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THE JEWISH NEWS
1JP' 2Th 5201
nvorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of duly 20, 1951
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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
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This Sabbath, the 28th day of Tevet, 5739, the following scriptural selection,: will he read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 6•2-9:35. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 28:25-29:21.
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Monday, Rosh Hodesh Shevat, Numbers 28:1-15.
Candle lighting, Friday, Jan. 26, 5:21 p.m.
VOL. LXXIV, No. 21
Page Four
Friday, January 26, 1979
The Anti-Israel Lobbyists
President Carter has a good defense in keep-
ing silent about Brother Billy. Why should he be
his brother's keeper?
After all, Billy Carter is not alone, as an agent
for a foreign government, in his relationship
with the Libyans, in the high-ranking sphere of
Americans •
Perhaps the President is as little obligated to
censure his brother for being a lobbyist as is
Senator Patrick Moynihan because his brother,
Michael Moynihan, is registered as an agent for
an Arab combine.
The list of "registered agents" for Arab gov-
ernments and their many interests is a long one.
It is a lobbying process which is not treated with
disrespect. Yet, there is a difference in lobbying.
Upon his retirement from the U.S. Senate,
James Abourezk of South Dakota made the
comment that the Israel lobby is the "best or-
ganized" in Washington. He must have over-
looked the many aspects of Arab lobbying which
is now putting Israel and her friends to the test.
And the test is the compulsion that results from
the alluded difference.
Of course, there is a "Jewish lobby," and
former Senator Abourezk chase to label it "the
Israel lobby." It is a Jewish lobby because Jews
everywhereare affected by the fate of Israel and
therefore are seriously concerned lest the props
are shaken under Israel's structure.
In Israel's case it is a matter of life or death. In
the instance of the Arabs it is a mass action by
22 sovereign states, possessing immense
wealth, seeking to destroy a small state whose
legacies are the oldest in history's record and
whose inhabitants seek to build progress for the
entire Middle East, including the Arabists who
aim at their destruction.
The lobby for the Arabs is vast in nature and
has as its agents some of the very prominent
Americans. A former U.S. Senator, James Ful-
bright, is on the Arabs' payroll. A former U.S.
Vice President, Spiro Agnew, has propagated
hatred for Jewry and has lobbied against Israel.
A former member of President Carter's Cabinet,
Bert Lance, is on an Arab payroll. A former U.S.
Attorney General, Richard Kleindienst, is
among the paid - Arab lobbyists.
Not to be ignored is Clark Clifford, who was
high-ranking in the State Department in the
Truman Administration, and who was among
the chief advocates at the time of U.S. recogni-
tion of Israel on May 14, 1948. Now his law firm
is among the chief Arab lobbyists in Washing-
ton.
Thus, while there is a mounting demand in
many newspapers that President Carter act to
reprimand his brother, Billy, it is the expanded
role of prominent lobbyists for Arabs that
causes concern.
The list is inexhaustible, and a study made by
the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith re-
veals the extent of paid agents for the Arabs.
Lobbying thus emerges as an issue that has its
contrasts. Recognizing the merits of lobbying
for genuine causes, there is the danger of harm
for Israel, and for her ally the United States, in
the mass movement of organized anti-Israel
propaganda. Billy Carter is a mere symbol of a
much more serious menace than the mere asso-
ciation with a Libyan delegation.
Israel as a Center for M.E. Unity
If only there was a peaceful accord between
Israel and the Arab states, the Jewish state
could serve as a guide to raise the standards of
living for all in the Middle East and as a center
for industrial and cultural unity!
An approach to such unity is suggested in an
article in the Christian Science Monitor by
Jacob Levinson, chairman of the board of direc-
tors of Bank Hapoalim in Tel Aviv, who
suggests that Israeli banks could centralize ac-
tivities for Arab financial institutions. He
states in part:
"Attempts at making banking capitals in var-
ious Middle Eastern cities have not so far suc-
ceeded because of lack of availability of estab-
lished financial expertise and technology; in-
cluding an effective telephone and communica-
tions network, a trained work force, and a mar-
ketplace free of red tape.
"The logical choice for such a center is Tel
Aviv. Only Tel Aviv has the close proximity,
excellent transportation facilities, up-to-the-
minute communications systems with world
markets including London, New York, Zurich,
Paris, etc., and a recognized, accepted, solid fi-
nancial base. In addition, Tel Aviv has an in-
novative business climate that's produced new
inventions, engineering, chemistry, and com-
munications. There is available a top-flight
manpower pool with specialists with diverse
skills and excellent training.
"To this must be added the fact that Israel is
recognized as a rapidly developing industrial
country, solidly committed to economic growth
with an active enterprise system geared to pro-
mote private initiative. The growth of the Is-
raeli banking system internationally in recent
years is legendary, as is its sound physical man-
agement.
"At the end of 1977 there were 68 Israeli-
maintained bank offices abroad — in Europe,
Africa, Latin America, North and South
America, and in Asia. Issues on the Eurodollar
market in behalf of Israeli banks are well ac-
cepted, as was Bank Hapoalim's first U.S. $30
million issue.
"The future for banking in the Middle East
looks bright, if the political solutions are forth-
coming. Israel's bankers are ready and raring to
go to let 'the milk and honey flow' once more in
this historically rich area of the world."
Apparently the proposal is feasible for the
financial agencies. Why not also for the cul-
tural, for the agricultural, for the industrial?
Peace is a panacea for the world. It would be a
blessing for the Middle East and for all man-
kind.
Notable Jewish Parables
In 'The Day God Laughed'
Parables of the sages, sayings on subjects relating to every con-
ceivable aspect of life and human relations, form an impressively
informative, as well as entertaining volume, the making of which had
the collaboration of two scholars who are expertly fitted for such a
compilation.
"The Day God Laughed," subtitled "Sayings, Fables and
Entertainments of the Jewish Faith" (St. Martin's Press) is the work
of Hyam Maccobi and includes conversations with Wolf Mankowitz
and expressive illustrations by Cecily Ben-Tovim. ,
Maccobi hails from a rabbinic family and was taught the Talmud
by his father. He was a Domus Exhibitionist at Baliol College, Oxford,
and is now librarian at Leo Baeck College, London.
' Mankowitz, a novelist and author of distinction, has gained
acclaim as a screen writer.
The uniqueness of this work is the conversations on the topics
incorporated in this book by the two compilers. These are masterful
commentaries on the folklore they collected, on the wisdom which will
enchant the reader.
Argumentations, hygiene, life and death, contraception, study-
ing, eating and drinking, marriage, propagation, divorce, ritual pur-
ity, charity, rights of workers, right of self-defense are representative
of the subjects to which the wisdom of the sages allude.
Typical, and representative of the contents of this fascinating
book, are these excerpts:
"He who has no wife lives without joy, without blessing ; and
without good."
—Yevamot, 62b
"A man should always be careful to honor his wife, for no blessing
is found within a man's house except for the sake of his wife."
—Bava Metsia; 59a
"A man should always take • care not to distress his wife, for
women's tears are close to the heart of God."
—Bava Metsia, 59a
`The Holy One, blessed be He, gave greater understanding to
women than to men."
—Niddah, 45b
"Said Rav Hanan, the son of Ray: 'Everybody knows why the
bride is brought into the bridal chamber, but if anyone speaks
obscenely about it, even if 70 years of happiness have been decr
and sealed for him on High, the decree is changed for him into ev:"
—Ketuvot,
"It is better for a man to skin animal carcases than to say to the
community: 'Support me, I am a great sage.' "
—Bava Batra, 110a
"Said Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah: 'The poor do more for the rich
man by accepting charity than the rich man does for the poor by
bestowing it.' "
—Vayikra Rabbah, 34:10
"It is forbidden to cross a road to meet a man who is your debtor,
and who you know cannot pay you; for it is as if he were tortured with
fire and water."
—Berakhot, 6b
Each of the dialogues — there is one after every chapter — is a
philosophic discourse on the Jewish teachings, on the variety of sub-
jects culled from Jewish ethical treasures. The authors' philosophic
discourses add immensely to this notable work. In its totality, "The
Day God Laughed" enriches modern Jewish literature.