THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue (,t1nly Vin, 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 tili5, Southfield, Mich. 48075. 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 DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager flan Illitsky, News Editor . . . Ileidi Press. kssi,;tant News Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 24th day of Shevat, 5737, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion. Exodus 18:1 20:23. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 6:1 7:6; 9:5,6. - - Feb. 18-19, Rosh Hodesh Adar, Numbers 28:1-15 Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 11, 5:42 p.m. VOL. LXX, No. 23 Page Four Friday, February 11, 1977 `Roots' and the Facts of Life - All things, great or small, spiritual or material, evil or humane, have their roots. If Man were beast there would be no hope for the humane to develop out of the evil or the spiritual to outweigh the material. "Roots," the product of Alex Haley's powerful and dramatic story exposing the horror of slavery, serves a human purpose, both as novel rooted in history and as the soul-stirring television portrayal of the ex- periences of the people who suffered so much from bondage and, oppression. It is the story of the Bla ck Man. But if it were that of the blacks alone it would be losing its universal values. It has its impact on the world, on humanity, on those who seek justice and would not tolerate cruelty. Indeed, the roots of hatred and inhu- manity had been sunk deeply and with bes- tiality through the ages, and it takes man- kind a long time to learn and to apply the lessons taught by bestiality to the great need for kindness to all men and to the equality that is inherent in the life of decent people. In Haley's work the "roots" are those of a single segment in humanity, in the Black Community. But through• the ages there have been demonstrations of hatred that affected many peoples, of all - racial back- grounds, regardless of color. of skin. In all ages, however, hatred was not totally ap- proved. The Jew can testify to that. In all the experiences of oppression, whether it was under Bogdan Chmielnicki, whose hordes murdered mercilessly, or dur- ing the Inquisition and the bigoted era of Torquemada's domination, or in the years of the Czarist pogroms in Russia, or the more recent Holocaust, there were always people who had clung to decency and did not yield to bestialities. - Isn't this also what had occurred during the terrible years of slavery for the black man in this country, that even the slave owners were not always cruel, that there were people of courage who protested, who labored for justice, who risked their lives for decency? To make the contrast, judging , "Roots" by Haley is to test the roots of all evil. The Jew has been an object of hatred for thousands of years. The record of Moham- medanism is not pure and in the Christian world there is a history of so many oppres- sive eras that the brotherhood and love of the Church had been polluted by venom. Yet even in the most degrading periods, when the hatreds were so deeprooted that Jews were burned at the stake, during the era of the Crusades, thousands of Jews were gathered in synagogues and were burned with their houses of worship and their Holy Scrolls. Amidst hatred, however, there was resentment by Christians against Chris- tians for the acts of pillaging and murdering of innocent people. In the darkest periods of Christian anti-Semitism there were always those who cried out against the hatreds that 'stemmed from churchmen. There were Christians who became great Hebrew scholars, and in times of crises some of them embraced Judaism as an expression of pro- test against the inhumanity of man to man. This is applicable to the Holocaust. Not all Germans' subscribed to the mass mur- ders. There were the protesting people who suffered for their sense of justice, many sharing concentration camps with Jews. The roots are soiled with blood because the protesting are the minority. Yet there must be recognition of the existence of the minority, as an acknowledgement of the fact that not all- men are cruel. Homer, in "The Odyssey," had a com- ment on the roots of life: "The root is hard to loosen From hold of earth by mortals; but God's power Cari all things do. 'Tis black, but bears a flower As white as milk?' Of course, the roots of evil are "hard to loosen," but when one thinks of the Abolitionists during the horrible era of slavery, those who resisted terror in Jewish experiences, even those who battle against terrorism now, one must be grateful that as long as the roots are not ignored a new life can come forth that will prevent the poison of past experience. "Roots" as drama, "Roots" as the book that was the basis for the television por- trayal, have their place in human reactions. Just as Jews strive not to forget the holocausts so that they never again can be repeated, so, also, must the Black Man cry out against intolerance so that it should be a mere memory and not a repetition. That is why there is the admonition, in Scriptures, "Zkhor et Amalek," "Remember Amalek." If there is to be emphasis on decency then there must be prevention of indecency. To pi-event the evils of all poisoned roots the menace must be known and understood. That's the meaning of "Roots." A Boon for the Area's Retarded The labors of a dedicated group of 'Jewish citizens who have dedicated them- selves to the aid of the retarded has borne fruit. The announcement that HUD is fund- ing the establishment of two additional Haverim Homes for the Jewish retarded must prove heartening to all who have hoped that the needs of the retarded must never be ignored. Equally inspiring is the appreciation citizens must gain for this nation's socially-minded legislators who have come to recognize the pressing need not to ignore the plight of people who suffer the illness of AIIMINNIND %/TA New Rutgers Volume Avigad Defines Fascinating Beth She'arim Excavations Beth She'arim excavations, which had begun in 1936 and were concluded in 1958, revolutionized archeological tasks and set the pace for the subsequent diggings resulting in findings of great historical value. Rutgers University Press published three volumes by Nahman_ Avigad describing the fascinating projects, supplementing the definitive labors wth illustrative material that adds emphatically to an understanding and appreciation of the dedicated labors. These volumes indicate how the work had begun in 1936 and was interrupted by World War II in 1940, and was resumed in 1953. The third of the volumes, just published, entitled "Beth She'arim: The Excavations, 1953-1958," completes the dramatic story. It started with Volume I "The Excavations 1936-1940" and continued with "The Greek Inscriptions" as Volume II. The completed work serves as an immense inspiration to the lay reader as well as the historian and the professional archeologist. It traces the labors'of the dedicated diggers and receives emphasis in the thoroughness of a great effort in the photographs, maps, drawings and charts. In the process of describing the results of the excavations, Dr. Avigad points to the findings in the 12 excavated catacombs which included hundreds of discovered items, among them rare glass vessels, a 1 5-ton stone sarcophagus and many items which are depicted in the many photographs in the third volume. Dr. Avigad's historical resume of the art findings, have additional merit in the achieve- ment recorded at Beth She'arim. It is noteworthy that the third and concluding . volume in the Beth She'arim series contains 235 photographs. The additional 131 text figures also are marked by a double page appendix and a map. The extensive annotations, the appendix and three indices supplement the descriptive text. The chronology of the catacombs, the Aramaic as well as Hebrew inscriptions on the fin- those who are mentally handicapped, an dings, the historical review of the ailment certainly not of their own making figurative art necessarily add to but an unfortunate affliction. the fullest understanding of the The initial Haverim Home already subject so thoroughly covered by serves an important need. Similar services Dr. Avigad. are needed for hundreds of retarded for Beth She'arim is situated on a "Woman Libating," a whom the Association for the Jewish Re- hill in the Jezreel Valley in figurine from the tarded provided both proper housing and an Galilee. It was laid waste by the hundreds reproduced in Dr. Avigad's approach to a Jewish identity. The govern- Romans in the year 352, was volume, "Beth She'arim." third ment aid for additional homes is cause for abandoned for more than 1,000 appreciation of what government does for years before Dr. Benjamin Mazar the less fortunate and an opportunity for commenced the excavations which gratitude to the association that has la- were resumed by Dr. Avigad in 1938. bored for such humanism.