THE
JEWISH NEWS (USPS 275-5201
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 Assn.
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Rosh Hashana Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the first day of Tishri, 5740, is the New Year
and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 21:1-34 and Numbers 29:1-6.
Prophetical portion, I Samuel 1:1-2:10.
Sunday, second day of Rosh Hashana
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 22:1-24 and Numbers 29:1-6.
Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 31:1-9.
Monday, Fast of Gedaliah
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11-14 and 34:1-10.
Prophetical portion (afternoon only), Isaiah 55:6-56:8.
Candle lighting, Friday, Sept. 21, 7:14 p.m.
VOL. LXXVI, No. 3
Page Four Friday, September 21, 1979
RENEWED FAITH
Tensions kept mounting during the year now closing to open the
path to a new era in Jewish experience. The lessons of the past keep
admonishing the people that has been attuned to obstacles not to be
surprised by repeated obstructions to a peace of mind that would obviate
uneasiness. The lessons of the past also have the additional reminder
that the records of past agonies have one basic test for the people that
has been under duress most of the time: that the only serious danger is a
yielding to fear. The faith of an Am Yisrael Chai, the people Israel
lives, and the acceptance of the Psalmist's assertion "lo omut ki
I shall not die but hold on to life — retain their power for
ekhye"
Jewry.
This is not whistling in the dark. It is an acclamation of confidence
inspired by the ages.
The centuries of misery and oppression have found echoes even in
areas where freedom was touted as a great ideal: The agonies that
accompanied the distress linked with intolerance never survived the
challenge of justice. Even when the persecutions were long in diminish-
ing, when they embraced the universe, except for several oases like the
United States, Holland and possibly Great Britain and some sections of
the Scandinavian countries, the resistance was firm and Jews were
relentless in their faith that sustains.
This is the lesson in a period when there suddenly emerged a new
type of anti-Semitism, a bigotry clothed in the falsehoods that created
anti-Zionism.
It is under such guise that a generation that is being reminded of
previous ones tested by time must prepare for the inevitable. A terrorist
threat headquartered in Beirut, with support given it in Damascus, has
found cohorts in lands of freedom. Because oil has become so vital and a
craving for energy makes many lands dependent upon the vast sources
of oil, whatever is said against Israel is accepted sanctimoniously.
Therefore, whatever the terminology, the hatred spewn is anti-Semitic,
even from those quarters still squirming from the admonition of Pope
Pius XI about the sin of anti-Semitism." They are hiding under differ-
ent cloaks, yet remain accused by that curse.
Therefore, the call to Jewry to be prepared for the inevitable, to
know that historic experiences never vanish and are repetitive, to be
assured that a people that has withstood persecutions can confront even
the most miserable products of bigotry.
If the venom that has become the poison for humanity in recent
months and years could not be erased by refutations from Jews and from
the most venerable in Christianity, then similar confrontations may be
expected in the months, possibly years, ahead. If the right of Israel to
exist still is denied in many quarters, then every effort by Anwar Sadat
will prove temporary.
The battle for justice will continue because the venom still is in-
spired by the very existence of those represented by the Jew and Israel.
This is where it becomes necessary to reaffirm the conviction that
the faith of the Jew, his confidence in his own and Israel's survival, will
remain uppermost on the record of world events.
Under existing conditions, with the United Nations a forum for
hatred, with the nations of the world subjected to the fears generated by
threats from the dominant oil producers, with terrorists gaining ground
wherever there are media to provide platforms for them, the people
under attack may as well be ready for the attacks.
Therefore the cure for the year ahead:
The people that was the target of the bigots does not submit to
defeat, will not yield to the suicidal, and will be gathered anew to
reassert the unity of the People Israel.
That demonstration will be in evidence again this Rosh Hashana as
it has been through the ages.
The Shofar will be sounded again! Its message to mankind, in the
call for justice and for freedom, will not be hidden or obscured.
More than that: the Jew will not knuckle under and submit to
threats.
The neonle Israel lives! L' Shana Tovah!
—
NEW YEAR PRIORITIES
A new year does not necessarily mean that people's habits and activities will be
revolutionized, that conditions will change, that human relations will be altered. Nor-
mally, there are continuities that are not abandoned. Life goes on, and on, and on .. .
Nevertheless, there are occasions when new challenges emerge, when it becomes
necessary for the introduction of new methods of confronting needs, in families as well as
communities. This is such a time.
Priorities become vital when the challenges to the responsible in a community are
from outside forces which impose added duties upon a generation that could become
indifferent to responsibilities out of sluggishness. And in the instance of the Jewish
people everywhere the evolutionary developments relating to the peace of the Middle
East make the imposition of new duties all the more serious.
Globally, assuming the duties that have been imposed by the energy crisis, accept-
ing the burdens that come with negotiations for peace, Diaspora Jewry must increase
every effort made until now to strengthen the hands of the Jewish partners to the peace
deal. This is not new, yet it emphasizes a priority. The Israeli partner to the peace
arrangements must be kept strong. There must be no weakening of the dedication to
security and to the freedoms attained by the Jewish partner to the amity being estab-
lished with the assistance of the Egyptian leader who has emerged as- a man to be
admired for his courage. President Anwar Sadat has helped make real the partnership
being assured through his contacts with Prime Minister Menahem Begin. Pragmatism
demands that the friendship thus introduced should be assured by retaining the virility
of Israel, while hoping for an economically stabilized Egypt.
Meanwhile, on the Diaspora front, every effort must be exerted to obviate
influence of the blackmailing elements whose entrance upon the American scene must
be resisted.
It is on the domestic scene that priorities become evident. Primarily they are in the
field of education. Never before has there been so great a need for a well-informed
community. So many distortions have crept into the media that they must be tackled
with courage and with practical knowledge of the truth.
The Jewish school must include the best in educational facilities for the youth, and
there is need for an expanded adult education program. Collectively, the school becomes
the very vital instrument for Jewish dignity.
It is the school that trains the young and the adult to face up to issues when the
media show bias in describing the Palestinian as if he was an Arab that the Jews will not
confer with. This is not true. Jews and Arabs must live together as blacks and Jews must
live together in this country and elsewhere. The Palestinian Arab is not the terrorist
headquartered in Beirut. Therefore, misrepresentations like the one that was imposed
on Moshe Dayan as if he conferred with the murderers must not be dignified.
This only scratches the surface. The truth needs emphasis and for it there is the
need for better schooling.
Therein lies priority. This must be accepted and fulfilled in the best interests of
most practical planning for the new year.