4 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 PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt BUSINESS MANAGER: Carmi M. Slomovitz ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Tedd Schneider LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Lauri Biafore Joseph Mason Rick Nessel Danny Raskin OFFICE STAFF: Marlene Miller Dharlene Norris Phyllis Tyner Pauline Weiss Ellen Wolfe PRODUCTION: Donald Cheshure Cathy Ciccone Curtis Deloye Ralph Orme © 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. r