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 •o., 17515 \V. Nine Mile, Suite Sti5, Southfield, Mich. -18075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor and Publisher

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ

Business Manager

FIX- IT SHOP

I

DREW LIEBERWITZ

Advertising Manager

Alan tlitsky. News Editor . . . Heidi Press. ‘ssist ant

(•w- Edit or

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the 20th day of Heshvan, 5737, the following scriptural selections will be reads* our synagogues:

Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 18:1 22:24. Prophetical portion, II Kings 4:1-37.

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Candle lighting, Friday, Nov. 12, 4:56 p.m.

VOL. LXX, No. 10

Page Four

Friday, November 12, 1976

Sick Minds on the Rampage

For many years the mail pouches of
members of the U.S. House of Representa-
tives and the U.S. Senate have been filled
with the most vicious hate propaganda,
with a predominance of anti-Semitic venom.
Most of the members of Congress have
learned to ignore the haters. Yet it is con-
ceivable that some could be misled by the
bigots. On • occasion excerpts from the
anti-Semitic propaganda filter into the
Congressional Record and are the cause of
great concern over the influence this has in
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ranks.
Now this viciousness has invaded the
Michigan State Legislature and there is
reason to believe that other legislatures in
other states are similarly flooded with hate
pamphlets and letters.
State Representative Joseph Forbes
has effectively condemned the invasion of
haters into the Michigan Legislature and
he and many of his associates are confront-
ing the bigots with dignity and are rejecting
this form of propaganda with the contempt
it deserves.
Can much be done about it? Hasn't
counter-propaganda in the form of defen-
sive brochures proven ineffective? What's
the solution and how can the reply in the
form of contempt be properly addressed to

those who are inundated with the vicious
letters and leaflets? Those receiving the
hate messages must be directed in the path
of contempt for the haters. If that can be
achieved the anti-Semites, who are often
also the anti-Black, anti-Catholic and anti-
everything-decent, won't have a chance
among fair-minded Americans.
The case-of one of the accused of guilt in
the murder of hundreds of Jews and non-
Jews in Romania during the Nazi era is of
special interest to the residents of this
community. Valerian Trifa has escaped jus-
tice until now and has enjoyed acceptance
as well as protection from churches. His
membership on the board of the National
Council of Churches gave him a measure of
prestige. This is now being shattered and it
is to be hoped that the Department of Jus-
tice will not delay action in exposing him
and in bringing him to justice.
Evidence against Trifa is mounting and
the Eilberg-Holtzman Congressional sub-
committee is expected to press for an expose
that will end the delays. Perhaps the Coun-
cil of Churches' acknowledgement of re-
sponsibility to expose and not to shelter a
board member branded as a Nazi criminal
will, at last, end the shelter for an escaper
from justice.

•

Book Fair's 25th Anniversary

A score or more of the leading organiza-
tions, congregations and social service
movements annually co-sponsor the Book
Fair which has become one of the major
educational projects of the Jewish Com-
munity Center. Thus the event is deser-
vedly acclaimed as the outstanding cultural
function of the entire community.
This year's Book Fair merits special
consideration as the event that marks the-
25th anniversary of the project that annu-
ally enrolls-the participation of many scores
of individuals who, on behalf of the organi-
zations they represent, labor to encourage
large audiences to hear messages from
prominent authors, to encourage their
literary activities and to read the best re-
commended writings currently published.
This year's program typically signifies
the good judgment-displayed in the selec-
tion of speakers and in the form the Book
Fair will assume again, this time in the new
Jewish Center structure accommodating

larger •audiences.
The choice of speakers and their topics
points to a desire to link the past ,experi-
ences with the present, and the writings to
be emphasized indicate fulfillment of such
an aim.
As in the earlier years, the Jewish
Center staff has shown a dedication that
merits highest commendations in the re-
sults to be witnessed in the programming
and book displays of the current Book Fair.
Greater Detroit Jewry's image is
brightened by the results attained through
a Book Fair well planned. It leaves its mark
on the cultural planning in the months.
ahead and does not limit interest in books to
a single week's celebration.
The Jewish Center staff earns deepest
appreciation for a task well fulfilled and all
of the participating groups share in the en-
comia certain to be expressed on the occa-
sion of the celebration of the 25th anniver-
sary of Jewish Book Fair.

White House Change of Guard

There will be a change of guard in the
White House come Jan. 20, 1977.

On that day James Earl Carter Jr. will
begin to pursue policies he advocated dur-
ing his campaign for the Presidency he will
be assuming. Included in President-Elect
Carter's program is an affirmation of strong
support for Israel as an ally and friend of
the United States.

In this respect, while there will be a

change of guard, there will be/no changes in
basic American commitments of friendship
with Israel. President Gerald R. Ford had
an avowed frien4ship for Israel. It had its
roots in a Zionist reality which surpassed
the assistance of even the most dedicated
friends of Jewry and Israel.
A change of guard, therefore, means
only a change in personnel at the White
House. The American-Israel friendship is
rooted in continuity.

Heroism, Martyrdom: Inerasable
Warsaw Ghetto Drama Related
in Kurzman's 'Bravest Battle'

For 28 days Jews resisted the Nazis and the relative hand-
ful of heroes in the Warsaw Ghetto proved far more courageous
than the vast army of the Nazis that was bent upon destroying
them. Beginning with that fateful day of April 10, 1943, evidence
of a resistance that had been questioned about the sufferers at
the hands of the Hitler hordes was engraved into history.
Literally thousands of books, pamphlets and feature arti-
cles are in the records of the library dealing with the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising. A summation of all the experiences of the
fighters for justice, even though that battle did not end in the
freedom they sought, is in a single volume so well compiled that
it must be rated as the first-rate, complete account of that heroic
struggle. In "The Bravest Battle" (G. P. Putnam's Sons), Dan
Kurzman fills the need for a volume authoritatively compiled
and narrating the dramatic chapter in Jewish history.
Kurzman,is the author of the best selling "Genesis 1948: The
First Arab-Israel War" which, the author affirms, inspired his
research into the Warsaw Ghetto events. In the process of
gathering material on the rebirth of the state of Israel he had
met many of the survivors from the Warsaw Ghetto struggle. In
another of his best selling books. "The Race for Rome," he had
also given an account of the Jewish sufferings under Nazism
and the anti-Nazi elements. While working and preparing that
work he had also been in contact with survivors with memories
of the Polish experiences. The result is this new work that is so
urgently needed for a complete and concise account of what had
occurred in Poland under Nazism.
Two important figures especially emerge in the record of
the heroism that, in a sense, matches Masada because the fight-
ers for justice against Nazism refused to abandon life to the
mass murderers but chose to die in the struggle. The survivors
were interviewed and Poles and Germans as well as Jews helped
in the gathering of the details that expose many factors in the
war against tyranny.
Kurzman's is a volume that tells the story of the leader of
the revolt, Mordechai Anielewicz. This record of great and
heroic leadership is a distinct contribution to knowledge of
genuine resistance and great courage, and the cast of charac-
ters depicted here is a Who's Who of never to be forgotten brav-
ery. Kurzman describes the career of the leader of the villains,
Jurgen Stroop, the Nazi general who conceded that a will to
reject tyranny was a mark of great courage.
In the processurzman defines the role of the Poles, giving
credit to some in P
Poland who assisted the Jewish fighters, but ,
making it known again how many in the Polish ranks betrayed
their fellow citizens of Poland and were therefore accomplices to
the Nazi crimes.
Kurzman went to many lands in search for his material. He
read the hundreds of booklets and manuscripts in many lan-
guages to ascertain the facts, and "The Bravest Battle" is so
vital a collection of data that while his book reads like drama
and fiction combined it is an historical record without compari-
son in all else that had been written on the subject.
This is a story of heroism. It also is an indictment of cruel-
ties and of indifference by people who were to have been ex-
pected to help a brave struggle that could well have been a
major chapter in a Polish effort for liberation. But there is no-
thing left of the Ghetto Wall. All that is visible is a martyrs'
sculpture. The real tribute to the heroes is their determination
to live. Kurzman properly glorifies it as "The Bravest Battle."

