THE JEWISH NEWS SPS 275 520 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 Affiliate Member of National Newspaper Association and Capital Club. 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 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.