THE JEWISH NEWS („sp32755201
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
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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
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eighth day of Tishri, 5740, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 32:1-52. Prophetical portion, Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20; Joel 2:15-27.
Monday, Yom Kippur
Pentateuchal portion (morning), Leviticus 16:1-34 and Numbers 29:1-11; (afternoon) Leviticus 18:1-30.
Prophetical portion (morning), Isaiah 57:14-58:14; (afternoon) Jonah 1:1-4:11 and Micah 7:18-20.
Candle lighting, Friday, Sept. 28, 7:01 p.m.
VOL. LXXVI, No. 4
Page Four
Friday, September 28, 1979
WHO WILL DO THE ATONING?
A basic admonition for Atonement Day is re-
corded in Leviticus 16:30:
"On this day shall atonement be made for you,
to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean
before the Lord."
Should mankind, in this turbulent world,
consider the atonement of person to person, na-
tion to nation, evil doer to victim?
On this Day of Atonement, the sacred day of
Yom Kippur, in an era when stocktaking is so
vital in preparation for hopeful days when the
humanity of man to man will be the rule rather
than the exception, the question may well be
posed: who will do the atoning, granted that
Atonement leads to sanctity in human rela-
tions?
Out of the horrors of the pisf have emerged
some aspects of freedom and dignity for a por-
tion of the Jewish people settled in Zion re-
deemed. Heroic tasks were pursued to establish
secure homes for, the homeless Jews in reborn
Israel. Many obstacles were overcome. Now
there are new obstructions. Enmities have blos-
somed and the restored Israel -is threatened
again. Once again there is evidence of an indif-
ferent humanity that is more concerned with
the power of oil than with the security of four
million Jews. Who is to atone for the newly
emerging menace? Is there a semblance of con-
science among the nations who witnessed the
destruction, are evidencing the progress at-
tained in reconstruction, yet condone the
threats to a people struggling for life and lib-
erty?
A miraculous peace has been achieved on Is-
rael's borders with Egypt. Two peoples who
have been enemies are creating an amity that
can be an example to the nations of the world,
and most assuredly to their saber-rattling
neighbors. Why the hesitancy in extending that
effort 'at good will in an area that can benefit
from the introduction to peace? Instead of a
question mark there is now an exclamation
point at the regrettable fact that, at the moment
at least, it is too much to ask for atonement from
the war threatening peoples!
In this great land of freedom and democracy, a
new confrontation is-being experienced. Blacks
are flirting with the very enemies of Israel who
are obstructing a more extended peace. Suspi-
cions have been aroused and they could incite to
hatreds. These are inexcusable occurrences.
Will the guilty who have started the feud atone?
'They are religious folk. Will they abandon faith
and fail to erase the venomous aspects in life?
Perhaps there are too few who are guiltless,
who fail to admit errors. In our own ranks there
are those who contribute to misdemeanors, who
submit to suspicions and prejudices. They, too,
must atone!
In our own ranks there are the refusniks —
resorting to a term coined among dissident Rus-
sian Jews — who refuse to learn the facts, who
submit to negative propaganda and fail to join
the unified forces among 'their people for sol-
idarity in defense of Israel in time of crisis. Will
they one day atone for indifference and submis-
sion to misinformation?
For the Jewish community there is the
urgency of assuring youth identification with
the traditions and the elders, both they and the
parents holding aloft the banner of a great le-
gacy. This has become a problem of great mag-
nitude. Why is youth deficient in its duties and
interests? Whence comes atonement on this
score?
The need is great for friends. There were
never too many, but always the righteous
Christians spoke emphatically in behalf of jus-
tice for the Jew. Now there is hope and pleading
that this may remain a factor in the inter-faith
relations. Is there need of atoning for failure to
make this factor more expressive in the society
of nations?
There is much room for atonement. Let it
come forth now, in an age of great challenge.
The truth that calls for a truly human spirit
must emerge from an atonement that will make
mankind responsive to honor, decency and free-
dom for all peoples.
HATRED UNLIMITED
An anticipated enlightenment, in an age that
gave birth to an international organization
aimed at assuring peace and good will among
nations, has developed into a revival of hatred.
The Jew has been the barometer for testing
the human factors in mankind. When the Jew
was unmolested there was hope for his
neighbors. With the spread of anti-Semitism
there was always an equal measure of prejudice
imposed on faiths other than Judaism.
Much as one would wish to judge current con-
ditions in the world as mere routine occurr-
ences, it is impossible to avoid branding the
spreading anti-Israel propaganda as also repre-
senting a resurgence of anti-Semitism.
Too many of the world capitals are showing
evidence of hatred and growing prejudice for
truth to be ignored.
Under the PLO headgear there are now the
propaganda mills that are grinding out evil at-
tacks on Jews and Israel throughout the world.
The venomous PLO had already been ac-
cepted in Turkey where it now operates as part
of the global movement to enroll supporters for
the movement aiming at the destruction of Is-
rael.
The movement's leader has received an offi-
cial welcome in Spain and the memories of a
beastly past were thus revived in the land of the
Inquisition.
Fortunately, the American-Israel friendship
is too deeply rooted to be affected by such condi-
tions. The infections of bias demand greater vig-
ilance but they can be overcome,
On the global front, hatreds are unfortu-
nately unlimited. Domestically, they are con-
fronted by a libertarian approach that must
overcome the menace of injustice. It is in this
fashion that every intolerant cloud also has a
silver lining.
--mma,TA
From Sepher-Hermon Press
`My Jewish Roots' Helps
in Tracing Your Ancestry
Alex Haley touched a raw nerve in this country of immigrants
with his best-selling book and TV dramatization, "Roots." Haley's
tracing of his ancestry has led to amateur sleuthing throughout the
United States and in many other countries as individuals look inward
and try to ascertain who they are and where they come from.
Historian David Kranzler has come to the aid of Jews looking for
their roots with his "My Jewish Roots — A Practical Guide to Tracing
and Recording Your Genealogy and Family History" (Sepher-
Hermon Press). Dr. Kranzler's large (8 1/2 by 11), paperbound volume
has 88 pages of text and additional appendices, and includes 10
different charts and a detailed description of how to systematically
trace your family tree.
- According to Dr: Kranzler, if his book is followed completely it
will allow the individual to trace his ancestry and create a multi-
dimensional family record with charts, photographs, documents and
tape recordings.
Dr. Kranzler stated, "Jewish family research has to proceed from
premises entirely different from any other ethnic group. The reli-
gious, linguistic and historical factors which distinguish Jews from
others demand that anyone in search of his Jewish roots first
familiarize him/herself with some of the basics of Jewish history,
religion and sociology. Our book provides this basic information
through the inclusion of such chapters as 'Genealogy in the Bible and
Talmud,' The Diaspora and Jewish Migrations,' The Jewish Calen-
dar' and 'Jewish Names.' It also includes listings of specialized Jewish
archives and libraries as well as a bibliography of publications per-
taining to Jewish family research..
"Another unique chapter in this book will instruct you how to
create an oral history of your family through conducting tape-
recorded interviews with senior members of your larger family.
"You will be taught what questions to ask and how to elicit
answers. Through these interviews you will be able to learn, for
instance, why some of your family stayed in the shtetl while others
left for the United States, South America or Eretz Yisrael. Also,
where did your grandparents settle first after their arrival to these
shores, and how many moves did your family undergo on their soci
climb from the cold-water tenement on New York's lower East Side
the present generation's affluent residence in Lawrence, Long Island
or in Beverly Hills, California.
"Going even further, what outstanding personal traits did each of
your relatives bring to these shores? What challenges did they face
and how did they meet them? How, for example, did a Sabbath-
observing grandfather maintain his faith in the face of economic and
social pressures?
"Through the answers obtained to these and other questions and
by utilizing fully the many other features of this guide you will be able
to reconstruct the saga of your family with a family tree as the
framework for a broader history of your people.
"In the process you will come to learn that Jewish history is the
sum total of the story of every single Jew and of each Jewish family..
Not everyone is a descendant of Rashi, R. Meir Katzenellenbogen or
Don Isaac Abravanel. But every Jew, great or not so great, scholar or
unlettered, rich or poor, shared in the collective inheritance of Israel's
glory, splendor — and tragedy.
"It is this collective heritage in addition to the particular
physiological and psychological traits of your forebears that contrib-
uted to making you what you are."