THE JEWISH NEWS 1
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Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 22nd day of Tishri, 5743, is Shemini Azeret,
and the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17, Numbers 29:35-30:1.
Prophetical portion, I Kings 8:54-66.
Sunday; Simhat Torah
Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12, Genesis 1:1-2:3, Numbers 29:35-30:1.
Prophetical portion, Joshua 1:1-18.
Candlelighting, Friday, Oct. 8, 6:43 p. m
VOL. LXXXII, No. 6
Page Four
Friday, Oct. 8, 1982
UNHINDERED. AFFINITY
Inuendos kept floating, criticism of Israel
abounded, American displeasure with Israel's
military roles were heard from both the White
House and the State Department. But, in es-
sence, the Israeli-U.S. cooperation and friend-
ship remains intact.
This is the heartening result of many tests to
which that friendship had been submitted in
recent months, and especially during the ter-
rifying weeks of the struggles centered in Be-
irut.
A major element involved in what could have
been judged as doubt over the strong links that
unite Israel and the United States in a common
concern in the Middle East is the manner in
which the prime ministership of the Jewish
state was being judged. Menahem Begin had
become the scapegoat in the tragedies that had
monopolized the attention of mankind, and his
critics had gone so far as to demand his and his
associates' resignations. That was a normal
demand for the Israeli newspapers. It became
an indecency for Americans to make such a de-
mand. For an Irving Howe or an Arthur
Hertzberg or anyone outside Israel, whether in
the Israeli Labor Alliance ranks in this country
or anyone else to utter it, is to question Israel's
right to democratic functioning.
President Ronald Reagan made the point in
his press conference, Sept. 28, when he gave
emphasis to an established fact: When he said
he would deal as in the past with Prime Minis-
ter Menahem Begin as long as he is the duly-
elected chief executive of the state of Israel, he
served notice that the anti-Begin scapegoating
will not enroll him as a partner. That meant
that this nation will retain its respect for the
friendly Israeli nation as long as the democratic
principles abide.
Reiteration of this basic principle in civilized
society is not chauvinism. It is a duty and is
especially applicable to Israel, where adherence
to democratic obligations predominates.
The news and interpretations of it relating
especially to Beirut, in the past weeks, have
been devastating. They created heartaches. De-
scriptions of what was happening revolted
every human feeling. Hopefully the truth about
the many accusations will be revealed speedily,
without much delay, from the Israeli investiga-
tive commission. Israel will know how to deal
with the sinners, even if they are Minister of
Defense Ariel Sharon and General Raphael
Eitan. The results will surely be in quest of
decency, in administration of justice, in pur-
suance of the highest ideal in which Jewish
existence is rooted.
It cannot be denied that Israel was more
agonized than any others concerned with the
Beirut tragedies. The New York Times, edito-
rially (Sept. 20), asserting title-wise "Israel
Finds Voice," stated:
"Some Israelis have become hard on democ-
racy in recent weeks. They resented having to
wage war on television, before a largely hostile
world. But now their democracy bids to rescue
their honor and their reputation. Would that
other peoples of the region could speak with
equal force."
Another portion of that editorial is worth re-
cording:
"The people of Israel have broken the resis-
tance of their government to force a full and fair
inquiry of its negligence, or worse, in permit-
ting the slaughter of defenseless Palestinians in
west Beirut. Are there people of comparable
honor and courage in the Arab world who can
appreciate Israel's revulsion? Will the Lebanese
dare to press a parallel search for the actual
killers?
"It will be weeks before the Jerusalem in-
quiry reaches reliable conclusions. But the Is-
raeli people, with their soldiers in the lead, have
already rendered one clear judgment. By af-
firming their humanity, they also affirm the
Palestinians'. They have risen in protest
against the politics of terror that Israel itself
has long had to endure.
"By their shame, they shame the killers of
their own children. By their revulsion, they ex-
pose the hypocrisy of many of their critics."
Yet, the debate goes on. There is a debasing of
Israel. The rational, the objective, the
historically-minded, are evidencing an under-
standing that must clarify the issue and prevent
further pollution that has caused a stream of
muddied plotting. Thus, Meg Greenfield, con-
cluding her essay, "How to Defend Israel," in
Newsweek, states: "It is not the sophists and
alibi-makers in this country, but rather the agi-
tated, demanding protesters in Tel Aviv who
are the true 'defenders of Israel.' "
With much to atone for in much that has
happened, Israel the people and the state will
surely emerge in the same garb in which the
nation regained sovereignty, in the manner in
which the morality of the people has given it
sustenance and the power to survive the menac-
ing threats of many generations. The latest ex-
periences will serve once again to reaffirm the
legacies which will not be degraded by the hat-
reds of resurging prejudices or the panic that
may strike some Jews in ranks which now more
than ever need solidifying. Truth will certainly
be in its glory again, as a continuity of Jewish
moral and ethical codes, and as an inerasable
U.S.-Israel friendship.
BLESSED INQUIRY!
Villifications of Israel have been reduced. The
media are no longer pointing accusing fingers at
Israel, and the daggers of enmity no longer con-
tain the poisons that created so much pain.
The pain was for Israel and the Jewish people
more than for all mankind. There is need for
clarification and further assurance of good will.
Therefore the relief that goes with the decision
for an inquiry by a special commission in Israel.
That decision is a blessing for all.
New St. Martin's Book
Ceremonies to Involve
Family-Based Observances
Traditional ceremonial observance, in synagogues, communal
institutions and in the home are subjects of special merit as guides
contributing to the basic identifications with traditional links in
Jewish life.
Emphasis on such celebrations in the home receives noteworthy
attention in a volume devoted to the family as a unit in a meritorious
work by Arlene Rosen Cardozo. In "Jewish Family Celebrations: The
Sabbath, Festivals and Ceremonies" (St. Martin's Press), the obser-
vances in the home, by the family, has an application that will be
treated as useful and inspiring.
The Cardozo volume is replete with the definitive about the
ceremonials and provides the historic traditions and explanations
and the many supplementary factors that designate the Sabbath and
the festivals as marks of sanctity for the family.
At the outset, the treatment accorded to the Sabbath in this
fascinating volume provides an appreciation for the balance of its
contents.
The Sabbath story is accompanied by prayers, the Hebrew texts
and the translations, and the elemental which provide for the day's
impressiveness based on songs and prayers.
The musical portions add significantly to this section, as they do
similarly in the guides to all the festivals and to the somber days as
well, which are covered extensively.
In providing recipes for all occasions, in addition to the songs and
blessings, this collective task becomes, as the author intended, a
volume serving the entire family. That is how the basic elements in
the author's approach to her subjects are handled.
There is a devotional thoroughness with which the fesitvals are
accorded equally-attentive consideration. The groupings are espe-
cially significant, the author having subdivided them into these
categories:
The Ancient Fall Festivals, The Ancient Winter Festivals, The
Ancient Spring Festivals, The Modern Spring Festivals, Life-Style
Ceremonies and Building the Family Bookshelf.
Such are the designations for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Suk-
kot and Simhat Torah in the first section; Hanuka and Purim in the
second; Passover and Shavuot in the third.
The treatment of Yom HaShoah and Yom HaAtzmaut lends
modernity, as the author treats them, to the newest developments in
Jewish history, the tragic and the happy, that led to observances
marked by Jews for the commemoration of the Holocaust horrors as a
reminder of Jewish sufferings and the rebirth of Israel.
Such are the attentive to indicate the major functions prescribed
in the Cardozo volume. Jewish family celebrations, however, must
include the home and family unit factors, and the attention given to
birth and death, Bar and Bat Mitzva and weddings will serve as
additional guides for the identified Jew. The explanations serve well
the intended purpose of assuring understanding of Jewish values in
their observance.
A creative element in the book is the manner in which it suggests
how to build a Jewish bookshelf in the home, thus beautifying it and
giving it a Jewish importance.
In all these approaches, "Jewish Family Celebrations" is an in-
formative and fascinating work meriting wide usage.