, THE JEWISH NEWS (usps75 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 Sabbath, the 17th day of Iyar, 5740, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 21:1-24:23. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 44:15-31. Sunday, Lag b'Omer Candle lighting, Friday, May 2, 8:14 p.m. VOL. LXXVII, loo. 9 Page Four Friday, May 2, 1980 U•S • AND ISRAEL AFTER 1980 So much talk is heard about foreign policies being exploited for political purposes in a Presidential election year, and there are so many warnings that a losing incumbent could penalize Israel for criticisms and for evidences of an emerging Jewish oymittym. ateeoliipt8 - _A • £e anticipated for the post-1980 era. One candidate for the Republican nomination who has since dropped out of the race, John . Connally, had been quoted as saying that he viewed the so-called Jewish vote as "inconse- quential." It was when he was condemned for his statements that were considered so damag- ing to Israel, and also when the amount of Jewish support for him was very minimal, some donors withdrawing their pledges after hearing his views on the Middle East. Countermanding such views about the "in- consequence" of the Jewish role are the re- peated assurances, from White House and State Department, that the American policies of friendship for Israel will always remain intact. Serious1 to be considered are the concerns evidenced in some quarters. Exemplary is the statement by Dr. Alexander Schindler,' president of the Union. of American Hebrew Congregations, who, in a letter published in the New. York Times, states: "The Carter Administration has turned its - back on the single democracy, the most stable government, the most vital strategic asset and the closest ally of the United States in the Mid- dle East. The confusion within the Administration — and now the confession by Mr.. Vance .that the U.S. vote was indeed Carter policy — must cause profound anxiety to all Americans con- cerned with Israel's security and U.S. strategic interests. It will also have a pernicious effect on the Middle East peace process. "If Secretary Vance is to be taken at his word, if it is indeed U.S. policy to define the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem as "Palestinian ter- ritories," to call for the dismantling of all of Israel's West Bank settlements, .to ignore UN Resolutions 242 and 338 and to endorse sanc- tions against Israel, the result can only be to harden still further the refusal by Jordan and the Palestinian Arabs to enter the peace talks — and to encourage more countries to follow the lead of Austria and India in extending diploma- tic recognition to the- terrorist PLO. "In Paris, President Giscard d'Estaing speaks of Palestinian 'self-determination' — dip- lomatese for a PLO state. In London, the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, says he does not believe the PLO is 'a terrorist organiza- tion as such.' Thus do Western Europe's once- proud democracies manipulate the image of the PLO to make it appear respectable as they vote in the Security Council to blacken Israel's name and to charge Israel with obstructing the peace. "Once again the world is preparing to trade in Jewish blood — this time in the delusory belief that appeasing the PLO will secure a steady supply of oil at steady prices. A likelier result of pandering to Arafat & Co. will be to earn the contempt of the Arab world and to invite more terrorism. That the Carter Administration by - its misguided attempt to punish Israel should encourage this evil and self-defeating strategy is perhaps the most serious indictment of the President's foreign policy." If there were ever the slightest danger of a • agiaanaing or animosities, the paiaes relating to the traditional Israel-U.S. friendships would be bankrupted. Furthermore, if such a threat were ever to be on the agenda, now or after the elections, or at any time in the future, a grave danger would confront the American people as much as it would Israel because of Israel's role in the Mid- dle East as the most accountable and most de- pendable friend, associate and cooperator with the U.S. in that area. On the record, in public assertions, all of the candidates for President have re-affirmed their commitment to the friendship between the two nations. The present Administration insists upon such policies. On paper the pledges are recorded, but the printed word is often erasable and therefore doubts emerge and confusions create fears. Fears emerge into anger. Basic American principles hardly condone such pos- sibilities, yet they are bandied about and taken seriously. A President's role is vital to the basic ideals of this country. As long as there are doubts, they must be confronted with dignity and with cour- age. From_both the Republican and Democratic conventions there are certain to emerge new commitments. These must be considered as ob- ligations for those emerging as the party lead- ers in the November election. It matters little whether a candidate is or is not an incumbent. The national obligations must predominate and foreign policies are not to be treated as political mirages, as pledges in erasable resolutions. The issue is akin to all parties and must be treated without political bias. It is doubtful whether the American people tolerate the breaking of sacredpledges. There- fore those who lead the people must surely share these-obligations. Treating the question on this basis, there must be re-introduced a sense of confidence in the honor of this nation. Such an honorable policy is not to be tampered with. Voters must go to the polls armed" with such confidence. That's how the dignity of this nation will be affirmed. PLEA FOR ACTION In the few remaining days before the formal closing of the current Allied Jewish Campaign, an urgent message goes forth to the thousands yet to be reached by the volunteer solicitors for participation in the vital social service and _human appeal for funds for three score of impor- tant causes. It is not enough to be concerned about Israel's security: the means must be provided to strengthen the embattled country socially, spiritually, culturally. There is more to membership in the commu- nity that provides for so many needs: the 50 local and national social service and educa- tional movements must be given proper_ sup- port. A Transition from Degradation to Dignity in ORT History Emergence of youth from degradation to dignity, from helpless- ness to creative labors, is mirrored in an impressive history of the movement that has become one of the most impressively progressive tasks in providing means for constructive labors to previously op- pressed — and depressed — Jews. ORT, the abbreviation for Organization for Rehabilitation through Training which is now celebrating its 100th anniversary, is brought alive in a warm style in the Schocken-published "History of ORT," written by Dr. Leon Shapiro. The book will fascinate students of Jewish history of the past century in its evaluation of Jewish experience, the horrors of persecutions, the cour- age with which difficulties were con- fronted. Significant also is the leadership! Included are the names of Leon Bram- son, Aron -Syngalowski, William Haber. Dr. Shapiro's "History of ORT" is a definitive work. It is also the first scholarly exploration of ORT's impact and its place in the economic, social, and educational structures of com- munities around the world. As ORT celebrates its centennial, it is now a well-established system of DR.-LEON SHAPIRO education centered in vocational high schools. New technologies have created new occupational skills, and the resilience-of ORT in its adaptation to evolving job markets has become the latest development in its history. ORT was created to help the Jews of Czarist Russia in 1880 and continued to focus its energies on Eastern Europe as long as that area was the greatest center ofJewish population in the world. ORT's help was important during the Depression years of the 1920s and espe- cially important to the victims of Hitler when the organization was able to reach into internment camps and even into the Warsaw Ghetto to provide some measure of hope. Today, ORT is a world-wide network, with its largest progr Israel. More than half of all vocational education at the seco. _cy level in Israel is provided by the ORT network of schools and training units. Where once it merely tried to supply materials and traini - hr such simple productive skills as tailoring, today its programs em , such sophisiticated programs as automation and avionics. Where,at its beginnings, its activities were confined to Czarist Russia, its work in time spread to Europe, the Mid- and Near East, Africa, Latin America, and the United States. Most recently, responding again to a new human and social situation confronting emigres, it has opened programs for Soviet Jewish refugees in Rome, Israel and New York. Dr. Shapiro highlights many aspects ofJewish life, both past and present, with facts and figures, incisive portraits of people who breathed into the ORT idea and programs, and with frank examina- tion of the concepts that give meaning to the body of ORT work. Dr. Leon Shapiro was until recently professor of Russian and Soviet Jewish studies at Rutgers University. He was a member of the university's department of Hebraic Studies and of the Soviet and Eastern Europe program faculty.