THE JEWISH NEWS A LESSON FOR OUkTIME CUSPS 275-5201 Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 Copyright © 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 Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional. Mailing Offices. Subscription $15 a year. 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 16th day of Nisan, 5742, is the first day of Hol Hamoed Passover, and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 33:12-34:26, Numbers 28:19-25. Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 37:1-14. Hol Hamoed Passover Sunday, Exodus 13:1 - 16, Numbers 28:19 - 25. Monday, Exodus 22:24 - 23:19, Numbers 28:19 - 25. Tuesday, Numbers 9:1 - 14,.28:19 - 25. Concluding Days of Passover Wednesday, Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 13:17-15:26, Numbers 28:19-25. Prophetical portion, II Samuel 22:1-51. Thursday, Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17, Numbers 28:19-25. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 10:32-12:6. Candlelighting, Friday, April 9, 6:48 p.m. VOL. LXXXI, No. 6 Page Four Friday, April 9, 1982 AN UNDENIABLE WAR Five wars are in the historic record and an- other one is accelerating. The War of Indepen- dence of 1948, the Suez Campaign of 1956, the 1,67 Six-Day War, the War of Attrition of 1970 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War remain imbed- ded iv•Israel's memories. What is happening now is another war, Israel's resistance to a mounting PLO attack on Israel's sovereignty. Any other interpretation would be lacking in realism. True: loss of life is heartrending. The reaction of the Israeli armed forces to attacks by youths at the instigation of their elders represents a deplorable situation. What is occurring is a mobilization of another type of army, the youngsters in -schools functioning in the area under Israel's administration in Judea and Samaria. This is a type of army that is more difficult to confront and the current Israeli ex- periences are more difficult than any of the previous five wars. It is all-too-easy to criticize. Of course there are errors. Understandably, the views of the Gush Emunim and the impending withdrawal of Israel from Sinai contribute towards instiga- tions. At the root of the current events, however, is the instigation to rioting that comes from PLO forces in Beirut and the battle for under- standing and for what appears like an unat- tainable peace with them is becoming more dif- ficult. Undeniably, it all stems from the elements who threaten Israel's very existence. With more than 40 nations already having provided recog- nition for these enemies of Israel and the panic into which others are falling under threat from the Beirut-oriented enemies, the situation is grave. Israel is fighting a war, and the world press finds it necessary only to show rioting and guilt from Jewish ranks. There is too little to provide understanding that what has occurred, what is continuing, is part of the battle to destroy Israel. What is occurring may have very little effect on the crucial April 25 ctate .. of irael's with- drawal from Sinai. But it aggravates autonomy discussions, it injures the limited peace negotia- tions with Egypt, it tests the good judgment of statesmen and nations. It challenges the Jewish people. Jews keep asking where do we go from here, what's the ultimate? Difficult questions make it even more difficult to provide answers. The certainty is that in the interest of survival, which is threatened, there is the endless need for pa- tience, with a duty to retain unity and to be obligated to assure Israel's security. Time will hopefully solve warfare problems and will lead toward peace. Patience and dedication to the cause of Israel's assured sovereignty are com- pulsory. THE COMMUNAL PRIDE A traditional sense of dignity as a people, described as rahamanim bnai rahamanim, again takes shape as a pragmatism in this community. Whatever the economic handicap, despite the conditions affecting the financial conditions re- sulting from the many blows that have fallen upon this state, much more than any other in the nation, Metropolitan Detroit Jewry is emerging responsive and responsible in the an- nual fund-raising task now in progress. Allied Jewish Campaign contributors have -thus far responded as generously as in past years, which have resulted in this community being labeled among the most generous. If there are a few setbacks they have been over- shadowed by increased giving and uninstinted interested from many others. These are good signs for an organized effort in which dedicated volunteerism continues to be an aspect of devotion to and concern for humanitarian causes and Jewish cultural- spiritual aims. The Allied Jewish Campaign objectives em- brace so many obligations that its role in Jewish affairs keeps growing in immensity. While Is- rael's social and educational services and then the needs of settlers in Israel draw upon the fund's major sources, there are some 60 addi- tional causes to be provided for. Care for the elderly, housing provisions for them, the civic protective movements, the rec- reational needs — these are among the many which depend upon the local fund-raising. The manner in which the Allied Jewish Cam- paign is treated is, hopefully, leading towards the raising of the $19 million sum that is so vital for an assured protection for the needs to be cared for. It is to the credit of this responsive community that it is on the road toward fulfil- ling these obligations. GRAIN OF TRUTH With every additional step in the direction of searching for data aimed at branding Israel with inhuman policies, there are mounting ob- ligations to demand truthful approaches to Is- rael's, defense conditions. There seems to be an assumption that mobsters have the right to threaten the lives of Israeli police forces and the latter must not pro- tect themselves. Mob rule has become an aspi- ration for sensation-seeking correspondents. Similarly, an approach to peace by Israel is polluted with reports arousing suspicions. Israel doesn't have trouble enough, vis-a-vis April 25 and gangsterism. Sensation-seekers keep pouring salt on Israel's wounds with dis- tortions in the press. %MA Ben-Ami Traces Israel's Rebirth Over Bitter Roads Yitzhaq Ben-Ami traces historic roles in the making of Israel, in the struggles for redemption, in the Zionist activities that involved both the defiance of the British in organizing what the Mandatory Power called "illegal immigration" into Israel, as well as the resis- tance both to Arabs and ttle:British. He was in the forefront of the • ranks ()Me "Years. orWradi: Days of aloe' (Abbeit Speller and Sons, Pub- lishers) is the eamatic story of Ben,Ami's leadership in organizing the resistance to Nazism and as an activist in fulfilling the Zionist aims. Ben-Ami earns the title of historian of the era of Israel's emergence into statehood. He had an important role in Israel as an Irgunist. His description of the tragic chapter dealing with the Altalena and David Ben-Gurion's de- clared war on Menahem Begin and the Irgun is among the most descriptive of the historical incidents. Ben-Ami, a third-generation Is- raeli, was one of the close associates of Vladimir Jabotinsky and sub- sequently also with Menahem Begin. From 1933, when he first associated with the Irgun, he was in closest con- tact with the movement and its lead- ers. "Days of Glory" in the book's title is YITZHAQ BEN AMI the emergence of Israel into statehood and the affirmation of many of the aims of the Revisionist Zionists who functioned as the Irgun, now embodied in the ruling party of Israel. "Years of Wrath" marks the agonies of the Nazi era. Ben-Ami had a role in both, as a leader in the movement for freedom, and also as an organizer of the resistance to Nazism and opposition to the British in the years of their mandatory rule. There is a family background that relates to this interesting account of the life of a fighter for Jewish freedoms, in the description of the Ben-Ami family's miseries under the Czars, commencin the Czarist persecutions in the 1880s. Here, too, there is an MI— c reference to the few, surviving the 1881-1882 pogroms, who left for Palestine. This is where his family's Israeli loyalties begin. Life in the pre-Israel Palestine, the First World War, the pre- World War II factors, mark the early chapters of this libertarian's life. Then come his assignments in rescue efforts during the Nazi era. Many of the personal experiences during that era point to Ben-Ami's organizing abilities in saving Jews and providing for their safe refuge in the Jewish settlements in Palestine. The struggles, the difficulties encountered at the UN, British obstructions and the White Paper restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, provide a thorough account of the bitterness experienced in the years preceding Israel's recognition and admission to the UN. Then come the years of identification with the Irgun, the David Ben-Gurion role, the Altalena and the defense of Begin's mis- sion, together with the scores of incidents relating to national rebirth and the Irgunist opposition which eventually led to the current status of the Begin government. Ben-Ami's book is a collection of memoirs which truly represent valuable chapters in Jewish history and could well serve as a textbook in j - udging the sovereignty of Israel and the libertarianism that made it possible. - - - •-.