14 Friday, August 31, 1979
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Readers Forum
Materials submitted to the Readers Forum must be brief. The writer's name will be
withheld from publication upon request. No unsigned letters will be published. Materials
will not be returned unless a stamped, self-addressed envelope is enclosed.
`Palestinians Should Seek Homeland in Arab Domains'
Editor, The Jewish News:
In this topsy-turvy world,
terrorism, the despicable
practice of taking hostages,
the indiscriminate murder
of innocent men, women
and school children, has be-
come a method of forcing at-
tention upon the powers-
that-be, who do not appear
greatly disturbed by the
gangsterism, at most treat-
ing it with a slap on the
wrist, but the Hodding Car-
ters will quickly react with
a condemnation of the only
way so far devised to stop
the murders, or at least dis-
courage it, and that is to
make the murderers pay
with their own lives for the
lives they have taken. And
if in the process some inno-
cent suffer, then that is be-
cause the terrorists deliber-
ately choose to use such as a
shield.
Not only do the statesmen
of even the democratic na-
tions treat this activity with
but a frown, instead they
accord the authors of these
SMALL BEQUESTS
BUILD A
STRONG ISRAEL
If the tradition of including the Jewish
National Fund in the Will of every Jew were
invariably followed, sufficient resources would
be accumulated to ensure the future of the
young Jewish State on a sound basis of land
development, .social welfare, and justice.
A bequest to the Jewish National Fund
should be as traditional as having a Blue Box
in one's home.
You may want your bequest to be
dedicated to afforestation, to a village, a
Nachlah, to a children's play area, to perpetual
yahrzeit or kaddish, or to some form of
permanent tribute in the names of persons
dear to you.
Consult the Foundation for Jewish
National Fund, 27308 Southfield Rd.,
557-6644
They will gladly co-operate with you in
working out plans to meet your special
requirements, in strict privacy.
terrible things with a grant
of respectability. Examples
are superfluous; this has be-
come somewhat fashiona-
ble.
The text is, "the Palesti-
nians have a case; they are
entitled to a homeland."
And by implication that
should be the so-called West
Bank. It has been stated
time and again if that terri-
tory should be given over to
them, why was it not done
when the Arabs had control
of it for 19 years before the
Six-Day War. The answer is
obvious, after the Arabs
could not effect a change in
Israel's status quo by open
warfare, came this demand
to drive a dangerous wedge
into the very heart of Israel.
Not only will the
Jewish state refuse to
yield, for reasons of secu-
rity, statesmanship, or
the gift of prescience on
the part of the leaders,
but the inexorable, his-
toric status of the state of
Israel will just not
countenance it.
A homeland, indeed, let
them seek it in the vast,
largely uncultivated
stretches of the Arab do-
mains, with funds to be
supplied from the billions of
oil money now spent by
them for armaments, with
the thought of a confronta-
tion with Israel, together
with the millions which
may still be budgeted from
the U.S. for the mainte-
nance of the camps in Leba-
non and elsewhere, and a
solution would thus be ar-
rived at eminently practi-
cal, subserve the peace and
tranquility of the region
and give the Palestinians
so-called surcease from
their present unsatisfactory
plight.
M. Manuel Merzon
American Jewish Authors Anger
Reader for 'Anti-Semitic' Bent
Editor, The Jewish News:
Before the • time of the
Holocaust, we had a debat-
ing team at the Shaarey
Zedek Sunday School under
the tutelage of the late Ted
Baruch. We spent a whole
year debating the- subject —
"Determined: That the
Merchant of Venice be
banned from the Detroit
Public Schools." The
analyses and interpretation
devoted to the controversial
portrayal of Shylock, was
interminable.
Then again, during the
1920s, Henry Ford was suc-
cessfully sued for publish-
ing the "Protocols of the El-
ders of Zion." This had been
borrowed from the Czar who
used these lies to provoke
the bloody pogroms.
For 3,000 years the
Jewish People have been
persecuted, not because
they were military invad-
ers, but because of the writ-
ten or spoken word.
This letter is being
written because I am
chagrined, embarrassed
and angry as I read
Joseph Heller's "Good as
Gold." I haven't felt this
way since the timesl read
"Portnoy's Complaint,"
by Phillip Roth, "Mar-
jorie Morningstar" by
Herman Wouk, "A
Mother's Kisses" by
Bruce Jay Kaufman, "I
Can Get It for You
Wholesale," and "Enemy
Camp" by Jerome Weid-
man. (When I read
"Cakes and Ale" by Som-
erset Maugham, "The
Sun Also Rises" by
Hemingway, and "You
Can't Go Home Again" by
Thomas Wolfe, they only
aroused annoyance, be-
cause their Jewish char-
acterizations were one-
dimensional. They were
developed out of ignor-
ance and prejudice.) But,
to the previous books
named, written by gifted
Jewish writers, certainly,
there must be some feel-
rig
SAVE
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ing of outraged futility to
one third of the population
think that renowned
of Europe died from the
Jews would join the
epidemic.
Barbara
ranks of anti-Semites.
Tuchman, in her latest
In Joseph Heller's "Good
book, "A Distant Mirror,"
as Gold," the portrayal of graphically describes the
the father is one of a hostile,
untold horrors that were vi-
confused parent, who re-
sited upon Jews, whenever _
sents his son the professor,
a scapegoat was needed for
and lauds the grubby sibl-
any reason. At no time was
ing who has made a fortune
there a basic activity for the
in business. It is contradic- lies and legends that
tory to the entire Jewish
abounded about the Jews - it
ethic.
was all based on the writ")
The Jewish immigrant or spoken word.
parents I have known, have
Continuing with the
toiled as tailors, grocers and power of the written
merchants to help support word, it is relevant to
their children through col- take an historical view of
lege, with great love and the role imposed on the
pride. No nation of people Jew as the Devil. A great
have better illustrated the shock, perhaps, is that
biblical concept that: "I am the exquisite, sculptured
my brother's keeper."
figure of Moses, by
The first Jewish novels Michelangelo, has horns.
written in this century by
The total documentation
Israel Zangwill: "The of this role of the Devil iden-
Dreamers of the Ghetto," tity fills many books: The
and "The Children of the basic anger and hatred
Ghetto," were inspiring, against the Jew is that he is
they had class and dignity. heretic and has never ac-
Ludwig Lewisohn who dis- cepted Christ as the Mes-
covered that he was a Jew, siah, and is responsible for
after he became an adult, his Crucifixion in spite of
wrote "The Island Within," the fact that the Jews never
with sensitivity, when he were identified with
spoke of intermarriage and crucifixion as a form of
assimilation. Even in the punishment.
19th Century, Sir Walter
Today, we live in a
Scott's portrayal of Rebecca technological world, scienti-
— the Jewish heroine of fically manipulating every
Ivanhoe — was lovely and phase of our existence.
warm.
There is a logical sequence
But to have a whole of research and procedure
generation of Jewish for almost every sector of
men, who have enjoyed human experience, yet,
13,000,000 people are still
the fruits of successful
careers, and fine talent — victimized by medieval
to use this to demean superstition and ignorance.
Despite the fact that crea-
their own people — who
have suffered, and are tive people, rightfully,
should have freedom of ex-
still suffering from the
misuse of language, is a pression, being Jewish im-
poses two legacies: The
true tragedy.
If one probes this from a heritage of learning and
psychological aspect, we can wisdom and a responsibility
of the manner in which the
only evaluate that the
writers are suffering from written word affects the de-
intense self-hatred and a stiny of a whole nation.
Ann Barnett
demeaning poor, self-image
of themselves. Perhaps
growing up under the com-
Miss Lofman
petitive, prejudicial system
Plans
to Marry
in the East, mostly New
York, has been incorporated
into the psyche of the
authors.
Of course, the immediate
defense or argument is the
cry of censorship, and the
rights of the creative artist
— "poetic license" — the
writer must, write as he
feels. But what happens
when the Jewish writer re-
enforces and perpetuates
the stereo-typed image of
the "Ugly Jew," that has
pervaded the world for
3,000 years?
Many medieval supersti-
MISS LOFMAN
tions and lies, still are con-
ditioning factors in our
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Lof-
legal system and modern
man of Farmington Hills
day practices. At the time
announce the engagement
that there lAras furious de-
of their daughter, Anita
bate over putting fluorida-
Mindy, to Lawrence Bruce -
tion into the drinking Stollman, son of Mr. and
water, the basis for opposi-
Mrs. Hyman Stollman, also
tion hearkened back to the
of Farmington Hills.
13th Century when
Miss Lofman attended
Jews were charged with
Oakland University and
being guilty of poisoning Michigan State University.
the wells. This was a fabri-
Her fiance attended Wayne
cation, a story that spread State University.
through Europe at the time
A November wedding is
of the Black Death when planned.