THE JEWISHNEWS

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Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chrdnicle 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
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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 23rd day of Sioan, 5740, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 13:1-15:41. Prophetical portion, Joshua 2:1-24.

Candle lighting, Friday, June 6, 8:46 p.m.

VOL. LXXVII, No. 14

Page Four

Friday, June 6, 1980

THORNY ROAD TO PEACE

Peace, at best, is never easily attainable. The
thorny road between Israel and her Arab an-
tagonists is filled with so many obstructions
that doubt dominates over hope.
In spite of the threats, which often appear to
be irreconcilable, there is always the peace
party, the Peace Now movement in Israel. Had
it been matched in any of the Arab lands, addi-
tional to Egypt whose acceptance of a friendly
handshake from Israel is due to the courage of
Anwar Sadat, the obstacles could have been re-
moved.
But it is a one-sided issue. Peace Now sounds
logical. Can it be workable?
The prominence of the signers of a statement
advocating search for security through com-
promise on territorial issues lends significance
to their views. In the list of 250 who signed the
statement are five former generals, four who
had served in the Labor government as Cabinet
ministers and 20 present members of the Knes-
set. In their statement they declare:
"Our way is not theirs: .
"Extremists in the public and within the gov-
ernment, guided by secular and religious
chauvinism, distort Zionism and threaten its
realization. They advance the vicious cycle of
extremism and violence, which nurture each
other.
"Their way endangers and isolates Israel, un-
dermining the ethical basis for our claims to a
life of peace and security.
"Their way leads to divisions within the
Jewish people, alienates friends of Israel, and
strengthens the extremists among our enemies.
"Their way undermines consensus within Is-
rael over the reasons for fighting and dying.
"Theirs is the way of obtuseness and violence.
Their way leads to a dead end.
In Israel the Jewish people has sought to
guarantee its physical survival, to build a sov-
ereign Jewish society, and to create a spiritual

center for the Jewish people.
"Peace is necessary for the full realization of
this dream.
"Our way is the way of peace and security
through compromise and partition of the land of
Israel.
"Our way is the way of coexistence and of
tolerance.
"Our way seeks to unite the Jewish people
around its Jewish and humanist heritage.
At this time all those whose way is our way
must stand up and be counted. We must build a
wall to block violence and we must return to
mainstream Zionism."
Sentiment is growing that there must be a
compromising solution, that Israel must give a
little more than was sacrificed in the agreement
with Egypt. Therefore, the hope that there will
be an easing of tensions internally in Israel,
that extremism will be shunned, that the un-
compromising will realize that there must be an
abandonment of fanaticism in the quest for new
settlements, no matter how justified they may
be.
Nevertheless,' there is the realism of Arab
refusal to cooperate. Had there been a lessening
of threats to destroy Israel, Israelis could feel
they have someone to talkto about peace. Under
existing conditions there is primarily the ,
urgency to seek security. And for security there
must be settlements.
Realism compels concern over the rise of vio-
lence. Terrorism begets terrorism and the latest
tragedy in Hebron on Sunday is not only deplor-
able: it elecits condemnation and compels dedi-
cation to every available effort to assure peace
between the kindred Arab and Jewish people.
Who will join Sadat in the peace-making
process? Will moderate Arabs come forth with
utter seriousness to abandon saber-rattling and
to extend a hand of peace to their Jewish
neighbor?

CRISES UNLIMITED

Israelis with a knowledge of English know
how to spell crisis in its multiplied form.
Experience has taught them that for Israel
there is only one spelling and it is with an "e".
Therefore, even the recriminations that ac-
companied the exchange of letters between the
resignee Ezer Weizman and his rejected boss
who accepted it hardly add too much of vital
importance to Israel's political status in what
might surely be called another crisis under
ordinary circumstances.
There is much more to the domestic Israeli
confrontations than a Cabinet member quitting
his post. The antagonistic parties themselves
are the basis for actions leading to possible
changes, and government that can only serve as
a coalition doesn't necessarily collapse because
an important minister shocks his colleagues.
Judged from the outside, it becomes apparent
that the party of Piime Minister Menahem
Begin either isn't ready to abandon power, or
isn't sufficiently weakened to be routed out of
power. The controlling partner in the present
Israel government, the combined religious
groups, have attained so much, especially with

respect to the establishment of new settlements,
that it could not possibly be expected to seek a
change in government. While Ezer Weizman is
Anwar Sadat's darling, he may learn that this is
not the recommendation necessary for leader-
ship in Israel. Furthermore, Weizman may
learn that no one is irreplacable.
Therefore, the sensationalizing of Weizman's
resignation was another misjudged volcanic
outburst that proved to be a mere soap bubble.
Only when truly powerful leaders emerge to
challenge the Likud and its leaders while
emerging with dominance in labor ranks can an
immediate change in the Israel government be
expected. The mere resignation of a Cabinet
member is just another link in the chain of
crises which make headlines but do not shake a
government.
Being prepared for such occurrences, the Is-
raelis have learned to face every crisis with
realism. A people tested by time does not col-
lapse even when leadership recriminates. Begin
had his exchange of vituperations with David
Ben-Gurion. In their time both survived
angered venom. The lessons of the past were
well-learned.

A.S. Barnes Volume

English-Yiddish interaction
Discussed in Feinsilver Book

Interaction between English and Yiddish is tackled by 'Lillian
Lermin Feinsilver in "The Taste of Yiddish" (A.S. Barnes Co.).
Author and rebitzin, wife of a Reform rabbi, Mrs. Feinsilver's
book first was published in 1970. The revised work contains the
fascinations introduced as a labor of love and as a dedication to the •
language of the Jewish masses in many lands.
It is the free rein" acquired by Yiddish, the many words that
became commonplace in English usage, that are defined in this book.
Mrs. Feinsilver traces the history of Yiddish, its rise among Jews
in the Rhineland about the Ninth Century and its spread into Eastern
European countries.
The various dialects are alluded to, those used by the Litvaks
which became the standard for literary qualities, and the various
others in usage.
There was an intermingling of dialects and the exposure of Yid-
dish to influences stemming from life in many lands, including the
North and South American continents, left an indelible mark on the
language.
Mrs. Feinsilver points out: "In the United States, Yiddish has
picked up elements of American English, in South America of
Spanish and Portugese, in Israel of modern Hebrew."
Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet but in her The Taste of
Yiddish" Mrs. Feinsilver uses English letters for Yiddish.
Mrs. Feinsilver describes the "tam," the taste that has been
added to the American language by use of Yiddish words. "Zaftig," the
charm of a lady's appearance, is one of them. "Shlmihl," "Maze', Tov,"
"Gelt," "Shikse," "Kosher," "Maivin," "Bar Mitzva," "Bris" and the
scores of others are discussed.
,
The author calls attention to the pamphlet "Familiar e'
sh
Words and Expressions" that was published by General Foods 'ts
popularity, she points out, induced the Joseph Jacobs Organization to
print a new issue of the booklet for popular use.
Mrs. Feinsilver's book is a series of essays which relate
general topic of "tam," the "taste" of Yiddish.
History and fiction enter into the approaches to the theme which
is gaining increasing interest and the author devotes her research
into language usage, intonations, the noted authors and leaders who
helped make the Yiddish language the medium of interchange of
views as well as the creative literary force.
It is in a section of suggested readings that Mrs. Feinsilver traces
the influence of Yiddish and the extent to which its usage made it a
recognized force in communications, in the life of American Jewry.
The works of Nathan Ausubel, Charles Madison, Louis Finkelstein,
Maurice Samuel, Hutchins Hapgood and others are in the list of
notables, non-Jews as well as Jews, who left their mark in these
experiences.
Translations of Yiddish are noted in a score of popular works that
resulted from the spreading interest in the devotion to Yiddish.
As a work of research, bibliographically, with emphasis on the
"tam," a resultant of the love for the language, "The Taste of Yiddish"
acquires significance at a time when the language under discussion is
regaining much of its influential status enthusiastically.