Purely Commentary
A revolutionary spirit has enveloped the en-
tire world. The approach of a New Year in this
era of tensions, uncertainties, war threats and in-
securities brings the Jews of the world to their
respective synagogues in moods of greater solem-
nity than ever.
The tensions are so distressing, the internal
problems are of so serious a nature, that our
domestic issues have been interpreted with so
much anxiety, bordering on fears, that they have
been termed civil war.
All of these developments present unpre-
cedented challenges. In the Jewish spirit with
which we turn to our houses of worship the fears
are unjustified, the panic is unreasonable, the
teachings that inspire us keep admonishing us
that one never loses faith, that there must be a
sense of confidence and an undiminished hope
that the human mind is not bent on destruction,
that when Man learns the values of the Spirit and
the great worth of human life he will not tolerate
the destructive and will strive to restore peace
and amity everywhere_
•
Rosh Hashana- 5728 occurs at a time when
there are threats to human life in many areas
of the world. The Far East is a volcano, bursting
forth with menacing situations that have enveloped
our own land and people. The Middle East re-
mains a cauldron threatened by hates. There are
suspicions wherever one turns on the international
front. In our own land there are changes in social
standards and disputes over just rights for
minorities living amidst majorities that are af-
fecting the thinking of all Americans.
None of these occurrences are without hope
of solution. We may see see an end to the Vietnam
war in a very short time. That's the nation's hope
and it is not unattainable. The serious differences
of opinion have divided our people on this issue.
But there are enough efforts to bring the two
elements together on a peace program to offer
encouragement. No one desires a permanent state
of war. Therefore there must be an early solution.
We must have faith in the American people that
such solutions will come soon and will be effective
and lasting.
* * *
While the Middle East remains an area of
grave concern, what had happened in June offers
By Philip
Slomovitz
Rosh Hashana Offers Hopes for
Amity to a World Now in Tension
new assurances that there will be an early solu-
tion to tragic problems that are the result of cen-
turies of injustice to the Jew and of discriminatory
attitudes that kept the People Israel from the
State of Israel. Now the two are reunited, there
is a measure of pragmatism in the roles played
by Jews amidst an antagonistic Arab world, and
the chief aim is to enroll the rational elements
among the latter in support of cooperative efforts
to aid all peoples in the Mediterranean area.
The Middle East's situation has reached a
stage on which both contending forces could and
should act with a sense of realism. Israel is there
to stay, and those who advocate destruction must
realise that they are propagating the unacceptable
and the inhuman. Auschwitz, Dachau and Birkenau
will not be repeated: this is a determined will of
the people that faced extinction and has survived
with sufficient strength to revive its sovereignty
in a small parcel of its ancient land that is the
Promised Land and the inalienable right of the
descendants of the Prophets. Those who advocate
our destruction must submit to this truism_ When
they do, as they must, there will be peace in
the Middle East — and out of it there will be
encouragement for peace on earth.
a
* *
Out of such a peace must come peace in the
City of Peace: Jerusalem. The guarantees for
religious freedoms by Israel in Jerusalem and
everywhere else offer encouragement that there
will be recognition that Israel alone can solve the
age-old Jerusalem problem where various
Christian creeds had fought senselessly for gen-
erations for selfish supremacies.
Many tragedies have resulted from the pre-
judices that have been leveled at Israel by those
who would not grant the Jewish people an inch
of ground to be considered sovereign property by
people who prayed for an end to homelessness for
so many centuries.
The time has come for total solution. When
it is attained, it is certain to benefit not Israel
alone but all her neighbors. Already Arabs who
were held in bondage by Egypt and Jordon are
free to travel as they wish. There is a great meas-
ure of liberty for those who will not strive to
destroy Israel. There is a good chance for 5728
to be the year of peace for that entire area and
its peoples.
Our dontestic problems are very serious. The
battle for civil rights has brought in its wake
many unfortunate incidents. Riots, looting, arson,
anti-Semistism by the extremists — these have
added fuel to the fires that have raged in our
midst. These, too, are not insoluble. There can,
as there must, be a return to sanity in our own
midst. There must be an approach to good rela-
tions among all Americans.
There has been a regrettable rise of a new
backlash in all ranks, among all faiths, as a de-
ve/opment of resentment and retaliation aver the
occurrences of the tragic summer of 1967. It is
an unfortunate symptom of a nation's sickness,
and in the process of curing the illnesses that ac-
company racial strife it will be necessary to solve
this problem as well No nation can survive such
divisiveness, just as no nation can survive half
slave and half free. A people must strive to avoid
power clashes This applies to all elements in our
population_
The challenge revolving around the race is-
sue is the most serious in American experience
and it must be faced with confidence that it can
and will be met with dignity and with the earnest
desire to provide total solution to the iSaltlett at
hand. No one dares speak or think in terms of
defeatism. A nation overcomes many problems;
we shall overcome this one
* * *
Time and time again we return to the matters
involved in our cultural heritage, to the needs
related to the perpetuation of the ideals and teach-
ings which have been banded down to us through
the ages.
There is the need to strengthen our spiritual
forces. Everything in our existence as Jews and as
Americans has a relationship to the principles that
have been handed down to us by the Founding
Fathers of this land and the Sages of Israel who
have framed the ideals that are imbedded in the
legacies of Judaism.
Faith, always the sustaining force, remains
the major factor that influences our lives. It is with
a
stregnthened faith that we face the New Year,
confident in the hope that the problems that plague
us today will be mere echoes of passing time in
the immediate course of human events.
Carmichael's 'Study of the Shaping of the Arabs':
Timely Guide to Understanding of M. E. Situation
Had his work been written be-
fore the June war, Joel Carmichael
might have made some alterations
in "A Study of the Shaping of the
Arabs," the impressive work that
has been published by Macmillan.
In the main, however, this remains
a most authoritative review of the
existing conditions in the Arab
world and a fair comment on the
position of Israel in this sphere.
A keen student of events in the
Middle East, having mastered
Arabic, possessing a knowledge of
Hebrew and the Zionist movement,
Carmichael has in his study thrown
light on an area that has exploded
because of perpetuated hatreds
and may explode again. He indi-
cates that the very term "Arab"
is under question since so many
in the Arab world are not of Arab
origin. He observes:
"The intellectuals and poli-
ticians who have been tinTang
to promote the idea of Arab
unity bare had v bard row to
hoe. The acceptamee of the con-
cept of 'Arabs' as a cohesim
' e
ethic entity, imbued with self-
awareness, has bad to make its
way against both the pervasive
fasetimalis
' of the Arable-
speakiog world and the mover-
=Mom of Islam. To this day the
word 'Arab' arms "mite cm-
tradictory attitue, splendidly
contrasted, for instance, between
mersevally minded, purely Ms-
Km seal of the present Wag of
Samna Arabia, Faysal, and the
highly contemporary opportun-
ism of Nasser, the former 'Egyp-
tian' insurgent turned 'Arab
nationalist' leader. Faysal, of
course, while ethically an Arab
of the Arabs and a pure-bred
scion of the Arabian heartland,
2 — Friday, October 6, 1967
is essentially an old-fashioned
pious Muslim whose proclaimed
goal is still Islamic unity, in .w
day surely a utopi Faysal
would like to see Arab union,
whatever that might mean to
him, as a stepping stone to the
broader aim of the revival of a
powerful Islam. Nasser would
like to me Islamic sofidarity
primarily as a means of extend-
Mg the hegemony of Egypt and
its Arabic speaking hinteriand.
The current political molest be-
tween the two leaders thus laws
an intrigulog element of con-
fusion at its ewe."
As Carmichael indicates, the
confusion is widespread. The con-
stant revelation of Egyptian use
of poison gas against the Yemen-
ites is an indication of the fathire
to use Arab teethe hood to unite
the peoples. There is the selfish
motive, and it becomes evident in
the study by Carmichael.
And as the author of this re-
search into the shaping of Arab
irlemity inmates, it is Zonis:
that has "provided an axis for the
formation of Arab identity." It is
noteworthy that Carmichael in this
respect does not use the term
"unity" but "identity."
There are historic factors of
unusual interest in Carmichael's
study.. For instance, he makes the
comparisons between Arabic and
J wig rwppriences and notes:
but it is hard is me how dims mid
It is a them,' to be sure.
have tamed out otherwise.
deed transformed Id history and
"One el the ways be Midi dad, defined in our day by Emceed the
aside tram de political coallict wid embiem of ethnic " - that
its dightsed adobes taltieseaMet llama has become paramonst-ebe same cri-
the !fide East be in the lateMr aa- terion of lammage. oddly mud. that
traeitional dassimmt cassacteridie at served dm be the cradle of their ma-
the new society L dad sad she Malted too as the mange of their
in the demi maim et word Not collective Medley.
My de amen completely odd
..Costrarywise, the dm, thanes
Med nocially irgaty in dad knows as de people for soillesda and
bunt the ideal et equality has been regarded as unitary despite their ma-
redid eves it We Milted domed dded, adds dad mamit ladadd
el the ald7 merry service ie cono- chantrim deas
ormselende ease
twined Is gels aa well as boys.
as they sand demaa One ma space
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otter bawd, the parsed day Arabic- dared awe learned lammod
'peaking -alit: base Merited de
-A ememace of this was. that I.
great tradlitind Ism their omits=
the Medietb modry, when damage
=„ettit are Mad. to mate a
dm and de added seem
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lard ad is On moseade Mina el despite all the prolinda didisso et
We early dad Mold Mid ceder gededdy, society, maid and eons.
laded dm on mime la vetoed odd tnaick bate as Ma did
deir adiedm tar Mir Mat
the dare is On lemormat tradition
"
melt as amid ead Isom
indadd b. Pada MI Creme ma ="re cam
adam mas m
ad at
Lend May la smey madries od the accepted initamt
the
bigger
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ed wad
ledge rad AL sli=itair
Magartamse
dad,
slam
maim
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tbis respect mom
half addenda as an klastiltaaka as&
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tilmic is addiso-der, agaissit, or im
.The maid over Poled ste„ is wbst
diblesesd-ts a mom of dad lmmt-
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me harem are rimmemly Medea !Medal endboodida of dm ana
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Prima prix gendessioa amg•
pdmer had Or Or Mudd mar of their
liobser. midge Mir
bead Mile Mid Or daui
ler mesprad
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dad
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brewed On estabiladma et added meded bp Wadies indassesseid and
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apalla.
dorned on an denuded wad he Mg up ass Metatit halt War p
1125 Use University of Cade -tad On Ma at tweet
Metare Uniwersity et Jettrudent were
"Ten de he mom be sow ease- BO
both opened_ Israel became am Me- alantair ditatid alms Is he he de
peadrat state eery a short wide deer Mid- The issadslansder et the ond
Leland ad Syria and was altie tar tomordy dab dim Is ai
ast
Me in de United Nationt dembley
meeritmee at ism' as
d
ad
ter the estaidalmed of Libya.
Mead Melt astatrattr Masai on mad
.The oddity of the Jewidi revival
'do additass, tbe renal—me
1W
is MUMS is me Mat anomm
ralestac mos, perhaps, teat user berm and Made dastrates Oe d midi
minds
lalwasa atm
We preitaged cometioa of Use Jews parallels Mt have sacked the NM mei& imetalealla assaMir
ampasila atillasiam
ads droped earidatina the revival odes of led group. throughout the tbe optheidie, or sentimmad
caw only
of Jewish statehood in our own gen- ages, though here there is an equally hope that life will
produce one of its
eration, though engendered by the curious element of irony.
surprises."
movement of ideas in Europe, was
"The
actually to be realized in the heart
devotion of Arabic-speakers
With a political solution thus
of an area that was itself beginning to their language was in marked con-
to be roused from a millennial slum- trast to the custom of the Jews. Through far "not in the offing," Carmichael
ber by the same leavening of European the dual purpose of islamization and takes into account the problem in-
thought. The paradox is exacerbated arabization the Arabs' love of their
by the hostility that has developed, language facilitated the imposition of volving the refugees. Carmichael
Arabic on many of the peoples ab-
views the refugee problem as fol-
sorbed by Islam.
In the
twentieth
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS ce ntury, indeed, it was
to reshape them lows:
'Beyond eitsesidea the mod serials
effect at liar table Arab-Jewish esallict
was Or miontim at a flood of redid*,
rebated" ma* be :saber, to he me,
he a mold dolt had Mem, familiar
Mispose IN We madams Moe
Wood
ant as altarnati‘
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trailed Same IMAM POSOSEMS seem
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11110 1/****6
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all
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amlwaing
at satat
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Sa slow an
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et
at mismaine 17 -
lamilars. SO
Carmichael's study of the shap-
ing of the Arabs is of vast impor-
tance as a guide to an under-
standing of the Arab position and
of the conflict with Israel. It is
a timely work that was written
before the Jilne 1967 war and is
even timelier now.