THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue 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 Sti5, Southfield, Mich. -1075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $111 a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

Man

NeN%s Editor . . . Heidi Press, kssistaill \v.'s Editor

Shavuot Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the seventh day of Sivan, 5736, is the second day of Shavuot, and the following scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues..

Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17: Numbers 28:26-31. Prophetical portion, Habbakuk 3:1-19.

Candle lighting. Friday, June 4, 8:45 pan.

VOL. !AIX, No. 13

Page Four

Friday. June 1. 1976

Shavuot's Indomitable Spirit

Shavuot, defined in universal terms, repre-
sents a people's credal dedication to sacred du-
ties, to the Law that defines the highest ideals of
mankind in aspirations for learning and spiritu-
ality, for peace among men and the Jewish peo-
ple's adherence to the Torah concepts.
As the festival of the Giving and Receiving
of the Law, and also as the Spring festival that
had agricultural significance in Jewish historic
observances, Shavuot has emerged as one of the
major holidays on the Jewish calendar.
While the agricultural aspect is strictly
related to the Land of Israel, it has significance
for all of us in its emphasis on our links with our
past and with our kinsmen wherever they may
reside — and there is the particular linkage with
our biblical past.
On this score there certainly exist differ-
ences of opinion, relating to the nationhood of
Israel. Nearly a century ago, the father of Ben-
jamin Disraeli, Isaac D'Israeli, who took his
son to the baptismal font, argued that Jews
were not a nation. He had written, in the years
when he devoted himself to Jewish scholarship:
"The Jewish people are not a nation,
for they consist of many nations. They re-
flect the colors of the spot they rest on.
The people of Israel are like water run-
ning through vast countries, tinged in
their course with all the varieties of the
soil in which they deposit themselves.
Every native Jew, as a political being, be-
comes distinct from other Jews. The He-
brew adopts the hostilities and alliances
of the land where he was born. He calls
himself by the name of his country."
There is much truth in the assertion that
Jews absorb the cultures of the lands of which
they become citizens — and they do it with devo-
tion and with loyalty. But that has not required
abandonment of a parental loyalty, of a heritage
that binds them to an historic past, of an inse-
parable kinship with their ancestors and their
brethren wherever they may be.
Isaac D'Israeli's son, Benjamin, who be-
came famous as the prime minister of his coun-
try and later as Lord Beaconsfield, may have un-
derstood the glory of Israel better than the
father who had converted him and his entire
family to the faith that is dominant in England.
Benjamin Disraeli thus described the status of
the people from whom he had sprung:
"The vineyards of Israel have ceased
to exist, but the eternal law enjoins the
children of Israel still to celebrate the vin-
tage. A race that persists in celebrating
their vintage, although they have no
fruits to gather, will regain their vine-
yards. What sublime inexorability in the
law! But what indomitable spirit in the
people!"
How prophetic these lines are, having been
written more than seven decades before Israel
regained the vineyards! And how much more
powerful than his father's argument that the-
sponge-element in Jewry which absorbs the
cultures of the peoples among whom we live
means an abandonment of kinships with the
creators of our 'great spiritual values!
Shavuot does, indeed, recreate our interest
in our past. It revives ancient glories, even if
they are today, more so even than in the days of

Isaac D'Israeli because Israel as a state is a real-
ity, the customs of a sovereign nation with
which we are linked merely as kinsmen and not
as fellow citizens. But the traditions as they
have come down to us through the ages, the
biblical lore as we have inherited it and as it is
being shared with us by all faiths, remain sa-
cred. There is a sanctity about history that can
not be demolished by political duties. Spiritual
truths must prevail if political ideals are to be
based on the highest ethical teachings of our
sages.
While Shavuot retains this agricultural as-
pect that is now emphasized and observed only
in Israel, with the sanctified memories alone as-
signed to us, it is a festival that is distinct in
that it marks the birth of the Torah, as the
Zman Mattau Torahtenu, in the symbolism
represented in the Book of Ruth read during
Shavuot services; in the reaffirmation of faith
by Israel.
It is because of these special links with our
traditions that Shavuot has become the occasion
for consecrations and confirmations, for grad-
uations from Jewish schools and the commence-
ments of new periods of study.
As a festival for the elders who can thereby
derive joy from their faith, and as the notewor-
thy occasion for the children's consecrations,
Shavuot is one of the great holidays on our cal-
endar. It is as such that we are about to comm-
ence its observance with a renewal of faith and
a rededication to the highest ideals in our his-
toric heritage.

Cynicism Politicized

Politicians often treat the voters as naive,
falling for baby-kissing stints, promises to fit
the area solicited, with all-too-little concern for
the needs of the community or country at large.
Now we have new developments induced by
human nature, the interest that results in cyni-
cism and the extreme rightist that threatens
drastic concessions.
The latter point could well stand research
and study of the national situation affecting the
Presidential campaign. If the country is not
turning altogether to the right, it certainly
shows indications of resort to conservatism.
Some of the candidates could be given a more
pointed designation — that of reactionarism.
That could lead to fascistic thoughts, especially
when the voter becomes anxious for a speedy
end to vandalism and increasing crime waves
and to the welfare state ideologies.
Perhaps more certain is the gain that has
been made by cynicism in recent years. A lack of
trust predominates and the average voter sneers
at the politician, suspects his sincerity, doubts
his trustworthiness.
The generalizations on that score are the de-
plorable factors in present-day politics. The
"politicization" of cynicism is especially deplora-
ble.
Generalizations are never right and they can
not be applied to the cynicism of politics. But as
a factor affecting a Presidential campaign like
the present the role of the cynic merits special
study. Surely, it is not to be ignored.

Schwarz's Classic 'Jewish
Caravan' Out as Paperback

Of the many Jewish anthologies that have been published in the
last 50 years, "The Jewish Caravan" by the late Leo W. Schwarz re-
tains greatest significance.
First published in 1935, reprinted in 1965, having enjoyed 14
printings, this classic of 820 pages has been re-issued as a paperback
by Schocken Books.
The major Jewish writings through the ages; commencing with
excerpts from Bible and Talmud, continuing with the noted writers of
the 20th Century, this is an all inclusive anthology.
The eminent compiler drew upon the essays, ethical works, sto-
ries, poems, folklore and anecdotal literature of all conceivable
sources.
Antiquity and the medieval age, the Christian and Moslem peri-
ods, the philosophic writings, the Spanish Golden Age, the Russian-
Polish and the American Jewish writers are represented here.
Yehuda Halevi, Ibn Gabirol, Mendelssohn, Maimonides, Nahman-
ides, and their counterparts; down to the age of Sholem Aleichem,
Mendele Moher Seforim, I. L. Peretz; Sholem Asch, Maurice Samuel,
Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Saul Tchernichovsky — a complete listing of
the greats in Jewish literature that would need pages for total recogni-
tion of the _immense value of this splendid work.
Because the author was still among the living when the revised
1965 edition was published, he was able to add a section on Israel and
some of the most noted Israelis, Joseph Brenner, Moses Smilansky,
Hayyim Hazzaz, Aaron Meged, Ephraim Kishon and others are in-
cluded in the quoted excerpts of their writings.
\ There is a section on the Holocaust which includes the writings of
Mordecai Strigler, Andre Schwartz Bart and others.
Leo W. Schwarz's "The Jewish Caravan" was and remains one of
the outstanding anthologies of the most important Jewish literary
creations.

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Newest Israel Balzak Guide

Balzak Guides to many lands have earned tourists' acclaL
their accuracy and comprehensive coverage of all subjects and needs
vital for travelers.
The Israel guides have been especially serviceable and have served
their purposes importantly.
"Balzak Guide to Israel 1976-1977" retains its traditional ap-
proaches in providing information vital to visitors in the Jewish
and the newest of these guides, issued for the current year, h.
to
data that has accumulated supplementary to the routine facts.
It is safe to say that the Balzak Israeli Guide is all-inclusive. Its
contents are geographically marked by a geographical totality, every
aspect of Israeli settlements, the urban and the rural, have been re-
searched and authoritatively described.
The historical analysis was prepared by knowledgeable authors
and the Zionist record as well as the role of Israel since its rebirth 28
years ago are treated with emphasis on facts and recorded data in
Jewish historical experience.
A tourist in Israel is enabled by means of this guide to go on his
own and cover the most important sectors of the Jewish state. He is
guided towards museums, archeological discoveries, universities, hos-
pitals, the ancient sites in Jerusalem, Haifa, Acre and all areas of the
south and the north.
At the same time the tourist has the proper advice from the Bal-
zak Guide in selecting hotels, restaurants, rest homes, etc.
The Balzak Guide assuredly is among the valuable volumes that
become necessities for visitors to Israel.

