THE JEWISH NEWS
(USPS 275-5201
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co.
//The hmviest
load /have to bear
is the load of fie UN. /1
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, Midi. 48075
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $15 a year.
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 16th day of Tammuz, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 25:10-30:1. Prophetical portion, I Kings 18:46-19:21.
Sunday, Fast of the 17th of Tammuz
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11-14, 34:1-10. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 55:6-56:8 (afternoon only).
Candle lighting, Friday, July 17, 8:47 p.m.
VOL. LXXIX, No. 20
Page Four
Friday, July 17, 1981
TIME TABLE FOR PEACE
In his remarkable chronicle of Israel's 30
years of struggles for amity with her neighbors,
in the Stein and Day volume "Destination
Peace," Gideon Rafael, the pioneer in his coun-
try's foreign service, relates that when, in 1953,
his appointment to an important post for
negotiations with the Arabs was announced, his
fellow delegate at the United Nations, the then
Lebanese leader Charles Malik, said to hini:
"My heartiest congratulations on your new
appointment. You are a lucky man to have
landed so early in your career a nice and quiet
lifetime job."
It was a cynical sort of sense of humor and
until the Camp David decision it functioned as a
reality. Then came the Egyptian-Israel accord.
Did it shorten the time table for peace for very
long?
What causes the "lifetime" status for peace?
An escapee from Arab persecutions, Heskel M.
Haddad, president of the World Organization
for Jews from Arab Countries, now a New York
resident, disputed an antagonistic reference to
Israel by Prof. Edward Said of Columbia Uni-
versity, who has written several books and
many letters and consistently leads the attac-
kers of Israel. In a refutation of a statement by
Dr. Said in the New York Times, Haddad de-
clared: "Israel has proven itself not only amen-
able but rather willing to compromise for peace,
if the peace is true and just and if Israel is
treated as a sovereign state and as an equal
partner in the Middle East."
"Here is how Haddad clarified his viewpoint,
emphasizing the possibility of attaining a just
peace:
Now that the Arabs have acquired sophisti-
cated military hardware and advanced in
wealth, social reform and scientific develop-
ments, it is about time that men like Prof. Said
looked at the realities of the situation, as
President Sadat of Egypt did.
"Israel is not the enemy of the Arabs. There
are many reasons for Arab failures, but two
major ones could be immediately remedied,
thereby stabilizing the situation in the Middle
East and promoting better welfare for the
Arabs:
"The refugee problem, both Jewish and Arab,
should be solved immediately. There is no rea-
son why the Arab countries should not contrib-
ute their share to the solution of that problem,
as Israel did in absorbing the bulk of the Jewish
refugees from Arab countries.
The state of war in the Middle East does not
solely depend on Israel. If Arab leaders wish,
they could, establish peace in the area over-
night. It should be quite obvious to them that in
spite of all the rough bargaining of Israel, it did
relinquish the Sinai, its wealth and oil, for the
peace treaty with Egypt.
"Israel has proven itself not only amenable
but rather willing to compromise for peace, if
the peace is true and just and if Israel is treated
as a sovereign state and as an equal partner in
the Middle East."
Is there a time table for peace? Is the assign-
ment for peacemakers a lifetime job?
It is a lifetime when Iraq and Libya are in-
volved under the present leadership. Not so
with the other nations. Even Jordan under the
recalcitrant rulership of King Hussein might be
drawn into a peace pact. That's the hope of
people who follow the political lines of Shimon
Peres. Perhaps even the Saudis might deviate
from saber rattling, especially if the majority in
the U.S. Congress will continue to say "No! No!'
to its demand for weapons that could destroy
Israel.
Regrettably, there are not many Charles
Maliks in the UN or in Arab ranks. Malik advo-
cates peace even though he thought war was a
lifetime addiction. The man in power in Israel
uses harsh terms when dealing with enemies.
Menahem Begin is the tough man who attained
peace with the leader in the Arab world, Anwar
Sadat of Egypt. Therefore, the assumption of
confidence that the timetable for peace is shor-
tening. The "destination" is "peace" and Israel
won't abandon that self-imposed assignment.
MENACED WORSHIPER S
Conservative and Reform Jewish spokesman
in this country appear to be throwing the
gauntlet to the dominant groups among the
religious factions in Israel, with a demand for
just treatment and the same fairness accorded
to the non-Jews in Israel.
The impending battle is much more serious
than it appears on the surface.
Refusal to grant basic rights to the non-
Orthodox in Israel has been a continuing dis-
pute since the rebirth of Israel as a sovereign
state. Many Conservative and Reform
synagogues have been established in Israel in
recent years and they function with great dig-
nity and with an acceptance that is highly cre-
ditable to the thousands seeking a reduction in
what they view as extremism.
In the process of demanding recognition of
their right to perform marriages to issue divorce
certifications and in numerous other matters
involving rabbinic law, the Conservatives and
Reform congregational affiliates, while protest-
ing prejudices, have nevertheless remained
firm in their devotions to Israel's needs, The
apparent resumption of control by the ultra-
Orthodox is causing grave concern for the Con-
servative and Reform leaders and they are now
warning Israel and the Begin government that
a loss in American Jewish support could result
from a continuing prejudice practiced against
them.
What has emerged is not a matter of dispute
over religious regulations. It is a case involving
both fair play and common sense. The fair play
angle is with regard to state regulations that
grant just rights to all religious sects but not to
the Jewish non-Orthodox. The horse sense
angle is in regard to the threat to Jewish unity
globally threatened by the practice bias. It is
time to put an end to it.
Houghton-Mifflin Volume
Azbel 'The Refusenik':
Dissident's Autobiography
Mark Ya. Azbel is a symbol of the resistance to persecution that
has created a revolution in Jewish ranks in Russia.
He is the master physicist who made great contributions to his
native land, and in the interest of human rights, for himself and his
fellow Jews, he became a leader among the forces that would not bend
to oppression.
Therefore, the realism of the title of his book, "The Refusenik"
(Houghton-Mifflin), subtitled "Trapped in the Soviet Union."''
It is autobiographical and it reveals the oppressive methods used
against him and his fellow refusniks, resulting in an inspired and
courageous resistance that finally gave Azbel his right to emigrate.
Having attained world fame as a theoretical physicist, he now
divides his time between Israel and the United States where his
family makes its home.
Until he was 40, Azbel did not know a single Hebrew letter, and
his self-education, Bible study, acquisition of acquaintance with He-
brew commenced with his rebellion against the prejudices in the
USSR.
Azbel experienced the anti-Semitism that eventually made him
the refusnik in the university.
He earned his doctoral degree in science at the age of 25 after a
presentation at Moscow's Institute for Problems in Physics. He was
confronted by antagonism and was aided by Nobel Laureate Pyotr
Leonidovitch Kapitza, the head of the Moscow Physics Institute.
Kapitza later came to the aid of other notable Jewish scientists
who were faced with bias from their fellow Russians.
At 32, Azbel was the first Jew in 12 years to be accepted into the
Moscow Physical Technical Institute. Then he became scientific
counselor at the Landau Institute and was nominated for the Lenin
Prize.
The drama of his five-year leadership of the group of Jewish
dissidents in Moscow" is acclaimed in a foreword to "The Refusenik"
by Freeman J. Dyson, who relates having first met Azbel in 1956,
when he recognized his genius as a physicist.
Dyson makes reference to the duel in the secret chambers of the
KGB when the agents of the USSR tried to break down Azbel's
resistance.
Comparing this duel with Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon,"
Dyson calls the Azbel role one of true heroism.
It was in 1972 that Azbel applied for a visa to go to Israel. He
discharged from his scientific posts, was arrested by the KGB. He was
an outcast in his homeland for five years while conducting the battle
for human rights and for the right to practice the Jewish religion and
adhere to Jewish cultural teachings.
In the process of describing his struggles, Azbel reveals the work-
ings of the Soviet Academy of Science. The most prominent members
are portrayed and the oppressive regulations are exposed.
Dyson defines Azbel's success in attaining the right to emigrate
as "superhuman courage."
Azbel's autobiography relates his association with the leaders
among the dissidents, the courageous refusniks, those who fought for
the right to emigrate and for freedom against the KGB oppressions
"The Refusenik" is one of the greatest works describing the suc-
cess of the famous dissidents in the battle against oppression.