THE JEWISH NEWS
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Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 21st day of Adar II, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 9:1-11:47, Numbers 19:1-22. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 36:16-38.
Candle lighting, Friday, March 27, 6:34 p.m.
VOL. LXXIX, No. 4
Page Four
Friday, March 27, 1981
'TO BIGOTRY NO SANCTION
Revival of anti-Semitism, clothed in anti-
Zionism and accusations of Communist leaning
against all Jews, in a country whose 3,500,000
Jews have vanished, offers copy for political,
social and human studies.
It didn't matter to demonstrators against
Jews, with reverberations of attacks on
Zionism, that only about 5,000 Jews remain in
Poland. The remnant is a folk of old people who
cannot emigrate because they are too weak and
too old to budge. But a scapegoat was needed in
emerging defense of Communism and old
canards were dug up. There were charges that
Jewish Communists dominated Poland, that
they are the root of present troubles.
In the process, many facts were ignored. If
there were Jews in the Communist-dominated
government of Poland they were renegade
Jews. They were the leaders in the Communist
attacks on Zionism and Zionists. They were the
Jewish anti-Semites. Even the Communist-
dominated government selected them for expul-
sion and persecuted them.
Are they the most suitable images for attack
in time of stress? They are proof that scapegoat-
ing is a suitable weapon in a campaign of hate.
The attacks on Jews were not limited to the
demonstrations in Poland. They echoed
elsewhere, and deplorably a bit of venom that
stems from misunderstanding and misinterpre-
tation of facts creeped into the Polish press
elsewhere. Exemplary is the type of letter that
appeared in the Detroit-published Dziennik
Poliski.
Even more deplorable is the bitterness im-
puted in the local echo regarding the Polish role
in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the
Nazis in 1943.
There were two elements in Poland at that
time: those who helped the heroes in that period
of resistance to Hitlerism and an element that
failed to help and often obstructed. The
cooperators are not denied, and neither should
there be an ignoring of that element that gave
comfort to the Nazis.
The rejection of fact and truth, in spite of the
recorded cooperation by Jewish and non-Jewish
resistance forces, is cause for great concern.
How sad that the worst of all evils should be
dignified in an era when there is need for
cooperative labors against tyranny and perse-
"cution, in repudiation of the barbaric that stems
from Communism!
Emphasis on tragically reiterated facts is in-
cluded in a report from Warsaw by John
Darnton, in the New York Times, featured in
the March 15 issue under the heading "Anti-
Semitism Without Jews? — A Polish Riddle." It
is more than a riddle. It is an indictment of
inherited prejudices.
Darnton's introduction to his definitive ac-
count of what is happening in Poland provides a
brief summation of the occurrences. He states:
WARSAW — At first there were only a few
isolated incidents. A Star of David was scribbled
on a Solidarity poster. A crude poem was
scrawled on a wall in northern Warsaw; it said
Lech Walesa, the Solidarity union leader and a
devout Roman Catholic, was Jewish.
A newspaper called Flames appeared. It car-
ried many articles on the purity of Polish pa-
triotism and the evils of Zionism.
Last week these bits and threads from the gut-
ter of Polish politics came together in a full-
blown, coordinated anti-Semitic campaign. A
public demonstration was held to commemorate
Polish patriots who "were tortured, sentenced
and executed" at the hands of "the Zionist
clique," a reference to Jews who occupied high
positions in the party and security apparatus
during the Stalinist terror of the 1950s.
Among 500 people there, many were merely
curious onlookers and a few were genuine vic-
tims who had been imprisoned for eight years
and whose suffering had never received proper
public vindication. But there were also agitators
and men with the characteristic bearing of
police agents. The gathering had the earmarks
of official sponsorship, at some level.
The last wave of anti-Semitism rolled over Po-
land in 1968. Officially sponsored under the only
slightly euphemistic guise of anti-Zionism, it
drove thousands of Jews from the public life and
out of the country. It was a somewhat artificial
creation, not a response to a spontaneous man-
ifestation of centuries-old popular bigotry. It
was a product of intra-party struggle, a vehicle
consciously raised up — although undoubtedly
motivated by anti-Semitic feelings — by which
one group in the party tried to remove another.
This time, the campaign seems to have an
equally cynical ulterior motive, but with a criti-
cal difference: There are almost no Jews left.
Poland, which had perhaps 80 percent of world
Jewry in the Middle Ages and 3.5 million Jews
only 41 years ago, now has an estimated 5,000 to
8,000. for every 7,000 gentiles, there is one Jew.
But numbers do not tell the full story. Most of
the survivors are too old or broken to emigrate.
Others strive for assimilation and do not admit
their Jewish origins. There is nothing that could
be called a Jewish community. For reasons of
guilt and public relations, the government fi-
nances a Jewish theater and aparty-controlled
Yiddish language weekly. But there is not a
single bakery to produce unleavened bread, a
single rabbi to hold services or a single mohel to
circumcise boys.
It is the New York Times observer who calls
the scene a "gutter," who points - to the bias that
makes an opponent a "Zionist," reminding the
student of modern history that this has become
policy in Beirut and in the Kremlin.
There is tragedy in every revival of bigotry. In
the current instance it evidences also in Ham-
tramck and environs, where misguided Poles
fall prey to vicious propaganda that causes
"Anti-Semitism even without Jews."
This is one development that should be con-
demned by Polish Americans. We are fellow
citizens. Just as Arabs and Jews must live in
harmony in this country, so also must Poles and
Jews — as fellow citizens.
In the process, the Poles in this country must
. not permit the spread of anti-Semitism,
whether with or without Jews.
Perhaps the American way of fair play will
guide those motivated by bigotry in foreign
lands to learn the blessings of democracy and
civilization. This can and must come from
adherence to such principles by Americans who
have an influence on their compatriots abroad.
All must emphasize the principle of to bigotry
no sanction!
Walking in Jerusalem:
Inspiration for Tourists
Walking in Jerusalem is among-the inspirations that remain
among the most unforgetful experiences even for travelers who have
covered the earth. Jerusalem beckons return visits. The more visits
the more tempting the desire, the urge, to visit the holy places, to
retrace the steps of the Patriarchs and the founders of religions
stemming from Judaism.
"Footloose in Jerusalem" is an appropriate title for "Eight
Guided Walking Tours" in the fascinating volume by Sarah Fox
Kaminker (Crown Publishers).
The reader of this volume, like those who cover the areas excel-
lently described by Ms. Kaminker, are quick to learn why a visitor to
Jerusalem becomes enraptured.
Maps are a necessity for tourists and they serve the walker well
when the proper ones are provided. Ms. Kaminker does just that. She
creates an interest in the areas toured on foot with the numerous
illustrations of 19th Century engravings, as well as other photo-
graphic material.
There is an especially interesting approach in the author's review
of historic facts, in her listing of dates to remember, from King David
to the Six-Day War of June 1967.
With as many as half-a-million people visiting Israel yearly,
nearly all of them determined to make Jerusalem the major point of
attraction, the eight guided walking tours defined in "Footloose in
Jerusalem" become vitally interesting and compelling.
The increasing interest in archeology is satisfied by the emphasis
given in these guided tours to the archeological processes in
Jerusalem.
The three major religions are fully integrated iri the tours.
Author Sarah Fox Kaminker is an American-born city planner
who now is employed by the city of Jerusalem. Combining her knowl-
edge and love of this city, she invites the tourist to stray from the
beaten path and see Jerusalem as a native.
• The book is divided into eight guided walking tours. By following
.
these the reader cannot only enjoy the major sites but also be exp
to scenes not readily visible from the window of a sightseeing bus.
tours are divided by a mid-point to enable the weary to rest, or
continue with the second half the next day.
Each walk presents a composite picture of the city that contrasts
the old and new. It shows people at work; a baker at the open hearth, a
modern craftsman in the work shop. Following the guide book the
walker comes upon a wealthy neighborhood directly across from a
slum, and sees a structure that served as King Solomon's water-
carrier system as well as a protection for soldiers in the 1948 War of
Independence.
The 19th Century engravings are of the scenes discussed. This
technique allows the viewer to take in the scene in front of him and to
fully appreciate the changes of the past century. "Footloose in
Jerusalem" encourages walkers to touch, smell, listen and talk, im-
agine and re-create. By exposing all of the senses to this great city the
tourist can capture the true spirit of this unique community which,
more than any other in the world, offers so rich an experience.
The author's striving for completeness in covering the
Jerusalem scene on foot, ascertaining that important sites will not
be overlooked, is emphasized in the chapter "Don't Leave Without
Seeing . . ." Ms. Kaminker thereupon urges tourists to become ac-
quainted with the Knesset, the Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book,
Billy Rose Sculpture Garden, Rockefeller Museum, Herzl, Yad Vas-
hem and the Second Temple model at the Holy Land Hotel.