THE JEWISH NEWS (LISPS 275-520) Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 sow NAN [314W • Copyright.;- g) The Jewish News Publishing Co. Member of American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, National Editorial Association and National Newspaper Association and its 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 Secohd-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 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.