• ...ill.:
From the
Fragile Sukka
an Unshaken
Message of
Optimism
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• - •
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THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
Editorial, Page 4
of Jetuish Events
SUKKOT
Greetings
to Jewish
Communities
Everywhere
Copyright c The Jewish News Publishing Co
VOL. LXXX, No. 6
17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833
$15 Per Year: This Issue 35c
October 9, 1981
Israel, West Mourning Sadat;
Egypt Affirms Peace Process
200 Families Harvest
Etrogim for Sukkot
By DIANA LERNER
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — "Muvchar," the mother of the small
boy says about him as she strokes his head. He blushes,
smiles shyly. Compliment of compliments. In the language
of clgsifying etrogim, the language in which he has grown
up, "mils/char" means "select," in fact, the very best there
is. And this Bnei Brak youngster is as pleased as can be to
be compared to the "fruitof beauty," as the etrog is called in
the Talmud. For cultivating etrogim is a labor of love in
which his family has been engaged for four generations.
Ever since the day, 80 years ago or more, that his
great-grandfather, Rabbi Mordecai Ludmir of Safed, began
growing the citron in Rosh Pina, then in Kfar Hitin and all
through the central plain, the planting, nurturing and
marketing of etrogim has been a family affair.
His descendants, the Ludmirs and Friedmans of
Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, have grown up with the
scent of etrogim in their nostrils and an instinct for
distinguishing between those ritually acceptable and
(Continued on Page 11)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — "We hope that the peace process, degpite the cruel
act of its enemies, will continue, as we know President Sadat would wish with all
his heart."
With this sentence Premier Menahem Begin of Israel ended a prepared
announcement to the press in reaction to the assassination of Egyptian Presi-
dent Anwar Sadat on Tuesday. The Premier, looking drawn, read his message in
Hebrew and English to waiting newsmen after official confirmation from Cairo
of Sadat's death. He read in low tones, and declined to answer questions. Begin
later announced that he would attend Sadat's funeral on Saturday if Egyptian
officials permit foreign delegations.
He said Sadat had fallen "to a criminal assassination. The people of Israel
share in the mourning of the people of Egypt."
"President Sadat was murdered by the enemies of peace."
Begin referred to Sadat's visit tcc.,Jerusalem in 1977, and Israel's
welcome, as "one of the great events of our time."
ANWAR SADAT
Sadat, Begin said, did not pay heed to the world abuse thrown at him as he
walked, together with U.S. President Jimmy Carter and with Begin, "the difficult road" to peace.
Millions of peacelovers around the world rejoiced at the Camp David accords and at the signing of
peace, Begin added.
A personal friendship had evolved during their many meetings, Begin said. "I therefore today have lost
not only a partner in the peace process but also a friend."
In Washington, President Reagan, praising the late Egyptian President as a "humanitarian,
unafraid to make peace," said that the American people were "horrified" by the "cowardly"
murder.
(Continued on Page 10)
AWACS Deliberations Retain Status Quo
While the assassination of Anwar Sadat may affect Congressional attitudes on the AWACS question, the issue as
of Wednesday morning retained the status quo.
Both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee
delayed decisions for at least a day, from the planned voting by the two committees. Opinion in Washington is that the
Administration will not renege from its pressures for the adoption of the plan. Due to Yom Kippur, The Jewish News
will be unable to carry last-minute reports as they develop during the Day of Atonement and on Friday.
Reps. Benjamin Rosenthal and Steven Solarz, New York Democrats, expressed fears on Tuesday that
the Reagan AdMinistration was resorting to delaying tactics. Rosenthal said the Administration has con-
tinuously tried to keep the House committee from voting on a resolution of disapproval. But when Rep.
William Broomfield (R-Mich.) and other Republicans on the committee supported the postponement re-
quest, the Democratic majority went along. Broomfield is an opponent of the proposed sale of U.S. AWACS
radar planes to Saudi Arabia.
Broomfield said that the White House had asked for the postponement. Solarz noted at that point that the House
was working against a deadline on the resolution which must be adopted by the end of this month by both Houses of
Congress if the AWACS sale is to be blocked. He suggested that the Administration temporarily withdraw its official
letter of notification of the sale. But Solarz found no supporters for that proposal.
At his press conference last Thursday, President Reagan warned Israel to stay out of internal U.S. foreign policy
(Continued on Page 5)
Jerusalem Sukkot: Millenia of Tabernacles
By RABBI DAVID GEFFEN
—
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — Building your first sukka in Jerusalem always has unique connotations. Eighteen years ago
when my-wife and I did it for the very first time, we realized that we were constructing a sukka on that same soil which
our ancestors had used for centuries.
In the Middle Ages, Jerusalem, according to one pilgrim, had its "little booths of thanksgiving" in the fall. Another
resident ofJerusalem in the 18th Century marveled at "The tabernacles constructed so hastily, because the authorities
forbid, until the last moment, the erection of any new buildings, especially ones to be used for Jewish religious
purposes." Thus, when one raises a sukka in the eternal
r
I
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city, the link with the generations is strongly forged.
In the top photograph is an etrog box made in
Vienna in 1800 from a coconut and silver. The bottom
photograph shows an 18th Century Dutch etrog box
and a sheath used to carry on Sukkot the etrog (cit-
rus), lulav (palm branches), hadas (myrtle) and arava
(willow).
Through the years each generation of Jews
has, in its own way, re-emphasized the continuing
relationship between the flimsy booth of the festi-
val and the spirit of the Jewish people. Whereas
most see the sukka as a reminder of the 40 years
wandering in the desert, when the Jews had to live
in temporary dwellings, there are others who view
the sukka as a thanksgiving booth to mark the con-
clusion of the harvest.
-
In fact, when the Thanksgiving holiday was first
observed in colonial America, a booth was constructed
by the Pilgrims to mark the occasion, thereby literally
following the biblical description of the tabernacle
(Continued on Page 11)
Kibutz children in the sukka.