THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle cmn mencing with the issue Qt . lidy 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Assuciat ion. National Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile. Suite s65, Southfield, Mich. 1S075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
Ilan Ilitsky, Nevvs Editor . . . Heidi Press.
No-s,.. Editor
SABBATH SCKIPTLIIAL SELECTIONS
This Sabbath, the fifth day of Tammuz, 5735, the .following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Num. 16:1-18:32. Prophetical portion . , I Sam 11:14-12:22.
Candle lighting, Friday, June 13, 8:50 p.m.
VOL. LN:A 11, No. 14
Page Four
Friday, June 13, 1975
Anticipating Peace in Quest for Faith
In the process of negotiations for an end to
the Middle East conflict, now that the meetings
President Gerald R. Ford has held with Egypt's
President Anwar el Sadat and Israel Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Rabin are over, faith in a better
and more amicable future is uppermost in the
hopes of Israel and the entire Jewish people.
A stalemate is ruled out and President Ford
has affirmed that stagnation will not be toler-
ated. Therefore an anticipated improvement in
conditions, based primarily on a continuing ex-
pression of confidence in Sadat's sincerity when
he speaks of a willingness to welcome a peace
agreement and to recognize Israel's sovereignty
gains validity.
The tensions that have marred good will,
the constancy with which would-be prophets
spoke of an impending new war kept adding to
the enmities which must be eliminated in the
area in which strife has been viewed as menac-
ing the security of Israel and accompanying
worldwide crises.
As the acknowledged major global issue
that could seriously affect all mankind, the Mid-
dle East had become a symbol of destructiveness
in human relations. It undermined the faith of
many in Israel and in world Jewry. It created
doubts in the sincerity of statesmen. Most dis-
heartening have been the suspicions in the atti-
tudes of American statesmen, at a time when
both President Ford and Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger seemed tirelessly dedicated
to continuity in tackling the issues while nego-
tiating with both Israelis and heads of Arab gov-
ernments.
New rays of hope appear on the horizon for
some amicability in diplomacy. During Israel's
first quarter-century of independence as a sov-
ereign stateArabs in many areas even refused
to mention the Jewish state by name. When it
served the propaganda purpose, as it still does,
the enemies of Israel preferred to strive for an
arousing of hatreds under the reference term of
"Zionists" and "Zionism." A change in that atti-
tude, pledges to recognize Israel's existence
made by the Egyptian and Jordanian rulers,
have added a new note marked by a measure of
respect for Jewry and Israel in the developing
discussions.
Both from Soviet and Arab diplomatic cir-
cles there continue the demands for Israeli con-
cessions that are excessive. Nevertheless there
are trends which may lead to improving condi-
tions and to a form of amity which may lead to
peace, even in its remoteness and apparent con-
frontation with menacing obstacles.
The need now is for a restoration of faith,
for new hopes, for confidence that the American
principles of fair play will be guidelines for ac-
tion even by . the most intransigent of Arab
leaders.
Faith, confidence in a secure future, hopes
and an end to the enmities to the Jewish people
are not negotiable aspects of Jewish life. They
must remain dominant in Jewish thinking and
aspirations.
Perhaps it is presently utter folly to expect
the enemies of Israel to meet with the Israelis in
face-to-face negotiations, to end the boycott, to
pledge an end to warfare. A cessation of boycot-
ting and direct negotiations remain the basic
principles of a possible peace. But even in their
remoteness such developments must be antici-
pated. Therefore the urgency of retaining faith
in Israel's existence, in the people's continuity,
in a denial that there is need to succumb to
thinking in terms of survival. Continuity in Jew-
ish living is an inerasable factor for Jewry and
Israel, and faith in this reality must be major in
anticipating the coming of a better day for Je-
Wry, thus prescribing a judgment of justice for
all concerned in the chief issue involving the
peace of the Middle East.
An Old Pun and Its Applicability
An old pun applied to every situation with
a trace of anxiety, "Is it good for the Jew, or is
it bad for the Jew?", again taxes the minds of
many here and in Israel.
Is the reopening of the Suez Canal good or
bad for Israel and concurrently for Jewry? Will
Sadat betray his trust and refuse to permit
cargo intended for Israel to have Suez passage?
It is taken for granted that ships bearing Israel
flags will be barred from the canal, but will even
the minutest measures of cooperation leading to
respect for freedom of the seas be applied to
Israel?
There are doubts and there will be a flood of
speculations in the press, by news commenta-
tors on radio and television and in government
circles.
Much of what will be uttered will have to be
taken with a grain of salt. Israel's partial with-
drawal of troops from the Suez Canal was a ges-
ture of good will. The big task is yet to be at-
tained. The quest for peace remains Israel's
major quest in life. It's a pity that its merit is
not fully understood, especially when a leading
newspaper like Detroit's afternoon daily should
have spoiled a good editorial with the unwise
and too-hasty comment that Israel "also wants
peace." If there is a single party with an aim for
peace it is Israel.
The Many Tests
Schocken Yiddish Series Due
Schocken Books announces a new series of works from the Yid-
dish to be issued in the coming weeks.
Notable among them are: "Yiddish Proverbs," edited by Hanan J.
Ayalit. In English, with Yiddish transliterations, the book was illus-
trated by Bernard Reder.
"Voices from the Yiddish," essays, memoirs and diaries edited by
Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg.
"I. L. Peretz — Selected Stories," edited with an introduction by
Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg.-
These works are being reprinted by Schocken as paperbacks. In-
cluded also in the new series of paperbacks will be "Everyman's Tal-
mud" by A. Cohen and "A Documentary History of the Jews in the
United States, 1654-1875," edited by Morris U. Schappes.
'Taryag Mitzvot' Traditionally
Defined with Commentaries
"Taryag Mitzvot," the 613 Jewish commandments, have their
roots in the Torah. Commentaries defining them form an extensive
rabbinic literature.
A volume of impressive significance has just been published pre-
senting these definitions and the origins of the commandments.
"The Mitzvot: The Commandments and Their Rationale" by Rabbi
Abraham Chill (Bloch), contains so thorough an account of the Taryag
Mitzvot, it is definitively so comprehensive and illuminating, that it
may well be considered the most valuable work to become available on
the subject in English.
Different meanings given the commandments through the ages
eventually gained unification, although there always are varying in-
terpretations. In Dr. Chill's accumulated material there is a totality of
understanding of the basic values of the great codes.
Since all of the commandments are to be found in the Torah, the
Chill book is divided five-fold, content-wise, with material drawn from
the Five Books of Moses.
Interspersed are the commentaries and the works of the major
scholars who figured in the discussions of the Mitzvot.
Exemplary of the manner in which Dr. Chill pursued his task is
this item:
PROHIBITION AGAINST ANY CONTACT WITH IDOLE
Do not lust after the silver and gold that is on them (Deuteronomy 7:25)
Mounting hopes for peace are being tested
And you shall not bring an abomination into your house (Deuteronomy
by many demands for practicality.
7:26)
Besides the issue of freedom of the seas and
1. Those who worship idols and images are accustomed to encrust
passage for Israeli ships through the Suez Canal
them with precious stones and gems. One may begin to rational-
there is the absolute necessity for an immediate
ize and question whether these ornaments are to be considered as
part of the idols or not. The Torah, therefore, admonishes the Jew
end to the Arab boycott of Jews and those doing
to consider these adornments as part of the idol. We are forbidden
business with Israel.
to
reap any benefits from them whatsoever.
Then there is the urgent need for exchange
2. There are objects of worship by pagans that the Jew does not
of trade between the Arab states and Israel, for
place in the category of an idol. We are not forbidden to benefit
the mutual benefit of all.
from a pagan god that was not made by the hands of man. For
When these objectives are attained there
example: We are permitted to enjoy the benefits of a mountain,
will be realism in the approach to peace.
a book, or a fruitbearing tree, although these may have been des-
ignated by pagans as objects of worship.
So — the peace-seekers live in hope and
To this, as in the other collected Mitzvot, are appended references
they always need the warning not to panic by and
lists of commentators.
speculative news. Let there develop good sense
Chill is a distinguished scholar who has held noteworthy rab-
in diplomacy and the war threats will vanish. binic Dr.
positions. He was the first Jewish chaplain at the U. S. Military
How else can one await peace?
Academy at West Point in 1946. He now resides in Jerusalem.
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