ik#IWANSWIIMEGI&IT. THE JEWISH NEWS (uses 275-5201 Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 tet " . **23441.2..s.i.504pr nit U.N.fouNPATION 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 CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager HEIDI PRESS Associate News Editor DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the first day of Heshvan, 5744, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 6:9-11:32, Numbers 28:9-15. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 66:1-24. Candlelighting, Friday, Oct. 7, 6:43 p.m. VOL. LXXXIV, No. 6 Page Four Friday, October 7, 1983 BIG MIDDLE EAST 'IF' Lebanon is among the big puzzles in the Middle East. For decades a battleground bet- ween religious and battling tribes, that nation, high-ranking culturally and commercially among her neighbors, suffered miserably. It now has a cease-fire, and hopes everywhere are that it will be a lasting one. There were more than 200 such cessations of warfare in less than 10 years, yet the fratricide continued. If there could be a coming to terms among the warring factions, it would be a blessing for the entire world and a great satisfaction to the United States whose foreign policy includes a determination to strive for a peaceful Lebanon. This has become a matter of great interest to this country and its aims at attaining and assur- ing continuity for an end to warfare is a serious diplomatic commitment. With Saudi Arabia having participated in effecting the current cease-fire, the major re- sponsibility for assuring as much of peace as possible become apparent. The Arab role is vital to the issue and must never be ignored. Having participated in the approach to peace, Saudi Arabia may have paved the way for other Arab nations to end their inner animosities and in the course of events will hopefully be induced also to end the venom against Israel. In a most evaluative New York Times Op-Ed Page essay, Fouad Ajami, who was born into a Shiite family in southern Lebanon and is on leave as director of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Interna- tional Studies, made this interesting statement: "The Arab states are hardly in a good posi- tion to complain about American 'credibility.' If , Lebanon truly mattered to them, if it was part of the larger Arab political and cultural order, there would be Arab peacekeeping troops in Lebanon — men more able than the United States Marines to understand Lebanese prob- lems. "There was once an Arab peacekeeping force in Lebanon, in the mid-1970s, but it was sabotaged by Syria — and the Arab label be- came a fig leaf for Syrian mischief in Lebanon." Indeed, if peace mattered to the Arab states there would be amity among all factions and all nations and there would be great benefit from a progressive Middle East. Arab credibility is amiss here. Then there is the devilish role of Syria. Even while the present cease-fire was being promulgated, Syria was conducting its prop- aganda campaign, ignoring the realities and resorting only to attacks on Israel and the Un- ited States. That is why there was carnage in Lebanon. That is why, in an effort to prevent its recurr- ence, Arabs more than all others must unite for peace. But Syria stands in the way. Its partner in fomenting trouble is the Soviet Union and all except the troublemakers are the evident suf- ferers. In the long run, Syria is not really be- nefiting from hatemongering, except that it can count upon the Kremlin for friendship and as the provider of the military hardware that makes warfare a continuity. The lack of Arab cooperation in assuring peace for the Middle East is the "Big If in the equation. THE Grdo BAL MRS S Soothsayers are already providing a hey- day for auguries of doom. On the current record there is a prediction that before the end of this century there will be a conflagration in the Middle East leading to another world conflict. Only the naive need be advised what such a war would do to mankind, none being excepted. Because of the fear for such resultant ef- fects from a global war on all the peoples of the world, it is reasonable to believe that as long as nuclear power is controlled by reasonable people a conflict can be averted. Who can pro- vide an assurance for such continuity of com- mon sense, even while a war of words keeps aggravating and threatening? Nevertheless, the admission is mandatory that a nasty war is in progress, that there is international amorality which divides and threatens and creates tensions not to be ig- nored. For Americans, the latest developments are assuming tragic proportions. It is distres- sing enough that U.S. Marines were needed in Lebanon, on the basis of American concerns in that part of the world which compelled similar action by President Eisenhower 25 years ago. The problem was speedily resolved in the ear- lier experience. Now the drag-pit is caused • primarily by an antagonism stemming from Syria. There is an interruption in the constant blaming of Israel for everything evil occurring in the Middle East. Now the attention focused on the Syrians is based on concessions which may not only drag out the horrifying Lebanese situation but may well cause serious damage to this country. The evil that dominates the fragile cease- fire is attributable to the privileged role of Pres- ident Assad of Syria. He has gained a place in the case of characters dominating the quest for a solution of the Lebanese divisiveness and this is cause for grave concern. A recognized aggres- sor, her army occupying a major portion of Lebanon, Syria ridicules every demand for withdrawal of her troops. It is evident that the intention of the Syrians is to remain and domi- nate over the situation in Lebanon. It is a con- tinuation of Syrian claims that Lebanon is a part of Syria. Now the aggressor Syria has a dominating role in peacemaking, a most ridiculous role in any world situation. Such is the amorality of the new develop- ments in which peace is the ridiculed factor and the United States the victim of disrespect. Re-Issued in Paperback Morton's Rothschilds' Biographically Powerful When "The Rothschilds" by Frederic Morton was first published by the Curtis Publishers in 1961 it was a sensation. It depicted the dramatic developments in the life of one of the most famous Jewish families in Diaspora history and it had a ring of realism in its applica- tion not only to the financial influence of the successors as well as founders of that important Jewish family but also to their political involvements and the diplomatic roles they played. Now, as a paperback just made available by Atheneum, that family again draws wide attention and the Morton story has a revival of unusual literary interst. Not only the Rothschilds, but government officials in all the lands in-which the family operated, Jewish communities, diplomatic forces are the fellow actors of that group in a dramatic evolvement in which Jewish issues played their roles. Naturally, the story begins with Mayer Anschel Rothschild, the founder of the family firm which became known as the Rothschild from the Red Shield, and the Jew Street to which the author leads the reader for knowledge of the emergence of a dynasty and the small store where the operation began. The fine sons of the founding father of the Rothschild firm are depicted in their varying activities in Frankfort, Germany, continu- ing in Vienna, Paris and London. _ In all instances, they were the developments that also involved Jewish devotions, as in the case of Baron Edmund de Rothschild who became a major factor in the development of Jewish colonies in pre- Israel Palestine, in addition to his having established the wine indus- try in Eretz Israel, as well as the many other Rothschilds who con- tinued that interest in Palestine as well as in present-day Israel. The many developments on a world scale depicted by Morton include a description of the tragedy that struck the Viennese Rothschilds when the Nazis assumed power in Austria. It is the interest in Zionist endeavors that is among the major elements of importance in this reprinted paperback. The Rothschilds' friendship with and association in British foreign financial involvements in the era of Benjamin Disraeli are especially noteworthy. They include unusually fascinating historical references. Theodor Herzl had difficulty securing Baron Rothschild's support but the support for Zionism nevertheless developed in expressive fashion both with the Baron's help and that of the succeeding genera- tion. Morton gives a proper account of these activities. The dynasty thus depicted is treated and defined by Morton as a Mishpaha (family) and it emerges not only as a family of Rothschilds but equally significantly as a Jewishly involved, often devoted, group whose efforts on behalf of the Jewish People continue to this day. World interest attaches to the Mishpaha which began in the 18th Century and retains its fascination to this day. As Morton asserts in linking the generations and defining the interest still being aroused wherever one turns by the mere mention of the name Rothschild: "It seems to remind them that all greatness begins with a dream — and that their dream began two centuries ago, with old Mayer smiling at his coins in Frankfurt's Jew Street." The family unity of the Rothschilds, although the mixed mar- riages have now become numerous, emphasized the uninterrupted Jewish interests now especially evident in the Zionist affiliations. There is little doubt about the Rothschilds being a Jewish family, as depicted by Morton.