2 Friday, February 4, 1977
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Nahum Goldmann's Advice to Newsmen:
Maverick Not Alone in Raising
Storm Over Israeli Issues
JERUSALEM— Dr. Nahum Goldmann has been a
target for Israel's journalists for many years. Perhaps
the objections to him commenced when he refused to
make Israel his permanent home. He would have been
a cabinet minister, possibly the prime minister, but he
shuttled even more than Henry Kissinger. He would
--- throw a monkeywrench into the Israeli machinery and
then proceed- to Paris or to Zurich or to Bonn. He
always came back, and again, inevitably, into another
storm.
Perhaps he relished the idea of addressing the
concluding session of the fourth plenary of the World
Union ofJewish Journalists. But he would not partici-
pate in a question-answer period. He made his blunt
declarations, insisting that he was a loner, and that
was it. What he contended .was correct, in the Henry
James fashion: that truth and accuracy are finality
and decisions did not necessarily depend upon a major-
ity. If one is right he could be standing alone. That was
the credo enunciated by Goldmann in Jerusalem in
mid-January.
His contentions are that the two great events of
modern times were the decision to partition Palestine
into Arab and Jewish states, and the reparations ag-
reement with Germany. His contention is that if these
were put to a vote by the Jewish people, both would be
defeated. That's how he approached his argument
that a majority is not always right, claiming the right
to be a free loner and to be in a minority. Is he always
right as a minority?
He enunciated a viewpoint about newspapers. He
opposes editorializing. He believes in hard facts, and
only in the strict presentation ofnews. It gave him an
opportunity to hit back at the Israeli press of which he
is a severe critic — as critical as Israel's newsmen are
of him.
Perhaps the Yadlin-Ofer-Plus scandals provide
some of the evidence Goldmann needs in support of his
argument. There is some bitterness over judging the
accused in advance. The claim constantly being re-
peated by spokesmen for the ruling party, whence
most of the accused stem, that a person is innocent
until adjudged guilty. (It is rumored that the ruling
party itself will be major sufferers from accusations
and confessions that will develop from the Yadlin
trial.)
Therefore, the rumpus in the Knesset over the
current crises, the corruption and dishonesty in gov-
ernment charges, when Minister of Justice Haim
Zadok declared in the Knesset that freedom of the
press is not an.absolute right, even if it is a fundamen-
tal one. "The vile effects of libel, slander and gossip"
were under discussion. Shlomo Lorincz of the Torah
Front requested the debate and wanted to explore
such ideas as a strong curb on the press for a "trial
period" and a ban on the publication of names of sus-
pects until they are convicted-The suicide of Avraham
Ofer appears to have been linked to the press reports
that the man who took his own life may have been
involved in questionable land deals. Lorincz quoted
from a Talmudical Exegesis of the Book of Ezekiel
which stated that the destruction of the Temple had
been caused by — among other things — "people who
dine and wine together but at the same time stab each-
other to death with their tongues."
If by quoting Scripture there can be a curbing of
the press, even if it is to protect the innocence of ac-
cused in public life, then the right to know can be
endangered. What is advocated in the Knesset by
Lorincz can be linked with the Goldmann viewpoint of
restricting the press to facts that could themselves
become questionable without proper interpretation.
What certainty is there about truthful news momen-
tarily pliblished as it happens without allowing for
changes? And if changes are to be anticipated, then
how can even basic_news be circularized without in-
terpretive privileges? -
Press curbs are never justified even in the
acknowledged wisdom of a genius like Nahum
Goldmann, yet it is well that he has raised the issue,
and it is also a welcome opportunity to challenge the
Scriptural genius of a Torah Jew in the Knesset.
Since all of this has happened in Jerusalem, it may
be especially timely to take a special look at Philip
Klutznick, the predicted heir-apparent to Nahum
Goldmann to lead the World Jewish Congress.
Klutznick is known to have been in the habit of passing
judgment on the Jewish press. He is the able leader
who had his basic training in the Bnai Brith Aleph
Zadik Aleph (AZA) — wasn't he its founder? — and he
rose in the ranks of that movement to the interna-
tional presidency of Bnai Brith. He was the first
chairman of the Conference of Presidents of. Major
American Jewish Organizations. He was a member of
the U.S. delegation to the United NatiOns. He is a real
estate expert and he made a fortune in investments in
his home town of Peoria, Illinois. Without such a suc-
cess, as one knows leadership recognition, he might
never have risen to the notable positions he had
gained.
Reporter's Observations in Israel: Nahum Goldmann's Maver-
ick Views on Journalism . . . Kissinger and the Shuttling
Among Publishers . . . Sadat's Theological Motivation
Are we due, under his anticipated world leader-
ship, to experience more judgments of the Jewish
press? Since Phil Klutznick is prone to prophecy, an
interesting era may be due under his leadership if Dr.
Goldmann has selected him as his successor.
Klutznick already is following in Goldmann's
footsteps with his plans to court audiences with
Anwar Sadat of Egypt. That was the Goldmann way of
individualism and of defying the Establishment as a
maverick. Goldmann sought approaches to the Rus-
sian rulers. He questioned the wisdom of Jewish lead-
By Ph ilip
Slomovitz
less than 15,000, a society that should have more than
100,000 members!
Since the Kissinger-Jewish role is now better es-
tablished, perhaps Buchwald will do some more shuttl-
ing. Perhaps he will find the trek to the synagogue the
Kissinger parents attend regularly in Washington
Heights in New York — and that will give Buchwald
himself an opportunity to revisit a synagogue.
And if the road needs to be traced to that syna-
gogue, there is a former Detroiter, Rabbi Herbert Par-
zen, now associated with Herzl Press, who can guide
Buchwald and Kissinger to the house of worship,
where he meets the elder Kissingers every Sabbath for
the Shabbos Davnen. That will also create a link in the
Buchwald shuttle for Kissinger to know the existence
of the Herzl Press.
Buchwald started it all. Therefore, the liberty
thus taken by this writer to suggest the Jewish links
for the two notables upon whom is flashed
limelight.
Satire From Cairo: Sadat Leans
on Mohammed and on Christ
PHILIP KLUTZNICK
DR. NAHUM GOLDMANN
ers in not seeking approaches to the Kremlin. He may
have been more correct than his critics. Perhaps
Klutznick has similar visions that could be proper
realism. Time will provide the tests.
Since no one is infallible, however, there is this to
be said about Goldmann and offered as advice to
Klutznick: in a democratic society decisions are made
by more than one person, even if decisions are always
subject to change. No one can claim to be a loner and
act for the entire community. There is something in
democracy_ that permits change, and that must be
done by collective judgment.
Adolph Rosenberg — Vetercin
Leader in Jewish Journalism
_ TEL AVIV — The Israel visit was saddened by the
news of the passing of Adolph Rosenberg, a veteran
Jewish journalist whose services to his profession are
recorded inerasably.
He was a leader in the American Jewish Press
Association and he began his services on behalf of the
English-Jewish press when that movement
functioned as the American Association of English-
Jewish Newspapers.
His aim was the elevation of the Jewish press, and
he adhered admirably to all efforts to raise the stan-
dards of Jewish journalism.
The first Jewish newsman to back the candidacy of
Jimmy Carter for President, he would have been
among th-e President's closest friends at the inaugura-
tion on Jan. 20, but his long illness prevented him from
_ c ontinuing his' contacts with Mr. Carter.
It was both in the non-Jewish as well as the Jewish
community that Mr. Rosenberg was recognized as a
man of dignity and of dedication to his life's work.
Among non-Jews he was respected as a worker in the
field of cooperation for higher goals among all faiths.
In Jewish ranks he assisted in advancing the cause of
Israel, ofJewish education, of resistance to any and all
manifestations of prejudice. As a Southerner, he was
as strongly identified with the civil rights movement
as he was a Zionist in his Jewish devotions.
He served as president of the American Jewish
Press Association and he encouraged the enrollment
of young people in Jewish journalism. He was an as-
sociate in this field of whom one could always be proud
and who will be missed very -much.
Buchwald Guides Kissinger
Through Publishers' Offices
Art Buchwald is very funny. He writes entertain-
ing feuilletons. His piece on the Coffee Revolution, for
example, was a classic.
He followed it with one on Henry Kissinger shuttl-
ing through publishers' offices peddling his memoirs.
He took the ex-Secretary of State to Random House,
Doubleday. W. W. Norton Co. Simon and Schuster,
down publishers' lane and back to Random House.
What saddening restrictions! Buchwald had a
chance to do some propaganda work for the Jewish
publishers — just when Kissinger was affirming his
sense of justice for the Jewish position in the Middle
East! Buchwald could have taken Kissinger to the
Jewish Publication Society, to Herzl Press, to Hebrew
Publishing Co., Berhman House, back to the Jewish
Publication Society.
What an opportunity that would have been to re-
introduce the multitudes to the JPS, the non-profit
Jewish Publication Society whence come important
works for Jewish readers for a limited membership of
Diplomacy need not always be stiffened into seri-
ousness. Statesmanship has its humor. What often
emerges as satire may be a mere slip of the tongue, and
Mister Citizen must await history's judgment to know
'how a politician's talk reacts upon history.
C. L. Sulzberger always writes in all seriousness
and there is little reason to suspect that he may have
had tongue in cheek while recording the wisdom of the
rulers of the world. Yet one of his most recent columns,
dated Cairo, Egypt, may set his readers athinking.
It must have been a few days before the riots in the
Egyptian capital. Sulzberger interviewed Sadat, and
. the Egyptian President, expressing his views on the
territorial issue involving Israel, became theological.
To prove his views on Israel's role and his insistence on
withdrawals by Israel from occupied territory, Sadat
leaned upon the saints of Christianity and Moham-
medanism. He was quoted thus in the Sulzberger
interview:
"If both Prophet Mohammed and Jesus were to
come back and try to convince Moslems and Chris-
tians among the Arabs to open borders right now with
Israel, they would refuse."
Usually, to prove that their faith not only em-
phasizes Mohammed but also the major prophets of
Judaism and Christianity, a Moslem spokesman will
not fail to include Moses and will take pride in the
ancestry of Abraham. Was Sadat's a slip of the tongue?
Was he resorting to religious-philosophical punditry?
Or will his comment be ascribed to satire and his
viewpoint judged as diplomatic humor?
For historians who will avoid ridicule, perhaps the
just quoted will be a mere puzzle.
Not a Policeman in Sight
Where Settlers Are Productive
KFAR YEHOSHUA, Israel — It is debatable
whether this item should be identified from Jerusalem
or from this small community in the Galil. In
Jerusalem, at a session of the world Zionist leaders,
the distinguished scholar and former world president
of the Jewish National Fund, Yakov Tzur, protested
the distribution of a UJA pamphlet that described
crime and prostitution as spreading crimes in Israel.
In Kfar Yehoshua and many similar villages, the ethi-
cal codes are so strictly observed that the crimes en-
visioned are mere figments of the imagination.
Judging the creative spirit of Israel by this village,
of which there are legion, the creative functions of
Israel are an example for humanity.
There are about 150 families here, and they are
pledged to Avoda Atzmit — self-labor. They milk their
own cows, plant and reap their own products, and out-
side help is forbidden. When a settler is ill, the commu-
nity cooperates and fulfills the temporary need.
It was a natural question for an inquiring reporter
to ask v,hether there is crime here, whether there is a
jail.
Kfar Yehoshua, it was explained, doesn't have
single policeman. Neither does nearby Sde Yaako
The larger, neighboring community of Tivin, could
have a traffic problem. It is on the road to Haifa and
therefore has a few policemen. If Kfar Yehoshua or
Sde Yaakov need help — and-this is considered incon-
ceivable — Tivin could be called.
Bilha studied art at Bezalel Acaaemy of Art in
Jerusalem, but she gave up painting and teaching to
work on the family farm.
Her brother Yigal Hashmenoyi listened to the dis-
cussion and smiled when asked about the need for a
policeman or the safety of homes. "Lo sogrim deled," —
we do not close our doors — he said smilingly.
And the jail, and courts, and judges? The farmers
of Kfar Yehoshua were puzzled: "We have no need for
any of these, and when there is a dispute the vaadoah,
the council, has a way of arriving at a decision and
reaching arbitration."