THE JEWISH NEWS (USPS 275 52°)
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
TRIAL sALLoot4s...
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 -
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
HEIDI PRESS
Assistant News Editor
Business Manager
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This SabbU:th, the 13th day of Shevat, 5739, the following scriptural selections will he read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 13:17-17:16. Prophetical portion, Judges 4:4-5:31.
Monday, Tu b'Shevat
Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 9, 5:39 p.m.
VOL. LXXIV, No. 23
Page Four
Friday, February 9, 1979
Argentina Challenged
Oppression of citizenSholding opinions differ-
ing with those in power in Argentina has be-
come a matter of deep concern not only by those
concerned for human rights in this country but
by Argentinians as well.
-‘ The persecution of Jacobo Timerman, the
Jewish publisher, is a case in point. His house
arrest is being aired in Buenos Aires as well as
in New York, Detroit and Washington.
It would be unfair to the sense of justice
among many Argentinians to deny that there
have been protests against this tragic situation
and that the Timerman case was not exposed for
public consideration. An editorial in the
Spanish-language Buenos Aires Herald, under
the title !:.A Sign of Weakness?" ("Un idicio de-
bilidad?") expressed concern over the -occur-
rences. In its English translation this editorial
stated in part:
"A recent flurry of reports that Mr. Jacobo
Timerman, the founder of La Opinion and one of
the most distinguished journalists in Latin
America, would shortly be allowed to go to Is-
rael were summarily squelched by a govern-
ment spokesman who said the idea was not even
being considered. Mr. Timerman has been in
the hands of the authorities ever since being
arrested in the early hours of April 15, 1977,
and there have been many such reports, engen-
dered • by a mixture of hope and the govern-
inent's manifest embarrassment concerning his
case, which have had to be officially denied.
"But while the government insists it has no
intention of letting Mr. Timerman go, it seems
equally reluctant to say why he is still being
held. This remains- a mystery, and it is causing
the government's international reputation far
more harm that it seems to realize.
"Although Mr. Timerman was tried, con-
demned, and executed by public opinion at the
time of his arrest, he 'faces no legal charges
whatsoever. A military tribunal decided, a year -
-and a half sago, that he would not be charged of
involvement with armed subversion. Later
statements that he would be investigated with
`economic subver§ion' never resulted in any
concrete accusations being made. Timerman, in
. fact, has not been charged with anything, and
there is no indication at all that he ever will be.
Nevertheless, it was announced on Nov. 10,
1977, that he had been stripped of control of his
property -- including, needless to say, La Opin-
ion and also of his civil rights, insofar as they
can be said to exist for anyone today.
"Since April- this year, Mr. Timerman has
been held under house arrest. And, even though_
the Supreme Court ruled in July that even ac-
cording to its own draconian rules the govern-
ment had no cause to hold him, he is still there
now. The government, in what is perhaps its
most important omission to date, has not seen
fit to make any public reply at all to a demand
by the highest legal authority in the country.
Mr. Timerman remains in captivity despite the
law, not because of it. This makes nonsense of
all government pledges to return the country to
its proper legal bearings."
What can possibly be done by concerned Jews
and Americans to secure justice for at least one
of the sufferers from the current Argentinian
spate of prejudice?
There is no intruding into the internal affairs
of a foreign government. But there have been
precedents of the U.S. State Department, and,
even if rarely, of the White House, having ex-
pressed concern over the fate of the oppressed in
foreign lands. . Isn't this an occasion for such
action? •
Argentine Jewish leaders have, in the main,
been complacent about the existing situation,
but the latest restrictions imposed on the
Timermans may awaken renewed concern over
the fate of the country's 300,000 Jews. (The fig-
ure generally given for Argentina is that she
has 470,000 Jews. A demographic study re-
ported in the. American Jewish Year Book in
behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv University by Naomi F. Meyer
sets the figure at 300,000.)) They are the con-
cern of all Jews and whatever action can be
taken in their behalf and at the same time to
encourage firmness and vigilance on the part of
Argentinian Jewish leadership will be contri-
bution towards human obligations for the pro-
tection of the highest principles of human rights
everywhere. Since President Jimmy Carter has
made human rights a major plank in his policies
perhaps he can be induced to speak out in de-
fense of Jacobo timerman and all who are suffer-
ing from a state_ of terror in Argentina.
It is encouraging to know that the situation in
Argentina is not being silenced, that there are
nationals in that country who cannot condone
what has happened to thousands.
—
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19 F4 pal
. •
Abridgement of Maimonides'
`Guide to the Perplexed'
Maimonides — Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon — left the most im-
pressive legacy upon the thinking of Jewry in the eight centuries after
his death, and that aspect of the teachings of the greatest of Jewish
philosophers remains for the ages.
His "Guide to the Perplexed" remains as a treatise for Jewish
philosophical reasoning.
Sanhedrin Press of Hebrew Publishing Co. now makes available
in paperback an abridged edition of the great work. "Maimonides'
Guide to the Perplexed" in the
new paperback edition was
edited by the late Prof. Julius
Guttmann and was translated
by Prof. Chaim Rabin.
Those troubled by faith and
reason find in this immemorable
work the true understanding of
the Torah, explanations of the
concept of God and dissertations
on problems arising from Bible
teachings.
"Guide to the Perplexed"
has always been viewed as in-
dispensable to students of
Judaism and has been used as a
guide by students of religion and
philosophy. The new paperback
thus serves an invaluable pur-
pose for the scholars of all faiths.
MOSES MAIMONIDES
-
Curt Leviant's 'Yemenite
Girl' Out as Paperback
"The Yemenite Girl," the prize-winning love story by Curt
Leviant, first published as a hard-cover book by Bobbs Merrill Co. in
1973, has just been reissued as a paperback by Avon Books.
Leviant was awarded the 1977 Edward Lewis Wallant Award for
this novel.
The love story in "The Yemenite Girl" focuses on a middl
writer's infatuation with a girl portrayed as both fictional and r
Ezra Shultish, a New York-based teacher of Hebrew literature,
idolizes the works of the famous Israeli author Yehiel Bar-Nun,
winner of the Nobel Prize for his story "The Yemenite Girl." Shultish
has written a definitive book on Bar-Nun's style and goes to Israel on
sabbatical hoping to learn from the master.
majority beneficiary, the United Jewish Ap-
Bar-Nun repeatedly eludes him and makes appointments with
peal, that the hands of the fighters for justice
him only to break them. Shultish must be content to live in the
master's shadow. Shultish has committed to memory every word of
and security will be upheld.
"The Yemenite Girl," and although he is a middle-aged man, he
Through the Israel Bond Organization,
which was represented a few days ago in Israel becomes infatuated with a young girl who embodies for him the
by a representative delegation, encouragement fictional Yemenite girl.
He is torn between his fantasies of the girl and his nerve-
is given to economic planning for Israel.
shattering dealings with Bar-Nun. It is only after he cuts his ties to
The aid provided for Israel by the UJA and Bar-Nun that the facets of Shultish's life, love and literature merge in
Israel Bonds is vital to the sense of confidence
a moment of searing self-discovery.
instilled in the Israelis in a determined will to
Curt Leviant has published fiction in several magazines includ-
live and to make progress for an historically ing The Quarterly Review. of Literature, North American Review,
and The Literary Review. His short stories have been included in
redeemed state. •
This is a time to act in Israel's behalf. Slum- "Martha Foley's Best American Short Stories" and other anthologies.
Leviant lives in New Jersey.
bering at this time would be criminal.
No Time to Slumber!
Delays in making the Camp David decisions a
reality, the rising tide-of Arab hatred in coun-
tries differing with Egypt's steps in the direc-
tion of peace and the emergence of a visible
Fifth Column in Israel combine to increase
American Jewry's obligations to the people of
Israel.
Thii is a time to send forth word to the embat-
tled Israelis that the JeWs of the world will not
abandon them.
Greater Detroit Jewry is in • the process of
fulfilling obligations to the Israeli social service
and educational agencies which receive support'
f rom the Allied Jewish Campaign, through its;
vimi
nun rmn 77,1mil