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. - - 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. __/