THE JEWISH NEWS (USPS 275-5201 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 $18 a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editor and Publisher ALAN HITSKY News Editor Rejoicing on Simhat Torah by Chagall From "The Sukkot and Simhat Torah Anthology" edited by Rabbi Philip Goodman. Courtesy the publishers, Jewish Publication Society of America. CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager HEIDI PRESS Associate News Editor DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 24th day of Tishri, 5744, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 1:1-6:8. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 42:5-43:10. Oct. 7, Rosh Hodesh Heshvan, Numbers 28:1-15. Candlelighting, Friday, September 30, 6:55 p.m. VOL. LXXXIV, No. 5 Page Four Friday, September 30, 1983 PROPHECY AND REALITY A new year always commences with prophecies, with a variety of predictions, with auguries varying from conquering hope to de- vastating doom. The commencement of 5744 on the Jewish calendar is an echo from past experi- ences. Fear has its sad influence on the human mind and its negativism strikes some roots. Yet the historically-minded, and the faithful, do not panic. There is a hope eternal that defies what- ever suggestion there may be of approaching doom. A soothsayer in Israel undertook to inter- pret the Hebrew word that spells 5744, as a tashmad that suggests peril. A few days after reading that interpretive augury that was im- planted in a word that means destruction, many turned to a frail symbol of Jewish existence, the Sukka, and most builders of that collapsible memento of Jewish historic importance re- tained portions of it to build anew — in 5744 and forever thereafter. This is not a boasting or a chauvinism, but a study of realities. Prophets of doom chanted warnings from the arenas for generations. Even the Holocaust didn't support their predictions. How interesting that Jewish communities should have ignored, as they did, the views of some preachers who were dominated by visions of doom! Such distressing words came from a few rabbis and some Israeli representatives. Because Israel government allocations were denied, by the economic circumstances, to uni- versities, it did not mean the schools of higher learning will close their doors. This is imper- missible in Jewish loyalties. Just because the finances are limited, homes for the aged, schools, services for the handicapped will not be abandoned, either in Israel or elsewhere. Because some Jewish communities, and in some instances Jewries in entire countries, are vanishing, does not mean that People Israel is under threat of extinction. Neither people nor State will ever be subjected to such an end of horror. The expressed fears may be judged by what is happening in at least one country where Jews still exist but where they find it difficult to gather a minyan for a religious service. A report from Cairo is a related point in question. Judith Miller is the correspondent who reported on the state of affairs in Cairo to the New York Times. The newspaper's copyreader appropriately ti- tled the cabled report, dated Sept. 18, "Cairo Minyan: Ten Men Hard to Find." It tells the story in which the reporter points out that there was a larger minyan composed of diplomats rep- resenting Israel in Egypt than the Jewish com- munity of Cairo which now numbers 120. She points out that there are a few more in Alexan- dria and reminds that there were more than 100,000 Jews in Egypt prior to the rebirth of the state of Israel in 1948. Such are the facts about an unending ex- perience in Jewish history. Communities van- ished, because anti-Semitism also is ancient in practice. But new kehillot sprang up and Jewry lived on and lives on. In her report to the New York Times, Judith Miller gave an important historical ac- count of the Jewish background in Egypt, list- ing but these few facts: "It was Egypt that pro uced the scholars Philo and Saadia ben Joteph al-Fayumi and the biblical prophet Jerdmiah. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides, revered by many as the foremost interpreter of Jewish law and philosophy, spent more than half of his life in 12th Century Cairo." When communities were destroyed, others emerged to provide havens and succor. Holland provided comfort during and after the Inquisi- tion. yven Poland was a haven for Jews in ear- lier times, and that's how the immense kehilla, now nearly totally annihilated, had attained a population of 3,500,000. In darkest times, the United States of America became the chief haven and remains so for many. Therefore, now, Israel is the blessing of all times, as the fulfillment of prophecy, and as a signal for an end to Jewish homelessness. This may not be total proof of the indestruc- tibility of Israel, of the Jewish people. But it suggests to the panicked that if there is a shear, a remnant, it is more powerful than panic. That is why the established assertion, net- zag Israel lo yeshaker — the glory of Israel is not polluted or destroyable — remains the guideline for Jews who keep building sukkot and proclaim the codes which give substance to Jewish life and to the people that remains a guide and a source of inspiration to all nations. There are realities that are substantial. They negate the fears. On this Simhat Torah the Scrolls are being hugged with pride where- ver there are Jews. The Jewish will to live is more powerful than the striking of power. The lesson is clear. The reality is on the record. REMNANTS OF GLORY An exhibition in 1985 at the Detroit Insti- tute of Arts will have double significance. There will be a great measure of pride that the Smith- sonian Institution travel exhibition includes this community, and it will express the great satisfaction that an important portion of the Czechoslovakian Jewish art treasures, which were stolen by the Nazis, are not completely lost. Although only 10 percent of the treasures have been rescued, they symbolize another ele- ment in indestructibility when decency and basic justice are involved. It is heartening to know that the efforts of people of genius will not always be at the mercy of barbarians and that the works of creative people must be retained for the benefit of generations to come. The art treasures to be exhibited in the major cities in this country including Detroit do not symbolize merely the remnant of glory. They also affirm the totality of resistance that makes the creative power of humankind more powerful than the combined aims of the evils of All the barbarians. • .• Report of Conference Life of Stefan Zweig Mirrors Human Challenges Stefan Zweig left noteworthy legacies as a novelist and essayist, as interpreter of world affairs from the earliest years of this century into the Hitler era. He was among the widest read in many languages. As Jew, as humanist, as an intimate with the early leaders in the emergence of the Zionist movement, he was a personality widely reckoned with. Prior to his suicide in 1942, which was one of the tragedies in literary ranks in the midst of the Nazi onslaught on Jews and the world, he produced works many of which will now surely be reprinted for a re-acquaintance with the eminent writer. The 100th anniversary of his birth, in 1981, inspired symposia about him and his works. It was occa- sion to return to an interest in his creative literary gifts. From March 30 to April 2, 1981, a Stefan Zweig sym- posium was held at State University of New York College at Fredonia, N.Y. The texts of scholarly addresses by some 30 most distinguished au- thorities has been recorded in a vol- ume, "The World of Yesterday's Humanist Today" and has just been issued by State University of New York Press. Edited by Marion Sonnenfeld, the texts cover the human aspects which inspired Zweig's writings as well as the issues which affected the lives and STEFAN ZWEIG thinking of the generations who were inspired by Zweig. Editor Sonnenfeld comments in a preface: "The theme of the symposium represented a challenge to the assumption that Zweig's work still has significance in our time. It was chosen in order to make this event more than a celebration of a gifted writer's centennial, to do more than assemble like-minded analysts behind the closed doors of timeless, uninvolved belletristic aestheti- cism. There was debate at the symposium; there was honest criticism of Zweig's limitations along with appreciation of his oeuvre and his cultural mediation." The Zweig record approaches totality in the discussions in this symposium. His early years, his travels, his reactions to the horrors that were perpetrated in the last years of life are recalled. Zweig's interpretation of history adds value for students of the events in his lifetime. "Zweig in Judaism" is a most valuable analysis of how the Jewish background influenced the eminent author. The concluding portion, entitled "The Ideal of Eternal Homelessness: Stefan Zweig and Judaism," was written by Klara Carmely of the California Institute of Technology.