THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating The "DetroitJewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20.
1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Prtv As.ociation. National Editorial A air i.,tnm
Published every Friday by The Jewish'News Publishing Co.. 17515 W. Nine Mile. -Suite 865. Southfield, Mich. 48075
Secnd-Class Postage Paid at Southfield. Michigan and Additional Mailing OlTice-.. Sullscrtpttuti 012 a ■ i..”
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
DREW LIEBERWITZ
HEIDI PRESS
Advertising Manager
Assistant News Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 22nd day of Nisan, 5738, is the eighth day of Passover and
the following scriptural selections will be'read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17; Numbers 28:19-25. Prophetical portion. Isaiah 10:32-12:16.
Thursday, Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day
Candle lighting, Friday, April 28, 7:09 p.m.
VOL. L%%11.1, No. 8
Page Four
Friday, April 28, 1978
Jewry' Under the Microscope
Once again Jews have become a debatable
phenomenon. As a human folk, an unques-
tioned entity, it should have been an undoubted
concession that Jews can and do differ and there
can be no unanimity on any specific subject. If
punsters can repeat, almost ad nauseam, the
inerasable joke about "two Jews, three opin-
ions," why the scrutiny over Jewish reactions to
issues involving the Middle East?
Magazines and newspapers are having a hey-
day over the question whether the revolutio-
nary situation in Israel which brought an end to
domination by the Labor Alignment and the
triumph of the ultra-conservative Likud under
the leadership of Menahem Begin is resulting in
a split in American Jewry. In the process of
examining the background of this sensational
diagnosis of the Jew the entire drummed-up
issue may well be viewed as wishful thinking.
Haven't the critics of Israel who have suddenly
embraced a semi-official antagonism tai Israel's
prime minister suddenly set him up as a
scapegoat?
For generations the unfriendly in mankind
had been viewing the Jew as a monolithic force,
as an element that acts in unbroken unity seek-
ing world domination. That's how fabricated
lies like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion sud-
denly become the textbooks of anti-Semites. But
in the matter involving the Middle East the talk
is about a split Jewry, out of the hope among the
enemies of Menahem Begin that Jews will fol-
low the villainy of attempted injections of suspi-
cions of a ruling force in Israel's government
that might lead to their expulsion from office.
Certainly, there is division of opinion in
Jewish ranks, because Jews are like their
neighbors, with many views, with the right to
differ, the privilege of possessing intellectual
prejudices and political preferences. But like
their neighbors they also have a common trait
in a civilized society: that of protecting their
own rights and the security, social, economic
and political needs of themselves, their friends,
their kinsmen. This is where the divisiveness
envisioned in Jewish ranks from the outside
ends. On this score there is unity.
One would have to be an awful scoundrel to
say to an American Jew that because there are
differences of opinion over Israel's policies in
relation both to the Arab states and the United
States the Jewish community is expected to
split and thereby ignore the fate of Israel. It is
on this score that the wishful thinking of an-
tagonists, they may even be found in the White
House and the State Department, falls flat.
There is a basic situation not to be ignored
under any circumstance. Israel's 3,500,000 re-
sidents are surrounded by 120,000,000 who call
themselves enemies. They outnumber the Is-
raelis, they have massive armed forces, they are
possessed by venom and those who do not ex-
press hatred are under the domination of fear
created by their rulers lest they say a kind word
about an Israeli or a Jew. Often, even Christian
Lebanese, who have the sympathy for Israel,
are afraid to speak out in defense of Israel's
position.
Therefore, it stands to reason that Israel, so
seriously endangered, must be defended. One
can argue about the settlements; it is our view
that Shiloh and a few other steps taken by the
Israelis were in error. But in the matter involv-
ing Israel's security there is no debating the
issue. There are no differences there. There can
not and must not be disunity in that respect.
This business of prejudice towards Menahem
Begin and inadvertently, therefore, towards Is-
rael's compulsion to labor for security was in
evidence rather shockingly in an article by An-
thony Lewis which was syndicated by the New
York Times. It smacked of malice and it re-
ceived a proper reply from Richard Cohen of the
national staff of the American Jewish Congress
who refuted Lewis in the following communica-
tion to the NYTimes:
As author of the memorandum issued by the
Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations entitled "Anwar Sadat
Superstar," to which Anthony Lewis took such
umbrage (March 27), may I give three reasons
why the terms "hardline" and "obdurate" were
used to describe the Egyptian president.
First, Mr. Sadat abruptly broke off the peace
negotiations in Jerusalem after less than two
days of talks and refuses to resume them, as he
informed Ezer Weizman on March 30. Second,
Mr. Sadat insists that Israel agree to return to
the pre-1967 borders before any negotiation
takes place. Third, Mr. Sadat demands estab-
lishment of a Palestinian state, which threatens
not only the existence of Israel but also the peace
of the entire region. Mr. Lewis may consider
such positions moderate and forthcoming. We
do not.
' Your columnist also appears vexed that
American Jews have not taken it upon them-
selves to tell Israel what its foreign policy should
be. Perhaps it is because they realize — as Mr.
Lewis does not— that when Israelis exercise the
democratic right to express their opinions about
their country's security, they are prepared to
accept the consequences of those convictions:
They and their sons and daughters will have to
pay in blood should the policies they urge turn
out to be wrong. But Anthony Lewis, sitting in
Boston, does not put his personal safety at risk,
or that of his children, when he calls on Israel to
quit the West Bank.
This argument is not an "appeal to guilt," as
Mr. Lewis calls it. It is, rather, an expression of
the good sense of the American Jewish commun-
ity (shared, I believe, by most Americans), which
recognizes that the life-and-death issue of Is-
rael's security must be determined only by those
whose own life and death are at stake — not by
American Jews or British Jews or even by
newspaper columnists who proclaim the
superiority of their geopolitical wisdom and in-
sist they know what is best for Israel.
In a sense this summarizes the unity of the
Jewish people, contrary to all other divisions of
opinion on matters relating to Israel. The White
House apparently still refuses to abide by the
points at issue, defined in the statement by Co-
hen. It happens to be a policy on which Ameri-
can Jews must concur with Israelis, with the
right to criticize the critics, whether they are in
the White House or on the NYTimes Op-Ed
Page or anywhere else.
Woe unto the foundation of American princi-
ples of justice if ever a citizen is deprived of the
right to criticize and to demand fair play for
fellow man!
'The Bravest Battle'
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising:
28 Days of Bravery
Dan Kurzman, whose "Genesis 1948" retains inerasable impor-
tance as an account of the emergence of the state of Israel, added tohis
many literary achievements with his history of the courage of Jews
who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazi forces.
The Bravest Battle: The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,'
first published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 1976, has just been re-issued
as a paperback by Pinnacle Books. A notable classic thus again is
available for mass distribution to perpetuate one of the most dramatic
occurrences in history.
Having interviewed more than 500
-
knowledgeable and historically-
minded people, many of whom have
intimate links with the resistance,
Kurzman has added immensely to the
records about the Holocaust with this
volume and he contributes towards an
appreciation of bravery that refutes
the charge that Jews did not resist.
All the aspects of the Warsaw
Ghetto struggle, the bravery of the
handful who fought against the
mechanized forces of the Nazis, the
men, women and children who figured
in the struggle, as well as the Nan
criminals who found resistance where
least expected — these are among the
many deeply moving occurrences in
DAN KURZMAN
the Kurzman book.
nifiN co ata
ncb ele. research, outstanding reportorial skill and an enrichment
of documentaries make "The Bravest Battle" a volume of great sig-
By Israel Discount Bank
Independence Document
Issued as Artistic Brochure
"A reproduction of an original manuscript of the Declaration of the
Establishment
hmte
a innkt oLfiIm
sriatee d
l,.written out from the official English transla-
tion of the original Hebrew document, has been issued by the Israel
Beautifully reproduced in 18 pages, artistically designed, produced
as a memento for the 30th anniversary of the state of Israel, in an
i 1 n1g x1 t4 hebe ro sta
chb ulrie sh , tmheisntatotf Israel. booklet undoubtedly will be ranked
mark-
among the most impressive recollections of the historic event
ing
r a e 1 , "
' D ' a p an e v.c i l d a etn i o . n G u o r f i o t h ne. Establishment of the e S t a t e o f Israel,"
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dntF
ei sdi lebeeyd rn "Declaration
,
the document also contains a list of the signers of the declaration
Paul
troriginal manuscript book was designed and written out by