PURELY COMMENTARY

Kahane

Continued from Page 2

ly relies on the secret
organizations it gave rise
to, such as the Free-
masons, the Rotary and
Lions Clubs, and other
sabotage groups. All these
organizations work in the
interest in Zionism . . . It is
behind the drug trade and
alcoholism so as to
facilitate its control.
The Zionist plan is
limitless. After Palestine,
the Zionists aspire to ex-
pand from the Nile to the
Euphrates. When they will
have digested the region
they overtook they will
aspire to further expan-
sion, and so on. Their plan
is embodied in the "Pro-
tocols of the Elders of
Zion;' and their present
conduct is the best proof of
what we are saying . . .
Leaving the circle of strug-
gle with Zionism is high
treason, and cursed be he
who does that.
This is a major challenge
for action — a duty that could
have been very effective in
the Kahane aspirations for
justice to the Jew and Israel.
He could have left a more ad-
mirable legacy if he had
prepared the youth for action
in demolishing the venomous
dangers.
Rabbi Kahane will be
remembered as a courageous
man who propagated much
that is acceptable. While we
rejected a great deal that he
preached, he leaves us with
the need for an appeal to all
in leadership to teach the
unknowing that we may be
well fortified for vigilance.
The battle for justice never
ends. ❑

Samuel Levin

Continued from Page 2

Prof. Levin introduced his
economics studies as an im-
portant commitment to uni-
versity curricula in Israel.

In his U-M post-graduate
years, Prof. Levin became in-
volved in the communal con-
cerns about newcomers from
Russia, Poland, Romania and
Hungary. It led to his
specializing, in addition to
economics and immigration,
as a visiting professor at Bar-
Ilan University.
Many of his published
works and lectures in this and
other communities, therefore,
also were devoted to immigra-
tion as well as economics.
Prof. Levin lectured at the
University of Michigan, at
the national convention of the
American Economic Associa-
tion, and gave the 100th an-
niversary lecture marking
the birth of Justice Louis D.
Brandeis.
Prof. Levin's articles on
education, labor, technology,
population, and Jewish
themes, have appeared in
more than a dozen leading
professional journals in this
country and abroad. His
name was chosen for the first
1942 edition of the Directory
of American Scholars.
Prof. Levin and his wife, the
late Lillian Keidan, had four
children. They are: Dr. Joseph
H. of Weston, Mass., Mrs.
Stanley Friedman, Dr.
Herbert G. Levin and Mrs.
Bernard J. Cantor. There are
15 grandchildren and 14
great-grandchildren.
A great university honors
one of the most distinguished
in this community's
scholastic history. Samuel M.
Levin gave dignity to
teaching and learning. We
feel privileged in joining in
honors to the scholar whose
name glorified academia. ❑

volvements in communal
movements began in his
undergraduate years at the
University of Michigan. He
was among the earliest
associates in the Inter-
collegiate Menorah
Associations.
In Menorah's Michigan
chapter, he encouraged
Jewish studies and com-
munal involvements. Many
who were to become leaders
in the Jewish community
were associated with Prof.
Levin in Menorah.
Active in local social service
agencies, Prof. Levin assum-
ed the presidency of the Jew-
ish National Fund Council of
Detroit which led him to na-
tional involvements in sup-
port of the developing causes
that support Israel.
It was at Bar-Ilan Universi-
ty in Ramat Gan, Israel, that

52

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1990

Rejecting
Double Standards

hen prejudices are
fully and properly
judged, and in-
humanities realistically
tested, there will be the puzzl-
ing and compelling questions:
now, when all mankind is en-
dangered by war threats, why
do statesmen and the media
submit to the subversion of
concern from the Iraqi
menace to the spreading of
hatred against Israel? Why
when there is so much at
stake for the security and
very lives of hundreds of
thousands assembled to con-
front war threats are mass
murderers permitted to ad-
vocate making it a world
issue against Israel, with an
undenied aim to destroy the
Jewish state?

W

Every occurrence that spell-
ed negation to Israel had
become a source of attack on
Israel. Diplomatic quarters,
even in the most democratic
governments echo the UN
animosities. New heights of
venom were reached in the El
Aksa Mosque charges. The oc-
currences there were more
saddening to Israel. Israel's
investigation provided for
self-examination.
The venom against Israel is
so aggravating that every ex-
pression of friendship and
support is deeply appreciated.
Therefore, the editorial com-
ment by Mortimer Zucker-
man in U.S. News and World
Report. Mr. Zuckerman
stated:
The American media and
the U.S. government
jumped to conclusions that
sacrificed truth for expe-
diency .. .
And what does the Bush
administration do? It
drafts a one-sided resolu-
tion even more condemna-
tory than that of the un-
allied states, failing even
to note the Palestinian role
in starting the violence.
Worse, the resolution refer-
red to Jerusalem as "occu-
pied territory;' raising for
the Israelis the concern for
their claims to Jerusalem,
and cited the "legitimate
rights of the Palestinians"
— code language for an in-
dependent Palestinian
state. Then, for good
measure, it criticized
Israel's handling of the riot
even before the findings of
the U.N. mission could be
reported.
The truth is that Israel
paid a penalty for the
politics of the Gulf crisis.
Even if independent in-
quiry found Israel justified
in acting as it did, the West
would still have supported
some sort of critical resolu-
tion because its leaders
were all upset that Israel
played into Saddam Hus-
sein's hands. Some U.S. of-
ficials feel that it would
have been better for Israel
to have absorbed casual-
ties at the Wailing Wall
rather than to give Sad-
dam Hussein the headlines
he needs for a diversion
from a focus on Kuwait.
The double standard of
this administration (and
the U.N., for that matter) is
transparent. The Bush ad-
ministration appears will-
ing to sacrifice as much of
Israel's international
credibility as necessary,
with little thought for
ethics, in return for a little
more chewing gum and
baling wire to hold to-

gether the fragile coalition
against Iraq.
The State Department
has succeeded the British
Foreign Office in blaming
Israel for anything and
everything in this messy
situation, diminishing the
U.S.-Israel relationship and
seeming less and less sym-
pathetic to the legitimate
security needs of the only
true democracy in the
region.
These are revelations mix-
ed with indictments. Hopeful-
ly they will be read by all, not
by Jews alone.
In a profile about Mortimer
Zuckerman, who is also the
editor and publisher of Atlan-
tic Monthly, a non-too friend-
ly reference was made to his
Jewishness. Let this serve as
more pride that a fellow Jew
is not silent and is always
ready to demand justice for
Israel.

❑

Islamic
Fundamentalism

R

eporting from Aqaba
Jordan (New York
Times, Sept. 4) Joe
Brinkley revealed the an-
tagonisms bordering on
hatred for Israel and Jewry
with emphasis on the United
States and the nationals
associated with Americans
against the Iraqi dictatorship.
At a time when Arab an-
tagonism is described as the
threat of jihad — holy war —
this paragraph from his
report is especially descrip-
tive of the accumulating
hatreds:
Ahamed Haayari, direc-
tor of the Aqaba Customs
Authority, raised no
eyebrows among six other
local leaders in the room
this afternoon when he
said: "This is the jihad, the
holy war. I hope I will be
given the honor of fighting
Americans in the desert
and be killed there. That
would be my honor."
For a number of years,
when jihad was the collective
Arab threat to Israel, there
wasn't sufficient attention
paid. Now, while the aim by
Iraq is to drag in Israel, it
becomes evident that it is a
threat to all non-Moslems.
The threat to Israel remains
primary.
The accumulating threats
in the developing crisis de-
mand serious consideration
by all peoples. Important
guidelines in such considera-
tions are provided in one of
the most illuminating essays
by a recognized authority.
Bernard Lewis, professor of
Near Eastern studies at

Princeton University writing
under the the title "The Roots
of Muslim Rape," makes the
issues more understandable.
This is where we begin to
realize that there is a fun-
damentalism to be seriously
considered.
It is when religion is link-
ed with politics that a fun-
damental venom begins to
develop.
Prof. Lewis' article provides
basic information on Islamic
principles, on religious
morality, on the centuries of
excellent relationships with
many peoples. The developing
fundamental hatreds become
international concerns. the
venom stemming from it in
Egypt is one of the evidences.
The religion-politics link, as
it is implied in Prof. Lewis'
article, compels a special
American interest. It is on
the question of separation of
church and state. On this im-
portant subject, Prof. Lewis
commences with this historic
reminder:

In one of his letters
Thomas Jefferson remark-
ed that in matters of
religion "the maxim of civil
government" should be
reversed and we should
rather say, "Divided we
stand, united, we fall?' In
this remark Jefferson was
setting forth with classic
terseness an idea that has
come to be regarded as
essentially American: the
separation of Church and
State. This idea was not en-
tirely new; it had some
precedents in the writings
of Spinoza, Locke, and the
philosophers of the Euro-
pean Enlightment. It was
in the United States,
however, that the principle
was first given the force of
law and gradually, in the
course of two centuries,
became a reality.
If the idea that religion
and politics should be
separated is relatively new,
dating back a mere three
hundred years, the idea
that they are distinct dates
back almost to the beginni-
ings of Christianity. Chris-
tians are enjoined in their
Scriptures to "render ... un-
to Caesar the things which
are Caesar's and unto God
the things which are
God's."
This formulation of the
problems posed by the
relations between religion
and politics, and the possi-
ble solutions to those pro-
blems, arise from Chris-
tian, not universal, prin-
ciples and experience.
There are other religious
traditions in which
religion and politics are