THE JEWISH NEWS
(USPS 275 520)
Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue_of July 20, 1951
Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co.
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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 second day of Sioan, 5743, the following scriptural selections will he read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 1:1-4:20. Prophetical portion, Hosea 2:1-22.
Shavuot Scriptural Selections -
Wednesday, Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 19:1-20:23, Numbers 28:26-31.
Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3:12.
Thursday, Pentateuchal portion, Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17,- Numbers 28:26-31.
Prophetical portion, Habbakuk 3:1-19.
Candlelighting, Friday, May 13, 8:26 p.m.
VOL. LXXXIII, No. 11
Page Four
Friday, May 13, 1983
SHAVUOT: THE LAW FOR ALL
Shavuot is the inspired festival whose
meaning and purpose is rooted in the Torah, in
the sacred legacies of the Jewish people. Its em-
phasis is in the moral codes, with lessons for all
mankind.
Like so much more in Jewish observance, in .
the teachings that dominate Jewish life, the
blessings are lessons that have the universal
message.
There is emphasis for it in the message
from the Apocrypha: "The Law must be re-
vealed to all human beings, since the world was
created for all of them, and in the hearts of all of
them God planted faith and good understand-
ing."
That which is sacred and applicable for all
mankind has a specific application for the
Jewish people, and it is asserted specifically in
the Scriptural text-to be found in Deuteronomy
(4:8): "What great nation has statutes so right-
eous as all this Law?" Therefore, the Decalogue
becomes symbolic for the Shavuot festival, and
in that message is contained the legacy that was
accepted universally as the theme for faith and
for human values:
Perhaps the unusual approach to it is what
may have influenced the ideology of a
President, when Ronald Reagan proclaimed
this to be the Year of the Bible.
The lesson, the teachings, are irrefutable.
In every era there is evidence of the inhumanity
of man to man, yet the basic Law remains pow-
erfully imbedded in the highest moral values
which have come down from Sinai, which are
emphasized during the festival to be observed in
the coming days, an obserirance that marks the
very continuity of the faith that spells out the
morality pronounced in the symbolism of the
Shavuot festival.
MIDDLE EAST TANTRUMS
Secretary of State George Shultz has regis-
tered a major achievement in administering
Amercan foreign policies on his mission to the
Middle East. The enrollment of Israel's coopera-
tion in search for a solution- of the Lebanese
problems also served to reaffirm the traditional
American-Israel friendship. It aided in resolv-
ing whatever rifts may have existed between
President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister
Menahem Begin. It gave the Secretary of State
the first opportunity to learn at first hand that
Israel's chief of state was, like himself, a trained
statesman well able to deal with the issues that
are so vital not only regionally but globally.
That mission by the American spokesman
symbolized also the urgency of attaining united
action to end a tragic crisis and to assist in
restoring the hegemony of the duly elected
Lebanese over a restored sovereignty_ of their
state which had bathed in blood for more than a
decade.
Inter alia, the Secretary of State learned
that the Middle East problems are not so easily
soluble. He became witness to the tantrums
which have obstacled peace and continue to
obstruct it.
The difficulties on the road to peace are too
well known to need much elaborating. There
has never been an impressive response from
Arab ranks to the invitation to talk peace with
Israel. The major exception was the Egyptian
under the Anwar Sadat leadership. There was
an echo in Lebanon and now there is an attempt
to squelch it. Every movement in the direction
of peace was matched by threats of assassina-
tions, and there were many of them, chiefly that
of the murder of Egypt's President Sadat.
Whenever there was evidence that Arabs
now functioning under Israel's administration
were ready to confer on means to cooperate with
Israel, they became marked victims in the as-
sassination threats.
While the embattled Middle East was ex-
periencing these endlessly distressing recurr-
ences, basic facts remain indisputable. Israel
remains master of her distiny and must exert all
efforts to retain it. Therefore she will not yield
to any maneuvtr that may lead to its diminu-
tion. The Arabs have peace in their diplomatic
palm, if they will only yield to the face-to-face
consultative process. Refusing it is the root of
the trouble.
It is on the latter score that increasing re-
sponsibilities rest upon the United States. The
rest of the supposedly Free World hardly gives a
damn, other than aspiring for selfish benefits
from the energy-producing nations. In the duty
to attain a peaceful accord, U.S. diplomats must
aim to induce Arabs who have an accord with
this nation to talk peace seriously. There must
be an end to patronizing and an aim at serious-
ness. Israel readily makes concessions, as was
indicated in the relationship with Egypt. Israel
knows there is a Palestinian aspect and knows
the Palestinians well. In a serious way, peace
need not be sacrificed to despair.
The Shultz leadership in peace aims need
not, must not, be terminated. It must continue
and, the targets must be all in the Arab ranks
who stand in the way of rational and practical
approaches. Perhaps the U.S. can end the Saudi
and Jordanian obstacle-building. With em-
phasis on a must for direct peace talks, without
concessions and unnecessary patronizing, the
Middle East can be blessed with progress and
good neighborliness among nations.
However uncertain the results of current
negotiations, the fact that hopes for a positive
approach have not been abandoned by Shultz
and Israel Minister of Defense Moshe Arens
provides a measure of encouragement in Arab-
Jewish relations. People of goodwill must al-
ways be motivated by an adherence to hopeful-
ness.
4-1J-171
Stein and Day Publication
Dominant Role of the ADL
Recorded in Expose of Klan
Believed for a time to be either dead or expiring, the Ku Klux
Klan is on the scene and not to be ignored.
Its role is exposed in an important volume, "The Klan" (Stein and
Day), in which Patsy Simms exposed the movement's current activi-
ties.
Miss Simms, who has been associated with the Philadelphia
Enquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, and the New Orleans States Item,
devoted 16 years to a study of the Klan, at great risks and in
personally-involved research.
FBI involvements and the revelations resulting from scrutiny of
KKK activities lend this study the status of historical recording.
Major among other elements involved in exposing the Klan is the
Bnai Brith Anti-Defamation League.
In the revived edition of Patsy Sims' "The Klan," just reissued —
it was first published in 1978 — is a study of KKK membership
growth: Miss Sims states:
"Was the Klan once more becoming a force to be reckoned with?
The FBI says no. Publicly, it has proclaimed the Klan, all but dead,
with a national membership of less than 2,000. Klan leaders, known
to exaggerate, scoff at the estimate.
"They hide behind their secrecy oath but hint there are more,
many more. Robert Shelton, Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of
America (UKA), says: 'We're big enough to put our,boots on but not
quite big enough to lace 'em up.' David Duke — the Klan's answer to
Robert Redford — brags that he has drawn more than 2,000 to a single
rally. When asked the size of his New Orleans-based Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan, he hedges. 'I'll just say 3,000 is low.' "
"Then, in November 1977, the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai
Brith (ADL) conceded that membership in the three major Klan
groups — UKA, Duke's Knights, -and a new Confederation of Inde-
pendent Klans — had risen 20 percent in two years, up to 8,000 from
6,500 in 1975. But Klan leaders called even those figures low."
Many Klan atrocities are revealed in "The Klan," and Jews were
among the victims. Miss Sims relates:
"During the Sixties, nightrider attacks in Mississippi — as in
most of the South — had been directed against blacks and civil rights
workers. Then, in September 1967, a synagogue and a rabbi's house in
Jackson were bombed. Alarmed Jewish leaders, with the help of the
ADL, bqgan raising reward money. Between 1967 and 1968, the
attacks on Jewish and black communities numbered 17 — all un-
solved."
Miss Sims provides warnings of the need to be on the alert it
judging the continuing activities of the KKK. She concludes with a
personal reference:
"And so the stories continued past deadline, just as the Klan — or
a counterpart — will continue, as long as human beings come in
assorted colors, races, and economic disparities. For unless society
finds a way to treat the causes rather than the symptoms of racism,
there will continue to be the need by some to look both up and down, a
need now filled for them only by the Klan.
"At Christmas time 1977, when I flew to Houston to visit my
parents, I looked again at the little black Pandora's box, the one that
started .me on my search. As I re-examined its contents, my father
commented. "Your Great-Grandfather Jake Shanks was a member of
the Reconstruction Klan, and he was proud of it.' "