Prophetical portions: Monday, Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3:12; Tuesday,
Habakuk 3:1 19.
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Candle lighting, Friday, May 24, 8:36 p.m.
VOL. LXV. No. 11
Page Four
May 24, 1974
Shavuot: The Law Above Bestialities
Shavuot, with its multiple meanings, re•
tains supremacy for the major definition for
one of the major Jewish holidays: that it is
the Festival of the Giving of the Torah.
The Law implicit in the festival about to
be observed is much more than a mere regula
tion. It implies the highest code of ethics
handed down to mankind. It is the source of
all the basic principles that lift man above
beast.
The festival, to be observed in a matter
of days after the new savagery perpetrated in
Ma'alot, places added emphasis on the need
to revive the ancient codes and to remind the
humans that their principles which have been
embodied in their religious teachings are not
limited to the Bible. These codes demand a
nobler interpretation of man's duty to man
and a more human approach to daily living.
Where men have turned into beasts, it be-
comes necessary again to quote the Law, to
revive the Decalogue, to admonish ministers
and laymen that people can not bend their
knees in mosques and churches on Fridays
and Sundays and proceed the next day to
perpetrate pogroms.
Shavuot is a reminder to Jews to hold
fast to faith. Because so many have sunk to
barbarism is no reason for humans to aban-
don hope that the teachings of old, the laws
and codes formulated by Israel's Prophets,
are to be viewed with despair.
Indeed, there is need for new ideals, for
retention of faith that the wickedness which
has menaced mankind on many fronts is a
demoralization of the few. And while the few
endanger lives, it is necessary to have con-
fidence that a resurgence of decency will once
again give the Decalogue the rightful place
among people of all religious beliefs.
While the hope for higher goals among
peoples is being embraced, Jewry reaffirms
its heritage. The high goals for a decency in
humanity will not be negated. The basic laws
against tyranny and bestiality and barbarism
must, as they will, survive. The Law is above
bestialities. Justice must rule on earth. This is
the spirit of Shavuot, the Festival of the Giv-
ing of the Law, and in this spirit Jewry re-
mains mobilized—on Shavuot and always!
Dignity. In the Struggle for Life
How does the world judge courage, and
what form is assumed in expressions of ad-
miration for people struggling for life?
At Ma'alot, in Israel, last week, there was
a demonstration of determination that is
summed up in a single phrase: will to live!
Faced by many dangers, confronted by
terrorists carrying Russian-made and USSR-
supplied weapons, the embattled and endan-
gered people of Israel must fight against ani-
mosities that seem to have ganged up the en-
tire civilized world against the small Jewish
state. Israel must defend her citizens, and the
lives of the children are precious. Children
have become the targets of Arab beasts who
have received encouragement from their gov-
ernments. Not a word of rebuke to the bar-
barians either from Arabs or from Russians!
Perhaps the world will awaken to the dan-
gers after hearing the appeal that came from
the Vatican. But Kiryat Shemona and Ma'alot
were not the first objectives of child-murder-
ers. They have killed before. They have al-
ways carried the Russian weapons. And the
oil-rich magnates remain silent while their
gangs threaten more pogroms.
The international community has been
put to shame before. Whenever Israelis de-
fended themselves, the United Nations Se-
curity Council was called into session to
condemn Israel and to ignore perpetrators
of bestialities, will there be another session
to condemn Israel for Ma'alot—a word that
should continue to 'haunt the conscienceless
world diplomats?
Israel not only resists terror. The embat-
tled nation is determined never again to per-
mit another Holocaust, never to submit to
humiliation, never to abandon the innocent
people and the children among them.
There is a lesson in what happened on the
tragic day of May 15, 1974, at Ma'alot. Beasts
attempted to degrade humanity. The con-
demnation must be directed also at those who
encourage terrorists and provide them with
deadly arms to destroy peaceful settlements
and to murder their people.
Israelis and Jews everywhere will always
resist any attempt to deprive them of means
for self-defense and areas for security.
There is a leson in what had happened
for all humanity, unless mankind sinks into
barbarism.
The blood of the murdered children cried
to the heavens against the continuing hatred
for Jewry anad for Israel. It is mankind that
should sit in mourning with the parents and
their relatiVes and the entire people of Israel.
The blood of the dead cries out at man-
kind: SHAME!
Inexcusable Communal Disruption
Regardless of the merits of teachers'
claims and administrative reactions, the sen-
sationalizing of a dispute and its injection into
the councils of the larger community is shock-
ing and disgusting.
Implied threats that labor will penalize
Jewish causes which were hitherto supported
by members of AFL-CIO fail to indicate an
appreciation of the basic need to cement
good relations and to strive to adjust differ-
ences. Even if the labor leaders were to be
granted justified involvement in the dispute,
one does not threaten Israel, Israel Bonds,
Histadrut and their affiliates. To have
launched a campaign against the Jewish, Wel-
fare Federation so crudely was to be lacking
in good judgment.
Perhaps the Hebrew school system can be
removed from undignified entanglements
through more serious efforts to eliminate dis-
cord and to reach an accord with the teach-
ers. And the teachers must exercise similar
restraint to attain amity in a community that
can ill afford the sort of discord from which
all must be smarting after the shocking sen-
sationalism in this week's public airing of un-
necessary quarrels,
Ps Issues New Translation ;
Jeremiah as Prophet of Hope
Jeremiah is constantly referred to as a "Prophet of Doom." But
in the introduction of the revised translation, just issued by the Jewish
Publication Society of America, Jeremiah is portrayed by Dr. Bernard
J. Bamberger, a member of the JPS committee of translators, as a
prophet of hope and restoration. Rabbi Bamberger interprets his words,
the thoughts of a remarkable human and a gifted poet, as echoing
through 25 centuries with a meaningful message.
A completely fresh, uniquely readable and modernized translation
of "The Book of Jeremiah," one which provides new insights into the
towering figure of the major prophet and endows his words with rele-
vance for this generation, is the newest of the JPS revised translations
of a Bible volume.
In his illuminating introduction, Dr. Bamberger asserts:
"On first reading, Jeremiah seems to speak in predominantly nega-
tive terms: He castigates and threatens. The reason is that he was
speaking directly to the circumstances of his own time, and therefore
attacked concrete and specific injustices. But out of his negations a
positive and vivid concept of justice emerges. Though he did not con-
sciously write for posterity, Jeremiah delivered a message of enduring
worth. Throughout history, Israel's prophets have been an inspiration
to those who sought to build a more fair and comaassionate society.
He (Jeremiah) has much to say to us, in a time when men are torn
between a foolish and an unrelieved hopelessness."
The new "Jeremiah" is another step in the continuing translation
of the Bible being sponsored by the society.
Besides Dr. Bamberger, other members of the committee of trans-
lators are Prof. H. L. Ginsberg, editor-in-chief; Prof. Harry M. Orlin-
sky, fellow editor; Dr. Max Arzt and Rabbi Harry Freedman, associate
editors; and Dr. Solomon Grayzel, secretary.
A worthy companion volume to the "Book of Isaiah," published
three years ago by the JPS, the new "Jeremiah" carries a set of 31
extraordinary woodcuts, many in color, by Nikos Stavroulakis, gifted
young artist born in Greece and now living in Jerusalem. The book
was designed by Ismar David.
Shapell's 'Witness to the Truth'
Evidences Survival Courage
Nathan Shapell, whose name was Natan Shapelski when he was
born in Poland in 1922, survived Auschwitz and several concentration
camps and left a record of courage and creativity after the war. He
rose to communal leadership and as a most successful industrialist
in this country. The story of his years of struggle before coming
this country reads like a romance. "Witness to the Truth," the Shap
autobiographical account published by David McKay Co., is an intrigu
ing and fascinating book.
He outsmarted the Germans who invaded Poland. He suffered
through the war years and came through to be able to work for com-
munal betterment of thousands of displaced persons.
The American Military Government in Germany gave him the en-
couragement to build up the Munchberg community of DPs, providing
a temporary haven for the survivors. The compassion with which he
worked, his dedication, mark the beginnings of a life he and his wife
whom he married in 1946 endured in the postwar agonized years.
It is no wonder, therefore, that a man with that much will power
should have risen so high in the life of his Beverly Hills, Calif., com-
munity. He has received many official state appointments, he is active
in synagogue affairs, he is a leader in United Jewish Appeal, State of
Israel Bonds, American Friends of Tel Aviv University, City of Hope,
Claremont College and other institutions, agencies and causes.
Shapell's "Witness to the Truth" provides excellent evidence of
labors for humane tasks by a man of courage. It is evidence also how
a man of marked ability can both survive terror and rise to great
heights in a community he chooses for his life.
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