ME JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the 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. 43075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription 310 a year.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Ed:tor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Alan Hitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press, Assistant News Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 6th day of Shevat, 5735, the following scriptural selections
will be read in our synagogues:
• Pentateuchat portion, Exod., 10:1-13:16. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 46:13-28.
Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 17, 5:10 p.m.
VOL. LXVI, No. 19
Page Four
Friday, January 17, 19'75
A Time for Defiance of 'the Ominous'
A sense of gloom has descended upon his essay: "If Jews Will Not Be for Them-
many in the ranks of the concerned about selves, Who Will Be for Them?" Then comes
Israel's fate and Jewry's future. Even the the subtitle: ". . If any non-Jews had, or have
very faithful have begun to repeat the ancient no idea how much the state of Israel means
supplication: "me-ayyin yovo ezri"—whence to American Jews, that is a Jewish fault . . ."
cornett' help? In both the title and the .appended quotation
That mere sustenance for a tiny Jewish from the Reeves article may be imbedded the
state should be begrudged to 3 million peo- responsibility that rests upon Jews every-
ple and another half million Christians and where in this period of crisis.
Muslims in their midst in Israel should have
Once again, there is a return to the basic
been a cause for resentment in civilized socie- fact of "im ayn li, mi li?", if I am not for my-
ties is a puzzle to Jews, even among those who self who will be for me? The battle is the
fully understand how "sin'at olam l'am olam" Jew's. ,It is deplorable that there isn't more
—the eternal hatred for the eternal people— help from the non-Jewish world, but the
is historically conceivable.
struggle in the main, whether it is in support
So—the repetition of historical experiences of Israel or in counteracting the emerging
has become the plague for those who are now anti-Semitism, is the Jew's. Therefore, if there
distressed by occurrences in what was be- is a lack of understanding of the issues by
lieved to be civilized society but what is re- non-Jews, the fault is partly—only partly!—
turning to savagery and to the jungle. the Jew's.
The distress in Jewish ranks is spreading.
But it isn't all the Jew's responsibility and
Elie Wiuel, the believer, the man of faith, accompanying fault that there is callousness
the Hasid, now poses the question whether in a sick world. It is mankind's declination
the crematoria from which he personally es- into a new sort of jungle that is the root of
caped, also is among those who have become the agonized problem. Therefore, the chal-
distressed, fearful, concerned lest the concen- -lenge to the Jew is for a new mobilization of
tration camp become a reality again. There- forces, a renewed gathering of strength, to
fore, in an expression of agony over man- offset the dangers. Israel must be protected,
kind's reversion to barbarism, he is disturbed therefore, the goal is world Jewry's at all costs.
and his depressed mood is sensed in his New The mounting anti-Semitism resulting from
York Times article entitled "Ominous Signs the hatreds that stem from those who call
and Unspeakable Thoughts." themselves Semites is treacherous, therefore
Normally—if that could be judged as nor- the defiance of threats is a duty for all self-
mality—the concern has been over indiffer- respecting people who are menaced by medi-
ence in Jewish ranks over the status of Jews evalism and barbarism.
in a calloused world. Now many intellectuals,
The experiences for a renewal of mobili-
akin to Wiesel, are posing the bitter questions zation of Jewish forces for a defiance of
regarding survival and threats of disappear- threats to the people's very existence is not
ance.
new. It is repetitively historic. Therefore, the
Not so long ago there was resentment over strength needed for such defiance is at hand.
the publication of articles in popular maga- It has accumulated in the trials and tribula-
zines on topics such as, "The Vanishing Jew." tions of the centuries. Now they must be
The reaction by rabbis and laymen on public utilized for the assumption of new strength
platforms had been, "How dare they judge us to say to an antagonistic world that the dec-
as a disappearing folk?" Talk today is not of laration of a will to live is not a myth, that
the "vanishing" factor but of the threats to it is a reality. It's an old ,battle cry, but it
very existence. needs to be sounded at this time—in a defi-
A few weeks ago, a great deal of interest ance of all efforts to undermine ; the existence
was aroused by a thought-provoking essay in of a people that has no hesitation to say we
the November Esquire, by the able short story have not been destroyed, we shall not be
writer, Cynthia Ozick, who expressed "an destroyed, we shall be recognized as inde-
overwrought view from the peak of the bot- structible; and this applies to the anti-Semites
torn," under the title "All the World Wants in and out of governments, to the oil magnates,
the Jew Dead." The question posed immedi- to those who say they are fellow Semites and
ately summarizes the endless experiences of our cousins. It is, especially, the declaration
the Jew whom the Church sought to condemn by Jews to themselves that the despair im-
to a wandering status and who always had posed upon them by recurring enmities will
to battle for life in a social swirl of misery. not down them or drag them, into the jungle
While the concern is similar, the Decem- out of which stem the hatreds that temporar-
ber issue of the New York Magazine may ily depress Jews. The mobilization for faith
have carried a partial answer. In New York, in self-respect and confidence in the eternity
in a similarly challenging essay, the author, of Israel must emerge as the new slogan in a
Richard Reeves, asks a question in the title of most serious period in Jewish history.
Avoid Economic Harm for Handicapped
No one is immune from the effects of an
economic recession that has already ap-
proached the stage of a depression. It as-
sumes an especially serious aspect when it
affects the less fortunate in the community.
The economic decline now is threaten-
ing a most serious communal program—that
of the Jewish Vocational Service Workshop.
The physically and emotionally handicapped,
through the jobs provided for them by the
Community Workshop, gaining dignity that
Two Volumes Supplement
Zinberg's Literary History
Among the important classics from the Yiddish made available
in English translations are the works of the eminent scholar, Israel
Zinberg.
In early 1973, the Jewish Publication Society published three
volumes of Zinberg's "A History of Jewish Literature." They wer,
translated and edited by Prof. Bernard Martin.
They dealt with the Arabic-Spanish era, German Jewry and the
Middle Ages and the struggle of mysticism against rationalism.
Now Ktav Publishing CO., continuing the task of introducing the
Zinberg writings, also in translations by Prof. Martin, has issued an
additional two volumes of Zinberg's "A History of Jewish Literature."
Jointly with Hebrew Union College Press, Ktav has publisrhed the
volumes devoted to "The Jewish Center of Culture in the Ottoman
Empire" and "Italian Jewry in the Renaissance Period."
The Jews of Italy in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries interacted
with their Christian neighbors in an atmosphere of relative freedom
and mutual cultural openness unparalleled elsewhere in that age.
Under the warming rays of the Renaissance, with its humanist
attitudes and ideals, they produced the remarkable literature discussed
in this volume of Zinberg's monumental "History."
We are introduced in these pages to many extraordinary Jewish
thinkers and writers: Jehudah Abravanel (Leo, HabraeusP whose
"Dialoghi di Amore" is a unique synthesis of humanist currents of
thought and whose ideas influenced European poetry and philosophy
for generatiqns; Elijah Levita, grammarian and biblical and talmudic
scholar; Joseph Ben Joshua Ha-Koren, Abraham Zacuto and many
others.
As the Renaissance spirit in Italian Jewry declined, two other
spiritual and intellectual centers grew in strength and influence and,
in Zinberg's words, "placed their stamp on the entire Jewish people."
Zinberg discusses these in the next two volumes: the Turkish-Pales-
tinian vommunity, which was the home of mysticism and kabala;
and the German-Polish Jewish community, the fortress of rabbinism. ,
A considerable number of the Jews exiled from Spain in 1492 sought--
refuge in the Ottoman empire, and found a • warm welcome there.
This volume of Israel Zinberg's "History" deals w'th the literary
achievements of the Sephardic Jews living in Turkey and its posses-
sions in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Zinberg portrays the intensification of mystical moods ani
expectations of imminent messianic redemption among the Spanish
exiles, especially those who settled in Palestine, then under Ottoman
control.
is unattainable from any other source. A de-
cline in their productive activities, therefore,
Zinberg also discusses the literature produced in the 16th and
spells genuine concern for their status as 17th centuries by the renowned Jewish community of Amsterdam,
wholesome members of society.
established, as were the-cultural centers in the Ottoman empire, by
The appeal issued by the JVS Community Spanish-Portuguese Jews and Marranos. He gives particular attention
Workshop for cooperation from firms, large to the .philosophical works of Baruch Spinoza.
or small, for subcontracting to fill their needs
The volume closes with a vivid account of the literary creations that
will, hopefully, meet : with the desired re- launched
a movement that swept large parts of the Jewish world,
sponse. The firms can benefit, and by such associated with Shahtai Zvi, the pseudo-messiah of Smyrna, which
cooperation can render a great and very hu- reached its climax in 1666-, and for more than a century afterwards con-
mane service.
- —
, tinued to produce major reverberations in Jewish life and thought.
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