26 Friday, April 13, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Lesson of Passover holiday by the implied threat of the selling novelist Irving Wal- dual loyalty charge. lace, changed his name back Four decades ago, Or- to David Wallechinsky. An- thodox Jews allowed liberal other is the increasing re- secular Jews to represent fusal to change one's them because they were in- "Jewish" looks — think of timidated by American cul- Barbra Streisand not bob- ture. Many non-Orthodox bing her nose. Think, too, of Jews were embarrassed to the pride in the Jewish tra- see Chasidim in public. dition evidenced by her Now, the Lubavitcher movie Yentl, which glorifies Chasidim sponsor Congres- learning. sional resolutions and The proliferation of kip- Presidential proclamations pot on the heads of students in honor of their Rebbe's at leading universities such birthday. And the Satmar as Harvard and Columbia, sect and other Chasidim and the growth of obser- have aggressively sought vances, such as kashrut and political power and gov- Sabbath observance in the ernment benefits. Jewish public are also sig- The combined influence nificant signs of Jewish re- of Holocaust consciousness, newal. pride in Israel and identifi- Encouraged by the new cation with it, and the loss of fear of being different is openness of American changing the ground rules society, Jews are moving beyond political emancipa- of Jewish life. Many signs abound of the tion — for which they often resurgence and reaffirma- sacrificed their Jewishness tion of Jewish identity and — to religious, cultural and identification by spiritual liberation. This is "mainstream" committed paving the way for the fu- Jews in the United States. ture flowering of American One is the recovery of Jewish culture and commu- Jewish names — consider, nity. for example, that David © 1984, the National Jewish Wallace, the son of best- Resource Center Continued from Page 25 tyranny is of crucial sig- wl nificance at a time of grow- aam g ETd. i 1 1.62-1coz12 1 azdEtz All Flowers Rare and Beautiful Specializing In Parties, Weddings, Bar & Bat Mitzvahs, And All Other Holiday Arrangements tart ,40• • FRIDAY SPECIALS 50% OFF ALL FRESH CUT FLOWERS (Cash & Carry Only) 29487 Northwestern Highway Southfield, Michigan 48034 ing concern that American Jewry may be slipping into irreversible assimilation or weakening in its support for Israel. The most encourag- ing sign that American Jewish history will not end in Jewish submission to the tyranny of foreign values is that the past three decades have been years of increas- ing self-liberation for American Jewry. In the 1940s, day schools were shunned by most American Jews for fear that Jewish integration into America might be retarded by such "self-segregation." In the past 15 years, the day school student population has increased to almost 100,000 youth. In the 1940s, there was no Jewish presence visible on the university campus. In the past three decades, col- lege and graduate Jewish studies programs have exploded. When I arrived at Harvard as a student in 1953, the school had a policy requiring Sabbath- observant Jews who would not take exams on Saturday to stay confined with a tutor the entire day and take their finals that night, often under onerous conditions. BY DVORA WAYSMAN We accepted this quietly . Jerusalem — Ada Aha- and without protest. This past year, Harvard has been roni is well-known in Israel and abroad as a poet. A pro- on the defensive as continu- ous Jewish student demon- fessor of English literature, strations protested its hold- she has produced five vol- umes of poetry in English ing the graduation exer- From the cises on the holiday of including Pyramids to Mount Carmel Shavuot. Until the late .1960s, — Metal and Violets, and two volumes of English translations from Hebrew poetry. The Haifa poetess has turned to fiction with her novel, The Second Exodus. It has been published in the Unites States. It is an his- torical novel embodying a love story. Jewish politicians were The first Exodus, re- generally assimilationist counted at Passover when and fearful of aggressivaly the Jews fled Egypt, is uni- defending Jewish interests. versally known from the One of the tragic stories of Bible. Not so the "second the Holocaust period was exodus," although it hap- Roosevelt's use of Con- pened in the middle of our gressman Sol Bloom of New own century. Out of the York as a front at the Ber- 100,000 Jews who lived in muda Conference of 1942 Egypt in 1948, less than 200 (which was obstensibly con- remain today. Aharoni re- vened to discuss the Jewish counts the trauma she ex- refugee "problem") and perienced through the fic- other occasions, to head off titious character of Inbar, a Jewish pleas for rescue of Jewish-Egyptian woman Jews fleeing the Holocaust. and her group of friends. Jews especially feared the Although The Second charge of dual loyalty. This Exodus is a work of fiction, concern generated support its facts are historically for the American Council accurate. Aharoni herself for Judaism and its shrill was born and educated in anti-Zionist declarations. Cairo, but forced to flee in Today, Jewish political 1949. Because of her own action is expanding on all experiences, she is able to fronts. Leading figures such portray the insecurity of the as Congressman Henry status Jews held in Egypt Waxman (D-Calif.) and even before 1948; the root- Senator Rudy Boschwitz (R. lessness of the community Minn.) are proud Jews, ad- and the effect of the emerg- vocating Jewish concerns ing State of Israel on anti- without fear. The entire or- Semitism in Egypt. ganized Jewish community The novel is symbolic, stood up to Presidential with the hero and heroine pressures on the F-15 and representing two different AWACS sales (and now on aspects of the Jewish the proposed arms sales to people: Inbar — the Saudi Arabia and Jordan) Sephardi — part of the Jews without being intimidated from Arab lands; and Raoul, An Israeli poet's personal look at 'Second Exodus' In The Park West Plaza 356-6310 ■ • tct "*.-- goa- • 1 414 * - - dP: '• 4110° Kosher wine needn't be sweet just special' Jewish renewal of the 1980s is a modern form of freedom. . '7 70 7- "IN And special means Kedem. 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While the plight of Pales- tinian refugees makes world headlines, relatively few people know the other side of the coin — the hun- dreds of thousands of Jews forced to flee Arab lands. Aharoni sees her job as cap- turing and passing on the stories of these Sephardic Jews. World Zionist Press Service Kennicott Bible reproduction London — A reproduction of Oxford University's famed Kennicott Bible is now available from Fac- simile Editions Publishers. The Bible was copied by hand over a three-year period and reproductions were made on antique print- ing presses with specially milled paper in Italy. To obtain a copy of the Kennicott Bible reproduc- tion, contact Facsimile Edi- tions Publishers, 35 Hamil- ton Terrace, London NW8 9RG, England.