THE JEWISH NEWS

USPS 275-520)

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951

Copyright ,;c7; The Jewish News Publishing Co.

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, Mich. 48075
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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 11th day of Adar, 5742, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 27:20-30:10, Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Prophetical portion, I Samuel 15:2-34.

Monday, Fast of Esther
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11-14, 34:1-10. Prophetical portion (afternoon only), Isaiah 55:6-56:8. Evening, Book of Esther.

Tuesday, Purim
Pentateuchal po'rtion, Exodus 17:8-16. Prophetical portion, Book of Esther.

Wednesday, Shushan Purim

Candlelighting, Friday, March 5, 6:09 p.m.

VOL. LXXXI, No. 1

Page Four

Friday, March 5, 1982

PURIM AND VIGILANCE

Even if it is only for a single day, the rejoicing
that is related to Purim, is a blessing.
Appreciating the spirit engendered by the
festival, even in defining it as among the minor
on the Jewish calendar, the event is treated as a
full-scale holiday and its observance spreads
over many days when it becomes necessary to
observe it in the schools and on the social basis it
assumes. Therefore, the time restriction doesn't
count here.
This applies also to a primary lesson accorded
for Purim. It is one that teaches vigilance, and
also the obligation to speak out whenever there
is evidence of prejudice.
Purim is based on the lesson of extreme bias.
The Jews in the 70 provinces ruled by
Ahasuerus were endangered by a threat
engineered by the prime minister of the then
Persian empire. It became necessary to act, to
register a protest, to resist the impending

menace.
That's when Mordecai _admonished Esther,
when she became the Queen, that silence is
dangerous, that her own life could be imperiled
if Ahasuerus were not warned of Haman's man-
ipulations. --
It was a lesson in vigilance. It carries over to
this day.
It was the eternal admonition that if prej-
udice is permitted to take root, it can destroy all,
even the prejudiced being endangered when the
atmosphere is permitted to retain the poisons of
hatred.
Let it be treated as a lesson of Purim: that
there is need for vigilance, that silence is im-
moral, that acting in time can prevent the in-
humanities that stem from bigotry.
Let Purim, therefore, be treated as a great
teacher for vigilance against all forms of
tyranny.

,

Us SR-PIA 0 DIVI SIVENESS

Close relationships between the PLO and the
Soviet Union have long been in evidence. Mili-
tary support for the by the Kremlin, mas-
sive arms supplies and the training of terrorists
have been on that agenda, with the USSR thus
becoming a chief supporter of the Arab ex-
tremists who are seeking Israel's destruction.
An analysis of the Russian role in these re-
spects, by the Media Analysis Center in
Jerusalem, reveals efforts by the PLO to ad-
vance Soviet policies toward the Persian Gulf
generally, and especially toward Saudi Arabia.
They are expressed by Arafat and Abu Mazen,
the senior member of the PLO executive.
An important portion of the Media Analysis
Center's expose of the USSR's contributions
towards the campaign to obliterate Israel is con-
tained in a statement made Nov. 22, 1981, by
Farouk Kaddoumi, who heads the PLO's politi-
cal division. Kaddoumi stated:
"We welcome any move by any Arab state to
deal with our friend, the Soviet Union. The
arms deal provides evidence that the Soviet
Union is prepared to offer arms to the Arabs,
regardless of their social system to help them
defend their national rights.
"It's not a question of mediation. No one has
asked us to mediate. But, we play a role, because
we are interested in the development of good
relations between our friend, the Soviet Union
and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Good rela-
tions beetween these two countries would prove
beyond doubt that the imaginary Soviet threat
which the U.S. is trying to create in the region
does not exist.
"No matter how close the Soviet Union is to
the oil sources, it is the friend of the Arabs and a
supporter of their rights and their struggle. It is

necessary for Saudi Arabia, the greatest eco-
nomic power in the Arab world, to be on good
terms with the Soviet Union, and the state-
ments that were issued from Riyadh about the
Soviet Union recently are positive.
"What we want to do now is to create mutual
confidence between them, so that there will no
longer be any Arab party -- with special refer-
ence to Saudi Arabia on bad terms with the
Soviet Union, which firmly and strongly sup-
ports our causes."
There is emphasis in these revelations that
the "PLO thus serves as a means in Moscow's
attempts to deepen the credibility rift which has
developed between Riyadh and Washington fol-
lowing the developments in Iran, Angola,
Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and Taiwan."
One of Arafat's confidantes, Issam Sartawi,
has stated that accentuating the economic-
political strategic split between the B.S. and
Western Europe is a central tactic of the PLO's
public relations campaign in Western Europe.
Such is the maneuverability of the PLO in
striving for divisiveness among the nations,
with Russia eventually assuming powerful,
major gains for itself and in the process serving
as provider of credibility for the PLO.
These are facts to be taken into serious con-
sideration. They must not be ignored. While in
the U.S.-USSR disputes a "cold war" is experi-
enced, it is a hot war that is being waged against
Israel, outwardly by the PLO, with the USSR
providing major strength to Israel's chief
enemy. The chief exponents of the effort to
undermine Israel's existence thus emerge in
their full scope, with Russia as the major backer
of the PLO. These realities must always be in
view in' the vigilance exercized in Israel's de-
fense.

Moshe Ron's Thrilling Role
as Leader in 7th Estate

Moshe Ron has a variety of messages for his readers in the
Hebrew, English and Yiddish newspapers. As a leading special Israel
correspondent for The Detroit Jewish News, he has covered a vast
field of activities. They serve as emphases on the interest in Israel in
his book "Darki b'Mamleha ha-Shvi'it" — "My Role (Path) in the
Seventh Estate."
The "Darki" in the title is worth defining both as role and as path,
because the eminent Israeli journalist Moshe Ron has not only a role
as an active newspaperman and correspondent but also as an or-
ganizer and leader. As secretary general of the Israel Journalists'
Association he had managerial records in behalf of the Hebrew press.
As a leader in the World Confederation of Jewish Journalists, he
contributed towards the formation of links between newsmen of many
lands with those in Israel.
Especially noteworthy in the title to Ron's book is the reference to
the Seventh Estate. In the Anglo-Saxon sphere, and it includes a
majority of world Jewry, it is the Fourth Estate.
Lord Macaulay, in his essay written
in 1928, reportedly said there were
three Estates in Parliament — he re-
ferred to Kings, Lords and Commons
— but, he said, in the Reporters' Gal-
lery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate,
more important by far than all.
In Israel apparently it is the
seventh estate that is applied to the
press, and it denotes a role in the arts
and sciences, alongside music, art and
literature, thus giving it the cultural
status.
Moshe Ron, who is among the very
distinguished personalities in Israel's
literary and journalistic circles, offers
an interesting view of his adopted
country in the many portraitures he
MOSHE RON
depicts in his interesting book. a -
sense, it is an autobiography. He had come to Israel in 1935 at the
of 24, after a career in journalism in Poland. His first assignment was
as correspondent for the Hanjt daily newspaper of Warsaw which had
gained world recognition in the Yiddish press.
He retains his love for Yiddish, and he writes for Yiddish news-
papers in Latin America and in this country.
His interest in Latin America was marked by many trips there,
including another in 1981.
Ron's travels, his leadership in journalistic ranks, have made
him an authority on the countries he has visited as well as Israel.
Ron is a lover of the theater and his special interest is music and
the Yiddish stage. He seldom misses an Israel Symphony concert or a
Yiddish stage performance. As a result, he has become the leading
propagator of the arts, in Israel.
These factors are in evidence in everything he had recorded in his
"Darki b'Mamleha ha-Shvi'it." The photographs trace the decades of
journalistic experiences in Israel. The text provides a history of the
Jewish press not only in Israel but globally, in view of the conferences
he directed with newsmen throughout the world. His book is a notable
account of the most significant events in the advancement of jour-
nalism in Israel and in Jewish communities who had come to share
experiences with fellow journalists in Israel.

