Friday, September 28, 1979 13
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Dayan Praises Administration,
Sees Carter as Friend of Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Foreign Minister Moshe
Dayan of Israel warmly
praised President Carter
and his Administration
Tuesday night, declaring
that there never was an
American president who
worked as hard as Carter for
peace in the Middle East.
Dayan spoke at a meeting of
the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations.
The Carter Administra-
tion is the first administra-
tion that achieved concrete
results from the peace
negotiations, Dayan
pointed out, noting the
many attempts in the past
at negotiations failed to
achieve peace. "I feel very
grateful to the American
Administration" about its
effort and the agreement
between Israel and Egypt,
he said.
Dayan also expressed
satisfaction for his just con-
cluded talks in Washington
and the agreement reached
there for a peace-keeping
force in Sinai to monitor the
withdrawal of the Israeli,
army.
"I cannot imagine any
better shield between us (Is-
rael and a potential enemy"
than American civilian per-
sonnel with first class
equipment," Dayan said. He
said that the United States
never failed to fulfill its
promises or agreements
with Israel. "If you, know
any better party to rely on,
mention it to me," Dayan
said.
Dayan was asked about
the present Mideast visit of
Rev. Jesse Jackson and the
refusal of Israeli leaders to
meet with him. Dayan de-
* * *
fended Premier Begin's re-
fusal to meet with the black
leader, maintaining that if
Begin met with Jackson the
meeting would have given
Jackson "the credentials" to
negotiate between Begin
and Palestine Liberation
Organization chief Yasir
Arafat.
"We do not want to
negotiate directly or indi-
rectly with Arafat, through
Jackson or even Ted Mann,"
Dayan said; referring to
Theodore Mann, chairman
of the Presidents. Confer-
ence, who sat next to him.
He said that Israel is not in-
terested in having anybody
come to the Mideast, be it
black or white, to bring Is-
rael and the PLO together.
"We do not want to
negotiate with a party that
wants to destroy our coun-
try," he said.
Carter Defends Israel Attacks
Against Palestinian Terrorists
NEW YORK (JTA) —
President Carter stated
Tuesday that Israel has a
right to defefid herself from
terrorism from "the north"
or ''from the east or from the
south" and expressed "great
concern and disgust at a
growing clamor around the
world . that Zionism is the
same as racism."
The President made these
remarks in answers to ques-
tions at a "town meeting" at
Queens College attended by
1,700 New Yorkers. His an-
swers to questions on Israel
and the Middle East and
other issues on domestic
and foreign policy were
punctuated with whistles
and applause.
One questioner asked
why Carter opposes Israel's
right to defend itself against
Palestine Liberation
Organization terrorist in-
cursions into Israel when
the U.S. would not tolerate
terrorist attacks from Cuba.
Carter replied, "Any na-
tion has a right to defend
itself, obviously, including
Israel." He noted that "a
basis of the Camp David ac-
cords was the right of Israel
to defend itself, a right of
Israel to be secure . . . that
was a -commitment made by
President (Anwar) Sadat (of
Egypt) and myself and
Prime Minister (Menahem)
Begin (of Israel) that the
Palestinian people have a
right to a voice in the de-
termination of their own fu-
ture, but at the same time
Sadat agreed on behalf of
many Arabs that Israel
would have a right to'defend
itself." •
When a Country Closes for a Day
By DR. SHMUEL
HIMELSTEIN
World Zionist Press Servige
Those of us who lived in
predominantly Jewish
areas in the Diaspora before
moving to Israel can re-
member how there was a
noticeable change in the
"atmosphere" on Yom Kip-
pur. There seemed to be a
decrease in traffic, many
stores were closed and there
were throngs of Jews on
their way to or coming from
the various overcrowded
services at the local
synagogues. All that, how-
ever, didn't prepare us for
Yom Kippur in Israel.
Try to imagine, if you can,
a modern country which
simply "closes down." Sud-
denly all traffic disappears
from the streets — and that
is no exaggeration. Imagine
the main intersection of
Jerusalem, right at the
entrance to the city —
where cars whiz by at the
rate of many thousands an
hour every day of the year
— with one or maybe two
cars per hour on Yom Kip-
pur — and even those solit-
ary ones are mainly emer-
gency vehicles!
And imagine all the
communications media —
all four national radio sta-
tions and the TV channel —
signing off on the day before
Yom Kippur at 2 p.m., not to
resume their badcasts
until after the final shofar
blowing at the conclusion of
the fast day. Of course
skeleton crews are present,
because everyone remem-
bers all too well Yom Kip-
pur 1973, when the devas-
tating Yom Kippur War
broke out.
On Yom Kippur the
crime rate decreases
dramatically. All types of
crimes plummet. It ap-
_pears that even the
Jewish criminals (and
there are such!) tend to
take a break.
Who then does "mind the
store?" Of course, there are
many army units which are
on duty, as are the members
of the police force, although
both try to free as many men
as possible for Yom Kippur.
Hospitals maintain skele-
ton staffs, as do the electric
company and the water
company. In addition the in-
ternational telephone sys-
tem remains open. In Short,
only the most essential
services keep a minimal
number of people on duty.
How important is Yom
Kippur in the national con-
sciousness of Israel? Until
recently no one had done
any in-depth research.
There was only a feeling
that, while most other holi-
days mean a mass exodus of
non-observant families to
all parts of the country for
picnics and so on, Yom Kip-
pur seemed to be entirely
differelit. The wanderlust
seemed to be stilled.
A recent study, however,
sheds accurate light on the
subject. In this project about
1,600 people were asked to
express their level of obser-
vance of various Jewish cus-
toms and ceremonies. This
national survey showed, for
instance, that six percent of
all men pray at a synagogue
daily, while 23 percent pray
there each Shabat.
In regard to fasting on
Yom Kippur, on the other
hand, no less than 74 per-
cent of all men and
women claim that they
fast on that day. This
means that three out of
every four people in the
entire country do fast.
,
This observance is ex-
ceeded only by those who
use kosher meat (79 per-
cent), who do not eat bread
on Passover (82 percent),
light the Hanuka candles
(88 percent), who have a
mezuza on their doorpost
(89 percent) and who ob-
serve the Passover Seder (a
full 99 percent of the popu-
lation!). Thus we see that
Yom Kippur is indeed some-
thing "different" than all
other days of the year for
most Israelis.
DETROIT MEN'S ORT
in conjunction with
AMERICAN
ORT
FEDERATION
Cordially Invites You To Attend The Tribute Dinner /
Honoring
DR. WILLIAM HABER
On The Occasion Of His 80th Birthday
and the ORT Centennial
Monday Evening,
October 15th, 1979
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
DR. WILLIAM HABER
27235 Bell Road, Southfield, Mich.
Dinner To Follow
Cocktails 6:00 P.M.
Dinner Co Chairmen
Irving Nusbaum
David B. Hermelin
-
Contribution
(including Dinner)
$100.00 per person
For information call 832-3190
Guest Speaker
DR. ABRAM SACHAR
Chancellor, Brandeis University .
Proceeds for the benefit of The Dr. William
Haber ORT Scholarship Fund
Honorary. Chairmen
Robben Fleming — Governor William Milliken — Paul Zuckerman
Honorary Committee
Marver Bernstein • Max A. Braude • Leon Dulcin •
David Easlick • Ruth Eisenberg • Max Fisher • Douglas
A. Fraser • Justice Arthur Goldberg • Sharon Hart •
Charlotte Jacobson • Ernest A. Jones • Norman Lamm
• Sidney E. Leiwant • Robert Nederlander • Harry H.
Platt • Frank Rhodes • Samuel Rothberg • Abram Leon
Sachar • Alan E. Schwartz • Harold T. Shapiro • Philip
Slomovitz • A. Alfred Taubman • Justice G. Mennen
Williams
tickets at $100.00 per person.
Please send me
is enclosed.
My check for $
Make check payable to: HABER-ORT Celebration
and mail to : Haber-ORT
4421 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48021
My phone no. is
Address
VON