• ...ill.: From the Fragile Sukka an Unshaken Message of Optimism - • - • - - 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 - 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.