THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951 Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. Member American Association of English-Jewish Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075. published every Friday by The at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year. Second-Class Postage Paid PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 13th day of Elul, 5734, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 16:18-21:9. Prophetical portion, 51:12-52:12. Candle lighting, Friday, Aug. 30, '7:52 p.m. VOL. LXV. No. 25 Page Four August 30, 1974 U. S. Diplomatic Policies and Israel Changing administrations seldom affect continuity in major policies, especially the foreign. Changes in leadership have their effects on the country's image. They may have an influence on the people's morale. The nation's. needs and international involvements have a continuity that militates above politics or the attitudes and preferences of individuals. It is true that changes in the State Depart- ment often have their reactions in the people's thinking, and in the views of foreign govern- ments. As a rule, however, the established policies change only minutely. This, unquestionably, is the situation vis-a-vis Israel, the Arabs and the Middle East. There have been conflicts on these issues be- tween the White House and the State Depart- ment, and the latter has been overruled on some occasions. But certain agreements be- tween the Executive Department and its re- sponsible arm for tackling issues involving foreign governments usually resolve into co- operative decisions with the fewest obstacles. American-Israel friendships have been traditional and the support this country has given to the Jewish state is the result of an amity between the two peoples and an area policy that makes the Israeli friendship essen- tial for the American position in the Middle East. Because of these conditions, which in no way interfere with equally valid friend- ships with the Arab states—Israel craves and pleads for such a friendship with the Arabs— all the established policies have been govern- mental not those of an individual or of indi- viduals. This is a viewpoint consistently adhered to in these columns—that the American-Israel policy is that of friendship between two gov- ernments which individuals are obligated to pursue and to enforce; that it was not depend- ent upon a single individual in the White House. The New York Times, editorially, Aug. 16, dealing with "Impersonal Diplomacy," an- alyzed the American approach as follows: In the quiet unfolding of Middle Eastern di- plomacy, the new Ford Administration has an immediate task of demonstrating that former Pres- ident Nixon's personal diplomacy was not strictly personal but rather that it embodied the strong interests of virtually all shades of this country's political thought in promoting a just Arab-Israeli settlement. President Ford addressed the nations of the Middle East directly in his speech to Congress, stating "We shall carry out our promise to promote continuing negotiations among all parties." This assurance was particularly important for the Arab world, notably for Cairo whene Richard Nixon re- ceived such a tumultuous reception two , months ago. Even as Watergate scandals were mounting over the former President's head, Egyptian Presi- dent Sadat never stinted in his praise, not only for Secretary of State Kissinger, but for Mr. Nixon himself. The Egyptians saw him as the personal impetus behind the American effort to re-establish strong links with the Arabs; as Mr. Nixon's days grew numbered, many there feared that his down- fall would mark the end of the American peace- making effort. Nothing could be more unlikely, as Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmi must have discov- ered during his current visit to Washington. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Yigal AIIon, was here less than two weeks ago, meeting then Vice President Ford as well as Secretary Kissinger. And King Hussein of Jordan is scheduled to be President Ford's first state visitor later this week. All the signs point to good prospects for maintaining the peacemaking momentum into the next stage of diplomacy, resumption of the Geneva conference on the Middle East this autumn. Special stress will be directed toward achieve- ment of an accord between Israel and Jordan. As recently as a month ago, the differences between Israeli Jerusalem and Amman had seemed so for- midable, and so complicated by the thorny Pales- tinian question, that the most reasonable hope for progress lay in new negotiations between Israel and Egypt. Now, however, new hints of flexibility in both Israel and Jordan suggest that a disengage- ment on the West Bank of the River Jordan might be attainable after all. But whichever direction the diplomatic maneu- vering takes, neither Arabs nor Israelis need fear that this country's change of leadership means delay in the American mediation effort. Disengage- ment in the Middle East was one of the most brilliant achievements of the Nixon Administration; President Ford has no reason to change course, and every reason to carry forward. Nothing could be more threatening to an international relations than dependence upon an individual's likes or dislikes, preferences or prejudices. Many world crises could de- velop from such personalized sentiments. But established practices negate them. Israel has many debts of gratitude to for- mer President Richard M. Nixon for his friendly attitudes. President Gerald R. Ford has been even more outspoken in his empha- sis on the friendly American position in rela- tion to Israel. Both sentimentalists must be judged as having reacted because of the estab- lished tradition of friendship between two peoples, the American and the Israeli. That is how it should be. That is how the prece- dents have established a strong and admir- able relationship. 'Business Preferred' by USSR Defenders Adjustments to assure fair treatment for Russian Jewry is assured by congressional leaders and the White House in their negoti- ations on the Jackson Amendment on the Most Favored Nations item in the USSR trade bill pending in the U. S. Senate. Yet former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union George Kennan has become an advo- cate for the Kremlin with an appeal that sounds like "business only" in dealing with an humanitarian issue. International law recognizes the right of people to leave their native land if they so choose. But Kennan and those battling for MFN staus for. the USSR are more concerned with business as usual and business prefer- ences in politics. The human angle be damned! But the U. S. Congress still doesn't feel that way. Therefore, the. Kennan-Kremlin view may not succeed after all. ANNNft..1174.12- A. M. Klein the Idealist Poet: Collected Works Commended Abraham Moses Klein left an indelible mark on the present gen- eration of Canadian Jews, and his creative efforts have enriched the literary world. His poetic contributions and his political idealism link his name with the most notable in liberalism. The emminent poet A. M. Klein, who died Aug. 20, 1972, was more devoted to poetry than to his practice of law. He was dedicated to Jewish causes, he was a candidate for parliament on the Soci- alist ticket out of a concern for the basic rights of the less fortunate in society. He was unquestionably the Jewish ideal- ist who inspired his contemporaries. These qualities become apparent in "The Collected Poems of A. M. Klein" which have been compiled by Miriam Waddington, professor of English at York University in Toronto. This volume (McGraw Hill Ryerson Ltd.) emphasizes the spirit that animated a poetic .genius and is proof of the distinctions of a man who was motivated by social needs, who was a linguist with a love for Yiddish and Hebrew and a knowledge of French and Latin, all of which enriched his A. M. Klein English writings. Miss Waddington's illuminating introductory essay defines the Klein poems, and delineates the man. Miss Waddington comments: "Anyone reading Klein's work in its entirety cannot fail to notice what he called the twinship of his thought. There seemed to be, throughout his writing life, two main sources from which he drew for his language and his themes—the Jewish and the Canadian. "More than the work of any Other Canadian writer, Klein's poetry shows how a poet's use of cultural tradition—and in Klein's case it was two cultural traditions—moves from the general and literary to the specific and individual, and how the cultural experience of the group finds' expression in what is ultimately the local life and voice of the poet. This voice, at its most personal, nevertheless includes the most essential and representative aspects of the artist's cultur e its history, beliefs, legends, customs and religious ethics. Illustrative in this poetic collection is Klen's "Reb Levi Yitschok talks to God" which commences with these verses: Reb Levi Yitschok, crony of the Lord, Familiar of heaven, broods these days. His wart erupts in sighs. He will have a word At lait, with Him of the mysterious ways. He will go to the synagogue of Berditchev, And there sieve out his plaints in a dolorous sieve. Rebono shel Olam—he begins— Who helps you count our little sins? Whosoever it be, saving Your grace, I would declare before his face, He knows no ethics, No, nor arithmetics. For if from punishments we judge the sins, Thy midget Hebrews, even when they snore, Are most malefic djinns, And wicked to the core of their heart's core; Not so didst thou consider them, Thy favourite sons of yore. How long wilt thou ordain it, Lord, how long Will Satan fill his mickle-mouth with mirth, Beholding him free, the knave who earned the thong, And Israel made the buttocks of the earth? It is in this spirit that a great work, .a notable collection by one of the most distinguished poets of this generation, is embodied in the Waddington-edited "The Collected Poems of A. M. Klein."