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," h 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