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Friday, November 8, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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 48076-4138
Telephone (313) 354-6060
•
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© 1985 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520)
Second Class postage paid at Southfield. Michigan and additional mailing offices.
Subscriptions: 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 — Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35
CANDLELIGHTING AT 4:58 P.M.
VOL. LXXXVII, NO. 11
The UN, Ten Years Later
Ten years ago this week the United Nations lost what little
credibility it still had by passing a resolution equating Zionism with
racism. Nov. 10, 1975 marked a critical moment in the worldwide
propaganda campaign against the State of Israel and a betrayal of the
principles on which the UN was founded.
The infamous resolution was a formal endorsement of contemporary
anti-Semitism practiced not by fringe groups but by governments. In the
decade since its passage, this calumny against Zionism and the Jewish
people has become the single most successful instance of the technique of
the Big Lie since the time of the Nazis.
And yet Israel peAists, even at the United Nations, in attempts to
make peace with her Arab neighbors. In a major address to the UN,
Israeli Prime Minister Peres noted that Zionism was founded on the
Jewish determination for a people to settle their own fate rather than
remain dependent on the hatred or tolerance of others." He alluded to
last year's rescue of thousands of Ethiopian Jews, the most vivid proof of
all that Zionism is not racism, that Zionism transcends racism, that
Zionism is in fact a victory over racism.
It was a speech that set forth in 'concrete terms Israel's desire to take
risks for peace, specifically with Jordan. But there was a sobering
reminder that the gap between Israel and the Arabs is still wide: of all
the Arab states, only Egypt's representative stayed in the hall to hear the
Peres speech.
Here was the Prime Minister of Israel extending a hand of friendship
to Jordan, calling for dialogue rather than warfare, and the Jordanians
would not even extend him the courtesy of listening to him. Peres called
on the UN to "depart from the tired and timid norm and to fulfill its
destiny as enshrined in its walls, by ushering the parties to the conflict
into a new diplomatic initiative."
But in 1985, as in 1975, the United Nations remains more of a wall
than a bridge to peace.
Opening The Book
Detroit's Jewish community has richly followed in the tradition of the
People of the Book. The 34th annual Jewish Book Fair, which opens
tomorrow night at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield,
will be the largest, best-attended Jewish book fair in the U.S. by the time
it completes its eight-day schedule.
•
Credit for this continuing tradition of excellence goes far beyond the
hard-working staff of the Jewish Community Center's Cultural Arts
Department. Hundreds of volunteers and scores of Jewish organizations
lend their time, expertise and resources for many months out of the year
to make Detroit's Jewish Book Fair a local success and a source of
national pride.
•
From sports, in the person of the controversial Howard Cosell, to
Alan King's humor, to Chaim Potok's mysticism — a variety of subjects
provided by 26 authors over the vast realm of Jewish and general
experience are available at no or little cost to the public. The 34th annual
Book Fair promises to add another glittering chapter for Detroit's People
of the Book.
OP-ED
Just Call Me Ma
With A Little Respect
BY GLORIA L CHARNES
Special to The Jewish News
Just call me Ma. I don't mind.
But it was an offspring's unjust ac-
cusation, not intentionally inflam-
matory, that scorched my psyche:
"You haven't worked a day in
twenty years."
The heck I didn't, silly child. I
just never got paid.
Who diapered and nursed you,
tidied up and burped you, stuck to
chairs glued with peanut butter and
moist from chicken soup? Someone
from another planet?
Who scrubs floors, makes
lukschen kugel and kneidlach, re-
plenishes the supply of halvah, folds
the laundry, fries latkes, paints
woodwork, sews curtains, pulls
weeds, takes midnight messages,
serves as full-time counselor in resi-
dence?
Who baked for your bat
mitzvah, wrapped presents each
night of Chanukah even through
your college years, schlepped you to
Hebrew clags and Sunday school,
fashioned Queen Esther costumes,
persevered through plays only a
mother could applaud, survived
teacher's conferences, soothed you
when report cards were better un-
mentioned than bragged about? Who
catered birthday parties afloat with
crumbled cupcakes, dripping cones,
lost donkey tails, guests addicted to
bladder indiscretions and pan-
demonium a la carte? Who hosted
your Israeli friends during Passover
week? A creature from outer space?
Who mobilized intuitively to the
pre-dawn: "Mother, I don't feel
well"? Who made the stubbed toes,
swollen glands, strep throats, upset
tummies, bloody noses, bruised
knees and extracted wisdoms heal?
Who maintained a constant vigil
•
Gloria Charnes is a freelance writer in
Oak Park, Ill.
when the fever hit 105? Florence
Nightengale?
Who paid tuition, book and lab
fees, room and board, sorority
assessments, traffic violations, long \/
distance phone calls — collect? A
representative from the Interna-
tional Red Cross?
Dare I dwell on pursuits of a
more ideological nature? Who spent
an eternity attempting to shape atti-
tudes, implant values, teach
menschlichkeit and moral distinc-
Maybe it's chronic
masochism, but my
function as mother is
fairly rewarding.
tions, cultivate capacities for
tolerance and charity, fairness and
compassion? Not to mention estab-
lishing guidelines for good grooming.
(When are you going to wash your
hair? Change your sox?) A delegate
from UNICEF?
I resent the negative feed-back,
by status as an indentured servant,
a non-person, the "Mother, what-
do-you-know mystique?" from chil-
dren too mature to spank, but not
too old to receive an allowance. Who
are they to pass judgment? The
young say. they shouldn't be expected
to express appreciation, that we
have no right to demand gratitude.
Using our credit cards is another
story.
I don't want to be a buddy to my
children; there's enough role confu-
sion already. I would rather be re-
garded — forgive the old-fashioned
terminology — with respect and de-
votion. The current trend, annihilat-
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