THE JEWISH NEW S
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issne c,t .Inly
1951
NIember American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, N1ichigan Press Association. National •ditorial Association.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
;
11..1\ IIITSK), News
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
Editor . .
111•:11)1 PRESS, .%ssistant Ness Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 18th day of Sivan, 5737, the following scriptural selections will be read in our svnagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 8:1-12:16. PropheticaL PORTION, judges 13:2-25.
4
Candle lighting. Friday-June 3. 8:11 p.m.
Page Four
VOL. LXXI, No. 13
Friday, June 3,1977
Patience for Diplomatic Realities
White House and Knesset had their interesting
admonitions for the diplomats of a new gener-
ation. No one panicked when, after 30 years of
government control in Sweden, that country's
tabor party was defeated. It couldn't have gen-
erated the heat that resulted from a similar sit-
uation in Israel. In the former it was a change
of government for a nation at peace; in the lat-
ter instance there immediately arose the fear
of another war. Perhaps it was because Is-
rael's enemies had threatened another con-
flagration that the irrational speculations had
developed.
Hopefully, the muddied waters are being
cleared and the concern over the future of the
Middle East, as it affects Israel and the Arab
states, will be judged realistically.
The encouragement that was given during
the first days of the Likud victory in Israel to
a developing panic might in itself have created
a great deal of trouble. But realism may fortu-
nately diminish fears and the more confident in
a continued truce may predominate.
Misunderstanding of the character of the new
leader on Israel's political scene was primarily
responible for the generated fright. Menahem
Begin could not have reached first base in the
struggle for political domination in his country
had he really possessed the villainous traits
that were ascribed to him. He began his life as
a Zionist patriot in the same fashion as David
Ben-Gurion and his associates who conducted a
war against the British. If freedom-fighting
roles were to be denied to the founders of the
Jewish state all factions would suffer. Mr.
Begin was more militant. He differed in his ap-
proaches with the Labor faction. The aim was
the same.
The issues that have now become so unpala-
table to Israel relate to new threats of war.
The historian may be puzzled by the manner in
which a democratic election in Israel was
treated on Israel's borders. The one basic right
inherent in Israel's attainment of sovereignty
is her people's right to be masters of their
own destiny and not to be dictated to in the se-
lection of government personnel. But on the
very morrow of Israel's election there were
threats of a new war.
The necessity for sincerity in striving for
peaceful solutions — even if it is to be only a
perpetuated truce that will be a road to amity
— rules out threats on the part either of the
Arabs, or pessimistic approaches by the media
aimed to spell out a danger of warfare.
Threats of any kind should be ruled out by dip-
lomats and nations preaching peace.
In any event, conditions have changed, there
are new challenges, there is the basic question
of security, and the need for protection for Is-
rael is as uppermost in the minds of the minor-
ities in the contending Israeli factions as it now
is in the Likud plurality party.
There are accumulating reasons to believe
that moderation will be the order of the day.
Perhaps it must begin in the White House be-
fore it echoes in the Knesset. President Car-
ter's reassurances of a strong friendship be-
tween Israel and the United Stated have kept
heartening all concerned. It must be stated,
however, that what is termed "Palestinian" is
both exaggerated and misunderstood, and the
root of the agonies occasioned by the Middle
.11 ,^••
•
'•• , • ••
∎•••
East problems may be traced to this short-
coming.
An unfortunate wrinkle in the Middle East is-
sue masterminded by President Carter is the in-
troduction of a clause about compensation. Is it
to be wondered at that Israel Ambassador Sim-
ha Dinitz should have raised the question of its
propriety with Secretary of State Vance?
The newly introduced aspects of a situation
already muddied by threats and mis-
representations deniand serious concern and
protests where necessary. If ever there was
need for strong leadership, this is it.
President Carter's consistent emphasis upon
Israel's abandoment of "occupied territory"—
Mr. Begin insists it is "liberated" territory and
this is the term clamored for by the over-
whelming majority of Israelis—is subject to ne-
gotiations. If and when Arabs consent to sitting
with Israelis at a conference table to plan ei-
ther peace or continued truces, this issue will
surely be resolved. But the Carter insistence
upon a new - "Palestinian__ state" may be the
cause of all the trouble affecting the Middle
East issues.
If, as has been warned, such a proposed new
state, as an addition to the 20 Arab states al-
ready in existence, were to be _condoned it
could spell disaster for Israel. It would bring
the avowed enemy immediately within the Is-
raeli sphere. It would negate the truth that Pa-
lesinians already have their state in Jordan, Pa-
lestinians are members of King Hussein's cabi-
net, Palestinians do business with Israel ac-
cross the Open Bridges between the two
countries.
This issue, too, could be resolved amicably,
if Arabs were to consent to meet with Israelis
face to face.
Perhaps an agreement for a coalition be-
tween Likud and the Democratic Movement for
Change, led' by Yigael Yadin, could contribute
towards the desired solution, because the two
parties, Likud the top-ranking, Movement for
Change now a dominant force politically in Is-
rael, agree on a basic idea : that Israel and the
Arabs must meet together at a peace confer-
ence for the dicussion of peace. Is this unrea-
sonable?
, Injection of the Palestininian idea may be
the source of most of the trouble. An example;
Arabs demonstrated in the thousands in Dear-
born. They are heavily populated there and it
was understandable. But they distributed leaf-
kets with labor endorsements, and those who
know the background of strong labor support
for a free Israel were disturbed. Isn't it pos-
sible that the emphasis given to the term "Pa-
lestinians" by the President of the United
States may be the cause of a divisiveness in
some labor ranks?
What the issues revolving around the new si-
tuations in Israel emphasize is that the true
facts must be reiterated and must not be ig-
nored. If labor needs to be taught anew then it
becomes a duty for those who are concerned
about Israel's security. If "Palestinian" has
been giving new status in the newly-developing
discussions by President Carter, then the need
to properly define the issue for the President is
paramount.
A.-W., ♦
11. i. •
Anthology Features Impressive
`Cradle Songs in Yiddish'
Benjamin Katz and Bracha Kopstein, eminent Yiddish authors re-
siding in Israel, undertook the task of collecting lullabies sung in
Yiddish. They thought they would have a small booklet. To their
amazement, their search producea cradle songs in the scores.
Their result is a notable anthology. "Unter Yankele's Vugele-
Cradle Songs in Yiddish," published in Israel by Farlag Shalom, 53
LaGuardia St., Tel Aviv.
There is great fascination in this anthological work. It reveals the
sentimentalities, the love for Torah being implanted in children, the
devotion of parent to child.
Not only the cradle songs, but the several pages of lyrics give the
volume extra significance.
A sample taken at random from this volume gives the reader an
idea of the volume compilers' achievement:
—
,v1515 A:1515 -2715g
71,n,
375171,,i)
,Iniro 11N TT 17' 1710
1 rit ,01 11b irp ,5nrrt
slITT)K 'T 011 1 T '1TH
tnenn ,011'10
7rn, 5
. 471p
r1ki5V
181 1 , 71 ump
11 5 11 blnotin
11D8'7
,iln tamp; 8 lY
1175av 18p orl
11711/'
,r1,3
7n51,711
1
7
2
11"K trIVD175
rt
.The Katz-Kopstein accomplishment is summarized in their in-
troductory comments in which they state:
"Saul went out to seek lost donkeys and found a majestic.crown .
. ."We went out to search for material for a section of our "Treasury
of Yiddish Children's Poetry" (in preparation for some years) and
found a gold mine of lullabies—Biblical cradle songs, modem Israeli
cradle songs, war-time lullabies, lullabies of Black children—not ordi-
nary folk songs, but cradle songs of Jewish authors, scattered
throughout the length and breadth of Yiddish literature. What was to
be only a section of a book, a mere excursion into one aspect of Yidd-
ish song and poetry. grew into a large and grand book on its own,
which we present with joy to the Yiddish reader.
We say "with joy", but not all of these lullabies are joyous. What
should a lullaby do? What is a lullaby? Usually, it should sooth,
make quiet, lull a baby to sleep. The melody- sung by the mothe --
lulls the child to sleep at twilight, when the sun is setting, day end
and a clean, well-fed infant lies in his neat cradle that "hangs fronn ----\
the rafters," or in a wooden cradle that rocks and rocks the Yanke-
lech, Lealech, Schloimelech, Velvelich and Chayelech with a song
"of silver and gold."
Goldfaden's cradle song is about "the widow of Zion, sitting in a
corner of the Temple." In that distant time, she put her child
to sleep with a song that reminded him that he would someday trade
in raisins and almonds. This motif, with the image of the goat, and
the reminder that "Toireh is the best commodity" is repeated in
many other Yiddish- songs. It is not a pacifying thought, but mothers
poured out their grief to the unaware infant as they dreamed of the
child's future. Yiddish lullabies are, unfortunately, not only sleeping
songs, but awakening songs. terror- and alarm-songs: songs of
struggle and anger, full of social storms and striving. and the cradle
is not always a cradle. There is no more home; the open fields. No
Man's Land, in the midst of wars and threats of war. ghettos, concen-
tration camps—all of European Jewry's ruined life is mirrored in the
cradle songs.