4 Friday, February 25, 1977
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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 Co., 17515 W..Nine Mile, Suite -465. Southfield, Mich. 1S075.
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield. Michigan and Additional .Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Business Manager
Alan Iiitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press. Assistant
Advertising Manager
\ I . %1
Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the seventh day of Adar, 5737, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 25:1-27:19. Prophetical pakion, I Kings- 5:26-6:13.
Thursday, Fast of Esther, reading of Megillat
Esther in the evening.
March 4, Purim
Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 25, 5:59 p.m.
VOL. LXX, No. 25
Page Four
Friday, February 25, 1977
'Reassessments' on the Agenda?
In the years ahead, and perhaps al-
ways, political involvements will always be
subject to changes, questionable promises,
charges of broken promises and disillu-
sionments.
If all pledges made to the voters prior to
Election Day were to be considered sacred
and irrevocable, the candidate would be
either a -saint or a rebel.
Nevertheless, there are always the dis-
illusioned and the resentment against
hasty judgments. Already there are
charges that President Jimmy Carter is
permitting himself the luxury of hasty
reassessments, and the threatened emen-
dations both in judgments and decisions.
The political juggling called "reassess-
ment" is certain to remain an endless
plague in statesmanship tackled by the
statesmen in porer who may at times be
helpless in facing up to the issues and may,
indeed, often be guilty of deliberate distor-
tions. And there are occasions when even
reassessments may be excusable.
Linked with reassessments are the
rumors: and leaks that have become the
most serious cause for anguish for politi-
cians turned diplomats. A case in view was
the discussion about the supply of concus-
sion bombs for Israel, the about-face in the
State Department, the dilemma in which
President Carter was placed, the certainty
that similar confusions will recur again and
again during the present and, indeed, fu-
ture generations.
The matter of leaks and planted dip-
lomatic rumors is •of major interest in this
Matter of juggled statesmanship. Dealing
with The question of reassessing pledges
and commitments and the concussion
bombs for Israel, .William Safire, one-time
speech-writer for Richard Nixon, now a
New York Times columnist, in a NYTimes
assessment of reassessments, revealed the
folloWing:
Last Sunday, a story appeared in The
Washington Post that "a briefing paper being
prepared" for Secretary of State Vance
would recommend that President Carter
back out of the Ford commitment.
And whose office was the unnamed
source of this briefing paper, whose contents
were leaked before the paper was ever writ-
ten? You' guessed it — Alfred Atherton, the
unrepentant reprimandee, who had been cho-
sen by Secretary Vance to remain as his Mid-
dle East expert at the urging of the even-
hand-wringers.
Non-Arabist sources in _the Govertiment
say that the intent of the leak of themon-papei-
was obvious: to bypass the Secretary of State
as well as Under Secretary Philip Habib, who
were both proceeding on the assumption that
Solomon's Temple incorporates tradition that has em-
the commitment would be carried out, al-
braced the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Moham-
medanism. Because it is often drawn into controversy involving
though they wanted approval from Congress.
the political situation in the Middle East ; as in the instance of
Safire came to an important conclusion
the charges-regarding excavations,.which resulted in the inter-
when he stated in hi -s special :article
national incident 'at UNESCO, the Temple role assumes an
"Another 'Reassessment' ":
ever-retentive interest.
But it is hard to understand President
Five noted scholars discussed the many aspects revolving
Carter's reassessment of his predecessor's
around Solomon's Temple, with an aim at clarifying the issues
agreement — when he gave the voters just the
that have arisen, at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical
opposite impression. We will soon be asking
Literature in Chicago, Nov. 9, 1973. The compilation of the pa-
our ally to take risks based on its trust in
pers of these scholars by Dr. Joseph Gutmann, one of the partic-
ipants in the discussions, offers students of history, religion and
America's word, no matter what Administra-
the problems relating to the Middle East a unique opportunity
tion is in office. "There ought to be, – as a
for knowledgeability on this most seriotis aspect of theological
candidate once demanded, "a clear, un-
fact-searching. The five papers are included in the volume "The
equivocal commitment without change to Is-
Temple of Solomon." It was published by Scholars Press of the
rael."
University of Montana, Missoula, Monts, with the lecturers hav-
Safire knows the score: he was on-the-
ing given emphasis to dealing With "Archaeological Fact and
inside with Nixon and has learned the facts - Medieval Tradition in Christian, Islamic and Jewish Art," as the
of life about White House and State De-
subtitle, indicates. .
partment diplomacy. What he has written,
As noted, the emphasis is on art. Dr. Joseph Gutmann of
Wayne State University is editor of the volume and one of the
serves not only as a warning but also as an
five lecturers whose themes are included in this book. Evidence
admonition for those concerned to be pre-
of his expertness as an authority on art in religious history is
pared for the worst while hoping for the best
provided in this book's numerous illustrations which assist in
but not to lose courage in the battle for jus-
enhancing
the knowledge prOvided on Solomon's Temple and
tice.
therefore also on the-history of that time.
Since reassessments and planted
Dr. Gutmann dealt with the subject "The Messianic Temple
rumors are part of the inevitability of life in
in Spanish Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts." The other lecturers
the so-called democratic world, the best one
at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting were: Jean Ouel-
can do is never to give up the struggle for
lette, Stanley Ferber, Walter Cahn and Priscilla Soucek. They
described the basic structure of Solomon's Temple, the Temple's
the right thingsin.life. It isn't always neces-
early Byzantine Art, Romannesque art and Islamic legends and
sary to distrust the men in power, but it may
art.
always be necessary to be cautious in ac-
Dr. Gutmann provides an interesting background and
cepting their pledges. The motto could well
commentary to the subject in his preface in which he asserts:
be: don't trust promises, just fight for the
"The. site of Solomon's Temple is sacred to three religions.
fulfillment of that which required pledges
To Judaism, it represents the - glory and splendor of the Golden
for fairness and justice.
Age of Solomon in the 10th Century BC ; it was the location of
Gutmann Edits, Writes Essay
in Solomon's Temple Studies
Prejudice and Self-Examination
Prejudices are never ending. They are
undying. Is this human failing uncorrecti-
ble? If it were there would be no hope for
mankind.
"Roots", as defined in the media revived
this age-old illness. The realistic said that
truth, even if it is not always incorruptible,
always challenges for action. But there
were those who panicked and feared that by
exposing the roots America leaves itself
open to rioting, because the children of the
afflicted a generation or two generations
ago may wish to punish the guiltless of the
present generation.
The realism of hunian experience must
assert that only by refusing to deny the
truth does man survive.
It is worth quoting John Locke (1632-
1704):
"Every one is forward to complain of the
prejudices that mislead other men and par-
ties as if he were free, and had none of his
own. What now is the cure? No other but
this, that every man should let alone others'
prejudices and examine his own."
No one appreciates this more than the
Jew who has suffered the lessons of pre-
judice and who may himself have been af-
fected by prejudice as a retaliatory resent-
ment to oppression. Perhaps "Roots"
teaches that humanity is not implanted in
distortions, and that truth must be the
measuring rod in overcoming prejudices
realistically.
two successive temples, one destroyed by the Babylonians in 586
BC, the other destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. In addition, it
is bound up with the hope of a restored temple in the messianic
future.
"For Christianity, the site of the Temple is intimately linked
with the life of Christ recorded in the New Testament; it is a
hallowed pilgrimage place -that inspired the Crusaders in their
zealous mission to reconquer the Holy Land.
"To Muslims the site of the ancient Temple is sacred, too, f
upon it stands the oldest extant Islamic. building, the 7th C
tury Dome of the Rock, enshrining the legendary stone upoA
which, according to Muslim tradition, Abraham intended to
sacrifice Ishmael, and from which Muhammad ascended to
heaven.
"Kings and emperors — Justinian I in Byzantine Constan-
tinople, Charlemagne in Aachen, Germany, Philip II in Spain,
James I in England, Frederick II in Prussia — likened their
building projects to Solomon's Temple and strove to surpass it.
Their compatriots acclamed them as new Solomons!"
The papers of the five scholars, read at the annual meeting
of the Society of Biblical Literature held in Chicago on Nov. 9,
1973, are devoted to some little-known or highly controversial
aspects of the Temple of Solomon in the hope of shedding new
light on this fascinating subject as well as encouraging further
investigation.