THE JEWISH NEWS
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Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing tvith the issue of July 20, 1951
Member of American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers and National Editorial Association and
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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 14th day of Kislev, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogUes:
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 32:4-36:43. Prophetical portion, Obadiah 1:1-21.
Candle lighting, Friday, Nov. 21, 4:49 p.m.
VOL. LXXVIII. No. 12
Page Four
Friday. Nov. 21. 1980
TERRORISM AND REALISM
Hopes for resolving the serious conflicts af-
fecting the quest for peace in the Middle East
never fade. Yet, the negotiations for an ap-
proachable accord commence anew with the ap-
proaching new administration chosen for the
U.S. in this month's election.
It would have been more encouraging if a
normal continuity were possible. But the repeti-
tive confusions and aggravations often interfere
with normalcy, and a new head of state cannot
be expected to follow entirely in the footsteps of
a predecessor, especially since the matter of the
peace between Israel and the Arab states was so
often injected into campaign oratory.
Actually, there never was a difference be-
tween the three major candidates on the subject
of Israel's status and the urgency of assuring
her security. Nothing was resolved by the elec-
tion and at the very first press conference of
President-elect Ronald Reagan the old ques-
tions were repeated.
It is the Reagan reply that becomes a matter
of the utmost urgency again. The question to
and the reply of President-elect Reagan were:
Q. "Governor, do you intend to pursue the
Camp David peace process? And would you still
characterize the PLO — as you did about a year
ago — as a terrorist organization?"
A. "Yes, I think the PLOhas proven that it is
a terrorist organizdtion. And I have said re-
peatedly I separate the PLO from the Palesti-
nian refugees. No one ever elected the PLO.
"And yes I intend to do, again — and to cite
the other situation we discussed earlier —
whatever can be — the United States can do. We
don't intend to mandate or dictate a settlement,
but whatever we can do to promote peace in the
Middle East, that we're going to do."
The quest' on wa he usual one and the reply
may sound 1. ke the stereotyped one often heard
from heads cf state. In the present instance it
marks a re-opening of an issue and a repeated
need for clarification, without which there will
be less a solution and more of trouble-brewing.
It is the repetitive assertion of "PLO is unac-
ceptable, but the Palestinians should be ac-
corded rights" that created confusion and con-
tinues to aggravate matters.
For Israel's enemies, linkage of PLO with
Palestinianism is fuel for the fires they are fan-
ning for Israel's destruction. They give the im-
pression that all who are described as Palesti-
nians are PLO adherents. They ignore the facts
relating to negotiations for agreements which
will hopefully lead to autonomy for Arabs in
presently Israel administered territory.
Unavoidably, the additional fact must be em-
phasized that Jews, Israelis who have lived in
the Jewish National Home uninterruptedly, are
also former Palestinians.
Basically, the need is for an expansion of the
peace agreements that were reached at Camp
David two years ago and for the fulfillment of
which President-elect Reagan is equally com-
mitted.
The primary hope is that whoever negotiates,
and the United States will surely have a major
role together with Israel and Egypt, will not
re-create the destructive factor that ignores the
approach to autonomy needs and introduces a
Palestinian issue that smacks of advocacy of
establishing a new state. This has been declared
unacceptable; the menace that accompanies
creation of a new state which could immediately
become a PLO fighting base for Israel's destruc-
tion has been ruled out, President Carter did not
approve it and neither did his contestants in
this month's election.
It is to be hoped, therefore, that the realism
necessary for resolving the Middle East conflict
will not be abrogated by giving a platform to
terrorism in the guise of PLO intrusion into the
discussion under a cloak of Palestinianism. The
transition team named by Reagan includes
authorities on the issur: who will, hopefully,
prevent undermining- of peace plans by the
damaging linkage of terrorists with the Arabs
who are on the verge of acquiring the autonomy
that will create an Arab-Israel partnership to
militate to the benefit of all the peoples of the
Middle East.
Just as President Carter has engineered Lie
peace moves, so President-elect Reagan has the
historic opportunity for their complete realiza-
tion. This is a hope now being especially
nourished in the interest of peace that must
benefit not only the people of the Middle East
but the U.S. and the aspirations of all seekers of
peace everywhere.
CLARIFYING SOVIET THREAT
In what had been described as an historic
address, at the Council of Jewish Federations
General Assembly, Israel Prime Minister
Menahem Begin emphasized that his nation
can defend itself and neither needs nor will ask
for foreign assistance militarily. He was as em-
phatic as his predecessors in the Israel prime
ministership that Israel will always lean on her
own forces for defense.
On the Sunday after his Thursday speech, Mr.
Begin gave credence to the reports that Israel
would like a military pact with the United
States. He said he would welcome such an ar-
rangement, basing his endorsement of such an
agreement upon the threat of a Soviet intrusion
into the Middle East.
Interestingly, Egypt's President Anwar
Sadat had already given such an endorsement
to the United States and was welcoming the
presence of 1,400 U.S. military personnel in
Egypt.
Is there a conflict in views and attitudes in the
Begin declarations? If Israel is determined to be
self-sustaining in defending her positions, why
welcome an American presence?
In the interest of clarity, there is need for
reaffirmation of a basic situation: the threat to
Israel and her neighbors from the Soviet Union,
and especially to Israel against whom the
Kremlin has combined many forces bent upon
destroying the Jewish state. On that basis it
must be recognized that a Soviet threat is a
threat to world peace. By calling this to the
attention of this country, Mr. Begin has ren-
dered a good service.
••-••
I
New Bantam Paperbacks
Rosten's 'Quotations,
Howe's 'Father's World'
"Treasury of Jewish Quotations" by Leo Rosten, has already .
acquired a notable place in the library of popular Jewish sayings and
the lighter vein sources.
Leo Rosten draws upon many sources for the traditional, the
talmudic and the Yiddish for the wise sayings included in his an-
thological collections.
His "Treasury of Jewish Quotations," already extensively
popularized, has just been re-issued as a paperback by Bantam Books.
The value of Rosten's work is that he defines many of the sources,
explaining the Talmud, the Yiddishisms, traditions. Thus, his stories,
his wise sayings, are understandable by readers of all denominations,
all backgrounds.
Furthermore, his explanation of proverbs, of adages contrasting
them, make his work valuable not only as a textbook for wise sayings
and entertaining stories, but also as guides to the field of humor of all
dimension
Irving Howe's 'World of Our Fathers'
Bantam's expanding Jewish bookshelf also includes the publica-
of Our Fathers" by Irving Howe among its latest
tion of "World
or
paperbacks.
This is the best-selling account of Jewish life on New York's East
Side which had a best selling record for many months.
Howe reviews the early Jewish
A4c. migrants, their cultural activities,
their passion for learning, devotion to
the Yiddish theater.
Disorder, slum, striving for
emergence from the ugliness of early
struggles — these are among the
many aspects of life on the East Side
art
thoroughly reviewed by an r
whose devotion to the Yiddik: ,n-
guage made him an authority on the
subject and on the immigrants of the
early years of this century who were
deeply affected by the Yiddish press
and Yiddish acculturation.
When this book first appeared it was
criticized for its shortcomings in treat-
IRVING HOWE
ing Orthodoxy and Zionism, as well as
the humorists depicted by Howe. In other aspects the work remains
best-selling material.
Hehnreich'S 'Wake Up'
"Wake Up, Wake Up, to Do the Work of the Creator" by William
B. Helmreich, another of the new Bantam paperbacks, is a fascinating
account of an Orthodox young Jew's devotion to faith and people.
It is an autobiographical account by Helmreich of life in the
yeshiva, the joy of acquiring the love for Jewish traditions.
It is a remarkable account also of his passing on this faith to his
sort.
This is one of the most impressive works on learning and adher-
ing to faith, on the dedication to Torah and to the traditions which
have left an indelible mark on the author of this self-portrait and its
continuity in the next generation.