THElJEWISH NEWS

* 3'.
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 19.51

:rte

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 S(15, Southfield, Mich..1075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

Alan 1-litsky, News Editor-. . . Heidi Press, Assistant \rws

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the 11th day of Adar .11; 5736, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 1:1-5•26; Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Prophetical portion, I Samuel 15:2-34.
Monday, Fast of Esther, Exodus 32:11-14; 34:1-10and Isaiah 55:6,56:8, and the Book qt Esther. Tuesday, Purim,
Exodus 17:8-16 and Book of Esther. Wednesday, Sh.ushan Purim.

Candle lighting, Friday, March 12, 6:17 p.m.

VOL. LXIX, No. 1

Page Four

Friday, March 12,1976

Purim Joys and Fellowships

Purim, minor as a festival, has such mar-
velous significance as a joy-providing occasion
that its observance is like balm for rejection of
sadness.
It is a reminder to the bigots of the world
that hatred has its pride in retribution. The les-
son to Haman is one for all anti-Semites. The
attempts to destroy the Jewish people always
bounce back at the would-be annihilator. The
trouble is that the hater never learns and the
admonitions in the Book of Esther are repeti-
tive. Hitler disappeared without learning the
truth about Jewish invincibility. The inheritors
of his venom must always learn anew. There-
fore, the observance of Purim is like a lesson to
the lunatic fringe, to the sick-minded, to the de-
mented.
The other lessons of Purim have become
imbedded in Jewish observances. There is the
joy of gift-giving which is inherent in the festi-
val's observance. There is the tradition of feast-
ing, and the Feast of Esther is among the de-
lightful occasions on which Jews, jocularly and
fancifully, are permitted to drink. The tradi-
tional permit for Jews to guzzle on that day is
expressed in the saying that when the effects of
drink take place the Jew confuses thoughts and
does not know the difference between blessing
Mordecai and cursing Haman and reverses him-
self into singing "arus lifordecau v/barukh Ha-
man." It is mere pun because even the drunken-
ness inspirited into the Purim observance is
mere punning and jocularity.
Interestingly, there is another lesson —
that of interpreting the traditional gift exchang-
ing into offeririgs of gifts to those who are in
need.
Therefore the interpretive views of Mai-
monides on the meaning and lessons of Purim
are especially instructive as well as provocative,
as expressed in these quotations from the Mai-
monidean _teachings:
What must one do for the Seudah?
Everyone must eat meat and prepare a
fine table with whatever he can find and,
drink wine til he becomes so drunk that

he falls asleep.
Similarly, everyone must send two
gifts of meat, or cooked dishes, or two
kinds of food, to his friends for we are en-
joined: "Everyone Must send gifts to his
neighbor" — two gifts to each one. The
more gifts you send the more praiseworthy
you are.
* * *
-During Purim it is everyone's duty to
give charity to no less than two people who
are in dire need. One must give to each one
a gift or money, cooked dishes or food. For
We are enjoined: - "You must give gifts to
the poor men," "two gifts to two needy
people."
, When giving gifts of money one must
not count one's pennies • but must give to
whomsoever asks of one. It is far more pra-
iseworthy for a man to be extravagant in
giving gifts to the needy than to be extrav-
agant in preparing his own Seudah and in
giving gifts to his own friends. There is no
greater joy than to give happiness to the
poor, to the orphan, to widows and to
strangers. Whosoever gives happiness to
those less fortunate than himself' can be
compared to the Divine Presence for it is
said: "I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the con-
trite ones." (Isaiah 57:15.)

This world Jewry is about to observe the in-
teresting festival of Purim and to learn from it
anew the lessons of warnings to haters of Jews
and the joyous traditions for home and syn-
agogue.
- It is a time for rejoicing, for stagecraft, for
gift-giving and for kindness to the less fortun-
ate. Perhaps it will, presently, encourage the
latter in the course of Detroit's Allied Jewish
Campaign activities.
It is a time to rejoice and for communal
blessings for a Happy Purim.

Genicide Convention and the Senate

For nearly 30 years, intransigence on the
part of the American Bar Association prevented
formal endorsement of the United -Nations Gen-
ocide Convention, barring atrocities and perse-
cutions of national groups everywhere.
It was the interference of the ABA that
caused the obstructions in the U.S. Senate
whenever the issue. arose.
More than 60 countries have already ap-
proved the Genocide Convention, which had its
origin, when it was first proposed in the UN, in
the American delegation to the world organiza-
tion
Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the author of the term
genocide and of the Genocide Convention idea,
was motivated in his plan by the atrocities dur-
ing World War II and by the Nazi crimes. But
the ABA feared that Americans accused of ra-

cial guilt- might be prosecuted abroad. 'llerefore
the ABA induced the U.S.. Senate not to act on
the proposal. From 1947 onward, the ABA an-
nual conventions voted against it, and in 1970
the vote in opposition was the lowest. Last week
the previous stand of the ABA was reversed and
the Genocide Convention was endorsed, thus
clearing the way for the Senate to adopt it.
From President Harry Truman onward, all
Presidents backed adoption of the act to outlaw
genocide. The stand taken by the ABA was de-
plorable. Now the road is clear to adopt the
humane document. With the adoption, the name
of Raphael Lemkin looms high . again and the hu-
manitarianism of both the Senate and the ABA
will be linked, even if belatedly, in following a
path of justice. Time, thus, is healing an unfor-
tunate wound that was inflicted by the irration-
ality of previous legalistic actions.

Scholem's 'Sabbatai Sevi'
Reissued as a Paperback

The 1,000-page classic by Prof. Gershom Scholem has been reis-
sued by Princeton University Press as a paperback.
This immense work, first reviewed in The Jewish News on Aug.
8, 1974, upon its appearance as a hard cover, is considered one of the
most significant studies of the mystic trends in an important era in
Jewish history.
The volume deals with the most famous of the False Messiahs,
and is not only a great work biographically; it is an immense study of
the events and the people involved with Sabbatai, a thorough evalua-
tion of the kabalistic ideas and influences, a commentary on the Chris-
tian millenarians and on the chiliastic views in Christian theology.
Dr. Scholem's "Sabbatai Sevi" is an
--
example of unsurpassed researchby a
great scholar. The book is a classic in
theological, historical, biographical and
sociotheological studies. It is the 93rd vol-
ume in the series of works sponsored by-
the Bollingen Foundation at Princeton
University.
As Prof. Scholem explains, Nathan
of Gaza was the inspired prophet who
promoted the Sevi messiahship. "The
great messianic awakening," Scholem
indicates, "began on the Seventeenth of
Sivan. A prophet as well as a king had ari-
sen in Israel, but the people accepted
their king only because the prophet had
confirmed his kingship."
PROF. SCHOLEM
This was in the crucial year 1665 and
,events began to move swiftly when Sevi proclaimed himself the mes-
siah in May. The chain reaction began from Palestine when the pro-
phet proclaimed his selectee to be "worthy of being king over Israel."
Sabbatai then more seriously began to "connect himself with the
names of God," while "the prophet saw signs that the exaltation of
the rabbi Sabbatai Sevi as the Anointed of the God of Jacob' was about
to begin."
Among his major acts at the outset was to proclaith an end of
Shiva Asar b'Tamuz, the Seventeenth of Tamuz (commemorating the
day when the Babylonians made the first breach in the wall of Jerusa-
lem during the siege of 586 BCE) as a fast day and declaring it a day of
feasting.
It was not a unanimous endorsement of his work in Jerusalem,
where rabbis rebelled, where there was suspicion of the honesty of his.
distribution of funds he collected in Egypt for the needy. There was
the charge of embezzlement.
Although there were detractors, the Sabbatian fever did not begin
to subside until well after Sabbati Sevi was arrested in Constantinop'
in 1666. The new messiah's story had been carried throughout th.
world and resulted in several clashes between Christians and Jews,
well as pogroms.
Pilgrimages were made to Constantinople and Galipoli where
Sabbatai was jailed. But when the Turkish vizier threatened death
unless Sabbatai accepted the Mohammedan faith, Sabbatai readily
accepted the clemency.
The apostasy was also accepted by his wife, Sarah; and he was
reported to have agreed to take a second wife and marry one of the
queen's maids (or slaves). Sabbatai's career as messiah slowly sub-
sided after this.
In this great work there is a gathering of legends as well as facts.
Documents, reprOduced prints, long and undiluted historical records
— all add up to a masterful compilation.

r

