THE 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, Nlich, 4S075. Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a ye a . r. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ DREW LIEBERWITZ Business Manager Alan Ilitsky. News Editor . . . Heidi Press. Assistant Advertising Manager 1 . N■ S Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 25th day of Av, 5735, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Deut. 11:26 - 16:17. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 54:11 - 55:5. Rosh Hodesh Elul, Thursday and Friday, Num. 28:1 - 15. Candle lighting, Friday, Aug. 1. 8:33 p.m. VOL. LXVII, No. 21 Page Four Friday, August 1, 1975 How Mighty Blush Over Duping! Anwar el Sadat stopped "dragging his feet" when he decided to make it public that he was "conceding" to a United Nations Security Coun- cil appeal in support of retention of the United Nations Emergency Force in the buffer zone of the Sinai, on the banks of the Suez Canal. For a number of days the charge of "procrastination" was leveled at Israel, as an excuse for Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy's threat that his country was about to ban the UNEF from the territory which Israel had yielded after the Yom Kippur War. It was Sadat who himself be- came a procrastinator. Now the joke is on the record, Egypt undoubtedly will again be sancti- monious and will claim to be "moderate," and new chapters will commence in what could be viewed as a comic book, were it not for the seri- ousness of the tragic situation. • Indeed, the huge joke is the continuing Egyptian claim to being subjected to an "op- pression," and a naive world keeps listening to charges that Israel is an "empire," that the Jew- ish state aims at land-grabbing while the poor Arabs are forced into a state of refugeeism. Is there hope for an acknowledgement of the basic facts that a tiny nation, living among tens of millions of antagonistic neighbors, can not have or afford an aim other than an end to war and the blessings of peace? Could anything be more shocking than the avalanche of threats leveled at Israel, the nu- merous enmities inspired in the ranks of the Third World, the childish threat to expel Israel from the United Nations and the spread of a boycott that is aimed at throttling Israel's econ- omy, in addition to the horrors perpetrated by terrorists and the constant saber-rattling with slogans framed to declare the aim to destroy the Jewish state? • Is it possible that the President, the Secre- tary of State and their associates are not cring- ing on occasions at the results of the recently declared objectives of reassessing Israel, at a time when reassessments should be planned in relation to Israel's enemies? These are answerable questions, but they have not been confronted fairly and objectively because of inherited State Department policies and of the pressures from oil-soiled quarters which have forced the entire world into a state of panic, not even excluding the United States whose friendship for Israel .often becomes at stake. If history will do some indicting it may be especially on the score of this country's having become one of the major munitions merchants in the world. Time and again it has been shown that the massing of arms for the Arabs, by the Soviets, France and this country as well have combined to create a danger to peace in the Mid- dle East. But the talk, especially in the deluded news media, is always about arms for Israel. Few take the time to learn the facts and to let the unknowledgeable know that if it were not for defensive weapons for Israel that area of the world might have been blown up in a destructive war a long time ago, and would have menaced the peace of all mankind. Because Israel has re- tained a balance and has adhered to an aim for peace and stability for herself and her borders a conflagration has been averted. To continue such a state of semi-normalcy it is of the utmost urgency that Israel be kept militarily strong. It is this that her enemies are trying to prevent. It is this that should keep Americans firm in the determination that the American-Israel peace must never be subverted. But there is a weaken- ing in the basic principles of justice for Israel, and the trickery from Cairo vis-a-vis the UNEF once again exposed the culprits. The question is whether the objectivity of American diplomacy will fall victim to Middle East trickery. Will there be a duping of the sensible in Washington as it has been demonstrated at the United Na- tions? A Free Press and Coveted Truth An example of respect for truth in the clamor for a free press was set last week by the Mon- treal Gazette. Admitting the error of having published an anti-Israeli advertisement that glorified the PLO, the Canadian newspaper demonstrated a right to reject vitriolic copy when it maligns an entire people while glorifying a criminal. A small number of American newspapers have been guilty of giving a platform to libels and lies by accepting such advertisements. The Montreal Gazette defies pressures from such as would condone another holocaust. All glory to such dignity in journalism. Is Henry Kissinger Being Betrayed? Israel Ambassador Simha Dinitz and Sec- retary of State Henry A. Kissinger appeared elated when an agreed-upon statement of Is- rael's concessions to Egypt was being rushed to Anwar el Sadat by U. S. Ambassador Herman Eilts. It appeared as if peace were about to begin to bloom for Arabs and Israelis. It proved another hopeless gesture. It was Israel's "maximum concession" but it gave up a lot to the Egyptians, leading them to believe that they again were the victors, although Israel was to retain basic defensive mileage in the Sinai desert. Apparently the fear of retaliation from other Arab states may have prevented the "moderate" (sic!) Sadat from acting peacefully. The man especially betrayed by the Sada- tian intransigence is Dr. Kissinger. He still speaks diplomatically. Is he angered inwardly? Who wouldn't be when the dear, kissing friend stabs backward unnecessarily? 5 Translated Yiddish Plays Enhance Volume by Lifson Nostalgia for Yiddish and the Yiddish theater has inspired publica- tion of texts of a series of Yiddish plays in English translations. David S. Lifson edited the volume entitled "Epic and Folk Plays of the Yiddish Theater." The book was published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press and the author was the recipient of a Monmouth College grant to pursue the work on this collection of plays. Five notable plays are included in this volume, four of them in tran- slations by Lifson and the other, "Haman's Downfall," by Chaim Sloves, in a translation by Max Rosenfeld. The four plays translated by Lifson are: "Farvorfen Vinkel" by Peretz Hirshbein, "Hersh Lekert" by H. Leivick, "Yankel Boyla" by Leon Kobrin and "Recruits" by Axenfeld-Reznik." The fact that he turned to Hirshbein is noteworthy as an indication of the translator's devotion to many of the leading Yiddish writers of this century. Most impressive is the play on Hersh Lekert because it revives an interest in the Bund and the Bundists and relates an historical inci- dent about the famous martyr, the shoemaker who was executed in 1922 by the Russians. Biographical data about Lekert as well as the play by Leivick provide impressive facts about the Bund as a move- ment that was in conflict with non-Jewish Socialist revolutionary ele- ments in Russia and the adherents who sacrificed themselves in ad- vancing Bund ideology. Recollections about the New York Artef Theater and the Yiddish Art Theater are valuable and serve the study historically. Lifson's introductory essay is an impressive addition to his work as translator and together with Charles Angoff who wrote the foreward, the collected plays also serve them in expressing love for Yiddish and faith in its continuity. In spite of the lack of realism, especially in Angoff's essay, this collection of plays and the supplementary mate- rials are valuable - for lovers of the theater and students and supporters of Yiddish. 'Understanding the Talmud' Dr. Alan Corre, chairman of the department of religion at the University of Wisconsin, has drawn upon a number of scholars who are so noteworthy as authorities on the subject that his "Under- standing the Talmud" (Ktav) assumes a place of importance for teach- ers and students alike who seek knowledge and inspiration from the Talmud. Authors of such eminence as Solomon Zeitlin, Israel Abrahams, Louis Finkelstein, William G. Braude, Louis Ginzberg, Norman Ben- twich, R. Travers Herford, George Foote Moore, H. L. Ginsberg, Solo- mon Schechter, Chaim Reines and a number of others are represented here with important selections from their studies which have served as guides for talmudic students. The subjects covered form a totality in defining the Talmud and making it understandable in every respect. The Midrash, the Mishna, the Palestinian Talmud, Rabbinic Exegesis — these and many other factors in the collective work provide a volume excel- lent as a textbook and highly recommendable for lay readers who crave for knowledge of the subject. The collected works provide an understanding of the historic background of the great works under consideration, as well as the economic and social aspects of life in the time of the talmudic period. Especially timely is an essay on "Capital Punishment" as treated in the Talmud by Dr. Gerald J. Blidstein. An instructive preface by Dr. Corre, a helpful glossary and impor- tant annotations add worthily to the compiler's achievement in pro- ducing "Understanding the Talmud."