THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue (kt . 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 865, Southfield, Nlich. -18075. Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription S12 a ..,ear. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ DREW LIEBERWITZ Business Manager Advertising Manager ALAN H1TSKY. News Editor...HEIDI PRESS Assistant News Editor A FUNNY THINE Sabbath Scriptural Selections HAPPENED oN 114e WAY 10 THE MIN M This Sabbath, the 19th day of Tishri, 5738, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 33:12-34:26, Numbers 29:23-28. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 38:18-39:16. Sunday, Hol Hamoed Sukkot, Numbers 29:26-34 . Monday, Hoshana Rabba, Numbers 29:26-34 Tuesday, Shemini Azeret Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17, Numbers 29:35-30:1. Prophetical portion, 1 Kings 8:54-66. Wednesday, Simhat Torah Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12, Genesis 1:1-2:3, Mumbers 29:35-30:1. Prophetical portion, Joshua 1:1-18 Candle lighting, Friday, Sept. 30, 6:58 p.m. VOL. LXXII, No. 4 Page Four Friday, September 30,1977 Affirmative Action : Merit or Bias? - A battle that lasted decades in the struggle against the numerous clausus, which soiled the records of universities in many lands with an anti-Semitic tinge, is brought into play again in relation to a vital decision to be made soon b _ y the U.S. Supreme Court. Affirmative action cannot be related to anti- Semitism, but the chief objective is attacked as prejudicial to a majority of the population that has depended on merit in the selection of employees or in university admissions. The Jewish argument against numerus clausus restrictions has always been that the meritorious should not be penalized for their religion or national background. In the present instance of a vital case affecting the affirmative action principles the question of merit pre- dominates and in contrast there is the charge of discrimination in reverse. Factually, there is an obligation to give every consideration to blacks applying for admission to universities. The less privileged must be pro- vided with every means at the nation's disposal to gain opportunities that have been denied to them for more than a century. But the under- privileged must also strive in their quest for professional status to gain credibility in the pro- fessions they aspire to with ability as well as dignity. Whatever the Supreme Court decision, it is not expected to resolve the issue. There is . a bit- terness over the charge of official and judicial prejudices that is divisive in a democratic com- munity like ours. Is there a way of assuring rec- ognition of merit while correcting injustices for the previously oppressed? It may take a society of Solomons to assure this desired attainment of fairness for all. Israel's Collision With the U.S. State Department demands made upon Israel and endorsed by the White House must be rec- ognized as evidences of a collision with Israel that may seriously affect the traditional friend- ship between the two nations. Previous U.S. administrations have had their conflicts with Israel. They were never as serious. It may be argued that the directness of approach to the issue may not have been as vital in the past as it is now; and there are those who wish to believe that the hope for peace is greater now than in the past and therefore the obstacles on the road to amity are more evi- dent. Are these contentions mere illusions? Perhaps the adamantine attitude of the State Department should be welcomed as a hard line certain to lead to an understanding of the issues and the conflicts without veiling them with secrecy. This is a viewpoint ascribable to the administrative role of Prime Minister Menahem Begin. The latter has been unjustly labeled as an intransigent who is unbending in territorial demands. The fact is that the Begin position hardly differs from that of his predecessors of the Labor Alignment. The one difference is the outspoken and firm position of the present gov- ernment as differentiated from the vacillations of the past. It is best that the realities should not be shrouded in mysteries. and if this is applicable to State Department as well as to Likud then the emerging situation should be welcomed as more pragmatic and a better way of dealing with the tragic obstructions that mar the road to good neighborliness. Yet, the concession of realism to the State Department is being entirely too charitable. From this department now comes a movement towards recognition and glorifying the PLO, in spite of the murderous intents of the terrorist group. The endorsement of a 23rd Arab state, at a time when so few in their ranks are ready to integrate Arab refugees in their economy, is most deplorable. There must have been many protests against the glorification of a Palestinianism by the President and the State Department, and a reply has been circulated over the signature of State Department spokesman Hodding Carter III. Regrettably, his statement sounds more like sanctimony than the urgently desired definition of approach to cooperative tasks to resolve the issues. There is too much condoning of PLO= participation in the projected Geneva Confer- ence. There is little attention given to Arab threats to destroy Israel and to the repetitive declarations that after attaining the goal of get- ting Israel out of the territory acquired in 1967 there will be the movement to drive Israel back to the 1947. And then? the old threat of "into the sea" 9 The anti-Semitic venom that has been injected into the United Nations also spells a repetition of agonized experiences with the com- mencement of a new General Assembly. It is clear that the need for protests against injustices promulgated for Israel has not ended. Therefore, Israel's friends must remain on guard more zealously than ever. Challenge to Terrorists Kiryat Shmona was the scene of a massacre of children four years ago. It became the target of PLO terrorists again on Yom Kippur night this year. This can not and will not be tolerated by ISraelis. Israel knows how to judge beasts who have no respect for human values. Will the world powers understand it? Will the United Nations judge it Fairly and rationally? Until now all but few stood condemned of encouraging the mur- der of children and their innocent elders by their silence. But Israelis and Jews will reaff- irm when seeing another threatening Holocaust and Genocide: Never. Again! New Collection Published Yehuda Amichai, Acclaimed as. Leading Poet of Israel Yehuda Amichai is the acclaimed leading poet of Israel. His many works, having appeared in numerous translations. volumes of note having appeared in English translations. have added to the rec- ognition given him on a global basis. His latest work is a collection appearing under the title "Amen" (Harper & Row). The poems were translated from the Hebrew by the author and by Ted Hughes. Here, again, the poetic urge is expressed in a spirit of univer- sality. Amichai sings the songs of his nation. and he evidences the trials and tribulations, the joys of a people under stress yet pursuing the urge for life. In "Amen - the reader will find echoes of an experience rooted in creativity and also seriously affected by the wars fought for an assur- ance of continuity. There is, to choose an example, his "October - : October sun, warms our faces. A soldier is filling bags with soft sand in which once he played. October sun warms our dead. Sorrow is a heavy wooden board. Tears - are nails. Ted Hughes wrote an appreciative introduction to - Amen." There is this excerpt from it that deserves emphasis in viewing Amichai's writings: "This presence, within the actual texture of the writing, of the lived and deeply shared actuality of modem Is- rael, and of the human relationships determined by it, has steadily in- creased over the years in Amichai's poems. As they grow more open, sim- pler. and apparently more artless, they also grow more nakedly present, more close-up alive. They begin to im part the shock of actual events. " "No matter how mysterious or th zarre the mental leaps, the final ef- fect is always one of a superior sim- plicity and directness. "One is no longer so aware of the virtuousity of a dazzlingly gifted poet. but of a telling of real things he has lived and felt. without any literary YEHUDA AMICHAI self-consciousness. and in a poetry that seems once more the natural speech of people who speak about the psychological depth and density of such things candidly, humo- rously. generously. "This is something so rare that I. for one. return to the poems again and again, and always find myself shaken. as by something truly genuine and alive." There is universality in Yehuda Amichai's poetry. The poets of Israel have emergeda mong the leaders in world liter- ature. They keep enhancing the cultural aspects of redeemed Israel and Yeshuda Amichai retains ton leadership in these ranks.