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 Association. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing 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. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher DAYENU DREW LIEBERWITZ Business Manager Advertising Manager Alan Hitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press, Assistant News Editor FICTION BY HENRY LEONAID1 YIDDISH SECTION Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 17th day of Heshvan, 5735, the following scriptural selections will . be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Gen. 18:1-22:24. Prophetical portion, II Kings 4:1-37. . Candle lighting, Friday, Nov. 1, 5:08 p.m. VOL. LXVI. No. 8 Page Four November 1, 1974 Duties in Critical Political Year Unless the lessons provided for the Amer- ican electorate in the tragic experiences of the current year are learned in the fullest degree, this nation may be doomed to go through similar agonies again and again. Citizens are obligated to go to the polls knowledgably, fully informed about the can- didates for important offices, ready to mark their ballots for deserving candidates for im- portant political positions. The great blight on competitive elective offices has been the great cost of campaign- ing, the high price placed on major official positions. To a degree this will be corrected in the years ahead by newly adopted legisla- tion. But the duty of choosing the most de- serving, as a guarantee against the abuses that have been in evidence until now, de- mands more serious concern by the electors. Indifference has blighted our political life. Sometimes a popular name will defeat an abler opponent. Citizens do too little to become acquainted with the qualifications of candidates. The need for fuller concern and lessened complacency is imperative in citizen- ship. The shameful era of national blunders, the criminal years of abuses of power, de- mand a deeper interest in the country's dire needs "'for people with a sense of honor to conduct the affairs of state. Complacency is tantamount to ignorance, and an uninformed constituency will get what it deserves: re- petition of abuses. The first task devolving upon citizens is to cast their ballots, and while performing such duties to know how to choose and who deserves to be entrusted with public duties. The sooner voters learn their responsibilities, the healthier for all concerned. Balfour Day in Time Balfour Day was never observed without distress. Except for the first few years after the historic declaration was issued by Arthur James Balfour on Nov. 2, 1917, when Arab potentates admitted the justice of Jewry's as- pirations for redemption of the ancient home- land, there was trouble for Jews in Palestine on that day. Repeatedly, on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the Arab cousins made it tough for the Jews. There were riots marked by bloodshed. Instead of neighborli- ness there was animosity. Jewish settlers in Palestine had hoped for amicability. Instead there was venom and constant threat to de- stroy the settlements Jews built with their sweat and blood, creating garden spots out of deserted deserts. Another Balfour Day is on the calendar, and while many more serious aspects than the original international aims to provide a haven for homeless and persecuted Jews are in the offing now, the Balfour name undoubtedly •will crop up during the hate-mongering that has become a basis for Nov. 2. Not only the reality of Israel and the ful- fillment of what had been a dream in the Readymg to Meet the 1975 Challenge A session of Allied Jewish Campaign vol- unteer workers, being convened Monday eve- ning by the Jewish Welfare Federation, has the purpose of briefing for the 1975 cam- paign. The mere term applied to the meeting at once lends the meeting special significance, making it obligatory upon the workers to be enrolled to join in preparatory steps for an- other vital fund-raising effort. The 1975 Allied Jewish Campaign-Israel Emergency Fund will be confronted with greater obligations than ever before in the history of fund-raising in this community be- cause the standards set in the current year, with a record $24,000,000 in contributions, being on such a high level. Therefore preparation for the campaign is mandatory and commitment urgent. There- fore the briefing must be viewed with great seriousness as a first step towards assuring success for the tasks ahead. of Anguish genesis of the Jewish state-building processes inspired by the Balfour Declaration, but the emergence of a new arrogance bathed in anti- Semitism adds to the agonies that accompany a tragically expanding venom against Israel and the Israelis. The most optimistic have been forced into an attitude of pessimism as a result of the menacing situations that have become so threatening since the Yom Kippur War. Now there are new challenges to world Jewry and to Israel. Even those who gathered their inspiration of friendship for Israel from the Bible, who gloried in the auguries of the Prophets, appear to have reduced their friend- ship for Israel. While the situation is very saddening, it should remind world Jewry of earlier trag- edies, of the era of Hitlerism and the years' filled with anti-Semitism that preceded the Nazi brutalities. There was even less hope then, because now the people of Israel at least can defend itself. It is sad enough to be wit- nessing the attitude of mankind that would begrudge the numerically small Jewish nation the right to an address in the international society. But as long as a minimum of strength and a maximum of will exists to assure exist- ence and a determination not to interrupt progress in retention of national sovereignty, there is compulsion to mark Balfour Day with dignity, hope and courage. Newly developing dangers carry with them ever-increasing threats to Israel. It is added reason why the historic day, made memorable by Lord Balfour and the declaration bearing his name, should not be forgotten. Not many communities continue to observe Balfour Day. Detroit is an exception to the rule, with the observance of the occasion with a Balfour Concert by the Zionist Organization. The legacy of the Balfour Declaration, how- ever, symbolizes the international good will that was envisioned for Jewish statehood. In this spirit the famous declaration's anniver- sary retains its validity, even if Israel and Jewry must battle for its perpetuation as an admonition to the nations of the world that a member people's right to exist and to flourish can not be denied. To that end, hope in Jewish ranks assumes power. The prophetic words nezah Yisrael lo ye-sheker----the eternity of Israel shall not be repudiated—retains its his- toricity and indestructibility. - 4 C•pp•ilit er—k. l.ntootord Ptaikin NENNEarMN ■ Mlb Essays by Eminent Scholars in Volume Honoring Dr. Belkin Dr. Samuel Belkin's 30th anniversary asp resident of Yeshiva University, observed earlier this year, was an occasion for world- wide recognition of the scholarship and leadership of the eminent scholar. The occasion was utilized by Yeshiva University Press, together with Ktav Publishing House, for literary tributes to Dr. Belkin in the form of an impressive volume, "Studies in Judaica in honor of Dr. Samuel Belkin as Scholar and Educator." The volume has special merit in the selection of scholars represented in the essays dedicated in tribute to the eminent scholar as well as the recognition of his notable contribu- tions to Jewish learning by one of his distinguished associates, Dr. Leon D. Stitskin, the editor of Yeshiva University Press and for many years a member of the university faculty. The participating contributors to this volume give evidence both of the esteem in which the honoree is held as well as the commendable choice of authors whose roles in Jewish scholarly and talmudic circles are in the highest ranks of Jewish schol- arship. Faith and the human commit- ments are the subject of a major essay by Dr. Rabbi Joseph B. Solo- veitchik. For rabbinic students, those delving into the Talmud and the teachings of Maimonides, will find in it a guide to basic Jewish tradi- tional lore. Most appropriate and specifical- ly valuable for such a collection of essays is the one by the honoree him- self. The editor wisely selected Dr. Belkin's "Some Obscure Traditions Mutually Clarified in Philo and Rab- binic Literature." Authoritative on the subject relating to the cultural Jewish legacies, this essay is among the several that enrich this volume. It is noteworthy that another scholar, also a member of the Yeshi- va University faculty, Dr. Sidney B. Hoenig, writing on "Rabbinic Re- search," pays tribute in his essay to Dr. Belkin's predecessor as head of Yeshiva University, the late Dr. Ber- nard Revel. Another essay, "Conformation," by Dr. Soloveitchik, and articles by Dr. Stitskin Noah H. Rosenbloom, Zalman F. Ury and Alter B. Z. Metzger add immensely to -the value of this work because of the significance of their works on traditional learning and the philosophy of the late Chief Rabbi of Israel Abraham Isaac Kook. This work gains significance from the introductory essay by Rabbi Stitskin and his two essays on "Maimonides' Unbending Oppo- sition to Astrology" and Ralsbag's Introduction to the Book of Job." Thus scholarship is enhanced in valuable essays, in a volume that serves appropriately to honor a great scholar.