THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle comniencing with this issue Qf July 20, 1951 Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. Published eery 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 DREW LIEBERWITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ . Advertising Manager Business Manager . Editor and Publisher Alan Ilitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press. Assistant News Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 15th day of Shevat, is Jewish Arbor Day, and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 13:17-17:16. Prophetical portion, Judges 4:4-5:31. Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 16, 5:09 p.m. Page Four No. 19 VOL. Friday, January l6, 1976 Rabin Role as Lobbyist Selection of a chairman of the Jewish Agency on political and party bases may be less distressing than the fact that the victor — if this type of triumph in Jewish ranks may be termed as a victory — succeeded thanks to lob- bying by the prime minister of Israel. If this were a matter involving Israeli poli- tics and the selection of an official for the Jew- ish state, it would be none of our business. whether a Labor leader campaigned for a candi- date for an important position or whether the Liberal party preferred another person. But this was an issue affecting world Jewry. The selectee must serve the Jewish needs in efforts to gain support for the resettlement and social pro- grams in Israel by the Jews residing in Western European and American countries. The prime minister has enough to do in matters affecting Israel's security and the safety of its citizens without becoming involved in a contest in which many Diaspora Jews are deeply interested. On matters involving relationships with the Jewries of the world, especially the Jews of America, the prime minister of Israel had an obligation to stay out of a politicized situation that already has some dark spots on job-holding. As ambassador to the United States the Is- raeli prime minister was cause for severe criti- cism when he was accused of delving into Amer- ican presidential campaigning. His denial then of having expressed preference for the man who at the time occupied the White House was ac- cepted as an appropriate denial of guilt of in- volvement in a strictly internal American con- cern. It is doubtful whether he can be absolved now of having dabbled in politics that is as much, if not more, the responsibility of Dias- pora Jewry. Now it is to be hoped that such unnecessary intervention in a contest more vital to the Dias- pora than to Israel will not react negatively on the philanthropic tasks of world Jewry. The Jews of America must keep redoubling efforts to support Israel under any, even diverse, cir- cumstances. But that should not stifle criticism, and the prime minister's action must call for re- buke for the top governing leader of the Jewish state. Ford, Detente and Emigration On several occasions in recent weeks Presi- in many areas, including the Middle East, point dent Ford went on record to refer critically to to an international devilishness which enables the "pressures" for more liberal emigration of Russian political manipulations to subdue the Jews from the Soviet Union. The President went seriousness of American aims for detentism. so far in his interview for the three-hour NBC The emigration problem can not be solved television program dealing with American for- as easily as the President surmises. Subjection eign affairs as to charge that pressures resulted of freedoms in Russia, not only of Jews but in a tightening of regulations rather than easing those of many other groups in Russia, is too evi- them to enable more Jews to leave Russia if they dent to be doubtful. Activists against Russian so desired. oppressions include people of many nationalities The President's criticisms of Congress, and and racial and religious affiliations. The decline especially of Senator Henry Jackson, in the ar- in the number of Jews leaving Russia is un- guments in defense of the much-discussed de- doubtedly due as much to the negations stem- tente, gave emphasis to an official attitude that ming from conditions in Israel as to the door- has come into question and has aroused Russian shutting to those applying for exit visas. Jewry's vital concern. In his NBC interview Mr. Perhaps the speculations regarding the hundreds of thousands of Jews who apply for Ford made reference to the drop in the number visas to leave Russia have been exaggerations, of Jews emigrating from the USSR and ascribed and the lessening of departees 'may be due to it to the action in Congress; his reference, of reconciliation with brutal facts by those choos- course, being to the Jackson-Vanik Amend- ment to the trade bill with Russia. ing to remain in Russia. This does not, however, An earlier, similar reference to congres- refute the truth of an existing, perhaps an in- sional actions as having been detrimental to free creasing, prejudicial attitude in. Russia towards migration as well as to detente drew sharp re- Jews and other minorities. President Ford has bukes from a group of Soviet Jews who charged been misled into believing that Senator Jackson that such presidential views give "encour- and his associates in both houses of Congress agement to persecution and cause a hardening" had contributed towards the. Communist bias. A of the emigration policy. The Soviet activists' review of the approaches to detente and a firm statement declared: "Statements like that of the stand on the matter involving free migration of President have done and continue to do great peoples is in the more realistic firmament of harm. We categorically protest against having American principles. our destinies and those of our children sacrificed to the political interests of certain circles." It is conceivable that Americans may resent criticisms of official American actions by for- Many statements, later described as eigners in the USSR. But the matter of free emi- "leaks," have been credited to the White House gration has long been part of U.S. policy and and were interpreted as "pressures" to force Is- therefore a review of the situation as it affects rael into a "submissive" position. If "justice" Jews and other minority groups in the Soviet also is to be toenailed in viewing Israel's right to Union must be undertaken in all seriousness. President Ford's position, and the support resent being forced to the wall, then White he has on the subject from the architect of de- House explanations also are demandable. In tente, Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, is view of the scores of leaks on internal and U.S. not fully defensible. The Russian attitudes of foreign matters, the Israel "guilt" emerges as antagonism to the the obstacles to accord , minor -in. a vast field of ,sensationalism. - - s Ci or sr; Ara . 'Leaks' and 'Pressures' r a s ytt it Es ei;11 'it 11. ovv,zw j ; a , 1 aa - aaa r; s .4 r. I,: tt r-*.: "A Karp-Edited, JPS Published Bicentennial Documentaries A veritable documentary treasure has been issued by the Jewish Publication Society as part of its American Revolution Bicentennial literary chest. In a departure from publishing procedures, JPS has issued a package under the title "Beginnings • Early American Judaica — A Collection of 10 Publications, in Facsimile, Illustrative of the Reli- gious, Communal, Cultural and Political Life of American Jewry, 1761-1845." Introduced by Dr. Abraham J. Karp, this collection includes: • Evening Service of Roshashanah, and Kippur (1761) • A Sermon Preached at the Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, by Haijm Isaac Karigal (1773) • Discourse Delivered in the Synagogue in New York, by Gershom Mendes Seixas (1798) • An Oration, Delivered before the Hebrew Orphan So- ciety, by Myer Moses (1807) • Speech, on the Maryland Test Act, by W.G.D. Wor- thington (1824) • Service for the Two First Nights of the Passover (1837) • Persecution of the Jews in the East (1840) • The Occident, and American Jewish Advocate, Vol. I, No. 1 (1843) - • The Teachers' and Parents' Assistant, by "An Ameri- can Jewess" (1845) • Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews, by Mordecai Manuel Noah (1845) This innovation by JPS is both unique and highly coMmendable. In addition to reviving historic documentaries, JPS reintroduces pam- phleteering. Resort to pamphlets as means of introducing views on major subjects has been an American and democratic tradition. While the current effort is not a propaganda task, it certainly is educational and a perpetuation of historic values. N Dr. Karp, professor of history and religious studies at the Univer- sity of Rochester and former president of the American Jewish His- torical Society, has drawn upon the society's and other archives for the documents that make up this valuable and informative series of pamphlets. The 10 publications in the series have been reproduced in facsim- ile and are faithful re-creations of their 18th and 19th Century origi_- nals. An unusual assemblage of documents, rich in historica' nance, "Beginnings" affords an unparalleled opportunity tc experience certain significant moments in the life of the nascent American Jewish community, pursuing its special destiny among a nation that was the first to extend to Jews full religious, political, and cultural freedom. The 10 publications constitute tangible evidence of a creative, though numerically small presence in colonial and post-Revolutionary American society. Each represents a milestone of achievement and a significant augury for the future. Each marks a pioneering effort of one kind or another, a "beginning": the first Jewish liturgy and the first Jewish sermon printed in the New World, a paradigm for future charity appeal, a groundbreaking repeal of anti-Jewish legislation, the debut of American Jewish journalism, an innovative educational ven- ture, a precedent-setting protest meeting of international concern, a prophetic Zionist-manifesto. Together they evoke the problems, preoc- cupations, and triumphs of an emerging Jewish society. In an editorial foreword, the JPS says, "These publications will yield many pleasures. At the most immediate level there is the satis- faction of holding history in one's hands, so to speak, of perusing docu- ments that are faithful reproductions of their often rare originals. Their contents will enrich the reader with vivid insights into personal- ity apd historical detail." N „