Al Halal!" Jewish periodical C

Friday, May 25, 1951

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

Page 4

Ben Gurion on Arrival

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

Co., Inc.
Published Weekly by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing
WOodward 1-1040
900 Lawyers' Building, Detroit 26, Michigan

SUBSCRIPTION
53.00 Per Year. Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, S5.00 Per Year
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916. at the Post Office at
Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879
SEYMOUR TILCHIN
Publisher
GERHARDT NEUMANN
NORMAN BOLIN
Editor
Advertising Manager
lyar 19, 5711
Friday, May 25, 1951

By GERIIARDT NEUMANN
TILE BURDEN OF EGYPT by
John A. Wilson (University of
Chicago Press, 332 pp., $6.)

The fascination that emanates
from the ancient colossus of the
Near East has found its most
vivid expression in Prof. Wilson's

The UN Should Help Israel

The United Nations Security Council resolution con-
demning Israel for its "air attack on a Syrian village"
and requesting the Jewish state to drop its drainage pro-
ject in the Huleh comes as a great disappointment to
every impartial observer.
It is conceivable that legally Israel's case is not a
clear-cut one. Undoubtedly, Arabs have been displaced
in the Huleh area and some damage has resulted from
the fighting.
On the other hand, a number of factors weigh heav-
ily in favor of Israel:
1) the Huleh area was bought by the Jewish National
Fund about eight years ago, and it was only through the
sabotage of the British mandatory authorities that the
drainage project•could not be started. If things had gone
according to schedule, the swamps would long have been
converted into a garden like the Emek and settled with
Jewish colonists.
2) the projected diversion of the Jordan waters would
not only benefit Israel but Syria as well. The project
would increase the flow of the Jordan waters and thus
provide for new power sources. If Syria had any serious
intention of settling the dispute with Israel, a solution
for the distribution of water power could be found easily.
The Security Council, however, apparently paid lit-
tle attention to these facts. It preferred to concentrate
on the issue of UN authority. Following the request of
Gen. William E. Riley, chief of staff of the UN Truce
Supervision Organization, the Council stated that Israel
has to submit to the orders of that body.
The fact that Syria had attacked and killed Jewish
workers and policemen apparently left the Security Coun-
cil unmoved. Israel's apology some weeks ago was accept-
ed and forgotten, while Syria never apologized nor was
requested to do so.
We cannot help but feel that the Security Council is
measuring with two different yardsticks. The whole action
smacks of a whitewash of Syria's actions, while Israel's
actions are automatically condemned.
It could be that the situation to Iran is one reason
. why the UN would like 'to keep the Near East as quiet as
possible and believes it can accomplish this by favoring
the Arab side. The kict that no effective help can be ex-
pected from the Arabs in case of war seems, for some
reason, completely lost on the minds of many people.
Another factor is the internal situa4ion in Syria,
where the army is in control of the government and seeks
to whip up the national emotions by dangling the "Jew-
ish enemy" before the noses of the Syrian people, just as
Hitler did with so much success.
We do not believe that the UN ought to stop the
work in the Huleh. On the contrary, it should encourage
it and give the Israelis every possible help. This would be
a humanitarian and practical solution. Since Israel is
willing to do the job and the Syrians' causes for corn-
plaint are strictly phony, the question of UN authority
in the swamp territory is merely an academic one, which
may have little influence on the future of the Huleh area.

Ancient Egypt
Holds Its Lure
Through Ages

book which seeks to interpret

Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and his wife are seen here

stepping from their plane on their arrival at Willow Run last
Sunday.

It's Religious Tradition
That Forms Character

Egypt's fate, fame and fall in a
deep-searching study.
"There was refinement and
genial complexity to Egyptian
civilization which was a product
of their self-confidence and their
joie de vivre," Wilson writes. But
at the same time, Egypt lacked
self-criticism 'and profundity, and
"Egypt's strength was such that
she did not feel the need for re-
newed strength until it was too
late."
Like the Jews, the Egyptians
considered themselves to be the
Chosen People. For the Jews, ac-
cording to Wilson, this meant a
"demand for rigorous responsi-
bility." For the Egyptians, elec-
tion by the gods "meant the
privileges of civilized life, in-
cluding a tolerance of minor
divergences within the system."
No doubt, Egypt had many
achievements to be proud of. Its
architecture was a stepping stone

in human development. Its sci-
entific triumphs in mathematics,
astronomy, medicine, engineering
and other fields were amazing.
Egyptian historiography was
comprehensive but failed to go
back to the sources and explain
the series of events leading up to
a historic phenomenon. In re-
ligion, the Egyptians "discovered
the worth of the common man
and insisted upon his sacred right

States; the forefathers out of ves-
By ALFRED SEGAL
of physical existence had
N OUR TOWN Adath Israel tiges
made good lives for themselves
Synagogue (lately known as and their descendants.
the Louis Feinberg Synagogue)
They had done well by Ameri-
has been cele-
ca in the children they labored to to justice."
brating the good
Unlike other civilizations, the
bring up. That was the main pur-
name and fame
of their living: to bring up Egyptians never took any interest
pose
of one of its
the children right. It comforted in "exporting" their culture. Ac-
older families on
their drudging toil; it eased the cording to Wilson, there is no
every Sabbath.
sores on their backs under their evidence that Egypt, "when she
This is be ing
was in active contact with other
peddler's packs.
done in connec-
This had to do with their re- cultures, had any interest in
tion with the
ligious
concepts: To be a good winning them to her way of
congregation's
to follow the Torah's life." This seems to be an inter-
was
Jew
100 t h anniver-
commandments by whose light a esting trait of Near Eastern
sary.
family could come to dignity and civilizations which later devel-
Segal
A member of
oped the habit of blocking them-
a family that is being honored is honor. The Torah wasn't merely selves against any outside in-
a
ritual
to
recite,
it
was
a
way
special guest at the altar on the
appointed Sabbath. He gives a of good life in which a man must fluences.
Of course, there can be no
brief speech of gratitude for the walk unto the hour of his death. discussion
of Egypt without men-
Yet
it
required
certain
formali-
success of the family: Their suc-
schol-
cess in having remained faithful ties—symbols—by which the chil- tioning the Hebrews. Many
to the religious ideals of their dren should always feel reminded ars like to consider Egypt as the
of their inheritance and the way origin of monbtheism as ex-
fathers.
pressed in the Aton cult. Wilson
The other week it was the fam- of life which it indicated. But believes that "the mechanism of
ily of Isaac Mendel Hirschfeld religion wasn't just a matter of transmission from the faith of
that was being celebrated. He synagogue observance. Even Akh-en-Aton to the monotheism
it was of the home; it was
arrived in our town in the year more
of the adornment of the home of Moses is not apparent." In
Russia,
and
the
Czar's
1886 from
fact, Atonism did not penetrate
a year later his wife Dora came more precious than the decora- below the level of the royal
tor's
art
which
in
our
times
is
over with their five children. Two esteemed as the essential furni- family.
more were born later.
house.
The God whom the Hebrews
The Hirschfelds, in their sev- ture of a richly-kept
• • •
Election Campaign in Full Swing
discovered for themselves, Wilson
eral generations, could boast of
good material success; they had
YES, THEIR decorations were says, was fundamentally different
It is time to remind ourselves that the Israeli election
all done well in the land Isaac of such ineffable beauty as the from the Aton.
is coming closer and that the campaign is now in full
Because of their state of slav-
Mendel Hirschfeld had chosen for mothers' hands raised in blessing
swing.
them. Their pride was rather in of candelights on Sabbath eve; ery, it is unlikely that the
Recent reports from Israel show that the campaign
that they had walked straight in the fathers coming home with the Hebrews adopted any Egyptian
is as heated as ever. The parties are denouncing one an-
Isaac Mendel Hirschfeld's high reputed angel from the synagogue cultural traits, "Their simple
on the eve of Sabbath and prais- desert souls," Wilson states,
other and calling each other vile names. To the observer
way of life.
The Hirschfeld story was dis- ing the mothers from the book of "would see and shrink from
on this side of the ocean it seems that they lead better
tributed in a brochure to every Proverbs; Saturday nights and some of the abominations of the
follow Ben Gurion's advice that this campaign ought to
one in the congregation that Sab- the fathers blessing the new effete civilization and long to
be turned into an educational course for the nation, par-
bath. It said at the beginning: work-a-day week which was com- escape dreary enslavement rather
ticularly the newcomers who have never experienced
"Isaac Mendel Hirschfeld could mencing, and shaking the censor than admire. the cultural tri-
elections or political arguments.
have joined his b;other, Mayer out of which the incense of sweet umphs of the land of bondage.
As a rule, the average Israeli is well set in his politi-
Aaron, who had come here a spices issued; candle lights glow- What they finally brought into
cal opinion, and speeches will hardly convert him to
number of years before and has ing through the eight days of the land of Canaan was a god of
desert simplicity, in no way re-
prospered in the tobacco business. Hanukkah.
another party. The big prize in this campaign are the
He rather chose to become a cus-
300,000 fresh immigrants whose vote may decide the
The forefathers were poor but lated to the sophisticated con-
tomer peddler because that more by these observances they made cepts of Amon or Re or Horus."
election on July 30.
readily permitted him to observe stately, sacred edifices out of their It must not be overlooked,
According to a report in the N. Y. Times, neither the
the Sabbath and the Jewish holi- humble houses. The characters however, that the Bible not only
new immigrant nor the floating voter would gain any
days."
of their children were touched by chastizes Egypt but also writes
insight into the positive aspects of party platforms if
• • •
about the "wise men" of Pharaoh.
this loveliness in their homes.
they should limit themselves to the reading of news-
(A CUSTOMER peddler was
Despite their hatred for the
thing
The
parents
knew
not
a
papers or listening to speeches. The picture they would
not one of the hit-or-miss ped- of psychology — not even the oppressor, the Hebrews could not
receive through these media is something like this:
dlers who ring doorbells, hoping word; by their own spiritual wis- help but admire the pyramids
for the chance of a buyer. The
The General Zionists are blackmarketeering in raw
they brought their children and temples. "In that way the
customer peddler — uniquely a dom
materials and deliberately producing inferior goods, rob-
younger peoples were greatly im-
to
fine
fulfillment.
product of our Jewish community
of a vast
bing the public by increasing prices and sabotaging ra-
They knew only that the way pressed with visions wanted
—had a regular route in which
to
glory
and
vague
and
tioning and supplies. Mapai, on the other hand, is char-
customers waited for his coming. to raise children was to teach become as great as Egypt had
acterized by the General Zionists as the party of discrim-
them
to
walk
by
the
directions
of
Ile supplied them with clothing
been."
ination, extortion and favoritism.
and furniture on the installment Torah and prophets, and these
Egypt's system lasted effective-
Mapam is painted by its opponents as the party ready
plan, by arrangement with retail imposed strict disciplines. After ly for nearly 2,000 years. Its
boy
knew
it
as
a
Bar
Mitzvah,
to sell out Israel to the Soviets and to enslave the popula-
storekwhich sold it to him whole-
bounden duty to say the prayers flexibility and the way through
tion in an economic and political dictatorship.
sale.) .
which the Egyptians found se-
The congregation has been cele- of the morning, to wrap the phy- curity "by effecting a happy
However, it is reassuring to know that the Israeli de-
lacteries—symbols
of
the
law—
brating families like the Hirsch-
mocracy is alive and at work. Within the next two months
balance between opposing forces
felds by way of noticing the pat- on their arms and their heads show the genius of a great
the newcomers will have a chance to make up their minds
each
morning.
Out
of
such
dis-
in
its
best
tern of Jewish life
as to what political philosophy shall dominate Israel for
manifestations in the United ciplines came faithful character. People."
the next four crucial years.

I

