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News Briefs
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‘ARTisrael’comes to New York
NEW YORK (JTA)—“ARTisrael, the 1980s," an exhibit com
prising the works of 50 contemporary Israeli artists, is under way in
18 galleries here. The exhibit of paintings, sculpture and photo
graphy was timed to coincide with the “Treasure of the Holy Land:
Ancient Art from the Israel Museum” exhibit at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
New York art historian and consultant Mary Evangelista spent
six years putting together the show, the first exposure in the U.S.
for many of the artists.
Hapoel wins Korach Cup
ATHENS (JTA)—Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team
defeated the Greek team of Apolon Patra 88-71 recently to win the
Korach Cup. Playing before 1,500 spectators, the Israeli team
never was really threatened. The Greek team included no foreign
players, while Hapoel Tel Aviv, like all top Israeli teams, fielded
two Americans.
Menuhin, Gershwin honored
WASHINGTON (Polakoff)—Violinist Yehudi Menuhin and
the late composer George Gershwin received prominent attention
recently in West Germany. Menuhin was presented with the Moses
Mendelssohn Prize in Berlin; presented every two years by the
Berlin state government for the “promotion of tolerance toward
those of differing views and between peoples, races and religions.”
The former director of the Berlin Philharmonic, Wolfgang Strese-
mann, referred to Menuhin’s concerts in 1946 and 1947 in Berlin
and noted Menuhin was the “first Jewish musician who offered
Berlin the hand of reconciliation.” The award is named after the
philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
An enthusiastic audience at the Staatsoper in Hamburg greeted
John Neumeier’s Gershwin revue “Shall We Dance,” the German Infor
mation Center reported.
IACO approves Israeli practice
MONTREAL (JTA)—The General Assembly of the Interna
tional Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) approved by acclama
tion last Thursday a Canadian proposal to extend existing criminal
provisions against airplane hijacking to acts of violence against
airports and air terminals.
The Canadian proposal is almost identical to one formulated
by Israel and was strongly supported by the Israeli delegation and
many other countries. It gives top priority to preparation of a draft
instrument to apply criminal penalties to airport attackers.
No sign of sunken sub
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel and the U.S. have announced
that a month-long search for the missing Israel submarine Dakar in
Egyptian coastal waters failed to find any trace of the undersea
craft and has been called off.
The search was financed by Israel from U.S. aid funds and was
approved by Egypt after lengthy negotiations. It began on Sept. 4
and was abandoned on Oct. 4. Although the Egyptians had
allowed 70 days for the undertaking, the U.S. Navy, with Israel’s
concurrence, decided there was no point to continue.
Nazi records discovered
WARSAW (JTA)—Nearly 800 books from 54 registries of the
former German district of Swidnica in southwest Poland, contain
ing records on the deaths of prisoners murdered in the former Nazi
Gross Rosen death camp in the locality of Rogoznica, have been
discovered.
The records were believed to have been destroyed by the Nazis
during their retreat from the camp but were recently found in the
attic of a house in Swidnica currently being converted to a health
V.
center.
Specialists have begun examining the documents. The analysts
say the records are incomplete and the regional militia office in
Swidnica has appealed to local inhabitants asking them to turn in
any documents in their possession.
J
A Judaic principle
by M.C. Gettinger
The New York Times of October
9, had as its leading news story the
resignation of Bernard Kalb as
spokesman for the State Depart
ment in protest of the government’s
disinformation regarding Qadaffi
and Libyan terrorism.
The same New York Times issue
contains a full-page message spon
sored by the Jewish Theological
Seminary conveying “the essence
of our developing religious tradi
tion,” which touches on the misuse
of words in another context: “Our
words are a footprint we leave for
the world.”
Just a year ago, Elie Wiesel
spoke courageously to President
Reagan—what many called a mes
sage of truth and morality—not to
participate in the Bitburg cemetery
memorial where Nazi soldiers are
buried.
Is it a mere coincidence that
Kalb, a Jew, should refuse to be
associated with the dissemination
of an untruth which leads to a gen
eral breakdown of credibility? Is
there something in Judaic precepts
which values truth above most all
considerations?
There are many references in
rabbinic writings stressing the im
portance of speaking the truth. A
beautiful story is told of the Ber-
ditchever Rabbi, the noted defender
of the Jewish people, who came
across a Jew eating on Yom Kip-
pur. Surely, he said to him, you are
not aware that today is Yom Kip-
pur and that it is prohibited to eat.
To which came the answer that he
was aware of both situations.
Then, the rabbi continued, un
doubtedly your doctor advised you
to eat because your health required
it. Again came a reply that he was
perfectly healthy and had no doc
tor’s permission. Whereupon the
Berditchever Rabbi turned to G-d:
“Look at your wonderful Jews,
even when they sin they tell the
truth.”
What is there in our Jewish tra
dition which puts such emphasis
on truth. There is a Midrash which
states: G-d’s name is Shalom
(peace), and the seal of G-d is Ernes
(truth). This play on words in
trigued a commentator. Peace, he
pointed out, is a relative concept
and is hardly ever complete, whether
in relation to nations or between
individuals. Just as a name can be
abbreviated, so too, can peace be
limited and compromised. When it
comes to a seal, however, it can
have no fault or impairment. Sim
ilarly, truth cannot be negated or
compromised.
Nor is our tradition so naive to
call for truth-telling when it may
cause harm. There is a Yiddish
expression that one may not tell a
lie but one is not compelled to tell a
truth when it is harmful to do so.
Our rabbis also point to the one
exception. One may tell a lie for the
sake of peace in the home. Legend
also identifies Aaron, the brother
of Moses, for his peace-seeking
quality.
Whether the disinformation in
the Libyan affair was justified for
the intended larger good, as some
insist, is questionable. Qadaffi and
the Libyans could have been given
disinformation without involving
our own American public in the
process. For in efforts to fool our
own people, and through innocent
government officials, there is the
more serious danger that further
untruths will be rationalized and
justified for a perceived ultimate
good.
M.C. Gettinger is executive di
rector emeritus of the A tlanta Jew
ish Federation.
Message of the sukka
by Rabbi Ezra Boyarsky
Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, Inc.
“ You shall dwell in booths seven
days; that your generations may
know that I made the children of
Israel abide in booths when I
brought them out of the land of
Egypt."
(Leviticus 23:42, 43)
The ultimate purpose of redeem
ing the Jewish people from Egyp
tian bondage was to turn their
heretofore abnormal, insufferable
and demeaned existence into a
normal, dignified, sovereign na
tional religious life. And this goal
was achieved only when they finally
entered the Promised Land and
became a self-sufficient, produc
tive nation with agriculture as the
main economic under pinning.
It is for this reason that the three
pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Sha-
vuot and Sukkot) are, in addition
to their historical point of origin,
also intimately connected with the
economy of the Land of Israel.
Therefore, these holidays carry a
dual significance, one a historical
and the other that of a mundane
and pragmatic nature.
And it was in no small measure
due to the fusion of the religious
and national aspects of these festi
vals that the Jewish people har
bored the hope and sustained the
faith that an independent Jewish
state will once again be founded in
their ancestral homeland. It was
this treasured hope that led to the
political Zionist movement at the
turn of the century and ultimately
culminated with the establishment
of the state of Israel in our own
time.
While each festival delivers its
own timely message, the manda
tory requirement to dwell in booths
on Sukkot carries an especially
momentous message to contempo
rary Jewry who have witnessed the
extermination of one-third of their
brethren but also experienced their
grandest moment of exultation—
the founding of Medinat Yisroel.
This message of the sukka, the
stark symbol of temporary shelter,
transcience and instability, calls on
Jews outside of Israel to negate the
Diaspora which, not unlike the
sukka itself, offers them, in the
long run, only a touch and go
existence...
So as we usher in the joyful and
symbolism-rich Sukkot festival, our
hearts and minds focus on the
vibrant Jewish state which, after a
two millenial-long hiatus, has re
sumed her role as the nerve center
of Jewish life. We pray that peace
and tranquility reign within her
borders and that she soon bounce
back to a healthy and vigorous
Continued from page 4.
The final test was bagels, cream
cheese and lox with four varieties
of drinks. When none of these sat
isfied the testers, the company de
cided to add sliced onions. This
resulted in a slight increase among
those who said that if nothing else
was available, they’d drink a fruit-
flavored soft drink with a bagel,
cream cheese, lox and onions. A
few suggested that the company
consider producing an egg cream.
At the conclusion of the testing a
significant majority indicated they
would just as soon stick with coffee
except for gefilte fish with which
they preferred a sweet red wine.
They also expressed a preference
for decaffeinated coffee if it was
brewed and not instant.
economy.
“On that day will I raise up the
tabernacle (sukka) of David which
is fallen and its ruins will I raise up
and I will rebuild it as in the days of
old” (Amos 9:1).
Amos’ vision has been vindicated
before our eyes; the land of Israel
has indeed risen from its ruins and
the sukka-like existence of the Jew
ish people is diminishing in direct
proportion to the state’s growth
and development.
But the restorative work is far
from being completed. Contempo
rary Jewry has been entrusted with
the historic mission to hasten this
process; to pull its collective weight
that this privileged assignment be
fulfilled at any cost. In essence, this
is the sukka’s message to us at this
crucial and challenge-ridden unc
tion in our history.
Although the company was dis
appointed with the survey, the
report concluded by suggesting that
a new group with a much smaller
percentage from the New York
area be tested and that this time
chopped liver and rye bread be
added to the list.
Effective Oct. 20, The South
ern Israelite’s offices will be
located at 300 Atlanta Tech
nology Center, Suite 365, 1575
Northside Drive, N. W., Atlanta,
GA 30318.
The newspaper’s mailing ad
dress will be P.O. Box 250287,
Atlanta, GA 30325.
The new telephone number is
(404) 355-6139.
Caper
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 17, 1986
