Education Weapon for Survival

THE JEWISH NEWS

20, 1951
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July

Ed1 -

Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspaper. Michigan Press Association, National
torial Published
Association.
every Friday by The Jewish News Pub lishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,
Mich..
VE 8-9364.
Subscription
$5 a year.
Entered
as second
class matter
Aug. Foreign
6, 1942 $6.
at Post Office, Detroit, Mich. under act of Congress of March

8, 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

ZUCKERBERG
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEYCi ty
Editor

Business Manager

Advertising Manager

Editor and Publisher

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
5722, the following Scriptural selections will be
This Sabbath, the twenty-fourth day of Nisan,
read in our synagogues.
Levit. 16:1-18:30. Prophetical portion, Amos 9:7-15.
Pentateuchal portion, Ahare Mot,

Licht Benchen, Friday, April 27, 7:08 p.m.

April 27, 1962

Page Four

Vol. X11,1 — No. 9

•

Shortage of Water—and Common Sense

The issue at the United Nations that
resulted from the latest crisis for Israel
on the Syrian border is far from ended.
The unwise and biased action that was
taken by the Security Council against
Israel, without a word of reference to the
illegal interference by Syria in Israel's
territorial rights has merely heightened
tensions.
Instead of resolving the issue by initi-
ating action for a common understanding
between the two contending forces and
for instituting a program leading to unity
between Israel and the Arabs, peace has
been delayed by the appeasement policies
of the UN Security Council.
More than the shooting at Israeli fish-
ermen is involved here. What Syria has
been leading up to is continued interfer-
ence with the Israeli program of harness-
ing the waters of the Jordan as one of
the means of assuring economic security
for her agricultural population. This plan
to utilize the waters of the Jordan in the
portion wit hin Israel territory could,
eventually. lead to great benefits for the
other side of the Jordan and for the im-
poverished and water-parched Arab popu-
lation. But the Arab leaders are deter-
mined to harm their own people by harm-
ing Israel, and the issue therefore is not
limited to a shortage of water in the
parched Middle East, but to a shortage
of elementary good sense among Arabs
who could and should help their unhappy
masses of people by establishing peace
with Israel.
It is necessary to understand the
background of the conflict to realize
how unfair the actions against Israel have
been—injustice having been meted out
with the approval of the UN.
The troublesome Israel-Syrian frontier,
originally fixed by the French - British
agreement of 1923, was reaffirmed in
1949 when the UN secured an armistice
agreement between Israel and the Arabs.
A demilitarized zone was set up, and it
worked to Israel's detriment because the
Syrians interfered within it with Israel's
natural rights.
Israeli leaders expressed the fear, in
1949, that the demilitarized zone would
be turned into a wilderness, and Dr.
. Ralph Bunche, the UN mediator, who
won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts
during the Israel-Arab conflict, sought
to appease Israel by stating, in his report
of June 26, 1949:
"In respect to the question of eco-
nomic development, I may assure both
parties that the United Nations, through
the Chairman of the Israel-Syrian Mixed
Armistice Commission, will also ensure
that the Demilitarized Zone will not be
a vacuum or a wasteland."

*

*

*

long period of Syrian obstruction
to Israel's drainage plans began in 1951
when Israel announced plans to drain the
malaria infested Huleh Valley north of
Lake Tiberias. The Syrian claims were
that Israel's activities would endanger
Arab property rights and would remove
a natural barrier to military -movements.
The UN ruled at that time that Israel,
by safeguarding the rights of landowners,
could continue the drainage, and as a
result 20,000 acres of valuable farmland
were salvaged. This progressive and
health as well as labor-providing accom-
plishment helped provide homes for
newcomers to Israel and should have
been a signal to the Arabs that whole-
some activities should be emulated rather
than condemned. Arab potentates refuse,
however, to acknowledge constructive

A

activities as long as they benefit Israel
or may interfere with their feudal rights.
It will be recalled that U. S. Ambas-
sador at Large Eric Johnston attempted
to negotiate for an extended Jordan
Valley development program by negoti-
ating with Jordan, Syria and Lebanon as
well as Israel, in 1953 and 1955. A quar-
ter of a million acres of land would have
been irrigated under his plan, and Israel
and the Arab states would have benefited.
Technical experts agreed on the validity
of this plan, but the Arab League's veto
in October of 1955 was a result of polit-
ical rather than human considerations.
This is part of the background of the A Survey of Jewish Thought
most regrettable conditions that have
been created by intransigence and ob-
struction, and Israel, by refusing to yield The
to constant attacks upon her citizens, is
the scaregoat in a tragic development
Encouraged by the Jewish Heritage Foundation, headed by
that has resulted in action that is hardly Joseph Gaer, the well known author, Joseph Leon Blau, who has
1
to the credit of the United Nations.
taught philosophy at several universities, has compiled "The
*
*
*
Story of Jewish Philosophy," in which he has surveyed Jewish
In the United States Senate, last week, , thought commencing with the ethics of the Bible leading up to
Senators Javits, Keating, Gruening, Doug 20th century Jewish philosophies. The book was published by
las. Morse and Humphrey joined in ex 1 Random House.
pressing disappointment over the position , hope Written for the non specialist, the author expresses the
that those who read his story will become "philosophers
that was taken by the U. S. delegation to
reading." He explains the meaning of philosophy, tracing
the United Nations in its sponsorship of ' in the
origin as "love of wisdom." He adds that "a person who
the anti Israel resolution. Senator Ernest ' its
based his actions explicitly on the folk wisdom embodied in
Gruening of Alaska said he had not in proverbial expressions would be called a philosopher" and that
tended to make public a letter he ad , e
is s suggested "by the person who
to resolve the contradictions of
dressed to Adlai Stevenson protesting theiairts
t
meaning
own
reason
use
h
o
es
tri
i
dom."
U S. position, but in view of the discus- ! traditional
is
Commencing with an evaluation of philosophy and the
sion on the subject he introduced it in
Bible, Blau reviews ethical regulations, the idea of God in the
his speech to the Senate. Senator Grue
Bible, prophetic teachings and the individualism of the
ning wrote to the U. S. Ambassador to
1 prophets.
the United Nations:

e

t ory of Jewish Philosophy

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

The ethical teachings of Philo, the challenge of Job and the
"The least we could have done was to pro-
pose an amendment censuring Syria and the search for the verity of God is part of his delving into the
Arab States for their continued provocation. , elements created by the Judeo-Greek temper.
Rabbinic thought, gnosticism, Kabbala, the rationalism of
We might have lost the amendment, but there
would have been no doubt where the United ' the Judeo-Arabic era, the Spanish philosophers, the era of
enlightenment and emancipation and the philosophies of JUdaistil
Slates stood.
"In a world as troubled as ours, if we eon - in a secular age are thoroughly analyzed by the author.
Great figures in Jewish history pass in review during these
tinue the old double standard and establish
Their great works are thoroughly analyzed. "The
and adhere to no principles to which the free- discussions.
di
dom loving nations can rally, we shall do both , Book of Splendor," "The Guide to the Perplexed" and other
ourselves and those nations a real disservice."
i historic works are scrutinized and their authors' views explained.
Maimonides, Abalafiai, ibn Gabirol, ibn Pakuda, Jeuda
Bnai Brith President Label Katz called
Spinoza, and many others play their roles in
the censure of Israel, with a total dis 1 ilhai
is survy

-

regard by the UN, of - the illegal Syrian I this survey.
The author makes interesting observations in a conclusion
acts, a "double standard" that weakens i
lin which he states:
the U.N.
birth
"If this were a story of philosophers who happen, by
It Is to be hoped that President Ken 1
by affiliation, to be Jews, there would be many More names
nedy and our State Department will take or
many more philosophic themes to be discussed
these views into consideration. Before to be mentioned,
of the consequences of the emancipation of the Jews is that
the 1960 Presidential campaign, then as One
Western intellectual life has been enriched by the thought of
a member of the U. S. Senate, President I a vast number of men and women who take part as equals in
John F. Kennedy told the U. S. Senate the advancing of intellectual frontiers in all fields. There have
on June 17, 1960: , I been, especially in the twentieth century, a very large number of

-

"We must formulate, with both imagination philosophers in this group. But to the very degree that they are
and restraint, a new approach to the Middle I emancipated, these philosophers and men of wisdom have given
East—not pressing our case so hard that the their best thought to the discussion of the problems that arise
Arabs feel their neutrality and nationalism are i out of the common life of all mankind, rather than to the specific
threatened, but accepting those forces and I . problems of Jewish life and Jewish religion. The gain to the
seeking to help channel them along constructive , world must be weighed against the loss to the life of the Jewish
lines, while at the same time trying to hasten 1 neonle of a vast reservoir of talent and ability.
the inevitable Arab acceptance of the Parma- - - "But this has been the story of philosophic reflection on the
I
nence of Israel. We must give our support to , Jewish religion. It has been intended to open out to the modern
programs to help people instead of regimes— I reader an aspect of the Jewish heritage that is not as well known
to work in terms of their problems, not ours— I as many others. Not every philosopher has been mentioned, nor
and seek a permanent settlement among Arabs has every theme been discussed. Enough has been said to make
and Issolis based not on an armed truce but i it clear that Judaism has been not only a religion of practice
on magrual self-interest."
and of faith, but also a stimulant to intellectual reflection. In
What the President said then holds those periods of history when the Jews lived a life that was
largely enclosed, shut away from the currents of thought in the
true today.
was
The issue involving Israel and her war- surrounding world, the philosophic reflection of the Jews when
threatening neighbors has resulted in carried on as a kind of interior monologue. In those periods
neighbors in the world,
much bitterness. It has been dragged the Jews lived in close contact with their
and were subject to the influences of their intellectual environ-
calls
for
West
conflict.
It
into the East
ment, Jewish philosophy became more of a dialogue, an exchange
a firm stand and demands an insistence of thought that enriched all the participants., The level of
upon direct peace negotiations between technical philosophic skill and awareness has varied, too, from
Israel and the Arabs. The sooner that is age to age. We have moved back and forth between naive and
attained, the better for all concerned. unsophisticated questioning and highly sophisticated probing.
By delaying action, through double stand- There is room, at any time and any place, for both types o
ards, tensions increase and peace is rele- quest and query. There is room, too, for simple and unquestioning
faith."
gated to a remote future.

-

