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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Masada: Theme for Book, Insight to the Jewish People
By DR. MILTON
ST1INHARDT
"The Masada Plan" by
Leonard Harris (Crown),
arouses many __mixed
reactions in the reader,
While the background of
SMALL BEQUESTS
BUILD A
STRONG ISRAEL
If the tradition of including the Jewish
National Fund in the Will of every Jew were
invariably followed, sufficient resources would
be accumulated to-ensure the future of the
young Jewish State on a sound basis of land
development, social welfare, and justice.
A bequest to the Jewish National Fund
should be as traditional as having aBlue Box
in one's home.
You may want your bequest to be
dedicated to afforestation, to a village, a
Nachlah, to a children's play area, to perpetual
yahrzeit or kaddish, or to some form of
permanent tribute in the names of persons
dear to you.
Consult the Foundation for Jein.sh
National Fund, 22100 Greenfield, 968 0820.
They will gladly co-operate with you in
working out plans to meet your special
requirements, in strict privacy.
-
an Arab-Israeli war is
senstive and engrossing,
the style and plot leave
something to be desired.
Even resourceful Is- .
rael, born out of miracles,
off the
could hardly incredible
fantastic
an
f
events with such finesse
in a life and death strug- .
gle.
The plot begins in 1979
with an all-out, coordi-
nated surprise Arab at-
tack on Israel with the
most sophisticated Rus-
sian weaponry, three
years after the Sinai
agreement. A new el&
ment in this conflict is the
"even-handed" neutral-
ity' of the. United States
with an established em-
bargo similar to the one
during the Spanish Civil
War in 1936, and to the
one by France in 1967.
The danger to Israel Of
being driven into the sea is
imminent, as the losses are
beyond endurance. The Is-
raeli cabinet decides to ac-
tivate the Masada Plan if a
cease-fire is not effected in
24 hours.
The official Israeli note
to the UN, U.S., Soviet
Union, and Egypt ends
with a declaration of
"freedom of action" in the
event of non-compliance.
This is interpreted as a
veiled threat of nuclear
retaliation if the very
existence of Israel is en-
dangered.
It is later determined
that this plan, complete,
with maps, spells out the
nuclear destruction of
half a dozen major cities
in the U.S., Egypt, and
Russia, if a cease-fire is
not accomplished.
This prompts the Sec-
retary of State to work a
whole night on the "hot
line" to obtain the con-
sent of the Soviets and
Egypt to a cease-fire.
However, the irony was
that what was antici-
pated to be a mere formal-
ity — the U.S. approval —
turned out to be most dif-
ficult, because the "U.S.
does not submit to
blackmail".
The President was fi-
nally forced to yield under
the threat of a press con- -
ference which would ac-
cuse him of possibly caus-
ing world nuclear destruc-
tion. A cease-fire is ef-
fected.
The climax of this
drama is reached when it
is • revealed that the
Masada Plan was a hoax
and deliberately planted
as "top secret".
was
The • story
punctuated by explicit
love scenes, also the
cloakand-dagger Arab
attempts to kill the Is-
raeli ambassador on
three occasions.
It is indeed a fantastic
story. Perhaps this book
camies one important
message to those con-
cerned with the security
of-the Jewish state —
that Israel can only de-
pend on its own strength
and that of world Jewry
first, second, and last;
and that in the world of
politics there is no friend-
ship or morality, only na-
tional interests.
However, despite the
engrossing story and some
clever repartee, it lackA
the literary subtlety and
strong characterization
that would secure a dura-
ble place for this book be-
yond the seventies.
"The Masada' Plan,'
however, stirs many re-
flections and focuses at-
tention on the -age-old
question of Jewish survi-
val and how to cope,with
destructive
hostile,
forces.
-
As is well known, the
fortress Masada is a sym-
bol of Jewish courage and
resistance, but not of sur-
vival.
It is also known that
many of the elite of the
Israel Defense come to
this fortress to vow
"Masada will never fall
again". It bdcomes a de-
termination to fight for
victory and survival.
If this may be called the
Masada Complex then we
must refer to other types
of defensive mechanisms
such as the Maccabbean
Complei which chooses
the first alternative of
"fight or flight" as an ul-
timate national policy.
One other historical -
method of coping with
strong enemy forces is
the Samson Complex:
This is the simultaneous
destruction of the enemy
with one's self, as Samson
caused the death of the
Philistines along with his
own, and the Warsaw
Ghetto fighters who val-
iantly resolved to kill as
Your are cordially invited to particip - ate in the
AKIVA HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
BAR MITZVA CELEBRATION BANQUET
In commemoration of the school's 13th year anniversary
SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 1977
CONGREGATION BETH ACHIM
21100 W. TWELVE MILE ROAD, SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN
COCKTAILS AT 6:00 P.M.
Morris Flatt
Honoree
Co-Chairmen of the-Dinner Committee are
Dr. Harvey Sabota and Milton Duchan-
The Honorary Chairman is Dr. Arnold Zuroff -
Senator Morris Udall
'6. Guest Speaker
For Reservations and information, call the school at 354-4664
-
many of their captors as
they could before they
were doomed.
Another technique or
complex is that of Kid-
ush Hashem, best ex-
emplified during the
Inquisition by the mar-
tyrs who offered no phys-
ical resistance, but con-
founded their enemies by
their spiritual strength,
conviction, and resolu-
tion.
A twin companion of
this slient passive resis-
tance may be called the
Job Complex which is
characterized by com-
plaints to God, with .the
query: "Why hast thou
forsaken me, oh God"?
. Another defensive nil,
neuver is what may .be
termed the Yavneh Com-
plex. It was after the de-
struction of the Temple
that Rabbi Yohanan Ben
Zakai was granted per-
mission to establish a
talmudic school of learn-
ing to maintain the con-
tinuity of Judaism. It is de-
signed to accept tempor-
ary setbacks with hopes to
overcome and survive.
The Zionism Defense
Complex ,(if it may be
called that) must become
the reply of the Jews to
their appressors: An in-
dependent and secure
land, a culture and a his-
tory all in one.
According to the
Agada, Abraham muz-
zled his animals that they
should not graze in the
fields of others.