pThe Ivory Tower
Page 3-THE NEWS-October 1980
Stick and stones may break my bones, but words
will never hurt me.
• Childhood rhyme
As any taunted child who ever tried to sing that
through his tears knows, the rhyme is wrong. Words
do hurt, lliey matter enormously, and not just in the
lives of children.
Americans think they matter enough to give
words the protection of the Constitution. Words’
potential for misuse is also taken seriously enough
for citizens to be protected by the laws of libel and
slander.
Words matter in the lives of nations, too. They can
be tools of inspiration: Winston Churchill sent the
English language, as well as the
English forces, to war against
the Germans.
And they can be weapons of
destruction, which is why
radical forces are so interested
in winning United Nations
resolutions denouncing Israel.
The point of that war of words is
not only to insult Israel, but to
undermine her ligitimacy.
Israel’s enemies are trying to do
with words what they have
MUSKIE never been able to do with arms.
That is why it matters what
the United States says and does in response. It was
important that U.S. Secretary of State Ed Muskie
appear personally at the Security Council to object
in the strongest terms to a resolution censuring
Israel to declaring Jerusalem its undivided, per
manent capital.
The resolution was fundamentally flawed. It cen
sured Israel, but failed to condemn “violence
against Israel or ... efforts that undermine Israel’s
legitimate security needs.”
Muskie rightly went on to score the U.N for
“recourse to debates and resolutions that are not
germane to the peace process and (are) even harmful
to it.”
Unfortunately, he stopped there. The United
States abstained, instead of vetoing the resolution.
Tliat’s because the Carter administration feels
Israel’s loud assertion of its claim to all of Jerusalem
is an awkward impediment to the peace
negotiations. As Muskie put it, “We have en
couraged all parties to refrain from unilateral ac
tions which seek to change the character or status of
Jerusalem.”
He’s right, we think, that some of Israel’s current
rhetoric is like sand in the gears of the Middle East
peace effort. But so is the anti-Israeli rhetoric pour
ing from the U.N. So was the Egyptian parlia
ment’s earlier declaration that Jerusalem is the
eternal capital of Palestine. And so is the continu
ing refusal of the Arab countries, save Egypt, to
enter the peace negotiations.
And if Israel is hampering the peace process with
its proclamation of a united Jerusalem as its capital,
what are we to make of l^esident Carter's
Democratic Party, whose 1980 platform says: “As
stated in the 1976 platform, the Democratic Party
recognizes and supports the established status of
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, with access to all
holy places provided to all faiths. As a symbol of this
stand, the U.S. Embassy should be moved firom Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem.”
Israel is not right in all things, nor wise in all
policies. But Israel has proved a willingness to yield
in negotiations (give up the Sinai and its oil, for ex
ample), if the other parties will but come to the
negotiating table. Unlike the Jordanians, who held
East Jerusalem for almost two decades, Israel in her
13 years of custody has proved willing to grant all
faiths control of and access to their holy places.
Israel is not right in all things, nor wise in all
policies. But Israel has proved a willingness to yield
in negotiations (giving up the
Sinai and its oil, for example), if
the other parties will but come to
the negotiating table. Unlike the
Jordanians, who held East
Jerusalem for almost two
decades, Israel in her 13 years of
custody has proved willing to
grant all faiths control of and
access to their holy places.
Jerusalem is a sensitive dif
ficult issue. But the real problem
is not Israeli rhetoric; it is Arab
intransigence and the Soviet-
backed, U.N.-abetted campaign
by the FLO to eradicate Israel.
-TOM BKADHURY
The Charlotte News
Aug. 22. 19M0
BtUlN
Books in Review
Jewish Alcoholism
The Resort by Sol Stein,
Morrow Publishing Com
pany, 300 pp. $10.95.
This novel begins innocently
enough. A man and his wife
decide to drive down the Califor
nia coast. On the way they stop
at a resort called Cliffhaven,
near Big Sur. They check in and
are shown to their rooms — and
then terror begins. They find
their room locked when they try
to get out, and when the guard
appears they learn that they are
in a concentration camp for
Jews.
The inmates react in different
ways. Some become docile, part
ly because of the tranquilizers
put into their food, and partly
because they soon leam, the
hard way, the futility of
resistance, ^me fight, until the
spirit is crushed but of them by
cruel and brutal treatment. And
one holds out and fights on,
determined somehow to escape,
or at least go down fighting with
dignity.
The staff and the people who
live around the camp respond in
different ways too. Some are
zealots who believe that what
they are doing is a sacred cause.
Some are spectators who have
doubts but who are afraid to get
involved. And a few are greedy
(>eople whose consciences have
been bought.
TTie novel keeps the reader’s
attention through many twists
and turns. But it is more than
just a story. Beneath the fiction
are some serious questions such
as: Is this the way it happened
over there? Or, could something
like this ever happen here? Or,
most important, what would I
do if I ever found myself in a
situation like this?
-Jack Riemer
from The National Jewish
Monthly. May ’80
ied. note: Rabbi Jack Riemer
IS Scholar in Residence at Con
gregation B’nai Amoona in St.
Louis and editor of "Jewish
Reflections in Death", publish
ed by Schocken.)
by Marcia Cohn Spiegel
Two studies of recovered
Jewish alcoholics have focused
new attention on the problem of
alcoholism in the Jewish com
munity. “llie Jewish Alcoholic:
A Descriptive Study” by Shelia
For the Record
By Norman Olshansky
Regional Director
Anti-I^famation League
TTie bottom line, whether you
are a Zionist or not, the weaken
ing of the status and position of
Israel in the world community,
results in the weakening of Jews
where ever they may be. Local
anti-Semites have joined the
likes of the FLO in equating
Zionism with everything that is
evil in the world.
Those who have followed
world events realize that Israel
and the world Jewish communi
ty (as it relates to Israel) has
fewer and fewer friends. The
bottom line is that oil blackmail
has been successful. Reason,
morality, justice, are terms and
concepts which are secondary in
matters of international affairs
today.
The current status of peace in
the Middle East is clouded by
several illusions.
1. That the issue of the Arab
Palestinians is the core of the
Arab/Israeli conflict and of the
whole Middle E^st problem.
2. That the PLO has changed
or is changing toward “modera
tion” by abandoning its com
mitment to the elimination of
Israel through “armed
struggle” and terrorism.
3. That an Arab Palestinian
State, “homeland”, or “entity”
comprising the West Bank in
Gaza, presumably controlled by
the FLO, will bring about peace
between the Arabs in Israel, or
in the entire Middle East.
4. That an Arab Palestinian
State “entity, or “homeland” in
the West Bank of Gaza,
presumably controlled by the
PLO, will assure a steady flow of
Arab oil to the U.S. and to the
West, perhaps even at lower
prices.
5. ITiatthe Soviet Union must
somehow be brought into the
Middle East Peace process to
assure its success and to
“guarantee” an overall settle
ment of the Arab/Israeli con
flict and continuing “stability”
in the area.
What will be Sadat’s position
once Egypt has received the
final portion of the Sinai? Arms
sales to Arab extremist, turmoil
in Lebanon, Jerusalem, triple
digit inflation, all are problem
areas facing Israel today.
For more information on how
you can respond to propaganda,
half-truths, and outright distor
tions of fact regarding the Mid
dle East, contact your local
Jewish community leadership
and/or the Anti-Defamation
League Regional Office at 3311
W. Broad Street, Richmond,
Virginia 23230, 804-355-2884.
Ask for a copy of our most recent
International Report titled
“Illusions About The Middle
East”.
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Blume, M.D., Dee Dropkin, P.D.,
and LJoyd Sokolow. J.D., Ph.IX
recently appeared in Alcohol
Health and Research World.
My book The Heritage of
Noah: Alcoholism in the
Jewish Community Today is
currently available from Un
iversity Microfilm in Ann Ar
bor, Michigan.
One hundred recovered
alcoholics were interviewed by
Blume and Dropkin for their
study at Central Islip-
Psychiatric Center, Long
Island. Ms. Spiegel conducted
sixteen in-depth interviews at
Hebrew Union College School of
Jewish Communal Service in
Los Angeles. Although con
ducted separately, both studies
had the same results. There
were no problems in locating
recovered alcoholics who were
willing to share their stories.
Previous research suggested
that Jews who drank excessive
ly were not a part of the
mainstream of Jewish reUgious
life, nor did they have a strong
Jewish identification. This
observation was not supported
by the new information. Many
of the participants were actively
involved in Jewish communal
life at the time of their addictive
drinking. Among those inter
viewed in Los Angeles were a
Temple president, a president of
a major Jewish philanthropy,
presidents of several large
membership organizations,
founder of a large synagogue,
and a youth group advisor. The
east coast study included two
Orthodox rabbis.
Altliough alcoholism is con
sidered a new phenomenon in
the Jewish community, a
significant number of those in
terviewed related a history of
alcoholism in their family for
several generations. Another
striking similarity in the studies
was the repeated description of
an incident where help was
sought from a rabbi or other
Jewish professional, and the
subject was assured that they
couldn’t be alcoholic because
“There are no Jewish alcoholics.
Alcoholism is not a Jewish dis
ease.”
Alcoholism is apparently
more widespread within the
Jewish community than has
been recognized. Because of the
belief that this is not a Jewish
problem, those who suffer from
the disease are not identified
and thus are kept from getting
help. Their families are con
fused about the source of the
problem and do not seek
assistance, although it has been
shown that frequently an
alcoholic is helped to recovery
after a family member gets
treatment.
'^I'he low incidence of public
drunkenness among Jews is
contused with the amount of
problem drinking, 'ihe earliest
recorded religious writings
stress the importance of a sober
demeanor, and call attention to
the bad effects of too much
alcohol, including loss of judg
ment and possible addiction.
Religious codes separated the
behavior of Jews from that of
the pagans among whom they
lived and where orgies of drink
ing and sexual excess were fre
quently part of religious ritual.
Biblical history establishes
the economic importance of
growing grapes as a crop, and
the manufacture and sale of
wine and other fermented
drinks. This economic involve
ment continued throughout
Jewish history. In the
fourteenth century the Jews of
Eastern Europe were given a
virtual monopoly on manufac
ture, sale and distribution of
alcoholic beverages. This was a
major source of income for Jews
in the rural villages of the Pale
of Settlement. Revocation of
these licenses in the late
nineteenth century threw hun
dreds of thousands out of work
and led to increased urban un
rest as well as to emigration to
the U.S. and other countries.
Many families continued their
involvement in the business in
their new homes.
Because of the precarious
social position that Jews have
held in diaspora, they did not
want to call undue attention to
themselves in public, and thus
suppressed outward signs of
drunkenness. When alcoholism
did occur, individuals and their
families made every attempt to
conceal it. This concealment
probably led to the current
denial of the Jewish community
to recognize this growing
problem.
New York City and Los
Angeles are both beginning to
respond to the need. A Task
Force on Alcoholism was es-
(Continued on Page 7)