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."