THE JEWISH NEWS
lutiPs
275-520,
Incorporating Ihe Detroit Jewish Chronicle corn M elie 1 !IA' with the issue of July 20. 1951
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h Newspaper:. Nlichigan Press Associ,nion. N;itional Ednorl:11 Association.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
_ CARMi ,v1. SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
Business Manager
ALAN HITSKY
HEIDI PRESS
DREW LIEBERWITZ
News Editor
Assistant News Editor
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 10th day of Adar, 5739, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 27:20-30:10; Deuteronomy 25:17-19.
Prophetical portion, I Samuel 15:2-34.
• - Monday, Fast of Esther
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11-14; 34:1-10.
Prophetical portion (afternoon only), Isaiah 55:6-56:8. (Book of Esther is read Monday evening.)
Tuesday, Purim
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 17:8-16.
Prophetical portion, Book of Esther.
Wednesday, Shushan Purim
Candle lighting, Friday, March 9, 6:13 p.m.
VOL. LXXV, No. 1
Page Four
Friday, March 9, 1979
Purim ... in the Test of Time
. . . these days should be re-
membered and kept through-
out every generation, every
family . . . that these days of
-Purim should not- fail from,
among the Jews, nor the
memorial of them perish frorh
their seed..
— BOOK OF ESTHER 9:28.
Purim has always been a symbol of the confi-
dence and optimism of the Jewish masses that
whoever plots the people's destruction is certain
to meet the doom orthe Haman of ancient Per-
sia.
History always doomed a Chmielnicki or , a
Pobedonostzev or a Hitler to the fate of Hainan
ben Hamdata HaAgagi.
Now the pages of history are turned back to
Shushan HaBira, to the capital of ancient Per-
soana, where a decree to annihilate the Jews of
ancient Persia was reversed by the courage of
Mordecai and Esther.
Is it possible that Haman of old now has a
successor in Persia, which is modern Iran?
It would be a loss of faith to assume that the
barbarism of inhumanity will erase the lessons
of history, the Haman of the Purim story, Mor-
decai and Esther who defied him and the
triumph of the faith that -dominates humanity
in spite of temporary setbacks for the human
factors.
The lesson that will come from Iran next week
will be very telling. The Iranian Jews have,
undoubtedly under pressure, consistently
avoided affiliation with Zionism, although they
had notable ties with Israel. The latter now has
also been abandoned: Now comes the retention
of faith in Torah and adherence to traditional
observances that have become imperative for
Jews as a calendar routine. Will there be a
Purim observance in Iran?
The test is due on Purim next Monday and
Tuesday, and on Shushan Purim, Wednesday.
Whatever the experience in the Persia that is
now Iran, that which is part of Jewish tradition
has never vanished, the lesson of Megillat
Esther has not been trifled with. History surely
will survive an onslaught both on tradition and
on the lessons inherent in the experience of the
Jewish people.
On the Road to Peace
Perhaps it was the piece of hala Menahem
,Begin presented to President Jimmy Carter on
Friday evening, after reciting the kidush, that
brought the unexpected good fortunes to the
Middl&East and the world with the President's
announcement that he was taking the peace
proposals personally to Cairo, then to go on to
Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Begin reportedly said to the
President that he hoped the hala slice would
bring good luck in the peace negotiations and
•the President replied: "In that case, give me a
large slice."
• That slice is proving as large as the universe,
granted that the mission which has taken the
President to the peace-craving statesmen mate-
rializes.
Out of the Sabbath Eve exchange of friend-
- ship between two diplomats has emerged a
spirit of brbtherhood for two nations. And out of
that meeting of minds there is now the great
hope that the projected peace will be for that
entire area. What has until now been embattled
may now be the beginning of an era of amity for
all mankind.
The historic significance of the developing
process of peace-making may, indeed, be the
road to an international inspiration never to
abandon hope when peoples meet with an
,
urgency for harmony. The pessimists are cau-
tious not to be without a semblance of hope; the
optimists have cause to rejoice.
For President Carter this is a moment to em-
phasize his religious fervor in his claim that it
equates with peace.
For the optimist it is a time to repeat with the
Psalmist: "This is the day created by tile Al-
mighty. -Let us rejoice in it."
For Israel it is a justification of the patience
that has kept the nation and its citizens firm in
the conviction that the Prophecy is valid and
that the reborn statehood will be destined for
indestru-tibility and security.
An approach to peace surely also means the
elevation of standards of living for all peoples in
the Middle East. Therefore, the anticipated
Carter-Sadat-Begin action should have the
widest endorsements. Would that the Arabs had
fully • appreciated the values of the new trends
now in progress!
Perhaps out of Jerusalem, when President
Carter visits there this weekend, as planned in
his mission, will come the message of peace for
all humanity. Jerusalem — the Ur Shalom —
the City of Peace — looms again as the great
center out of which will come fulfillment for a
free and peaceful humanity.
-Blessed be the day of peace!
Yehuda Amichai Gains Stature
With 'Time,' Collected Poems
Yehuda Amichai is one of the most
distinguished of Israel's contemporary
authors. His novels have gained best
seller status. He is noted for his poetry.
Influenced by the conditions which
have affected his generation in Israel,
-challenged by the demands of his na-
tion's needs, always plagued by the
threats which demand vigilance in the
defense of the people of Israel, the-
problems of his people are his prob-
lems and survival is a theme that
influences him as it did the generation
of writers who have emerged as
spokesmen for Israel's faith and fate.
These sentiments are in evidence in
his novels. They are uppermost in his
poems. His latest poetic anthology,
YEHUDA AMICHAI
appropriately titled "Time," (Harper
& Row), gives emphasis to his concern for humanism and for life.
For an appreciation of Amichai's poetic vision it is necessary to
read, and to study,-his writings. Here are excerpts from his "Time":
Jerusalem is a cradle city rocking me.
Whenever I wake up strange things happen to me
in the middle of the day as though to someone •
descending the stairs of his love's house for the last time, with eyes still
closed.
But my days force me to open my eyes and
to remember everyone passing me: Perhaps
he'll love me, perhaps he has planted a bomb
wrapped in nice paper like a present of love.
*
*
*
So I find myself always on the run
from blows and from pain,
from sweaty hands and from hard hits.
Most of My life in Jerusalem, a bad place
to evade all these. All my wars took
place in deserts among -hard stones and sharp wounding gravel.
I never had the luck to have a war
in a cool green forest
or ina wavy battle at sea.
And so I ain, on the run, evasive like
a pathetic dancer amid hurled stones
and falling shells, between .strong
hands and outstreched arms, a very clumsy and heavily loaded man
I am on the run,
my whole body loaded down from head to toe,
on my shoulder a rifle, around my belly
an ammunition belt, on my head
heavy guilt, my feet in shoe-cages,
on my back the heavy yoke of family care,
and even my knees, moving up and down,
activate a terrible time-motor .. .
And so, much too heavy, I'm
on the run till the last pain
causes me no more pain.