THE JEWISH NEWS Accepting Differences: Need for Genuine Good Will Identifications A WeekiN Review Editorial, Page 4 HAN UKA Greetings to Jewish Communities of Jewish Events Everywhere Copyright C: The Jewish News Publishing Co. VOL. LXXX, No. 17 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $15 Per Year: This Issue 35c I December 25, 1981 Jewish Leaders Challenging U.S.-Israel Pact Suspension The Spinning Dreidel Is Some 500-Years Old By DR. DAVID GEFFEN — World. Zionist Press Service JERUSALEM — My first experience with a dreidel was as a lad of 4 living near an army camp in Mississippi where my father was then stationed as a judge advocate. I came home one day to our one-room flat and found my mother busily shining a Hanuka menora. She had also taken out a couple of ancient looking lead tops which were, in actuality, dreidels made by her father when she was a young girl. Inquisitive as to what they were, I looked them over carefully, made out the Hebrew letters nun, gim- mel, hei, shin, and then tried to turn them. I began to play in earnest. When I finally got tired and let them rest a bit, my mother looked at me and said, "If my father were only alive to see his grandson playing with dreidels he had lov- ingly fashioned. Today you have become the newest spinner in our family chain." The name dreidel de- rives from the German word "drehen," meaning to spin. According to game historians, the four-sided top was a well known toy quite popular in medieval Germany. That top had an N for nichts (nothing), G - gantz (all), H - halb (half) and S - shtehl (put). These four letters were transformed into Hebrew characters on the Jewish dreidel. This game, possibly as long as 500 years ago, became a highlight of European Jews' Hanuka festivities since the celebration emphasized all types of joyous activities, even gambling to which the dreidel readily lent itself. The late Prof. Sidney Hoenigh explained the inclusion of the dreidel into the Hanuka observances in another fashion. "Sym- (Continued on Page 5) NEW YORK (JTA) — Howard Squadron, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has sent a telegram to President Reagan requesting a meeting for his organization "to discuss the apparent deterioration in the relationship between our country and our country's friend and ally, Israel." Squadron's request followed the announcement last Friday that the United States suspended its agreement on strategic cooperation with Israel because Israel had failed to consult with the U.S. before it annexed the Golan Heights. Other Jewish leaders also attacked the Administration's move. Squadron also criticized the U.S. vote in the United Nations Security Council supporting a' Syrian-drafted resolution declaring Israel's action in annexing the Golan "null and void" and threatening to take "appropriate measures" if the decision was not reversed. "We are deeply disturbed that our country has joined the lynch mob at the UN in supporting the Soviet satellite Syria — a state that refuses to make peace (with Israel) — while punishing our friend and ally, Israel," Squadron told reporters. It is even more distressing that the White House should add to Israel's isolation by suspending the U.S.-Israel agreement on strategic cooperation. This agreement was not a 'favor' to Israel. It was entered into by our government in . order to strengthen the defense of the Middle East against Soviet aggression. To suspend this agreement . . . will weaken our ability to deter and respond to the Soviets." The reaction of the U.S., Squadron added, was excessive. The double standard it implies is troubling." Jack Spitzer, p9sident of 'Bnai Brith, termed the suspension of the agreement on cooperation "short-sighted," a step that "can only weaken America's -- and the West's — position in the Middle East." Maynard Wishner, president of the NEW YORK — Assassinations, anti-Semitism, ag- American Jewish Committee, said the gression and terrorism dominated this year's Anti- suspension of the strategic cooperation Defamation League of Bnai Brith list of "Top Ten" events agreement "is inappropriate and harmful that impacted on human rights. to American interests." Henry Siegman, According to Nathan Perlmutter, ADL's national di- executive director of the American Jewish rector, who prepares the annual list, the assassination of Congress, termed the U.S. move "an unfor- Anwar Sadat and the attempts on President Reagan and tunate overreaction" to Israel's decision to Pope Paul II were "nightmares of how deep, how violent annex the Golan. "By using the first avail- and how unbearable our netherworld is." able pretext to suspend the strategic con- He lists the terrorist attacks against synagogues in Vienna and Antwerp as reminders that-"homicidal anti- sensus agreement, the Administration Semitism is one of Europe's longest-lived traditions." leaves itself open to a charge of bad faith." He warned that the continuing Soviet invasion of Af- Similar statements were issued by, ghanistan represents a "dire risk to our freedom." among others, Ivan Novick of the Also cited was the "incremental legitimization of Zionist Organization of America, the PLO in matching ratio to the West's increasing Rabbi Sol Roth of the Rabbinical dependency on petrodollars" as an "ugly and melan- Council of America, and Harold choly" demonstration that "virtue has ever been for Jacobs of the National Council of sale." ADL Lists 1981's Top Human Rights Events (Continued on Page 5) (Continued on Page 6) Hanuka Customs Vary Widely Throughout World By FERN ALLEN — World Zionist Press Service . JERUSALEM — Children in Yemen clad in blue would pretend they are Hasmo-_ nean soldiers fighting the ancient Greeks, at the same time as the smell of shortbread cookies made with goose fat fills the air of a home of Czechoslovakian origin on Hanuka night. And in Israel itself, a torch relay lights up Modiin, the site where the Jewish revolt . amst the Greeks began. Throughout the world, Hanuka, the festival commemorating the triumph of the el,vs over the religious and national persecutions imposed by the Greeks, is marked by a wide variety of games, festivals, foods and folk tales. While traditional observances. such as lighting the menora and eating foods made with oil are almost universal, several customs unique to each Jewish ethnic group have been incorporated into the holiday celebration. As children in most countries spin the dreidel — a form of Hanuka gambling which recalls the Ma6cabean miracle — children in Iran play other games of chance such as tachte-ner, similar to the game of shesh-besh which is popular in Israel. Yemenite children make their dreidels out of nutshells, but the dreidel may come in lead, wood, plastic or glass. Foods are cooked with oil to recall the miracle of the one small cruse of oil found in the Temple N‘vhith lasted eight days. Potato pancakes abound in American homes as well as in other countries. Doughnuts are also usually eaten in Israel arid all over the Jewish world. Many East European homes cook their food with goose fat instead of conventional As the Czechoslovakian mother bakes her shortbread cookies with the poultry fat, many other East European families use it to fry turnips, radishes, olives and onions for a salad known as retakh. The ingredients are used because they were popular iri the Maccabean period. Since the carrot harvest in Yemen coincides with Hanuka, most Jewish families from there feast on lahis gizar, a type of carrot stew. The custom of giving Hanuka gelt (money) is non-existent in Moslem countries, but seems very common in countries where Christianity is the 'dominant religion. It is believed that this custom may have been transferred from Purim to Hanuka to compete (Continued on Page 5) Ilif bil . ' These lead lamps from 19th Century Europe, in the form of chairs, are inscribed with the initial letters of the Hebrew phrase "A great miracle happened there."