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January 19, 1979 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1979-01-19

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE

JEWISH NEWS (USPS 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 Jewish 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
DREW LIEBERWITZ
HEIDI PRESS
Advertising Manager
Assistant News Editor

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the 21t day of Teuet, 5739, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 1:1-6:1. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23.

Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 19, 5:12 p.m.

VOL. LXXIV, No. 20

Page Four

Friday, January 19, 1979

Timerman Tragedy Calls for Action

The Talmud has a lesson for humanity: it _ organization.
The court cleared Mr. Timerman in that
teaches that when a life is saved it is as if the
case. But several of the 17 hours during which
entire world had been saved. In the same vein
Mr. Timerman testified before the military
rests a basic principle: when a single person is
persecuted it is as if an entire generation's
court were devoted to answering questions
about his participation in Zionist organizations
human rights are being threatened.
This requires special consideration at this
here and about the nature of the world Zionist
movement.
time in the case of the Argentinian Jewish pub-.
"Jacobo Timerman was four-years-old when
Jacobo Timerman, who has been under
he came to Argentina from the Soviet Union
house arrest in Buenos Aires for20 months and
who continues to be denied the freedom of with his parents and an older brother. He was
orphaned at ,the age of eight. He earned a uni-
movement or of seeing his family in Israel.
The Timerman tragedy is the tragedy of versity education by working as a journalist
Argentina and it calls for action in the best
from the age of 16.
"Mr. Timerman founded weekly news maga-
interests of all of Argentina's oppressed, many
zines that modernized Argentine political news
among them Jews. -
Jacobo Timerman has three children in Is-
coverage after the overthrow of President Juan
Domingo Peron in 1955.
rael. His oldest son, Daniel, was married in Is-
But his most lasting venture was the news-
rael two weeks ago and Timerman was denied
paper La Opinion, founded in 1969. It was
the right to visit with his family and to attend
widely read in political, academic and intel-
his son's wedding in the Israeli kibutz.
lecual circles. During the second Peronist gov-
The Timerman story and its share in the
Argentine oppressions was traced in an impor- ernment, La Opinion was a leading opposition
voice against the right-wing violence from the
tant article from Buenos Aires, written for the
New York Times by Juan de Onis. In the inter-
armed squads of Jose Lopez Rega, the powerful
est of a proper understanding it is important figure behind former President Isabel Martinez
the de Onis report should be widely broadcast:
de Peron. But La Opinion also attacked the
left-wing guerrilla organizations and supported
"Mr. Timerman and his family had hoped that
the military takeover in March 1976.
Argentina's military junta, which deprived him
"The actions of the armed forces, and particu-
of his newspaper and of his Argentine citizen-
ship, would allow him to leave Argentina for the larly of secret security groups operating against
left-wing guerrillas or suspects, many of whom
wedding and a new life in Israel. But the junta
disappeared in 1976, was a news coverage prob-
refused, despite a ruling by the Supreme Court
lem for Argentine newspapers. La Opinion was
on July 22 that there were no judicial grounds
more informative than others on cases of disap-
for keeping Mr. Timerman under arrest.
pearances, which caused friction with the in-
"The 3,500 other prisoners held by the Argen-
tine military under state-of-siege powers or telligence services and officials.
"For months after his arrest, Mr. Timerman
pending military trials were also disappointed
was not allowed to see a lawyer. In April, the
by the refusal in the Timerman case.
"The Ministry of the Interior recently re- government ordered that he be taken from fed-
leased a list of 193 people who it said would no eral police headquarters and held under house
longer be held without charges, but most of arrest at an apartment, where he was allowed to
those on the list were still awaiting processing' see only a rabbi and immediate family mem-
bers.
in jail.
"During the first year of his imprisonment,
"A committee of mothers of missing persons,
Mr. Timerman received little support from
which has listed the names of 6,000 people who
Argentina's Jews, The Jewish population, esti-
have disappeared after being kidnapped by
armed civilians or arrested, was recently pre- mated at about a half million, seemed intimi-
vented from gathering in front of Government dated by the Graiver case. Members of the
Graiver family were important figures in
House by the police. Their demands for an offi-
cial response on the fate of their relatives or Jewish life, so the widespread arrests and de-
nunciations of collaboration with left-wing
children went unanswered.
"The Argentine military government con- guerrillas seemed to be aimed not only at the
tinues to resist foreign and domestic pressure family but also at the Jewish community.
"After the court-martial cleared Mr. Timer-
for the release of people regarded as security
man, the loose federation of Jewish organiza-
violators.
The same position applies to the 55-year-old tions here called DATA began appealing to high
officials for his release. But the junta replied
Mr. Timerman, although he is not charged with
a security crime or any other specific offense. with a decree stripping Mr. Timerman of his
political rights and of his right to work as a
But influential sectors of the army believe that
Mr. Timerman cannot be released lest he de- journalist.
"Mr. Timerman's wife and three sons now live
scribe abroad how he was tortured by army and
police interrogators after his arrest on April 15, in Israel, where one of the sons works at a
kibutz. That son, Daniel, married the daughter
1977. Others believe that his release would be
of one of the founders of the kibutz.
an admission that there has been a failure to
"When the family still hoped that the father
prove that Mr. Timerman committed a crime
would be allowed to go to the wedding, Daniel
justifying the confiscation of his newspaper.
Timerman wrote to his father: 'Just as the fam-
"Mr. Timerman was also questioned during
the court-martial of an Argentine banker, ily of another great Jew, Captain Dreyfus,
David Graiver, who was accused of having in- never broke under pressure, neither will the
vested $17 million for a left-wing guerrilla family of Jacobo Timerman.' "

Impressive Record of Jewish
Personalities in U.S. History

Portraiture expanded and developed into historical significance
is the remarkable achievement of-archivists who have produced a
Who's Who backgrounded in 300 years of American Jewish history.
Bernard Postal, a veteran Jewish newspaperman, who essays
about Jews in America, and his associate, Lionel Koppman, already
have to their credit_ several volumes dealing with Jewish per-
sonalities and with Jewish landmarks in America. Their latest work,
"Guess Who's Jewish in American History," (New American Li-
brary), is a portrayal of American characters whose contributions
cover the vast span of three centuries and embrace every aspect of
human experience_ linked with the creativity of Americans and the
many gifts made by Jews towards American developments.
The uniqueness of this book is in the manner in which Jews
responded to the nation's needs as well as their involvements in
pranks as well as works of genius.
The subtitle to the Postal-Koppman book hardly does it justice.
This volume is much more than a compilation of characters "From
Wyatt Earp's wife to Sandy Koufax." It embraces so many fields of
endeavor that it is history and sociology as well as politics and sports,
an alf-embracing collection of every conceivable Jewish personality of
interest in American Jewish history.
Earp gained fame as the Tombstone, Ariz., sheriff. He was mar-
ried to Josephine Marcus of San Francisco. Their story adds uniquely
to pioneering stories of the West. Sandy Koufax was among the most
famous of the American pitching stars in baseball. Their stories are
noteworthy. But there are hundreds like them in this book and they
are part of a vast field of activity including these: Patriots, Pioneers,
Religions, Abolitionists and Pro-Slavers, Labor, Politics, the 'Mili-
tary, Women, Judicial, Science and Medicine, Business and Banking,
Philanthropists, Art and Journalism, Music, Curiosia and Eccentrics,
Sports, Nobel Laureates, the Presidency and Jewry, Documents of
Honor.
_
The latter are documentary and are part of the record of deep
involvement by Jews in American historical experiences.
In the list of Nobel Prize Winners are included Julius Axelrod,
David Baltimore, Sol Bellow, Felix , Bloch, Conrad Bloch, Baruch
Samuel Blumberg, Malvin Calvin, Gerald Maurice Edelman, Albert
Einstein, E. Joseph Erlanger, Richard Phillips Feyman, James
Franck, Milton Friedman, Herbert Spencer Gasser, Maury Gellman,
Donald Arthur Glasser, Robert Hoffstadter, Henry Alfred Kissinger,
Arthur Kornberg, Karl Landsteiner, Joshua Lederberg, Fritz Albert
Lipmann, Otto Loewi, Salvador Edward Luria, Adolph Meyerhoff,
Albert Abraham Michelson, Hermann Joseph Miller, Marshall W.
Norenberg, Isidore Isaac Rabi, Paul Anthony Samuelson, Julian
Seymour Schwinger, Emilio Gino Segre, Otto Stern, Selman Ab-
raham Waksman and now the name of Isaac Bashevis Singer would
be added as a Nobelist named after publication of this book.
Many listed were either half-Jews or of Jewish extraction.
the listing is revealing. This applies to all others in the various
categories and the book's interest keeps growing from chapter to
chapter.
Eccentrics are among the curiosities. For example, the authors
relate: "Abraham Simons requested that he be buried standing up
with his musket at his side." It is the story of a Jewish soldier of the
American Revolution who lived in Thompson, Ga., and made that
request in 1824. There are many such incidents and they add valuably
to the anecdotes in this exciting book.
The Presidency and the Jews contains the record of the relation-
ships of many Presidents since George Washington with Jewish citi-
zens.
Every listing is revealing in the extent of Jewish involvement in
American life.
This is a great book. It will prove of immense value to historians
while informing and entertaining the readers.

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