Purely Commentary

Egypt Claims Suez Canal Is Tree to All
Shipping,' But Is Mum on Effect on Israel

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

LONDON, (JTA) — The 22- by Jordan that Israel tanks had ency claim as an excuse to
nation conference on the Suez approached within six kilome- continue the baring of the
Do You Favor `Aliyot' for Women?
Canal concluded with 18 of the ters of the defensive zone. An Suez Canal to Israel shipping.
In some of our Conservative synagogues, debates frequently participating nations backing Israel Foreign Ministry spokes-
The Foreign Ministry state-
are stimulated over equality_ for women and the eventual grant- the proposal of U. S. Secretary man described the incident as ment was provoked by an ex-
ing to them of the right to "Aliyot" at Sabbath and holiday of State John Foster Dulles to a "technical lapse."
pression of Egypt's intentions
services. One or two Conservative congregations in this country establish international authority
The Israel Foreign Ministry voiced at Geneva by Wing Com-
already include women among those called to the reading of the over the canal.
spokesman said that in the past, mander Ali Sabri, head of the
Torah, but in most synagogues such proposals are opposed with
Following the conclusion of Israel requests for emergency political department in Col.
such fury that the possibility of allocation of "Aliyot" for women the conference, the Egyptian meetings on complaints "incom- Gamal Abdel Nasser's office.
appears, at the moment, to be remote.
En route to Cairo to report
Embassy in London issued a parably more serious" had been
Even in Reform ranks, the plan for the ordination of women, statement declaring that Egypt rejected. Israel, he said, is still to Nasser, Ali Sabri declared in
favored in a formal committee report, has been postponed.
was determined to maintain the awaiting United Nations action an interview that "Israeli ships
Thus, woman now is a subject for discussion in congregational Suez Canal "free and open to against Jordan for non-compli- will never pass through the
all ships and vessels without ance with fundamental provi- (Suez) Canal." He insisted that
spheres.
sions of the armistice agreement Egypt had the right to bar Is-
distinction of flag."
About "Aliyot" for women:
Asked by the Jewish Tele- which are "much more serious raeli shipping.
In "Elementary. Education in Ancient Israel—During the graphic Agency whether this than the technical breach al-
Sabri's statement, the For-
Tannaitic Period (10-220 C.E.)," (a Bloch publication), Dr.
is to be applied also to Israeli leged in the Jordan complaint." eign Ministry spokesman said,
Eliezer Ebner states:
The new development fol- was "an unvarnished expression
shipping, a press officer of the
"It appears that earlier in the Second Commonwealth
Egyptian Embassy declined to lowed within 24 hours a deci- of Egypt's policy of aggression
women enjoyed a greater degree of equality. At the festival
give any answer, and said he sion by the Mixed Armistice which is the primary cause of
of the 'Drawing of the Water' on Sukkot women used to mingle
is referring the question to Commission sharply condemn- the threat to the peace of the
rather freely with the men, until 'a great improvement' was
the Counsellor of the Em- ing Jordan for the bus ambush Middle East."
introduced, which consisted in the construction of a women's
He challenged the Egyptian
bassy. However, the Counsel- in the Arava area of the Negev,
gallery. According to the Tosefta a woman could be one of the
lor was "not available" when near the Jordanian frontier. justification of its policy on the
seven readers required for the public reading of the Torah on
An Israel Foreign Ministry grounds that Egypt considers it-
attempts were made to get in
the Sabbath. But the Rabbis later discontinued this practice
spokesman accused Egypt of self in a state of war with Is-
touch with him, The statement
and ordained, 'that a woman should not read publicly: This
a calculated move to warn the rael, pointing out that Egypt
of the Egyptian Embassy said
insistence upon a more thorough segregation of the sexes at
Western Powers that it in- had signed an armistice agree-
that "it was never the intent
public gatherings is due to the strict standards of womanly
tends to maintain its belliger-
ment with Israel..
of the Egyptian government
modesty that_the Rabbis imposed. It is the concern about the
to discriminate against ships
possibility of undesirable conduct arising from a co-educational
of any nationality passing
system, rather than the inferior position of the women, that
through the Suez Canal."
excluded the girl from public instruction at the elementary—
A spokesman of the British
and secondary schools. For, as we shall presently see, the girl Foreign 0 f f i c e was asked
could privately be taught the Bible. This apprehension also whether the stated intention of
LONDON, (JTA)—Observers reported that the Western
barred the teaching profession to the woman."
the 18 nations to reach an agree- here awaiting the next develop- case, presented in the universal
Such is the complicated background of the ban on woman's ment with Egypt ensuring the ments in the Suez Canal situa- interest of all maritime nations,
participation in education and in congregational services. But a freedom of shipping for all na- tion following conclusion of the would be severely damaged if
precedent indeed exists for inclusion of women among the seven tions included also Israel. He 2,2-nation conference expressed it did not cite the blockade as
traditional Torah readers. There is an answer to it in the old brushed the question aside by belief that lifting of the Egyp- a blatant abuse of the interna-
saying that "a minhag brecht a din" — a custom breaks a law. stating he "cannot go any fur- tian blockade of Israeli shipping tional waterway by Egypt. In-
ther" than what was said in the is an integral part of the ma- creasing recognition is being
In other words, a custom assumes the strength of a law.
Who will win this debate: women battling for precedent.-- official statement issued follow- jority plan which the five-man given here to the fact that no
and modern ambition—or the opponents who will fight for the ing the conclusion of the con- committee representing the par- revision of the Canal regime
ference.
priority of the minhag?
ley is to submit to Egyptian can endure unless this prece-
In New York, Mrs. Rose Hal- President Nasser. The majority dent is removed.
*
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prin, acting chairman of the plan, it is pointed out, not only
Observers here feel that the
U. S. Senator Herbert H. Lehman
Jewish Agency e x e c u t i v e, reiterates the principle of the conference strongly reaffirmed
Maty are praying that Herbert H. Lehman will decide to be charged that failure by the Constantinople Convention of the principle of unimpeded nay-
a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate. He is Western Powers to challenge 1888, but also stresses the prin- igation without discrimination
one of America's ablest statesmen. He is one of our most cou- Col. Nasser, the Egyptian ruler, ciple' of "insulating the oper- of flag. The attitude of various
rageous fighters for principles he holds dear. He has not hesi- on the subject of Israeli ship- ation of the Canal from the in- delegates suggested they had
tated to be in a minority—often in a minority of one or two— ping through the Suez Canal fluence of the politics of any become increasingly conscious
in the highest legislative body in our land. His will destroy the practical and nation." of the blockade problem as part
record is one of the most remarkable in the moral effectiveness of the West-
Observers of the conference and parcel of the general issue.
Senate's history. -
ern case against Egypt.
Senator Lehman conducted a remarkable
At the United Nations, Sec-
fight against the McCarran-Walter Act, in the retary General Dag Hammar-
days when Senator McCarran, who has since skjold asserted at a press con-
By SAUL CARSON
passed away, personally carried on a battle for ference that, as far as he is
(Copyright, 1956, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
the adoption of the vicious measure. Repub- concerned, the Security Coun-
* * * * *
licans and Democrats ganged up against the cil's past resolutions regard-
UNITED NATIONS—"Just as you take the Shofar to blow it,"
New York Senator and the minority who backed ing freedom of shipping
your deeds and do pen-
him up in opposing a bill that was vetoed by through the Suez Canal are said our ancient Hebrew sages, "renew
ance."
President Truman—and passed over his veto; a very much on his mind. "I
Let the Shofar, then, sound loud and strong through the
measure which President Eisenhower also has have certainly not forgotten
chambers of the United Nations.
criticized. During the debate on that bill, its them," he declared.
And through the chancelleries and the halls of the foreign
The principal Council resolu- ministries and in the oak-panelled rooms of the departments of
Sen. Lehman supporters and his associates taunted the New
Yorker. It was a sad spectacle, but Lehman held his ground. tion concerned is the one
mm%:7rrr State—let the ram's horn be blown. For there
He was battling for a principle, and it did not matter to him adopted Sept. 1, 1951, which re-
is much of penance to be done.
that only a handful of liberals supported him.
sulted from at Israel complaint
In Israel, too, sound the Shofar. Blow the
against
Egypt's
blockade
of
Senator Lehman did not hesitate to defend Israel, to intro-
alarm. Let the staccato blasts roll from the
duce the resolution against discrimination of Jews in Arab coun- Suez shipping bound to and
hills of Judea that they may be heard through-
tries, to demand support for the Jewish State. He is a great from Israel. That resolution put
out the world.
the
Council
clearly
on
record
American who did not hide his Jewishness. On the contrary,
For penance is dtie. Here, at the United
as
to
the
international
character
he advocated legislation intended to help downtrodden Jews and
Nations, the need is felt keenly.
of
the
Canal
and
insisted
that
their reborn State.
Again and again, Israel is being sacrificed
Saul Carson
Several months ago, the United Jewish Appeal tendered a Egypt must keep the waterway on the altar of power politics — here, as well as in the capitals
dinner, in New York, in Senator Lehman's honor. Senator and open to "all shipping of all na- of the major member states.
There is an intimate connection, in Jewish tradition, between
Mrs. Lehman on that occasion contributed more than $100,000 tions."
* * *
the Shofar and. sacrifice. The use of the horn of a ram was
towards the emergency UJA drive. The distinguished New York
said, by some of our ancients, to be connected with the fact
Senator and his equally fine wife proved that night, and on Expect New UN Approach
many previous occasions, that they are among American Jewry's To Ease Border Tension
that Father Abraham, after he had been willing to sacrifice
JERUSALEM, (J T A) .— A his son Isaac in response to the Lord's demand, sacrificed a
most generous people.
Senator Lehman is without challenge the most distinguished high-level United Nations ap- ram instead.
And like that ram, Israel is being sacrificed over and over
American Jew of our generation. He is the greatest champion proach to Jordan and Israel to
of justice for the Jew since Louis Marshall. - Would that we had secure abatement of the present again.
Israel has many "friends" here—but few friends. When the
tense border situation was fore-
more able leaders like him!
*
*
cast here in connection with the Arab voices are raised in anger, and the soft tones of the Sovi-
* •
Middle East visit of Andrew eteers speak of harsh support for the Arab viewpoint—few here
N. Y. Attorney General Jacob Javits
Cordier, executive assistant to dare oppose that combination.
Interestingly enough, the Jewish leader in the State of New UN Secretary General Dag
They go to London and speak about expropriation of the
York, who ranks next to Senator Lehman, politically, as the Hammarskjold.
Suez Canal by a minor Hitler — but forget that the Security
most popular Jewish leader, is -New York's Attorney General
Mr. Cordier's visit includes Council itself had decided, away back in 1951, in answer to an
Jacob Javits.
Beirut, Amman, the Jordanian Israeli complaint, that Egypt had been ordered to keep the canal
Javits was the only Jewish Republican in Congress prior capital, and Jerusalem. Major open to everybody's shipping.
They condemn "both parties"—every time an attack occurs,
to his election as Attorney General. He was the only Repub- Gen. E. L. M. Burns, the UN
lican elected on the N. Y. State ticket that truce supervision chief, unex- like the recent bus ambush near the Jordan border costing 12
was headed by Governor Averell Harriman.
pectedly flew to Beirut to con- casualties, of whom four were dead, one of these an Israeli
It is possible that the Republicans may be fer with - him. Mr. Cordier's woman. In that instance, the Mixed Armistice Commission ruled
compelled to call upon Javits to be a candidate visit was originally of an ad- in favor of Israel, declaring Jordan an aggressor. But, typically,
for the U. S. Senate, if they are to capture the ministrative nature and uncon- on the very next day, the Commission tried to haul Israel on
seat held by Democrat Lehman. The Senate nected with the truce supervi- the carpet too. That's what is called "maintaining a balance."
would be enriched by his membership.
sion organization, and Mr. Ham- You balance evil, you blank it out, by condemning the law abider
Like Lehman, Javits is fearless and does marskjold continued to insist along with the convicted culprit.
that this was still the case.
not hesitate to defend Jewish rights.
So veil your countenance, Oh Nations, and put the Shofar
He was one of the interesting. personalities
Israel refused to attend an to your lips, and blow.
at the very dull Republican National Conven- emergency session of the Jor-
Blow it clear.
Javits tion in San Francisco. He did not hesitate to dan-Israel Mixed Armistice
Blow it loud.
Blow it so that even your own ears, may hear.
express his dissatisfaction with some of the platform planks, and Commission a n d protested
For this season—in this season of the New Year of the
he wanted a clause in the Israel plank pledging arms for the that the action of Col. J. L.
Castonguay, of Canada, chair- Hebrew people—you owe at least that much to the Jews, whether
Jewish State's defense.
man of the commission, in in Israel or here.
Javits also was a leader in the fight against the McCarran-
"Renew your deeds"—meaning, let your deeds be new ones,
Walter Act. He often voted with the Democrats. He is an inde- calling the meeting was "un-
not those of old.
pendent Republican. Above all, he is a courageous man who precedented."
"And do penance!"
The call followed a complaint
will defend his principles at all costs and against great odds.

End of Israel Blockade Seen as
Vital Component of Western Plan

The Shofar at the UN