THE JEWISH NEWS ,USPS 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. CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher ALAN HITSKY News Editor Business Manager HEIDI PRESS Associate News Editor DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 18th day of Kislev, 5740, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pen tateuchal portion, Genesis 32:4-36:43. Prophetical portion, Hosea 11:7-12:12. Candle lighting, Friday, Dec. 7, 4:43 p.m. VOL. LXXVI, No. 14 Page Four Friday, December 7, 1979 INTERNATIONAL RNATIONAIA LETHAR GY Had it not been for the lethargy in which the world has become embroiled, the tragedy that has struck the United States might not have occurred. Perhaps lethargy also should be interpreted as being rooted in selfishness. Was it selfish motivations of the most powerful nations in the world that caused them to be indifferent to what had taken place in Teheran? Why weren't the embassies of the civilized nations shut im- mediately when the American embassy was turned into savagery? Is it fear that motivates lethargy? If it is, why have not the nations of the world recognized that what happens to the United States can also happen to them? Is it any wonder, however, that such is the attitude of diplomats? Isn't the Teheran horror a repetition of the terrorism that had been prac- ticed against Israel? Did not the Great Powers remain silent when Israel was being terrorized? Didn't they chastise Israel at every step, when Israel retaliated, while remaining silent whenever the PLO and their cohorts engineered acts of insanity and savagery with children and innocent food shoppers as their victims? It is at the root of the problem — that lethargy has been internationalized, that too few of the nations of the world had the courage to act whenever a single tyrannical brutality was performed. Will the Great Powers succumb to their fears or abandon indifference? What a gain can be achieved if the Khomeini lunacies can serve as a lesson for the world to abandon lethargy and fear! BROTHERHOOD AND HUMANISM Detroit Round Table objectives gained new There is a lesson for mankind in the tragic impetus at the annual Brotherhood dinner last events in Iran. The confusion over Islamic prin- week. The Detroit arm of the National Confer- ciples was clarified by scholars and in an im- ence of Christians and Jews, with an enrollment passioned appeal for reason and justice by surpassing previous activities provided the Anwar Sadat of Egypt who emphasized that platform for a strengthened program to unify Islamic law does not approve of oppressive Americans in the cause of justice and the elimi- means, whether in diplomacy or any other nation of prejudice. human relationship. Thutis the appeal to rea- The noteworthy appeals and messages at that son and for tolerance thaeembraces all peoples function by Thomas A. Murphy, president of and is not to be ignored when speaking of General Motors Corp., the recipient of the Brotherhood. NCCJ Human Relations Award; Alan E. Schwartz, Round Table co-chairman; and Mrs. This nation now is the victim of prejudice Ethel H. Levy, president of the Round Table stemming from a region where the clock has Women's Division; combined to emphasize the been turned back many centuries. The lessons urgency of making Brotherhood workable, of that are offered by the traditions that have eliminating hatred and striving to attain rea- given rise to the movement for Brotherhood in son in an age threatened by barbarism. this land may yet become applicable to those The messages and appeals were timely. They who have created fears, have threatened the were uttered at the very time when President lives of diplomats and by that token have be- Carter was asking the religious movements, come a menace to mankind. The hope is that the people of all faiths, to pray that the portions of prayers for and lessons of the humanism inher- the world where even heads of government can ent in America will awaken the peoples suffer- turn into beasts will learn the principles of ing from the tyrannies of barbarians and will democracy and decency and will abandon their re-establish good-will even in the areas where medievalism and vicious hatreds. medievalism now rules. BOOKS TO EDUCATE THE YOUTH When Hanuka and the related holiday periods on civic and religious calendars ap- proach, publishers begin to introduce books for children. The gift-giving period becomes an oc- casion to encourage reading, book buying, an interest in publishing and authorship for the youth as well as the elders. Fortunately for the Jewish communities, books of general Jewish interest for the youth are becoming more available and publishers are showing a greater concern for books for the young. Thus, the Jewish book publishers especially, including the privately operated as well as the communally-encouraged like the Jewish Publi- cation Society of America, the Union of Ameri- can Hebrew Congregations and others, have in- cluded books for children among the obligations to provide educational material for the young people. Therefore, the children's bookshelves are ex- panding, the libraries for youth are becoming more available, young people are provided with reading matter that is historically valuable, that relates to the past and the present, the calamities and the constructive results of Jewish living. The children's book publishing projects pro- vide opportunities for artists, whose works have illustrated many important books. The general nature of the publishing trends is especially impressive in biographies. An un- usual resort to fact and photographic skill is contained in two Pantheon Books. Entitled "Einstein for Beginners" and "Freud for Begin- ners," these books contain the informative, the illustrative, in photos and cartoons. They show literary skill and an understanding of how to appeal to young readers in presenting to them the factual, the biographical, the informative about science and history. .Books for children are a necessity. The pub- lishers' responses to these needs are most hear- tening. Israel President Navon's Inspired 16 Days, 7 Gates' President Yitzhak Navon of Israel is a man of faith. Like his predecessors he is a highly cultured personality and his knowledge is steeped in the history of the Middle East and especially of Israel. He is devoted to the legendary and he is acquainted with the mystical. His literary qualities are evidenced in his mastery of He- brew as his native tongue, as well as Arabic and English, in addition to European languages. This becomes evident upon reading his "The Six Days and the Seven Gates" (Herzl Press). The very title indicates the concern with Israel's status in the world and the relationship with Jerusalem. The historic gates are treated here nostalgically, and the legen- dary predominates. President Navon's concluding sentiments in "The Six Days and the Seven Gates" have special merit. These are his words that invite a sharing in inspired sentiments: - "He forth His stretched . hand and a flame descended upon the Lions' Gate. His voice thundered forth and He said to it: 'Speak!' "TheLns ' Gate shrank, and did not say a word. "'Speak!' said the Holy One, blessed be He, but it still refused. - A , _ —...„„,---ix "Then He scourged it with a rod of --- -: A t flame until it spoke: 'Master of the .1 World! Every moment I can see from here, on the eastern side, soldiers of Israel on the hills and on Mount Scopus, and at the feet of the Gates I see them falling, scorched by fire. Let them enter by any Gate, so long as not another single one of them falls!' "When the Holy One, blessed be He, heard this, he said to it: "'Since thou has belittled thyself, and held the lives of the young men dearer than thine own glory, I hereby decree that they shad! enter through thee, and from thee shall salvation some to my Holy Mount. Let the young lions enter through the Lions' Gate!" And before an hour passed, a flood of Israel's youth broke through s th ae n L ctiio ti n es s' G of a l t s e riae iron cars, and thence on to the Temple Mount and the n misb PareLo sidn evniatb . N avon's book was translated from the Hebrew by 11. YITZHAK.NAVON - : . ; The Navon volume is a love song, a veneration for Jerusalem, a deeply moving prose poem in which the eminent scholar echoes the sentiments of the Israeli armed forces who approached Jerusalem in y l 9 e to hy recapture rejca orpd the after it had been held in subjection for 19 city years It is the sanctity with which the Seven Gates were approached, as p threey ssw ederien b,,Tb eineg slibc beD raate yad,an thdattbgi ayseesvw eneiG s."the poetic spirit ex- ghatteto ifi nt t h h e o i N s rahv o a n p s b odo y o kahout Seven Gates add Th maegri miafign cen try tot t9vgr p alualehs ofitnhhe Yitzhak Navon is an educator, an author and Israel's foremost exponent of Oriental and Sephardic folklore. He is a scion of a patri- cian Jerusalem Sephardi family with a distinguished public career as former secretary to Prime Minister David Ben - Gurion, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and chairman of the World Zionist General Council.