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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Assistant News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the sixth day of lyar, 5738, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 19:1-20:27. Prophetical portion, Exeliiel 22:1-19.
Candle lighting. Fridya, May 12, 8i24 p.m.
VOL. LXXIII, No. 10
Page Four
Friday, May 12, 1978
A Time for Rejoicing
Israel's Thirtieth Anniversary
Thirty years is a brief span in history. For the
Jewish people 30 becomes. a numeral of great
significance.
After two millenia of sufferings, as a recom-
pense for 2,000 years of homelessness, the
Zionist ideal was fulfilled on the Fifth Day of
Iyar, 5708 — May 14, 1948 — with the rebirth of
Israel. The 30th anniversary of the state of Is-
rael now is occasion for thanksgiving, for recog-
nition of the truism that a people with ideals,
with a will to live, can not be crushed.
The rebirth of Jewish national independence
did, indeed, follow a decade of horror during
which barbarians aimed at the total annihila-
tion of the Jewish people. There were Six Mil-
lion casualties, but the adherence to faith and
the eventual collapse of the savage forces of
Nazism became the symbol of libertarianism
that embraced the Zionist ideal.
It is because many
Jews adopted as their
credo the declaration of
Theodor Herzl who de-
clared that "Zionism is
the Sabbath of my life"
that what had been a dream became reality.
Indeed, it had been a dream but it was a major
factor in the daily prayers of faithful Jews who
expressed faith in the hope of "Zion redeemed in
justice." This was Prophecy, and Prophecy was
fulfilled.
The road to national sovereignty was a dif-
ficult one. It was strewn with obstacles. It took a
generation in agony and the sufferers in the
Holocaust to unite the Jewish people in support
of the great Zionist ideal. Even now the bigots
whose minds are akin to the Nazis speak of
Zionism as a negation to human decency. There
continues the need to erase the prejudices that
fail to recognize,in Zionism the acme of liber-
tarianism. But this is what it is, and it is not
based on militarism or injustice to any one. It
seeks justice with Israel's neighbors and it in-
sists on Jewry's equal right with other nations
to a free role in history.
•• •
It was difficult to pursue and the continuous
efforts to assure the security of the state, the
nation and the ideal that gave birth to Israel are
confronted with obstacles. That which gave
strength to Zionism also gives courage to the
defenders of the people of Israel. The celebration
of the 30th anniversary of Israel has its joys; it
also has its tensions. Israel craves for peace with
neighbors who overwhelm her in area, in num-
erical strength, in the number of states that are
waging war against her in the 22-to-1 contest of
being begrudged the very right to exist. This is
where the unity of the Jewish people becomes
the strongest factor in the need for security for a
small nation surrounded by enmities. The faith
that is Jewry's becomes the strongest defense
for Israel.
Therefore, all of the acclaim for Israel demon-
strated during the 30th anniversary year must
be rooted in a solidarity that gives Israel the
courage so vital in a nation's existence. An un-
divided Jewry is Israel's most vital defensive
weapon.
In the process of observing an important an-
niversary, Israel and the Jewish people take
into account the encouragement Israel has re-
ceived from the noble humanitarians in man-
kind. The noblest of them all are the Americans.
A great friendship has been established be-
tween Israel and the United States. This coun-
try was the first to give full recognition to Israel
in a matter of minutes after the historic Dec-
laration of Independence on May 14, 1948.
Whatever the confrontations, now with the
American government, even the severest critics
of Israel keep re-asserting that the friendship
between the two peoples is unbreakable, that
the American commitment to Israel's security
continues as an assurance that Israel will not be
abandoned, as she has not been in past crises.
This may well be the most heartening ele-
ment in Israel's faith in a secure future, akin to
the strong links that bind Israel with world
Jewry. The American principles ofjustice and of
fair play are being demonstrated whenever
there are concerns over the enmities that could
undermine the security of a nation so very small
in comparison with antagonists who would de-
stroy her if she abandoned faith and lost confi-
dence in her friends. Israel lives by the friend-
ship that is America's and with such confidence
three decades of independence and political sov-
ereignty must be viewed as indestructible.
•• •
This is, indeed, a time for rejoicing. Despite
difficulties in Israel's path, considering all of
the obligations Diaspora Jewry must adhere to
in the striving for Israel's security, the historic
significance of national redemption will always
be in evidence in viewing the fulfillment of
Prophecy and the realization of the dream of the
ages. Two milennia marked by horrors that
reached their climax in the Holocaust could not
dim the hopes of the Jewish' people that the
augury of "Zion redeemed in justice" would be
realized. It is in the same spirit of remembering
the past and applying it to the future that the
Holocaust will not be forgotten and that the
redeemed Israel will send forth messages for all
time to come that never again will the
savageries be permitted; that never will the re-
deemed bend their backs with submission-s to
tyranny. It is in redeemed Israel and the will to
live that the strength of the Jewish people will
be re-affirmed in an inerasable eternity.
•• •
The chief hope which also is the chief obliga-
tion of a nation in constant need for vigilance
against enemies and security in unending
stress is the striving for peace.
The contest with unfriendly neighbors is
tragic. The aim in all political efforts is for
peace. It is a difficult task, with so little friend-
ship from most quarters. But the craving for
peace remains the dominant need for a secure
Israel and a Middle East redeemed from war-
mongering. The 30th anniversary of Israel has
the one great aspiration: peace! Attaining it
there will bring blessings for the entire Middle
East and for all mankind. May it come soon!
'Everything But Money'
Sam Levenson's Humor
As an Adjunct to Philosophy
Sam Levenson is the humorist whose wit has gained most acclaim
for his philosophic humanism. He pokes fun even at his parents, but it
is in good taste and there is always the great moral lesson in what he
says. Having said it, he reverts to his initial role as teacher. Indeed,
there is a lesson from the teacher in what he writes and what he says
on the platform.
SAM LEVENSON
Having. charmed his audiences, he
publishes what he has compiled. His
books have become numerous and his
paperbacks and hard covered collec-
tions of humor have had best-selling
status.
Simon and Schuster have just re-
published his "'Everything But
Money." That's where parents and
teachers, children and adults, share in
the satirical and philosophic testing
by a skilled master.
No one can take offense at what Sam
says. He can look straight through a
person's mind and habits and he can
diagnose humorously. But it is done
kindly and never with bitterness. That
is why he is loved for what he writes
and what he orates.
"Everything But Money" will be welcomed by his students and
peers. His mother, who was an object of his kidding, takes no offense.
Neither do the others who are the subjects of what is seldom irony.
It is in such a process that Sam Levenson emerges as the most
acceptable of American humorists. His Jewish themes, like the rest of
his accumulated material, is to the point, wholesome, never abusive.
That's the way Sam pursues a task that has gained him recognition as
a humorist.
By Collier Books
Kertzer's `Tell Me Rabbi'
Reissued as Paperback
Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer is a good storyteller. He has compiled
scores of stories from personal experiences with his congregants, as a
student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, in his travels, in this
country, in Israel and in European centers.
"Tell Me Rabbi" (Collier Books) is now out in a paperback. It is a
collection with an admixture of philosophy.
Intermingled in the tales he relates is the psychological as well as
the philosophical.
Suitable for reading at leisure since nearly every anecdote can be
read in a matter of minutes, the popularity of "Tell Me Rabbi" is
assured