4 Friday, December 16, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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THE JEWISH NEN\ S
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Nleinher American Association of English-Je\vish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association. NaCi ■ mal Editorial Associairon.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
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Nt... Editor...111:11)1 PRESS. 1..i.tant N• ∎ ■ . Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the seventh day of Tevet, 5738, the following scriptural selections will be rend in Our
synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 44 :1# -4 7:27. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 37:15-28.
Tuesday, Fast of the 10th of Tevet
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11 14 ; 34 :1 10. Prophetical portion (afternoon only), Isaiah 55:6 56:8.
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Candle lighting, Friday, Dec. 16, 4:44 p.m.
VOL. LXXII, No. 15
Page Four
Friday, Dec. 16, 1977
The Crucial Days of Human Testing
These are days of testing for all humanity.
The meeting of minds in Geneva, preparatory
to the fulfillment of the hopes for peace in the
Middle East, may we serve as an inspiration
to all peoples everywhere not to abandon faith
when striving- for an end to warfare.
The—unbelievable has occurred. Two peoples
who have been judged as arch enemies are in a
fraternal mood. Why can't it be the means for
all peoples in that part of the world to lay down
arms and to transform their countries into
agricultural and industrial implements for an
elevation of standards of living in an atmos-
phere of amity?
The question may well be posed now why the
major powers in the world cannot learn a lesson
from Anwar Sadat and Menahem Begin and
their associates. The American people can take
pride in their government's concurrence with
the aspirations for peace in far-off lands. Why
are the Soviets creating obstacles for Egyptians
and Israelis? Doesn't this lead to a loss of faith
iliop.the Kremlin's policies while .talks of dis-
armament are in progress? The two spheres of
conflict are inseparable. If the Soviet Union is
to remain untrusting in the Middle East it will
continue to invite doubt over its intentions in the
Fast-West struggles.
The dramatic sessions in Cairo therefore
emerge as the most significant pace-setting
events for human decency. That which may be
attained in Cairo could well become the prece-
dents for peace-making everywhere. A success-
ful approach to peace in the Middle East must
become the guideline for all future negotiations
for an end to warfare globally.
But an Egyptian-Israeli pact of amity to end
bloodshed is not sufficient. The saber-rattling
must end in that entire area. Yet the threats to
the peace-makers in two countries has not
ended. Warmongers in other Arab lands are
encouraging the continuation of bloodshed.
Israel's existence still is an irritant to obstruct-
ionists whose concern is perpetuation of power
rather than an end to suffering among their own
peoples.
That is why the testing in Cairo is so crucial
for so many. The determined will of a cou-
rageous Egyptian leader has gained the ap-
plause of his own people and has inspired the
hopes of his Israeli neighbors that "no more
war, no more bloodshed" will be a reality. Will
the Egyptian defiance of warmongers gain the
support of the rational and pragmatic in the
Arab world?
The hope that the aspiration for human values
will overshadow the outbursts of hatred is
gaining momentum. That which could not be
attained at the United Nations and might never
have gained ground in Geneva has become a
reality. Egyptians and Jews are talking to each
other and their actions are being watched by the
media of communications, press, radio and
television. Jewish reporters are on the scene
without hindrance. The Big Lie that has in-
spired the Big Hate is no longer a reality. At
least -two nations have come to their senses. The
power of the American ideal of -fair play and
human decency is backing them up. A new day
is dawning for an embattled part of the world
and is offering the hope that all mankind will
learn the lesson that is now broadcast to them
from Cairo.
Fourth Hanuka Light, 5738
The Fourth Light of the Hanuka Festival of
the year 5738 on the Jewish calendar will be
written down as an historic occasion.
That night, after three decades of acrimony,
Egyptian Ambassador to the United States
Ashraf Ghorbal listened to the singing of the
Maoz Tzur Yeshuati—Rock of Ages—as the
Synagogue Council of America celebrated the
Festival of Lights with a welcome of joy to him
as a man of distinction who was bringing
brotherly greetings from his people to the Jews
of America. That message was a transmission
of courage and good neighborliness to the
people of Israel.
It was an historic occasion. It marked an end
to suspicions and hatreds. It signified the will of
a representative of a great nation to come to
fellow men of another faith with a message of
cheer signifying his nation's sincerity in spon-
soring and propagating peace.
It was not so long ago, it was a matter only of
days, when a confrere of the Egyptian ambassa-
dor, the Egyptian, ambassador to the United
Nations, was expected as a matter of routine to
participate in venomous attacks on his nation's
neighbor, Israel. Now the poison has been
removed and representatives of two of the lead-
ing nations of the world are meeting in amity in
Cairo as their kinsmen are meeting as fellow
men in New York.
What a glorious night that was when the
Fourth Light of Hanuka was commemorated
and an Egyptian was fraternizing with Jews!
Let the event be recorded with joy and with
dignity. Let it be known for all generations to
come that while the Festival of Lights com-
memorates the courage of people who would not
submit to tyranny, the festival, 2,100 years
later, begins to symbolize brotherliness, good
neighborliness, an end to war.
May such days of glory become repetitive
symbols of good will for all peoples of all faiths
on all calendars, never to be erased.
Israel Biderman Volume
Meritorious Recognition for
Historian Mayer Balaban
.
A posthumously published work by an eminent scholar and a leader
in major Jewish movements merits special consideration.
It is a work that not only acquires recognition for one of the most
eminent Jewish historians of this century. It calls attention at the
same time to the author, the historian's biographer, who was himself
an outstanding writer, researcher and a personality of distinction in
Zionist ranks.
"Mayer Balaban: Historian of Polish Jewry" is the title of the book.
The authIsrael Biderman, completed his scholarly volume shortly
before his death and the tribute to a great historian has just been
published by the Dr. I. B. Biderman Book Committee.
While this is a work resulting from extensive reaserch by Dr. Bider-
man into the life and works of Mayer Balaban, it should be noted that
the introductory essay is a supplementary chapter that is dovoted to
the author of the posthumously issued biography. The publication
committee, of which Dr. Abraham I. Katsh, president emeritus of
Dropsie University is honorary chairman, pays honor to the memory
of Dr. Biderman. Here, in a seven-page foreword, the reader meets a
distinguished personality, a man of letters, a researcher with many
skills. Dr. Biderman had an important role in Labor Zionism in the
U.S. He was an important member of the staff of the Jewish National
Fund. It was in his writings that he emerged as the contributor to
Jewish knowledge, as his biography of Mayer Balaban indicates.
In more than one sense, the Biderman biography of a noted history
is history itself. Balaban had covered the vast field of Jewish expe-
rience in Poland, and Biderman, in his selections, not only gave recog-
nition to Balaban for his historical skills but also portrayed Polish
Jewry in all its aspects.
Indeed, the Balaban story invites special interest in the person and
the subject he was devoted to because too little attention is given to
the eminent historian of Polish Jewry. As a specialist who had
devoted himself to a specific country where Jewish life embraced the
elements of the historic, Balaban earned a place with Graetz, Dubnow
and certainly with the authors of the stories of the Jewries of the
United States, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia and other lands. -
It was as the head of the archives of Polish Jewry under the Juc,
rat that Balaban had a tragic, albeit historic role during the Holocaust
of which he was one of the victims. Even in that sad role he left his
mark as archivist and historian.
Thus, in the story of the Holocaust, the share Balaban had in writing
history remains immense, on a par with what he had accomplished
before the Hurban (destruction).
With all the devotion to the heroism of Jews during the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising, here again it is Balaban who has added greatly to an
understanding of what had occurred, the resistance, the dignity that
marked the determination to strive both for identity and survival.
The richness of Polish Jewish activities is reflected in this volume.
The Jewish community of more than 3,00000 before the Nazi terror
had its great religious and Zionist institutions. It also had its secular-
ists. It was founded on the principles of the Kahal which had a valu-
able historic background.
The Balaban historical records are immense as the definers and
interpreters of these factors and Biderman picked them up with great
skill. Thus the latter's "Mayer Balaban: Historian of Polish Jewry"
becomes must reading for all who are concerned with the factual
about significant chapters in Jewish history.