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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE February 7, 1986
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspoper For Southern Jewry
Since 1925
Vida Goldgar
Editor and Publisher
Leonard Goldstein
Advertising Director
Luna Levy
Associate Editor
Eschol A. Harrell
Production Manager
Lutz Baum
Business Manager
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc
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The end of an era
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WillShcharansky be free?
Indications get stronger every day that a prisoner exchange
between East and West, probably in Berlin, will indeed take place.
Whether or not Anatoly Shcharansky is to be included in the deal
is less clear at press time, though there is a report that an East
German Foreign Ministry official has said he will be.
It almost seems too good to be true that Shcharansky, after eight
years in prison, often in precarious health, will set foot in the free
world.
His courage will not soon be forgotten. Nor will the image of
his brave wife, Avital, fade from memory, though no doubt the
Soviets hope that will happen. For all the years of her husband’s
imprisonment, Avital has traveled the free world pleading with
people in high places for intervention and with the rest of us for
support.
The Shcharanskys have become an international symbol of
the efforts to gain freedom for Soviet Jewry. And, perhaps therein
lies a danger. If Anatoly is released in this so-called spy swap, the
Soviets hope to gain public relations credence to their phony
claim that he was an agent for the United States. They could gain,
too, the image that the Kremlin has not given in to pressure to
release Shcharansky as a refusnik.
What they must not achieve is our forgetting that Shcharansky’s
release—if it comes—leaves 20 other Prisoners of Conscience in
Soviet prisons, as well as 26 former POCs and hundreds of
thousands of other Jews w ho are denied permission to emigrate.
Our efforts on behalf of all these others must continue.
The death of Boris Smolar, whose
obituary appears on page 24, ends
a career in Jewish journalism u hie h
spanned more than 60 years and
set a standard of excellence in the
field. Below, Philip Slomovit:, now
editor emeritus of the Detroit Jewish
News, pars tribute to his friend and
colleague. — Editor.
by Philip Slomovit/
DETROIT (JTA)—Boris Smolar
is a name that became synonymous
with “Global Jewish Journalist
Number One.” H is name is indelibly
etched in Jewish literary history.
His passing is an irreparable loss to
Jewry.
Boris Smolar’s journalistic beat
was the world Jewish community.
Wherever he went, he also left an
indelible mark as a Jewish activist
humanely inspired to relieve want,
to strive for justice for his people,
to enlighten government officials
on the status of his fellow Jews,
and to seek amelioration and succor
for them.
This was true everywhere—in
the Soviet Union, where he reached
into high government echelons w ith
his appeals for persecuted Jews, in
pre-war Nazi Germany, in Rumania,
in the Middle East, and in the
Jewish Vishuv( pre-State community)
in Palestine and subsequently in
Israel.
In the process, he befriended
international leaders, and the heads
of the world’s Jewish communities
became his friends and associates
in major causes. That is how the
Warburgs, the Strauses, and the
Habers, among others, came to
consult him on major Jewish issues.
That is how he became the adviser
and guide, the unofficial diplomat
and emissary of the Jewish people.
In that process, too, he became
the interpreter and evaluator of the
major Jewish rehabilitation and
relief movements as well as of the
reconstruction and rebuildingtaking
place in Israel. His columns became
clarion calls to action for the many
causes for w hich he was a dedicated
activist. The United Jewish Appeal,
American Jew ish Committee, OR E,
and a score of other causes counted
him as their most effective voice.
His Zionist commitment was
especially expressed in his deep
devotion to the Jewish National
Fund. His recent gifts to JNE and
the forest in Israel he and his wife
Genia planted were their expression
of loyalty to a cause and enrollment
in tasks for Israel’s upbuilding.
There is a deeply moving effect
of Boris’ attachment to Genia that
is almost providential. Genia had a
genius all her own. She was not in
the limelight, yet she had a genius
for letter writing, and her corres
pondence was cherished by Israeli
and American leaders.
When she became bedridden,
Boris devoted his entire time—his
very life—to her. In the frequent
telephone conversations 1 had with
him in the past few years, his
comment on his own and Genia’s
state of health always was, “1 want
to live one hour after Genia ” It
was his way of saying that his life’s
aim had became to provide the
protection his ailing wife needed.
His wish wasfulfilled. His Genia’s
death occurred only 15 hours before
his own.
The world’s Jewish communities
will miss him, Jewish leaders will
miss him. For me, his death means
the loss of the dearest friend and
most cherished professional associate.
On serving Judaism
C’MCN, IT DCGtfT
REILLY HURT/
by Rabbi Leonard Lifshen
Congregation Beth Shalom
My wife. Faith, an accomplished
musician and pianist, once explained
to me the difference between a
child sitting at a piano and a piano
virtuoso: "The child who sits at a
piano, striking notes in a hit or
miss position may be willful, but
has no free will, no choice—because
he or she does not understand the
instrument; he has had no experience
with it, and has no knowledge of
music. The piano virtuoso, on the
other hand, knowing each note,
each tone, each musical nuance
which can be achieved, and having
a vast amount of musical experience
and knowledge, possesses the freedom
of choice. The choice is his as to
what he will play, how he w ill play,
and whether he w ill strike the wrong
note or the right one."
YWtETfcri4r...
c
The Jew has always recognized
that alongside freedom was a re
sponsibility: “Let My people go
that they may serve Me!”
Even today Jews serve in many
ways: their synagogues, their Jew ish
community, their city, their state
and their nation. This is our tradition
raised to its highest levels and lived
to its loftiest heights. However, we
all know people w ho are so involved
in the means that they lose sight of
the ultimate end—and the means
becomes ends in themselves.
Workers on committees see the
committee as all-important. Some
spend so much time working for
the synagogue, that they have no
time to worship in it. Some work
so hard for community projects
that there’s no time to stop and
take stock; there’s no time to pay
heed to the source, to the wellspring
of our motivation for service.
In light of the mobility of our
modern society, many Jews do not
reconnect with Jewish institutions
once they leave the communities
where they were born. This can
lead to the fragmentation of the
American Jewish communitv and
the breakdown of the Jewish family
ties. But Jewish education must be
upgraded throughout life and we
must spend more time acquiring
more knowledge and more apprecia
tion of our heritage. We must serve
our people in a more fulfilled manner
for without the knowledge of basic
Judaism, we are like children who
bang on the piano or like one who
merely plays by rote. There is no
depth and nuance and feeling to
our service. Such Jews serve the
community the way children play
the piano—with their hands not
with their head or heart. They may
serve the Jews—their people, but
they do not serve Judaism their
heritage.
Knowledge of our history, our
traditions and ceremonies, our liturgy
and holidays gives us knowledge of
ourselves in the modern world.
This helps us to make proper choices
in our daily lives and guides our
activities and service to help fulfill
the purpose of redemption.
There are so many adult education
programs in our community available
to us. Why not take advantage of
them!
p-Resnick eulogized in Akron—^
AKRON (JTA)—Dr. Judith Resnick, who died last week in the
C hallenger space shuttle with six of her astronaut colleagues, was
eulogized at a memorial serv ice at Temple Israel here last Friday as
a daring pioneering spirit" who heard and heeded the call to “go
upward, climb higher, touch the stars."
Rabbi Abraham Feffer, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El —
where Resnick became a bat mitzva and was confirmed—told the
approximately 850 participants in the service that “she achieved
what she had worked for and died doing what she loved best. • •
She left us many achievements and much love. .
Eeffer told the participants that before her first space flight in
1984, Res nick had stopped at his office with her father, asking for a
blessing. 1 prayed the traditional Jewish prayer—’As she goes in
peace, so may she return in peace.’”