THE JEWISH NEWS ,USPS
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Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
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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 13th day of Heshvan, 5740, the f011owing scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 12:1-17:27. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 40:27-21:16.
Candle lighting, Friday, Nov. 2, 5:07 p.m.
VOL. LXXVI, No. 9
Page Four
Friday, November 2, 1979
LEADERSHIP FOR YOUTH
Much has happened — is happening — in a
world so obsessed with uncertainties to compel
an increased interest in the value of leadership
and to ask who is to be assigned to it.
It is a problem that invades all areas, affects
all concerns, the socially minded and the politi-
cally oriented.
Is it any wonder that the choice of a President
during the 1980 national election has become a
matter of so much dispute?
The question of leadership is of the utmost
urgency for the Jew in his domestic affairs as an
American citizen who is dedicated to a contin-
ued cultural-spiritual role as well as an advo-
cate of most dedicated means of supporting and
defending Israel. This becomes an involvement
also for all friends of Israel who know the impor-
tance of that state's identification with the
United States in assuring an American position
of honor in the Middle East.
Consideration of proper leadership in Jewish
ranks becomes vital for the retention of the
ideals that are imbued in the outlined aims.
Under conditions of stress the strength of direc-
tion is of the utmost importance, and there is
an obligation to assure drawing upon knowl-
edgeable and determined young people to be-
come involved in leadership.
Knowledgeability is understandable._If there
is to be firmness, those assuming leadership
must be able to confront anomalous approaches,
to reject distortions, to be qualified to outline to
antagonists as well as to friends how and why
such issues as that of the Palestinians have
been dragged into such confusions as to create
dangers to international friendships and to
peace among nations.
Palestinians are the Arabs to be dealt with, to
be negotiated with for a solution to problems of
territory and neighborliness. That does not
permit participation of terrorists in such' dis-
cussions.
This is only one of the issues confronting
leadership. Perhaps it is time to recognize that
perhaps the present leadership of elders is get-
ting tired, and tiresome thinking can affect ac-
tion and might cause either indifference or
cynicism.
Isn't it logical to urge, now, that encourage-
ment of youth to assume leadership is both
timely and a necessity?
Therefore, the urge for youth to study and be
prepared for higher tasks in communal identifi-
cation, to accept leadership responsibilities, to
train and be ready for it.
Assumption of leadership by the younger set
is vital. It should be given encouragement and
cooperation.
What may have been missed by the elders
now must be sought and adapted by the youth in
their assumption of leadership. In the recent
crisis involving a flirting by irresponsible
Americans with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish
terrorists, headquartered in Beirut, some Jews
in leadership positions defined their attitude as
that of "puzzlement." The challenges confront-
ing Jewry and Israel defy ineptitudes. When
one attacks he cannot be treated as a puzzle. He
needs an answer, a refutation,• a rejection.
Youth must learn to be truly vigilant. That's
when leadership will be effective.
NOBEIAISTS AND MERIT
Nobel Prizes awarded currently affirm
adherence to the view that merit continues to
dominate in academia and in recognition of
achievements.
It is not the color of a person's skin that
counts. It is the skill, the brain, the desire to
achieve and to serve.
It is not the country one comes from. It is the
desire to learn, to search, to do research to im-
prove man's lot on earth.
That is why in the current list of Nobelists
there are whites and blacks, people of all faiths.
Recognizably, Jews continue to be Nobel
Prize winners out of proportion to their num-
bers on earth. Here another element enters into
the achievements. In many cases it is the need
to overcome obstacles.
Minorities have that urge — to overcome
difficulties to gain status in a society where one
has to battle for equality.
Therefore, for Jews who were told thatwhen
there is discrimination one has to be twice as
good as the competition in order to be recognized
as half as good as the opponent, it is necessary to
strive for the highest goals.
These are the lessons in the Nobel Prize
competitions. The glories attained by blacks
and whites are the results of human skills striv-
ing to create new ideas and develop skills that
make civilization and humanity the gteat goals
for comfort and peace for mankind.
A SYMBOL. CA LLE D BEGIN
In the sensations that have captured and
often captivated news headlines, punctuated
with the names of Jackson, Arafat and their ilk,
the aggravating references were to Menahem
Begin. Every reference to the brutalities per-
petrated on orders from Yasit Arafat contained,
in his defense, the claim that the PLO mass
murderer was no different from Begin.
This is the distortion, the libel that must be
refuted with all the available facts.
Begin was the leader in the revolt of the
Yishuv, the Jewish settlement in Palestine,
against the pledge-breaking British. He con-
ducted a military and political war. He battled
against Perfidious Albion. He warned that in-
nocent people should not be harmed. He would
not touch the hair of a child or a woman shop-
ping in a supermarket. He warned the British in
advance that he was readying to bomb the King
David Hotel. When an Arab village was in-.
vaded, his forces were drawn into the fray with
white flags and were then shot upon, thus caus-
ing the counterattack at Deir Yassin that re-
sulted in tragic deaths.
Arafat fights children, orders the throwing of
bombs into supermarkets, shoots at innocent
people on buses and planes. He does not fight a
war militarily. He conducts mass murder. Yet
he and his cohorts, including the misled Ameri-
can blacks, would equate him with Begin.
A Publisher's Compilation
An Encyclopedic Anthology
of 100 Outstanding Jews
Is Printed by Doubleday
David C. Gross had a distinguished career in editorial capacities.
He supervised numerous noteworthy publishing projects. He served
as executive vice president of the Jewish Publication Society of
America and had similar roles with the EncyClopedia Judaica, Keter
Publishing Co. and Sabra Books.
He is eminently qualified for anthological writing and biographi-
cal studies, as evidenced in "Pride of Our People" (Doubleday). It is a
history of 100 outstanding Jews.
His selection is an excellent one. Some inclusions will surprise
the readers who have knowledge of Jewish events. Some omissions
will be equally puzzling.
Doubts could be raised about some of the notables included in this
collection of Jewish celebrities. Some are among the converts: But if
Benjamin Disraeli can be claimed as a Jew, so can many others.
Gross dealt with many categories.
There are the scholars and rabbis and the
artists, statesmen and politicians,
Hasidim and secularists, artists and
authors, scientists, judges, people from
many lands.
The presidents of Israel are included in
this volume and the only omission, that of
Shneur Zalman Shazar, is puzzling.
Highly commendable in the Gross an-
thology is the inclusion of the heroes of
the resistance to Nazism, the survivors
and those who carried on a struggle for
life and liberty. Heading the list is the
Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal. In
list belong the following who are a
the great Jews selected for inclusion in
DAVID GROSS
"Pride of Our People":
Leo Baeck, Ruth Kluger, Tzivia Lubetkin, and the martyred,
including Anne Frank and Janusz Korczack.
There are the heroes who died in the battles for Israel's freedom
and to defend the Palestine Yishuv, as well as those who died in the
battles of the ghettoes: Joseph Trumpeldor, Mordechai Anilewicz,
Hanna Senesch.
The most effective review of this volume would be to include the
100 names, as an indication of the great contributions to Jewry and
mankind. Taken at random, here are some of those illustrious figures:
Stephen S. Wise, Nathan Straus, Solomon Schechter, Golda
Meir, Bernard Baruch, Artur Rubenstein, Theodor Herzl, Rebecca
Gratz, Gerard Swope, Ernest Bloch, Emma Lazarus, Moses Mon-
tefiore, Albert Einstein, Haym Nahman Bialik, Vladimir Jabotinsky,
S.Y. Agnon, Shalom Aleichem.
The eminent in Israel are in the book and so are the patriarchal
figures in Jewish history, like Hillel.
There are the merchant barons and the women who helped up-
hold the spiritual values of Jewish life and inspire learning.
The value of this book lies in its being so effectively encyclopedic.
It will be valued by all who seek' information about the most noted
personalities in Jewish history.