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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 23rd day of Kislev, 5742, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 37:1-40:23. Prophetical portion, Amos 2:6-3:8. •
Hanuka Scriptural Selections
Monday, Numbers 7:1-17; Tuesday, Numbers 7:18-29;
Wednesday, Numbers 7:24-35
Thursday, Numbers 7:30-41; Dec. 25, Numbers 7:36-47.
Candlelighting, Friday, Dec. 18, 4:45 p.m.
VOL. LXXX, No. 16
Page Four
Friday, December ,18, 1981
THE LIGHTS ARE ON
Hanuka spells dedication. It has the glorious
pseudonym of Festival of Lights. It inspires in-
spiration immersed in faith, providing confi-
dence in the adherents' ability to face up to
emergencies.
The lights were never extinguished. They
may have dimmed, yet they always flickered. In
every spark there is an historic lesson.
This is the value of the festival as it is being
ushered in again for observance wherever there
are Jews. As they light the Menaras they think
only of continuity, never of calamity. They
know there are obstacles on the road traversed
by the People Israel; they approach it with the
confidence that obstacles are never approached
in the despair of not overcoming them. They are
always hurdled.
This is the lesson that must be entertained,
tracing the lights to the time when the Menora
first was lit as a Hanuka message.
The Maccabees met the dangers with courage
and dignity. They passed on the dedication to
such obligations to the generations to come. The
generations .kept arriving, a hundred of them
since the Maccabees, and each had its confron-
tations with difficulties, with challenges from
adversaries, with threats to the people's very
existence. The people lived on, lives on, faces
danger after danger. The Maccabean lesson
keeps admonishing about the inherited confi-
dence.
The lesson learned is clear. There has not
been a generation without danger and threat to
the people's very life. The detractors cause
danger but they never succeed. The Hanuka
lights teach the lesson to them: they are never
totally extinguished.
It is a lesson for this time and for time im-
memorial that whatever the dangers are, the
experience of a people ever under attack is al-
ways indest'uctible.
That's the Hanuka lesson. There are dangers
and obstacles, always endured, always deter-
red, the Maccabean lesson remaining un-
forgettable.
This, indeed, is the message of this holiday
season:
The lights are on! They keep shedding light
that enhances confidence. That's the spirit in
which the Festival of Lights commences in the
coming week.
TERROR EQUATING FEAR
Terror and fear equate. They intermingle.
They often appear inseparable.
The new terror that has begun to overwhelm
nations compels serious consideration of the
manner in which fright has invaded areas
which were considered secure from terrorism
until now. Even the free United States is not
immune from such fears.
This became evident with the revelation of
threats on the lives of leading Americans, in-
cluding the President of the United States.
Therefore, the concern which was already a
matter of serious anxiety for Jews through the
ages.
Perhaps the world, the United States in-
cluded, has much to learn from the experience of
the Jewish people. Scriptures may be providing
a modicum of guidelines. The Bible is among the
admonitions. For the faithful there is the initial
comfort in Genesis 26:24: "Fear not, for I am
with thee."
Most often repeated is the sentence from
Psalm 23:4: "Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for Thou art with me."
Faith, nevertheless, is accompanied by the
concerns for the dangers that stem from in-
humanities, from insanities that have invaded
mankind's realms. Therefore, the new search
for security, for protection, for the guardianship
against the emerging hatreds that have crazed
many people.
- There is still the frequent resort to the quota-
tion from a famous speech of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, "There is nothing to fear but fear
itself." Actually, it is an exact - borrowing from
Ludwig Berne (1786-1837) who uttered this
admonition in 1823. It remains a source of ap-
plication to efforts to deal with terror without
fear, else one succumbs to it.
One must turn to another ancient source for a
warning not to succumb to fear. Marcus Tullius
Cicero, the Latin philosopher, statesman and
orator (106-43 BCE), in "De Officis," proc-
laimed: No power is strong enough to last, if it
labors under the weight of fear."
This is an apparent guideline in battling ter-
ror, terrorism and terrorists. It must be done
fearlessly, else the battle against the in-
humanities will be lost. It is in the spirit of
fearlessness that the Maccabeans won their
battle for just, human rights and religious liber-
ties.
THE NEW UN SEC .-GEN.
Javier Perez de Cuellar, the Lima, Peru
academician who has been chosen for the post of
United Nations Secretary General, approaches
his diplomatic duties with caution.
As head of his country's delegation to the UN
and as an undersecretary general of the world
organization, he observed how injustice domi-
nat'Kl under pressures from the prejudiced who
wer not concerned with fair play and truth.
Cautiously, perhaps the new UN Secretary
General will be in a position to restore the world
movement that was organized for the advance-
ment of peace to the original principles outlined
in the UN Charter.
Until now, all that was necessary was to say
"Israel" and the UN General Assembly voted to
call white black and black white. There was no
such thing as decency in the deliberations.
*RuL41 ■ 14 FAMILIES OF SAUDI ARABIA
Jewish Etiquette Volume
a Guide for All Occasions
Derekh Eretz is one of the most challenging Jewish ethical
principles, calling for proper conduct and behavior. It has some rela-
tion to the subject of etiquette which has become a means of guidance
for those seeking ways of properly adhering to social amenities as well
as pursuing practices called for in relations and those One comes in
contact with.
Helen Latner emerges as a master in providing such guidance. In
The Book of Modern Jewish Etiquette: A Guide to All Occasions"
(Schocken) she fills the needs prescribed with skill attained from a
long preparatory period. She writes a column on the subject and in it
she pursues the tasks begun in her book — that of advising and
therefore guiding the reader to the conduct required for the occasions
that may arise.
The Derekh Eretz aspect in Ms. Latner's book becomes apparent
in the advice to parents when problems arise with their children.
But this element becomes apparent on many other occasions, the
social functions, wedding, Bnai Mitzva, circumcision, ad infinitum.
What makes the Latner book so val-
uable also is the treatment of relation-
ships with neighbors, with non-Jews.
Therein is a guide that merits com-
mendation. It is done with under-
standing of the need to create good
communities and good neighborliness.
Ms. Latner accomplished much in that
respect.
The approach to the many needs for
good conduct and also to confront dif-
ficulties as Jews gains emphasis in the
chapter on Hakha Akhanasat Orehim.
It is a guide to good hospitality, of
treating guests properly. It is an indi-
cation of the excellence of her treat-
ment of vital subjects.
is
Then there are the strictly Jewish
HELEN LATNER
concerns. She deals with kashrut and
those aiming at proper observance of the dietary laws will find her
treatment very helpful.
In the interest of observing the Jewish festivals, Ms. Latner
devotes herself to guidance in that direction, and all of the Jewish
holidays are analyzed for strict observance.
Derekh Eretz as a life style becomes a motto in Ms. Latner's
treatment of etiquette from the Jewish point of view and as a guid r
Jewish practices.
Touching upon Minhag, custom, Ms. Latner makes this observa-
tion in her interesting book:
"Minhag — what people do in certain life situations. — is the
subject of this book. In matters of halakha (rabbinic law) it points out
areas in which difficulties or questions may arise, without venturing
to offer an authoritative solution. These are problems which should be
taken up with a qualified rabbi.
"Yes, there is a note of nostalgia in the description of some of the
customs now almost vanished from the life of the less observant. But
with knowledge, they can be revitalized and enjoyed in a modern,
liberal setting. My aim is to point the way to a synthesis of ancient
traditions and contemporary life that will be a link to the centuries-
old chain of a noble heritage."
Helen Latner's "Book of Modern Jewish Eticwette" merits the
acclaim it is receiving. It is an excellent guide for all, for all occasions.