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ige 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE January 6, 1978
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newapaper for Southern Jewry
Our S4th Year
Jack Redaction: Editor & Publisher
Vida Goldgar Managing Editor
J. Allen Anderson: Advertising Director
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc.
Second Class postage void at Atlanta, Go. Publication No. 776080
Mailing Addresc P. O. Box 77388, Atlanta, Georgia 30357
Location: 188 15th St., N. W.
Phone: (404) 876-8248
Advertising rates available upon request
Subscriptions: 812.50-1 year, 125.00-2'^ years
Mnitbtr: Jewiih Trlefrapkif Ac#f??cy; Relifloui New* Service; 4meric*n Jrwiah Prea* A????n.;
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Sadat the con man
There is a growing unease about Anwar Sadat.
His historic visit to Jerusalem and his seeming break with the
inflexibility of the Arab countries seemed at first to portend a new
era in Arab-Israeli relations.
But more and more it seems apparent that Sadat is employing
the oldest con game in political negotiations: give up nothing and
ask for everything.
Think about it. What exactly did Sadat really do? He defied the
hard-line Arab countries and decided to go to Israel and address
the Knesset. Once there, he announced Arab policy which was
virtually the same as it has always been: Israel must give back all
the territories and establish a Palestinian state on the West Bank.
The reason for the initial euphoria over Sadat???s trip was that it
seemed he was now ready to negotiate on these points and
understood Israel???s reluctance to expose itself to the perils of
going back to pre-1967 indefensible borders.
But As meeting has followed meeting in Cairo, Washington,
' Ismailia and other secret places we may not know about, there has
been no change in Sadat???s tune. He says over and over that he has
shown his good faith by visiting Jerusalem and now it is up to
Israel to make major concessions.
And he means major. Prime Minister Begin has made
considerable concessions in Israeli policy (so much so that his
Knesset has become uneasy about how much he is giving up) and
these (flanges were brushed aside by Sadat as ???totally
unacceptable.???
What does Sadat want for one short visit to Jerusalem?
Perhaps Begin should have visited Cairo first. Then Israel could
ask Egypt 4o make all the concessions.
We hate to suggest the thought, but perhaps Sadat, Time???s
???Man of the Year," is not completely sincere in his quest for peace.
New Times magazine???s comment on the now famous l PI picture
of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat chatting during the State
dinner in Jerusalem last month. Note Sadat's Nazi motif tie.
Jack Redaction
Pilgrimage in Morocco
Accompanying the group of Jewish journalists on
our recent study mission of Morocco was a young,
brilliant Rabbi, Baruch Helman, who has taken upon
himself the considerable burden of
alerting the woald to the condition
of North African Jews and who is
equally obsessed with preserving
historical Jewish sites in the area.
It was Rabbi Helman who led us
on a pilgrimage to the tomb of
Rabbi Hayyim Ben Diwan in the
isolated mountain village of
Anrhaz, south Marrakech.
One usually thinks of a
Pilgrimage as something either Christians or Moslems
do. The Canterbury Tales, the Crusades and fabled
trips to Mecca always come to my mind when I think
of religious journeys.
But I learned that in times past Jews also visited
holy sites as a way of reinforcing their religion. This
particular site is the burial place of a rabbi who had
traveled many years ago from Hebron in Israel to
secluded villages of Morocco to return Jews to the
fold and collect for yeshivot. He died in this isolated
village and his burial place was for many years a
pilgrimage attraction for Morrocan Jews.
Rabbi Helman was anxious for us to visit the site
since the once crumbling tomb and humble liying
quarters for pilgrims was now being partially restored
by an American benefactor.
There was one major problem: the village is
virtually inacessible and the only way to reach the site
is by donkey over somewhat precipitous and narrow
trails.
There was some reluctance on our part but Rabbi
Helman is a persistent man (???try it, you???ll like it???) and
we dutifully mounted donkeys provided by local
Berber tribesmen and-set off on our ???pilgrimage.???
The donkeys were sure-footed over the rocky, steep
paths that led to the site and 1 noted there were deep
ruts in the trail, a sign that many donkeys had borne
pilgrims to the holy site in the past. I was humbled by
the idea that they had been motivated by religious
belief and conviction, where we were mainly going out
of a sense of curiosity and wonder.
After over an hour of climbing steep trails, passing
through primitive villages and swaying along through
a countryside that was beautiful in its serenely pristine
quality, we arrived at the tomb.
The tomb and several small buildings were
surrounded by a low, mud wall. We entered and
visited the simple gravesite of Rabbi Ben Diwan which
is enclosed in an adobe building of its own. At oneend
of the room were the graves of three of his disciples
who had chosen to be buried at the foot of their
master.
We lighted candles at the tomb and said a short
prayer. We were unsure what one should do on a
pilgrimage but we sensed an unmistakable holiness
about the place.
There was-a small, rudimentary building that was
used as a synagogue and we decided that a service
would be appropriate. So, led by Rabbi Helman, we
conducted what was perhaps the first Ashkenazi
minyan ever held at the pilgrimage site of Rabbi
Hayyim Ben Diwan. This was Sephardi country but/
we felt sure that our service was appropriate and
would be heaid.
Somehow a group of Jewish Ashkenazi journalists
conducting a service at a Sephardi pilgrimage site
seemed to me completely appropriate and gives
meaning to the modern philosophy that all Jews are
one.
Perhaps this is what one learns on a pilgrimage.
Leadership void?
Problems for Zionists
by Boris Smolar
4
The election of American
delegates to the World Zionist
Congress, which opens next month
in Jerusalem, provoked little
interest in the American Jewish
community. The election
campaign, now concluded, was
conducted by eight competing
Zionist groups in this country.
The apparent lack of interest is
probably due to some extent to the
fact that the American Zionist
movement today has no leadership
of the caliber of Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise, Louis Lipsky, Rabbi Abba
Hillel Silver and other colorful
figures able to attract mass
attention. Basically, however, it is
due to the fact that since the
establishment of Israel, the World
Zionist Congress has lost its luster
The primary purpose of the
Congress since ihe years of Dr.
Herzl, the ???father of political
Zionism,??? was to achieve the
establishment of a Jewish National
Home. This has been achieved
with the birth of the State of Israel.
The functions of the World
Zionist movement have, since the
establishment of Israel, been
reduced to stimulating aliya from
other countries to Israel and to
promoting Hebrew education in
these countries, tyo longer is the
Zionist Congress the political
parliament it was after its founding
by Dr. Herzl in 1897.
In countries outside of Israel ???
as in the United States which has
the largest Jewish community in
the world???the Zionist movement
is being overshadowed by the
United Jewish Appeal in helping
Israel. And the great majority of
contributors to^the UJA are not
members of Zionist groups but just
Jews interested in Israel???s growth
and existence. To them the welfare
and security of Israel as a Jewish
State is important, and not the
different ideologies of the separate
political parties within Israel or
within the world Zionist
movement.
The American Zionist
movement claims to have now
more than 900,000 members and
intends to send 152 delegates to the
Congress in Jerusalem.
It is a well-known fact that
Hadassah has . some J50.000
members in its ranks. But do the
other Zionist groups in this
country have a combined
membership of 550,000??? Many
doubt it
In Israel, the Zionist parties
like their counterparts in this
country and in other lands of the
free world???participate in the
World Zionist Congress. They
continue to send delegates o the
Congress in large number: They
are especially interested in
maintaining their strength in the
Jewish Agency which adminis
trates the immigration, absorption
of immigrants and other
humanitarian programs in Israel
funded by the United Jewish
Appeal and the Keren Hayesod. a
counterpart of the UJA in various
countries.
The election campaign
conducted by the eight American
Zionist groups to attract votes for
each of their slates did not
distinguish itself with ???hot??? issues
Only one issue stood out???the
fight between the Zionist
organizations of America and the
Zionist-Revisionists of America
over the use of the picture of
Menachem Begin, Israel???s Prime
Minister, in campaign literature.
The ZOA, which is linked to the
Liberal Party in Israel???a partner
in the Likud coalition which
brought Begin to power???used
Begin???s photo in its campaign. It
also used the photo of Israel???s
Defense Minister Ezcr Weizman
Both are top leaders of the Herut in
Israel of which the Zionist-
Revisionists Party is the
counterpart in the United States.
The Revisionists objected to the
ZOA???s using the pictures of their
two leaders and Cabinet members
in ZOA election propaganda. They
claimed that only the Zionist-
Revisionists Party is entitled to use
the photos of these two leaders to
attract votes.
The ZOA argued that the
Revisionists were confusing the
Likud coalition with the Herut
Party. The dispute reached a point
where the Revisionists filed suit in
a New York State couit seeking to
have the ZOA remove from its
platform insert the photos of Begin
and Weizman. This ???issue" had,
however, not much of a
reverberation in the American
Jewish community.