64 Friday, May 20, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Israel Must Cultivate Emerging Countries With UN Votes BY ROBERT ST. JOHN Special to the Jewish News (Copyright, 1977 JTA, Inc.) 7:71 (Editor's note: The follow- ing article by Robert St. John is the first of three by the famous correspondent about his recent South Pa- cific trip.) Several months ago, when a vote was being taken in the General Assem- bly on a partiqularly vicious anti-Israel resolu- tion, the Amb of Papua New Gtf , ea sat with the index finger of his right hand close to the yellow but- ton which, then pressed, would record his country as abstaining. As he later ex- plained: "I did not ask my govern- ment back home for instruc- tions because I had been told to use my own judg- ement, so I listened to the arguments of both sides, A spokesman for the Israelis gave me their story. Then the representatives of 10 or a dozen Arab countries one after another gave me the Arab argUment. Of course it's difficult to weigh such presentations fairly, be- cause of the numerical in- balance, but I tried. Papua New Guinea is not a mem- ber of any bloc and we wish to vote on the side of jus- tice. However, I could not make up my mind in this case, so I decided to vote `abstain'. When the tally was an- nounced, only one country besides Israel — the United States — had voted "no" and Papua New Guinea was the only country except Costa Rica to have ab- stained. Not many Israelis and certainly not many Ameri- cans know much about this remote, small, isolated, po- litieally =important, South Pacific country, except those old enough to remem- ber what happened at Wewak, Rabaul and Port Moresby, and on Bougain ville, in World War II. Yet here is a potential friend that could easily be culti vated, if Israel had the dip lomatic manpower to try to win over the small coun tries not directly involved in the Middle East con flict of which there are many. Papau New Guinea, like Israel, although struggling with many survival prob- lems. has consistently since independence spent a siz- eable amount of her nation- al income on culture. One of the most impor- tant unifying forces in Is- rael is Hebrew, a language spoken by no other nation- ality group in the world. In like manner, Papua New Guinea, with hundreds of tribal languages, is unified When the Jerusalem by Pidgin, also a unique Ian- Museum, the Mann Audito- guage. rium, the Billy Rose Sculp- Geographically Israel and lure Garden and other cul- Papua New Guinea have Papua New Guinea has tural projects were being little in common. Israel is only three million- built in Israel some people 7,992 square miles, much of inhabitants, yet it needs to argued these were luxuries it reclaimed swamps and be remembered that it has a small country could ill af- desert. Papau New Guinea the same one vote in the ford. is 22 times as large, greater UN as does India with her Outsiders at may level New such in area than Ohio, Virginia, six or seven hundred mil- criticism Papua Pennsylvania and New - lion, or China with her 845 Guinea, but inside the coun- York State combined. million. try there is such intense Israel's river, the Jordan, An almost identical popu- pride in the national culture is world-famous, although lation total is not all that that there were no corn- at some points, in some sea- Papua New Guinea has in plaints when several mis- sons, it is such a piddling common with Israel. Ex- sion dollars was appropri- stream that an agile person ploring the country recent- ated for the building of a can jump from one bank to ly, we were constantly re- new museum and art gal- the other. minded of Israel. lery, even though a short Until recently Papau New distance away from the site Papua New Guinea has a of this handsome structure Guinea like Israel in 1948, river, the Sepik, which is was a British trusteeship- • people still live in primi-_ half a mile wide at some mandate. tive thatch-covered huts. points and rises as much as - - - - — - - 21 feet at floodtide. Houses at water level in the spring stand like ostriches, on 21- foot poles, in the dry sea- son, reachable only by lad- ders. Israel is striding rapidly into the 21st Century; Papua New Guinea is still struggling through the In- dustrial Revolution and in many ways is not yet out of the 19th. While Israel looks on tour- ism as one of its principal sources of foreign ex- change, Papua New Guinea not only does almost noth- ing to lure tourists but ac- tually discourages them by refusing to devalue her money as Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific nations have done, making it one of the most expensive countries in the world for outsiders. Why? She knows she is ill equipped to re- ceive tourists because of the paucity of good roads, hotels, other amenities. Unlike Israel, Papua New Guinea is not required for her safety's sake to spend a sizeable part of her gross national product on de- fense. - While Israel has few natu- ral resources except the re- sourcefulness of her people, Papua New Guinea's wealth is based on three c's: copper, cobra and cof- fee. But the one thing that could and should pull the three million Israelis and the three million Papua New Guineans together is an obvious mutual need. Is- rael is desperately irr of friends around the to offset the collusion of Arabs, communists and cer tain short-sighted Third World countries. Papua New Guinea, having so re- cently cut herself loose from the colonialism of the Australians, is also seeking friends. The two peoples should be encouraged to un- derstand and appreciate each other. In Search of `Sharashim': A Guide to Finding Jewish Roots- By PHILLIP APPLEBALTM The current genealogy craze started by Alex Haley's "Roots" may find Jewish enthusiasts some- what dismayed, since al- most all of the current liter- ature on ancestor-hunting has dealt inadequately with the special problems faced by Jews in tracing their forebearers. In the four thousand years of our people's wan- derings, the chain of oral transmittal of family his- tories - has been broken, and because Jews have the mis- fortune of being the most despised, persecuted nation on earth, countless num- bers of community ledgers (pinkasim), family and synagogue records have been destroyed in innumer- able book burnings, por- goms, or lost in the con- fusion of expulsions and wars. The best most American Jews can do is track their family trees back three or four generations, and most genealogical guides are not much help, since they seem to have been written with the American of Anglo- Saxon origin in mind. However, Dan Rotten- berg, author, journalist and genealogy-hobbyist for 19 years, has compiled the first guide for American Jewish genealogy en- thusiasts which extensively covers the methods and means of tracing one's Jewish ancestors, entitled, "Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Gene- alogy," (Random House ). Rottenberg begins with the obvious, the questioning of family members. He then goes on, with de- tailed, precise advice at ob- taining information from of- ficial records such as birth, death and marriage certifi- cates, federal census re- cords, ships' passenger lists, naturalization records, newspaper obituaries, city directories and probate re- cords. There is also a listing of academic and research cen- ters in America which can yield useful information in tracing specific family trees. Among the obvious such as the American Jew- ish Archives, the American Jewish Historical Society and the YIVO Institute, is the Mormon Genealogical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah, which Rottenberg admits is probably the best source for the Jewish ances- tor hunter. According to Mormon the- ology, people bOrn before the, - faith was founded in 1830 cannot enter heaven unless they are baptised posthumously, thus each Mormon meticulously searches out every ancestor he can to ensure them sal- vation. Since past possible intermarriages may have in- cluded members, of other na- tions and faiths, the Mor- mons are interested in everyone's genealogy—in- cluding Jews. They have collected millions of docu- ments and compiled thou- sands of genealogies, all computerized and available at the push of a button. The best point is, because the Mormons are so zealous in ancestor-hunting, they are extremely helpful to anyone seeking his forebearers. To trace one's ancestors across the ocean, Rotten- berg has provided a guide to seeking documentation in lands of Europe, Asia and the Americas. Half of the book is taken up by a re- markable index of some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving sources and refer- ences for further study. In- cluded in the list are names familiar to Detroiters, such as Slomovitz and Chajes. For all of its useful ad- vice to offer, Rottenberg's book has some glaring faults. notably in the fourth and fifth chapters. entitled "A Quick Course in Ju- daica" and "Tradition, His- tory and the Bible." An ex- pert in Jewish genealogy Rottenberg is, a master of Jewish history he is not, and those not competent in our history would do well to avoid these two chapters. His analysis in chapter four of the origin of Sephar- dic and Ashkenazic group- ings is entirely wrong, and Rottenberg gives too much credence to the ridiculous theory of the Khazar origin of Ashkenazic Jewry. One would do better to note the chapter subheadings and look up the subjects individ- ually in the Jewish Encyclo- pedia or the Encyclopaedia Judaica. In chapter five, Rotten- berg would have the naive Jew or those ignorant of Jewish history believe they Burton Historical Collection can actually trace their in the main branch of the families back to Adam. Rot Detroit Public Library. The tenberg presumes too Burton Collection is known much; for instance, he internationally as a prime states that if one's name is resource center for genea- Cohen he should assume he logical study. Moreover, the is a direct descendant of collection is the official re- the first priest of Israel, pository of the archives of Aaron, brother of Moses. the Jewish Historical So- Such fanciful explanations ciety of Michigan, thus it may add color and ro has much to offer the Jew- mance to an ancestor ish genealigist. It is hoped search, but they detract any future editions of Rot- from the primary scholarly tenberg's book will correct purpose of genealogy—to this oversight. find one's true forebearers. "Finding our Fathers" Rottenberg's guide to otherwise is impressive in source places in the United its thoroughness, and for States is impressive, but he the dogged sleuth of forgot- has failed to include one of ten forebearers, it will pro- the best genealogical dr- vide necessary guidance chives in this country—the and inspiration. - - U.S. Jewish Women's Roots Spotlighted At a time when redisco- vering one's genealogy is in vogue, a timely book, "The Jewish Woman in America: Two Female Immigrant Generations 1820-1929," has appeared. Written by Rudolf Glanz and co-published by . Ktav and the National Council of Jewish Women, the book traces the arrival of the im- migrant Jewish woman from the first German Jew- ish immigration through the later Eastern European Jewish immigration, mainly of Russian Jews, to the U.S. The second of a series, Glanz's book is com- prehensive in its presenta- tion and documentation. It focuses, for the most part, on the German Jewish woman, covering her life from all angles: family life, social life, as style. fashion and etiquette affect her. as she is confronted by family problems. marriage and di- vorce. as she is educated and seen by the public and in her involvement in the women's rights movement. What one may find inter- esting is the involvement of Jewish women in social work. For example, Glanz shows a trend away from women's advancement groups and toward social betterment -organizations. The German Jewish immi- grant woman had a major role in this area, especially in the founding of the Na- tional Council of Jewish Women. Glanz states: "Great things usually come about by combining a society-need with an ideal. The need to recruit the Jew- ish woman for urgent social work was obvious as the century came to its end. To combine it with the idea of renewing American Judaism by women's work in Jewish society was the happy deed of those who founded the National Coun- cil of Jewish Women in 1893. At that time Jewish women's organizations had long enough been under the influence of the 'Association for the Advancement of Women' to achieve mature judgements in organized matters. . **The participation of Jew- ish women in the woman's branch of the World's Con- gress of Religion in that year. where enthusiasm for the idea of such a council was overwhelming, precipi- tated its establishment... "The founding organiza- tion, later a section in the Council, had been in Chi- cago, the place where the women's congress had as- sembled. Its mentor, Dr. Emil Hirsch helped deli- neate the task of the Coun- cil in its first attempts to or- ganize. It was his task to _ see to it that the Council should not lose itself in a vague program of world re- forms instead of stepping forward to achievementQ in Judaism..." With the Bicentennial still fresh in the collective Amer- ican mind, when every eth- nic group's contributions to the country were spot- lighted and the search for one's roots a recent U.S. preoccupation, Jewish women, specifically, and historians in general will find Glanz's "The Jewish Woman in America" to be a significant complement to the wealth of information available regarding the Jew- ish immigrant's role in all aspects of life in America.