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
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 24th day of Sivan, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 16:1-18:32. Prophetical portion, I Samuel 11:14-12:22.
Thursday and July 3, Rosh Hodesh Tammuz, Numbers 28:1-15.
Candle lighting, Friday, June 26, 8:54 p.m.
VOL. LXXIX, No. 17
Page Four
Friday. June 26, 1981
THE CRUCIAL JUNE 3O
Benefits that stem from privileges provided
by a genuine democracy and the agonies that
often accompany the difficulties related to ac-
quired freedoms inter-relate in the significance
of an election day in a society that is marked by
the liberties attained by progressive human-
ity. There is no other way of approaching the
serious day of June 30 when the Israel govern-
ment will be weighed in the balance.
Only two other national elections generated
as much international interest — those in the
United States in 1980 and the one. in France a
month ago. The reason is obvious. Israel is a
democracy matched only by countries like the
United States and France; and the results of the
elections in Israel next.Tuesday may have seri-
ous effects on international relations. This, at
least, has been the speculation in political ranks
and in the media, and this becomes the subject
of major influence on the analyses of the politi-
cal conflict in Israel as well as the effect it may
have on the future both of Israel and that na-
tion's relations with the rest of the world. _ -
Actually, this might also be judged as an
exaggeration. In treating Israel as a democracy,
objective judging must recognize the realities of
condition; that affect the Israeli policies and the
responses they elicit from the world powers.
Of course, a change in the Israel government
will surely be followed by different economic
tactics. Of course, a new party in power could
have a differing relationship with some of the
neighbors. There could be a less aggressive pol-
icy of expanding the program of creating new
'settlements on Israel's borders.
There is one certainty: the Camp David deci-
sions must be adhered to and fulfilled(There
can be no deviations from it. On that score the
future Israeli policy will be untouched, un-
daunted, unmarred. Camp David is not an elec-
tion controversy.
Much, if not most, of Israel's obligations will
undoubtedly remain the same. The war threats
are undiminished and Israel must, therefore,
remain on the alert, ever ready to defend her-
self. The settlements are necessities for defen-
sive purposes on Israel's borders, and they will
not be abandoned. Relations with the United
States must continue and they cannot be al-
tered. Whatever the June 30 result, every effort
will have to be made to continue that friendship
and cooperative spirit.
Even in the matter of Israel's bombing of the
nuclear reactor in Iraq, there was unanimity
in the land. Wherein do the parties differ?
Of course, the personalities matter. Prime
Minister Menahem Begin has been judged as
arrogant, as a demogogue. It is for the Israeli
electorate to judge him on that score. Yet there
is the frequent reaction to him, as there is to
those who differ with him, when they face a
national American audience on television or
when they comment on developing conditions.
It is not misjudging or being prejudiced to say
that some Israelis often talk too much, and
when there is boasting it creates annoyance,
Whoever wins, in Tuesday's election would do -
well to take this into consideration.
Whatever the result of the election on Tues-
day, there will no doubt be a restoration of unity
in that land, with the losing party forming, a
loyal opposition. In the case of world Jewry's
deep-rooted interest in Israel, the dedication
must not be affected. The partnership in Israel's
constructive aims and the need for the country's
security will be watched with all seriousness
and will be provided with the means for that
nation to continue the progress for which the '-
people has become noted. These are the hopes of
Israel's friends with which the election must be
anticipated and the results greeted.
LEBANESE PUZZLE
Now there is new talk of a return to the ear-
For many ,yearS it was viewed as a political
lier conditions of sovereignty for Lebanon.
realism: that Lebanon would be the second Arab
With the Maronites actively engaged in such
state to recognize Israel and accept her as a
a return to the glory of the Lebanon that was a
member of the Middle East family of nations.
veritable gem of the Middle East, what of the
The reason was obvious. Not a single Arab
state was willing to be the first to do so. But the future? Would Maronites as activists in a Leba-
moment any one state would concede to the non restored to political dignity cooperate in an
effort to make that nation second to Egypt as a
reality of Israel's existence and would be ready
to act neighborly with the Jewish state, others propagator of peace?
The presence of the PLO as the obstacle that
would follow. Therefore Lebanon was consid-
is the cause of much of Lebanon's miseries may
ered the most amiable for such a response to the
stand in the way of establishing the desired
need of assuring good will in the entire region.
Unexpectedly, Egypt became the first to rec- accord.
Now the question arises whether firmness by
ognize Israel. None other, however, has yet
come forth with a response to the call for peace Maronites would also create a status quo ante
relating to a Zionist friendship.
for all nations in that part of the world.
Experience has been tragic. Enmity created
The reason for the expectation that Lebanon
would follow the lead of Egypt was because of fears in Maronite ranks and they now join the
the long friendship between Israel and the extremists in anti-Israelism. The Christian
Maronites in Lebanon. Until Israel's emergence community in Lebanon, which enjoyed amity
as a sovereign state, the Maronites were Israel's with Israel during the tragic years of warfare,
could well be put to the test.
closest friends.
Will Lebanon eventually become the second
The Arab pressures altered that atmosphere.
to
make peace with Israel and therefore the
Lebanon, while never actively engaged in war
with Israel, was aligned with the enemies sur- immediate one to do so? Or, will Lebanon re-
, main a puzzle, especially for Israel?
rounding her.
aimti174
Post-Doctoral Research
American Jewish Archives'
Enriching Histbrical Studies
Post-doctoral students presented their findings before faculty
members of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and
the University of Cincinnati last year under the sponsorship of the
American Jewish Archives.
The scholarly papers presented at these seminars are being pub-
lished by the American Jewish Archives. The first of a series of
volumes containing these essays has just been issued, under the
editorship of Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, director of the archives, and Ab-
raham J. Peck, associate director.
Historic value attaches to a number of the essays in "Studies in
the American Jewish Experience," the first in this series.
StudeDts of American Jewish history will be especially interested
in the essay by Ian J. Bickerton, "A Decade of Promise: General
Eisenhower, European and American Jewry, and Israel, 1942 to
1952."
Then there is an important article dealing with the labor move-
ment, evaluated by Franklin Jonas in From Russia to America:
Baruch Charney Vladeck and the Evolution of Jewish Socialism."
These are studies the contents of which enrich knowledge on
major Jewish experiences.
A biographical study of a distinguished personality is provided in
Elinor Gruinet's "Elliot Cohen: The Vocation of a Jewish Literary
Mentor." •
Pursuing experiences in this country, a notable account of South-
ern Jews is contained in Louis Schmier's "Touch Life and You'll Find
It Good: Charles Wessolowsky and the Southern Jewish Experience."
An important analysis of a radical thought in religion is con-
tained in Benny Kraut's "Francis E. Abbot: Perceptions of a 19th
Century Religious Radical on Jews and Judaism."
The sixth in this series of historical analyses is the essay "Immi-
grant Jewish Women in Los Angeles: Occupation, Family and Cul-
ture," written by Norma Fain Pratt.
Co-editors Marcus and Peck explain in their introduction to this
volume:
"In 1977 the American Jewish Archives initiated its Fellowship
Programs. Since that time nearly two dozen scholars, both doctoral
and post-doctoral, have been appointed fellows under one or more of
our programs. A number of these fellows have come from univers
outside of the United States, a positive sign that scientific researlik
the American Jewish experience is beginning to interest serious
scholars on an international level.
"The need for such fellowship programs had been evident to the
American Jewish Archives for a number of years. American Jewish
history, indeed American Jewish studies in general, is a relatively
new discipline., still very much a developing one in terms of theory
and methodology. A meeting place which would allow the most fertile
minds working in the discipline to gather and exchange views on
different aspects of the field (while researching their own projects)
was a clear desideratum."
This project merits commendation. It provides a platform for
serious students and it enriches knowledge about basic Jewish histor-
ical experiences.