THE- JEWISH NEWS C USPS 275-520) 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 CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher ALAN HITSKY News Editor Business Manager HEIDI PRESS Associate News Editor_ DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 11th day of AL', 5742, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 40:1-26. Candlelighting, Friday, July 30, 8:35 p.m. VOL. LXXXI, No. 22 Page Four Friday, July 30, 1982 WHOLESOME DIASPORA Priority of concern in the current Middle East situation by the Jewries of the world is under- standable. It is major news for all mankind, and certainly for Americans of all faiths, all shades of opinion who judge the events in Lebanon as overshadowing most occurrences. Therefore the interest in the unity being displayed by Jews everywhere, in contrast with consideration given to demonstrations for peace which are interpreted as "splitting Jewish ranks." Peace is the prime objective of all Israelis and those who shout for peace are only echoing the voice of the entire Jewish people. There is a way of judging demonstrations. When 50,000 march for a peace which is inter- preted as opposition to the Israeli actions against the PLO, they are followed by a body more than four times such a sizable gathering in support of the present government of Israel. Greater realism applies to the unity which as- serts that Jewry stands firm in defense of the Jewish state. It is in this sense that a rally for solidarity with Israel this Sunday afternoon in Oak Park will take the form of a united Jewish commu- nity upholding the hands of the activists battl- ing for the security of the Jewish state. This Solidarity Rally exemplifies the senti- ment which sends forth a- message to peoples everywhere that the acquisition of Jewish statehood by a people persecuted through the centuries is not to be bargained with. It de- clares, to Jews first and to the world at large on all occasions, that the rights gained by Jews to be masters of their own destiny are not to be trampled in the dust or polluted by exaggera- tions and villifications. This is a major task demonstrated by a united Jewish community. There are the few dissi- dents, the critics, those who, surely unmoti- vated but nevertheless misled into providing misunderstanding, inadvertantly perhaps lend comfort to Israel's enemies. It is in the unity that there is also the expression of sorrow that suffering of innocents is a resultant tragic war factor. The security of a nation striving for peace nevertheless emerges as an obligation for support against threats from accumulated animosities. It is a duty that must be seriously adhered to. While demonstrating an important role in support of Israel, there is an added wholesome- ness in Diaspora actions. This in evidence in the communal planning of Metropolitan Detroit Jewry, in behalf of the elderly, in the provisions for the many who must be provided with adequate housing, with the knowledge that they will not be abandoned, that their fellow citizens recognize their needs and will provide for them. The immense projects, to be fully accounted for in the communal planning, make homes for the aged necessities never to be ignored. This is a duty uppermost on Detroit Jewry's agenda. It will .assume even greater significance in the new plans now formulated and considered with a sense of priority for this generation and for the next one to follow it. The immensity of the new project now pro- claimed as a realized aim is of such vast impor- tance that the parent organizations sponsoring the cause, under the leadership of the Jewihs Welfare Federation, earn the acclaim they are already receiving. Then there is the adjunct, the accompanying project which has gained from this community the highly meritorious name of Federation Apartments. Twice, under this title, construc- tive achievements provided housing for those who can care for themselves but who need the type of housing that has proper guidance, the encouragement that must be given so many who seek independence but who nevertheless must have the type of supervision which guarantees a collective aim to assure comfort, to provide means to make for sociability that spells corn- munity. For the third time, such a task now redounds to the credit of the organized community whose t onstituen'cy concerns itself with the cultural and social service objectives and proclaims to the senior citizens that they are not being aban- doned. * * * This is the spirit of what may well be termed Wholesome Diaspora. Israel is on the agenda. Neighborliness with the non-Jews is vital. The social services are important. Refugees are wel- comed from lands of oppression. The citizenry itself is not ignored and the elders among them are being provided for with dignity and with security. These are achievements now being recorded with pride. They are the plans that proclaim that a community has many duties, and the elderly and the homeless never play second fid- dle. They are part of the life of a community that spells dignity and self-respect. It is the self- respect that invites respect from all, and it is in this fashion that the planners of the very crea- tive tasks now merit the acclaim of an apprecia- tive and united Metropolitan Detroit Jewry. * * * A community's solid position also is judged by the response it gives to the major needs of the hour that call for philanthropic involvement. This is in evidence in the Detroit Allied Jewish Campaign. Many of the factors in these efforts raise above the charitable. They are the socially challenging and have the value of the human factor. The decisions now being made for a specially-oriented fundraising effort to provide for Israel's needs in time of crisis emphasize the human, the cultural, the spiritual. The urgency of the newly-planned drive for urgently needed funds is to provide assurance that the social 'services in Israel for new immigrants and the elderly will not be curtailed, that the univer- sities will not suffer from the lack of government-provided financial means, that the spirit of the people of Israel will be uplifted by the message of solidarity from the Diaspora. To have risen to the occasion, so soon after another important Allied Jewish Campaign, with plans for an emergency fundraising task, adds creditably to the already high record for concern that calls for fulfilling all obligations to major Jewish challenges. Edited by Dr. Sklare American Jewry Under Scrutiny by Researchers in New Transaction Volume Research develops into a science in a series of thoroughly re- searched essays scrutinizing the current American Jewry. In "Understanding American Jewry," (Transaction Books), edited by Dr. Marshall Sklare of Brandeis University, noted scholars deal with a variety of themes analyzing the status of the American Jewish community and its trends. While the essays in this highly-inforinative volume already indi- cate a trend toward research, Dr. Sklare points to the slowness with which academic chairs are being established to pursue such needs. He points out that "most Jewish organizations have not moved in the direction of conducting basic research." He also indicates that "none of the Hebrew colleges have sponsored research institutes in the field of contemporary Jewish studies." He adds that "the most widely known research institution in the _field of contemporary Jewish studies is located in Jerusalem, the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University." While the latter conducts studies limited to Diaspora Jewry, the American historical values are ignored. Therefore the importance of this volume which is an encouragement in the American direction. Dr. Sklare proceeds to evaluate the result of studies conducted at Brandeis University and its Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. It is from a conference aimed at introducing research held at Brandeis University and financed by the Charles H. Revson Founda- tion that the essays in this volume emanate. They are the texts of lectures delivered at that conference, held in October 1979. The papers delivered at that conference, conducted by Dr. Sklare, deal with demography, Jewish identity, religious life, education, the family, anti-Semitism, the Jewish community and a study of Israelis and the yerida to this country. In addition to his prefatory statement, Dr. Sklare is represented here with the essay on the preparation of a sociology of American Jewry. Research needs of local communities and the needs of natio Jewish organizations have special merit for participants in the tional philanthropic movements. Bruce A. Phillips and Ira Silverm analyze these issues. Then there is an important essay by former Detroiter Daniel Elazar, who discussed "The Jewish Community as a Polity." Scholars who contributed towards this collective essay include Calvin Goldscheider, Harold Himelfarb, Charles S. Liebman, David A. Resnick, Sheila B. Kamerman, Chaim I. Waxman, Earl Raab, Dora Kass and Seymour Martin Lipset. The essay by Kass and Lipset, "Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1967 to- the Present: Israelis and Others," has special merit. It provides an analysis of the Israeli yerida problem, the reasons for the exodus, the Israelis considering themselves "sojour- ners" and therefore viewing themselves as being here temporarily, planning to return to Israel. While they consider themselves Israelis, their integration becomes a difficulty. This problernis so well defined that the essay provides a basis for understanding of what some review as a problem. "Understanding American Jewry" emphasizes the need for re- search. It seems to emphasize increasing interest in such studies.