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. Nine Mile, 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
Associate News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 28th day of Sivan, 5739, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
' Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 13:1-15:41. Prophetical portion, Joshua 2:1-24.
Monday and Tuesday, Rosh Hodesh Tammuz,
Numbers 28:1-15
Candle lighting, Friday, June 22, 8:53 p.m.
VOL. LXXV, No. 16
Page Four
Friday, June 22, 1979
HISTORIC ANNIVERSARY
In August of 1929, in Zurich, Switzerland, the
spokesmen for world Jewry combined their
forces in what proved to be the most impressive
unifying act in Jewish experience.
The Jewish Agency for Palestine was formed
at that time under the leadership of Louis Mar-
shall, then one of the acknowledged outstand-
ing leaders of American Jewry, and Dr. Chaim
Weizmann, at that time the president of the
World Zionist Organization.
The unifying decisions of a half century led to
very significant developments, marked by dras-
tic changes in earlier world Jewish attitudes.
Whatever anti-Zionist views may have influ-
enced Jewish communities until then and the
divisiveness that had caused splits in Jewish
ranks began to vanish with the Marshall-
Weizmann cooperative efforts in support of
movements for the settlement of Jews i _ n pre-
Israel Palestine and the upbuilding of the
Jewish colonies in the Holy Land.
The anti-Zionists were not completely routed
at the time. There was still the antagonistic
Council for Judaism to be dealt with when it
emerged as an enemy of the forces that func-
tioned in support of an eventual Jewish state.
But the unity that was achieved in the forma-
tion of the Jewish Agency, the endorsement
thus given to the major tasks of the Zionist
movement, led to a new spirit of devotion
towards the approaching obligations to rescue
hundreds of thousands of Jews and to create a
national home for them in Eretz Yisrael.
Only a few years later, the rise to power of
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, the threat to
annihilate the Jews of Europe and eventually to
make Western Jewry the target of the Hitler
aim for a Final Solution, all confirmed the wis-
dom of the revolutionary steps to establish a
united front for the rescue of Jews and the crea-
tion of a home for the survivors from the worst
calamity that had struck not only Jewry but
mankind.
Now it is the Jewish Agency for Israel that
serves the Jewish people as the continuing or-
ganized force that unifies the Jews of the world
in the service of Israel.
The 50th anniversary of the Jewish Agency,
to be observed in Zurich in October, will be an
occasion for rejoicing that differences of opinion
were erased from Jewish ranks on the Zionist
question and that a unifying force has been per-
petuated to carry on the work for Zion re-
deemed.
American Jewry plays a major role in the
tasks linked with the -Jewish Agency. A distin-
guished Detroiter, Max M. Fisher, occupies the
leading position in the Jewish Agency for Israel,
and he has earned the privilege of addressing
the Knesset, on June 28, in advance of the
global observance of the 50th anniversary of the
Jewish agency, in Zurich, in October. This is an
occasion to take pride in the historic event that
marked the formation of a great agency serving
the Jewish people.
ISRAELI ARABS' ANIMOSITY
Routinely, Israeli spokesmen are asked,
when interviewed by Jewish newsmen, how
they view the attitude of the Arabs in Israel
towards the state which is supposedly their na-
tional home as well. Without exception, the
views are that Israel's Arabs are loyal to the
state in which they enjoy citizenship.
Now the Jews of the world as well as of Israel
are confronted by the results of a survey that
points to defections in the ranks of those who
had been loyal to Israel.
A survey conducted by the Institute of Re-
search and Development of Arab Education,
conducted under the direction of Dr. Sami
Samouha, shows not only that half of Israel's
Arabs reject Israel's right to exist but a much
larger number favors the establishment of a
Palestinian state and endorses the tactics of
Israel's antagonists.
The results of this survey, published in this
newspaper last week, cause serious " concern.
Perhaps they prove that not enough effort has
been exerted to cement the friendships that are
so vital in citizenship in Israel between Arabs
and Jews.
Has Israeli leadership been too complacent?
Is it blind to reality? If a Fifth Column exists
under the very noses of Israel's administrative
forces, is there also a continuing blindness that
prevents acknowledgement of realities?
Few Arab communities, anywhere, reflect the
progress made under Israel's administration by
the Israeli Arab community. It is prosperous,
free, except for service in the army enjoys all
benefits of citizenship. Why the enmity that
borders on disloyalty?
Could the results of the survey of Arab atti-
tudes also account for the spate of terrorist acts
which resulted in the loss of lives and property
in Israel? Are there Arabs in Israel who are
acting as agents of the PLO in conducting the
brutal acts of murdering women and children in
schools and women in shopping areas?
Who is to question Israel's right to prevent
sabotage and to assure protection for a popula-
tion constantly threatened with annihilation?
Is it tolerable for those benefiting from Israeli
citizenship to collaborate with those seeking
that nation's destruction?
There must be adherence to the view that
Israel's leadership is not blind to realities, that
it will take into account the 'animosities that
stem from blood being thicker than water. It is
to be hoped that every effort will be made to
revive loyalties, to create the best feelings of
neighborliness between Jews and Arabs and
that whatever hatreds may lurk in the hearts of
many will be corrected.
It stands to reason that only a total peace will
bring an end to hatreds. It is to that end that the
solutions will lead in the course of and in the
proper time. This is the hope and the prayer of a
generation vitally concerned with the greatest
need of its time: a workable peace.
New JPS Volume
Zev Vilnay's Notable Trilogy:
Legends of Eretz Yisrael
Zev Vilnay's name is a synonym for legend. It is synonymous with
the most brilliant collected stories about Eretz Yisrael, the Holy Land
and environs-. Vilnay represents the classics in the historically re-
searched and fascinating facts about the Holy Land that read like
fables but are substantiated as history.
His "Legends of Galilee, Jordan and Sinai" is the completion of a
trilogy which appears to the credit of the Jewish Publication Society
of America.
"The Sacred Land" is the totality of the trilogy of which the
current one is the third and concluding volume. The first two were
entitled "Legends of Jerusalem" and "Legends of Judea and
Samaria," published respectively in 1973 and 1975.
In the current issue there are some 400 legends. They include the
cities of Haifa, Acco, Nazareth, Tyre, Tiberias, Capernaum and other
important sites.
Exemplary is the first of the legends, about Haifa, and Vilnay
relates:
"Haifa is mentioned for the first time in the Third Century, in the
Talmud. The origin of the name and its meaning are unknown. One
14th Century scholar surmised that it came from the Hebrew hof,
which means 'shore.' Today, people choose to say that Haifa is a
contraction of the two words hof yafe — beautiful shore. Indeed,
situated on a rounded bay, at the meeting place of mountain, valley,
and sea, Haifa does enjoy magnificent scenery.
"In medieval times, the Christian pilgrims called the town `Caifa'
— a name derived from the Hebrew caif, meaning 'rock' -- because of
the dark boulders strewn along the coast.
"Others called the city Vaiaphas,' because they believed that it
had been built at the time of Caiaphas, the High Priest of Jerusalem
in the days of Jesus of Nazareth.
"In the 14th Century, this last version was cited by Sir John
Mandeville, who wrote: 'Hylle of Carmelyn, where Helyas the prophet
dwellede. And at the Fote of this Hille was sometyme a gode Cytee of
Cristene Men, that Men cleped Cayphas; for Cayphas first founded ii
but it is now alle wasted.' "
So varied are the topics in the current volume that they include
every aspect of historic experience relating to holy sanctuaries, the
wilderness, the animal life in the land, the water reserves.
There are the heroes of the Bible, including Moses and King
David, as well as the rabbis of old and Ari, who was the pioneering
spirit in the mysticism in Jewish experience.
There are enchanting retellings — for example, of a church that
sailed in the air, of a rock that belonged to a colony of ants — that
entertain the reader while providing new insights into the history
and geography of Israel.
Drawing upon the storehouse of the Hebraic classics, upon the
Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, Midrash and the Scriptures, the Vilnay
legends provide an enrichment in Jewish knowledge. Pilgrims of all
faiths as well as Arab tales provide valuable backgrounds for many of
the legends.
The author, who thus enriches Jewish literature, is regarded as
the dean of Israel's guides and a leading authority on Jewish folklore.
Vilnay is on the faculty of the Military Academy of Israel, where he
teaches military history and cartography. He is the author of, among
other works, "The Guide to Israel," which has gone through numerous
editions since its publication in 1955.
C,‘