THE JEWISH NEWS In•wporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle chnunotring with thc issur of July 20, 1951 Member American Association of English-JeWish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association. National Editorial Association. Published every Friday h• The Jewish News Publishing Co., 1751r, W. Nine Arlile, Suite $65, Southfield, N1ich. 18075. Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield. Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Busiriess Manager DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager %Ian Ilitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press. kssisiont News Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 15th day ofAdar, 5737. , is Shushan Purim and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 27:20 - 30:10; Deuteronomy 25:17 - 19. Prophetical portion, I Samuel. 15:2-34. VOL. LXX, No. 26 Candle lighting, Friday, March 4, 6:08 p.m. Page Four Friday, March 4, 1977 Purim: Call for Freedom Observed as a minor festival on the Jewish calendar, - Purim nevertheless has great significance. The joy it generates in the celebrations in homes and synagogues are in appreciation of an ancient-triumph of justice over bigotry and of acquisition of freedom by Jews who had been condemned to death by a hatemonger. Perhaps there is much more to the les- son of Purim. If, as it is reasonable to be- lieve, the festival story inspired action in self defense and in quest for liberty, then it has passed on to the generations to be learned by people of all faiths. What is taught is that silence spells doom and an outcry against oppression must bring good results in the long run. Isn't this what is happening in Russia? Hasn't the staunchness of Jewish demands for fairness served to encourage dissidents of all faiths and all backgrounds to be out- spoken for justice in the USSR? Isn't this what has given such historic importance to the Carter-Sakharov exchange of corres- pondence and of an accord against tyranny and for liberfy? As President Jimmy Carter has de- clared and as libertarians have advocated all along, if there is a lack of freedom in any part of the globe it endangers justice and freedom everywhere. A free world demands freedom for all. This was and is the Purim lesson: never to be silent in demands for justice. Doesn't this make Purim a univer- sal festival with a lesson for all mankind? Unprecedented Generosity Not only all of Israel's schools of higher learning, several of which will have Academic Chairs created with his gifts, but many local and national causes will benefit from Abraham J. Cutler's generosity. Silently, without fanfare, Mr. and Mrs. Cutler had already given generously to many worthy philanthropic causes and educational institutions. His specialty has been and continues to be the establishment of scholarship funds for Israel's schools of higher learning. as well as the local school systems. The unprecedented mark of generosity just expressed in the announcement of vast trust funds set a new mark in generosity. It is to the credit of his representative, Maurice Axelrod, that Mr. Cutler has been guided to do these magnificent things in be- half of higher learning and for charitable needs. Mr. Cutler is descended from a family of scholars. His father was a great Talmudist and an author, a man of learning and of great piety. The son has .learned well from an eminent father and the Jewish com- munities here and in Israel will know how fully to measure gifts of this generous De- troiter. Carter's Humanism Consistency President Jimmy Carter, in his message to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Andrei Sakharov, added power to his position as defender of human rights wherever the need for such support may emerge. It was a vitally needed and timely mes- sage because the Helsinki decisions, in which the USSR was a major participant, had come under question. It was a gesture especially needed at a time when dissidents of all faiths and Jews who are suffering oppression in the So-viet Union were clamoring for aid from overseas in efforts to seek refuge from oppressive Communist regulations. President Carter's consistency in up- holding the banner of freedom for all, wherever they may be, under the acknowl- edged principle that subjugation of liberties anywhere endanger human rights everywhere is a rule never to be abandoned. The American ideal of justice for all has gained a courageous defender in President Carter and the hope now to be entertained is that the President will never abandon the principle to which he has given so much sig- nificance by his courageous act. The President's courageous moves con- sistently backing human rights tasks abroad, in addition to upholding civil rights aims in this country, suggests another obli- gation. It is the developing duty to prevent the spread of barbarism akin to the bes- tialities that mark the rule of Idin Amin in Uganda. President Carter deserves a strong commendation for joining world public opin- ion in condemning savagery and barbarism in Uganda. When the Ugandan mass murderer — he is charged with the brutal killing of any- where from 50,000 to 300,000 people in his country — boasted of his hatred for Jews and Israel and deplored Hitler's having murdered only the Six Million, there was mere shrugging of the shoulders. He was, considered a clown and was not taken seri- - ously. But since then he has pursued the policy of mass murdersand it is well that the crimes should be viewed as a crime against humanity and should not be ignored by anyone, anywhere. International condemnation of the Ugandan barbarian must renew examples of the paSt, when protests were launched against Hitlerism in the 1930s and 1940s, against Czarist pogroms in the early years of this century, against Romanian persecu- tions at the turn of the century. Barbarism must not be condoned. A voice against Amin today may prove to be a voice against barbarians in the future: President Carter has an opportunity, while striving for enforcement of human rights everywhere, also to speak out against bar- barism. His speaking out is another mark of leadership in humanism. Agonies and Triumphs Biography DescribesWeizmann as the 'Last of the Patriarchs' To the well-known English-Jewish writer Barnet Litvinoff, Chaim Weizmann is "the last of the Patriarchs." This is how the London novelist and essayist describes the first President of Israel in the subtitle to his biography, "Weizmann", published in this country by. Putnam. This detailed account of Weizmann's life has special signifi- cance as a supplement to the many works already written about the eminent world Zionist leader because it deals intimately with the leader named as the nominal head of the Jewish state and the depressing state of inaction in which he was left by the successors to diplomatic posts to whom the man who had led Zionists in statesmanship had now become a mere figurehead. Weizmann the scientist as well as the Zionist ideologist who rose to acknowledged heights as a diplomat is the subject of this new biography that lends intimacy to an eminent personality in Jewish history and also on the world scene. His many involvements with the British as well as his con- flicts with the challengers in opposition forces in the Zionist movement receive due emphasis in this notable work. As diplomat he had the closest ties not only with Arthur James Balfour, who authored the Balfour Declaration under Wei z- mann's inspiration, but also with Lloyd George and other British statesmen. The very title of the book at once indicates the admiration of biog- rapher for his hero. But the details of storm and stress in the life of Weiz- mann are not ignored. And Litvinoff gives due atten- tion to the family life, to the agonies in relation to the cause to which Weizmann dedicated himself as well as to the agonies that left deep marks on the man of passion for his people which earned for him the pat- riarchal role envisioned by Litvinoff. CHAIM WEIZMANN He was the first President of Is- rael. And that, too, had its sadness. As the presidency of the state for whose rebirth' he labored so zealously was finally framed into the figurehead position, Weizmann found himself man without a voice in the fulfillment of a dream that becalm reality. He had his differences with David Ben-Gurion, anti- there was a mark of bitterness in the presidential image. 'New Writing in Israel' A new gePeration of_ poets and short story writers has emerged in Israel. Notable works by members of the new generation of Israeli authors are included in. the Schocken-published "New Writing. in Israel. - Co-edited by Ezra Spicehandler and Curtis Arnson, the 18 authors included for participation in this volume include prom- ising poets and short story writers. While most of the authors are the most recent additions to the Israeli literati, this impressive Shocken paperback com- mences With stories by the veteran Nobel Prize Winner Shmuel Agnon and by' YehudaAmijai.