Friday, January 21, 1977

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Purely Commentary

How the Media Relate to Israel . . . Status of Jewish Press
Throughout the World Under Consideration at Sessions of
World Union of Jewish Journalists in Jerusalem

By Philip

Slomovitz

The Jewish Press . . . The New Era for Journalists After the Holocaust

JERUSALEM — Vitality of the Jewish media is under
scrutiny here. From all the free countries in the world,
some delegates representing to some degree the moderate
in Communism and in Mohammedanism, are meeting as
haverim, as conferes, as a family of writers — and
broadcasters — who labor in the ranks of newsgatherers
and disseminators of facts regarding World Jewry.
It is a new era for journalists, even in the
well-established quarters of the Hebrew press in Israel
which by now has many traditions and-a solid basis to speak
for a reborn nation whose roots are deep in the journalistic
mold.
The current convention of Jewish journalists has a
special interest, provided by an anniversary that is rea"
the beginning of Jewish journalism in the world. A
belatedly, at the sessions here at Beth Agron,
newspeople are marking the 300th anniversary of the
Jewish press. It dates back to Jan. 7, 1675, denoting the
appearance of the first issue of the Jewish newspaper
Gazeta de Amsterdam.
The anniversary provides emphasis for many aspects of
Jewish journalism. The first newspaper was in Spanish.
Soon there commenced the powerful Yiddish press. Then
there developed media in other languages, including the
Spanish-Hebrew Ladino, the language akin to Yiddish in a
Spanish form, with the newspapers and an enriching
literatire, like the Yiddish, printed in the Hebrew alphabet.
But the dialects are vanishing, their usage is
diminishing, and while Hebrew is predominant, because it is
the language of the reborn Jewish state and because it is
used in prayers and therefore is imperishable, English
The organizational meeting of the World Union of Jewish
assumes a major role in Jewish life.
Journalists, held in the Speaker's Office of the Swedish Parli-
Thus, while Yiddish still is used extensively and is given
ament, Aug. 9, 1959: from left, clockwise, at table, Alter Trus,
emphasis in deliberations at the journalists' sessions,
Stockholm; Mr. and Mrs. Philip Slomovitz, Detroit; Wolfgang
English is used more than ever, much more than at any
van Weisl, Israel; Rabbi M. Nurock, Israel; Josef Fraenkel,
previous convention.
London; Meir Grossman, Israel; Dr. Henry Shoskes, New
The dominance of English at a world conference in
York; Joel Cang, London; Baruch Graubart, Munich; Marc
Jerusalem is not surprising. English is Israel's second
Turkow, Buenos Aires; and Jacob Fessel, Stockholm.
language. In the early years of Israel's statehood there was
the possibility of French surpassing English, which
attained its significance because Britain was the country's (Palestine's)
Mandatory Power. French was in the ascendancy because of the large number of
immigrants from Algeria and countries where the French were the rulers for many
years.
Then there is the interesting angle of convention sessions being held in Beit
Agron. It is the Jerusalem headquarters of the Israeli journalists and was named
in tribute to the memory of Gershon (Agronsky) Agron, founder of the Palestine
Post which was transformed into the present Jerusalem Post, perhaps the leading
English-language newspaper in the Middle East.
There is a Detroit angle also in Beit Agron: its auditorium is the Schaver Hall,
named in memory of Morris Schaver, whose wife, Emma Schaver, was one of the
most generous donors to the Bait Agron when it was built some 15 years ago.
The World Union of Jewish Journalists was founded in Stockholm, Sweden on
Aug.
9, 1959, during the sessions of the World Jewish Congress. Dr. Nahum
la brevcdad poffible pot los Fran.:
ITALIA..
Goldmann played an important role in encouraging the creation sof the journalists'
• . ......
_
cefes,fe rindiran :1EIparia.
confederation.
1,: enep a 23 ja eVembre. •
The late Meir Grossman, the veteran Jewish journalist, presided at the
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organizational sessions.
Joseph Fraenkel of London, world authority on Zionist history, who has been a
Prdeith . el Senado. una plema.: c Omo la Corte CathOlicha g
contributing correspondent for The Detroit Jewish News forsome 30 years, was the
tica. En el barrio:llamado de tanras inflancias pataque nuel-
guiding spirit in the founding of the Journalists' World Union. Noted Jewish
los ApottOlOS huvo Sabado pain- T r° *Vrrey embie algun dinero at
writers participated in that action.
do un conciderable ineendi9, que imperio y Fl5des, procura dho Sr.
The founding committee consisted of: Dr. S. Caplan, J. Cang, M. Chalamish, I.
Eisenberg, I. Levinson, I. Remba, J. Schwarz, P. Slomovitz, Dr. H. Shoskes, M.
.dilarado
lino
Ce
dilcuipatte
diziendo
haver
remiti-;
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ditto. . fg: huviera
Solomon, Dr. H. Swarsensky, M. Turkow, S. Yedidyah and J. Fraenkel.
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-

Political Acumen Is Put to the Test

(Continued from Page 1)
Democrat to Republican,
and after the Nixon-Ford
era, from Republican to
Democratic, so, now, the
call for a change is all-
embracing.
Yet, it is not all that
simple. There are the
loyalists who know only
The Party, and there are
the traditionally af-
filiated who know not
another way than that
now rooted in Ma'arakh
coalitionism.
The tests are coming:
first the party conven-
tion, set for Feb. 23, when
Rabin will be the object of
scrutiny. If the Labor
Party decides on Shimon
Peres there may be a
weakening of opposition.
If it is Rabin, then the
anger could not possibly
subside, especially after
the Yadlin-Ofer-plus
scandals.
Then will come the elec-
tion, on May 17, and the
prediction is that Yadin

will garner at least a
dozen Knesset seats. In
that case Yigal Yadin and
his Movement for a
Change assumes a mea-
sure of power in the next
government.
There
still
are
Menahem Begin's Likud
as well as the Ma'arakh to
be considered. Both are
expected to lose seats. So,
the quandary remains
and no prophet is without
honor except in his own-
country.
Who are the powers be-
hind the thrones? Once
again Golda comes to the
fore. Rabin is spoken of as
"Golda's man" and once
again there are the
rumors that Golda Meir is
the actual ruler.
What Ma'arakh may
never be able to overcome
is the talk about The
Party. In the anger ex-
pressed against the
Yadlin-Ofer forces there
are the complementary
comments that these men

and their cohorts did not
"steal for themselves"
but that the benefits
went to The Party. That's
where the anger begins
and rests. That's where
the new Israeli troubles
are rooted: the charge of
corruption against the
ruling forces and the
anger over power that
beckons for a change.
Will the Israelis be lik
the Swedes in 1976, like
the Americans in 1952
and 1976, or will sheer
anger be muted and an
Old Guard remain domin-
ant in the land that suf-
fers'so many dangers and
presently is undergoing
serious economic prob-
lems?
The social and political
aspects of an era marked
by demands for change
are of the most interest-
ing seriokisness in a coun-
try whosecitizens may be
prophets for others but
not for themselves.