PURELY COMMENTARY

Multiple Threats Defying 'Abandonment'

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

T

here is nothing new in Jewish
experience. It is always re-
petitive.
We speak, hopefully, of andut, of
One People in unity, yet we have an-
tagonists who spring forth in our own
midst.
We join and advocate ecumenism. It
is not always affirmative.
Participating Jews have rendered
noble service to the journalistic media.
From their ranks has come ignoble
disservice.
Diplomacy has been acclaimed as
panacea in Jewish aspirations for
justice and freedom. Among statesmen
there have appeared the indifferent
whose failures had become venomous
on occasions.
In his widely acclaimed The Aban-
donment of the Jews, the Christian
author David Wyman alluded to all
these accusations, assembled by him to
prove the failures to rescue Jews when
the Holocaust was upon them.
These listings are often admittedly
generalizations: because there are
many of nobility in civilized society who
did not submit to prejudice of yielding
to the threat of being abandoned. The
sadness in truth is that the biased were
and many remain active. Therefore the
need to reassert the commitment to
eternal vigilance and the rejection of
the threat of our being maligned.
A score of occurrences revealed the
enmities towards those striving to pro-
tect the Jewish state's security. It is
compelling to call attention to the

methods used in many appeals to pre-
judice in various fashions. One is by car-
toonists and in the press and on televi-
sion. Another is by Jews misled into
condoning and subscribing to the
destructive toward Israel.
One of the many symptoms is the
policy that has been pursued an-
tagonistically by the Detroit Free Press.
It has already been fully exposed. The
Free Press' most recent villifications
were properly and deservedly rebuked
in the editorial "Morning Unfriendly,"
on March 10 in The Jewish News. The
editorial was compelled by the endless
protests that oppose.
Then there is the "Jewish guilt" in
the "abandonment" of responsibilities;
the frequency with which some Jews,

We again witness Jews
who give credence to
enmities and do not
enroll for unity.

among them fairly known names, have
enrolled in condemnations of Israel.
There is not too much new in this
either. There have always been occa-
sions when Jews villified their kin.
Historical records will lead to a recollec-
tion when Stephen S. Wise, in his day
the most dynamic pulpit orator, found
it necessary to deliver a sermon under
the title "Jewish anti-Semitism." It was
a regrettable urgency and it was caused
by failure of his fellow Jews to enroll in
defense of Jews and in support of Jewish
defensive and constructive tasks.
It was in the 1920s, during most dif-
ficult times in our history, when Nazis

History In The Making

H

istory repeats itself' is the most
oft-repeated allusion to world
events. Perhaps a more welcome
designation, "History in the making."
And it could embrace everything affec-
ting everything and everybody.
The Jewish content, with its in-
creasing appeal, encourages publishers
to turn to it. Many important works are
being reissued, in hard cover as well as
paperbacked volumes.
Wayne State University Press has
become a leader in this response to an
apparently increasing readership.
Major Jewish movements and

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Vol. XCV No. 4

2

March 24, 1989

FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1989

were mobilizing to prepare for the
Holocaust, when there were pogroms in
Poland, when Zionists were aiming at
creating a homeland for the homeless
and there were enemies against that
task in Jewish ranks. The needs for ac-
tion witnessed some sha-sha and hush-
hush Jews.
Now we again witness Jews who
give credence to enmities and do not
enroll for unity.
There have been many shocks to the
conscience of the Jewish community.
When comfort was given to would-be
destroyers of Israel it was appalling.
When some sank so low as to advocate
boycotting the philanthropic funds
which support the vital causes in the
land populated in large measure by
escapees from pogroms, it is outrageous.
They reflect an antagonistic press
which earns for them undue sensa-
tionalism. In truth, such damage is re-
jected overwhelmingly by a united
Jewish community.
Attention is called to all our fellow
citizens, Jews and non-Jews, the
Moslems among the latter to a declara-
tion of unity: "We Support the Prime
Minister's Conference on Jewish
Solidarity with Israel." It calls atten-
tion to the conference to be convened in
Jerusalem and it emphasizes the unity
in its behalf mobilized by the represen-
tative movements in this country. It
lists signatories from 54 major
movements — religious, philanthropic,
social services — together marking a
totality of American Jews. The solidari-
ty this affirmed, therefore, is a firm
denunciation of the handful who
subscribe to rejection of the principle of
andut, of Jewish unity.

This spells solidarity. This is the
conscience of the Jewish people and
those who would obstruct it will do well
to learn fact and truth.
There is another element to the cur-
rent need to expose the obstructionism,
especially in the media. The reference
to the Free Press does not complete its
role in the discussions. It emerges as a
symbol of the "abandonment" and has
been mentioned in the David Wyman
expose.
When the Free Press was mention-
ed in this column in the tribute to Bar-
bara Tuchman, (Commentary, March
3), there was this comment on the Free
Press "that it contained biased inter-
pretations of current events." A concern-
ed citizen, George P. Mann, carried on
a discussion with David Lawrence, the
Free Press chairman and publisher, and
emphasized this accusation. Lawrence
wrote a lengthy defense in which he
quoted the sweet talk he selected from
his newspaper's editorials. He for-
warded a copy of his defense to me and
I found it necessary to challenge his
claims to fairness. I contended:

"My contention is that when
there are barbs with which to
commence an explanatory
editorial comment the subse-
quent word fineries lose their
value.
Permit me to introduce a
quotation from Jewish folklore.
It is a message for appeal to the
bee, in Hebrew it is: "Lo meduv-
shoh v'lo meuktzoh." "Don't give
me your honey, and spare me
your sting:'
Continued on Page 40

Treasures Unlimited

numerous communities are in the pro-
cess of compiling records to serve as
their histories. Detroit is eminent in
this regard. Then there are the specific
movements like the Technion that
already have published archival stories,
with their individual groups producing
supplementary accounts.
In the latter regard there has just
appeared the 44-page chronology issued
under the title: "The Detroit Story —
A History of the Detroit Chapter of the
American Society for Technion, Israel
Institute of Technology." Written and
compiled by Carl Alpert, who was af-
filiated with the Technion in Haifa from
1952 until his recent retirement, it is
of special significance.
Carl Alpert, the highly qualified
Jewish News feature writer from Israel,
had many years' association with Tech-
nion activists here. As editor of the
Detroit Technion history, he is,
therefore, the well informed archivist of
a record deservedly preserved. He has
asembled the facts and personalities in
his creative contributions towards the
widely acclaimed Israel technological
institute that has earned the designa-
tion of the MIT of the Middle East.
Max Gill, the former Haifa
associate of the Technion, who is soon
to return to his home city of Haifa after

Dr. Jacob R. Marcus

nine years as managing director of the
Detroit Ibchnion chapter, had an impor-
tant role in gathering the facts for the
Detroit Technion history. An important
segment of Detroit history thus is
notably accounted for.
In the WSU Press catalogued list of
current volumes there is a wealth of in-

terest for the Detroit Jewish communi-
ty. A new volume is soon planned for
this community's concern, supplemen-
ting the first volume of The Detroit
Jewish History by Robert Rockaway.
Several other volumes by prominent
Detroiters, issued by WSU Press, in-
clude Simons Says, the collected
writings and speeches by Leonard N.
Simons. So many important per-
sonalities are included in Simons Says
that this book has become a reference
work for Detroit journalists and history
students.
A major mark of encouragement in
the publishing developments is the an-
nouncement by Dr. Robert A. Mandel
director of Wayne State University
Press, of plans soon to publish the four-
volume History of the Jews in America
by the popular founder of the American
Jewish Archives, Dr. Jacob Rader
Marcus.
Marcus commences his history of
American Jewry in 1776 and continues
the record until 1985. This is
remarkable because it suggests com-
pleteness to date. Those who have
followed the Marcus career, and
especially the tens of thousands who
listened to his lectures, know about his

Continued on Page 40