Purely Commentary:

Hanukah is a festival of heroes. It also is an occasion for
spiritual re-evaluation of our aspirations as a Jewish community.
As the Festival of the Maccabees, we review, at this time,
the position of Jews who are fighting for freedom, and our own
status as the defenders of Jews who are in difficulty.
And because Hanukah marked the survival of the faith of
the Jewish people, against the odds set up against them by the
Hellenists, we speak at this time also of our cultural values and
of the revival of the Hebrew language.

Friday, November 30

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'Hasbara': A New Call for Knowledge of M. E. Situation

The complete story of Israel's creativity is yet to be told.
Much has been said in explanation of the manner in which the
Hebrew language has been revived into a living tongue. Only a
portion of the tale, one of the miracles of the New Judaea, is
known. We shall have to return to it again and again.
In the pre-Israel-Statehood days, when Jews in Palestine
were fighting for the right to live and to bring their kinsmen
into the Promised Land, the term Havlagah was popular. It
means self-restraint. Now we are introduced to another interest-
ing term: Hasbarah, meaning explanation or interpretation.
Both are derived from Mishnaic and Talmudic origins.
Hasbarah is being used now by the Israel Embassy to inter-
pret the events in the Middle East.
The fight for existence is linked with cultural aspects.
A people that does not forget its spiritual heritage can not
be defeated.
One of the few newspapermen who understands this position
is Bill Kelsey of the Detroit News. In a recent column he wrote
about the need for "redetermination of boundaries, more favor-
able to Israel," as being "a requisite for the security of that
brave and inextinguishable nation."
A people that desires to live will survive. It is proven by the
transformation of what was only a short time ago considered a
"dead language" into a great cultural instrument.

Hebrew As the Reviied Spoken Tongue of Israel

or

Few people would have believed, a generation ago, that
Hebrew would be spoken in the hallways of international or-
ganizations, from the podium of the United Nations and at parli-
amentary gatherings; that Hebrew would once again be the
language of a revived and revitalized Jewish nation. If Antiochus
Epiphanes, who suffered defeat at the hands of the Maccabees had
had his way, it would not have come to pass. But the Maccabees
had their say, and the modern Maccabees are having their say
noW.
Thus, Hebrew is the spoken language of an entire nation.
Because it is the language of Israel, the prayerbook assumes new
importance. That is why it is so important that Hebrew should
be taught in our colleges and high schools.
When we advocate the teaching of Hebrew, we mean the
Modern Hebrew of Israel. The so-called Classical Hebrew that
was taught until now for theological students has only a limited
interest. But the Modern Hebrew that is spoken in the Knesset,
that needs to be known by those who travel in Israel, that is the
conversational tongue of Israelis who visit with us and Israeli
officials who function in Embassies and Consulates in the capitals
of the world, has international significance.
That is why the study of Modern Hebrew should be encou-
raged. That is why we hope that many of our young people will
enroll in the available courses at the University of Michigan
and Wayne State University. That is why we urge the retention
of such courses in university curricula.

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Are We Prepared to Meet Propagandists' Challenges?

Hanukah poses an important question to all of us, in the
face of the recurring crises affecting Jewry and Israel: are we
prepared to meet the abuses and the challenges of propagandists
who have invaded this country and who function in many lands?
ten, anti-Jewish propagandists are better informed
than many of our Own people.
on-Jews emerge with a better knowledge
ory than our own people.
We should have a well-trained
able to defy those who

Relations

nolumns, Phineas

B,„ phi lip

Hanukah — the Festival for
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Freedom and Self-Defense and
NOMOVitZ
Cultural Fortification.

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But on our campuses, at the University of Michigan, at
Wayne State University and in other areas, Arab students had
the upper hand in their arguments. There were not enough able
Jewish young people who knew the facts and the truth to coun-
teract negative sentiment.
This column should have been headed "I ACCUSE." Because
our Zionist organizations, our civic-protective organizations,
our community leaders have earned the accusation that they
have fallen down on the job in an hour of c r i s i s. They were
caught unprepared.
Israelis are equally guilty. Too many young people come here
from the Jewish State unfortified with facts. Sentiment alone
does not win a battle. You might as well use sentiments instead
of guns. But it doesn't work. You've got to have heavy armor
to counteract Russian-made tanks, and you must have the truth
on your fingertips to overcome biased propaganda.
The Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith recently pub-
lished an important expose of Arab propaganda in this coun-`
try, in an excellent book, "The Troublemakers." How many are
acquainted with its contents?
The American Zionist Council issues a lot of informative
material. Are our young people, our community leaders, forti-
fied with facts to meet the issues?
We charge that knowledge in our ranks is limited; that our
people become unduly alarmed in time of crisis for the very
reason that they are uninformed; that they become panicky when
they should be ready to stand up for the right.
How long will it take responsible leaders in communities
throughout the land to wake up to the great need of establishing
sound public relations services? Time usually solves all prob-
lems, as the time element surely will in the present Israeli crisis.
But we must not always depend upon it, just as Israel and Jewry
can not always bank on miracles. We must help both elements
along—with realistic services.

Conflicting Views

Israel Insists
on Direct Talks
with the Arabs

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1956, .7TA, Inc.)

There is a good deal of un-
certainty in Washington as to
whether the United Nations will
actually be able to settle the
present crisis in the Middle
Some are of the opin-
East .
ion that the United States is
the power best able to bring
about a durable settlement be-
tween the Arabs and Israel .
They argue that if the situation
is allowed to revert to the sys,
tern of armistices which pre-
vailed before Israel's conquest
of Sinai, Arab-Israeli tension
will again mount to the explod-
ing point . They . advocate
transformation -- by the United
States -- of the present shaky
structure of cease-fire and arm-
istice into a permanent settle-
ment of the Arab-Israel conflict
. . . This is what Israel also
wants, except that the Washing-
ton circles which talk of a per-
manent settlement have in mind
an imposed settlement, and this
is not what Israel wants . .
Israel seeks a settlement based
on direct negotiations with the
Arab countries, without inter-
The Sad Press Relations
vention on the part of outside
In the main, the press of this country has been fair in its powers ... A settlement of the
treatment of the Israeli situation. American newspapers recognize Arab-Israel issue as seen in the
the tragedy of giving to the loser all the spoils—of a sudden about State Department envisages a
face which idolizes the badly-beaten Nasser and suddenly yields newly defined Israeli border,
to his dictation of terms in international relations.
guaranteed both by the United
Perhaps it is all the fault of the British Labor Party. Had States and the United Nations
there been unity in England, against Nasser, the Suez Operation . . . It also visualizes repatria-
in which Britain, France and Isarel played decisive roles, might tion of Palestine refugees to
have led to speedy solutions of the Middle East's problems and to Israel and joint exploitation of
the establishment of peace in that entire area. Instead, the divis- the Jordan River . . . This kind
ion in the ranks of the democracies, abetted by the new American of settlement was proposed by
policy in the United Nations, has given Gamal Abdel Nasser new Secretary of State John Foster
status in the world.
Dulles some time ago and the
There are unfortunate distortions of truth in newspaper treat- State Department still clings to
ment of certain aspects of the issues.
it ... With this in view, Wash-
For instance, an editorial writer in the Detroit Free Press ington is planning to press the
suddenly reminded himself that there was a "spy case" in Israel. United Nations to establish a
He treated the Hagan incident as if Israel had committed a grave new commission to negotiate a
crime by refusing to pardon a woman who was condemned— lasting settlement of the Arab-
in the presence of a representative of the United States Govern- Israel issue.
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ment. This was one point he overlooked. But he also failed to
take into consideration the existence of grave security problems UJA Achievements
in a land that is fighting for its very existence. And in his attack
The United Jewish Appeal
on Israel he distorted truth when he failed to take into account comes to its annual national
the fact that Israel is the only country in the entire area with a conference this week-end with
democratic form of government and a free press.
a record of about $72,000,0000
It is when newsmen fail to check on facts and harm a small raised as compared with the
nation that we become concerned.
$58,000,000 collected last year
But we are confident that, in the long run, all these obstacles
. This, in addition to $40,-
will be hurdled safely by Israel and that the Jewish State's kins- 000,000 in new borrowings for
men will not abandon that brave little country.
Israel made possible by the re-
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funding this year of loans made
Our Annual Book Fair: Another Community Triumph
in 1954 . • . This achievement is
Another triumph was scored this week by the Jewish Center in no small measure due to the
and its cooperating organizations in the sponsorship of annual energetic efforts of the young
Book Fair. Once again, thousands of people participated in the and able Rabbi Herbert A.
programs, thousands of books were sold, and authors had an Friedman, executive vice-chair-
opportunity to speak to their leaders and to appeal for more man of the UJA . . . It was his
first year in this position, and
readers for Jewish books.
Our Book Fairs are among the outstanding cultural attain- he entered upon. it with all the
ments of our community. Dr. Norman Drachler, as Book Fair's zeal of a young man devoted to
chairman, and the Center's staff, have earned our gratitude for the cause of Israel at a most
critical time for the Jewish state.
an excellently done job.

