• '1 • THE JEWISH NEWS : Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 Metnber American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. published every Friday by The Jewish News Pi blishing 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. -1i o` -o:k. Rev d". PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher DREW LIEBERWITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Advertising Manager Business Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the sixth day of Elul, 5734, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 16:18-29:9. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 51:12-52:12. Candle lighting, Friday, Aug. 23, 8:03 p.m. VOL. LXV. No. 24 Page Four August 23, 1974 Greater Detroit's Synagogue Council Formation of a. Synagogue Council in this is to retain its major position as the focus of community is revolutionary in the sense that Jewish inspiration, it must enroll the unaffili- its emergence has been delayed all too long. ated. In cooperation with other major existing The existence of the Synagogue Council of America on a national scale has already estab- organizations, a Synagogue Council can add lished the principle that unification of relig.- immensely to creativity; to growing knowl- ious groups is practical, desirable and of equal edgeability of Jewish matters, without which vital importance to individual cities. If such a people sinks into incapacity; to mobiliza- a council can function nationally, counter- tion for greater self-protective functions that parts on smaller scales are of equal impor- become imperative in crucial times like the tance to all functioning communities in the present with so many enemies , converging °upon Jewry. land. Complacency in Jewish ranks is perhaps The idea Was• advocated in these editorial columns 20 years ago. The late Dr. B. Bene- the greatest of all dangers. Jewry is well pre- dict Glazer supported it, but differing views pared, in its historic experiences, to face all prevented the fruition of the idea. Now it is outside dangers. The internal defections are a reality, and should be supported and en- often more threatening and more difficult to confront. The battle against such inade- couraged. The purpose of the local Synagogue Coun- quacies is vital, and a movement to counter- cil, as outlined by its formulators, is com- act it is a duty not to be shirked. The •sense of responsibility- that has in- mendable in itself. It invites more extensive affliation by individuals in functionng syna- spired and motivated the formation of the gogues. It calls for educational programs and Synagogue --Council of Greater Detroit is an activities among youth. It can -accomplish indication that the constant reference to the much more. maturing of American Jewry, and therefore Understandably, the new Synagogue Coun- of all its integral units, is not a conjecture cil places priority on its appeal for member- but a factuality. Leadership gains in stature ships in local congregations. If the synagogue from such progressive actions. Short End in Israel's Armaments For those who believe that Israel is over- whelmed with military arsenals, the Palestine Liberation Organization leader, Yassir Arafat, had a differing explanation. He may have tried to hand out compli- ments to his warmongering partners in the Kremlin, but he did say, while in Moscow, that the October war had shown "that the Soviet weapons supplied to Arab countries by their quality are not only up to but con- siderably excel the -weapons given to Israel by its imperialist patrons." Those who seek blemishes on Israel's rec- ord, without taking into consideration Israel's plight, had better take this statment into con- sideration. Whatever military aid Israel re- ceives is always too little compared with the massive support the Arabs receive from the Soviet Union, in addition to provisions that come to them from the United States, France, Great Britain and other countries. The strength of the Syrian and Egyptian military power is indicated in these latest estimates: Eve of October War Losses Now SYRIA Manpower Tanks Planes SAM-2,3,6 batteries Artillery (120-mm and up) 150,000 Unknown 150,000 2,000 1,100 2,000 330 400+ 222 35 40+ 17-20 1,300 Unknown 1,300 EGYPT Manpower Tanks Planes SAM batteries Artillery 650,040 Unknown 650,000 1,000 2,500 2,500 650 263 560 150 40-50 150 2,000 Unknown 2,000 No matter how Israel's needs, are provided for, it is clear that the power of the two most threatening neighbors demands full recogni- tion of impending dangers. U. S. and world Jewry's duties to assure protection for- Israel are apparent. American Aid for Israel Confirmed Extensive aid, military and economic, in- cluded for Israel, in the foreign appropri- ations bill, confirmed the established Ameri- can policy of _friendship for the embattled state. In spite of the drastic cuts by the Senate committee on foreign aid, Israel was not affected. In fact, the previous administration's favorable recommendations seem to be ex- ceeded in the Senate's concern that Israel should not be abandoned in the hours of Crises. What the latest decisions affirm is that the American-Israel friendship is not a sentiment of an individual, but is part of a national policy emphasizing the important role this country plays in the Middle East. Much remains to be done to strengthen the traditional friendship 'between this country and Israel. All too many provocative distor- tions of truth, stemming from Jew-baiting propaganda sources, create doubts and enmi- ties. The military and industrial aid given the -Israelis must be supplemented by truthful dissemination of facts regarding the Middle East. Only by insisting on realities and true interpretations of conditions will it be possi- ble to assure peace for that area. Israel's security is a cause for serious con- cern in diplomatic ranks, and the chief legis- lative body of this country reaffirms support for Israel constructively. American reaction to Israel's needs re- tains a heartening encouragement that there will be protection for Israel and that, in the process, every effort will be made for a con- tinuation of the cease fire agreements as a step towards an eventual peace. The Yiddish Classicist Classic Stories by Peretz Edited by Howe, Greenberg Stories from Yiddish literature appearing in English translations have already become classics in world literature. I. L. Peretz, one of the giants in Jewish literary ranks, who, with Sholem Aleichem and Mendele Maher Seforim, is an acknowledged architect of the literature in Yiddish that has matched the best in world writ- ings, -is the unforgettable crea- tor of works of great magnitude. His "Bontsha the ' Silent," "If Not Higher," "The Magici- an," "Three Gifts". and other works, retain their fascination, and serve as emphases in stud- ies of Jewish life in the ghet- toes of Poland and Russia. A debt of gratitude is due,• therefore, to Schocken Books for another significant volume, "Selected I. L. Peretz Stories." Two masters, Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg, who have authored numerous works on Yiddish literature and whose: I. L. Peretz translations have enriched the Yiddish works in English texts, edited - this important book, and their scholarly introduction additionally defines the importance of the subject which had become one of their serious aims in popular- izing Yiddish literature. In addition to the very popular stories already mentionec 1e -new Schocken collection includeS: "Berl the Tailor," "Thou b.ialt Not Covet," "The Hermit and the Bear," "The Shabbes-Goy," "A Pinch of Snuff," "Motl Prince," "Joy Beyond Measure," "Between Two Peaks," "Ne'ilah in Gehenna," "Devotion Without End," "A Musician Dies," "The Poor Boy,'" 'Travel Pictures" and "Venus and Shulamith." These works in large measure depict the religious fervor of the heroes of a sad era who were conducting an heroic struggle for existence. - Appearing in new translations, by the two eminent editors of the book, Howe and Greenberg, and by other able masters of Yiddish, including Leonard Wolf, Marie Syrkin, Aaron Kramer, Etta Blum, Reuben Bercovitch, Shlomo Katz, Hilde Abel, Nathan Halper, A. M. Klein and Seth L. Wolitz. Peretz was born in Zamosc, Poland, in 1851, at the time when a modern secular influence was pervading Eastern Europe. His stories embody his own personal conflict between tradition and con- temporary thought; his moral ambivalance is apparent in a blending of humor and irony, in a tone of critical detachment and in a min- gling of the folk and the literary, the traditional and the modern in a manner truly ahead of his time. More than any other Yiddish writer, Peretz' stories bring 19th Century Jewish ghetto experiences alive for the 20th Century reader.