Friday, February 13, 1981
THE bETROlt itillSH NEWS
Purely Commentar y
The Anti-Semitic Virus
Again a World Plague
So voluminous the accumulating record of anti-
Semitic occurrences, so vast is the number of incidents in
scores of American cities, that the plague is no longer
limited to neo-Nazism or the Ku Klux Klan or their related
hate movements.
The unrecorded incidents overwhelm those already on
the record.
The resurgence of Jew-baiting is the subject of discus-
sion in the capitals of the world. Arab anti-Israel prop-
aganda has surely contributed towards the spread of the
poison, but hatred for Jews is not limited to Moslem coun-
tries. It is reborn in'Germany, it is evidenced in England
and France, it is a danger for Jews in Latin America. Even
the Scandinavians are not immune from the virus.
It is so shocking in New York that the wave of anti-
Semitism there was reported to the Jerusalem Post. Leon
Hadar, Jerusalem ,Post correspondent in New York, re-
ported in January:
The theft this month of seven Torah Scrolls Val-
ued at $15,000 each from one of the oldest
synagogues in Brooklyn marked another peak in
the rising wave of break-ins into synagogues and
vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in the New York
area.
The latest report of the Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith indicates a sharp increase in
assaults on Jews and vandalism against Jewish
institutions, synagogues and cemeteries in 1980
over 1979. The largest number of incidents — 120
— took place in the New York area, the report
says.
In addition to frequent thefts, swastikas and
anti-Semitic slogans have been painted on build-
ings, homes and automobiles belonging to Jews in
the area and the area has seen several fires of
suspicious origin.
Some 60 anti-Jewish incidents were recorded in
the last three months of 1980 alone.
So serious is the revived and growing menace that the
historian-editor of Jewish Currents, Morris U. Schappes,
warned against the planned staging of Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice." He pointed to the danger of dramatiz-
ing again the vicious character of Shylock in a time of
spreading anti-Semitism in this letter that appeared in the
New York Times;
It was important to learn from John J. O'Con-
nor in the Times of Jan. 26 that the BBC produc-
tion of "The Merchant of Venice" scheduled for a
Feb. 23 screening on Channel 13 will be "an un-
compromising portrait of the period's anti-
Jewish attitudes" and that "the production,
bound to be controversial, makes no effort to
make Shylock sympathetic in ways that have
since become conventional."
In other words, the full anti-Semitic impact that
is' built into the play by Shakespeare, the master
craftsman, will be let loose among us at a time
when the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith
has just reported that there was an ominous up-
surge of anti-Semitic incidents in 1980 throughout
the country.
It is interesting to remember that in 1960 Orson
Welles abandoned what he said was a lifelong
ambition to play Shylock and canceled a produc-
tion ready to take the boards in London when on
the Continent there was a widespread outbreak of
swastika smearings on synagogues. In The Lori-
don Express, Welles then wrote: "No, until all the
church walls are clean — and safely clean, too — I
think Shylock, with his Jewish gabardine, his
golden ducats and his pound of flesh, should be
kept on the bookshelves until a safer epoch."
Are we in that safer epoch? In the U.S.A. or
anywhere? Is the ADL report of no significance?
If BBC and the Public Broadcasting Corpora-
tion will not withdraw the production, what will
they do to mount swiftly an educational effort to
demonstrate the evil of anti-Semitism today?
Whether BBC and PBS can effectively counter the
baleful image of the vengeful Shylock implanted
in the Western mind by the genius of Shakespeare
may be questionable, but unless the BBC and PBS
make an earnest effort, they may well be consid-
ered irresponsible.
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The curse, of anti-Semitism struck many. It outraged
some with a sense of fair play who became staunch defen-
ders.
Robert St. John, among the latter, relates experiences
in his student days. He witnessed a Jewish freshman being
harassed in his college days under the guise of being hazed.
The two became good friends and St. John's role as a philo-
Semite is a matter of record.
This also was the experience of Pete Hamill. He tells,
Anti-Semitism as a World Threat Again Torments
Jewry ... World Jewish Congress Critical Report on
Israel Must Be Treated as Guide to Positive Action
in . a syndicated column, of his days as a youth when he
became aware-.of Charlie Robbins. He learned that Charlie
was Jewish in a neighborhood of Catholics and one Protes-
tant. When they all learned Charlie was Jewish they
harassed, taunted, abused him. Chaflie was Jewish they
twice struck a lad much taller and heavier than he. Pete
never forgot Charlie. He related the experience in his col-
umn and then called for action against anti-Semitism dec-
laring:
All of that was 35 years ago, but I thought about
Robbins the other day when I saw the report from
the Anti-Defamation League of .Bnai Brith about
the startling increase in anti-Semitic acts in the
past year. I thought about him, with his stunned
face, when I traveled around the country last
autumn, and picked up anti-Semitic talk almost
everywhere. Jews are being blamed for high oil
prices (because of U.S. support for Israel); for the
loss of the war in Vietnam (supposedly for leading
the opposition to the war); for the general decline
of the economy.
I thought about Robbins when I heard a lot of
this anti-Jewish nonsense last fall, and then I re-
membered what Richard Nixon had muttered on
March 23, 1973, in a taped conversation with John
Dean:
"Those Jewboys are everywhere," said- the
President of the United States. You can't stop
them."
Today, a lot of the old Nixon crowd is back in
Washington, to pick up jobs from the Reagan Ad-
ministration. They can't be blamed for everything
their old boss said or did, of course, but it might be
a good time for the triumphant conservatives to
make themselves clear on this subject. The new
President should openly, strongly denounce
anti-Semitism, making clear that certain fun-
damentalist Christians are crackpots.
He should also instruct his attorney general to
use the full force of the law against all those whose
anti-Semitic virus bursts into overt criminal ac-
tion.
And in our own ways, all of us should make
certain that no more American kids are scarred
up the way a kid named Charlie Robbins was, in a
lost summer after the war.
That it should be necessary in this enlightened age
even to write such a column is an outrage.
It is still the shame of the non-Jewish world.
It is the renewed signal to Jews to hold their heads high
and never to submit to tyranny and bigotry. "To bigotry no
sanction," George Washington told a Jewish congregation
two centuries ago. This remains the echo of true
Americanism.
WJC., Critical Israel Report
Must be Treated With Respect
A two-year task, emerging as a 119-page review of
conditions affecting Israel and her needs, commends the
interest, concern, as well as the respect of world Jewry.
It has a special aspect involving the Jews.of the United
States and Canada.
World Zionist Organization leadership would have
been more realistic to welcome the study for additional
deliberations. The problems posed are serious and they
affect all of world Jewry. The Israel-American Jewry rela-
tions, the question of the right to criticism being given a
note of emphasis, cannot be minimized. If leadership is to be
inspired, criticism must be permitted and encouraged.
Then there is the matter of aliya which is under such
decline that no matter what the differences, realism de-
mands thorough study without equivocation. WZO super-
visors of aliya planning may as well admit failure and the
need for a new halutziyut can be realized only by conceding
errors and striving to correct the obstacles that exist for
newcomers within Israel.
Very serious is the issue of religious freedom and the
denial of it to Conservative and Reform Jews. It is to Israel's
utter disrespect that the situation affecting the non-
Orthodox has been permitted to continue through the years
of Israel's sovereignty.
Now the Labor Party offers a solution — if it regains
power. Where was it when it was in power? Didn't it yield in
the interest of power and of acquiring a coalition with the
Orthodox power-dictating factor?
Where was the Labor vote several months ago when a
resolution to give due recognition to Conservative and Re-
form Jews was defeated in the Knesset'? Labor then had the
vote to achieve what the fairminded who seek total freedom
of religion in Israel have been striving for.
The issues are brave, the WJC study tackled them,
they Must be given due consideration and WJC is to be
commended for a serious task that challenges all who wish
for improvements in Israel-Diaspora relations and in Is-
rael's protected future.
By Philip
Slomovitz
The Hooded Pistol-Carriers:
The Comfort to Lawlessness
NRA, the National Rifle Association, makes no
apologies for being the strongest lobby in the land. It will
not yield to gun control. Therefore, the quest for a more
lawful society is becoming more difficult.
It is even more difficult when the Ku Klux Klan boasts
of arming young and old. That's how disregard for the law is
encouraged.
When, therefore, the Jewish Defense League publicly
acclaims plans to establish camps for the training of
youngsters to handle firearms, it is cause for deepest regret.
This Jewish group not only boasts about such plan-
ning: it has even selected California, New York and Michi-
gan as settings for such scenery.
Photographs in California newspapers have displays.
1-4 year olds in gun-toting training. Does this make the
heart of the NRA palpitate with joy? Doesn't it mean im-
itating the KKK? And if the KKK can train gunners in its
hatred for blacks, why shouldn't blacks imitate? And if
Jews will not brand such imitations as shameful, what hope
. is there for protection under the law?
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger's
warnings of the increased, dangers posed by the rise in
crime, and the horrors perpetrated in Los Angeles which
have resulted in a rash of gun sales for a self-protective
purposes, indicate a national problem affecting all Ameri-
cans. It is not a Jewish problem. It is being treated as a
human ailment to be resolved not by vigilantes but by the
force of law. KKK becomes the criminal in some areas. It
will be a tragedy for Jewry if JDL is to be equated with-the
lawbreaking of the KKK.
Only loss of faith in this nation and its institutions can
possibly encourage gun-toting. May such faith continue to
dominate this land in the realism of the self-respect of the
American people.
Mischa Mischakoff as a Symbol
of Musical Attainments Here
Mischa Mischakoff symbolized notable musical pro-
gress in this community.
He gained national fame while retaining a high role in
the Detroit musical circle. It is on this score that the earns
even greater recognition for having been ready at all times
to encourage students, to inspire organizers of orchestras,
choirs, string ensembles.
This is where the Center Symphony Orchestra played
a role in the life of Mischa Mischakoff. Having befriended
the Center Symphony's organizer and conductor, Julius
Chajes, he often appeared in concerts with the orchestra.
He inspired its ensemble and director. He left a commenda-
ble mark everywhere and his name merited _honor and
respect.
Woman Beats Own Record
in Annual Galilee Marathon
Zahava Shmueli was the first woman to cross the
finish line in the Sheraton - Sea of Galilee Interna-
tional Marathon in January. Her time of 2:52:45 bet-
tered her own record for the race. Jim Dingwall of
Scotland won the event in 2:16:19. Some 300 Israelis
and 200 runners from 19 other countries participated
in the annual race.