Page 4 - the Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, November 19, 1981
Editorial
M-T
The Canadian Jewish news
An iiuK-iH'Hilciii Ci'inmuiiitx ^\•u■^|1.l^H•^ .  -.tTMHk; .is    turuiTi iVir Jia tTMV Mcwpi >i 11
■ Directors:
C.ciat les'B'iii'i'mjn, Do.'ValdCji'. Q.C • '. George A. Coiioii. Joek Curnm.nqs. ' .Murray B. Ko" ler,'AiDer! J: Latiier. Rjy D. Wolfe. Rubrn Z.mmermjn .•.
. ECitor, Maurice LuCo\%
Assistant Editor; David .Bir'^an-.  8usines5Mai>.iqer. Gary La'pret'-
Advei l.isiiig Manager, Vei a, G.inma'n
Controller, Maurice Bronner"
.VOL. XXII, NO, 31 (2,079)
Puhiijlu-J  |i>    ilie  Ca"aJian Jevnsh .News
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,   Cheshvan 23, 5742 - .Chayei Sarah ;
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Publisher's sworn statement. March 20, 1981 ■
ll'io r.iii.Kiun "^".s. .isMiaics no icspoaMbilits Ivi tin.' k.i.sliiuili . •! I in." pnxliicb jiKemsed .
Wealthy Fahd snubs poor
A prince in name
There svasn't much rhsihrn among the Can Can dancers at Cancun in Mexico recently. The meeting to solve the starvation crisis in the Third World was-characterized by platitudinous gestures of concern and goodwill — and little else;.
One of the anomalies in the reporting of the event was the focus on Ronald Reagan as the potential savior of suffering mankind and the studied ignoring of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia — Fahd.
The latter represents a country;- soon to be the recipient of AVV.A^CS and other advanced weaponry which has an annual income of about fort> billion dollars, give or take a billion here or there.
That income, to put the figures in proper perspective, represents, in one yiear, four times the total assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia, one of Canada's big moneymakers. In the past eight years, since the oil : embargo. Saudi Arabia has amassed therefore, more than three hundred billion dollars — the greatest transfer of wealth from one area to another in recorded history.
Prince Fahd, however, does not fee! any twinges of conscience or discomfort presiding over such vast wealth — certainly not enough to have him volunteer to share his fortune with the less fortunate Third World countries, a number of which even share
Fahd's Islamic beUefs.
It Is Indeed a pity that an Islamic ruler, as rich as Croesus in this case, is not animated by the high fdeals of charitj and welfare dictated by the faith which he so fervently professes.
The corporate stinginess of FVince Fahd can be contrasted wuh the remarkable altruism e.xhibited by the State of Israel. In a recent speech at the United Nations given by Foreign Minister Shamir, the latter pledged his nation's help to Third World countries in the agricultural productivity sector.
Israel is ready to offer agricultural expertise developed over a 30-year period in resuscitating'Israeli soil, to nations now mired in poverty. For years Israel has already been doing this in certain Asian and South American countries.
Aharon Weiner. chairrnan of the government-owned Tahaj Consulting Engineers, active in 40 Asian, African and South American lands, sees Israel's role as a mission that could have important diplomatic side benefits including the re-establishment of.relations with a number of countries which ruptured their ties with Israel in 1973.
It is interesting that little Israel, a nation b^set with economic problems of great magnitude, is In the forefront of providing aid to others.
Time to speak up
The medieval mullahs in Teheran have launched a miiidless witchhunt against the Baha'is, Iran's largest religions minority, and The: Sunday Times of London claims that they face farther dials. The Baha'is, who preach the essential oneness of all the great world religions, are being treated hi much the same manner as were the Jews of Germany prior to Worid War n.
Iran's Islamic constitution recognizes Christianity. Judaism and Zoroastrianism — but not the Baha'i faith. Pending laws that will,be based on this document would. bar Baha'is from holding jobs, owning property, having bank accounts, running businesses, getting medicaK treatment or travelling.'        - '   . . ■
Their cerneteries and holy places have already been confiscated or desecrated, and many of their businesses have been seized. . An estimated 166 Baha'is' have, been executed or lynched by mobs, and scores have disappeared.- Baha'is will not be eligible for new identity cards, scheduled to be issued next March. They will thus be clearly singled- out for "naboudi" —: elimination.
;.The authorities in Teheran have aban-.
DumM a People
doned any pretense that Baha'is are entitled to the protection of the law. Iran's new prosecutbr-general has declared: "The Koran .recognizes only the People of the
. Book a:s religious communities. Others are; pagans. Pagans must be elirhinated."
The Iranian gbverftment has accused the Baha'is of being "agents of Zionism" — a charge, sternming from the fact that their headquaners are on Mount Carmel in Haifa. The accusation is patently false and caluinriious, but the mullahs have little
.regard for the truth. They have taken to persecuting the Baha'is for several reasons. The Baha'is deny the central belief in Islam that Mohammed is the last. of God's prophets, and they advocate full equality of the. sexes.. TTieir women. unlike those degraded by Islamic fiindamentailism, are ■ not segregated and thus are eligible for all
~ positions in the Baha'iieaidership..
The Jewish community, which has more than enough experience with discrimination, should not remain silent as the Iranian regime tramples on the Baha'is. This Is the time to speak up.
There can be.no double standards when human lives are at stake..
Bj DAVID BIRKAN
Baruch. Spinoza was born in Amsterdam on Nov, 24, 1632, prime developer of what ■would later be called the "God of the phiiosphers.',' He also first propounded the rationalist.principles that formed the basis for the critical school of Bible study.
Holland, the cradle of religious tolerance, also allowed for the development of the new spirit of rationalism and scientific inquiry entering the west. In Amsterdam's free . society. Spinoza befriended a number of freethinking Christians as a youth. They supponed his criticism of Jewish ritual-laws, which he soon abandoned. The outspoken young Spinoza began voicing doubts about: the Divine authorship of the Pentateuch through Moses; the existence of an immonaLsoui; the reality of angels; the occurence of.miracles, and other principal tenets of traditional Judaism and Christ-ianity.,
Less than a generation earlier, the vociferous reunification of faith by formers Marrano Uriel de Costa, and his sabsequent suicide, had shaken Holland's Jews; the notoriety had Jeopardized the coantiy's hospitality towards them. The Amsterdam commanity : disassociated itself, from Spinoza's heretical^views by exconunnnl-cating hlm^'ln 1656.      \ .
Spinoza^moved around Holland, finally settling ill The Hague in 1670. That year, he published his "Theological-Political Treatise.]' In 1674, he completed his treatiseo'n ethics, which was not published until after he died in 1677.
Spinoza called for the critical application of the newly developing scientific principles to the Bible itself. Its study, he^wrote,
should be based on the analysis of the language and phraseology employed, and on the various sociali economic, political and personal factors surrounding its protagonists. The revelation at Mount Sinai — a . central pillar of traditional Judaism — was rejected both in itself and also as a basis of . study.
■ Spinoza argued that the chosenness of the Jews only lasted as long as their kingdom, and that the ceremonies and precepts of the Mosaiccode only applied to this period. •     . ' .
Also contrary to traditional Judaism, Sphioza painted the picture of an - aU-
■ pervasive but distant God, one who never intervened in the affairs of nature and man, and who brooked no miracles> or other disruptions In the laws He created. Spinoza's universe was not a stage for the Interplay between man and God, and offered no goals or purpose. Providential action was neither possible nor desirable. The whole universe was an extension of God, moving to an eternal rhythm. One critic pointed out that in Spbioza's system, God had become a prisoner of His own laws.
Prayer and ceremonial observances of. any kind were considered useless. Any sort of personal relationship between the deity and  an   individual'^dr  a ..people was impossible. . >^ .
The highest happiness for-man,^according to Spinozai wa'is free thought and the pursuit of wisdom. Which he saici was the knowledge of the inter-relatedness of alt things in God's universe and the inevitr ability of all occurrences, s..^^__>
The religious community of Amsterdam does not.join in Holland's annual commemoration of Spinoza's birth.
By SHELDON KIRSHNER
Thirty thousand Israelis converged on Yamit last month to vent their anger and to display their nationalistic fervor.
They came to YamIt — a settlement Moshe Dayan conceived and built — to protest Israel's planned withdrawal from the final portion of the Sinai Peninsula next April.
By evacuating the Sinai, Israel will be complying with the 1978 Camp David accords, signed by Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat and jimmy Carter. In the confused, turbulent days following Sadat's assassination, Israel conveyed messages to Egypt and the U.S. that it would abide by its commitments.
Short of a radical shift of policy in Egypt, the last Israeh soldier should leave,the Sinai by about April 25, ending nearly 15 years of occupation by Israel.
Israel has been gradually withdrawing from the Sinai since the 1974 disengagement pact, an outgrowth of the Yom Kippur War. After the 1979 treaty establishing peace between Israel and Egypt, the Israelis began to accelerate their withdrawal from this triangiilar-shaped mass of desert and mountain ranges.
What remains in Israel's hands today is a strategically-important buffer zone running from El Arish in the north to Ras Mohammad in the south. The strip contains a couple of moderii air fields, military installations, and 13 settlements ranging from Talmei Yosef to Sadot. Yamit, the jewel in the necklace, is a strikingly beautifur settlement set amid sand dunes not far from the. roaring surf of the Mediterranean Sea.
Most of the settlements in the Sinai are in the so-called Rafah Salient, or the northeast corner abutting the Gaza Strip. They were deliberately built there as a buffer between Egypt and the dense population of the Gaza Strip. Even after Israel agreed to withdraw from Sinai. Prime Minister Menachem Begin hoped to convince Sadat that Israel's settlements in the Rafah Salient should be exempt from contractual obligation under the pieace treaty.
Begintold Sadat that the area in question amounted-to only 2% of Sinai. But the Egyptians were adamant. They would not budge from their contention -r- which the U.S. supported.— that every inch of Sinai , should be relinquished by Israel.
And they brushed aside an Israeli suggestion that the 7,000 settlers there should be granted extra-territorial status. Anewforrri of colonialism, they said. Egypt would have nothing to do whh a scheme that woiild permit Israeli citizens to live jn Egyptiari territory under Israeli law. .
So Israel relented and decided to return the'Sinai in its entirety, particularly after the U.S. promised to organize a peacekeeping force to patrof the peninsula. That force, composed of Canadians. Americans, South Americans. West Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders and Fijians, has . been formed and is scheduled to be deploy ed prior to Israel's withdrawal.
The majority of Israelis support ^ albeit somewhat reluctantly, the need for Israel to give op the Slnal. They know that Eg>-pt would not have made peace if Israel insisted on remaining in Sinai. '
Bntamlnorityof radical rightists take the view that Israel should never have entered Into negotiations to relinquish Sinai. They^ contend that the peace treaty is a mirage — that Israel is returning something tangible [land] for something hitanglble [a written agreement which can be broken].
In the Knesset, the radicals are largely grouped within or around the orbit of the Tehiya Party, which has three seats hi parliament. All hi all, about 12 MKs believe that Israel should abrogate the Camp David accords and stay put in Shial. More may come out of the woodwork as the April 25 withdrawal date approaches. ' The settlers of the Rafah Salient are counting on such, a development. In the meantime, they are gathering signatures for a petition tliey intend to present to the government. They already have 350,000 names on it. TTieir goal is one million signatures, or one-third of Israfel's population.
In the ranksofthe settlers,'there are two distinct groups. — ,
' OneTs composed of Ideological diehards . who say that Israel's agreement to-hand back the Sinai — three times the size of Israel proper — was a serious miscalculation byBeghi. They argue that a withdrawal win Jeopardize Israel's national interests, strategic security and'Zionist traditions In the name of an illusory peace.
The second group cmsists of merchants and. industrialists who've invested time and/or money in the settlements! Many of them have accepted compensation for theb : troubles, but are now holding out for greater restitution. Same Israelis call them ^speculators in peace."
When Mattityahu Shmuelevitz, director-general of the prime minister's office, arrived in Yamit recently to negotiate with the residents' representatives, a smoke bomb was thrown into the meeting room. Shmuelevitz not only failed to bridge the gap between their demands and the / government's compensation offering, but ' was informedthat most of Yamit's apart- '
Contend peace treaty is a mirage
menr owners who have accepted cash wanted to rieopen negotiations.
All the disaffected settlers,belong to a movement called Stop the Retreat in Sinai (SRS), which is coordinating stepsj^to -undermine the government's resolve to withdraw from the peninsula.
If their political efforts come to naught, which seenis likely at this juncturer-the settlers seem prepared for a violent confrontation with the army. Israelis recall that violence erupted in Sadot in May of 1979 duriiigthe first stage of Israel's withdrawal from El Arish. h was quickly quelled.
As, Israel's evacuation draws closer, dozens of nationalists have infiltrated into the Rafah Salient, filtering into abandoned houses, camping in trailers and even putting up new buildings.
Among the rabid Israelis inyplved in this effort — which the government condones — are three members of the Knesset.
They are Hanan Porat aiid Geiila Cohen ofTehiya, and Rabbi Haiin Druckman ofthe National Religious Party. Druckman, deputy minister of religion until his move, went to Yamit with his wife and nine children in the first week of October.
Joining the trio were West Bank settlers who owe their allegiance to Gush Emunim, which advocates the wholesale settlement of the occupied territories. Although the bulk of the zealots are religious, a few are secular Jews. \
Cohen and other spokespersons of SRS cite the death of Anwar Sadat as a factor that ought to convhice the Israeli public that the peace treaty requires revision. In her view, the Egyptians wUI demand an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip once Sinai is cleared of Israel's presence. Moreover, she says, the withdrawal will weaken Israel strategicaOy and morally, and thus serve as'an eventual '^enticement to war."
Moshe Sharon, a Hebrew University lecturer in Islamic history who is sympathetic to the goals of the settlers, writes in The Jerusalem Post that Israel should link a withdrawal from the Sinai to an agreement on autonomy. As he puts it:
"President (Hosni) Mubarak has de-slared that Egypt's political aims are unchanged: a Palestinian state, including Hast Jerusalem. .... There is only one thing Israel can do in this situation: to link a full agreement on the autonomy to the completion of the withdrawal from Sinai. Without such an agreement, which, would secure Israel's interests in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; thi?re should bte no continuation of the
withdrawal____"
The Israeli government is in a bind as a result of the settiers'agitation.
Begin ei\{6ys a one-vote majority In the Knesset and depends for political survival upon the prb-setUement partieis. The National iReligioos Party, one of the pillars of his coalition, has Ultimate connections widi Gush Emunim and witii tiie Shial setUers. The NRP leadership will thus be under severe pressure to bow to SRS's demands. ■
Begin, who personally syriipathizes with the settlers, has reason as well to be concerned about his Own Herut Party.   . '
One of Its leading rriembers, Moshe Arens, says he hopes Egypt's new president will support the Camp David structure. But he adds that "we will have to stand
.    [New ITprk TImefl map]
Israel is scheduled to withdraw from the last part of ihe Slnal next April. Settiers in the northeast comer ofthe rugged peninsula urge the government not to pull out.
guard, stiidy the new man. increase our vigilance and evaluate the whole situation." -
Arens. chairman of the influential foreign affairs and security comn^ittee in the Knesset, abstained on voting for, the Camp David accords. He could cause a ruckus in Herut if he so desires.
Possibly because ofthe sensitivity of the issue. Begin has tacitly permitted governmental agencies to provide certain services to the renisgade settlers.
The health ministry has given them keys to houses, and services such as refuse collectioii and police protection. The agriculture ministry has piped in water, while the Israel Electric Corporation . provides electricity. The government says the services are being provided to legitirnate residents who are still negotiatinjg with the
government over terms of competition.
Some officials have urged Begin to evict the settiers before the situation gets out of hand, but the consensus in the cabinet appears to be that the government shonid not precipitate a showdown at this 'point. ■
These ministers base their tactics on one primary assumption. By April, they believe, most of the settiers In tiie Rafah Salient will have left, relatively content with their compenisation packages. Ifhe zealots will therefore be Isolated and perceived as an obstacle to peaceful relations between Israel and Egypt.
And Israel will,be able to withdraw from Sinai, with a iiiiniinurn of fuss, thereby infusing the Camp David process with further momentum.
to
commiinitv
anza
B> J. B. SALSBERG
Most people and nations have their fast days and feast days — days that recall moments of glory as well as moments of defeat; experiences that call for dancing in the streets and experiences that can only be relived with ashes and sackcloth.
The national calendars of nations and peoples are also marked by dates that express the specially national character of a people. We, a rather ancient people^ -have our calendar filled with dates that serve as signposts to-our distant past, our living present and those which suggestthe path ahead;
One suchsignpost date in our national structure is the one in which we enact our respect and renewed .dedication to the book. It, is surely no a'ccident that Simchat Torah (the celebration of Torah) is one of the most joyous in the'Jewish calendar. This day of ecstasy signifies „; the completion ofthe weekly reading of the Bible. (the Pentateuch), and the immediate resumption of that unending annual process.
Without doubt that' practice has its deep roots in the religious background of our people and the religious influence that-tbe^five books of Moses have /exercised^upon our people's behavioral pattern through the ages. But, the ' 'Book of Books)," replete with history in its broad sweep; also contains fascinating vignettes of the. life and dramaflc" exploits of the founding fathers of our
people and with the social, moral and• ethical patterns of life that are recbm- , mended to the children of Israeli
All of which is but an introduction to v the remarkable new ciiltural phenomenon that has gained firm footing in North America Vand in many other centres of Jewish living the Jewish Book Month. It is surely riot accidental that this concentration of our corn-munities' attention on the bbok occurs not long after Simchiat Torah; it denotes not only continuity but the resolution to ; continue, to becoiitinuous.
The commiinhjes observe, the 'Book ■ Month differently. Synagogues and other social, educational and cultural institutions riiark.the occasion in their separate ways. Montreal, for instance, , encourages and directs attention to the separately organized readings, lectures, book reviews, book sales of the community as a whole:
In Toronto, on' the other hand, the' main focus of the Book Month is on the Jewish Book Fair; that magnificent cultural hapipening that lasts an entire week; that involves actively a_:,score or more, pulsating-^pirganizatioris arid/or — councils; that attracts thousands to the' , Fair itself and that forges a living linlt— between theauthors of Jewish books (in. : English, Hebrew^nd Yiddish) and the , reading public. ,'
The whole event is a glittering and inspiring cultural achievement that not only unites the people Of the book with its . modern books and their authors, but brings a remarkably large percentage of ■ our youth; in their biaby strollers, with their class chums or university friends. They come to the Fair, its book tables, its lectures, and the stimulating variety of Book Fair activities.
Yes, and thousands of books (again in all three languages) are actually bought and taken home.Jt's truly a blessed event.
Officially tlje^ Toronto Jewish Book Fair is sponsored by the Jewish Community Centre of Toronto (formerly the YM and YWHA) arid it is one ofthe most meritorious undertakings of the Toronto
JCC. But the contagious spirit and driving power of the Fair is its board of directors, composed of a co-operating, able.and dedicated group of women who deserve the highest praise that the Toronto Jewish comriiunity is capable of offering to its chosen activists.   ; -  ■ .
Does the effect of siich a Jewish cultural and literary festival last? I have no yardstick to measiire its lasting influence on the community. But it must be of positive; value. Meeting a favorite author is a memorable experience. The acquisition of new hooks is always an enrichment of the home that welcomes them. The mingling with hundreds of Jewish book lovers, especially in the atmosphere of a book fair, is always stimulating.
' And the total immersion, even if only for an evening or afternoon, in the mood that prevails at the Book Fair, is an eririchmentof lasting value.
A. couple of years ago I aslced Toronto's leading Jewish inrak store owner whether the Boolt Fair has a negative effect on his sales. His reply was.that his Ijook sales osnally rise during the week of the Fair, Evidentiy one good book creates a, deslite for_ another oiie that,the Fair maynot have stocked. 1"""
So, my friends, let us all wend our way to the Book Fair, the Jewish Book Fair in Toronto, now in progress. (Other Jewish centres, large or small, are urged to arrange similar events in their communities.) Arid let us approach the Fair -in a sjpirit of celebration. The late Lippe Green used to tell me that when the. Jewish Art Theatre came to Toronto he; took a bath, dressed in his Sabbath best arid then went to imbibe the best that the Jewish dramatic theatre had to offer. "It . was." Lippe said, "a Yom Tov — a Jewish cultural red letter day," in his
life. ■■•';:'-."■:■■■
In that spirit let us all meet at the Fair. And in that spirit join me, please, in offering orchids to the gallant band of women who make it all possible.  , ■
To the Fair, my friends! It runs all week until Nov. 22.