THE JEWISH NEWS
SI'S 275-520)
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
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield. Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. subscription $15 a year.
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 Sdbhath, the fourth day of Kislev, 5740, the following scriptural selections will he'read in
Pentateuchal portion. Genesis 25:19-28:9. Prophetical portion. Malachi 1:1-2:7.
01.17'
synagogues:
CantPe lighting, Friday, Nov. 23, 4:47 p.m.
VOL. LXXVI, No. 12
Page Four
Friday, November 23, 1979
NO SANCTIONS TO VILLAINS
American and Canadian Jewries last
weekend demonstrated a basic principle ob-
ligating the hundreds of Jewish communities to
the obligation for Jewry never to submit to
bigotry and terror and to battle for the just
rights that must be accorded to those whose
very lives and cultural legacies are endangered.
The Council of Jewish Federations, by action
of the most representative body on this conti-
nent, made it clear that there can never be the
condoning of silence when any portion of the
Jewish people is under attack and its very exist-
ence threatened.
While it is impossible to foresee how the sur-
viving Ethiopian Jewish community can be
saved, and whether it can be transplanted to
Israel, the voice to be raised in behalf of the
25,000 who remain out of a total of 250,000,
most of whom were murdered, is a signal to the
persecutors that there will never be sanction for
perpetrators of the crimes.
At the same time there is a multiplying of
efforts to demand increased emigration of Rus-
sian Jews and their protection under interna-
tional law.
The human rights principles, in behalf of
which President Carter keeps exerting his
influence, have been seriously affected by the
bigotries in the recorded lands of oppression.
While in the case of the Falashas there is a
certainty that those who can be rescued will be
re-established in Israel, there is not that cer-
tainty in the case of the USSR immigrants. But
there is a basic principle that all who can be
rescued from the oppression growing in the
Soviet Union must have total aid, with the hope
that more and more will choose to go to Israel.
This is a pledge assumed when acquiring exit
visas and the morality of it' is the striving of
those who come to the aid of the oppressed.
Meanwhile, the primary duty is to aid the
persecuted. For that purpose the CJF General
Assembly is on record as having mobilized ac-
tion by the Jewries of the United States and
Canada. This serves additionallS , to recognize
and commend leadership as well as committed
lay representatives for fulfilling a duty with
dignity and self-respect.
SECRETARY KLUTZNICK
President Carter judged well in his choice of
Philip M. Klutznick to fill the position of secre-
tary of commerce in his cabinet.
Even before Mr. Klutznick had assumed the
role of president of the World Jewish Congress
as successor to Nahum Goldmann he had al-
ready been recognized as one of the ablest of
American Jewish leaders.
The mere successing to Dr. Goldmann gave
him one of the top spots in world Jewish leader-
ship. Like his predecessor he has been controv-
ersial, but his views always merit serious con-
sideration.
As American as well as international
president of Bnai Brith he was instrumental in
inaugurating many pioneering projects for the
advancement of Jewish cultural needs and
especially as initiator of cooperative tasks with
Zionism and Israel.
It will especially be remembered that he was
the creator of the Bnai Brith youth movements,
and AZA owes its formation to him.
- The lasting impression Mr. Klutznick made
in Detroit as guest speaker at the annual
Jewish National Fund dinner was a notable
example of his skill as an interpreter of world
Jewish issues.
To his credit the state of Israel records a major
share in the formation of the port of Ashdod and
therefore, also, the rise of the city of Ashdod.
Because of his business acumen he was thus
able to make notable contributions to the
Zionist cause and Israel's state-building proc-
esses.
It is the recognition of Mr. Klutznick's busi-
ness and administrative acumen that fits him
so well for his selection for leadership in an
important government department and in the
U.S. cabinet.
Mr. Klutznick has the good wishes of the
many thousands who have worked with him in
many causes and have learned to admire him,
and President Carter is to be commended on his
choice.
FALASHAS: JEWRY TO RESCUE
Israel has been the target of a growing com-
munity of people who are concerned about the
fate of the Falashas and keep demanding action
to help in rescuing them from a fate suffered by
most of their kinfolk.
It is believed that the 25,000 Falasha Jews
now living in Ethiopia are the survivors of what
was once a flourishing community of 250,000,
most of whom were murdered in the campaign
of hatred conducted against them.
It is as a result of the pressures by a group of
American Jews that the General Assembly of
the Council of Jewish Federations has induced
Israel to initiate a worldwide campaign to as-
sure the safety of the survivors in the black
Jewish community of Ethiopia. Sermons like
the one delivered by Rabbi Dannel Schwartz
from the pulpit of Detroit's Temple Beth El cer-
tainly contributed to the interest that aroused
rescue action for the Falashas. Once again there
is proof that by action there can be an approach
to justice.
How a rescue campaign can materialize into
action remains a duty for Israel and for the
forces cooperating in an effort to arouse public
opinion in behalf of the insecure Ethiopian
Jewish community. Settlement in Israel be-
comes the least problematic in the challenging
situation. The major hope is that sufficient
pressure may be exerted to assure an open door
for the 25,000 who are virtually kept as hos-
tages in Ethiopia. If an exit door can be set up for
the oppressed the problem will be solved.
Bar-Ilan U. Compilation
`Jewish Law and Jewish Life':
Worthy Rabbinical Responsa
Responsa are vital to Jewish scholarship. They are important as
interpretive comments on Jewish laws and traditions.
Selective rabbinical responsa have been compiled by Prof. Jacob
Bazak of Bar-Ilan University who also is a district court judge in
Jerusalem. His "Jewish Law and Jewish Life" (Union of American
Hebrew Congregations) appears in a splendidly translated work from
the Hebrew by Prof. Stephen M. Passamaneck, of the faculty of rab-
binics at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Included in these studies are responsa on judiciary, attorneys and
their ethics; partnership, commercial practice, employer and em-
ployee relations; real property, landlord and tenant, responsibilities
of neighbors; sale of movables; creditor-debtor surety; communal
regulation and enforcement in taxation; criminal matters in evi-
dence; domestic relations and inheritance.
There are so many questions that relate to everyday life in all
lands that these responsa serve as guides and are instructive for
judges, lawyers and lay people.
The author emphasizes, The queries were not restricted to legal
subjects. They touched upon theology, philosophy and commentary to
difficult talmudic or biblical passages."
For an appreciation of this work and the value of the responsa,
this quotation from the author's introduction serves the purpose val-
uably:
When the number of fields of study and scientific investigation
available to Jews increased and the conditions of Jewish life changed
— in the 19th and 20th centuries — the brilliant period of Jewish
study faded. Expertise in talmudic lore is no longer the portion of
every educated Jew — even if he has some religious training.
Moreover, one who has not attended a school which devotes the larger
portion of its curriculum to Torah, in its fullest implications, is not
really equipped to study talmudic lore on his own.
"Even those who are religiously trained may not always be able
to work with talmudic legal materials without great effort and exer-
tion.
"However, Torah was never intended to be purely esoteri
• dom, and one should never blandly accept the fact that, in the
world, distinguished Jewish jurists, and other intellectuals, ar of
easily able to turn to the sources of Jewish traditional law or to
comprehend them without excessive strain and difficulty.
"The task is therefore to open the door to this area so that (to
paraphrase the Passover Haggada) 'anyone who wishes to enjoy this
marvelous intellectual experience may do so.' The task will be accom-
plished if the largest possible group of scholars would concentrate on
the preparation and publication of the major works of Jewish -legal
literature in scientifically edited and properly annotated form.
"The responsa literature especially needs this kind of attention in
order to render it a proper part of the intellectual heritage available to
both jurists and other educated men and women. Only when this
familiarity with concepts and sources is achieved will it be possible to
include the splendid traditional legal sources, in a full and productive
fashion, in the administration of justice in Israel.
"In view of all of this, I have compiled this present work, `Mishpat
Vehalakah: Mivhar Teshubot,' whose purpose is to present the rab-
binical responsa to the educated Jewish reader."