THE JEWISH NEWS CUSPS 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 14th day of Tamrnuz, 5743, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 22:2-25:9. Prophetical portion, Micah 5:6-6:8. Tuesday, Fast of the 17th of Tammuz Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 32:11-14, 34:1-10. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 55:6-56:8 (afternoon only). Candlelighting, Friday, June 24, 8:54 p.m. VOL. LXXXIII, No. 17 Page Four Friday, June 24, 1983 BATTERED RAMPARTS In the critical period that confronted Israel and the Jewish people prior to the Six-Day War of June 1967, the slogan was: "Shenit Matsada lo tipol — Masada shall not fall a second time." It may be applicable now. While Israel's mili- tary strength is unquestioned, the losses in maintaining it are immense and heartrending. The 500 who died in the Lebanese sphere affect every Israeli family and cause feelings of mourning wherever there are Jews who must feel akin with their Israeli fellow Jews. That is why it is necessary to consider the ramparts that represent concern for the future of the Jewish state and its unquestioned moral standards. How are these ramparts to be treated? Is the immediacy of withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon to be viewed as compulsory, or is the warning that such an abandonment of posi- tions in Lebanon would mean a return to the insecure position of Israel under terrorist threats to be taken seriously? There is no doubt that the extreme ter- rorism is gaining ground and that under the label of PLO the immensity of repetitive dec- larations from the saber-rattling enemies of Is- rael is not diminishing. Under such conditions the people of Israel is being tested and the attitudes in Jewish ranks face challenges that cannot be ignored. The ramparts continue to be threatened and their security must be viewed with realism, devoid of political considerations. Politics un- fortunately play damaging roles. Therefore the unending obligation to treat the judgment of the dominent forces in Israel with seriousness. They know the conditions and an active opposi- tion is on such an alert that out of differing views must develop, in the course of time, the solution that is so urgent for peace. A defensive rampart must, nevertheless, be on a high level of morality, and to sustain its virility its ethical codes must not be subjected to doubts. A battered rampart must be above re- proach, and the frequent accusations of mis- treatment of Arabs on Israel's borders and in presently-resettled territories demand correct- ing. If the reports of brutalities are real, they must be corrected. • Then there are the apparently growing condemnations in Jewish ranks which cannot lend strength to the determined "Masada shall not fall again" will to live. There is no doubt that the ramparts are being battered. They must be protected, and such protectiveness must come from two sources: the elevation of Jewish moral standards within Israel and the assurance that Jewish unity will not be disrupted at a time when it is so vital in the strength of the Dias- pora alliance with Israel as a defensive force for Israel. "Shenit Matsada lo tipol." COALESCING THE FORCES When Israel's very existence was threatened in 1967, in the period of a Gamal Abdel Nasser's war that was aimed at the an- nihilation of Israel, political forces in Israel were unified. Menahem Begin was called into a coalition government. Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan and their associates were ready to cooperate in the interest of Israel's security. Perhaps the situation is not much different insofar as the internal Israel situation is con- cerned. Only in a unified approach to the issues — involving the so-called Palestinian dilemma, involving settlements which in the main can never be dissolved, as well as the demands for withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and their consequences — there must be a common ground of understanding and cooperation by all ranks in Israel's society. Accusations constantly repeated that dif- fering views on matters involving Israeli secu- rity and internal peace of mind among the people of Israel, that the differing attitudes are politically motivated, again raise to the fore the demand that a coalition government be estab- lished, in the consideration of differences of opinions and attitudes. There is a single basic principle never to be molested. It is the obligation to recognize differ- ing views in the interest of arriving at amicabil- ity. This has applicability on a domestic as well as national scope. If people can not differ they will not be able eventually to agree. If there is to be clarification of opposing views it must be attained in face-to-face confrontations, thus eliminating any approach to unwelcome bias. In time of crisis such an effort to attain unified action is more vital even than on the strictest personal level, and the aim of produc- ing the highest level of unified aim for the com- mon good must be out of mutual respect. In the deliberations now being conducted in Jerusalem by the Jewish Agency, there will hopefully come forth such a workable proposal, supported by the two forces in worldwide Jewish ranks, the Zionist and the otherwise com- munal. There is a vital need for such an in- fluencing stand by world Jewry together with the representatives of the Israeli community of Jews and their government. There is need for a unity that will obviate demonstrations in many areas which give the impression of an impending collapse of of an undermining of harmony among Jews everywhere, as well as among Israelis. There is a need for realistic unity. Perhaps the gathered representatives of Jewish communities everywhere can exert the needed pressure to abandon divisiveness and to coalesce for har- mony. Ktav-Published 'Jewish Quest' Dr. Agus Explores Jewish Philosophical Concepts "The Jewish Quest" (Ktav), the title of the newest volume by Dr. Jacob B. Agus, adds significantly to the researched studies conducted by the eminent scholar. The new work, which draws upon historic teachings, much of it based on Maimonidean concepts, is sociological and philosophical in nature. Its aim is theological. Rabbi Agus concerns himself "with the nature of revelation in an ecumenical sense." It is interesting and important in treat- ing this volume to note that the author at the outset states: "The core of revelation is taken to be not the conveyance of concrete informa- tion, but an awareness of the luminous and the sublime that developed into a hunger for wisdom, a dedication to goodness, an inten- sified sense of the holy." Concerned with the ecumenical, giving emphasis to the basic principles of Conserva- DR. AGUS tive Judaism, Dr. Agus considers the new horizons in the post-Holocaust era, in a period approaching the hopes for peace for Israel. The current developments on the world scene receive due atten- tion from Dr. Agus, as he defines the new anti-Semitism that was equated with anti-Zionism. He is not uncritical of Jews and Israelis, especially in his com- ments on the challenges that have been directed on the question of traditional morality. Thus, he states: "We must take note of the fact that the moral image of Israel declined at the very time when the Arab case gained in credibility and power. The increasing nervousness of the Israeli government, the anxious haste to establish new settlements in the midst of Arab lands, the rough tactics used to suppress Arab demonstrations — all these factors helped to remove the aura of moral greatness from the cause of Israel. The house of Israel' had become 'like all the nations.' " Therefore, his frank approach to the American Jewish leadership problems in relation to Israel and other issues that keep arising. He is of the view that Jewish leadership in this country "is in need of more subtlety and sophistication than ever before." This is where he takes into account the changes in attitudes towards Israel in liberal ranks. This is where Palestinianism is tested as a problem. In a sense, this thesis is a warning against ancient mythologies, in reference to the claims that the West Bank belongs to Israel because"God gave it to us." He declares that "the task of Diaspora Jewry is to help Israel acquire fresh dimensions of moral and cultural greatness." Dr. Agus is the noted scholar whose guidance in testing reli- gious ethics aids teachers and students alike. His theological defini- tions are vital to such studies, such as his enlightening chapter on "Judaism in the New Testament." His analyses of Halakhic studies similarly add immensely to such approaches to theological schol- arship. On this score, "The Jewish Quest" provides guidance in the ecu- menical approaches.