Newspapers Under Scrutiny When Truth Is Obstacled by Gambling for Freedom THE JEWISH NEWS A Weekly Review Commentary, Page 2 of Jewish Events Out of the Embers Rises a Renewed Spiritual Dedication Glorified by Goodwill Editorials, Page 4 Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co. VOL. LXXXII, No. 22 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $15 Per Year: This Issue 35c January 28, 1983 Curbs on U.S. Aid for Israel Denied by State Department Blind Rabbi Gives Credit to Jewish Braille Institute By DAVID EVANIER — Jewish Braille Institute NEW YORK — "We're fighting those thousands of years of his- tory," said Rabbi Michael Levy, who was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1981 and is believed to be the first rabbi to have been born blind. "And we're fighting the fact that blindness is the second most feared condition, next to cancer, in the U.S. "When a sighted person thinks about me, he thinks about what it was like the first time the lights went out, and the panic he felt. Of course, the first time you do anything, it's hard. So what? We have to get beyond the panic that people associ- ate with the life of blind persons." Recalling his childhood, Rabbi Levy said, " The first (Jewish incident) that I remember happened to me when a very old man came from the synagogue to teach me the Shema. He spent an hour and a half drilling it into me. The feeling I got was that he felt this was all I would ever be able to do in Judaism. "But I was lucky. My parents found out about the Jewish Braille Institute. When I was five and just be- ginning Hebrew school, they spoke to the director. There was no question in their minds that I was entitled to a Jewish education, just like a sighted RABBI LEVY person. "My parents got the assurance that there was no reason why I shouldn't go to Hebrew school," Rabbi Levy continued. "Following that, It was just a matter of different tools. I read Braille, they read print. I wrote Braille, they wrote print. I learned my Haftorah in Braille. It's really quite simple after you get over the initial hurdle of attitude. It's common sense. If you're short, and there's a kitchen cabinet that's high, you get a ladder and stand on it." (Continued on Page 8) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Reagan Administration has rejected reports that it is consid- ering cutting off aid to Israel in an effort to achieve a "speedier withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Lebanon. "The U.S. remains extremely concerned over the slow pace of the negotiations aimed at achieving the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon," State Department spokesman John Hughes said. But he stressed that Secretary of State George Shultz has "on a number of occasions made it clear" that he opposes using threats of withholding aid. But the State Depart- ment urged the postponement of Israel Prime Minister Menahem Begin's visit to Wash- ington next month until after there is an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Hughes refused to comment directly on a report by syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak in the Washington Post in which they said that the National Security Council and the State and Defense departments have drafted a document, ready for the President's signature, to cut off military aid as a means of forcing an Israeli withdrawal. President Reagan vowed Tuesday night to continue his efforts for Mideast peace as outlined in his Sept. 1 peace initiative. In his State of the Union address, devoted chiefly to economics, Reagan noted, "I outlined principals to carry on the peace process begun so promisingly at Camp David." (Continued on Page 5) Fisher Seeks Apolitical Jewish Agency Taking into account the discussions at the recent World Zionist Congress of the role of the Jewish Agency in relation to the Zionist representation, Detroiter Max M. Fisher, as chairman of the Agency Executive Committee, announced that a review of the current status will be the aim of the meetings scheduled in Jerusalem for June 19-24. Fisher, speaking in behalf of the "New Zionists," as he termed the non-Zionist representation in the Agency, asserted that unity remains a main objective and he declared that it will be the continuing objective in support of Israel and her needs. Declaring that "history and Zionism have convinced me that Jewish unity is the key to Jewish survival and I will not willingly see our great affiance weakened in any way," Fisher stated: "If a change would come about, because we have the moral courage to bring it about, it might not be necessary to maintain, indefinitely, two separate bodies within the reconstituted Jewish Agency." Fisher's statement implies ,criticism of some of the events that occurred at the World Zionist Congress in December. With "unity" as the chief objective, (Cdntinued on Page 19) MAX FISHER Tu b'Shevat — The New Year of Trees By RABBI BERNARD RASKAS—Seven Arts Features A beautiful Jewish festival begins tonight, bearing the lovely_name "The New Year of the Trees." The reason for this is that the. opening mishna, the very first passage in the Talmud volume of Rosh Hashana, begins this way: "There are four Rosh Hashanas and the Rosh Hashana for trees is on the 15th day of Shevat." So it is that this day came to be celebrated on the Jewish calendar as a minor festival. Ashkenazic Jews commemorated it by eating 15 kinds of fruit and reciting 15 pslams. The Sephardic community has a special set of hymns and poems that deal with trees, fruit and the pro- duce of the land and they are recited on this day. In Israel, the celebration is more direct and practical. The children go out into the fields and plant trees. It is interesting that unique to the Jewish tradi- tion is a sensitivity to trees as well as all nature. The Bible in Deuteronomy 20:19 compares the life of a tree to the life of a person. The tree, like a human being, comes from a seed: it grows, it breaths, it lives and it dies. Sometimes it lives out its alloted span and dies at a ripe old age and sometimes through accident or A citizen of Jerusalem prepares to plant a young sapling on Tu b'Shevat. disease it dies prematurely. Sometimes it-becomes ill and the doctor — botanist — has to treat it medically. The subject of trees occupies significant portions of the Talmud. We are instructed on how to deal with the fruits of (Continued on Page 64) Saplings planted on past Tu b'Shevat holidays are part of the JNF Jerusalem Forest.