r lq II THE JEWISH NEWS Ihe. rInin 001 1.! The ih•l•,11 WW1 •11i1' 1 .031 \iticri,An .\ , --ma.oi.ot 1•:ite.11•h J. , ' \• -'"' Published every Friday by The •Jewish New, Publishing' Co.. 17515 W. Nine Mile. Suite 865. Sotithlield, Mich, •iOT5 P(' - im;. - ter Send •iddr, - , •h.ob-:o- to 'rh, J•we, h New 17515 \V. 9 Mile Rd.. rutt 865• ,outhrield. Mich. -180.5 Second-Cla., Po,tage Paid at Southfield. Nlichigan'and .\dlitional Mailing Office,. Sul,ccipt ion $12 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 28th day of Elul; 5738. the following scriptural selections will be read in our ynagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 61:10-63:9. Monday, Rosh Hashana Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 21:1 - 34; Numbers 29:1 - 6. Prophetical portion, 1 Samuel 1:1 - 2:10 Tuesday, Rosh Hashana Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 22:1 - 24; Numbers 29:1 - 6. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 31:,1 - 19. Wednesday, Fast of Gedaliah . Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11 - 14; 34:1 - 10. Prophetical portion afternoon only), Isaiah 55:6 - 56:8. Candle lighting, Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m. OL. LXXIV, No. 4 Page Four Friday, September 29, 1978 New Ledger for Confidence An old ledger is being sealed, a new one commences as of Rosh Hashana 5739. The New Year augurs patience for the many areas in which the people elebrating a sacred occasion will be affected by the course of human events. Judged by the experiences testing the generations, the anticipation could oe as much for tension as for adherence to 'the faith that destiny does not a bandon the committed to life and to its sanctities. This may well be the path [or this generation, in this period of self-examination a _ s another year is r egistered on the Jewish calendar. All accounting and planning for the year 5739- commenced earlier. This promises to be an historic year and its commencement was at the White House in Washington at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 17, 1978. There is the augury that this will be a year of and for peace, and therefore much of the preparation must be guided by what had occurred on the day on which President Jimmy Carter had successfully geared the Israeli and Egyp- t ian leaders, Menahem Begin and Anwar Sadat, to adopt a program for amity that should, as it must, lead to peace for the entire Middle East. Domestically and on the world scene, in the Diaspora and in Israel, the calls for action, the dedications to many responsibilities, will in no sense be differ- ent from those of the period that has preceded the oncoming year. The duty to Israel, the need to be mobilized for action in behalf of the less fortunate who do, not live in democratic spheres, the need to strengthen the role of American Jewry in all efforts to elevate the standards of values-inherent in the Jewish . legacies — these continue to be obligatory for Jews everywhere. Israel will remain the chief obligation for Jews everywhere in the tasks of giving encouragement to the young, but embattled, Jewish state in its economic processes and in the task of protecting state and people from all threats that may be leveled at them. This is a matter important for the world at large. The peace of all mankind may hinge upon what is happening in the Middle East. For world Jewry it is a challenge to the kinship and to the historic link that make Jewry One People dedicated to the continuity of sanctity and prophecy in historic aspirations. - The trials and tribulations of the People Israel have always been con- fronted with- the hope for fulfillment of prophecy. Now there is the serious task of making the realization of the Zionism of old and the modern Zionist ideals remain strong in their realization. While affirming the recollection of the great tragedies which caused the death of missions of Jews in the bes- tialities of the 1930s and 1940s, there must _always be the realism of the - obligation never to abandon the last rampart for freedom. This is what Israel is for the generations to come: it must remain the indestructible rampart, assuring that the slogan "Never Again," directed at those seeking the people's destruction, will truly be a slogan perpetuating the right of a people • to live, to defend itself properly, to make its gifts to mankind. Many Jews remain isolated from the liberties provided by Jewish state- hood. In Russia and in the Moslem countries, in several other areas of the world, the dangers stemming from hoary prejudices are rampant. The Jews in the free world undoubtedly will not abandon them. They will receive the help needed to rescue them from oppressions. Many needs are on the agenda for Jews on the American scene. That which is basic to one community is really in evidence everywhere. The priority of Jewish education is imperative, and high standards in planning curricula and obligations to dignify the role of the teacher share alike in such duties. It would be sheer blindness for a community to overlook the fact that there is a shortage of housing and services for the elderly, that there is suffering in their ranks and sufferers must not be abandoned to a fate created by indif- ference from their kinfolk and fellow citizens. Steps need to be taken in the years to come to provide for such needs as a solution to a serious problem. There may be a score of other problems. They are not new to a community but they must be treated with dedication and with an obligation marked by self-respect in approaching challenges based on human values. The obligations are repetitive, the responses are marked by continuity. There is to be no shirking in duties as 5739 is being welcomed with the blessings traditionally exchanged during the sacred period of the Days of Awe. Year of Hope for End of Tensions These are the final hours for a year that was marked by so many sensations, so much anxiety, that 5738 will go down in history as one of the very sensational periods for Jewry and the world. Many are inclined to judge the visit in Jerusalem of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as the most important single occurrence of the decade. Controversies which could be vie-wed as irreconcilable have followed that event. The disputes evolving from it have not been resolved. They may continue, threatening stalemates that do not always guarantee avoidance of warfare. Nevertheless, the very fact that an Arab leader who had until then been a party to hate-spreading and war-mongering had come to converse with' Israelis and had since then conferred with Jewish leaders in the Diaspora is in itself a sign of changing times. - Will others come forth, as Sadat did, to interrupt the divisiveness, to meet face-to-face with Jews and to negotiate with Israel? There already were other evidences of breaks in the silence. Camille Chamoun, former president of Lebanon, came to Jerusalem a month ago to meet with Israeli leaders in the home `of Prime Minister Menahem Begin and the Middle East was a subject for discuSsion. It was Lebanon they were then primarily concerned with, but the entire embattled area undoubtedly concerned the conferees. Other Arab statesmen have met with Is- raelis during the several months of negotiations. The changes in the Middle East certainly are affected in large measure by.the political change in Israel. The defeat of the dominant Labor Party in the May 1977 elections, the triumph of Menahem Begin and the Likud party, seriously affected Israel's developing policies and that nation's relationships with both the Arabs and the United States. It has its effects on Jewish attitudes in the Diaspora and must be viewed as one of the most revolutionary occurrences in world affairs. - The Russian aspect of the struggle for human rights is among the major de- velopments on the world scene. The persecution of pro-Israeli and dissident ele- ments continued relentlessly and the jail sentences meted out to the victims of Soviet persecutions aroused world-wide protests. The leadership of President Car- - ter in the struggle for human rights gives assurance that the condemnation of bias () in the USSR and the demands for just rights for those seeking emigration to Israeli and other countries will bear fruit. There were sad experiences in the past year in Latin American countries where Nazis, having found refuge there from prosecution in Germany, have joined with Arab anti-Israelis in spreading venom, resulting in andi-Semetic campaigns. The anti-Semitic virus-was felt in this country, in the emergence of the American Nazi movement. In Detroit, Skokie, Ill., and other communities there were evi- dences of hatred which aroused public 'opinion in -repudiation of the hoary hatred of - Jewry. Of the many efforts that had been made to expose prejudice, to warn the post- Hitler generation of the danger of a revival of Nazism, the showing of the television programs on the Holocaust were perhaps the most effective. It was a year filled with surprised, with a basis for hope for a better future in tl -N midst of agonized experiences. The hopeful element remains uppermbst in the hearts of all of us as we welcome the New Year.