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Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 23rd day of Tammuz, 5737, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 25:10-30:1. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 1:1-2:3.
Candle lighting. Friday—July 8. 8:52 p.m.
VOL. LXXI, No. 18
Page Four
July 8, 1977
Targets in War of Nerves
Of course, there have been restful periods in
history when anti-Semites were silent for a
short time, when Israel was not threatened,
when there was a lulling into peaceful slum-
bers. But the story of the Jew remains one of
tension, of constant threats to the people's secu-
rity, of the compulsion always to be vigilant for
survival.
Since the objectionable word survival is used
here, there is the added need to emphasize that
all of mankind is always in turmoil, that surviv-
al is a human factor, that problems are the
basis of very existence in a world at war with
itself.
Therefore, repetitive threats to Israel and re-
petitive demands for submission to the antago-
nisms of enemies is not new. It is not easy to
become acclimated to new dangers too often,
but the lessons of the past must provide stimu-
lants for resistance, even if obstacles come
from friends.
The statements uttered by State Department
spokesmen to the dismay of Israel's friends are
not pleasant. But a people under duress must
be prepared to confront the issues with dignity,
of course, and also with courage.
The fact that demands for submission to pres-
sures come from a friend, from the United
States which is Israel's major supporter and de-
fender, is unpleasant—and also aggravating.
Because the reiterated pressures are based on
a lack of pragmatism and what could be
branded as a lack . of judgment.
There is a measure of unfairness for Israel's
Big Brother to have been so blunt when there
is a duty to adhere to a principle that pre-
conceived notions must not be permitted 'to in-
terfere with diplomatic intentions. If pre-
conceptions are wrong for Israel, they are
equally objectionable when utilized by the State
Department. And since it has been emphasized
that the State Department acted only upon con-
sultation with the White House, then the pro-
cedures to which this country was submitted
were utterly unfair.
Admitting that all intentions were honorable,
their bases nevertheless are rooted in menac-
ing injustices. The demands that are being
made upon Israel for withdrawals unfortu-
nately received impetus not from the State De-
partment, which is judged as the traditional an-
tagonist of Israel because of a pro-Arab stance,
but from the White House. The tragedy is that
President Jimmy Carter already became a vic-
tim of confusion, in his having revived a 1947
United Nations resolution by treating it as if it
were the 1967 decision.
Even more distressing is the recognition
given the PLO by the President's emphasis on
"Palestinians," and the subsequent injection of
a "compensation" comment, neither having
proper relevance to the urgency for American
involvement in effecting a much-craved-for
peace because negotiations become hopeless
unless all such details become a part of a nego-
tiating process.
The chief error lies in the treatment given to
Israel's enemies as if they have suddenly ac-
quired sainthood because of some assertions
about recognizing Israel.
Israel often is charged with being in-
transigent, and in the meantime the true intent
of those who now asseverate peace are actually
scheming destruction. Suddenly Arafat is glori-
fied because someone has said he is willing to
tolerate Israel. But this very Arafat refuses to
recognize Israel, to sit with Israelis, to be a
symbol of directonegotiations. And he is a sym-
bol of Arab leadership that bides time and
states that the ultimate is an end to the Israel
they hate. On April 11, Yasir Arafat was
quoted in the Kuwait weekly Al-Yakza: "I will
carry on the struggle until every inch of Pales-
tinian soil will be retrieved." This is an atti-
tude, a plan for the future, which Israel can
not ignore. Taking exception to the pressures
stemming from a combined State Department-
White House policy it is the contention of Is-
rael's friends and defenders that the President
and the Secretary of State are equally obli-
gated not to ignore these intentions.
Of course, a people tried by many forces
should be prepared for all eventualities—even
a deviation in American policy toward Israel.
But this policy can not and must not be ne-
gated, and the responsibility emerges for all
who see through a scheme aimed at Israel's de-
struction to raise a voice of protest against
shortsightedness. The new Israeli prime min-
ister, Menahem Begin, is unquestionably able
to stand his ground in his country's defense.
The friends of Israel, especially the kinfolk of
the Israelis, have a greater duty to be con-
cerned, to speak out, to set the record straight
for the President so that he should not be mis-
led by misconceptions regarding Israel's neigh-
bors and those who would establish a twenty-
first Arab state in order additionally to create
dangers for the small Jewish state. There is a
great moral duty to prevent Israel's destruc-
tion and therefore whatever misconceptions
may stem from American diplomacy must be
refuted so that injustice should be avoided. Si-
lence on the score of such diversions from es-
tablished American policies towards Israel
would be criminal.
For Israel there is added concern in the cru-
cial statement by Alfred Atherton, who has fig-
ured for a number of years as among the most
authoritative spokesmen for the State Depart-
ment, that even Jerusalem must be viewed as re-
maining under consideration in future negotia-
tions regarding Israel's territorial rights. This
statement, made at an important State Depart-
ment two-day conference for journalists, formu-
lates a challenge of immense proportions. For Is-
rael's 1967 victory reopened Jerusalem's holy
places for all faiths. Until then there were dis-
criminations that barred Jews from an approach
to the Western Wall and to their very presence
in the Holy City that had served as the in-
spiration for Jews through the ages. The rancor
that had existed in the city that had become
holy for all faiths was not of Jewish making.
Good will was restored under Jewish adminis-
trative rule.
It is only since 1967 that religious bickerings
Which marred the peace of Jerusalem have
ended. Moslem and Christian places are fully
protected, and for anyone, in the press and radio
or anywhere else, to imply that the Moslem
Dome of the Rock needs protection is to distort
truth and thereby to add venom to an aggra-
vated situation.
Therefore, Israel cannot abandon her role in
Jerusalem, if the religious freedoms she grants
to others are not to be sacrificed for herself and
if her historic rights to Jerusalem as the capital
of Israel are to be sustained. The Atherton state-
ment, therefore, remains an unacceptable inter-
pretation of genuine justice for Israel and the
Jewish people.
Reconstructionist Leader
Dr. Ira Eisenstein's Shivim'
Honored in Scholarly Volume
Dr. Ira Eisenstein was unquestionably the right hand personality
in the creation and expansion of the Reconstructionist Movement for
the Advancement of Judaism with his father-in-law, Prof. Mordecai
M. Kaplan.
He headed the movement and now is president of the Reconstruc-
tionist Rabbinical College.
Indeed, he was the founder of the college which has already grad-
uated a number of spiritual leaders, including several women rabbis.
The 70th birthday of Dr. Eisenstein is occasion for honors for the
eminent leader and has been utilized for a traditional way of expreSs-
ing appreciation for a scholar—by means of a volume of essays.
"Shivim" is the volume, co-published by Ktav and the Recon-
structionist movement, and the essays cover many areas of Jewish
studies.
It is noteworthy that the contrib-
utors to this volume include Prof.
-Kaplan, the eminent founder of Re-
constructionism whose "Judaism as
a Civilization" spearheaded the
movement whose philosophic ap-
proach to 'Judaism was marked by
many changes in Conservative teach-
ings and thinking. Both Dr. Kaplan
and Dr. Eisenstein are products of
the Jewish Theological Seminary,
the rabbinical college which trains
DR. EISENSTEIN
Conservative rabbis.
Appropriately, Dr. -Kaplan's essay in "Shiv.im" is "Inter-
dependence of Religion and Science."
Interestingly, the views of Dr. Kaplan are discussed in one of the
essays. Dr. Harry Morris' theme is "Mordecai Kaplan's Criticisms
of Maimonides' Reinterpretations."
One of the most eminent Christian scholars, Dr. Franklin H. Lit-
tell, is the author of the essay "A Christian Meditation on Jewish
Peoplehood:"
Also notably appropriate is the inclusion in the volume of an
essay by the honoree's wife, Judith K. Eisenstein. A noted musi-
cologist and an authority on Jewish musical concepts, Mrs. Eisen-
stein's essay is on the subject "Tensions in the Music of Jewish Wor-
ship."
Philosophy, education, religion and other related subjects are
among the topics dealt with in "Shivim." Dr. Meir Ben-Horin's
"Education as Religion" is among the subjects dealing with religic
topics and the educational aspects.
Prof. Oscar I. Janowsky deals with the historic theme under the
title "The Values and Uses of History."
Other authors of essays in "Shiv im" include Philip Bernstein,
Ronald A. Brauner, Judah Cahn, Steven M. Cahn, Ivan W. Caine,
Kenneth S. Cohen, Harriet A. Feiner, Jane S. Gerber, Judah Goldin,
Alfred Gottschalk, Carole Kessner, Samuel Tobias Lachs, Richard L.
Libowitz, Alan W. Miller, Henry D. Morris, Stephen M. Poppel, Max
J. Routtenberg and Arthur J. Zuckerman.
The Ira Eisenstein story, echoing as it does his own pioneering ef-
forts for the Reconstructionist movement as well as those of his fa-
ther-in-law, the venerable Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, serves well as a
chapter in the record of the religious movements and the theological
seminaries of America.
The fact that synagogues in this country and in Canada are using
the Reconstructionist texts for prayers and at the Passover Sedorim,
that rabbis, men and women, have been ordained in the Reconstruc-
tionist school in Philadelphia, are indications of leadership, with the
personality of Dr. Eisenstain emerging among the creators of a new
movement in American Jewish ranks.