gl! -: THE 1* c ': JEWISH NEWS IUSPS 275 - 520) Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 Postmaster: Send address changes to The Jewisl*News, 17515 W. 9 Mile Rd., Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $12 a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher ALAN HITSKY News Editor. CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager HEIDI PRESS Assistant News Editor DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 30th day of Kislev, 5739, is the sixth day of Hanuka and Rosh Hodesh Tevet, and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 41:1-44:17; Numbers 28:9-15 and 7:42-47. Prophetical portion, Zechariah 2:14-4:7; I Samuel 20:18, 42. Sunday, Rosh Hodesh Tevet and seventh day of Hanuka, Numbers 28:1-15 and 7:48-53. Monday, eighth day of Hanuka, Numbers 7:54-8:4. Candle lighting, Friday, Dec. 29, 4:51 p.m. Page Four VOL. LXXIV, No 17 Friday, December 29, 1978 On the Eve of Another Crucial Year A year of tensions and hopes has drawn to 'an end. There were many tensions and the hopes for peace nearly vanished. The tensions will most certainly continue. The hopes continually are entertained that one of these days the decisions for amity and an end to warfare in the Middle East will somehow materialize. With realism staring at the approaching New Year there is the obligation to recognize a con- tinuing uncertainty in the agonizing tasks of striving for at least a minimum of good will and cooperation between Israel and the dominant Arab element on her borders, the Egyptian. It seemed as if the conflict had neared its end, at Camp David and at the White House, on Nov. 11. But the aspirations for peace dimmed and now there may be a new ball game. Again, it is the United States that plays one of the major roles in a task which should have borne fruit on Dec. 17. New obstacles arose, and again it is Israel that gets the blame. The New Year 1979 is not welcomed with glee under circumstances burdened with suspicions. Again, it was Menahem Begin who was being portrayed as the evil spirit. The Egyptian Anwar Sadat is the saint. The President of the United States chooses to pat the Egyptian with praise while' suggesting aspersions on the Is- raeli leader. Thus, the assurances of avoidance of pres- sures are becoming meaningless•and the friends of Israel have a right to ask President Jimmy Carter: if the Camp David decisions were for . peace, why encourage the Egyptian leader in his insistence that in the event of war he is free to take sides with Israel's enemy? How unfortunate that the issues should have been distorted! The Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram of Cairo even "doctored" the text of the treaty decided upon at Camp David when it printed it in Arabic, compelling the issuing of the text in the proper English contents. There was a time, during the trying periods of Israel's seeking an understanding in American relations with the U.S., when there was an im- pending threat of even-handedness in treat- ments of both Jews and Arabs. Now even the even-handedness is missing in the judgments of the positions of Israel and Egypt. It is on this score that the protests against the Carter- Vance attitudes assume a bitter note. A realization of such conditions make the con- tinuity of negotiations in a New Year ominous. The expectancy is that there will be more rather than less conflicts, that with the passing une- ventfully of the target date for the signing of a peace accord between Israel and Egypt there may be a much longer delay, unless President Carter makes his involvement in the serious task one of realism rather than of reverting to the role of flattering Sadat while alluding to Begin in tones of suspicion and rebuke. The general Arab attitude, the unending animosities in nearly all ranks while tolerably excluding Egypt from warmongering, marks the coming months with the same dangers to Israel as in the past 30 years. This is the pros- pect for 1979. It is best to be prepared for it. Council of Jewish Women at 85 An 85-year history of a leading women's movement earns the widest attention and merits the respect that is due to the devotion and social mindedness of a membership that embraces enrollment in hundreds of com- munities. The National Council of Jewish Women had begun its tasks of aid to new settlers in this country as a duty that called for Americaniza- tion and assistance to people who had arrived here without means and without knowledge of the language. In the decades that followed, that experience was transferred to another sphere, to the es- capees from oppression who found a haven in the ancient land of Israel. In that new effort the National Council of Jewish Women enrolled the cooperation of its 300,000 members for the ad- vancement of Jewish learning, in the improve- ment of education in Israel, in creating initia- tives for a generation redeemed from the hor- rors of the 1930s and 1940s. At the same time, this movement of dedicated women began to concern itself with the needs of the elderly. It introduced and continues to spon- sor the social services needed in providing what had become known as Meals on Wheels, and if it were for this pioneering effort alone the move- ment would deserve commendation and appre- ciation. -- They did not come into the role of notable creativity without being tested. When there was the struggle between Zionism and the an- tagonists of the Jewish liberation movement, the NCJW was in the ranks of the assimilated. NCJW was the opponent of nationalism, a nega- tion in which it was not alone. It was in the years when there was a bitter ideological strug- gle. To the credit of this important movement it must be recorded that in an age of crisis the women responded, when there was need to find new homes for the homeless created by Nazism they became partners in the movement to pro- vide dignity for the dispossessed. The National Council of Jewish Women now occupies a place of notable creativity for Jews and for Americans in many social causes. The women have redeemed themselves in time of need. They are partners in Israel's upbuilding and defense. They are the sponsors of educa- tional programs in Israel, scholarships for the needy in the United States, comfort for the re- tarded. For such a role they have earned the blessings of all their fellow citizens on the occa- sion of the movement's 85th anniversary. Farleigh Dickinson Volume 150 Years of Hungarian Jewry in Tales About Rabbi Eizik A remarkably impressive account of Hungarian Jewry can be gleaned from the stories about one of its most famous rabbis. "Rabbi Eizik: Hasidic Stories About the Zaddik of. Kallo," an im- pressive collection of true tales, by Andrew Handler (Farleigh Dic- kinson University), portray the life and work of the eminent scholar and Hasidic rabbi. At the same time these records of a noble life describe the history of Hungarian Jewry from 1699 to 1848. Rabbi Eizik was admired and loved by his people, and Christians respected him for his learning and his kindnesses. While the stories border on the miraculous it is Rabbi Eizik the Zaddik, the saintly man, who emerges as the performer of good deeds, therefore earning the reputation of a miracle man. He was not only the teacher and the devoted Jewish leader, but also possessed the ability to make contacts with Hasidic compatriots in other lands. He was, understandably, the devoted adherent to the teachings and ways of life formulated by the Hasidic founder, the Baal Shem. Because he had contacts with non-Jews he was confronted with anti-Semitism. The stories relate how he handled himself with dig- nity while not permitting prejudice to predominate. To each story are appended notes explaining the translations from Hebrew, Yiddish, Hungarian and German phrases. Historical events are annotated. Dr. Andrew Handler, a native of Hungary, who taught history at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, did research foi his stories in Hungary and did the translations for the text of the Rabbi Eizik historical episodes. Knowledge About Holocaust in New Collected Readings With the available material about the Holocaust, there is no excuse for ignorance regarding the great crimes of the Nazis. The Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith, in cooperation with the publisher, Bantam Books, has made possible the publication of a reader into which have been packed the most impressive data regard- ing the bestialities and their perpetrators. Roselle Chartock and Jack Spencer co-authored "The Holocaust Years — Society on Trial." Here are the section titles which give an indication of the extent of the collected material and their value of thoroughly covering the Holocaust story: What Happened?, Victims and Victimizers, How and Why, What Does the Holocaust Reveal About the Individual and Society?, Aftermath, Could It Happen Again? Stories, poems, memoirs, quotations from testimony and other material was gathered for this documentary. partial listing of authors whose writings or testimony are in- cluded in this paperback will give weight to the contention that a great service is being rendered with its publication. William Shirer, Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, Victor Frankl and many others, periodicals, data from the writings and memoirs of Nazi leaders, serve as evidence and create the background for knowledge about the Holocaust and an understanding of its consequences. World authorities are quoted on the consequences of terrorism instigated by humans, as in the instance of the Germans. The warn- ing is for vigilance lest the crime be repeated.