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2 Friday, December 23, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
The Mood That Is Inspiring Confidence in Two Nations
Striving for Peace ... Some Sad Notions in Diplomacy
That Lead to Distortions ... A Tribute to General SLAM
By Philip
Slomovitz
The Good Mood: 'Boker Toy' at Blair House 'Shalom' and 'Salaam' Internationalized
Menahem Begin described his feelings over current occurrences as being a "good
mood" as he left Tel Aviv for New York last week. This is descriptive of the new spirit
that is dominating hitherto militarized areas where one was never certain that guns could
be silent.
While most of the euphoria is in Cairo. the echoes are so loud that they reverberate
everywhere. "Boker Tov"—Hebraic good morning—was the newsmen's greeting to Begin
as he left Blair House Friday morning for the session with the President.
Mr. Begin defined the status of an undivided Jerusalem under Israel administration,
with freedom for all faiths, unlike the Jewish experience under Jordanian rule. To
Salaam, the Arabic for peace, is added the Pax Vobiscus of the Christian and the Shalom
Aleikhem of the Jew—all with an assurance of justice for all.
For three decades the hopes for a better future were symbolized in the dream that one
day Israelis would be photographed at the Pyramids. The dream has become a reality.
With Menahem Begin leading in the acclaim, Israelis now are repeating after him, "After
all, we helped build the Pyramids."
Therefore, some Israelis not only are thinking of visiting their Egyptian neighbors but
some are said to be arranging a pilgrimage to celebrate Pesach in Cairo. They call it
"Exodus in reverse."
Israelis went to market in Cairo and they were cheered, hugged, kissed. They were
greeted with the "Shalom" that is becoming an international salutation, with the Arabic
"Salaam" sharing in the glory of a new era in peace among men.
There is even the movement to make Arabic rather than English the compulsory
second language in Israel's secondary schools. It has been a cause for criticism that
Israelis did not know Arabic, that the language should always have been a compulsory
subject so that the people of Israel could understand and converse with their neighbors.
But the new generation of Israelis leaders in the main knows Arabic. As Abba Eban told
the Allied Jewish Campaign gathering he addressed in Detroit last week: When he shook
hands with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat upon the latter's arrival in Israel, the _
Egyptian president said to him: "Let's speak Arabic so Begin won't understand us."
Apparently Mr. Begin also is giving substance to the need for emphasis on Arabic.
When he said "Waklan wa Saklan," meaning "Welcome" in Arabic, he let it be known
that he wished to be correct.
What glorious chapters are being written not only in Jewish but in world history!
Could these be Messianic times?
A Shocking Story of a Plan
With Undertones of Malice
-General SLAM: Israel's Military
Adviser and Dedicated Friend
When President Jimmy Carter first began to speak about
the Palestinians and their "rights" there was a feeling that
a grave blunder was committed. Israel never denied that a
refugee problem had to be solved. But the moment anything
relating to Palestinians stood the danger of being linked
with the PLO, there was a menacing trend for Israel.
That's what happened. The PLO immediately began to act
in the spirit that when Palestinians are mentioned in terms
of grievances, it is they who were meant.
There are many in Israel, and Jews are among them,
who say, "We are Palestinians." That was not the devel-
oping theme from the Carter emphases.
It could have been worse. There might even have
developed a campaign of hatred leading to another war.
The Carter Administration sought to correct matters.
There is something else in the history- of these expe-
riences that has just been revealed by Marvin Kalb. An
interview with him appeared in Parade Magazine'S
Intelligence Report, edited by Lloyd Shearer. Kalb was
asked:
Brig. Gen. Samuel Lyman Abbott Marshall left a legacy
this nation can be proud of. He was a great patriot and his
loyalties were steeped in understanding of the people's
needs and objectives. His loyalties were not limited to the
United States. He knew who this nation's friends were and
he labored for their security as much as he sought honor
and dignity for his own countrty. That is why Israel's
history will remember him as a friend, as a military guide
during the years of gravest danger for the Jewish state.
The military in Israel used
;tr his manuals as guides. He
-V befriended Israel's generals
and General SLAM became
the symbolic term for a man
of stature in a world crisis in
the Middle East.
He traveled to and from
Israel frequently, with his
wife Kate, who shared his
enthusiasm for Israel and Is-
raelis.
Therefore, he became a fa-
miliar personality at many
Jewish functions. He traveled
widely in behalf of Israel
Bonds and he not only urged
others to invest in Israel but
did so himself. Therefore,
many awards were given him
and he was loved in Jewish
Gen. S.L.A. Marshall
ranks.
He covered many historic events, including the Eichmann
trial. He was unhesitant in his written and spoken words in
pleading Israel's and Jewry's cause and he made it the
American cause.
His memory will be blessed by Jews everywhere and in
Israel he will be counted among the saintly who gave their
help to a struggling nation in the very crucial years of that
people's history.
Q. What is your feeling about Zbigniew Brzezinski,
the President's national security adviser?
A. He's very bright. And he's trying terribly hard to
sort of out-Kissinger Kissinger.
Q. How?
A. I suppose that Brzezinski wants to establish a
track record that in historical terms will look infinitely
more impressive than Kissinger's. He says on the
record that he and Kissinger have been great friends
for the last 25 years, but it's hot true.
Here's what I mean about Brzezinski thinking in
large historical terms. When the President enunciated
his policy about a Palestinian homeland on March 16th
in Clinton, Mass., Brzezinski on the morning of March
17th told a very reputable jounalist in Washington—and
is so quoted as having said—that the President has now
articulated our Balfour Declaration. "Our Balfour
Declaration" as you well know, was a reference to the
British statement and promise in 1917 for a Jewish
national homeland.
For Brzezinski to have said that suggests two things:
one, that he's reaching out for large historical paral-
lels, and two, that in his mind—and I assume the
President's—the Palestinians, too, would have a na-
tional home. A national home means a state.
Now, since that time they've been backing away
furiously and leaving everything in a cloud of dust so
you don't know which is real and which is fake. But
they use words now like entity, homeland, state. The
President has said he never really favored an inde-
pendent Palesinian state. Well, what kind of state
then? These questions-come up and they're really not
answered terribly satisfactorily.
Under the conditions which have made it so difficult for
world Jewry to acquire the Balfour Declaration as a
recongnition of histroic rights, in view of the obstacles in
Israel's paths to survival, the resort to such a scheme as to
speak of an Arab counterpart of the Balfour document is
approaching the devilish. It is unfair.
Many such schemes have been resorted to in various
fashions. For instance, when Communist Russia com-
menced its campaign against Zionism it attempted the
establishment of what it called an autonomous Jewish
region around Birobidjan. It was the world's biggest fake.
There never were more than a handful of Jews in
Birobidjan and those who went there sought flight: But in
the process of establishing such competition to Eretz
Yisrael the Russian schemers referred to those who were to
settle in Birobidjan as "halutzim." The malice didn't bring
results, just as the scheme for an Arab Balfour Declaration
apparently sank into secretiveness until Marvin Kalb
exposed the insult. It's good that the story is made known.
It will help prevent resort to such malice.
Necrology: Death of Oldest
Yiddish Newspaper in U.S.
Freie Arbeiter Shtimm
. e could not possibly have had too
many readers. Anarchists, whose organ it represented, are
so few that they are hardly noticeable anywhere; and those
among them who read Yiddish are fewer. In fact, the
Yiddish reading force is so limited that newspaper pub-
lishing for such devotees is absolutely prohibitive.
That is why the Freie Arbeiter Shtimme had to appeal for
funds to sustain itself, and in the necrology of the last issue
of the newspaper published under the date of December
1977 the story relating to the appeal for life,- in the form of
contributions from supporters and readers, revealed that
the death knell was felt more than two years ago. Readers
in France and Argentina, according to the necrology, made
the largest contributions. The situation became hopeless
and the interesting Freie Arbeiter Shtimme breathed its
last as 1977 was nearing its end.
It matters little whether this newspaper was anarchistic
or of any other ideology. It was the oldest of the Yiddish
newspapers published in this country and it had an
interesting role in the cultural Jewish sphere. Therefore, its
end symbolizes tragedy for a language.
Freie Arbeiter Shtimme was a powerful factor in Yiddish
cultural demonstrativeness. Its Yiddish was classical. Its
writers upheld the banner of Yiddishism with dignity.
Because it marks the end of a Yiddish newspaper and a
denial of a platform for the remaining followers of a lost
cause, this newspaper is irreplaceable as an instrument of
interest for linguists.
Because it marks the end of the oldest Yiddish periodical
in America, its demise is a tragedy — in the sense that any
decline in Yiddish language ranks is saddening for the
lovers of the language and for all who are anguished by the
death of even a partial semblance of Yiddish cultural
enrichment. Reciting the traditional "barukh dayan emet"
("blessed be He Who judges righteously") for the Freie
Arbeiter Shtimme is a cause for genuine sadness.
Yitzhak Navon's Decision
to Withdraw His Candidacy
Yitzhak Navon, the eminent Sephardi leader, reportedly
declined to be a candidate for the presidency of the World
Zionist Organization and the chairmanship of the Jewish'
Agency. -But Israel's Labor Party keeps prompting him to
be a candidate for the highest post in world Jewry's ranks in
opposition to Leon Dulzin. The Laborities have much to
explain for the craving for power in the process of which
they are trying to utilize the personality of an eminent
leader who would be assuming the coveted post without the
experience possessed by Dulzin.
This column has already described the background of the
battle conducted by Labor against Dulzin and the regret-
table atempt to utilize the Navon popularity for their
purpose.
Leon Dulzin has earned the leadership; he should be
granted the chairmanship for which he was already
outvoted once. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming World
Zionist Congress will elect him to the leading post in Jewish
ranks. The vote for Slate No. 3 in World Zionist Congress
elections advocated in this column is to attain that act of
justice in Zionist and Jewish ranks.
Louis Untermeyer's Career
as Poet, Man of Many Talents
Louis Untermyer was, in a sense, a maverick. He had
liberal—some called them ultra-radical--views and he
stuck by them.
As a matter of fact, because of his ultra-liberalism he
was dismissed as a leading
panelist of the then popular
"What's My Line" program, in
the early 1950s, and was re-
placed by Bennett Cerf. But he
adhered to his principles.
LOUIS UNI'ERMEYER
The noted poet died on
day at the age of 92 and the
literary world recalled his
many interests, his contribu-
tions as a friend of poets, as a
man of many accom-
plishments. He had said about
himself in his Second Autobiog-
raphy:
"I have been an aspiring composer, a manufacturing
jeweler, a part-time journalist, a full-time editor, a lectur-
er, a teacher, a radio commentator, a television performer
and from time to time, a poet."
He could be considered "the maker of poets." His own
poetic achievements were considered less impressive than
his creative work as the major anthologist in the field. -
There is much about his career that needs elaboration
and it must wait a week for the next edition of this
Commentary.