THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, March 6, 1981 22 Author Analyzes Resurgent Anti-Semitism By MURRAY ZUCKOFF (WATERCOLORS FROM CHINK RIGINAL GRAPHICS • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • Bob 801Atv • • • • • • , • •• • $10 FACE VALUE • •I° - • U.S. SAVINGS BOND: • • with the purchase of the • • ' Norm • • Model VR9750J • PROGRAMMABLE ,• • • • •• NEW YORK (JTA) — Samuel Pisar is convinced that the resurgence of per- nicious anti-Semitism is a worldwide reality and that no country is immune to this barbarism. It is, in his opinion, a danger not only to Jews but to the very essence of civilization. The internationally famous lawyer is the author of the best seller, "Of Blood and Hope," which has been published in France, the United States, Brazil and England and is soon due to be published in Israel. Pisar is a Holocaust survivor who had his Bar Mitzva in Maidanek and was interned at Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps and lib- erated at the age of 16 by American troops. According to Pisar, anti- Semitism and its pernicious form, Nazism, is not an aberration of history, the result of some fortuitous de- velopment. It is aTorm of so- cial gangrene that results from economic dislocations, political convulsions and society on the verge of col- lapse. "The seeds of collapse are sprouting everywhere," Pisar said. Those seeds, he ob- served, are "unemploy- ment, inflation, economic uncertainty, the energy crisis, the uncertainty of oil supply, terrorism, vio- lence in the streets and politicians who cannot cope, economicsts who cannot cope and dip- lomats who cannot cope." Pisar is neither an alar- mist not a pessimist. There are .counter-forces to anti- Semitism but for those forces to extirpate this so- cial disease, the origin and nature of anti-Semitism must be understood. Born in Poland and made a citizen of the United States by a spe- cial act of Congress, Pisar is starkly realistic about the condition of modern society and particularly about the Jewish condition within this society. "We are living in apocalyptical times," he ob- served. "To me, we are fac- ing quite possibly the ther- monuclear gas chamber of the future — a kind of global Auschwitz. "I do not only mean that I am afraid of another Holocaust. Auschwitz is also the symbol of a very long and cowardly abdica- tion as the Jewish people were being abandoned in Europe. And Auschwitz is the symbol of the Calvary that followed it and engulfed the world. This kind of terminology is es- sential if we are to sound a warning to others and to es- tablish some protection for ourselves." Anti-Semitism is a uni- versal issue, Pisar contin- ued, because, while Jews are the first targets and vic- tims of this outrage, "it can engulf everyone." Anti- Semitism is the litmus test of democracy — whether it can withstand the onslaught or capitulate to it, whether forces can unite to combat both its causes and effects or whether there will be an "abdication of re- • E0 DIRECTOR • Rabbi Says Non-Orthodox •' • • • • VIE/ —* • • New! The Beta Video Recorder With Clear • Frame-by-Frame Advance • Clear Variable • • - • Slow Motion • Clear Stop Action • Speed Search • Triple Speed • 14-day • Programmable Timer • 5 Hours Recording Time; . mi.. • • .5 • • • • • • • • VR9750J •• • • • THE CHOICE IS CLEAR.. WHY SETTLE FOR LESS • • • BIG DISCOUNTS SEIK O r SMITH-CORONA: TELEPHONEi ,,QUARTZ WATCHES 1 ANSWERING ELECTRIC • • • 40% OFF tI CHINES it iTYPEWRITWS • • Good until Apr-. 1 Sugg. List • s$79%.r5t RCA • • SONY • • • • CALCULATORS (WALKMAN) $ 149 EUREKA VACS VIDEO RECORDERS •• list siaso. $999 6 HOUR #65o til 3/15 NEW ADDRESS • • • :OSCAR BRAUN'Si • • LINCOLN TOWERS, SUITE 111 15075 W. Lincoln (101/2 Mile) • • • One Block East of Greenfield Mon. thru Sat. 10-4 • • •••••••••••••••••••••••• sponsibility," Pisar em- phasized. Given the social unrest and turmoil in many coun- tries, a situation develops psychologically where someone has to be blamed, he said, noting at the same time that the United States is not to be left out of this scenario. "It becomes a sea- son for demagogues. It's al- ways the fault of someone when things go badly, and usually it's the fault of 'the others' and first and foremost of 'the others' are always the Jews." But understanding the causes and consequences of anti-Semitism is only the first step toward combat- ting it. To assure its eradi- cation, to make certain that another Holocaust does not happen again, it is neces- sary to forge alliances with various segments of the population. Alliances can and must be forged with blacks and other minorities, with trade unionists, with segments of the left and segments of the right, Pisar said, especially in the United States where a pluralistic society makes it more feasible to do. Asked if the Jewish lead- ership is capable of organiz- ing, of mobilizing, of creat- ing the kind of conscious- ness and cohesiveness necessary to combat resur- gent Nazism, Pisar stated: "My impression is that the Jewish leadership — ex- cellent men as they may be — is confused, is groping, is not finding the answers, is at cross purposes on all kinds of issues. There is no strategic thinking and "What is needed is think- ing that is strategic; think- ing that projects not only for a year but five years, 10 years. This is the survival. What we have to learn is how to make this a central issue." Bar-Ilan Prof. Reaching Out for Immigrants RAMAT GAN — Efforts to reach Jews in various regions of Russia with in- formation concerning em- migration are being under- taken by groups in Israel . under the leadership of Prof. Moshe Gitterman of Bar-Ilan University. Prof. Gitterman has taught physics at Bar-Ilan since his aliya in September 1973. One of 17 professors who conducted a hunger strike in Moscow to demand exit permits from the Soviet authorities, he is convinced that continued- material now reaching Russia about the successful absorption of tens of thousands of Soviet Jewish families during the past decade will help direct a wider flow of immigrants .to Israel. Aid for Atlanta NEW YORK — The Synagogue Council of America has sent a tele- gram to President Ronald Reagan urging that he take every action necessary to halt the slayings of black children in Atlanta. pipe most Cannot Prevent Interdating take to prevent such marriages among Jewish (Copyright 1981, JTA, Inc.) A Hillel rabbi has a mes- children "is to create the sage for Jewish parents feel- most interesting, impor- ing guilty because a son or tant and appealing com- daughter married a non- munity vise can." Citing the deliberately Jew: If you did your best, chosen and strongly don't feel guilty because enforced separation from there are no guaranteed the outside world that very methods to prevent such Orthodox parents create for marriages in an open their children, Israel de- society. clared, "I want more than Rabbi Richard Israel, di- that for my children. I want rector of the Hillel Council both Torah and the world" of Greater Boston, spelled and, as a result, "I take out his.views on the impact some large risks." of the American open One of the biggest is that society on interdating and "my children will inter- mixed-marriage in the Jan. date," adding that the evi- 29 issue of the Journal of the dence was that "the highest North Shore Jewish Feder- rate" of mixed marriage is ation, published in Salem, in families where parents Mass. approve interdating. Asking how a Jewish par- Rabbi Israel said that ent can "positively guaran- about "the only way" a tee" a child will not marry a Jewish parent can be cer- non Jew, Israel wryly re tain there will be no plied: "It's simple. Live in mixed-marriages in his the year 1200. Short of that, family "is to be certain there there is little certainty." is no interdating" among Arguing that mixed his children. marriage "is one of the He added that if he had higher prices" Jews pay his "druthers," he would for living in an open ban interdating, but, he society, Israel contended said, very few Jewish par- that most American Jews ents "have the power to tell do not want to live "in the our adolescents what they closed, hostile world of may or may not do, and the past." He suggested make it stick," when the that about "the only sig- children "are not within the nificant" action the confines of our home. - Jewish community can planning in terms of Jewish survival. Everything is tac- tical and from day to day. with ad By BEN GALLOB cars SPEEDY GREASY LOBE AND OIL CHANGE SPECIALISTS NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY • FREE OIL FILTER • 54S-N69 10200W. NINE MILE RD.OAK PARK,MI PRESCRIPTION OPTICAL CO. Appointment Necessary Eye Examination Available Tues.-Fri. 9:30-6 Thurs. 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