THE JEWISH NEWS
iUS 275.50,
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
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
DREW LI EBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 22nd day of Heshvan, 5744, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Genesis 23:1-25:18.
Prophetical. portion, I Kings 1:1-31.
Candlelighting Friday, Oct. 28, 6:11 p.m.
VOL. LXXXIV, No. 9
Page Four
Friday, October 28, 1983
LIVING WITH PANIC S
"From panic to panic" is the definition a
"Nor do most Israelis consider the creation
cynic could apply to Israel. An economic crisis of a second Palestinian Arab state acceptable.
created a buying spree, the changing moods The Arabs of Palestine already have a state,
threatened political upheavals, religious called Jordan, in eastern Palestine. The de-
fanaticism made people angry. Then there was mand for another sate in the West Bank has
a return to measured normalcies, proving that nothing to do with self-determination. The pur-
Israel is a nation under law, and its functions in pose is to create a base for an irredentist drive to
social - economic - diplomatic society are un-
destroy the state of Israel.
challenged insofar as the desire to live normally
"This would be the real West Bank time
and the duty to attain it are a fact of life.
bomb. An Israeli withdrawal from the area
These are not easy-to-live-with challenges. would start it ticking. This is why Israel will not
In the course of human existence they become leave Judea-Samaria. Nor will it infringe on the
parables, a people gets used to the difficulties, individual rights of the West Bank Arabs.
responsible governments aspire for improve-
"The Arab minority has nothing to fear
ments and the kinfolk know that they are obli-
from
living with a Jewish majority, just as the
gated to assist in making improvements.
Such is the Israel of today — and the realis- Jewish minority need not fear living with an
tic who have followed the events of 35 years of Arab minority. Neither the expulsion of the
statehood knoW that what has been indicated is Arabs nor the withdrawal of the Jews is accept-
also the Israel of the early years of redemption able. In Judea-Samaria, the only realistic solu-
and the intervening periods, many of which tion for the two peoples is to live, in peace, to-
gether."
have been marked by crises.
Even in the matter of the deplorable yerida,
What is demanded is an approach to
of the exodus of thousands of Israelis from their realities. There are Jews in the West Bank area, •
homeland, the experience is not new _ . It hap- and Arabs all around it, and both must live
pened in the early 1950s, has been repeated, together with a hope for peace and an amity that
was marked by a return of many of the would-be is to evolve to the benefit of a population work-
defectors back to Israel, and life went on and on, ing together in human terms. The Judea-
as it goes on and on in the spirit of a people Samaria settlements commenced under one
perhaps never totally at ease but also firmly administration, they continued under the suc-
functioning.
ceeding one, and whatever one may say,
This being the pragmatism of Israel in the whether it is the enemy in the United Nations
early 1980s, the major challenge must be or the antagonist who holds or has held dip-
viewed in all seriousness: It is the constant need lomatic positions in this country, the settle-
of many to admonish Israel to abandon the West ments are a fait accompli. Many Arabs are bene-
Bank — Judea and Samaria! — settlements and fiting from them, 100,000 travel to and from .
to beware of threats to the very existence of the Israeli industrial job-providing projects. There-
Jewish state from the growing Arab population fore, both elements must work together in a
and its speculated domination and therefore spirit of good neighborliness. Only the evil-
eventual political control of the state as an inciting politicians can, as they apparently aim
emerging majority. This question was tackled to, destroy it.
in an important essay, "West Bank Time Bomb?
Such is the accumulative situation, with
A Demographic Fallacy," by Benjamin concerns, intermittent panics, fears that arise
Netanyahu, deputy chief of the Israel Embassy
and soon vanish because the life style of an
in Washington. Netanyahu has an important entire people can not be destroyed. Therefore,
record as a student of the Middle East, as a what seemed like an end to life two weeks ago
reputable Israeli diplomat with a scholastic re-
are a reminder that under normal conditions
cord on the issues involving Israelis and Arabs. 'difficulties keep repeating and repeating and
In his essay he disproved the population threat memories sound warnings against despair.
and indicated how the birth rate now described Such is the life of a people under travail — and
as overwhelmingly in favor of the Arabs will be
life goes on.
either overcome or eventually matched by new
settlers. It was on the question of the West Bank
REV . KING DAY
and the Israeli rights and privileges that
Netanyahu is especially impressive when he
As an historic correction of the in-
stated:
humanities practiced in the past, the new holi-
"Why should Israel stay in Judea-Samaria day, the Martin Luther King Day, emerges as a
at all? To most Israelis the answer is obvious. signal that the American spirit is alive.
Despite disagreements on the area's final politi-
• The Congressional act and the pledged
cal status, virtually all agree that Israel must endorsement of it by President Ronald Reagan
maintain military control there to survive. And
are revolutionary. The fulfillment is the symbol
despite pragmatic differences over the pattern that sends forth a message of cheer to all lovers
of settlements, there is an overwhelming con- of liberty and supporters of the democratic
sensus on the right of Jews to settle throughout ideals.
the Land of Israel.
The King family is nobly pursuing the
"Jiidea-Samaria is the very heart of the highest goals of the man thus honored. Collec-
historic Jewish homeland, the place where tively, they represent the justice loyally pur-
much of Jewish history was made.
sued by all Americans.
108 Gems From Bibles
Thrillers for Children
Because the narrating compiler for a most interesting book
gathered the stories from the Hebrew Holy Scriptures generally re-
ferred to as the Old Testament as well as from the New Testament, the
heading here delineates the text as being from the pluralized "Bi-
bles."
Samdol Stoddard compiled and incorporated the 108 stories in
"The Doubleday Illustrated Children's Bible." This Doubleday-
published work gains distinction in the scores of illustrations byTony
Chen.
Miss Stoddard has authored 14 books for children and is a master
of her craft. She lectures widely on the Hospice concept and has
written a book on the subject.
Tony Chen, a native of the West Indies who has illustrated more
than 40 books for children, has won awards from the American Insti-
tute for Graphic Arts and the Society of Illustrators.
These facts need to be told as emphasis on the effectiveness of the
Bible stories for children in the immensely-interesting Doubleday
book.
To list all of the stories and the types of them gathered for
narration by Miss Stoddard would require an indexing from the Old
and the New in Bible texts. Suffice it to state that the judgment
exercised is to the credit of the compiling author, that the illustrator
catches the spirit of religiosity and both avoid anything that could
mar concern by the controversial in devotionalism.
Perhaps the one questionable item could be the photo with refer-
ence to the Crucifixion.
Therefore, a necessary admonition is that this book be read to and
by Jewish children — preferably the older ones — with guidance by
parents and teachers. In an instance involving religious books this
must always be viewed as a necessity.
Noteworthy is the author's note appended to this large and
beautifully-illustrated book:
"Although many commentaries and scholarly works have been
helpful to me, I have relied primarily in this book upon 'The
Jerusalem Bible,' The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version,' and
`The Holy Bible: King James Version.'
"My aim has been to make an extremely condensed but only
slightly simplified rendering of biblical literature, presented as one
continuous set of events, perceptions and reflections into which the
youngest of readers can enter with ease. Interpretive material has
been kept to a minimum.
"The book is intended not as a collection of stories about the Bible,
but as a pathway toward the power and mystery of that immortal
work itself."
Blinkin's Yiddish Tales
Meir Blinkin studied medicine in Kiev, Russia, and like so many
others was forced to immigrate to the United States. In New York he
became intimately associated with the group that gained fame in
Yiddish cultural ranks as "Di Yunge."
Blinkin, who was born in 1879, died in New York in 1915 after
gaining recognition as a Yiddish novelist, short-story writer and
essayist. His works were published in the Jewish Daily Forward and
other Jewish publications.
Blinkin's major stories appear in a collection just issued in En-
glish translations, "Stories by Meir Blinkin" (State University of New
York Press). The importance of these stories, the significant role of
Blinkin and the contributions they thus make to the continuing
resurgence of Yiddish are detailed in a highly informative introduc-
tory essay by Prof. Ruth R. Wisse of McGill University, Montreal.