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Friday, January 18, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
OP-ED
THE JEWISH NEWS
Serving Detroit's Metropolitan Jewish Community
with distinction for four decades.
Editorial and Sales offices at 20300 Civic Center Dr.,
Suite 240, Southfield, Michigan 48076
Telephone (313) 354-6060
Dr. King and our continuing
commitment on civil rights
BY DAVID LEBENBOM
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© 1984 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520)
Second Class postage paid at Southfield, Michigan and additional mailing offices. Subscription $18 a year.
CANDLELIGHTING AT 5:11 P.M.
VOL. LXXXVI, NO. 21
Lebanon withdrawal
The beginning of the end has been announced. Two-and-a-half years
after Israel got bogged down in Lebanon, the Jerusalem government has
decided to pull out its troops. Withdrawal will be accomplished in three
phases. The first, beginning in five weeks, will redeploy Israeli troops to a
point about 16 miles north of the Israeli border on the coastal highway. Dates
for the following two phases have not been announced, although the entire
withdrawal process is expected to take about nine months.
The war in Lebanon was the least popular in Israel's history. The
Six-Day War in 1967 instilled pride and a certain cockiness; the 1973 Yom
Kippur War, a battle for survival, gave the country a new and more sober
perspective on Mideast politics. But the adventure in Lebanon has split the
country. It has been a hemorrhage on the national psyche, sapping Israel's
resources and draining her collective pride.
When the withdrawal is completed, Israel will presumably be able to
divert more attention to other pressing matters like repairing its economy,
integrating thousands of new immigrants from Ethiopia into its society, and
dealing with the Arab neighbors.
The withdrawal4s welcome. Should the shaky coaltion government
accomplish little else during its tenure it will be remembered for this welcome
move.
In announcing its decision, Jerusalem warned that there may be a
bloodbath in Lebanon once Israeli troops leave. But the United Nations and
the Lebanese themselves will have to deal with that frightening prospect.
Israel has learned, painfully and at great cost of human life, that she cannot
police other nations.
Educational processes
New trends in Jewish educational processes demand specialized studies
as an assurance of fulfillment of the urgent communal needs.
Latest studies, while they are in no sense complete, have indicated that
the afternoon school enrollments have declined and the day schools are
showing marked increases.
This is a matter demanding urgent consideration.
In the years when the afternoon school was a five-day commitment, there
was greater assurance of good results. With the reduction in such studies to as
minute as a two-day-a-week study period, there arises a threat of a
calamitous nature.
The day school gains the attention that has already assumed the nature
of priority. It was originally fought bitterly in some quarters out of concern
that it would become a recognized parochial. This has now been obviated for
many obvious reasons — because neighborhoods have compelled changes,
because so many other Americans are resorting to private school priorities,
because the religious nature cannot be ignored.
Therefore, the new approaches, the new demands and new compulsions.
What is occurring demands new studies, serious obligations, educating
the public to the rising needs so that the obligations relative to more
extensive teaching programs should be accepted.
The duty to the youth is obvious. The need for priorities in education is
► Indent. The day school will surely gain a top position in communal needs
when the proper studies are completed.
Special to The Jewish News
On the anniversary of the birth of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it is fit-
ting and proper that American Jews
take a moment to recall the historic
alliance between our community and
black Americans which Dr. King
helped to cement.
The traditional reverence for
human dignity and love for freedom so
deeply ingrained in the Jewish system
of values resulted in a strong common
bond between Jews and blacks in the
halcyon days of the civil rights move-
ment in this country. Dr. King's
dynamic leadership was the catalyst
which helped to spark the many
marches and demonstrations in which
blacks and Jews struggled together,
out of a shared desire to stamp out the
causes and manifestations of oppres-
sion and bigotry.
The commitment of the Jewish
people to the eradication of oppression
and suffering finds eloquent expres-
sion in the recent efforts of the State of
Israel to help resettle the black Jews of
Ethiopia. The unquestioning ac-
ceptance of Jews into their historic
homeland without regard to their race
or nationality is an act that Dr. King
would certainly have supported.
Yet it was more than mere histor-
ical coincidence, more than the fact
that both Jews and blacks had felt the
pain of slavery and irrational prej-
udice, that brought us togethe,r. Dr.
King also lived for the present, and
spoke out for the cause of peace in the
Middle East. He firmly believed in the
right of Israel to exist as a state, and
advocated that right on numerous oc-
casions. He also spoke up for Israel's
need to maintain the integrity of her
territory, and was not oblivous to the
attempts by Israel's enemies in the
region to lay the blame for Middle East
tensions on Israeli shoulders. He was
truly a friend and ally of Israel.
The Israeli government expressed
David Lebenbom is president of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
the sadness felt by that nation upon
Dr. King's assassination. With his
tragic and untimely death, Israel and
its supporters knew they had lost a
spokesman for peace whose origins
were close to their own — a leader with
a keen understanding of our own roots
in biblical tradition and the words of
the prophets.
As we pay tribute to the life and
memory of this great man, we fondly
remember our close association with
the work of Dr. King. We recognize
Dr. King . . . firmly believed
in the right ofIsrael to exist
as a state, and advocated
that right on numerous
occasions. He also spoke up
for Israel's need to
maintain the integrity of
her territory . . . He was
truly a friend and ally of
Israel.
also that this work must continue, and
that we are, as always, committed to
strive for the accomplishment of the
goals of the civil rights movement;
equality and fair treatment for all.
Let us work together so that the
world of our children and their chil-
dren will be the world Dr. King spent
his lifetime trying to shape — a world
free of the ugly stain of prejudice,
where each American, regardless of
color, race, creed, sex, religion, or na-
tional origin can pursue his or her own
destiny, limited only by individual
capabilities, and not by external
forces.
May the good this man did become
a part of us all.
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